Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei

I’m not going to pretend otherwise, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard ended at episode 10. These last two episodes were completely useless. I mean they weren’t offensive or anything. Like I’m not angry I watched them. But the narrative arc of the characters and the dramatic arc of the plot was over two episodes ago. They should have set them before the events in London and added them earlier in the season.

Ok so surprise surprise, this episode dealt with Seigi’s dad. Or rather, Seigi’s biological father which isn’t always the same thing. As has happened a few times this season, there are actually some pretty good moral quandaries laid out in the episode. Of Course the series doesn’t dive too deep into it but it does still throw out some questions for the audience to chew on.

Unlike past episodes however, this time the series takes a clear stance. Instead of presenting the situation fairly neutrally and making most characters a little wrong and a little right, it presents Seigi’s birth father as a complete louse with no redeemable qualities to speak of. I’m not sure I’ve ever called anyone a louse before. I like it. I’m going to start doing that more.

I’m sure they mentioned it before but it seems Seigi’s mom was abused by Seigi’s father (they might not have mentioned that part actually), and ended up leaving him and remarrying (that’s the part I think they mentioned). As such, Seigi was raised by his stepfather and real dad. The episode really really insisted on that point however, I’m a sucker for simple gestures of fatherhood so it didn’t bother me much. Also The Case files of Jeweler Richard is a telenovela so in fact it was subtle and understated by those standards!

I’m hoping this picture confuses some of you but of course no one who hasn’t watched the episode will read this. But just humour me and think to yourself – whoa why is there a knife there! Is someone gonna get stabbed!?! Doesn’t that fit with the whole telenovela thing?

So yeah, Seigi finds out he had a true dad all along and everyone is happy and then he has a coming of age ceremony which confused the heck out of me cause I assumed he was a graduate student in his 20s. Did Jeffery drag a minor he was not acquainted across the world without permission from his parents or guardian?

I did find out two things this episode. First Richard’s mentor’s name was Saul not Salvatore as I had decided. I actually knew it was Saul. Not sure why I renamed him. Second, Richard is actually super good at taking things in stride. I loved the scene where Seigi announced he was quitting and Richard just told him he was going to enjoy their last day together. It was a great response. I’m gonna use it next time someone quits.

Overall, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is simply not a great show, but it’s not a bad show either. It’s a thing that exists. I enjoyed it at first because I have a particular appreciation for small, slow pastoral type series that 99% of people find boring then started to enjoy it the same way I enjoy bad movies. I often found it unintentionally hilarious and nothing about it annoyed me particularly.

The visuals are, well they’re sort of dull as well. The art is a bit uneven and although the character designs and certain city scapes are quite pretty, backgrounds and mob characters are plain and undetailed. The voice acting is decent but the heavily accented English will probably get on the nerves of native English speakers or at least take them out of the moment. That is not a British gentleman speaking…

If there is one aspect of the series that I think does rise above the average, it’s the directing. ‘ore specifically the framing and camera angles. I talked about it in my gallery posts but the way the camera is placed is often very calculated and in tune with the emotional resonance of the scene. It’s really rather impressive even if it’s not very flashy.

For me, the Case Files of Jeweler Richard was a completely average series. However, and I can’t explain this logically, I always looked forward to it and generally enjoyed it.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

As you may or may not know, the show decided to jump a couple of sharks a few episodes back and most people were not having it. Most people who aren’t me. I had a fantastic time with the nonsense of it all. But even I have to admit, the plans and schemes in this show are just so painfully convoluted it’s hard to defend.

And this week we got more of that!

This week’s Case Files of Jeweler Richard was kind of tame and also non committal. Richard is back and he has taken over his old job as owner of l’Étranger. Seigi and Richards relationship seems to have reverted to amicable boss and employee. And it’s not like this episode is set before the events in London. Seigi recognizes a picture of the count’s mansion and he saw it for the first time last week. The show just did a reset on their relationship and is refusing to address it.

So Seigi accidentally helps out Richard’s childhood governess, by pure coincidence and in just a few seconds she gives up so many clues that she’s somehow related to Richard that even Seigi picks up on it. And he’s dense as a brick. I love Seigi.

