Beautiful Bones

Renxkyoko Iglesias here, Hello ! !

I watched Beautiful Bones, finally.  I’ve read  good reviews of this anime , but for some reason,  the synopsis  has not fully  convinced me to watch it until @Rocco B  suggested  that I should  because of its relevance to my college degree , which is Forensics Biology.

 

So what is Beautiful Bones about ?  It’s about a beautiful, eccentric, middle twenty-ish  Sakurako Kujo , an osteologist,who has a rather abnormal, unhealthy  and obsessive  fascination  for bones, and her de facto assistant, ( more like her digger  ) a high school boy  named Shotaro Tatewaki.  Sakurako  has a hobby of collecting animal bones and  reconstructing them.

 

What else can I say ?  I suspect the author  wrote this for entertainment, and not to be taken seriously.  I’ll tell you why.  Warning:  Spoilers  ahead !

 

a)   At the beach, we see Shotaro digging, it seems randomly , because we don’t see any part of the beach that has been dug up previously, but lo and behold, he finds a human  skull at that  one specific point. Shotaro  calls the police, a policeman ( Itsuki ) comes  and tells them the skull should be turned over  to the authorities.  Sakurako tells Itsuki it’s useless because the skull is 100 years old anyway.   It’s finders’ keepers. Now how the heck does she know it’s 100 years old ?  The author  seems to want the readers to believe that Sakurako  is that good and that from hereon ,  any pronouncements from Sakurako should be taken as the truth.

 

b)  Itsumi does not agree and drives  them to the police station . On the way, they see an on-going crime investigation at the beach . Sakurako orders the cop to stop  driving  so she can check out what’s going on. The detective  present at the crime scene tells her it’s a double suicide ( after asking her “who the hell are you?” )….the man surprisingly allows her  to interfere   and thru  mere eyeballing,  she concludes  it’s murder.  Why so ?  It’s the way the knots are tied on both the  dead couple’s wrists.  In other words, Sakurako is also an expert on knot – tying.  But that’s not what is wrong in  this scene.  Why has she been allowed to interfere in the first place  ?

 

c)  One episode has Itsuki  asking  both Shotaro and Sakurako to help his  middle school classmate who fears that he is going to die just like his relatives because of a curse. Sakurako concludes there’s no such curse. She concludes that his relatives died from stress  (  the family is affluent and heavily into business ) and then,  she tells them the  paint in an ancient painting that has been in  the man’s family’s possession for generations  contains arsenic ( the one hanging on the wall ), and the mold and fungus  that have accumulated at the back of the painting have caused  the paint to release arsenic gas.  ( that’s why the man is coughing )   In other words, Sakurako is not only a plant, painting,  and chemistry expert,  she is also  a behavioral psychologist.

 

d)   She does not have a job. She learned  Forensic Anthroplogy  extensively from her  deceased uncle who was a forensic scientist, which makes me wonder why she doesn’t know basic police procedurals.

 

e)  The relationship between Sakurako and Shotaro is very vague and ambiguous, and  makes me a bit uncomfortable.  However, Sakurako calls her shonen. (  Boy )  Come here, boy.

 

f)   Maybe the author has forgotten that Shotaro is a student.  Doesn’t he have school works to do, instead of tagging along with Sakurako wherever she goes, digging for bones and trying to solve mysteries.  ?

 

g)  Sakurako is very intelligent, and rich ,  but I think there would be less plot problems if she just gets herself employed  as Forensics anthropologist, and Shotaro should be older and  in college , studying Criminal Justice or Forensics.  Hanging around with Sakurako should then make more sense.

 

The anime ends at Episode 12, but there  are still  quite a number  of unresolved issues , like,  Sakurako has a) a  fiancé in the police force, but he has never once appeared in the anime b) there’s a serial killer  who is involved in most of the killings,  c)  who is that little boy in Sakurako’s flashbacks… he’s her little brother, I know,  but what happened to him?

 

My other problem with this anime is Sakurako herself.  She can be so rude  and insensitive it borders on cruelty. Hence,  she’s unlikable.

Beautiful Bones  reminds me of   Sherlock Holmes. Sakurako is Sherlock, Shotaro is Dr. Watson, and that serial killer is Moriarty.

 

If I had to rate this , I’d give it  a 6/10 for entertainment value.  Do I like it ?  Despite my numerous eye-rolling, yes, I do.   The theme is , after all, right up my alley.