The mystery anime "Kyokou Suiri", which was animated in 2020, is a work with the concept that the detective solves the case literally by fiction, that is, by lies. It is not a case where the whole picture of the case is revealed by the truth as is common in mystery and detective stories, but rather a case is resolved by a false conclusion. In the first season, the story revolved around the urban legend of Steel Man Nanase. We have looked back on the contents of the first season and summarized it!
Episode 1 One Eye, One Foot
One day, Kotoko Iwanaga, a petite high school girl who looks like she is only a junior high school student, falls in love at first sight with a graduate student named Kuro Sakuragawa at the hospital. However, Kuro has a beautiful girlfriend, and in an instant, their love is defeated. Still unable to give up, she takes a chance at a breakup, but Kuro introduces her to his parents and gets engaged, destroying Kotoko's brain. But one day, the two suddenly break up. Kotoko launches a fierce attack and finds out the reason for the breakup from Kuro.
Episode 1②
The reason for the breakup was that they encountered a real monster called a kappa on their pre-wedding trip. Kuro says that he ran away while she was trembling in fear, and that she had lost patience with him. However, Kotoko then says, "It was the kappa that ran away." Kuro was such a ferocious monster that even violent monsters who kill people fled in fear. And Kotoko, who saw through it, was also a one-eyed, one-legged monster who lost one eye and one leg when she was 11 years old and became the god of wisdom for monsters.
Episode 1③
Kuro goes to the library to confirm Kotoko's suspicious story and find out the truth. Kotoko suddenly appears there, and a monster tanuki who adores her appears, so Kuro has no choice but to believe Kotoko's story. But the story doesn't end there. The story of the monster tanuki tells us that a violent monster is nesting in this library. Kotoko takes Kuro to confront the evil monster, but Kuro's arm is easily eaten by the monster, the monster dies, and Kuro's arm regenerates as if nothing happened. Kuro himself was also an incredible monster.
Episode 2: The Boss Snake Hears
A giant snake worshipped as a water god in a certain swamp asks Kotoko, the god of wisdom for monsters, to listen to his troubles. Kotoko was going to see the giant snake with Kuro, but was turned down for some reason, so she went to see the snake alone, angry. The snake's trouble was a murdered body that had been dumped in a swamp a month ago. The female culprit had already been caught, but the snake had heard her say "I hope they find it" when she dumped the body in the swamp. The snake wanted to know what the intention behind those words was.
Episode 2②
The perpetrator of the crime, Tanio Aoi, made a puzzling statement to the police, saying, "I thought the giant snake would eat me." Kotoko explains that the line "I hope they manage to find it" was intended to use "Lord Orochi" as the subject, but Orochi is not convinced due to the puzzling confession. Kotoko points out Tanio Aoi's original motive. Tanio Aoi had a lover named Machii, who was embezzling and having an affair, and when his embezzlement was discovered, he committed suicide with his lover. However, it turned out that the man who was killed this time, Yoshiwara, had killed Machii and his colleague to cover up his own crime and frame him. Yoshiwara, who believed that the successive misfortunes were a curse, confessed his crime to Tanio Aoi.
Episode 2③
Then Kotoko brings up the theory that she protected an accomplice. In fact, it was not Tanio Aoi who killed the victim, but someone who was present at the scene. In order to protect someone, Tanio Aoi drowned the body in a swamp and confessed to the crime. She then says that she hoped to use the power of the giant snake, known as the water god, to make it rain and destroy the evidence. However, the giant snake says that if that were the case, she would not have said the words "I hope they find it," and Kotoko easily denies the accomplice theory. And it is said that the contents of Tanio Aoi's confession are almost true. Kotoko says that Tanio Aoi had a big goal.
Episode 3 Rumors of the Steel Man
Tanio Aoi's true goal was to use the power of the police to find something she had once thrown into the swamp. It was the remains of a child she had with her former lover, Machii. Tanio Aoi was pregnant with Machii's child, but she miscarried due to Machii's embezzlement, adultery, and suicide. Considering Tanio Aoi's state of mind at the time, it would not be surprising if she hated Machii, and she disposed of the miscarried child by throwing it into the swamp. However, after learning that Machii was innocent, she deduces that she wanted to somehow pull out her baby and mourn it, which the giant snake agrees with. In reality, it seems that Tanio Aoi really wanted the giant snake to eat her body.
Episode 3②
There was a rumor that the ghost of Karin Nanase, an idol who died earlier this year, was haunting every night. The monster, who wears the idol's costume and carries around the steel beam that crushed her, became a rumor called Steel Man Nanase, and many people who had actually seen it were sent to the police. Saki Yumihara, who works at the Traffic Division of the Police Station in Makurazaka City, also increasingly hears about the Steel Man Nanase. Saki's senior detective Terada feels that there is some kind of artificial manipulation behind the Steel Man Nanase, but Saki has a vague feeling that the Steel Man Nanase is a real supernatural being. Saki once encountered a real supernatural being and is still suffering from the trauma of that encounter.
Episode 3③
That night, on her way home, Saki meets a strange beautiful girl who calls herself Iwanaga Kotoko. Furthermore, the monster from the urban legend, Nanase the Steel Man, appears at the scene. Saki boldly tries to capture Nanase the Steel Man in order to overcome her own trauma, but she is unable to touch Nanase the Steel Man and is saved by Kotoko at the last moment. Saki reveals her identity to Kotoko under the pretext of interrogating her and tries to talk to her, but Kotoko learns that the person she helped is a police officer and, moreover, was Kuro's former lover.