We soon find out that Richard has been looking for this woman all along but she refuses to see him, having harboured feelings of guilt over how they had parted when Richard was 9. We quickly learn that at that time Richard’s movie star mother had come back into the picture and was planning on reuniting with her family. Except Catherine (that’s his mom’s name) was never the motherly type and people around Richard were worried about his future.

As an aside, we never see Henry during these scenes. Is this because I said young Henry was the most attractive of the boys and now I’m being punished? You can’t blame me. The two others are babies…

Anyways, turns out that what had seemed like Chieko (I think that was the governess’ name) trying to steal a valuable necklace for her own gain was in fact a convoluted plot hatched by Catherine to avoid a reconciliation with her family and leave Richard where he could have the best childhood and education.

I should say that at this point Richard is with his uncle because his parents are separated and his mother already has a reputation for being wilful and difficult. Why couldn’t she simply say she changed her mind about the reconciliation and leave without involving a complete stranger?… I don’t know… It makes no sense. Or just about the same amount of sense as the will did.

This episode was a bit boring to me. I didn’t dislike it I just didn’t have as much fun with it as the other ones. It does end on a cliffhanger of Seigi looking really angry at some dud who just walked up to him and claimed to be his dad. So more family drama next week… nonsense!

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

With only two episodes to go (and I had to check to make sure this wasn’t the last one because it felt like a conclusion) I think it’s safe to say that the title “The Case Files of Jeweler Richard” is rather misleading. I think we only had 1, one and a half if you want to stretch it, episode that could qualify as an actual case file. At least in the sense any reasonable audience would understand it. The series was actually a calm slice of life that gradually morphed into a completely bonkers soap opera with BL themes. And in case you’re wondering, I like it. I liked both in fact.

I was surprised by the measured and occasionally deep episodes of the first half. It was not a particularly exciting or funny show but there was something reassuring about it. And then in just hit the gas a gleefully plunged right over the deep end. On the surface it looks like a similar show. It’s the same characters with fairly consistent personalities and motivations but it’s a completely different show. An unapologetically dopey dramedy with some winky pseudo romance and goofey plotting.

What I’m saying is that episode 10, which saw the conclusion of Richard’s inheritance arc, also had a riddle based museum escape, visibly very sick Henry pleading for Richard’s safety in and expensive hotel room, an aborted balcony escape scene, a potential marriage between Seigi and Richard which turned into a one sided plot to destroy a priceless diamond which in turn turned out to be a fake, or a large white sapphire to be more precise, a centuries old plot to exact revenge on white supremacists (you read that right) through the most convoluted post mortem scheme ever, not one but two touching reconciliations, Seigi giving a ring to Richard and a last minute reunion. All in one episode. And more!

Episode 10 was ridiculous and if you try to hammer it into some type of reasonable plot in your mind you will probably hurt yourself. If like me you let go of all reason and just ride to goofeyness, it was a lot of fun.

I can’t really explain why but despite the completely unbelievable, borderline incomprehensible, situation they found themselves in, I thought that Richards reunion with his brothers Jefferey and Henry was rather touching. The last scenes of the three together, with Henry playing the piano and Richard bringing them all pudding to share was actually rather powerful and taken out of context could easily be mistaken for an powerfully emotional scene. As it was, the episode is a bit too silly to take any part of it that seriously but it was still a sweet and human moment that I enjoyed.

The relationship between Richard and Seigi which was teased, tortured, insinuated parodied and just exploited to the extreme for this episode, seems to have evolved quite a bit while we weren’t looking. I my opinion this only works because both Seigi and Richard remain the same people. The act and react as we would expect of them and even though you get the feeling that something must have happened between episodes for them to be so devoted, you also get the feeling that this is the natural evolution of their interaction.

As I mentioned, I thought this was the last episode and was really baffled when I saw there were two more. Granted, just before the end credits Seigi and Richard resolve to go their separate ways but an after credits tag has Richard unexpectedly showing up at l’Étranger where Seigi is still working so I guess I could see one more episode for the happily ever after bit (although it’s unnecessary, that tag told us all we need to know. But I still don’t know what they’re going to do for 2 episodes. Maybe we’ll get two random slice of life stories again.

