Possessing a deep knowledge of mineralogy, Richard Ranashinha de Vulpian is a young and handsome British jewelry appraiser who owns a small shop in Japan. One fateful night, Seigi Nakata, a righteous college student, saves him from drunks who were harassing him due to his good looks. Upon learning of Richard's identity, Seigi hires him to appraise a pink sapphire ring that was left behind by his deceased grandmother.
Before long, Seigi becomes a trusted part-timer at Richard's shop. Together, the duo solve various jewel-related requests from diverse clients of different backgrounds. Step by step, they unravel the hidden motives and feelings that lie within the gems in order to understand and empathize with the little stories behind each piece of jewelry.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
xfleetingflash
First of all, this show isn't BL, so if you're expecting to get that kind of content here, I am already telling you to back away. I'll go back to this bit of info later on because I think it's kind of important. I actually am pretty much making this review mainly to criticize that issue. Anyways, I'll make the review quick, and start off with the characters. Both main characters are very much likable, and one can easily see the the chemistry that builds between them as you watch through the show. The story is decent at best. Having it revolve around mineralogy made itrefreshing to watch. I feel like there are disconnects between some of the episodes, especially the later ones, but still, it was enjoyable. The artstyle is pretty good. Both characters are very pleasing to look at.
That ends my short review of the show's main elements.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this show, but I do think it has a severe problem of queerbaiting which is the issue I mentioned in the beginning.
Multiple times have Seigi and Richard mentioned their "love" for each other, and yet barely moved forward in their relationship after saying such remarks. Perhaps the biggest show of affection there was was Seigi's heroic deed of traveling overseas to find Richard and free him of his family's reins. Consequently, Richard did the same for Seigi in the final episode, although to a much lesser extent.
Now, I am telling you, I don't think anyone who is merely a "friend" would casually travel overseas to find a"friend", not especially a college student. If that deed isn't an act of love for a significant other, then I don't know what else it is. And yet the show denies from its viewers a deeper manifestation of the two main characters' relationship, limiting it to shallow words of "I really like you" and "I do love you" while also almost coming to a point where the two could have married each other as husbands, despite it being a fixed one. If you fully paid attention to the show, I'm pretty sure you'd agree with me. Seigi and Richard ARE gay.
The bare minimum I expected from this show was for the two to at least acknowledge the fact that they have become lovers after all they have gone through, but the show has denied that to its viewers until the end.
This queerbaiting, I would think, is the pivotal issue of this show. It didn't have to be labeled under the shounen-ai genre to show that two gay men could get explicitly into a relationship. It just really feels weird to me that both would visibly express their love toward each other, all while the show purposefully denies their status as gay lovers. I really think it's about time LGBTQ characters have more presence in more slice of life shows like this. They don't have to be the main focus of the show obviously, but just be granted the acceptance that they DO exist. All the writer/s had to do for the two main characters was to acknowledge and accept that glaring fact that both were gay. The show kept dropping subtle, verbal hints about their status as lovers throughout the show, but still failed to explicitly disclose it in the end.
uchiha-hime
I don't usually write reviews but I have to make an exception for this one. It's been a long time since I've watched an anime that has such a soothing, aesthetic vibe to it; the last one was probably Tsurune. As far as slice of life goes, it really doesn't get more true to the genre than this. The art and animation is as soothing and calming as the music - the ED is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard lately, and I haven't skipped either the OP or the ED even once. The voice acting is perfectly done, but then I wouldn'treally expect anything less of seiyuus like Uchida Yuuma and Sakurai Takahiro. The story is the highlight of the anime, according to me, and I was really intrigued by Richard's past till the unraveling and final reveal. Seigi's character is easier to understand though, and he is kind of like the perfect foil to Richard's personality.
Another thing that I can't help mentioning is how the topic of sexuality is treated - it is approached with the kind of normalcy that you don't really see much in anime. There is no internalized/externalized homophobia, no one freaks out when the topic is brought up; it is refreshing to see this kind of treatment for a topic that is always either brushed off to the side and never brought up or dealt with very badly.
This anime is one of the most wholesome shows I've watched in a very long time. If you're into slice of life with a side of mystery and drama, then this anime is for you.
hit0rii
// spoiler- less review // Houseki- shou richard shi talks about a foreigner with beautiful European features ( Richard Ranashinha De Vulpian ) who visited japan and unfortunately got hit on by bunch of drunkards, and his hero who saved him from the bunch, he was the ally of justice as everyone called him ( Nakata Seigi ). The foreigner thanked him and gave his card as they parted. Seigi soonly learned that this handsome gentleman 'Richard' is a jeweller, so he consulted him in a certain matter and ended up working in his jewellery store as a part- time job. Those two encountered various peopleand helped them in their lives.
