Line #24 Anime/RanpoKitanGameOfLaplace


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ranpokitan.jpg]]
2
3	->''"This world we live in is a dream. The dream we have at night is, in fact, the true world."''
4	-->-- '''Twenty Faces'''
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6	''Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace'' (''Mysterious Stories of Ranpo: Game of Laplace'') is a 2015 anime by Creator/{{Lerche}} based on Ranpo Edogawa's works to commemorate the [[MilestoneCelebration 50th anniversary of the author's passing]]. Its official website is [[http://www.rampokitan.com/ here]].
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8	Kobayashi wakes up in his classroom to find a bloodstained saw in his hand, his teacher made into a gruesome chair and blood all over the classroom. The police consider him guilty until the detective Akechi arrives. However, Kobayashi's more than willing to solve the crime for himself.
9
10	...Thus begins a series of murders and other crimes.
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12	It's showing on [[https://www.funimation.com/shows/rampo-kitan-game-of-laplace/ Funimation]] and [[https://www.animelab.com/shows/ranpo-kitan-game-of-laplace/episodes Anime Lab]] for the curious.
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14	----
15	!!Tropes for ''Ranpo Kitan'':
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17	%%* AbhorrentAdmirer: How Akechi views Black Lizard's affection for him.
18	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: [[spoiler: Namikoshi. It's what eventually leads to his becoming Twenty Faces.]]
19	* AllThereInTheManual: The (not so) [[http://courage-a-word-of-justice.tumblr.com/post/1ti26579427525/ranpo-kitan-secret-profiles secret profiles]]. Unfortunately, Black Lizard's and Shadow Man's are still both mysteries (except the birthday Black Lizard gave herself).
20	%%* AmbiguouslyGay: Hashiba, who is definitely attracted to Kobayashi. Akechi and Namikoshi, as well.
21	* ArcWords: ''"This world we live in is a dream. The dream we have at night is, in fact, the true world."''
22	* AssholeVictim: All the victims of Twenty Faces and copycats. [[spoiler: Including Watanuki and Sunaga, the murderer of Kagami's sister.]]
23	%%* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: How 20 Faces operates.
24	* BadassBookworm: Despite being a loner, this is the main reason why Akechi was never bullied growing up.
25	** GlassCannon / FragileSpeedster: Akechi can dish out a lot of damage due to his [[AllthereInTheManual correspondence karate]], but breaks bones after hitting tougher and older opponents. Also, he uses speed to startle his enemies before he attacks them.
26	* BodyHorror: As time goes on, it's indicated that this series is full of this.
27	** Episode 1: Getting murdered and turned into a chair. Eesh. (Somewhat alleviated when Corpsey is subjected to it since it's a [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6 Baymax]]-looking...thing...but still creepy.)
28	** Episode 2: It's revealed that the person that turned into a chair in episode 1 is [[spoiler:also a murder suspect that has many other person-chairs, perfectly preserved to resemble real chairs, at his abandoned parents' house.]]
29	*** Remember that murdered person-chair in episode 1? The corpse just a hollow body. The internal body (bones and other internal organs)? [[spoiler:Preserved inside the teacher's (real) chair, resembling the internal anatomy of a real person]].
30	** Episode 3: The fate of the girl that refused to become [[FatBastard Watanuki]]'s daughter. [[spoiler:She got crushed with a machine, mixed with cement, and turned into a cement picture wall.]]
31	** Episode 5: The fate of [[spoiler: Kagami's sister. Hanged above a high building with mutilated limbs, wearing the dress that got her silver prize in design competition]]. When the police found her, the only explanation they can give to [[spoiler:Kagami]] is that she ''suffered extensive damage''.
32	*** How did [[spoiler:Kagami]] retaliate? [[EyeScream Crushed the killer's eyes]], mutilated his limbs, soaked him and his limbs in a bathtub full of chemical liquid, retrieved the main body to be given a life support device, but according to [[spoiler:Kagami]], he did that because he deserved a FateWorseThanDeath, so he's gonna die anyway, but ''in a slowly, painfully vegetable state''...
