Mystery to Iunakare Tokubetsu Hen (2023)

Sherlock & Sherlock

Don't Call It Mystery is a japanese drama heavily borrowing from Sherlock Holmes modus operandi.

Konou Totono is a quiet, loner of a student whose goal in life is to make curry and survive the day. He goes to university and is apparently without family and some of his memories re missing which does not seem to bother him too much. His remarkable feature is unruly curly hair making him easily recognizable. Another quality of his is an extraordinary attention to detail which surprises everyone around him especially when he explains how the events unfolded with his dead pan delivery making is to obvious in hindsight. Therefore he is just like Sherlock.

In the first episode he is arrested for murder and while sitting in the police interrogation room and talking to detectives, he solves the case for them and happily goes home to make his curry!

This special 2h episode (not 2h25 as indicated on the MDL page!) takes place between the first and the second episode of the series. It reprises the first episodes with a few additional scenes introducing a new character important for the second part of the special in which Totono and this new character, embark upon a strange part time job looking for a buried time capsule.

The extraordinary and a bit disturbing new character, a classmate called Sagara Ren takes Totono along on an adventure. Ren's apparently happy go lucky disposition actually hides capacities similar to those of Totono.

The music is a bit strange for a mystery show: highly recognizable classical music punctuates and stresses the events on the screen with only one song in japanese during ending credits. The cinematography is, just like the rest of the series, saturated in cold colours: grays and blues are prevalent but since it takes place in winter it is appropriate. Goes as well quite well with the character of Totono.

I do not know if this additional character will show up in the movie: but seeing how he just breezed through, like a genie I would be surprised. I actually half expected this special to turn ito fantasy when I saw the important place Ren took: he was always dressed in white and sporting a huge smile (poor actor must have had cramps after filming this!).

This is definitely a good watch: and it can be watched without problems by those who have not seen the drama.

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Fun little extra but not a lot of Totono

The first half was a rehash of the first episode so it was nothing new, and the second half was a new case which was a pretty cute watch and a fun addition, especially since I absolutely loved the original drama. But there actually wasn't a lot of Totono in it.

The case introduces a new character — Sagara Ren, who was bubbly and fun and had a really adorable relationship with Totono. I loved the two of them together and I hope we get to see Sagara again.

The case itself was fine, but the detective work was actually done mostly by Sagara and the other characters, and it just didn't have the same endearing awkwardness that situations usually have when Totono is front and center.

Overall, this is definitely not a necessary watch, but it's light-hearted and low stakes. I can see why it was split off into a special and if anyone wants to see Totono again it's still worth tuning in for.

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