Either way, I’m into it. Looking forward to next week!

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

So we open up on a one month time jump and we just have to assume what Seigi’s been up to during that time. Considering he just ran up to a random guy on the street, I’m thinking he’s been bothering a whole lot of tourists. Seigi also diligently goes to water the plant, which is so him, but he leaves it in front of the store instead of bringing it home. I guess it gives him an excuse to drop by the store once in a while (I recently learned you shouldn’t water plants every day…)

And after a month, the store is opened again but still no Richard! Instead we finally meet Richard’s mentor Salvatore. He reminds me of someone but I can’t quite place him. I want to say a character from a cartoon I use to watch in kindergarten or something. You know the one I’m talking about…right???

We don’t exactly get to know Salvatore very well but from what we do see of him, I think he’s an excellent character foil for Richard. Joyful, a little boisterous with just a touch of mischievous charm. His personality is just a perfect contrast to the calm and controlled Richard. I really hope we get to see them play off each other at some point as this personality pairing has a lot of potential in my opinion.

Last week Karandi mentioned that she wanted Seigi to jump on a plane to London and drag Richard back after punching him in his pretty face. Karandi has very specific requests. I’m not sure about the punching part, that could still happen, but Seigi did get on a plane. Not before being encouraged to do so by Shouko who I honestly felt a little sorry for in this episode. She clearly sees that Seigi is way more into Richard and even gently spells it out and Seigi still doesn’t catch on. I was like, give it up girl, just sit back and enjoy the innuendos.

Apparently Richard is embroiled in some inheritance drama (which we already knew) and is part of a very influential family (which we also knew). Salvatore explains that it is so influential in fact that they may have been keeping tabs of Seigi as well from across the world. Dum dum DUM! And yeah, they totally have. Right at the airport Seigi is essentially accosted by Richards cousin Jeffrey. Jefferey and Richard actually grew up as brothers, with Jefferey’s older brother Henry but they’ve been estranged for four years now due to the inheritance business. Also Jeffery looks like a slightly darker and slightly melted version of Richard which I found funny!

We finally find out what the inheritance deal is and it’s even more delightfully silly (or dumb if you prefer) than I could ever have imagined. There’s this huge convoluted family history deal but the important parts are this, the great grandfather left a diamond worth 300 000 000 pounds (something like 400 million dollars) to Richard and Richard only for the completely nonsensical reason that his mother was born closest to England and Richard can only get this inheritance if he marries a proper English housewife. If he fails to meet this requirement the diamond goes to an environmental fund which sounds like a decent deal. As ridiculous as this whole set up is, it is actually a good way to explain why Richard just ran away!

The family is putting great pressure on him to just comply get the inheritance and split the funds with everyone. However Richard is really opposed to marrying a woman for some reason. Ok, they don’t say that, I added that part in!

At this point, Jefferey is essentially using Seigi as bait to get to Richard, carting him all over London and uploading touristy pictures together to every form of social media hoping that Richard will see them and seek them out.

At first Jefferey comes off as a despicable spoiled rich frat boy type but they actually gave him just a touch of depth. Apparently at some point Henry got sick. I’m not sure if this was before or after Richard took off. But now Henry has a photo-sensitivity disorder of some type which keeps him coped up indoors and the rest of the family has shunned him. Jefferey is the only one who remains by his brother’s side and he wants the money to help them find a cure. He thinks Richard is being selfish, especially as he could easily pay some woman for the part and divorce her right after getting the inheritance. A winning situation for all involved.

This story is ridiculous. The will makes no sense and sounds unenforceable. A lot of the clauses seem random and at this point I also don’t understand why Richard won’t just hire himself a temporary wife. That’s permitted by the will. But the very fact that I’m asking the question or doubting Richard at this point is kind of cool. And I figure Seigi must be in the same place as I am. How about you guys?

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

A little peak behind the curtain for you all. I’m writing this before Karandi write her part. After she does I usually go back and if I want to add anything I do so then. And yet I still know for sure that she is just as overworked as I am. What I don’t know is if it affected her anime enjoyment. Let me tell you after a full week of 14 hour workdays, episodes have to have something special to hold my attention and well… this wasn’t it.

