Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
Undead Murder Farce Episode 6 – Quick Summary
In Undead Murder Farce episode 6, “The Phantom Thief and the Detective,” Aya, Tsugaru, and Shizuku killed time waiting for the evening’s thievery to get underway. Aya said she’d like to visit the famous wax museum in London, so Shizuku inquired about tickets as Tsugaru bought a snack from a vendor – along with another random gentleman. Who happened to have a parrot in a cage. That looked just like Aya’s. Yes, Tsugaru and Shizuku lost Aya. Can they find her before Lupin makes his move? Will she ever forgive them? And why is Sherlock Holmes so certain he’ll fire six bullets before 11:00 that night?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Undead Murder Farce Episode 6
Annie was quite cross with Tsugaru. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
You know, I don’t think much surprises Tsugaru. He didn’t seem in the least bit bit surprised to see Annie Kerber in London. He even greeted her politely – right before asking if she had seen his master’s cage.
Annie’s a journalist, but she’s still young. She hasn’t developed her poker face yet, so her shock was apparent. But she got over it quickly. She’d come to London hoping to interview either Holmes or Aya (preferably both, I bet!), so her reaction to seeing an empty birdcage and one with a parrot felt completely reasonable.
“Huh?” she said, and I swear I heard anger in her voice (10:41). “I really don’t want to write an article saying that Miss Rindo died because her assistant got her mixed up with a parrot.”
I really don’t think she was worried about protecting Tsugaru’s reputation, either.
Favorite Moment from Undead Murder Farce Episode 6
Just look how happy Annie looks! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: A Carefully Crafted Setup
When I’m watching or reading a good mystery, there are a couple of rules I imagine I’d put into place if I were in the story. For example:
- Misdirection is an essential element in combat
- Never put all of your eggs in a single basket
- Trust but verify
Those aren’t the only rules I would keep in mind, but they’re the ones this episode made me think about. For example, remember when Tsugaru got into a fist fight with Arsene Lupin? Looked like a decent fight. The match seemed more evenly matched than I expected. Or was it? Did you see how fast Tsuguru recovered after “losing”? How completely unconcerned he seemed? I’m not sure, of course, but it sure looked to me like he threw the fight to give himself an advantage later.
He recovered quickly. Suspiciously so. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Were you the only one who got nervous seeing Holmes, Watson, and the other notable law enforcement types all in the room — the one, single room — with Phileas Fogg? The first thing I thought was, “Wow – they’d make an awfully tempting target!” And, well, we see what happened there at the end! I didn’t see the flood coming, but I knew they should have dispersed.
Finally, did you notice what Fogg said? He said he had personally verified the diamond was in the safe – before anyone arrived. Pretty convenient, if you ask me. Even if it’s the writer’s misdirection to throw me off, it’s still an important point, I think!
Delivery: Annie’s Unadulterated Joy
Those don’t lead to my favorite moment, but it’s a mystery, so I thought I’d share points that may or may not have any bearing on next week. No, my favorite moment has more in relation to my favorite quote than to my broader observations about the episode.
I said in my episode 4 review that I like Annie’s character. She’s everything I think a reporter should be. More than that (or maybe because of that), she’s just a bright, upbeat sort of person. The kind I rarely find nowadays.
Come to think of it, I only assume they still exist. I should probably look into that.
I wondered how Aya would punish Tsugaru. Then I remembered Shizuku would probably be more than happy to help! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Anyway, Tsugaru and Shizuku had just recovered Aya. Tsugaru apologized (and received a promise of punishment later – and wow, did Aya sound serious!) when Annie came riding up on her bicycle. Tsugaru turned the birdcage so Aya could see the young reporter.
Who bounded up to them and hugged the birdcage (11:49).
Even my cynical, cold heart hard to react to the pure sweetness of that gesture. It’s cool how a good work of fiction, especially anime, can convey that kind of feeling. Gave a boost to my day, it did!
What did you think of the twin thieves trying to kidnap Aya? What were your favorite moments in the episode? Feel free to share in the comments!
Undead Murder Farce Episode 6: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Undead Girl Murder Farce • Undead Murder Farce – Episode 6 discussion
- RABUJOI: Undead Murder Farce – 06 – The Gentleman’s Curse
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 01: Oni Slayer
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 02: Vampire
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 03: The Immortal and the Oni
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 04: The Headliner Appears
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 05: The Immortal of London
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 06: The Phantom Thief and the Detective
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 07: Free for All
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 08: The Banquet
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 09: Werewolves
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 10: Misty Hollow
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 11: Where The Wolves Dwell
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 12: Where The River’s Flow Changes
- Undead Murder Farce Episode 13: The Culprit’s Name
If I were protecting the diamond, I’d have swapped it with a fake.
