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Not quite 'now' in Japan, this one, as it dates back to 1999. However,
as far as I know it's still unlicensed in R1 & is only now being
fansubbed, so it gets a mention...
Sakon
Tachibana is a puppet master with a very strange puppet -
Ukon, who seems very much alive & in need of an attitude
adjustment. As well as doing puppet shows, they have a sideline in
mystery-solving. Sakon's aunt, a police officer, pops up from time to
time to help out. Think Murder She Wrote as anime,
with an annoying puppet instead of Angela Lansbury.
First impression: Killer OP
tune. Anyway...
Avenger of the Abandoned School
- pts 1-3
The scene: an abandoned school building. A group of former students
gather for a reunion of sorts, and Sakon & Ukon have been dragged
along as bodyguard. When the former students are gathered together, a
ghostly annoucement is made over the PA, threatening revenge for what
they had done years earlier. When one of the group is neatly
decapitated while leaving later that evening, it becomes clear it's no
idle threat...
Seems when they were young, this group of
friends had been involved
in some games that got out of hand, resulting in the death of an old
man. One of their classmates, Osamu, later committed suicide, unable to
deal with the guilt. Whoever is trying to kill them now, claims to be
doing it to avenge Osamu...
I've never been a fan of whodunit's and
this plays too much like a
bad American daytime one for my liking, so I'll admit right here that I
won't be watching it any further. That said, it's a fairly well
presented show with good animation quality & art style, but that
can't help clichéd storylines and characters. Using the puppet as a
main character is an interesting device, but to me comes across badly
as they didn't give it a very likeable personality.
Ah well. The good thing about bad shows
is that it's one show less I
have to keep up with - which in turn is good for my backlog. Moving
quickly onwards... |