It is the type of anime you would watch after a long anime who needed a lot of thinking, it's a light-hearted anime that will definitely relax you. It was the episodic type where you can easily pick up with and understand. Surely original. I loved how each episode had a moral, and on top of that it was educational, as it displayed tons of information about gems and jewelries.
The art is just so spirit-lifting, it heals your soul. It brightens my day seeing their faces, totally not exaggerating. I love this style of art with the cheerful colors.
The ending and the opening are gold, they make my day and I can't skip them, like never ever! Especially that they were sung by great Japaneses groups such as Da- ice for the ending!!
Each character had its own unique characteristics, I could say they are polar opposites, but that's what makes them a powerful duo, they aren't perfect, they had their struggles that helped them reach where they are standing now. Their back stories, past and childhood added a spice to the anime, as it gave a background on who we are watching. Even supporting characters were unique as they passionately supported the MCs
I definitely recomend houseki- shou richard shi as a light anime to relax, it's heart-warming with simplified explanations about gems, if you are interested~
RPWPA
Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei is a very good anime. What I thought from the first look was going to be a shounen-ai type of anime turned out to be nothing like that. The anime has a great story and great characters and you should definitely watch it. Housekishou is an episodic SOL anime about the adventures of 2 men, Richard and his friend Seigi. Each episode has a new character with each of them having a new story to tell. Stories about love, gratitude and betrayal. You discover each of them and see our characters grow as they meet different people and how eventhe slightest things like a compliment could hurt a person deeply. We then start discovering the history of Richard and why he started working in that business in a very sad yet well-written story. The story really is one of the best things in this anime.
The characters are great. We have Seigi who just like his name suggests is an ally of justice. From the very start he is an honest and straightforward guy but his problem is that he doesn't understand how his words affect others. His development and him growing as a character that understands and shows more of himself as he gains more confidence is great to watch.
We have Richard who is hates how his life was influenced by his looks. His ideology and the way he hates it when people like him just because of his good are just good to see. It's nice to see that he is more than that, he isn't the cliche beauty character and he tries to become a better character who is more than just a guy that uses his good looks to sell his Jewels.
The side characters are great with each of them having their own characteristics and the great stories they bring.
The art, sounds, voice acting, animation and the overall directing are great.
Overall I would give the anime an 8/10. Was a very entertaining watch and I want to see more of it.
Would recommend it to anyone who likes episodic SOL anime like me.
KANLen09
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” It's a sad, sad justice that not very often, we get niche shows like this that break the monotony of seasonal shows, providing stories and insights through objects (in this case, gemstones and their representation on human personality and behaviour), and having character interactions play out the drama in its mysterious shroud whilst keeping the slice-of-life elements intact. These elements when combined together doesn't seem promising, but this show made it all good. 2018's Holmes of Kyoto did that with the various "case files" and things of value, and this premise is no different here. “Justice, like beauty, isin the eye of the beholder. Some see an innocent victim. Others will see evil incarnate getting exactly what's deserved.”
The first thing you'll start to notice from this show is the strong bishounen (and BL but not much) aspects on the characters, and although love (and like) can be uncertain, it certainty makes for one very interesting pairing. For context, Nakata Seigi is the typical bishounen trait of a good-natured guy, being aloof and caring for anyone he sees, and speaking of his name (Seigi, which means justice in the katakana naming convention), he'll not shun at bringing the truth to light, even in his naivety. On the other hand, Richard Ranashinha de Vulpian (just refer to this British bishounen as Richard), more than just being a jewelry appraiser, is like Sherlock Holmes in the sense of figuring out episodic situations that make and break people depending on the gemstone-of-the-week visual cues. Despite the atrocity that is his family's prestigious and high-life mechanics that got the worse of him in his young days growing up, he's learning contentment through Seigi and compliments him as and when he does fit.
These two people are the yin and yang of each other: One having to accommodate for the other's actions, going to great lengths for each other so that they don't drift apart like a turbulent relationship. Despite that, both Seigi and Richard, no matter how rocky their relationship can get at times, it's mostly learning to compromise in the appropriate sense and leading the way forward.
“The value is always in the eye of the beholder. What is worthless to one person may be very important to someone else.”