I loved the part where Aya got mixed up with a bird in a cage. It was awesome! I’m totally with you about how easily Tsugaru lost that fight with Lupin. Tsugaru is pretty darn strong and tough, unless Lupin is some sort of super human, his punch shouldn’t have done much of anything to Tsugaru. Annie really is a ray of plucky sunshine. It was so endearing seeing her hug Aya’s cage when they finally recovered her.
This episode really emphasized something I realized about Aya some time before – she’s both completely invulnerable and completely dependent. No ordinary person can do anything to permanently harm her, but in turn there’s almost nothing she can do herself without having someone else to help her. It’s an interesting combination of traits.
It’s a good way to off-set Aya’s immortality/indestructibility, isn’t it? I hadn’t thought of it that way before. Makes perfect sense!
We haven’t seen anything about Annie’s first encounter with Aya and her helpers. I wonder what happened, since Annie hugged Aya’s cage and Aya spoke as one both familiar and somewhat affectionate with her, calling her, “our feisty reporter.”
The twins made their return, and Aya got a little reminder that there are those who absolutely would prey on her in her helpless state just as quickly and naturally as taking their next breath.
I also detected that Tsugaru seemed perfectly at ease despite losing a fight. He got a glimpse of how Lupin moves and thinks in a fight, and what he does with those shiny marbles. He can apparently move them at will, which increases his mobility while also making his opponent’s footing unsteady. The moment where he had marbles in his fist when he punched Tsugaru, and then we saw those marbles shattered into shiny dust within his hand, was odd. Speaking as one who studied karate in my youth, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that it does not make sense to have marbles in one’s fist when one is punching, and the fact that they shattered, let alone shattering without damaging the flesh around them, is much stranger than one might think at first glance. Knowing this show’s attention to detail, I await an explanation.
Holmes is very smart, but he played right into Lupin’s hand this time. Lupin mentioned planting two seeds with his visit, and I’d say we’ve seen at least one of them in action. I imagine Holmes was already on guard for Lupin’s mastery of disguise, so I don’t think that was one of them, but when he acted on what Lupin said about locks opening, he was doing exactly what Lupin wanted. After all, if they could just open the door, then flooding the room would be impossible.
You and Aya both had it right, that it was smarter to disperse their numbers a bit. I wonder if that’s all they did, though. We had the entire debacle with losing the cage, and picking up an extra cage, and then we see Tsugaru on a tower with a cage that he is not talking to, with Shizuka nowhere in sight, and, of course, a written message to Holmes when they could have just as easily told him face to face. Do we know that the diamond is actually still in the box, and that Aya isn’t?
Aya and Annie seems to get along quite well, don’t they?I like that.
It was terrifying how quickly the twins decided to try to take advantage of her. The sound of her screaming for Tsugaru to help her made me laugh — in a “he’s so dead for letting her out of his sight” sort of way!
I noticed the marbles shattering, but I’m glad you added some more depth. I’ve not taken any kind of martial arts training. The closest comparison I had was old gangster movies where some of them would use a roll of quarters in their fist. But the marbles wouldn’t work at all like that, would they?
Like you, I’m interested in seeing what the show does with that detail.
What I think was so cool about how Holmes got tricked is that it’s a natural conceit. He’s used to being the smartest one in the room, and usually, he is. It’s hard for him to break that habit. It’s something I’m so aware of that the protagonists (in the series of books I’m writing) consciously make the assumption they are not the smartest. Prevents situations like Holmes now finds himself in!
I had not even considered the possibility that Aya might not be in that cage. Or that she might be in the safe! Very interesting!
Heh, there’s a saying I’ve been working on coining: beware of sudden gift baskets, especially from people you do not like. Holmes got a little gift basket from Lupin, and was not wary of the contents.
Oh, I hadn’t heard that about a roll of quarters. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would work. A whole lot better than some loose marbles.
Hah, that scream was golden! And I’d say we learned exactly how trustworthy the twins are, ie, not at all. They’re opportunistic scavengers.
Although, alternatively, they might just be opportunistic imps instead.