See, I felt this episode was a lot more interesting than some of the previous ones. The direct focus on Seigi rather than some random customer helped things feel more immediately relevant as well as Shouko getting some time to shine (given she’s consistently been a great supporting character). Also, given this followed on from the anime sending us strong boys love vibes it really kind of turned things on its head with this episode and then seemed to backtrack at the end with the final result being I’m now not sure if I want to pair Seigi with Richard, Shouko, or whether I just want the status quo to continue. Okay, I’m clearly emotionally invested in this cast despite the fairly low key nature of the show so far.

I’m not the hugest fan of romantic storylines but there have been exceptions. Seigi and Shouko are perfectly lovely people and they make a cute couple. I’m routing for them. In a way, this romantic venture was in fact better than whatever that was last week. As in better written, more logical, better paced even cuter. But it wasn’t as cheesy and slightly ridiculous and I missed that!

Basically, Seigi has been trying to move his relationship forward with Shouko, he even bought her a gemstone and everything. However, before he has the chance to give it to her he finds out that she has a marriage interview scheduled with a childhood friend of hers. Nice guy Homura no less. Boy, this poor kid just cannot catch a break when it comes to women. It’s a pretty classic romcom set up with all the tropes. Slight misunderstandings, two leads that seem both incapable of directly communicating their feeling or picking up of the very obvious signals the other person is giving off. A super understanding third party that ends up wishing them the best. All that stuff. Karandi, do you like classic romantic comedies?

I’m a sucker for sweet romance and romantic comedies. While my standard viewing fare is a little darker, there’s nothing like a 90 minute rom-com to help you just chill and relax. And Seigi works perfectly in the frame of a romantic comedy given he’s nice enough that you want him to succeed and yet clueless enough that success seems to continue to elude him. He’s not the most interesting character but he doesn’t need to be for that kind of storyline to work and he’s helped by the way his personality bounces off of Shouko and Richard. Honestly, I’m finding the relationship part of this story far more interesting than the ‘cases’.

There’s also a little flashback to Richard’s school days and his first(?), true(?), love. I didn’t care much for that either. It seemed rather contrived really. What I do like though is this constant and super insistent narrative that Richard’s good looks are a burden to him and that he has resented them all his life. I’m sure it’s not the first time this has been done but I can’t seem to recall this treatment for a male character before. The gender reversal is fun. And it really does change the way the question is dealt with. No one assumes Richard is particularly unintelligent or has only looks to offer for instance. A few people say it but it’s obviously to purposefully insult him. And he isn’t really concerned with proving he’s more than just a pretty face. It’s an interesting dynamic although it often feels completely out of place in this show.

Yeah, Richard’s first love story wasn’t overly necessary here. It didn’t particularly add anything and I’d rather have learned more about his family situation. This was probably the weakest part of the episode.

And then Richard threw a hissy fit. I mean you can read all sorts of meaning into the fact that Richard suddenly decided to leave the country without even telling Seigi. Barely leaving any details behind. If you want to root for the BL angle, maybe seeing Seigi and Shouko get closer made him sad and he left in a fit of jealousy or depression. Or, maybe talking about his own past made him want to seek out the girl that got away so that he doesn’t end up regretting the things he didn’t do. Or this is just a huge troll, he’s still a shady conman and he had to get out of the country with a bunch of stolen gems before the police got to him! (My favourite is no. 3)

I’m thinking he’s decided to deal with his family situation. He hasn’t closed the store for good so I hope he’s coming back. I’m assuming he didn’t tell Seigi because he quite rightly assumes that Seigi will butt in unnecessarily. Then again, leaving without telling your employee and friend that you are going is a horrible thing to do regardless of his justification. As ridiculous and cheesy as it would be I’m hoping Seigi gets on a plane, flies to London, tracks Richard down and punches him in that pretty face of his before dragging him back to Japan.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

Ok, so this week we have Richard and Seigi as his bag boy attempting to win a precious piece of Jade. This is by far the most interesting gem the show has presented us with and I can understand the genuine enthusiasm for this one. Also, and it might be weird of me, I like auctions. As in I enjoy them as a setting or plot element. I have no clue why. There’s an excitement that’s a bit like gambling but it’s all fancy. I can’t explain it but I digging the set up of the episode.