The theme of this show being the gemstones and its acquaint relationship with the people who dons it is quite the spectacle. Learning how people's lives function by the gemstone they have (e.g. Seigi with his deceased grandmother's Pink Sapphire in Episode 1) and learning of their struggles and hardships that surround the toxicity of even the brightest and strongest gems is very relatable and humane, it gives people the reason of their sufferings as is. More than attempting a recourse at life going at it, with the gemstones as a sign of their price to pay for various deeds, the understanding ripens through the shedding of human behaviours. And I've gotta say it feels wholesome with the relaxed, Iyashikei feeling.
“Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.”
Shuka's animation was quite good to say the least, though far from the usual spectacles of Natsume Yuujinchou, and it shows a very good and clean, healthy dose of production. Much care has been taken to this show with the beautiful artwork and visuals (not to mention the gorgeous eye-catching gemstones). The same can be said for the OP/ED which also emits the exact same feelings of shows that are worth the time of relaxation, and both songs are low-key good as well, far from impressive but still good nonetheless.
“The quality of beauty lies on how beholder values an object.”
Overall, while this show isn't the typical "underrated" stuff, I can only say that if you love Iyashikei shows like Yuru Camp to exhibit the relaxed and emotional feels whilst keeping the realistic humane stuff possible, then this show is right up your alley. Sure, this show isn't gonna be everyone's favourite, but try it if you can, it's worth the shot examining your very own life akin to gemstones (the same way as horoscopes tend to be).
terriblegeometro
This was almost painful to watch. While the premise of the series was actually kind of interesting, the story and characters were handled very poorly and the series was overall a great disappointment. Plot: I feel like its a bit of a reach to say this show is a “Mystery” when most of the mysteries they encountered felt like family therapy sessions and were solved by the characters just speaking together. After a while the plot suddenly takes on a more dramatic route involving crazy family drama and a bunch of very stereotypical “I’ll disappear from your life forever and its better this way” lines, butin the end that doesn’t even matter as throughout the whole series, no one’s actions ever have any consequences.
Characters: The character writing overall seemed very stereotypical, especially the whole “hero of justice” thing...seriously? Both the main characters felt very bland and uninteresting and as a result of this almost inhuman.
The relationship “development” between the two was especially dreadful to watch and felt as if the entire script was written separately by two people with no communication between eachother one of which wanted them to be a couple and the other one just wrote them as friends, many lines contradict eachother, and their relationship seems extremely unbalanced and awkward.
At this point i don’t even know if this should be considered queerbaiting or just bad writing.
I’d also like to mention the main character’s girl-friend. For a brief moment i got quite excited that there was a character in the series with aro/ace traits, but apparently not, she just needs to “not give up on relationships and find the right man”. (I’d comment more on that entire scene but i am not sure how to do that without spoilers)
Art and sound: The artstyle was pretty decent i guess...? There was nothing really wrong with it and the colour palettes weren’t unpleasant to look at.
The soundtrack was extremely boring and there was nothing very memorable about it but i would rather say that’s a matter of taste.
Overall i think this was a waste of time so unless you specifically enjoy mineralogy or stories about family drama or really like the characters i wouldn’t recommend.
Horn_dawg_2019
Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei or The Case Files of Jeweler Richard, ok now that has ended, pretty much entertaining that one would forget about the lockdowns that has grapple the entire Asian countries. so: Story: Pros: The genres Drama, Mystery, Slice of Life, really did played well, it wasn't that boring and it wasn't that gay......(much). The plot really was a breath of fresh air. Cons: It does have that subtle yaoi element that disgust me.Verdict (8/10)
Art:
Pros: Pretty much decent, that there wasn't any sex to be sold around here.
Cons: Don't even expect to see a Tanimoto fanservice around here.
Verdict (4/10)
Sound:
Pros: Characters voices were pretty much real and the seiyuus don't have to pretend that they're teenagers in high-school.
Cons: I hate both the opening and closing theme.