Episode 4: The Idol Dies to Steel
At Saki's apartment, Saki asks Kuro about his recent situation and what Nanase the Steel Man is. She desperately tries to show that she is Kuro's current girlfriend, but Saki, who has been with her for five years, sees through the fact that Kotoko is just insisting that she is Kuro's girlfriend, and is made to understand the truth. However, Kotoko is a mysterious being similar to Kuro, and she knows that she could not treat Kuro with the understanding that he is not human.
Episode 4②
Koujin Nanase, also known as Nanase Karin, whose real name is Nanase Haruko, was not originally a very well-known idol. Although her media exposure increased after she became a regular on the drama and her opportunities to shine increased due to her intelligence, she did not end up becoming that famous. The reason she became famous was the accidental death of her father. He died after falling down the stairs, her relationship with her father was not going well and there was a fuss that the fall was murder, and she died in an accident in Makurazaka City when her face was crushed by a steel beam.
Episode 4③
Koujin Nanase is a real ghost, but she is an extremely different existence that panders too much to the public's image. Even if it was a real supernatural phenomenon, Kotoko would often be able to communicate with it, so it would be impossible for it to attack people indiscriminately. Then, Kotoko came to a certain conclusion. She contacted Saki again, saying that she needed detailed information about Karin Nanase to deal with the Steel Man Nanase. Kotoko was waiting for Saki at a family restaurant, but when Steel Man Nanase appeared nearby, she harassed Saki and left the scene.
Episode 5: The Monster of Imagination
When Kotoko rushed to the scene, Kuro was facing Steel Man Nanase. Saki also arrives and the two of them watch Kuro's fight. Kuro's head is crushed by Steel Man Nanase, but it quickly regenerates and he manages to subdue Kuro at the last moment by dodging an attack from a steel beam. Kuro was once fed mermaid flesh and the aforementioned flesh at the Sakuragawa household, which gave him an immortal body and the ability to determine his future by dying. Kuro twists off Steel Man Nanase's neck, but he does not disappear and instead stands up as if nothing had happened. Steel Man Nanase then disappears, but it becomes clear that he is an existence that cannot be controlled by normal means.
Episode 5②
After moving to another location, the group discusses Steel Man Nanase at Saki's apartment. Steel Man Nanase was not afraid of Kuro. Kotoko explains her speculation about Steel Man Nanase, with the intention of keeping Saki and Kuro at a distance. To the eyes of the monsters, Kuro should have appeared as a terrible monster, but Steel Man Nanase did not seem to be afraid. This means that Steel Man Nanase's true identity is a monster of the imagination created by people's desires. In other words, Steel Man Nanase is not a monster told in urban legends, but a monster created by urban legends.
Episode 5③
There are monsters in this world that are born from urban legends, but they usually don't have that much power. However, a certain entity solidified the image of Steel Man Nanase, rapidly spreading the information and creating the monster that it is today. That entity was a summary site about Steel Man Nanase. Steel Man Nanase's appearance and ferocity were exactly what was written on the summary site. In other words, Steel Man Nanase's true identity was the Steel Man Nanase summary site itself. The fact that the appearance of Steel Man Nanase that Kotoko and the others saw was exactly the same as the picture on the top page of the Steel Man Nanase summary site was the embodiment of the image of that top picture.
Episode 6: Rational Fiction
Koujin Nanase was a monster born from people's desire to be like this. That is why he became immortal, violent, and uncontrollable. In order to defeat Koujin Nanase, if the Koujin Nanase summary site can lead public opinion from "Koujin Nanase is a real ghost" to "Koujin Nanase is a fictional object and does not exist," Koujin Nanase will lose his power. However, it is true that Koujin Nanase is a real ghost, and it is necessary to repaint it with a fiction that is more popular with the public, in other words, to cover up the truth with fiction.
Episode 6②
In order to create a fiction that would make the public think it was interesting and change their mind, detailed information about Nanase Karin was essential. Otherwise, it would be impossible to fabricate the culprit and motive. In the end, Saki decides to cooperate with Kotoko and the others, and tells them detailed information about Nanase Karin from the materials she received from her colleagues.
Episode 6③
First of all, the circumstances of Karin Nanase's death were somewhat unusual, as she was crushed by steel beams at a deserted construction site at night. It was thought that she had been meeting someone, but there was no evidence because it was raining that day. In addition, there was no evidence that Karin Nanase had used steel beams to protect herself, so the police concluded that her death was an accidental death that was very close to suicide. This is because Karin's older sister, Hatsumi Nanase, who is the prime suspect, had an alibi and was negative about her suicide.
Episode 6④
Kotoko comes to the construction site to find out the truth of the incident. There, she is told the truth by a ghost who witnessed the incident. The truth of the incident, which was revealed by a secret technique, was the police's final conclusion that it was an "accidental death that was very close to suicide." Saki, a police officer, seemed to be unable to accept the illegal method, but this allowed her to know the "limits of what the general public can consider" and the "truth of the incident," which are the prerequisites for fighting against Koujin Nanase. However, Koujin Nanase, who has gained power, will finally claim a new victim.
【In/Spectre Season 2】Review of Season 1
I've put together a review of Season 1 of In/Spectre! Although it's a mystery, it relies generously on the power of the occult, and the pursuit of the truth never solves the case, so the concept of resolving the case through fiction was novel and interesting! There were no noticeable flaws in the anime, and I think it's a work that we can look forward to in Season 2. There is also a summary of Episodes 7 to 12, so please take a look at those too!