I was a little less sold on the gem this week and I found the auction format a little weird as they weren’t so much outbidding each other so much as playing chicken with their paddles and hoping the other person folded first. Still, I will admit there was a bit more excitement and tension as the plot unfolded this week and that combined with some more back story on Richard made this pretty satisfying to watch. Incidentally, I thought the gem this week was hideous and if it was mine, I’d be giving it away because I wouldn’t want the creepy thing in the house.

Because the set up and gem were more interesting than usual, I was also more interested in the back story which was essentially a tale of greed and heartache as a family turns on each other for the sake of an impressive inheritance. It’s a super cliché tale yet one that is so perfect for an anime about jewels that I’m sort of surprised it took this long to get to it. We also get hints that something similar may have happened to Richard himself. Now that we’re getting more backstory on this guy, he certainly seems to have led a pretty full life.

Yep, the back story really helped this episode along. Unlike some of the earlier stories where the gem stone seemed almost a contrivance just to bring the story to Richard, the set up here with a family fighting over inheritance felt very natural and Richard and Seigi’s involvement felt much more genuine. It was almost like everything just kind of clicked together this week and nothing felt out of place.

I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get more evil Richard. I thought for sure he would make another flashback appearance when that suspicious looking old accintance of his showed up. But now…they just tease us! I guess I’ll have to make due with formal wear Richard. The sad part is that I generally prefer Seigi’s design but I think the show gaslighted me into thinking Richard is beautiful by constantly repeating it.

Come on, Richard looked fantastic in formal wear. I kind of wanted to see Seigi looking all uncomfortable in a suit but the bag-boy look worked well and I guess made more sense given no one was going to be convinced that he was the buyer anyway. I definitely want to see more of Richard’s life as so far the little bits we’ve gotten have been my favourite parts of the series, but I was pretty happy with what we got this week.

I’m sitting rigidly with my back to the elephant in the room. Is it just me or is the show trying to give off some very strong romantic vibes between Richard and Seigi. Seigi was always very complementary about Richard’s looks but up until now it felt more like clumsy friendliness to me. This week I’m thinking the show was pushing the agenda.

I started to feel a little bad for Shouko at some point. However, in my headcanon Shouko is a huge fujoshi and she is living for this moments. She’s been subtly egging Seigi on off camera and encouraging him to “be nicer to his boss” or something. The Case Files of Jeweler Richard have turned into a very different thing in my head than they are in real life…

It definitely went from being something that you could read into their relationship to slightly more overt with Richard’s old acquaintance raising his past and Richard’s comment to Seigi about not regretting saying he liked him. At this point I don’t think it is a case of viewers reading something into this relationship so much as the anime itself is actively wanting viewers to read it that way. Now whether they go anywhere with it is another story. I’d kind of like it to but ultimately it won’t really make much difference to the overall way I view this anime.

In any case, I liked this episode as well. The somewhat cheap bating totally worked on me and I want to see more. I’m an easy mark and I’m not even embarrassed by it.

Apparently I’m also pretty easy to please when it comes to The Case File Of Jeweler Richard because this episode just ticked all the right boxes and I would not be unhappy if this was the standard from here on out.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

Last week I mentionned that I would like to see and episode that was more like a “case” and apparently I’m some type of anime diviner because that’s exactly what we got. It started off in the usual way, Richard and Seigi in a casual throw-away scene talking about sweets. These two seem to have gotten a lot more comfortable around each other which makes sense when you take the last episode into account. The episode quickly moves on to introduce us to a young lady that has lost a turquoise earring given to her by a boyfriend before he disappeared. For some reason I loved how she kept refusing the tissues Seigi was offering. It was a soft repeated visual gag and it tickled my fancy. What did you think of the set up this week?

Weirdly enough I really enjoyed it and for some weird reason took a lot of screen caps – most of which I didn’t end up saving, but there were just these scenes that kept grabbing my attention. For instance, when Richard tried Seigi’s pudding and he wiggled his toes, I really loved that moment.

Similarly, I also enjoyed the gag with the tissues. It was just this unobtrusive visual running through the whole conversation and I loved how smug Seigi looked when she finally took a tissue.

