[minor spoilers]
So I just finished Arne no Jikenbo (Casebook of Arne) and, to put it bluntly, it wasn't really good. I got excited because I love a detective mystery series and was keen to check it out when I saw it in my recommended. It just wasn't fun to watch for most of the episodes. Obviously the premise had some good material to work off of (I'm keen to check out the game), but it just didn't do anything really good with it.
Please note, review is ONLY based on the anime. I plan to play the game which I hope explains some of the details better.
▬ CONCEPT ⤵
A big issue this series has is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be serious mystery but it also wants to be a comedy but it also wants to have some kind of sexy romance vibe sometimes. It could be extremely jarring and it was honestly annoying. It wasn't moments either, it would just switch between being 'haha funny' and then 'wait we're seriously solving a crime', then 'haha Lynn's so stupid', and now Arne's drinking Lynn's blood in a sexy way.
Concept: 17/100
▬ STORYTELLING ⤵
The first episode was actually pretty good. The protagonist bait and switch got me and the vibes in the first episode were relatively consistent. I liked following Louis.
It's too bad we don't follow Louis for the rest of the series because I hated following Lynn. They cannot let Lynn be serious for more than 1 minute before they insist on having a stupid comedy moment break the mood. I'm not joking, every single time she's on screen being serious the story writers have her do something stupid.
Also, a lot of details are just not explained well.
Lynn has special blood that stops her from turning into a vampire - why?
Arne has a child form that he is usually in - why?
Lynn awakens Arne and then suddenly he's a renown detective with an agency - huh?
Which would be FINE if the anime didn't try to be serious about that. Have them solve stupid crimes if you want to be funny about details, but they're solving SERIOUS crimes and their designs aren't stupid enough to be a funny contrast to how serious the crimes are.
The other biggest problem with the storytelling is the understanding of the character's relationship with each other. The relationships felt rushed or they were established off screen which means it was hard to care why each character is doing what with one another. Whenever we delve into the overarching story of the series, I found it difficult to understand why anyone is helping each other. Even when there are moments where they briefly explain why they care about the others, it didn't feel believable.
All that being said, I did at least understand the overall story it was telling even if it was annoying to follow. I didn't really LIKE the overall story, but I could follow it.
To add, I want to say that the side stories were genuinely good. I'm gonna classify them as 'filler' because they didn't add to the overall story, but they were honestly the best part of the show. I believe this is because they do well at establishing the motivation behind these 1-2 episode characters which they don't do for the main cast as well.
The cat demon story, the mermaid/human love story, and the fairy/human love story were all genuinely really fun to watch.
Storytelling: 35/100
▬ RECURRING CAST CHARACTERS ⤵
Lynn: 17/100
Lynn as a character I genuinely didn't enjoy 90% of the time. Like I said earlier, they can't let her be serious for longer than a minute. She's FUN as in she has fun qualities, but she's not balanced at all. She will have moments where she seems to be emotionally intelligent, but then they make her really stupid all of the sudden which completely dulls the previous moment.
I did not understand a lot of her motivation throughout the series other than she's a fangirl of Arne or rather the concept of Arne. While I understood her relationship to Arne from her perspective, it came across very shallow a lot of the time yet it was treated as some deep rooted trust she had for him.
I did enjoy her fascination with all the different types of characters that appear throughout the series. It's always refreshing to have a character with that childlike innocence in these kinds of stories. She was a breath of fresh air in the moments where they didn't heavily dumb her down.
Arne: 57/100
Arne as a character is fine, I don't have any notes about his characterisation. He's stereotypical, but he's interesting to watch. I liked him as a character. There are a few characterisations of his I did not fully understand, such as him preferring a child-like form as mentioned earlier, but it didn't impact my impression of him
I did not fully understand his motivation on staying with Lynn, especially initially. Their development throughout the series also comes across as very shallow and impossible to understand.
Amy: 70/100
Amy is honestly my saving grace of this show, I loved her a lot. She genuinely made me laugh a few times. Beautiful deadpan humour. Only note is I wish they explained better why she likes Lynn so much. It's treated as an established truth that they don't show. She just kind of appears and thinks of Lynn as if she's the best thing since sliced bread.
Why she's even there in the first place is not very well established either. It's another one where it's all done off screen which is distracting.
Zisye: 65/100
I also really liked Zisye. He was fun to follow and I liked the role he had. His relationship with the characters wasn't anything close to perfect, but I felt like I understood him a little better than the others.
Phantom Thief: 7/100
Phantom Thief - hated her. She was annoying. Get her out of here. Every time she appeared she annoyed me. Not gonna lie, she almost ruined the fairy/human side story for me. Maybe I'm being too harsh, which is a fair critique of me, I just didn't like her.
Her relationship with the others is definitely the most janky, but that can be brushed off as a comedic trait I suppose.
Nachzehrer: 57/100
Nachzehrer is not my favourite type of character, but he's done fine for the role that he plays. He's funny and entertaining to watch. Just not really my thing personally.
He suffers from another 'established off screen' relationship with the other characters after his mini arc. I had a very difficult time understanding his role change in the series and it felt like the series just wanted to move on from him as quickly as possible.
Characters: 25/100
▬ OP/ED ⤵
Opening: Q.E.D. - Sou
Genuinely such a fun opening. Love it. This could be added to my playlist for sure. It's not iconic, but it is fun to listen to.
The animation in it really hones in on the comedy of the show which is fine I enjoy it.
Also there's a fun detail where a character who appears in the first episode opening changes by the second episode opening due to the events that occur in the first episode. I must admit I love details like this.
Ending: Ningyou no Machi - Watashi Kobayashi
Another bop. Good aesthetic of the song and I like seeing Lynn dressed up as a detective, it's cute. No really major notes, I just think it was enjoyable.
Soundtrack: 79/100
OP: 82/100
ED: 76/100
▬ IMPACT ⤵
In 5 years time I'm definitely going to forget everything about this anime. I just finished episode 12 and I already forgot a lot of stuff that happened earlier in the season. I almost forgot how much I liked the side stories until I was writing this review.
There's nothing really special about it. It doesn't do anything amazing, it wasn't especially fun or enjoyable to watch and the main story wasn't especially unique. The side stories I think definitely redeem it in a lot of ways.
I don't think I'd recommend this anime to people personally, but it's also not the worst thing I've ever seen. Disappointing would be a better way to describe it. It has moments that I think are honestly worth considering. I can see myself talking about the mermaid/human love story to a friend.
-
Did it make me think: No
Was it fun to watch: Sometimes
Was it engaging: No
Is it memorable: No
7 out of 9 users liked this review