Verdict ( 8/10)
Character:
Pros: Richard de Vulpian, at frist he struck me as a homo that would try to seduce Seigi into falling in love with him, but instead as a Jewel appraiser he did played his role well, though him being this guy who like to put his nose in Seigi's life...in a good way, was too much for an appraiser to do , But...... aside from being a jewel detective,
Cons: Aside from being a jewel appraiser, he pretty much does what a concern lover would do to his love, so TBH I kinda think that he's gay since he did mentioned "I love You" in some occasion. Seigi Nakata on the other hand did played well as Richard's apprentice very well, also as a young person he also played his role as this guy who talks a lot that it makes him look like a fool and it was acceptable, but he was also a dichotomy where in one point he felt uneasy with Richard's declaration of his love for him, where he disguise it as a lesson for him to be learned on the other hand he gets himself involved with Richard's problem in London and he didn't mind when Richard that I love you thing for him, thought it might a gangsta thing when one bro tell another bro "I love you , man." Also the role of Tanimoto was a complete waste given that Seigi has broken up her marriage to a certain guy, now I don't about you, if Seigi really like her then he should've have continue his romance for her and not confined to Richard about his dad problems, to me seigi was a disappointment.
Verdict (7/10)
Enjoyment:
Pros: Given that this was this season breath of fresh air it wasn't much of a chore when I get to know about precious stone as how thy can dtermine the value of ones life.
Cons: It was tad gay for me.
Verdict (4/10)
Overall:
Verdict (4/10)
A good anime it maybe, the story about those precious stone as to how it relates on ones life was enjoyable.....but, one part of me doesn't make me comfortable with the relationship between Richard and Seigi.
NeiShiro
I LOVED IT. It's refreshing, lite and nice anime to watch. You can learn something about jewels too. It has some funny scenes and some serious scenes. Every case is interesting to watch and I would RECOMMEND it to everyone.It is slow peace and it doesn't have action scenes or anything like that. It's simple, it's about life and emotions.
It is not BL, even though they are very close and often express their affection towards each other (I like you, you are very beautiful etc.).
It's kind of friendship - platonic love maybe relationship.
The character design is so pretty and even the story is about how pretty Richard is in a way.
Wallanimx
I put this in my list not expecting much from it honestly. But man, did it break my expectations in a good way! Its based in a jewelry store that just popped up in a certain area in Japan. Seigi comes by trying to sell his grandmother's jewel and soon enough finds himself a part time work at Richard's store. Yeah the main characters are handsome but its their personalities that really shine through in this series. Their personal struggles, determination, suave, kindness, and just their unwavering friendship is one thing that made me appreciate this series. But the main thing that did so was thestories. We have many themes but I'll hit a few. There's a queer woman trying to do what's right by society by marrying a good man. But she doesn't love him, isn't attracted to him, and is just torn with herself in if she should fit in or be true to herself. And one thing Richard told Seigi in that particular episode before she appeared was to respect all guests no matter their religion, race, sexuality, etc. I won't go too far in it but I really appreciate them hitting this without having to sexualize it in any way shape or form.
There was also an episode where an abusive parent was hassling Seigi and would not stop. This resounded with me greatly and the way it was portrayed was done incredibly well. I don't want to spoil anything more than I have, but just know that while watching it I learned a very interesting lesson.
"But I share his (abusive parent) blood." "Then carry that weakness with you."
Overall I loved this show and I'm definitely going to miss it! Here's hoping for a season 2! (either way I'm still gonna read the manga!)
DevilKirito
The first half of the anime focuses on showing episodic cases, while developing the main nuclei of the story slightly, these episodic cases end up being very engaging and enjoyable to watch. During the second half there is a focus on the protagonists and aggregates, which flow extremely well and are very interesting because they involve other cultures, countries and unexpected situations, and which has nothing so unbelievable or outside of what would be considered good for a script. The story is the biggest attraction of this anime, the person who was responsible for the Script and Series Composition was Kunisawa Mariko, the same one from animesuch as Honzuki (who was completely saved by that part, since the production is very weak), and managed do another great job here, the way the characters create rapport is very natural.
The art is wonderful in what needs to be, the jewels are really very beautiful, perfect, the scenarios are also most of the times beautiful and well detailed, giving the most serious and realistic atmosphere that anime needs.
The sound was in the hands of Motoyama Satoshi, an extremely experienced person who has worked on dozens of others and anime, and once again did not disappoint, managed to fit the sounds well into the scenes.
The character design was good, nothing so incredible but it managed to supply what the work wanted.