After reassuring the girl and an odd scene where Seigi pretends he doesn’t know what Richard would like as a thank you (we were reminded of his sweet tooth just minutes ago), it’s revealed that the earring was a fake and the guy was probably a scam artist praying on vulnerable girls. Richard is way more upset about this than we figure. You know, for a second I thought that he got caught in a love scam at some point and that’s why he’s so annoyed when people praise his good looks. Someone took advantage of him that way in the past. My head canon is elaborate!

I really liked the slow pan we got of Richard when Seigi returned to the shop as well. It gave the whole scene a bit of gravity even though it was the same brightly lit shop it always is. I will say that the rest of the episode doesn’t quite measure up to some of the real positives in the set-up phase, but I think this is one of my favourite episodes yet from the series.

We don’t get an explanation but we do get Richard’s plan to deal with the scammers and it’s just delicious. And by that I mean it’s hilariously silly and nonsensical in the most joyful way. This is the type of rubbish I am here for. Basically, Seigi and Richard dress up in what I can only describe as Miami Vice cosplay (I took a billion caps cause it was hilarious). Then Richard goes to a jewelery story that seems to be serving as head quarters for the scam and pretends to be a gemstone medium(?) to shame/scare/confuse the culprits into stopping what they’re doing. And it works! This is the type of sequence you can’t think about to hard because if you start asking questions it all falls apart. I was just fine with enjoying the ride but I have good will towards these characters. All in all, it wouldn’t be unfair to describe Richard’s plan as stupid. To me, it was fun stupid so it works.

It was incredibly stupid and yet I’m with you and agree it was pretty hilarious. I particularly found Seigi’s presence as an interpreter truly ridiculous once Richard started speaking fluent Japanese anyway. More importantly, Seigi couldn’t even pretend to talk to Richard in another language so the entire set up for their plan was absurd and the execution was shoddy at best. However, if you don’t think about it and just watch the scene it does make you chuckle. The one thing I was struggling with though is why anyone would make a fake turquoise when they just aren’t that expensive in the first place (okay, high quality ones are but it isn’t exactly a gem stone out of reach for most people).

I’m not that big a fan of Richard’s character design usually. The hair style sort of bugs me I think. This is why I find it funny that everyone in the show makes a big deal about how beautiful he is. All the time! Not gonna lie, the end of this episode made me sort of get it. Evil Richard was pretty hilarious in his own way. Mostly though, I would not have disagreed with a character that called him pretty. Thoughts on blonde bishies?

I’m not generally into blonde characters but I do find Richard pretty gorgeous to look at. Probably why so many of my screen caps are of him. There’s just something aesthetically pleasing about his character design. It’s probably that curl of hair on his face. While I don’t think he’s as good looking as some of Seigi’s commentary would make him out to be, I can definitely see why a lot of characters do double takes when seeing him for the first time.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

I have a feeling I’m going to be the only one here but I quite enjoyed this week’s Jeweler Richard. I think it was my favourite episode of the show so far. For instance, this is the first time I was honestly trying to figure out what was going on in the first half. It felt more like a “case file”. Why was the old friend lying, what was going on. To me it evoked old timey detective short stories I use to devour as a kid. The Case of The Mysterious Senpai… Right up until the halfway mark, we we got an idea of what was going on, I was into it just because of my love of mysteries. Did you enjoy it too? Maybe it was a bit too low stakes?

I think you know me fairly well. I found this episode a little on the slow side and a bit of a drag. My main complaint would probably be how illogical the senpai was. Why use Seigi’s story on Seigi’s boss? Why not go to any other jeweler and pull that? It just kind of left me shaking my head.

When we did get the reveal, the episode took a calm dramatic turn. Nothing drastic. It was sort of a study of disappointment. Being let down in a small way by someone you admire can be surprisingly painful. It sort of throws your entire world view out of whack. I think they did a decent job showing us just how affected Seigi was by the situation. And I’ve grown quite fond of Seigi because I like doofuses. Seeing him all down didn’t leave me indifferent.

