New Anime Series: Psychic Detective Yakumo episode 1

Do you see dead people?

WOOHOO PEOPLE! Finally the 2010 Fall Anime season is upon us. Well at least it now for me as a few shows came out before Psychic Detective Yakumo was up and subbed. BUT YAY PEOPLE. I was feeling so bored at home. XD

That being said right off the bat my Fall Anime season is already down to 4. Due to the fact that I can’t read or the Fall season chart I was looking at wasn’t as accurate as the newest one. But yeah Starry Sky and Goulart Knights aren’t coming out until December and one of them is an OVA. So slight disappointment there. But I guess 4 shows is enough so I shouldn’t be complaining.

In any event on with my first new show of the season. Slight spoilers for Psychic Detective Yakumo await you.

Let's be friends!

Episode summary: After a super emo opening song we are introduced to Saitou. He tells us in a flashy way him and his red glowy eye can see dead people and souls. Haruka is walking around campus looking for someone. She stumbles on Saitou from the paranormal phenomenon research club as he correctly predicts what cards people are holding. The people throw money at him and leave. Haruka sits down and explains to him she has a problem. A while ago she and her friends snuck into the old building on campus trying to scare themselves with ghost stories. Only weird ghost things have happened. One person has been possessed by ghosts and one killed himself even though he did not have suicidal tendencies. Saitou is like oh okay give me some money to fix this problem. Haruka realizes that the card thing was a scam and tries to leave, doubting Saitou’s powers. Saitou finally gets himself off the couch and agrees to help.

That doesn't look...so bad. I am sure things will turn out fine...

They go to the hospital to visit Haruka’s friend. Saitou sees dead girls floating all around in her stomach and he says that they are murder victims. He concludes that the run down school building must be where the bodies are or where they were killed. On the way home there is a commotion at the train station. Friend number 2 has jumped in front of a train. HMMMM. A teacher approaches them and asks Haruka why her and her three friends snuck in the house. Saitou is all HMMMMMMM! Saitou insists on following Haruka around because he thinks she is in danger. Haruka and Saitou visit the old building again and find a hole with all the missing people’s personal affects in it. Saitou then tells Haruka the teacher done did it. Haruka has her doubts so Saitou gets physical evidence and gives it to an adult police officer with an attitude.

Ghosts are better than a GPS!

Saitou continues to protect Haruka but she gets kidnapped by the teacher and taken to the old building. With the help of Haruka’s dead twin (whom Haruka says she killed) Saitou gets there in time and gets injuried protecting Haruka. His contact is knocked and his glowing red eye of doom is revealed. Saitou screams at the teacher and he runs outside only to be arrested by the cop dude. But not before setting the house on fire. Saitou and Haruka run to the roof and have a heart to heart about Haruka’s dead twin and how Saitou can give her peace about the situation WHILE THE HOUSE BURNS DOWN UNDER THEM. On the other side of town that is not BURNING TO THE GROUND a dude is trying to convince a grieving father he can bring his dead kid back to life. Said dude has two glowing red eyes so he must be a bad guy. THE END!

So not the most amazing or unique show ever but it was interesting. I will probably keep on tuning in each week at least.

My services aren't free!!!

Saitou is a bit of an asshole. I was expecting that so I wasn’t all MOG someone who sees ghosts isn’t sensitive and crying in the corner over the sadness in his life. If he was a girl he probably be the sad, sensitive type. But since he is a dude he has to play the tough card. Saitou can’t be having FEELINGS!

How come his club only has one member?!

I was a little surprised that he was cheating with the card tricks though. But maybe the whole seeing ghost thing doesn’t pay the bills. That and maybe he got pissed at people not believing in his abilities and that people treated him like a freak. I would want to scam people who treated me like that too.

She is a good friend at the very least.

Haruka could go either way with me. Her sad, sad back story almost made me roll my eyes. Really you killed your twin and thought she was hanging around your college campus, a place she has never been? Just almost too drama for words. I don’t see how throwing a ball over your sister’s head is getting back at her. But I also don’t see how it’s her fault her sister died. Look before you cross the street kids.

Glare more.

However Haruka was pretty strong. Two of her friends just died and she wasn’t falling apart in the corner. Another friend was in the hospital and instead of worrying about being next (like I would have been) she sought help to save her possessed friend. She could have shed a few tears after her friends died but she stayed strong because she needed to save the one friend she had left. She also didn’t fall down at Saitou’s feet to beg for help. She saw that he was flawed and was ready to leave his cheating ass behind. So while she could go either way (not so smart girl companion or friend who doesn’t let Saitou get away from crap) I think she will be tolerable. Hopefully more than tolerable but we shall see.

That was super hard guys.

Thinking back the mystery was really easy to follow. I was hoping that the teacher wouldn’t be the baddie in the end. Like ten minutes into the episode and we already know who done it? Have they not watched Law and Order at all?! But yeah it was pretty basic. The picture had 6 people, teacher mentioned 4. The students were all connected with the teacher. Teacher was the one in charge of the old school building. I just hope in the future the crimes are a little harder to solve. But I guess if ghosts could tell me the answers it would be easy to solve crimes too.

You is probably going to die. Sorry.

Not sure about the legit cop. He seems like the typical cop that doesn’t want to listen to a punk kid. But deep down he respects the punk kid and wants to be a father figure to him. That means he will surly die for this kid. In his dying moments he will tell Saitou HEY you aren’t that bad and will die. Old people are only in animes to die for the young people. And by old I mean people in their 30’s.

Behold I am evil. Trust me.

Not much is known about the bad guy. But he has TWO red eyes people. That must mean he has stronger powers than Saitou and has been corrupted and such. He is promising some dude that he can bring back his dead daughter so obviously that will not end well. But I need to know more about him so I can hate him properly. Of course using people’s pain against them is a pretty lowlife already but I need to know his story.

Could this be any more dramatic?

The opening song was a bit scary at moments. When the episode started my cat jumped off the couch in fear. It was a bit too dramatic for my taste. Saitou is such a tortured soul WE GET IT. Now can we see him being strong or something? The closing song was smoothing and the imagery wasn’t all over the place. Not sure who those people represent in the pictures (maybe people he is going to save or has saved?) but it was calm and quiet.

I want more suspense next time please!

Basically the show was okay. Nothing amazing but I wasn’t bored. I just hope the cases are more complicated in the future. It is too soon to judge the overall plot with the baddie and such. Saitou seems like the stereotypical I must hide my true feelings kinda guy but maybe he will grow on me. Hopefully this will be my new Tuesday show. XD Yay for not being bored today.

At least we don't have to hear about this sister drama all season...