English Dub Review: Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit “The Two Investigate”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

We open with Charisma interrogating an obviously guilty dwarf. All he needs is a confession which he gets by lulling him into a false sense of security while he uses his “mind-freak” powers. Within minutes, he pokes so many holes in the perp’s story he gets the lying dwarf to confess to paying a hitman to kill his wife. A few looming cops are impressed and wonder why Ichinose works for a garbage dump of a unit.

Meanwhile, Boss treats Nanatsuki to an info-dump. He admits that contrary to the rumors, they’re not a drain on the department’s budget. They’re a special unit designed to keep tabs on the terrorist group known as NINE. Even though their alleged leader, Warlock, was arrested nine years ago, there are still members on the loose. Until they’re exposed, Special 7 is forced to waste resources on odd cases.

Boss reintroduces Nanatsuki to the team—which is really for the audience’s benefit—and it turns out the entire team hates their nicknames, except for the vampire, Akane. She doesn’t seem to care one way or another. He once again learns their specialties: Gramps (dwarf) = sniper; Nijo (elf) = analyzer; Bellemer (homonculus) = tech and drones; Akane (vampire) = samurai; and Ichinose (human) = possible mind-reading. With the introductions out of the way, Nanatsuki and Ichinose are called to a crime scene.

After a thorough canvass, they learn that there were four identical crimes committed that day. All the victims were politicians or former-politicians, they were all stabbed in the heart, and they were all currently under investigation. Quite the coincidence.

On the surface, the politicians’ indiscretions aren’t deathly serious: bribery, adultery, abuse of power, and drunk driving. But when the veils are torn away, the indiscretions are revealed to be major crimes such as child prostitution and slave labor. This points the team to the author of the blog that veiled these various crimes. This man didn’t want to expose them, but rather bride them. And by publishing only some of the damning information, he was sure to get their attention.

But wait, there’s a twist. The blogger is merely a patsy working for the four politicians’ secretaries. These admins came up with a Hitchcockian plan to murder each other’s bosses. And after a Law and Order-esque chase, Nanatsuki discovers they were working for NINE with promises of a post-politician world and a “new society.”

 

Our Take

This show is high-level entertainment. You’ve got your gritty settings, colorful characters, noir-esque themes, and well-crafted plots, which altogether create compelling television. Despite knowing this fun-loving team is a drain on the rest of the police department, I can’t help but root for them. Listen, I’m not a Japanese comptroller, and I don’t control how much tax revenue is relegated to the police, but I find it funny that Ichinose doesn’t understand why the politicians are always raising taxes. (Psst! It’s because of you, Ichinose.)

Also dragons. Let’s not forget to talk about dragons. Today we learned that NINE, along with being a super-shady terrorist organization, is also obsessed with dragons. They want to collect and harness these mythical beasts to do their bidding, not unlike a sadistic Ash Ketchum. But to quote the great Khaleesi, “Where are my dragons?” I want to see dragons in this show sooner rather than later. Forget the intrigue and tension-building scenes. I need dragons. Heck, there’s already a baby dragon in the title sequence. When does this little guy become a full-fledged member of the team? Where is our eighth Seven?

At the very end of the episode we find out that the diamond from the premiere has gone missing. We also witness a scarred member of NINE give the diamond to a man who looks a lot like Warlock, NINE’s leader who was arrested nine years earlier, after the airport attack. I’m very curious about what is going on here, but am also glad the show is wise enough to make everyone wait. There would be absolutely no tension if Special 7 were proven right immediately. My guess is, they’ll continue to be scrappy underdogs, looked down upon by the brass, for quite some time.

I like the team a lot, and hope every member get their own episode—at least one. Obviously they’re going to stick with Nanatsuki and Ichinose—our duel leads—for now, but this program has legs and will likely expand in the near future. If they don’t eventually do an Akane episode where she kicks ass and drinks blood for an entire twenty-three minutes, they’re really missing out on an opportunity. Prior to that inevitability, I hope we’re all looking forward to next week.