I kind of felt like he could have seen it coming. Then again, when he was standing in the rain and Richard pulled up, I did kind of feel happy for him. He looked like a small puppy caught in the rain and the way he ended up being grateful for his ‘chance encounter’ with Richard was kind of nice to see. So while I didn’t feel too bad for Seigi when he was miserable, I must have felt something because otherwise there’s no reason for me to be relieved when Richard extends a hand.

Adult friendships are really rarely explored in anime and making friends as adults is sort of different and more nuanced. As much as I’m not interested in romance stories, I’m a suck for a good friendship story. In this episode we got to see how friendships can come undone and people we love can become strangers. We also got to see how chance meetings can bring us someone who turns out to be important to us. It’s a simple story and it was a nice repose at the end of a very long day.

From that point of view the episode is successful and you are right. Anime doesn’t often explore adult characters and their friendships so The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is filling a small void there. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed watching something that feels kind of slice of life-ish with adult characters as much as this since Recovery of an MMO Junkie and that had a romance woven through it. However, I’d probably be even more into it if Seigi seemed to have normal emotional reactions. When he was humming at work I thought it was the day after meeting his friend and he was on a high, but it turns out it was a whole week later. Who still hums about meeting a friend a week after it happened?

I am hoping for an actual case at some point though!

Likewise. I feel the title here is a bit on the misleading side. Overall though, while I’m not jumping up and down about this anime, it remains fairly low-key enjoyment.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

Ok, maybe that needs a bit more context and explanation. It isn’t exactly a lie but that’s not what Jeweler Richard was actually about. It’s simply a small aside that fit into the theme. Before I start though, speaking of themes, Jeweler Richard sure is lofty if very understated. The first episode explored strict class structure and how our societal institutions are particularly oppressive towards poorer individuals, the second looked into the pressures and difficulties of non traditional sexual orientations, the third glanced and the strains of parenthood in key moments of a child’s life and this week, we’re exploring feminist doctrine and what the institution of marriage still means in modern times.

I make it sound like some uber boring social justice course work or something. It’s not. It’s very gentle in all it’s exploration and so far has avoided most moralizing.

I really do feel like this anime is simply giving us a snap-shot view of an individual going through a particular issue before they move on. When they leave the jewellery shop they may have had some personal epiphany but the larger issue is not resolved or tied up in a neat bow. The end result is it doesn’t feel like Jeweler Richard intends to preach so much as explore various perspectives. I kind of like it but it does make each story feel a little bit incomplete.

Hmmm, I guess I should talk about the episode. The main story had us meeting a young woman supposedly picking out a garnet for her engagement ring. She’s a little off and it soon turns out that it’s no engagement ring, she was recently dumped and wants to buy herself a ring to cheer herself up but was embarrassed by it. Because being single at her age is already very embarrassing and buying yourself an expensive ring is admitting that no one else will… I’m laying it on a bit too thick. I didn’t grow up with any of these notions so it just seemed weird to me but I do understand that these ideas still exist, and are much enforced in Japan among other places.

I don’t know, I felt the episode itself laid it on a little thick. Particularly the cues that she wasn’t being entirely truthful in the first meeting. They weren’t in anyway subtle as she shifted her line of sight and avoided directly answering questions. Not to mention the lack of said boyfriend while picking out an engagement ring. I just couldn’t see her buying it alone. Anyway, this was probably my least favourite customer story so far. Not that her overall issue is insignificant, I just felt it was a little too heavy handed in how it played out.

I preferred the the B plot mostly because it was funnier. Since the beginning of the series the show has been insisting on how pretty Richard is. At least one random character points it out each week and Seigi makes a huge unnatural deal about it every chance he gets. Oh the main character this week was supposedly unattractive but as all character models look super similar in this show, I literally couldn’t tell until they literally told me and I still don’t believe them. I understand it’s always dicey to declare someone objectively unattractive in media but this girl is almost indistinguishably from previous female characters which made this whole thread super weird…

Agreed. Like, she’s your typical pretty anime girl minus super shiny hair. Not to mention, Seigi is really unnatural in the way he talks about someone, particularly when Richard is right there. It’s one of the things that makes Seigi’s character sit a bit oddly for me.

