Synopsis

Shoutarou is a “normal” high school student. I put the word “normal” in quotes because he really isn’t, because of his relationship with Sakurako, a bone-loving woman in her mid-twenties.

The relationship, though, isn’t really a romantic one. Sakurako already has a fiance, a guy who works in the police department. The relationship is kind of a working one, as Shoutarou digs up bones for her for some unspecified reason.

On one particular day, Shoutarou manages to dig up a human skull, much to Sakurako’s delight.

But being the sensible guy that he is, Shoutarou calls the cops, to Sakurako’s dismay. She wants to keep the skull for herself.

The cop tries to confiscate the skull for investigation, because of possible foul play as evidenced by the crack in the forehead of the skull. Sakurako doesn’t want to give him the skull, arguing that the skull is most likely dated to a century ago as evidenced by the lack of fillings in one the rotting molars.

One thing leads to another, and soon enough Sakurako butts in on an investigation to a double suicide case, declaring that it’s not suicide but double-homicide.

Why? Because of the way the knot is tied and the lack of evidence suggesting actual drowning. Was she right? We don’t know, because the episode never really went there. It was content with having Sakurako give her assessment of the dead bodies.

So this is essentially what the show seems to be: an anime about forensics involving a bone-expert civilian and a random high school student.

Review

First and foremost, I am annoyed at the false advertisements for this show. Most of the anime sites I’ve seen that gave a short description of this show says that Sakurako is Shoutarou’s girlfriend. And that is totally untrue. Shoutarou even says they don’t have a romantic relationship in one of his internal monologues (of which the show has too many of). I was looking forward to a quirky romantic dynamic, but all I got was some juvenile hipster forensic show.

Now don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with forensic shows in itself. The problem was that Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru isn’t very good at it. The use of both a civilian and a high school student to butt in on investigations is unrealistic and obviously panders to juvenile fantasies. The presence of a comically inept police investigator for Sakurako to correct is just a sad and pathetic strawman element. Even the investigation part is flat. The camera just jumps from one shot to another to highlight the important observation points, and Sakurako plainly dumps the information and conclusion to the viewers because someone just so happens to ask for an explanation. Worst of all, the show is content with just having Sakurako explain her observations and conjectures without making even an effort to reveal the truth behind the deaths. Part of the charm of forensic and detective shows is the human story behind the cases, and this show just plainly ignores that part.

Yes, I am quite salty about the false advertisements for this show. Hyouka is a better juvenile detective show than this.

Waifu Index

Sakurako seems to be designed to be the waifu for edgy hipster teenagers. But she’s already got a fiance, who is supposedly a nice guy. So if she flirts with Shoutarou, she’s like an unfaithful girlfriend. So I’m disqualifying her as a waifu.

Unless you want NTR.