Ryoko's Case File

A cross-dressing James Bond? Kind of... Ryouko is a very strong character who has a few things in common with 007, it is also quite an action-packed show much like the Bond movies and also over the top at times, so I guess so. The Japanese X-Files? Yes and no. Sure, this is science fiction inspired by Japanese mythology and there is an esoteric and supernatural vibe to the investigation of the criminal cases, however, there are no aliens which is the first thing you think of whenever The X-Files are mentioned. So what exactly is this show? It is better than the usual supernatural whodunit, dominated by a main female protagonist who you are either going to love because she is the archetypal perfect, sexy woman I think a lot of grown-up men (say aged thirty and over) see her as, or you are going to be deeply offended as her character is cold, calculating and overconfident, which some men are afraid of (especially those who consider their ideal woman to be a cute, ditzy little girl they can control and boss about). I find myself more in the former category. In other words, Ryouko is a mature, strong, empowered woman, and there are a lot of strong, confident, sexy women out there in the real world. Add to this the fact that the main male character can in many ways be described as "just a sidekick" and the male ego takes another significant blow. On the other hand, I can relate to Izumida in many ways as he is a nice, kind, and loyal sort of guy, he is also not to be taken for a fool, and he is sometimes quite cool and I kind of get what the main female protagonist sees in him. So the central duo seems a bit unbalanced, although gradually, as the situation gets more complicated, it changes and the lines are a bit blurred. What I also like is the finále, which partly shows the way some of the cases are interrelated. Some of the enemies are not going to be forgotten and it makes sense why: for example, a whole episode was devoted to weird parasitic trees or an armored centipede... I thought this was a quite good show and if I had to sum it up in one sentence, this is what I would say. So thanks to Grek1 for his recommendation in his Youtube show Anime Cirkus, which partially compensated for the absence of another crime drama anime series The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED from this year's schedule... 6/10. (02/05/2020)