New Anime Review - Culticle Detective Inaba

Anime Name - Cuticle Detective Inaba
Aired - Jan 4, 2013 to March 22, 2013
Episodes - 12
Produced By - Zexcs, Sentai Filmworks 
Staff - Susumu Mitsunaka (Director), Mochi (Original Creator), Hideo Takahashi (Sound Director)

Does an anime have to make sense to be good? Or even have a general direction to be appreciated? And how far can a show really go through just plain humor and gags? Well, pretty far if you consider this gem of a show which neither did get the attention it deserves nor did it fool itself with that notion. Rather the creator and the artists just tried to give enjoyment to the select few viewers it is likely to get and achieved even a certain level of perfection in their approach. And having a cool villain or rather a cool mafia goat (not joking really) villain is a huge boost to this awesome attempt at insane comedy.
The plot-line is absolutely ridiculous in a good way, it follows a werewolf detective Hiroshi Inaba in his attempts to catch the goat mafia Don Valentino through solving some really funny cases along the way. The overall story also has subplots involving Hiroshi trying to reunite with his brother and various other side characters including the narrator Kei generally goofing around. On a first glance it doesn't seem much as you expect some kind of show that is bound to get repetitive, well that is so wrong. Each and every episode has generally 2 parts in it and you never guess what to expect next. With a interesting cast of characters the writers threw one after another of these funny situations and you can never guess what to expect next. There are episodes featuring flashbacks and even chibi characters in a unrelated story and even a day at the zoo. Despite the randomness and wacky humor at a few times during the show you almost think the writer is trying to get serious with some emotional scene and right then you are almost smacked in the face with even more slapstick humor.
There is a background plot involving the main characters' past and corruption in police department which seems to have a more serious basis but then again the writer pulls you back into the fray with his very rich sense of humor and enjoyable variety of characters.
The story gets 8 out of 10.

The characters as always are the life of a show like this and this show is quite lively with them. From the hair fetishist werewolf Hiroshi to his cross dressing over protective assistant Yuuta to almost normal yet manically cat loving other assistant Kei. From superhuman detective Ogi and his incredible family to all other minor side characters (such as the goat's Lorengo, hot blooded assassin Gabriella, cute mad scientist Noah and real weak brother of the main character to name a few) all are very unique in their roles and add to enjoyment in a very nice way. Special mention is to be given of the mafia goat Don Valentino, to me he is one of the most interesting villainous character ever in any anime out there (at least comedy wise). His unique way of speaking and his money eating tendency, his various tricks that usually backfires in weird ways and his unique sense of mafia honor really adds to the overall charm of the show. No matter what other people would like to tell you the goat is the star of this show, period.
The characters are the most interesting and gets 9 out of 10.

Although a show like this one obviously had a low budget the people behind it really did a great job of not making it noticeable through the animation. While it never really tries to reach any new boundaries with its art and animation it does the job perfectly well through its various comical drawing styles with nice chibi drawings and some excellent shots of the characters in many forms (as they even did a manly goat!) which overall add to the wacky humor and make you really laugh out loud.
This gets 8 out of 10.

The sound was once again quite nicely complimentary to the atmosphere of the show. But I have to mention the voice actors as in a show like this they have huge responsibilities which in this case they pulled off nicely. Tooru Ookawa was once again the star as the Don Valention, I mean that ending theme is something that I almost never could skip. He did an excellent job and despite everything most of the times I really rooted for the Don knowing fully well he would never succeed. Other aspects of music and sound on the show was not bad by any means but never really draws attention to any detail.
The voice acting pushes the show to a new boundary so the sound gets 8.5 out of 10.

At the end of this reminiscence, I really do keep remembering the fun I had watching the show, as at the last episode while the cast kept saying how they are sad this is the last episode I couldn't help but be sad with them. This show was something I enjoyed just for sure power of wacky humor and incredible cast of characters and would love to see more of them which I know is never gonna happen. Fortunately this show have much re-watch value and I just might do that in the future. Highly recommended to any fans of comedy or any one just wanting to watch a light show for fun.

Overall Score -
                         8.5 out of 10.

"Believe ~Eien no Link~ (Believe ～永遠のLink～)" by JAM Project
Read more at http://myanimelist.net/anime/15751/Senyuu./#DyIPv5e7CCR8hMqW.99

If you want more info and other reviews of this show check out it's MAL page -
http://myanimelist.net/anime/15109/Cuticle_Tantei_Inaba/