33	* BreatherEpisode: After the gut-wrenching revelations and gruesome murders of previous episodes, episode 6 is much more lighthearted in tone.
34	* ChildhoodFriends: Hashiba and Kobayashi have been best friends since grade school.
35	* CopyCatKiller: [[spoiler:Twenty Faces. There was a real one three years ago, but all the ones we see so far have been copycats. In fact Twenty Faces exists to exploit this trope, as the true Twenty Faces isn't one being with the ability to become anyone but one being that anyone can become.]]
36	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Kagami's sister is brutally murdered and dismembered, and the murder sends him over the edge to becoming a Twenty Faces copycat.]]
37	* DeathOfAChild:
38	** [[spoiler:The remaining daughters that Watanuki kidnapped are crushed, mixed with cement, and later turned into a wall if they dare to show any hatred towards him.]]
39	** [[spoiler:Tokiko, Keisuke's younger sister, who had her limbs cut off and was left dangling in the middle of the city by her neck]].
40	** In the final episode with [[spoiler:nameless children jumping off a clock tower to their deaths]].
41	* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:Akechi]], of all people, has this reaction in episode 9 when [[spoiler:it's revealed that his old friend who turned into the original Twenty Faces is still alive at all]].
42	* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Namikoshi]].
43	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Namikoshi is defeated, but he commits suicide. His massive crime is slowly forgotten about, but that doesn't stop people from continuing to take up the persona of Twenty Faces. And there's little reason to believe that the corruption that Twenty Faces was supposed to stop in the first place has gone away, either.]]
44	* DudeLooksLikeALady: Kobayashi. The girls are jealous of him because of this.
45	* ElegantGothicLolita: How Hanabishi, Kobayashi's new homeroom teacher, dresses.
46	* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Kobayashi. [[AmbiguouslyGay Hashiba]] is heavily implied to have a crush on him and [[spoiler: their previous homeroom teacher fell in love with him.]]
47	* EvilFormerFriend: Namikoshi, to Akechi. [[spoiler:He becomes the original Twenty Faces.]]
48	* GreatDetective: Akechi, who's meant to be in high school.
49	* FacelessMasses: Anyone who doesn't have importance in the story is shown as a shadowly blob, only gaining details if they're important, and fading back to a blob when they're no longer important. At least when it's centered around Kobayashi.
50	** When the story is centered around Akechi, they're instead artist pose dolls. [[spoiler: For Namikoshi it's skeletons with faces similar to Twenty Faces.]]
51	* FatBastard: [[spoiler:Watanuki. Don't want to be his daughter? Hope you enjoy being crushed and mixed into cement.]]
52	* FriendlessBackground: [[spoiler:Hashiba, until he met Kobayashi in fourth grade]].
53	** [[spoiler: Namikoshi and Akechi, they were each others' OnlyFriend.]]
54	* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: Played straight in the past with Namikoshi and his red headphones, but averted in the present day.
55	* HotForStudent: [[spoiler: Kobayashi's previous homeroom teacher was dating one of his classmates, but eventually broke up with her because he fell in love with Kobayashi.]]
56	* InsanityDefense: The temporary insanity and diminished capacity versions are very much overused InUniverse [[CardboardPrison as to why criminals keep getting out]] since most attorneys won't even take them to court. [[spoiler: This, combined with the murder of his sister, is why Kagami turned to becoming Twenty Faces.]]
57	* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Akechi didn't have any friends besides [[spoiler: Namikoshi]] because his intellect was to high for kids his own age to relate to him.
58	* KarmicTrickster: What Shadow Man is.
59	* LastNameBasis: Akechi ''Kogoro'', Kobayashi ''Yoshio'', Kagami ''Keisuke'' and Hashiba ''Souji'', with the rest either being referred to by title, introduced name or last name. Only the last name is given during introductions, with a few exceptions that lack surnames (e.g. Minami) or [[spoiler: in the case of Tokiko]] would cause confusion.
