Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions – Episode 2 Recap & Review

The Case of the Locked-Room Piggy Bank Theft

Episode 2 of Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions opens with Ron Kamonohashi’s past. Our protagonist is standing next to a corpse and surrounded by a group of onlookers. They’re surprised that he was able to solve a cold case, Ron expresses his gratitude.

In the present, Toto arrives at Ron’s apartment. Ron opens the door before Toto can knock and he shoots a barrage of questions at him asking if Toto has a new case. Toto doesn’t have anything, so Ron throws a tantrum and says that his ‘overflowing passion for solving mysteries’ is getting wasted. It’s here that he mentions BLUE.

BLUE is a detective training academy, and it happens to be the best in the world. Ron reminisces about his past and also mentions that he was touted as ‘the greatest genius’. He also says that all the suspects in a practical exercise died after he went to investigate them.

Suspicions were raised against him and he was expelled from BLUE. He was also debarred from obtaining a detective’s license.

He would be punished to death by BLUE if he breaks the rules, but Toto says that Ron was sleuthing in the earlier case. After some back and forth, Ron has a whole plan in his mind to continue sleuthing undetected. Toto suggests Ron give instructions over the phone, but Ron wants to meet the dead and pay his respects. 

Toto shows Amamiya’s photo to Ron and Ron immediately deduces that she has a fanbase at the station. In the photo, Toto is in the background and Ron deduces that the photo was taken secretly. Ron says that the person who clicked the photo must have good taste, unlike Toto who get shrilly when talking about Amamiya. Toto says that he is scared of Amamiya.

The scene cuts to an incident from earlier that day. A new case was reported and the team heads out to investigate. Toto asks to join and Amamiya tells him that she gave him a folder of menial cases instead.

Toto believes those files are called as a trash can. Ron says one day the trash will shine and asks about the current case. Toto believes it was a report about missing money from a piggy bank but it ended up Division 1 by an error. (Now the episode title makes sense!)

Toto calls it an impossible case and it might not interest Ron since it is just about some change. Ron looks excited, dons a disguise and also throws a flex about his reputation at BLUE. Toto almost steps on Ron’s cat and wonders if it is dead, but Ron again says it is sleeping.

Toto and Ron head to the person who had made the piggy bank report. Toto just finishes his introduction and Ron chimes in with his disguise. He tackles a pin suitcase in the entryway. Ron admires the piggy bank and belts out a bunch of information. 

Toto wonders how Ron knows all that and Ron says he just searched on Toto’s phone. He also marks the color of the piggy bank and the girl says that it was cheap and the only one available.

Toto asks the girl and his sister’s whereabouts on the day of the theft. She says she was out and found the piggy bank lighter than before. Ron exclaims that his moustache got caught in a jewellery piece. The girl says the jewellery piece belongs to her sister.

Ron asks Toto why he thinks that the thief did not steal the jewellery. Toto affirms that it is indeed weird. The girl says that she has been receiving blank calls since a few days.

Ron says that he gives up on the case since it is not possible to find out who took the money from a sealed piggy bank in a securely locked house. Toto exclaims that it only contradicts Ron’s claim that it was his speciality to solve the unsolved cases.

Ron lies on the floor and gulps down undiluted black sugar syrup. Just then, the girl’s elder sister arrives. She informs of her whereabouts and she also mentions that her sister might be imagining the lightness of the piggy bank.

Ron says that they should leave it at that. Toto shouts at him to not throw away the case. The younger sister says the piggy bank was as heavy as an iron statue. 

That is the clue Ron as looking for and he asks to break the piggy bank. He informs that Toto will send the coins for fingerprint verification. Ron says that he is going for a walk and they will all meet up later.

The scene cuts to evening. Toto arrives huffing and puffing to Ron. Toto receives the verification results and it is revealed that the younger sister’s fingerprints were not there on any coins. Ron confirms.

The place where Ron and Toto are currently at is at the case from earlier in the day. The case of a body of a twenty-something male with a head injury found at the riverbank.

Toto and Ron march up to the crime scene. Amamiya asks who Toto’s companion is. Toto just introduces him as a friend. Ron challenges Amamiya that Toto will solve the case. Amamiya rebuffs this claim but tells Toto that he is fired if he screws up the case.

Ron does what he does. He lies down next to the corpse and everyone is stunned. Toto begins with the piggy bank case but Amamiya tells him to skip that part since it has nothing to do with Investigation Division 1. Ron snickers a rhetoric that he thought it was Division 1’s trash.

Toto proceeds with the explanation of the piggy bank case. The sisters are surprised to hear the forensic verification results. Only the elder sister’s fingerprints were found on the coins. It’s impossible to open the piggy bank without breaking it, but one can always replace the existing one. Toto believes the earlier one was broken and a replacement placed in its stead, going on to say the reason why she replaced it relates to the dead man at the riverbank.

Toto believes that the man was the elder sister’s stalker. He chased her all the way to the living room, took the piggy bank and hit the stalker on the head, thus killing him. In order to conceal her act, she got a new one and filled it with coins; this is why the coins only have her fingerprints on them and she used the suitcase to move the body.

Amamiya is surprised to find that the piggy bank case and the dead man’s murder are connected, and the elder sister confesses to the crime. Toto says it was in self defence but Amamiya says it is crime to cover up a murder as well.

Ron goes into a trance again and commands the elder sister to drown herself. Toto tries to warn the elder sister but it is too late. She runs towards the river, Amamiya tries to stop her but fails. Toto follows and manages to rescue the elder sister.

Back at the Investigation Division 1 office, Amamiya follows up with the concluding details of the case. Meanwhile, Toto heads to Ron’s but before he can ring the doorbell, Ron throws the door open in Toto’s face. He believes Toto has a new case but the bad news is met with another tantrum. 

Despite not wanting to work with Ron anymore, he wishes there were a tough case so that he can see Ron in action. Ron says Toto’s accomplishment calls for a celebration since ‘a puppet was born’.

The scene cuts to a meeting room at BLUE. The vice principal addresses the principal about Ron from Class 87. They have received word from Japan that Ron is under suspicion for having resumed detective work. This might signal the end of unsolved cases in Japan.

The locked-room theory instructor reminds the room about the death of all culprits of his cases. The timetable instructor warns that his return might signal a new tragedy. The closed circle theory teacher agrees, while the vice principal reminds the room that Ron was expelled and debarred five years ago.

The principal orders an investigation on Ron, and the tracking instructor volunteers.


The Episode Review

Well, talk about an unstoppable episode! While the episode and the case might have felt fairly low on the thrill scale, it was not without a dash of unpredictability.

Ron once again worked his skills like magic and solved the unsolvable. The end of the episode! Now that is what will make the forthcoming episodes interesting. We will know more about BLUE, the instructors (who seem more vicious than ever!) and Ron’s past as well. What are your thoughts on the episode?

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