The final reveals takes some fascinating twists and turns as we get to the real truths.

What They Say:
Kindaichi reveals the identity of the real Executioner at last! But what prompted his acts of bloody vengeance? Plus, a guest appearance by Hajime’s nemesis!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having Kenmochi surface the last time around and plenty of easy suspicion thrown his way, the show certainly made it so that it seemed like he was easily guilty. There was a lot of things that forced the situation on the man where you could imagine that he’d do it, even going beyond his oath as an office to uphold the law. Kenmochi certainly didn’t help his situation in general with how he was acting, even with his basic denials, since he was missing for a lot of it and the amount of evidence is fairly strong. But a lot of it also felt a little circum special, so that it could hold for only so long. Luckily for him, he not only has Akechi on his side quietly but also Kindaichi, who can’t believe that someone he’s worked with so long would do something like this no matter how far he was pushed.

The attempt at framing Kenmochi has been pretty decent so far, but things are now having to get more complicated as the loose ends are starting to reveal themselves, which has Busujima apparently going to kill Kenmochi and we see the kind of tricks that Kindaichi has discovered that could make it possible. But we also get to events from a few days prior when the two met at the restaurant where Kenmochi was likely drugged that set everything fully in motion to pin everything on him. And unlike a lot of other murder mysteries, Akechi is right there with Kindaichi to start the reveal of who did what and when, exploring how the murders happened and the tricks that were used to do it. Busujima’s slow breakdown under the pressure of all the reveals is fun to watch, especially as he puts in a whole lot of denials, but there are a lot of little things that come together to make it apparent what happened. Some of it you can see not holding up too well in court on its own, but taken in full, you can see that coming together well to form the case.

But the real twist comes when it’s revealed that Busujima wasn’t actually involved in the murder three years ago and was unaware of what the other two guys were doing, especially since he was actually in love with the woman that the other two tortured. Seeing more of Busujima from that time and his interactions with Togami is certainly game changing in how you view the show, and especially the other two guys. It’s a pretty grisly and cruel situation, one that was horrible and got even further out of control that trapped Busujima in a very bad way. While Busujima hasn’t been sympathetic before, this definitely shifts the view of him and gets you to wonder more of what went on then and now and revisit all that we do know in this new light. That in turn eventually leads us to understand who the true mastermind in all of this was, which is rather anti-climactic in a way, as it was the Puppeteer from Heel that manipulated Busujima and orchestrated everything, using all the things that were turned against him in order to compel him into action.

In Summary:
Kindaichi hits pretty much one of the best arcs of the season here with the conclusion of it as we get the reveals of what went on. This one stands out since it delves into events from several years prior, isn’t locked to one particular location and doesn’t have Kindaichi himself in any real danger for the majority of it. While all things point to Busujima once again and he’s put against the wall with the reveals, we get a lot of things that goes deeper into explaining what went on and that helps to clear up events in the present and the past, though it doesn’t mitigate what Busujima has done, which is good to see. For those involved, both Kenmochi and Busujima, we get some really good closure and understanding for them as to why things played out like they did, and for Kindaichi he gets even more incentive to find the Puppeteer.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.