Subete certainly isn’t rushing anywhere and that’s alright. The first two episodes looked to be setting up the closed circle and the third a closed room murder. What I like is that we are being clued in on the facts while the characters are so there aren’t any aspects like with Ranpo or Sako were the detective suddenly breaks the Knox commandments and presents evidence that was withheld from the viewer. We already have good ingredients here to ponder. We have two bodies, Dr Magata who had her legs and arms Amputated and was placed on a robot torolly. And the director who was murdered with a knife in the helicopter. Dr Magata was murdered in room that has only one entrance and exit. In the day she was murdered, no one entered or exited her room besides her corpse and The teacher confirmed that only the corpse exited the room and no one else slipped out during the confusion. The system had been programmed to mess up at that exact moment and that system was programmed by Dr Magata herself. Dr Magata herself was also in an adult relationship with the director despite being underage. On top of that there is a clear connection to the murder of Magatas parents 14 years ago which resulted in her getting detained here and this current murder. The pieces are fragmented but allow for speculation, this ladies and gents is true murder mystery. The difference between this and the quick fire no thought required mysteries of other shows is in just how much intelligent writing and misdirection is required to make it work. Because if at any point the author provides too much and gives away the payoff then the story is ruined. It requires a steady stream of information, never revealing the full hand. The big minus of these kind of stories however is in how they can really only be experienced once as on a rewatch you know all the answers. Still as a great mystery writer Ryoukishi wrote “Tales can be enjoyed twice. First you love them. Then you tear out their guts.”
At the moment my issue with this show is that we haven’t been given much of an introduction to the side characters. Our mains have been given plenty of attention but without much detail on the others on the island it’s difficult to draw up suspects to the murders. I would like the next episodes to flesh out the motives and personalities of the others on the island. Particularly Dr Magatas sister who I currently think is integral to this entire mystery. Our main duo continues to have great chemistry and play off each other wonderfully. What I particularly like is how both of them are on the same level. There is no Watson in these two, both act as blacksmith’s tempering each other’s blades. Whenever one goes along the wrong line of thought the other counters and shows them how they are wrong. It’s a far more interesting power dynamic than having a Watson for Sherlock to explain his thoughts and show how brilliant a detective he is. The method in this show shows what the detectives are thinking while developing their characters and most importantly, showing that they are not all knowing gods of logic. What we have here is two very smart individuals trying to put together a fragmented puzzle and that’s just the way I like it. What is needed for the next episodes is clear, more information, more murders and more character development. Build on the foundation and at the right moment let it all come together in a giant payoff. The factor which will ultimately decide the final quality of Subete ga F ni Naru.
