In/Spectre (Episode 9) - The Committee to Conquer Steel Lady Nanase

Kotoko begins to spin her counter stories to disrupt Rikka’s attempt to give Steel Lady Nanase more power while Kurou fights Nanase head-on. Saki can just sit and watch as her former fiance is beaten with a steel beam!

What happened?

In her attempts to explain the murder of Detective Terada, Kotoko tries to create a plausible method of killing him without him defending himself. She has settled on a concrete block on a pendulum that is worked by remote control. Then, when this is questioned as being overly elaborate, she counters by suggesting that the real killer is someone that couldn’t have defeated Terada normally and that’s why they went to the trouble of making it look that way. In short, she suggests the murderer was a female police officer that knew Terada and had spurned romantic advances…

InSpectre Episode 9 Kotoko spinning her fiction

What was your favourite element?

All right, so I found it pretty funny as Kotoko slowly but surely framed Saki for the murder. I saw it long before Saki did and had a little chuckle to myself. That is, unfortunately, the only part of this episode that I found entertaining. The story Kotoko was telling was absurd and really wasn’t believable in any sense and the lack of action, even with Kurou “fighting” Steel Lady Nanase just outside the car was a real dampener on the episode. The big worry I see here is that Kotoko has another three stories planned to further dilute the belief in Steel Lady Nanase and we have three episodes left. Surely, we’re not going to watch Kotoko sitting in the back of the car typing on a laptop for four episodes!

InSpectre Episode 9 Saki realising that Kotoko just framed her

What have you learnt?

I’ve raved about the dialogue in this series and it continues to be entertaining, but now we’re entering a situation where the show doesn’t have much more to it. It’s starting to feel like a one-trick pony and I remember feeling this way when Kotoko was attempting to please the River Serpent with her stories. As much as I enjoy Steel Lady Nanase, they really have taken this arc too far. It’s as if we’re sat at the pub with that one drunk guy that likes to tell stories. They were entertaining at the beginning, but they don’t seem to be going anywhere and there are too many jumps in logic for it to be believable. I hope that this series can find an interesting way to conclude the season that isn’t a drop in people believing in Steel Lady Nanase.