English Dub Review: Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit “Family of Four”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

At a noir-esque bar called the Long Goodbye, Nijo meets with his informant. He thanks her for the intel on “B” before probing her further. She assures him that Nanatsuki is as clean as a bleached comforter, which seems to relax him a smidge. However, she leaves him with the distressing news that the black market is brimming with enough weapons to start a war in Tokyo.

Later, the gang is investigating a car explosion. It left a man slightly charred but put his son in intensive care. Ichinose doesn’t believe this is an accident since the father recently purchased a hefty insurance package for his son, and he lost two other children in an auto accident two years earlier. Nanatsuki is ready to investigate with his mentor but is instead teamed with Nijo who doesn’t appear thrilled by the arrangement.

After speaking to the car dealer and insurer, the two men visit the father at home. On the surface, the man appears gutted over what happened to his son—as well as the two other boys he lost before—and the promise of insurance money doesn’t seem to soothe him in the slightest.

After Bellemer and company determine the car fire was indeed a criminal act, Nijo and Nanatsuki have a talk about Ichinose. Nijo confesses that while Mr. Charisma has the ability to know what people are really thinking, he lacks the ability to shoot, run, and not slack off every five damn minutes. He also warns the rookie not to trust Ichinose since he’s been known to sacrifice partners—(cough, cough) Nijo’s brother.

At the hospital, Nijo gets further upset over Rookie’s insistence that the father appears innocent. He gets so mad, he makes Nanatsuki visit the child while he questions the doctors. Luckily, the punishment gives Nanatsuki the opportunity to save the kid from a bomb planted beneath his bed.

It’s soon uncovered that the other two boys the father lost weren’t related to him by blood. Now the main suspect, he insists he wasn’t aware of their true parentage until after they’d died. Nijo doesn’t buy it and pressures the father to admit to his shame.

Special 7 manages to clear the father’s name when the incendiary device that blew up the car was made by the terrorist “B.” While the father had alibis during the last episode’s bombings, the car dealer did not. In fact, the dealer is revealed to have a colorful history. He’s a disgraced university professor, fired for experimenting with explosives. This new revelation allows Nijo to apprehend the dealer at the hospital before he can plant another explosive.

While Nijo wants to kill him, and save the courts the trouble of an execution, Nanatsuki stands in his way, claiming such an action would be immoral. However, when “B” pulls another active bomb from within his coat, the rookie doesn’t hesitate to dropkick the bastard in the face.

 

Our Take

After having it needlessly teased last week, we finally got our Nijo-centric episode. I mean, yeah, the story still focused on Nanatsuki—they all will—but we did get a better glimpse into the life of this anal-retentive elf. We learn Nijo isn’t as straight-laced as he lets on. The meetings with his informant may be accepted by Boss and the others, but they certainly aren’t sanctioned by Special 7.

Even though our pince-nez-wearing elf understands the 7’s motivation more than ninety percent of the force, he doesn’t trust them all the same. He wears his issues with Ichinose as a proverbial chip on his shoulder—one that has lasted nine years. While this gives Nijo’s character some much-anticipated depth, it’s kind of a silly grudge. How could you hold onto something so personal, that involves the death of your brother, and still work with a guy for almost a decade? I know elves have their share of otherworldly powers, but nobody—man or beast—can suppress so much emotion for so long.

Later on, I predict Nijo will discover that Ichinose wasn’t the instrument of his brother’s demise, and a simple conversation between the two detectives could’ve easily clarified the misunderstanding. At that point, the great analyst will realize he wasted a nine-year grudge, and the only analysis he couldn’t ace was the analysis of his own heart. Plus this is TV and we haven’t seen a body, so, chances are, Nijo’s brother is still alive.

The next character this show needs to focus on is little Bellemer. Even though she wasn’t around much, she figured out who made the explosives, got the father’s alibi all worked out, and fished a deep background probe into the car dealer, all in the brief amount she had allotted. Now that Nanatsuki is over his initial prejudices of treating her like an insignificant minor, I can picture these two getting into some ripe mischief together.

Anyway, back to Nijo. This man is begging to get caught with his secret dealings and pent-up desperation. It will be interesting to witness the moment in which he inevitably erupts. How much damage will he leave in his wake? The answer to that can only be unveiled in due time.