The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Anime Review – 71/100

It’s nice to see some rare gems like Housekishou Richard-shi surface in anime medium once in a while. It’s about a niche subject matter that is gemstones, and how these jewelries reflect the quality of its owners. The show also builds up a solid relationship between the main duo Richard and Seigi, although it remains ambiguous till the end whether their relationship could qualify as “romance”. The cases vary in its delivery and quality and frankly my biggest issue with the show is that I find a real lack of engagement to the main characters, each has traits that I found unrelatable.

Though to be fair, half of the equation is by designs. Richard in the first few episodes functions more like a perfect species than feel like a real human, even his manner of pointing things out to Seigi is passive-aggressive as best. His character shifts halfway through as we learn more about his past, as he doesn’t like the fact that everyone comments on his good looks, and that he used to use fake names to con buyers. As his character gets much more interesting, unfortunately it’s the other half Seigi that completely lost me in the second half. His quest to find out Richard’s whereabouts when Richard clearly wanted to tackle his issues alone doesn’t speak well to me. Moreover, the last two episodes when he encounters his Dad come out of left field to me, part of that is because he never really establishes his dark side before, and the other part is the sudden involvement of his step Dad which I believe we haven’t learned about him before.

Structure-wise, I like how Housekishou Richard-shi plans out. It gives the first half focusing on small cases, each involving a client and their gems and how those speak to certain traits of their owners. From a girl who is uncertain about her path of life (actually, there are several cases about that topic), to a mundane case of a kid who wants to gain his father’s attention. In the second half the show focuses more on the Richard-Seigi relationship, with some weird inclusion of Seigi’s classmate Shouko. I feel like the show doesn’t develop Shouko’s character to full potential as in the last few episodes she was hardly there at all. 

The main duo, Richard and Seigi, has a solid chemistry. I like the way the show keeps reconfirming how the other meant to them, and always put their relationship at test. To that end, I don’t feel wholly satisfied with the lack of confirmation in the romance sense. It’s not that I am looking forward to a BL story (and I am certain that Housekishou Richard-shi is not that kind of story), but sometimes I am confused with what exactly the show wants to convey, Seigi’s relationship with Shouko included.

Moreover, I can’t say the show is low-key since many of its cases have over-the-top moments, sometimes it works in detriment to the show. Case in point, the plot involves Richard having to marry against his will to receive the Diamond written on the will is ridiculous enough, the show goes even further of having Seigi pretend to be Richard’s partner because somehow it works? The production is about average, and that’s about to bring up my overall experience with Housekishou Richard-shi: it’s nice enough to watch it till the end, but it’s not something that I am overtly head over heels to.