60	* LightningBruiser: Akechi is very fast and kicks Watanuki hard enough to send him flying. Although later he complains about dislocating his hip joint. [[spoiler: He also broke his arm going against some boys his age, and had to get Namikoshi to fix it up for him.]]
61	* LonelyRichKid: [[spoiler: Hashiba, until he became friends with Kobayashi.]]
62	* MoodWhiplash: The appearance of Minami and Corpsey, the comical duo that gives patients' autopsy reports, comes out of nowhere and during moments of serious discussion.
63	** Episode 6 for the whole series. It uses a mundane excuse to throw Shadow Man and a bomb at Akechi and manages to play it for humour. Also a cat gets thrown into the mix, because [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Akechi doesn't like cats]].
64	* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:Namikoshi after he falls off the clock tower in the final episode]], Hashiba speculates that he could still be alive if they couldn't find his body, only for Akechi to tell him not to view the world as a romance novel.
65	* NextSundayAD: A news report's date in episode 5 reveals that the series's chronological setting is somewhere around early 2016, and the show is simulcasting in late 2015.
66	* OlderThanTheyLook: Hanabishi, Kobayashi and Hashiba's new homeroom teacher, is 32 [[RunningGag (which her title helpfully reminds us everytime she appears)]], but looks and often acts younger than her students.
67	* PottyFailure: Black Lizard is a criminal so feared that in prison she is kept restrained at all times. Naturally, she ends up soiling herself a lot.
68	* SerialKillerKiller: Twenty Faces.
69	* SettingUpdate: [[SarcasmMode Would people in Edogawa's time have had Sim City, smartphones or laptops?]] Interestingly, Akechi doesn't own a cell phone, and while he does own a laptop and send emails, a significant amount of his research is done the old fashioned way. As a reminder that this series was originally written in the 60s, Akechi occasionally plays records.
70	* ShaggyDogStory:
71	** [[spoiler: Sachiko, surviving a fatal illness and getting the funds for treatment, only to be kidnapped and later killed by the kidnapper after refusing to acknowledge him as her father.]]
72	** [[spoiler: Kagami's sister always tried her hardest to be a good designer so she could help his brother in the family's finances. When one of her latest designs got her silver prize in a design competition, she and Kagami were going to celebrate it with a cake when he came home. Sadly, a criminal previously caught by Kagami had some grudge against him and brutally killed his sister as revenge before he was able to come home.]]
73	* ShirtlessScene: Akechi gets one in episode 3 while Hashiba gets one in episode 7.
74	* ShoutOut: Episode 6's escape plans are this to ''VideoGame/MetalGear''.
75	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The name of the show. It could be either "Ranpo Kitan" (literal reading) or "Rampo Kitan" (because of the author's name which by general consensus is Edogawa ''Rampo''), with simulcasting sites opting for the latter.
76	* {{Stripperific}}: Black Lizard's outfit is mainly a waist coat that exposes a lot of her torso and cleavage, along with a black thong.
77	* StudentCouncilPresident: Hashiba.
78	* TallDarkAndHandsome: Akechi.
79	* TeenGenius: Akechi.
80	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Twenty Faces is a persona taken on by people who want to go above the law to get their revenge on other evils, such as corrupt policemen or doctors. Their methods, however, tend to be just as extreme if not more so than the corruption they're fighting.
81	* WhamEpisode: Episode 9. [[spoiler:At first, it looks like Akechi's calculation to stop the Dark Star program works, until Minami is revealed as one of the Twenty Faces, and reveals to the world that the program is still working. To add the wham-ness point, the original Twenty Faces, Namikoshi, is revealed to be still alive at all. Oh, also it seems like Kobayashi got kidnapped by a mysterious character when he's going to accompany Akechi with meeting Namikoshi.]]
82	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Kobayashi in episode 3 so he could have easier access to Watanuki's hideout. He then continues this habit because in his (and Hashiba's) opinion he "looks good in them".
83	--> '''Hashiba''': It's not a matter of whether you look good in [girl's clothes] or not!
84	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Cats for Akechi.
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Context Anime / RanpoKitanGameOfLaplace