English Dub Season Review: The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Haru Kato is a demoted detective who cares about justice and being a hero. He meets Daisuke Kambe, the heir to the Kambe family who joins the police seemingly on a whim. Haru doesn’t agree with Daisuke’s outlandish methods of using his wealth to solve the crimes. They solve cases like a hostage situation on a train and a missing pet that a boy lost. Later on, Haru accepts that Daisuke’s methods are useful while Daisuke begins to see the limits to his wealth.

Then the cold case of Daisuke’s mother spurs on a reinvestigation which leads to a hunt for the criminal responsible. The murderer turns out to be the Kambe family butler acting on the orders of Daisuke’s grandmother. She stopped the spread of information on the material Daisuke’s parents were researching on. Daisuke arrests his grandmother and the two continue to work on cases pertaining to the material his parents were researching.

 

Our Take:

The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED brings a fresh take on the detective genre. The lavish spending of Daisuke Kambe, the heir to the Kambe family gives a twist to solving the cases. The soundtrack is jam and the voice acting is good. The series starts off with a case by case, but later the show focuses on Daisuke’s mother’s murder. Those cases in the show occasionally follow a generic pace, but with a few added twists. The case with the train hostage situation has an unexpected solution which definitely amused me.

Haru Kato aspires to be a hero and has a strong sense of justice. However, his trauma from a former case holds him back and places him into the laxer modern crimes prevention task force. Daisuke brings up his trauma in the most insensitive way possible and it’s a unique take on the cliche scene. From the start, Haru is against Daisuke’s creative method of using his money rather than investigating like a normal detective. Granted Daisuke’s method does involve bribing people on occasion like his informant. Daisuke’s arrogant personality doesn’t help either so they have a tentative partnership throughout the series. Over the course of the show, Haru reluctantly accepts Daisuke’s methods and high-tech gadgets. On a few occasions, he even uses them to his advantage.

Daisuke Kambe is a millionaire who uses his family’s wealth with the help of his A.I. butler, HEUSC. Despite his arrogant and aloof personality, he’s not your cliched heir that’s joining the police on a whim. In fact, he rejects being the Kambe family heir on multiple occasions. In addition, the reason why he joined the police is to find the culprit of his mother’s murder. Even without HEUSC or high-tech gadgets, Daisuke is a formidable opponent. For example, his martial arts helps him against a mercenary on the cargo ship.

The themes of the show are pretty much set from the beginning with the power of wealth and heroism. Daisuke’s purchases varying from a bridge permit to the expensive gadgets displays the power of wealth and its obvious uses. The show displays an interesting contrast between Haru and Daisuke with their methods and their personalities. There’s also how far people are willing to go for things they value. For example, Chosuke and his determination to catch the culprit to the cold of Daisuke’s mother.

The anime does show the constraints of his wealth. For example, HEUSC denies him access to information on the parts made by his family’s company that are in the bomb. Haru opens the door to get them out of the room and saves Daisuke from that situation. However, it leaves an unsettling fact on the power of wealth and its limits to Daisuke. Another example is when he goes a day without HEUSC and ends up at Haru’s place watching a detective show. It is one of the earlier episodes with not much action. However, it was a good way to establish some normalcy and their partnership outside of the cases.

Haru’s actions throughout the series are heroic despite his need to prove it with a badge. He does realize at the end that he doesn’t need to prove himself in the first place. In the first episode, Haru rescues a child from Daisuke’s reckless driving is a prime example of that. His trauma involves accidentally shooting a victim in a bank hostage situation. Daisuke pulls Haru out of his trauma of shooting another person by convincing him that he’s always been a hero. His passionate personality makes him a good contrast to the more aloof Daisuke Kambe.

The minor cast does get their limelight in the series. However, their moments happen at the end of the series when things start to kick off with the cold case. For example, Chosuke Nakamoto, Haru’s mentor, and one of the detectives who worked on Daisuke’s mom’s murder. His way of questioning culprits is what makes Haru respect his methods rather than Daisuke. His questioning did turn aggressive at one point and shows the negative aspects of his method to Haru. There’s Suzue Kambe, a relative of Daisuke who assists the duo in their cases. Her role ranges from infiltrating to using HEUSC at the family home while drinking boba. The lax members in Haru’s group get their time to shine by tracking down the culprit to Nakamoto’s murder. Haru’s former partner, Hoshino often tries to get Haru to back off on cases that aren’t in his jurisdiction.

Now the cold case for Daisuke’s mother was a good mystery. The show throws out a red herring that’s Daisuke’s father, Shigemaru. He appears to have murdered Nakamoto and the chief when they bait the culprit of the cold case. However, it turns out to be the butler of the Kambe family on orders from Daisuke’s grandmother. The case involves a special material known as adollium. Daisuke’s parents were researchers and Daisuke’s mother wanted to release the research to the public.

However, Daisuke’s grandmother stopped the release because of the potential effects on the world. She orchestrated his mother’s death and his father’s accident after an argument between the two. After finding out the truth, Daisuke places her under arrest while Haru fights the butler who’s been masquerading as Shigemaru. Haru accidentally releases the research on the material to the public. It leads to an open ending as Haru and Daisuke get cases involving adollium.

Overall the Millionaire Detective is a good watch if you’re looking for a detective show with a twist. If you want to see a rich guy throw around money to solve crimes then this is the show for you.