Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions – Episode 13

I just saw that the second season of Ron…. Has been announced and I’m really happy about it. Have you ever done that thing, when you can’t decide something, so you just blurt out a decision to see if you feel disappointed. I do that pretty regularly. I just don’t have very strong feelings about most things. Well, the second season announcement of Ron Komonohashi did something similar for me.

I know I enjoyed the show as I was watching it and that I would keep watching it if there was more but other than that I generally consider it as a pleasant light little bit of entertainment. But when I saw that season two announcement, I got actually excited. I was googling release dates and starting to imagine future storylines in my head. I realized that in fact, I liked the show more than I thought I did. Isn’t that fun!?

And you know what else, I’ll talk about it here in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I really like the OP of the show. The visuals I mean. I love that we get to see characters from all sorts of different episodes edited together in a vignette. It is a bit of a spoiler because when you do finally see a character from the OP you know they’re most likely going to be important but not necessarily. And I just thought it was a nicely integrated OP that showed both effort and care. It isn’t as out there as what I usually enjoy but the more carefree vibe suits the show well and showcases the character designs which are one of the selling points after all!

I actually think about that OP pretty much every episode but I rarely mention it here because it would be terribly redundant. But I figured one last time was warranted.

We have the second part of the snake god mystery and the When They Cry vibes were still really strong for me. I went back and looked over some of my screencaps. You know, I think it might also have a little to do with the colour palette. They aren’t identical but they use the same sort of tone/undertone combinations and stick to the same families of colour so despite the drastically different designs, there is some visual familiarity between the two shows. At least as far as these two final episodes are concerned.

Once again I thought that the solution to the puzzle had a few too many elements that hinged on coincidence for my taste but did quite like the idea of a fake image in the window that would essentially conceal itself. It just seems to me that if that mat had fallen even just a smidge out of place, the whole gig would have been up then and there.

Mind you, even if they had discovered the image right away, it wouldn’t necessarily have led them to the murderer but you know­ The murderer themselves was pretty obvious. There were really only two choices since we didn’t get to know anyone else.

More interesting to me was the return of Spitz’s prodigal brother. That was top-notch soap opera-level ridiculousness. Not only do we have a long-lost relative appearing out of the blue, they do so to save one of the main characters, they are in hiding from a mysterious and powerful organization AND they find true love right in front of everyone. What more can you ask for. Trick question, the answer is nothing. This is the perfect combination of events.

With the last mystery all wrapped up in a nice little bow, Ron Kamonohashi does need to give viewers a reason to come back for season 2 though and this is where the central plot comes back once again to tantalize us.

Let me just say, I love that they call it Ron’s culprit-killing condition. Like it’s an allergy or something. And I am intrigued by the insinuation that it was somehow implanted or maybe awakened in him by an outside force. Ron’s hypnosis/suggestion thing is the only bluntly supernatural aspect of the show. I mean it’s not exactly supernatural and the show does imply that there are scientific explanations here but you know what I mean.

Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions is a silly comedy with exaggerated characters and circumstances but for the most part, it’s not sci fi or fantasy. It’s a caricature of the world most of us know. Except for that one element. And the idea that it can be provoked makes me think that we might start to see more of these unusual conditions. I can’t say yet if that’s a good or bad thing but Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions is at its best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously and having superpowers everywhere would lend itself well to that.

Then there’s the mystery of the incident, which I personally find compelling, and the whole thing with the House of M. An actual antagonist could do wonders for this show.

I was a little surprised that Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty are canonically part of the Ron Kamonohashi universe. I thought it was more or less a retelling or a different take of the Watson/Holmes mysteries but by adding the inspiration directly to the universe itself you have the chance to let the author make the direct comparisons and get their thoughts out about the inspiration.

Once again, this feels very silly but I like it. Not in the least because it seems so silly. And this cat and mouse game with the House of M is a storyline that appeals to me much more than the random crime of the week format we had this season. All of this is to say that I am really looking forward to season 2. Hmmm, I guess I said that in the opening paragraph and you didn’t have to read all of this. Oooops.

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