REVIEW: ‘Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions’ Tries To Do More Than It Should

Totomaru Isshiki (Junya Enoki, Honkai Star Rail) was struggling as a detective. Looked down on by his peers, his career was going nowhere until he was told to seek the help of a shut-in named Ron Kamonohashi (Yôhei Azakami, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury). Ron’s brilliant deductive skills swiftly become a great asset to Totomaru’s work, but a tragic incident from Ron’s past forces the duo to hide his involvement in their crime-solving in Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions (Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri).

If there was an award for best chemistry in an anime, Totomaru and Ron would be a lock to win it. The series’ lead duo delivers a perfect odd couple as Ron’s bizarre behavior during investigations sets up Totoramu’s angst perfectly while he tries to explain away the oddball things Ron does. Even though such scenes play out multiple times in each episode, the pair flows together so well thanks to the strong voice acting and skillful writing. It never manages to grow old once during the 13 episodes that make up the season.

The animation further aids the duo’s onscreen antics. While Ron’s cool confidence and penchant for snappy, if strange, disguises are brought to life through wonderful character designs, so too are Totomaru’s frequent panic attacks, delivered through quality animation. The series always knows just how far to push the visuals on the humor side so that it lands but doesn’t go over the top.

Much like the protagonist in last season’s Undead Murder Farce, Ron showcases a level of deductive reasoning that is off the charts. Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions utilizes this brilliant mind to its fullest by crafting intriguing mysteries for the super sleuth to solve. From bathhouses and live broadcasted game shows to mysterious killings claimed to be the work of gods, the show provides lots of inventive circumstances for Ron to deliver his brilliant solutions. But while the core of the character works great, there is one part of him that doesn’t work, which unfortunately ties into the series’ biggest problem.

The reason why Ron is a shut-in when Totomaru finds him is his obsessive need to solve mysteries. You may wonder why this would be a problem for such a brilliant mind. Well, upon discovering who has committed a murder, Ron “pressures” the culprit into taking their own life. Only the fast response of Totomaru is ever able to keep the grisly deed from happening.

Now, I put pressure in quotes because that’s what they call it, but that doesn’t seem to be what happens. Ron just gives a flat, monotone command and the target follows it. There is a strange glimmer in Ron’s eyes that is reflected in his victims, implying some sort of psychic gift. But no sort of ability is ever hinted at directly in the show. So how this pressure is applied is never addressed and feels weird.

What makes these moments after each crime even more baffling is the fact that Ron dreads them. His dread is baffling because he never seems capable of realizing if he doesn’t want to pressure the culprit into suicide he simply needs to not be present when the identity is revealed. That no one ever suggests this blatantly obvious solution to Ron’s issue is perplexing, making each time it appears annoying.

Ron’s murderous intent, as it comes to be called, also links Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions back to its biggest blunder, the overarching plot of the series. In this world, there is a single academy that trains all the world’s great detectives, including Ron. But while he was attending the prestigious institution, he was found among several dead suspects in a case he was trying to solve. Believing he had killed them, although no conclusive proof could be found, Ron was forbidden by the school to ever sleuth again, under penalty of death.

This entire concept is so bizarre that every time it comes up it hurts. The central focus of the show, along with the dazzling chemistry of its leads, make this weird, conspiratorial plot line little more than an unwelcome distraction. I get wanting a larger narrative to tie things together, but having this convoluted plot that just gets weirder as more gets revealed about it hinders the series far more than it helps.

Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions mostly succeeds, thanks to its overwhelming focus on the parts of the series that work. The humor and chemistry that form the core of this buddy comedy are second to none. We’ll just have to wait for season two to see if it can make the rest of the narrative pay off enough to make it worth its presence.

Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions is streaming now on Crunchyroll.