First off – Yeah, it’s been a while since I posted anything. I wish I could say I’ve been busy, but that would be far from the truth. The reality is more a combination of an extreme lack of inspiration and a massive writer’s block of feeling like I just don’t have any ideas of something to write.

I can’t even say this is a sign of either of those ending, but is, instead, a bit of a rant. In this case, it’s based on one of the anime series I’m watching this season, specifically, “Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions“.

The Series Premise

I’ll start with the Crunchyroll description:

“Ron Kamonohashi was once regarded as a genius at the top detective training academy. But after a fatal mistake, he was expelled and forbidden to become a detective. Years later, police officer Totomaru Isshiki knocks on Ron’s door seeking help on a serial murder case. He finds Ron, now a messy-haired recluse, who agrees. Together, this mismatched detective team begins solving their first mystery!“

To delve a bit more into it, Ron – a brilliant detective – has a bit of an issue. Specifically, after solving a murder mystery, he instantly transforms into a strange state where he winds up compelling the perpetrator to kill themselves as penance for their crime. it’s only when Toto (as he’s known in-series) joins in and is able to keep the criminal from doing so that he starts a path towards resuming what he’s good at. The fun part of the show is just how much of an absolute goofball Ron is, combined with the hoops which are jumped through to “show” the world it’s really Toto solving all of the mysteries, not Ron himself using Toto as a puppet.

Who Brought This Shark and Why Is There a Jump Ramp?

From the 1970’s there is a new phrase which entered the English lexicon, “Jump the shark“. Without going into the details (you can read them at the Wiki link above), it basically means – as a fictional work – you blew it. You’ve done all you could do and now need to rely on some sort of gimmick.

Sadly, I feel that, with the past three episodes (as of this post), “The Case of the Observatory Murder”, this series may well have done that. However, it didn’t do so through the story itself, but because it dragged in two well-worn and overused characters from another fictional source.

WARNING! – SPOILERS AHEAD

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Ok – you were warned.

There’s been constant reference to a “Detective Academy” that Ron attended (and, somehow, was expelled from) after some sort of “incident”. This case (Observatory Murder) brought it to the forefront by directly referencing it.

That just deepened the mystery of Ron’s background, though, which was good story- and character-building – no problem there.

The issue, however, comes about from the “resolution” and finding out not only the details of said “incident”, but also more of Ron’s background and who was ultimately responsible for getting him expelled (and also alluded to who was responsible for his mysterious “power” to command murderers to off themselves as punishment).

The Background

See … it turns out that the reason Ron is just that good at solving mysteries is he is (of course 🙄) the descendent of that famous consulting detective … yeah, that one. So, Ron is the generations-removed down-the-family-tree offspring of Sherlock Holmes. And, if we bring in Holmes, then of course 🙄 Moriarity has to be somewhere around also, right?

That is correct. Ron is the blending of both Holmes’ family tree and Moriarity’s. And the “House of M” were responsible for the “incident” back at the academy and for gifting him this new “power”.

Why Is That A Shark Jump?

This is the Nth anime in recent history which has fallen back on the “Sherlock Holmes” referencing and, well … it’s annoying.

It’s annoying in the same way that just about every reference to some sort of “Super Spy” becomes an instant pointer to James Bond (of 007 fame).

There are other detectives and other spies out there in reasonably well-known fiction!

And, honestly, it would be nice to see some of those others get some love and recognition as well.

Fictional Spies

Just as a random list of other spies (yeah, I’ll get to detectives in a moment), there are:

• Jason Bourne – of both movies and novels
• Bernard Samson – from several novel trilogies (some of which have TV adaptations) by Len Deighton (first of which was Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match).
• George Smiley – from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, novels and other adaptations
• Maxwell Smart – “Agent 86” from the TV Series Get Smart! and a (bad) movie adaptation.
• Ethan Hunt – the Mission: Impossible movies

There are, of course, many others, of varying comedic levels and overall capabilities. Not every spy needs to be James <expletives deleted> Bond.

… And Detectives

And, as another similar sort of list for detectives:

• Hercule Poirot – of movies, TV, and novels
• Sam Spade – from The Maltese Falcon novel and several adaptations
• Philip Marlowe – several works by Raymond Chandler in various adaptations
• Nancy Drew / Hardy Brothers – not the same author but generally grouped together as “teenage sleuth” literature, from books and several adaptations

You get the idea.

So What? We Like Holmes And Bond!

Yeah, I do understand that both of those characters (and their surrounding “universes”) may be very well-known, but … here’s a really crazy idea …

Maybe tell a story that is either detective- or spy-based without needing to fall back on those characters and all the associated characters / tropes? I’m pretty sure this series (Ron Kamonohashi…) would’ve worked just as well without forcing a Holmes and Moriarity reference in there.

I’ll grant I don’t know where the story is going (and, yes, I’ll continue watching the rest of this season), but even so … I feel like falling back on Holmesian referencing is a crutch, and a fairly weak one at that. It’s disappointing and I wish the creator(s) had chosen to do better than this.