Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions Episode 20 Review - To Catch A Hummingbird
This case is the story’s most unique one so far. No one dies. The culprit has good intentions with his crimes, but like what Toto says, a crime is still a crime. Hummingbird’s identity was obvious, and the case is more of how he made Nyonyon disappear and why he did it.
Even as a viewer, there were some inconsistencies with what Nyonyon says and her actions. She claims to be afraid of heights, yet she was able to jump down a window with ease. Mitsuhashi has locked her up in a room where her acrophobia would be crippling her, so it is weird that she did that. Most of all, Mitsuhashi did claim to not know much about music yet knew about the sound level of the laptop Toto was holding. Mitsuhashi did feel like she’d be an accomplice for Hummingbird, but she’s actually the real Nyonyon with the blonde girl being a stand-in.
It was obvious that Sanno is Hummingbird, but what got me off guard was the fact that he was able to pose as a detective and sneak in. Apparently, he’s not a real police officer and the people with him are his accomplices for kidnapping Nyonyon. The way he presents himself was rather creepy, though. It was as if he was going to kill someone at any given moment, if he could. Though, I’m glad that it didn’t happen. Hummingbird’s real target was Mitsuhashi, the real Nyonyon and that the fake one is safe in the backyard.
Why does he kidnap genius talents? It’s so that he could help his thirteen-year-old daughter who had gotten a psychological breakdown over the pressure of being a young and talented pianist. When she looked at a performance on television one day, her catatonic state started crying, which then caused Hummingbird to believe that if he brought genius talent to her, she’ll be able to recover. His motives are a bit misguided, but they had good intentions.
It was nice for them to get in contact with Chikori before following Sanno into his car. I wonder if she’ll show up for a big case later on as she’s been popping up once every often like how she was in the first episode and now this one. Since she’s a crime reporter, having her around would be a very good merit for them. Maybe she’ll appear in the next case, whatever it may be?
Though, I did find Namazu underutilized for this case. I get that he’s supposed to be the opposing detective to Sanno and Toto, but the dude just yells at his phone and then leaves the area. I do hope that he makes another appearance in the future because it feels odd having him there and not do anything substantial other than to show off higher-ups.
Anyways, this was an interesting case where the culprit runs off and is not arrested by the police. In fact, good things happen with Nyonyon afterwards. It’s a weird case where the culprit was doing bad things, but the results were positive. I don’t really know what to make of this, but as long as he’s not killing people, I guess it’s okay? Still, kidnapping is bad, no matter the motive. What are your thoughts on this episode?
Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions Episode 19 Review - Talentnapping
Excuse me? What number did that police car have? 801? In the episode where Ron and Toto go on a date? Diomedea, are you shipping these two as much as the fans? I’m not complaining, though. This was clearly a date episode that was interrupted by work of all things again. Poor RonToto, work will always be the third wheel.
But yeah, a new case means a new situation. Instead of murder, this time, RonToto are dealing with serial kidnappings of talented people. The abductor is known as Hummingbird and they only abduct those with genius talent. Why? Not sure yet… However, the abductor’s target is coincidentally Nyonyon, the singer-songwriter that RonToto go to the concert of with the latter being a fan.
The craziest thing about the case is that we, the viewer, already know who Hummingbird is, if you saw the post-credit scene in the previous episode. Hummingbird is the detective Sanno and also the masked individual Ron spotted by the stairs at the concert venue. This means that the culprit is right next to them, yet Ron and Toto haven’t figured it out yet, which makes sense as they’re in work mode right now and have no idea that Sanno was the guy from earlier. Maybe Ron knows since he did the hair flip? Though, I’m also curious if Sanno is actually a detective or if he’s just posing as one.
Though, there are a few things bugging me about this case. If Nyonyon is afraid of heights, why is her office at the very top of a clock tower room? Also, is Mitsubashi, the manager, in on the kidnapping scheme or something? She just locked Nyonyon in her composing room while knowing she’s afraid of heights. Having her be alone is like the worst possible thing to happen because someone could easily swoop in from the curtain-shielding window. Or maybe there could be a secret room that Nyonyon was taken into?
New characters mean an influx of voice actors. Although these guys are just characters introduced for this new case, they have quite the well-known voice actors. Nyonyon is voiced by Ayahi Takagaki, who you might know from Durarara as Erika Karisawa. I think she does the singing too. Her manager Mitsubashi is voiced by Ami Koshimizu. Namazu, the newly introduced detective, is voiced by Rikiya Koyama. Sanno, or Hummingbird, is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai which makes me feel conflicted because a minor character like him is voiced by the same voice actor as one of my favorite anime villains Shogo Makishima from Psycho-Pass and that anime also has Akira Amano doing the character designs. Why must you do this?
It feels like the animation quality has went up a bit in this episode with how Nyonyon’s music video was animated. Though, I don’t really expect too much regarding animation for an anime like this as it’s not really action-focused as it is a mystery/detective story. I was just super happy about the RonToto moments. Regardless, I can’t wait to see what happens next. What could Hummingbird’s motive be for all these abductions? What are your thoughts on the episode?
