Hello all and welcome to a rather late chat about Fugou Keiji! I blame Crusader Kings 3 personally, I was a bit busy conquering all of Europe. That aside, this week we get answers to a few mysteries only to have a few more introduced. Cho goes the way of all retired cops and Daisuke gets an unexpected reunion. So without further ado, lets dive in!
Overall, this was a pretty lackluster episode of Fugou Keiji for me. Everything about it felt rushed, felt like it needed more time. More time to expand on the mystery, more time to build up the characters or explore various parts of the setting. Iin this one episode Fugou Keiji introduced and resolved multiple different plots/mysteries, burning through its plot. Take for example the Third Laboratory which Cho introduces this week. We learn where Shigemaru was working, where he met his wife, where the gas from the Presidents assassination attempt was manufactured. However instead of getting an arc about discovering where it is, how to break in, why it was removed from the records etc, its all shoved into this one episode. Kato figures it out from a photo, we immediately drive over and bust in, only to discover something we already knew. It’s wasted potential.
Another example of wasted potential in Fugou Keiji is HEUSC, the AI. For a few episodes now it has been defying them, shutting them out and denying their requests. This episode we even see it start to take an active role against them. Scrubbing search results, denying access, seemingly watching them from the cameras. Yet despite it obviously being used against them, whether through its own orders or by someone else’s access, Daisuke and Suzue continue to rely on it. Fugou Keiji could have had a whole arc about fighting against, subverting or taking back control of HEUSC. Maybe trapping them inside their own mansion as they seek to escape from their own defenses turned against them. Instead they act as if nothing is wrong and continue to rely on HEUSC until the moment the assailant arrives and shuts them out.
Both of these issues are similar to Takei’s from last week and even Cho’s this week. How they could have spent more time with Takei fighting against Daisuke and co until the caught him themselves. How Cho could have done something similar, resulting in a 3-way conflict while the Kambe family is pulling the strings in the background before they all unite against them. I understand this is all out of scope for an 11 episode series, but that is precisely my point. Fugou Keiji is telling a story the deserves more than the 11 episodes it has been given. That its based on a 4 book novel series, originally written in 1984, only furthers this point. I have no idea how much of the series is an adaptation vs simply using the setting/characters. But the point is Fugou Keiji could be so much more.
And that’s the real rub of it all, the lost potential. Fugou Keiji is by no means bad, the core content and steps of the story were all there. Cho and Takei dying together, partners once more. The reveal that Shigemaru is not only still alive but actively working against them, or someone that looks like him. That his grandmother knows of it all and that the Kambe company is still carrying on their same work. All of these are, at their core, good ideas and we all knew Cho wasn’t making it the end. The man was a cop only a few weeks from retirement after all. But so much happened in this single episode that its like the series is operating under a time crunch, rushing to get to the end. It’s a damn shame, because even as a rushed mess, I am loving Fugou Keiji.
So all in all, how was Fugou Keiji? Well disappointment of wasted potential aside, I did still enjoy it. I like seeing Daisuke’s arrogance in action. Watching him throw people’s lives away to further his own quest, still not really caring about this whole “right vs wrong” thing. I like a lot of the mystery and hints Fugou Keiji is dropped, such as only one of Cho’s dice being in his body bag, the other a possible tracker he probably slipped onto Shigemaru. I like how the series is still holding onto some of its jokey charm with Kato and the rockets during the break in of the Third Laboratory. Its just I know it could be more. And that this lost potential is going to hold it back for some people out there. I can only hope the finale makes them enjoy it as much as I do.