It is a very relaxing and engaging work, I recommend it to everyone who likes a good slice of life with drama.
holmeskudo
The anime is sort of slow paced, but picks up tempo in the latter half of the season. A useful anime for a layman's guide to gemstones and their significance through short stores. More than the precious stones theme itself, the anime focuses on human relationships, with a variety of relations as well as possibilities explored and left unsaid with suggestions. With that said, the story along with character development is good and interesting with small tit-bits of information and trivia scattered along the season. Moral takeaways are quite a few and it focuses a lot on integrity and overcoming greed. A relaxed, easy to follow and informativeanime with excellent characters!
zimmercj
Story: 9/10 I feel like the story for this anime was really strong, but it suffered from two main things that dropped it down from a 10. The first is that the first three or four episodes felt really disconnected from each other, and more of a "gem of the week" type of series. This was fixed as the series continued, but it could be a hurdle for people wanting to get into this series that they have to watch half of it before they can see the connected plot line. The other issue I found with the story was that like anything based on books,they had to cut a lot of stuff out and that hurt the pacing. I feel like they could have ended on episode 10 or 11 and spread things out a little more to make it flow better. To me, episode 12 feels like it should have been the start of a second season or an OVA/ONA.
Art: 10/10
The people were drawn extremely life like (although a little lanky and stretched, but not as bad as has been seen in other anime), and the way they made the gems sparkle and shine was outstanding.
Sound: 10/10
Every voice actor did a fantastic job, and the voices seemed natural and fit the characters well. The OP is fine, nothing amazing, but it works well for the series. I love the ED, it has the same cheesy quality that the ED to No. 6 had.
Character: 8/10
The characters suffered from the same problems the story had-they tried to fit too much stuff from the books into too little time and they left stuff out that could have been included if they focused on a smaller section of the novels.
Enjoyment: 9/10
The series had a good premise and the episode arcs and stories kept you hooked, waiting for the next week's episode.
Overal: 9/10
If you can make it through the first 1/3 to 1/2 and give it a real shot, I feel like this series will hook you in, and generally surprise you.
Sun_Ray_7777777
2020 winter seasonal anime, The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is surprisingly calm. The review will cover why I rated each category as I rated. The first half of the show was episodic, but I was delighted how some characters came back in later episodes. The second half actually buildup the main plot and fleshed out the characters more. The art is soft and calming. Seigi and Richard were drawn nicely (Richard specifically). Nothing too special stuck to me. The backgrounds were alright. The sounds also didn't affect my enjoyment though the voice actor choices were chosen wisely. Characters were nicely done. Seigi was basic enough to understand, butRichard is not fleshed out until halfway through the show. Hate the slow unravel of Richard's past and the ending wasn't satisfying.
Overall it was a calm show and the demographic that I would personally suggest are for girls +12 and up.
That's it for my review!
AnimeIgnis
It is a 2020 anime from shuka. Mainly he talks about meeting Seigi, a student studying at university, and Richard, a foreign jeweler. After meeting, Seigi asks Richard for help in identifying the provenance of a ring, received after his grandmother's death. It turns out that the ring was stolen by her grandmother herself. Together they manage to find the real owner of the ring. The situation, however, turns unexpectedly to the best, and Seigi, with his benevolent action, receives forgiveness from the victim, allowing his grandmother to rest in peace. Seigi, having been interested in both his work in particular the stones concerned andhis method of investigation, will cooperate with him as an aide. On many occasions, however, he will not only see Richard identifying stones but will resolve with him various cases including those that need to be solved on the spot. Seigi will eventually have such a high understanding with Richard that he will be able to solve his mysterious family situation.
Being an anime of investigation, which purely relies on the psychology of individuals, I cannot dwell on the specific cases. I can say, however, that in the anime it is present, quite extensively, the relationship between the trader and the customer. He is not a mere seller of items. We talk about precious stones with a certain value, so we expect a mutual professionalism from the jeweler. The customer, on the other hand, will have to start a dialogue in order to better understand his decisions about the stone to choose, all based on his economic situation. So there is more experience between the two than usual commerce; dialogue of understanding, and also sometimes of trust. In the anime, however, a more intense investigative component is added precisely to represent more of the usual daily life and make the viewer more enticed to watch it.
The episodes then present themselves as self-concluding with the difference of the first and last that refer instead to Seigi's personal matters. It is not always possible to like the trend of episodes that can be slow due to the almost total absence of action. But I really appreciate the psychological component that proves consistent and effective in every situation. In addition, various stones are seen in the course of the anime and sometimes they are studied in a particular way. In particular, I appreciate the protagonists, who present themselves with a serious and decisive tone, in a setting both university and work.
