Short Review : Beautiful Bones
It's been quite sometime since I updated this blog. University stuff is more hectic than I expected, but it would be a lie if I blame it all on assignments and lectures. Procrastination is like an abyss, the more you dive into it the harder it is to come back to senses. Speaking of abysses, I've stumbled upon this anime when I was finding for some underrated anime to add to my never ending bucket list.
Beautiful bones is an anime for those who are currently stuck in the past, or specifically for those who mourns over family's or friend's death. This anime focuses on a very fresh theme, osteology, or in layman terms, bones. A basic summary of this anime would be a forensics-detective anime with an osteologist (Sakurako) & an annoying highschool boy (Shoutarou) as the leading roles.
I was very impressed with the execution of episode 1, gave off a heavy Hyouka vibe. When the BGM plays, you know shit's gonna happen. But around 3 or 4 episodes later Sakurako doesn't say the line anymore. It's not entirely a bad thing, as the scene is getting a little redundant, because the director decided to use the same cutscene like in some sort of VN game.
Story wise, there are some cases I really like, for example the Toddler case, Cursed man case, Entrusted bones case. But there are some cases which felt a tad bit slow. I like the amount of plot twists in this anime, but maybe for those who watched a lot of detective dramas/anime will be able to predict these 'twists' quite easily. It's quite the let down due to the fact that the most interesting case being left cliffhanging, with episode 12 being a backstory episode instead of a revealing episode. However, I personally don't think this anime will receive a sequel adaptation any time soon though...
I like how Sakurako is built with a mysterious vibe, the main drive for all viewers probably is of wanting to know about her backstory with her brother. Her eccentric personality is suitable as a main protagonist. Also, I really like her way of talking, spouting quotes after quotes with each case being solved. The rest of the cast is pretty average, very forgettable characters in my opinion. Moving on to the art & animation, quite the norm I suppose. Nothing especially beautiful, the animation is of average quality and the character designs aren't anything close to outstanding.
"Dear Answer" and "Uchiyoserareta Boukyaku no Zankyou ni" is a very good opening and ending (respectively) for this anime, I won't say these are marvelous songs but it suites the overall vibe of the anime. The main charm point of songs in this anime is the BGM "Sakurako's Investigation", a very well written OST, I can't praise this enough.
Conclusion : (8.5/Average)
It's not as 'underrated' as I hoped it would be. Overall impact of this anime is pretty weak, as I haven't yet experienced a heart breaking lost of a person with close-relation. I'd say you can watch this anime before Hyouka or Bungou Stray Dogs.
Watch it here! : https://animixplay.to/v4/4-sakurako-san-no-ashimoto-ni-wa-shitai-ga-umatteiru