Ah Yes The Untold Origins Of The Detective Agency Or, As I Like To Call It, Dad Fukuzawa Origin Story

Ah yes The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency or, as I like to call it, Dad Fukuzawa Origin Story

one thing that struck me about today’s BSD season 4 episode (aside from the world-turning-to colour moment, which was super dope!), was the use of levels and positioning. in particular, i’m referring to ranpo’s scene here, where he makes his address to the audience.

first of all, the imagery of him being on a throne directly calls to his self-proclaimed new status as the “world’s greatest detective”. but what’s also interesting is just how high up he is.

it’s not so clear in those first screenshots, but here, you get this very clear view of how high up he is. he’s on the tallest level of the stage, above murakami, the policemen, and the audience.

this whole sequence takes place after fukuzawa hands him those infamous glasses, and tells him that he’s gifted. ranpo believes he’s an ability user, and so, this separates him from the masses in his mind, who are visually represented here by the audience on the ground (including fukuzawa, who hasn’t discovered his ability yet at this stage). and this not only separates him from them — it elevates him. putting him on, not only the stage, but the highest part, emphasises the difference in his self-perception. he is different from the regular ‘monsters’ because he is an ability user: a rarity, an urban legend of sorts.

even here, when the police officer (who is definitely not suspicious at all) comes over to compliment ranpo and fukuzawa, the concept of levels is at play. this police officer is, to our current knowledge, a regular, non-gifted human. he even expresses shock and awe at the fact that he’s in the mere presence of an ability user. ranpo is at the top of the stairs, again, emphasising his position as a gifted ability-user, someone beyond the skills of a regular human.

and ranpo’s (literal) elevation, especially in the stage scene, is also linked to the themes of the play itself, i’d argue. and like, full disclosure that i’m long overdue for a reread of untold origins since my memory is very blurry at best, so i’m just going to be basing this off what the anime does with the play (since, after all, this is a post analysing the relevance of positioning and layers/height/elevation in the anime).

at the start, it’s stated that angels are ‘gifted’ beings — and the word used here is, to my knowledge, the same as the word for ability user (please correct me if i’m wrong!). so the association is immediately established: gifteds — ability users — are strong, beyond human comprehension, and powerful enough to strike a fallen angel down. so that is to say, stronger than the normal, status quo.

there’s religious (largely christian) imagery written all over the stage. at the start, one of the fallen angels in the play is ‘murdered’, and the imagery behind is undoubtedly a nod towards the crucifixion of jesus. and this position and framing here very much reminds me of an altar. especially with murakami’s ‘corpse’ under the (white!) cloth.

ranpo’s position, above everyone, being deliberately above the cross, the centre of the spotlight — it’s almost as if he is some higher being. something there to cast judgement above all. something like… an angel. who are gifted beings, according the play, as he himself believes he is, since he’s been dubbed an ability user by fukuzawa.

indeed, the murder and the play are deeply connected — but so’s the symbolism of ranpo rising above everyone else and the concept of ‘gifteds’/‘ability users’ and the concepts laid out in the play. at least, in my view.

positioning has always been used in the BSD anime to display power dynamics and relations, and it’s a similar concept here. the subtle details make all the difference to the way we view the anime, i think. and that’s the power of visual storytelling!

I genuinely forgot that a new bsd season usually starts with a flashback

I didn't expect the untold origins to be animated out of all things, but that's a pleasant surprise!

are you telling me they didn't give us the-confused-and-angry-ranpo, shouting-in-the-middle-of-the-play-ranpo, causing-a-scene-in-the-theater-ranpo, just-a-little-boy-that-he-is-ranpo that we deserved???

the scrunkle

bsd but make it bunnies because i like bunnies