Welcome to Jeweler Richard, one of the two shows that Amun and me are going to take turn to blog each week. For me, I find it interesting to see the varied opinions between me and him on the same shows. This episode, in particular, divides us. Amun hates it but I find it decent – not on par with the premiere, but still very decent. Granted, I can see some issues this week, most notably the case that has little to do with Richard’s appraisal skills. The jewelry in question this week is the pigeon-blood ruby, known for its namesake color. Mami the client wants to know whether or not the ruby had been heated, but it’s increasingly clear that there’s something else that she wants. In terms of the progression regarding that ruby case, it is all over the place at best. Suddenly out of nowhere, her fiancee appears to info-dump about Mami’s backstory – and the thing was he’a never that important a role to begin with. She uses a fake name whose we soon find out is the name of her past’s flame. On the positive notes, Jeweler Richard the show has this fascinating view about women’s lives – Seigi’s grandma last week and Mami this week show how these women struggling with the roles they were expected to perform and their real desires. For that I’m willing to look aside all its shaky elements for now.
Seigi, true to his name, also involves in the case a bit too personally. Truth is I found his antics less appealing this week. He makes some innocent discriminated remarks, in which Richard immediately scolds him in an on-the-nose fashion. He also actively tries to help Mami out, which is unprofessional but tells you about his idealism. Sometimes though, I just feel like his involvement serves as advancing the plot instead of fleshing out his character. Elsewhere, Shouko (voiced by the lovely Kana Hanazawa) reappears and shows Seigi that she’s equally adept at gems and stones. Expect her to pose as a third wheel to Seigi – Richard ship but I know that poor girl stands no chance against the handsome multi-linguistic gems-expert totally-perfect Richard.
Overall, I’m not sure if Jeweler Richard could hold the interest for an entire season. For me, they need to work more on the relevance of the jewel to the case, but I still like the atmosphere, and its rather interesting look at women’s lives. Let’s see what Amun have to say about it next week.
My big complaint here is Richard. Pretentious, flat, and more judgmental than those he criticizes. This show is just making straw-man arguments – while using the same stereotypes it decries (lesbian comes out, gets a short haircut? Come on now). I’m starting to think episode 1 was an anomaly, with the deficiencies of Richard and Seigi masked by a good story. Richard really hasn’t done anything in two episodes but drink (and not drink) tea – Seigi is the one forced to carry the plot…which his over-the-top character isn’t well suited for. He’s been shouting and confused most of the time so far. The rest of the show is mediocre, with very few gems being discussed (and the crap with the coincidental name at the beginning was insulting to watch). This week’s CGI looked better, but that was about all I can compliment.
I personally don’t really see the problem with Richard. He’s a bit bland, perhaps, and rather passive, but I think that fits quite well with his persona as a perfect, unflappable gentleman who treats all his clients with equal respect and consideration, and without giving them any reason to take offense. But judgmental? He has adopted certain standards for his practice and holds his employees to them – nothing wrong with that. You could call him pretentious, but I’d say that’s pretty much the point of his character: he’s a high society individual who has made its values his own. He should be a bit pretentious.
I also think Seigi and Richard actually make a pretty good match. I’d probably get tired of them quite quickly if they were on their own: Seigi is a goodhearted kid but a bit too impulsive, especially given the business he’s in; and Richard has the composure and maturity that Seigi lacks but is very detached. So in my view, they complement each other quite well, and restrain each others’ worst impulses.
As for the stereotypes, cutting one’s hair is extremely common in anime after a character has gone through some life-changing experience or other. So I don’t think the connection to lesbian stereotypes was intended here.
Anyhow, long story short: I think the show is still doing fine. It’s not a masterpiece or anything, but if it continues on its current path it should be a nice collection of short, empathetic, laid-back stories about normal adults living their lives that are vaguely structured around jewelry and narrated by characters that are flat but inoffensive. For a quiet winter season, that’s enough to hold my attention.
(It’s fine to disagree, though! Just giving my two cents.)
@Supermario: do you really ship Seigi and Richard? Their relationship seems purely professional to me, and it going romantic would go against Richard’s entire code of conduct. So I think Shouko-Seigi is a likelier option. I’ve seen other people talk about it, though, so maybe I’ve just missed the obvious signs.
@Animosh: I was sarcastic when I shipped our main boys. In truth I feel the show won’t commit to it, but it might teasing the boys’ bond a bit. We shall see