English Dub Review: Case file n221: Kabukicho “Don’t Take Off the Swimsuit”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the detectives wait to uncover what’s on the egg thumb drive, Irene Adler decides to move in nearby to help out with the Pipe Cat bar, which includes taking part in the cases that come through. The next case involves a single mother who is in danger of losing her daughter to an ex-husband she never fully divorced from. Said husband is blackmailing her with the knowledge that her weak constitution would make it difficult to raise their daughter. What’s odd is that he never wanted kids when they were together, even divorcing her once learning she was pregnant. Regardless, Sherlock’s off this case to work on the egg drive (and having to babysit the kid), leaving Watson in Irene’s hands this time. They eventually learn, with the help of another old flame of his, the husband was seeking the daughter for a human trafficking operation, nailing him and solving the case. However, when Irene and Sherlock go to find the incriminating evidence, they witness the husband being killed by a mysterious assailant.

Later, it turns out the old flame was allegedly killed by Jack the Ripper, who seems to be after Irene next.

OUR TAKE

So, interesting detail I’ve learned about this show: it isn’t only twelve episodes long like I had initially thought, but twenty-four! That makes their current pacing actually a lot more manageable, including why they’re really only getting to the more story relevant episodes around now. We’re also finally revisiting the Jack the Ripper plot, which has gone rather ignored since the first episode. It’s probably a good time to get back to it now that we’ve crossed what turns out to be the first third mark.

It also looks like Irene will be sticking around like a proper detective for the foreseeable future, which seems appropriate given the original character’s status within the older stories. And true to form, she looks to be Sherlock’s intellectual equal, even superior in some places and keeping pace with him across this whole case. Now that we’ve gotten used to Holmes being the master of solving cases, it’s a neat way to mix things up by having someone basically putting him to shame, even in his usual Rakugo explanations for how he figured things out. She even seems a bit more morally conscious of the people she makes use of, even willing to sacrifice herself to gossip columns in order to protect the client and her friend. A shame that doesn’t keep said friend from meeting a gruesome fate by the end of the episode, nor keeps Irene out of Jack the Ripper’s sights, but these still feel like important character details to establish.

Looks like things in Kabukicho are starting to heat up and lean towards the more serious, which is something I’ve been wanting out of this show for quite a few weeks now. We have the return of the Jack plot, the addition of a fearsome new detective to the ranks, an increase in drama over comedy, and even what looks to be the influx of smarter and more intriguing cases to follow as learn more. Heck, the only thing I don’t think they’ve really addressed in awhile would be Watson’s own case, which I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting to soon enough at this rate. Hopefully, the next two-thirds of the series will get us closer to that, but I think what’s important is that this show is giving me a lot more confidence in its approach. I admit I was pretty skeptical of how things were being handled, mostly due to my thinking we only had about a dozen episodes to work with. Now I am more intrigued than ever to see where things go.