So Seigi is doing his usual fawning over his boss to the point that even I got a bit uncomfortable about it. Richard is obviously not enjoying it either and then, Seigi gets this out of the blue text from his ball calling him a ball of charm and just generally wonderful with no explanation. It was a very VERY nice text and Seigi is reasonably freaked out by it just as I would be. We forget about it for the latter half of the episode and only at the very end is it revealed that it was Richard’s weird but super effective way to make Seigi realize that his behaviour is inappropriate in general and especially for the work place. I really loved this.

Yep, the story about the customer was a bit of a misfire but Richard making a clear point to Seigi in a round about manner definitely salvaged the episode and made it pretty enjoyable. The question is, how will this impact on Seigi in future episodes. I’m kind of wondering if he’ll actually take the lesson to heart and dial it down or not.

Another week, another mild but pleasant episode. Not much to add aside that I’m both looking forward to the next one but somehow don’t mind waiting a week which is unusual for me.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi

I must say the words “case files” really made me think this was going to be a crime procedural but apart from the first episode, which dealt with long past petty pick pocketing, there really hasn’t been any criminal element to this show. Instead, the series has been vignettes of self contained family dramas. I don’t hate it. It sort of feels very proper and grown up. But I can easily see someone calling this boring. What do you think Karandi?

I can definitely see some people checking out and finding this boring. So far each little drama has had enough to keep me interested, but this one is strictly weekly viewing. I would never buy this on a DVD or try to binge watch it. One episode is absolutely enough at a time.

This week’s drama, revolved around a young boy who goes to see Richard in search of a Cat’s Eye to match the one his father gave him for good luck. The boy, Hajime (I remembered someone’s name – praise me!) is at a point where everything is changing and he doesn’t quite know how to deal with it. His mother is giving birth to a younger sibling as such his parents have been preoccupied and less available. His beloved pet cat is gone and now Hajime is pouring his fears and uncertainties into the symbolic good luck of the Cat’s Eye (a gem that has always been cursed in the stories I’ve read).

It was quite a sweet episode in many ways. Understated and even keeled. There was no large drama or conspiracy in the end. Even the cat is alright…ummm….spoilers(?). Sure Jeweler Richard is not exactly exciting but I do find each episode calming.

It is interesting that even Richard acknowledged that the Cat’s Eye has different meanings in the East and West. I personally like them just because I think they are really pretty but they’ve certainly had their fair share of curses in literature. And yeah, everything this week happened in the shop through conversation and a few flash backs, so not exactly thrilling viewing, and yet there’s enough here to keep me interested and I wanted to know how and why Hajime wanted to buy a jewel. At first I suspected maybe he’d lost the matching pair and was trying to cover it up before his parents found out, though that was soon proven to be an incorrect assumption.

I did like the tidbits of character establishment we got. Subverting expectations, Richard seems to quite like children and be good with them while Seiji not so much. Was this what you expected Karandi?

Seiji carries a lot of his own baggage into the cases, or at least he has in the last two. For someone so concerned with justice he’s going to need to watch his desire to lurch to assumptions and taking action on incomplete information. That said, I certainly feel there will be children Richard is less good with. I think he just got lucky with Hajime’s personality there. Still, this episode also made Seiji’s own immaturity, he is still a student, more apparent. I mean, it should have been obvious already given his issues with his mother, his need for Richard to acknowledge his tea making efforts, and so on, but for me this episode just really clarified his character.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a soft spot for dorks. They may be my favourite characters. And this episode Seiji was a huge dork. First being adorably incompetent while trying to ask his lady friend out then completely over the moon when she takes the initiative. Seiji has no cool and it’s refreshing! On the other hand, Richard finally decided to be something other than a stereotypical “prodigy” and let his childish side out a bit which makes him way more appealing a character.

Although I don’t expect the Case Files of Jeweler Richard to blow me away or anything, the relaxing ritual of watching an episode has been a welcomed break in my week. I hope you’re enjoying it too Karandi.

I am enjoying this. It’s very low key but there’s a bit of thought behind it. The portrayal of various characters has been nicely done so far with each character having their own reasons for their actions. I am still enjoying their efforts to give us a bit of information about gem stones. While this one won’t top a favourite list for me, I am certainly enjoying it while watching.

Thanks for Reading From
Irina and Karandi