This week’s Beautiful Bones was really solid! I know, I’m surprised too. But it seems like whenever the show is able to slow down on the overt mystery plot, it does a much better job of making its characters feel like people. That’s what elevated the first half of the Cursed Man arc, and it’s certainly what worked here. Instead of being preoccupied with establishing a bunch of new mystery variables, this one focused on two tiny linked mysteries that were really just avenues to discuss the various characters’ feelings on love and loss. It was understated and thoughtful and just pretty strong all around. Nice work, Beautiful Bones.
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!
Very pretty backgrounds, as usual
Shoutarou visits his grandmother’s grave
They meet up with classmate girl, Yuriko
Her grandmother said that when she got married, she’d give her one of her grandfather’s paintings as a present
Cute banter conversations between them, Isozaki sending Shoutarou the silly picture
Analyzing which of the paintings might have been intended as a wedding gift – the horse, the flowers, or the island. Going through the meanings of the subject’s words, as well as tying them to the grandmother’s hobbies
Nice art for this old legend sequence
“You knew that your happiness was her happiness”
“This is beyond my ability. It is a secret between you and your grandmother”
This is a nicely peaceful episode
“There are things that have value because they’re pointless, you know”
Sakurako’s relative is getting older
Sakurako being moe about wanting more pudding
Shoutarou’s grandmother didn’t like pudding, but she liked the memory of the two of them being happy together
And Sakurako’s grandmother even does the Sakurako hand-steepling thing
This episode actually features some classic mystery deduction
She had Shoutarou buy the pudding to slow his trip to the hospital, so he wouldn’t see her in pain. His happiness was her happiness
“Some things have value because they’re pointless, right?”
Sakurako makes a big routine of not being emotional, but she gets the drinks to save her grandmother the strain
“I do have my dignity. You don’t have to worry about me”
Glad you liked this episode, which I personally thought was a well-constructed look at a facet of the overall series theme concerning ‘the people left behind’.
Just so you know, though, Gran isn’t one of Sakurako’s real, biological grandmothers, but a servant that works for her family. The address term that has been translated as “Gran” (“Baaya-san”) actually means “wet nurse” or “old housekeeper.”