Shōtarō Tatewaki is a normal high schooler who attends a high school in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. He lives a usual life in the city that he said “is not infected with times anymore”. Later he found the corpse of a cat which has been abandoned by other students. Instead of avoiding it, he decided to bury it with the help of his friends and his science teacher. Later he explained the reason he do that is because of his encounter with Sakurako Kujō, a person who dedicated herself to bones until to the point of becoming an osteologist. While he is still uncertain of what kind of relationship he had with her, they continue to get involved with various things related to bones, which are usually followed by some cases afterward.
Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation (or in Japanese, titled Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru, literally means A Corpse is Buried Under Sakurako’s Feet) is an anime adaptation from a novel series with the same title. Kadokawa Shoten has published eight volumes of the novels since 2013 under their Kadokawa Bunko label, with over 600,000 copies in print. While the anime itself is producted by Troyca and started to air in Japan on October 15, 2015. The series is directed by Makoto Kato, who had worked as an episode director for Inari Kon Kon Koi Iroha, Servant x Service, and Aldnoah.Zero.
The first episode started with opening words from Shōtarō, accompanied by a unique music that gives a sense of mystery and a desire to know more about the meaning of those words. The background are very detailed, as seen with the falling sakura petals, or the school building. The detailed scenes can also be observed when Shōtarō and Sakurako went to search for some bones in Mashike, where the waves and flying birds seems so natural.
The other strength of this anime is in its unique theme: bones. In the first three episodes, Sakurako is depicted to have put all of her efforts into bones, so that she can explain what the Sphenoid bone is and why it is so importanti in our head, also where she could make an analysis of what a child do just based on seeing a fracture on the child hand’s. The main heroine is set up as a bone maniac, so she just sees bones as mere toy. Also, her ability to understand bones more than anyone, and her trait of ignoring anyone who disturbs her job, lead her to become an impromptu detective that makes her more unique and enliven the story.
Although this is a mystery anime, you don’t need to be thinking too serious while watching it. Sometimes there are funny things that happen, just like when Shōtarō reprimands Sakurako for her exaggerated love on bones, or when Naoe Ariwara, the police officer, trying to do something amusing but no one reacts on it. These things makes the story seems not really serious despite of how serious the things that they are doing, which involves dead people.
Even so, this anime still lacks in some aspects. The tendency for the main character to solve the case with long explanations seems to be a usual problem for any mystery series, and this anime is not exempt from it. These explanations could be of interest for those who likes to think about the solution of the problem, or for those who are really interested in biology in general. But for those who don’t really interested in those things, and just wanted to enjoy the flow of the story, this could be a little annoying. It is true that this anime try to cover it by inserting some funny scenes in the story, but those are not enough to defuse the possible boredom from the explanations.
Another thing that is still unclear is the relationship between the characters, especially between Shōtarō and Sakurako. There are also some characters that hasn’t been explained yet in the story. These things can make viewers more curious about what will happen next, but these also could also make them confused instead. Since these things might get resolved as the series continues, it is best to be patient and wait.
Although it’s still too early to judge it, Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation is a worthy show to watch this season. The unique theme about bones makes this anime stand out from other series in this season, but it still plagued by the problem of “long explanation” that may make some non-mystery fans not interested in this series. For those who are interested in bones and other related things, this series can become a good reference. Of course, this series is most recommended to mystery fans, because it offers a rare setting for a mystery series.
The Indonesian Anime Times | by M Razif Dwi Kurniawan
