English Dub Review: The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED “Nothing Makes a Man so Adventurous as an Empty Pocket”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Daisuke goes out much to Suzue’s worry as he hitches a ride to a park at Haru’s request. When he gets to the park he meets up with Haru and a fourth-grader, Tsuyoshi Nomura who’s looking for his puppy, Shiro. Then Daisuke realizes that he can’t use HEUSC or his phone, but the kid ropes Daisuke into looking for his puppy like he did with Haru. Daisuke tells them that there’s no way that the dog could be lost and it could be back at the boy’s home.  Meanwhile, Suzue panics while the grandmother comments that he could home when he gets hungry. The kid spots a white creature on the way back home, but it wasn’t his puppy and Daisuke disappears. Then the kid admits that he doesn’t know where his house is and Haru takes him to the police box while Daisuke reappears outside.

The two go to a local market and head back to Haru’s cramped apartment where Haru makes curry for dinner. They watch a cop show before drinking potato soju and Daisuke is treated to some Kato family recipes. The next day Haru continues to look for the puppy with the kid when Daisuke shows up with a similar white puppy which the kid happily hugs. Daisuke informs Haru that Shiro is dead and the puppy in front of them is a sibling from the same breeder. He passes on the expenses and asks for money for the train fare home. Once he’s home Daisuke whips up a natto recipe from Haru for dinner with Suzue.

Our Take:

This episode is a simple one without Daisuke’s creative money spending methods, but it makes up for the lack of excitement with the character interactions between Daisuke and the others. Furthermore, in contrast to the last episode, there’s barely any use of money from Daisuke since he doesn’t have HEUSC or his phone with him. It also shows how helpless Daisuke is without his wallet. However, he still retains a logical perspective with how he comes to the conclusion that the dog could have returned home and the fact that a dog’s smell is superior to a human’s sense of smell.

Now for Daisuke’s interactions with the kid and Haru. Even for an aloof man like himself, Daisuke is moved by the kid’s tears and agrees to help the kid find his puppy when the kid goes from the tears to immediate joy. Furthermore, at the end of the episode, Daisuke does help the kid reunite with a puppy even if it isn’t the real Shiro, it’s the thought that counts. Daisuke’s growing emotionally and he’s expanding knowledge with his interactions with the world. Then there are Daisuke’s interactions with Haru as they go to the market to buy dinner and at Haru’s cramped apartment. For starters, there’s the drinking after dinner while they’re watching a cop show. We get to see a different side of Daisuke with the depressed drunk Haru who does question him on why he chose their department in major crimes. There’s a subtle reaction by Daisuke ends up sleepy. Then Daisuke gets to try natto, a food that he really dislikes in a new way with Haru’s family recipe. He even shares it with Suzue on his return home. It’s a nice flow for the structure of the plot with Daisuke helping with the lost puppy and him being out in the world without HEUSC and returning home with a changed perspective.

Another interesting thing is HEUSC and how far it’s range could go. We’ve seen it being used to access a citizen’s emails, the purchase of a tower, the permit for a bridge, and now in a subtle way with Suzue sending messages to Daisuke through signs. It’s pretty amazing but at the same time scary as invasive as it is to a person’s privacy. There’s also the balances between Suzue and Daisuke. For Daisuke’s, it’s unlimited while for Suzue it’s limited. Now it could just be nothing, but it could correlate to their status in the family with Daisuke being the heir and all that.

The episode was a nice relaxer from all the crazy incidents we’ve seen so far in the series. It helped develop Daisuke’s character from the aloof person he used to be with his interactions with Haru. Hopefully, we get the reason why Daisuke joined the police as we dive right back into more crimes.