REVIEW: ‘Pretty Boy Detective Club,’ Episode 8 – “The Pretty Boy Traveling with the Brocade Portrait (Part 1)”

Last time with the Pretty Boys, we learned the secret of those mysterious, personless paintings when Ms. Kowako Towai appeared, explaining the nature of her “kidnapping” and her auditorium-size painting. We also closed the book on an arc and started a new arc. Now, in Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8, we’re on to a brand new mystery with the Pretty Boys!

Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8, “The Pretty Boy Traveling with the Brocade Portrait Part 1”, starts a brand new arc involving more art. It feels fitting coming off an arc that started with investigating art. Our story starts in a dark, dimly lit hallway with gorgeous, haunting sound design that builds to a chorus of Japanese koto. This forms the background for a mysterious, kimono-clad young woman who’s likened to a peony. She’s also compared to a yokai. Specifically, she’s compared to a zashiki-warashi, which are child-like spirits who bring fortune… and mischief in equal measure.

This opening also builds to an initial mystery. Of what? Well, of why that very young woman is standing dressed like that in the middle of a school campus. This entire opening is done in the style of a silent movie. This includes text cards flashing up every few moments to give a bit of exposition about what Mayumi, who’s present for this entire scene, is saying. The whole sequence is incredibly stylish and really sets Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8 apart. It’s definitely an interesting start to this brand new arc, though it doesn’t hint at what the mystery might be outright.

After Mayumi’s strange incident, she heads off to the opulent club room. Upon her arrival, she’s greeted by quite the sight: a giant oshie-hagoita, which is a collectible paddle featuring a relief made of paper, gilt, and various decorations. What it is, specifically, doesn’t immediately matter: what does is who put it in the club room. Many names from previous episodes get tossed around: Ms. Towai from episode 7 and even Fudatsuki from episode 4 and episode 5’s arc. Hyouta even tosses in Ms. Rei from the first arc of the series. In the end, the pretty boy’s debating goes nowhere. Instead, they move on to a different topic without coming to any conclusion.

However, Mayumi has something she needs to talk about. What she has to say connects directly to the topic the pretty boy’s so quickly passed up. She saw a zashiki-warashi, and perhaps… that brought the oshie-hagoita to the room. However, it’s quickly revealed that the child she saw wasn’t a yokai: she’s actually Nagahiro’s fiance, who was mentioned way back in the first arc.  She quickly becomes the focal point of this arc’s mystery, raising two questions. Why did she do this… and how?

Overall, Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8 does a lot of table-setting for the case at hand and even kinda sort solves the “whodunit” of the case. Still, there’s plenty of mystery left to fill out an episode or two more. That being said, Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8 feels like the first half of a case, rather than the first third like the opening arc. 

Pretty Boy Detective Club Episode 8 shows that this series still has what it takes to be a really fun show. This episode isn’t necessarily the most action-oriented, but it does a lot to set up the falling action and twist that viewers can expect as the arc continues. All in all, this is another solid episode. It definitely should keep viewers hooked on the antics of the Pretty Boy Detective Club.

Pretty Boy Detective Club is now streaming on Funimation.