Unfortunately, the manga from which this work was derived is not finished. The series finale, in fact, is hurried and shaky. I recommend the vision to those who seek a calm and peaceful experience that also results in the desire to understand more deeply the world of stones and how they can affect our lives.
karnevalchen
This is a good anime if you're looking for a chill, slice-of-life show to watch in between the more action-packed, drama filled anime's out right now. The two main characters, Seigi and Richard, have good chemistry and while the story is simple (picks up in drama near the later episodes though) I came into wanting to watch something light and simple. I do like the characters, though I wish Richard was a bit more expressive like his light novel and manga counterpart. I also recommend reading the light novel and manga as the anime does leave out certain plot points which in turn messes with thepacing of the anime. I have not read the novel as it is in japanese but I have read a couple of manga chapters and it's a lot more detailed then the anime, so I'm excited for more chapters to come out. i think this anime needed more than 12 episodes to tell the story and if it did it would be immensely better.
RaikyReacts
The story wasn't that entertaining, but it was okay. It felt kind of bland, and the pacing was quite slow. Some episodes were enjoyable, but most of them were a bit meh. Most of the time, I didn't feel the connection between the jewelry/gemstone to the story of the owner. Honestly, it made me question sometimes why most of them told their problem to Richard. He's a jeweler and not a detective or a psychiatrist. Also, I feel that most of them could have solved their issues on their own. I liked seeing the jewelry and the gemstones because they were pretty, but I wasn'tinterested much about their background.
In terms of art, it was beautiful. However, there were times where it became inconsistent, especially with the drawing of the characters. There are times where Richard didn't look that handsome. Also, I still can't forget how big Chieko and Catherine's forehead was.
In terms of the character, I didn't feel much personality in Richard and Seigi. They were entertaining at times, but they kind of felt shallow. Still, I liked their friendship. However, I still don't know if the author was confused as to what to do with them. They felt on the verge of a romance, but it wasn't pushed, which is kind of annoying.
FULL REVIEW AT: https://booksequalhappiness.blogspot.com/2020/06/anime-case-files-of-jeweler-richard.html
SleepySera
For most of its runtime, this anime follows the formula of unrelated, one-episode long mini stories, which is where it excels, as they are all quite interesting, sweet and thoughtful, and sometimes handle surprisingly sensitive topics with a good amount of care. Sadly, that all falls apart once the story tries to do more than that for the season finale, where for the final few interconnected episodes, all reason goes out the window, characters completely forget lessons they've already learnt in previous episodes, things just randomly happen against all odds over and over again, people just know things with no explanation whatsoever, and so on.It's a narrative mess that has no excuse for being this messy, because it doesn't feel rushed (it starts about 4 and a half episodes before the end, so there's ample time to make this work, it's just badly executed).
Visually, it's quite nice to look at, the character designs are distinct and easy to tell apart despite the realistic setting limiting designs to normal clothes, hair colors etc. that makes some other works struggle to differentiate characters. Richard himself is appropriately gorgeous to look at, considering his beauty does play a role in the plot.
There were a few instances of janky movement in key focus scenes but rare enough to only really leave an impression BECAUSE they stood out due to being so rare.
The sound was a very positive surprise, with an unusual range of music genres represented in the BGM and barely any, if at all, repeated tracks. Of course, the focus was classical music, but it fits the series well. The voice actors fit their roles well and the opening and ending were pleasant to listen to.
So overall, it was interesting and very enjoyable to watch, aside from the frustration towards the end how much the story ended up falling apart, which sadly keeps it at a 7/10 to me.
Finally, to adress the BL topic (though it didn't affect my rating):
I went into this expecting it to NOT be BL. I figured there would be some yaoi fangirl baiting, but within reason, and just wanted to see a normal story about unlikely friends. But nope. The amount of baiting is ridiculous and there is zero attempt to portray their relationship as a mere friendship whatsoever. The characters go from liking each other to constantly raving about how attractive they consider the other, to literally confessing their love several times while chasing each other across the globe, to then entering a civic partnership (all while one of them is convinced the other is gay). But of course nothing ever comes of it, because this isn't a BL series.
I personally found it pretty irritating, because none of that needed to be there. If it's not a romance, don't try to portray it as one. If it is, do it properly and not in this half-assed way. If this was Chinese media, I could somewhat forgive it because of the censorship rules forcing creators to turn actual BL into a "they are just really, really, REALLY close friends, your honor" trope, but Japan doesn't suffer from the same kind of censorship. If they had wanted to make this a BL, they could have done that.
Despite that, I wouldn't call the series queerbaiting, because I very much did enjoy the casual representation of other LGBT+ characters in the series (like the lesbian couple and the probably aro friend).
sapphire-pyro
It's unusual to see a story about a jeweler, much less a jeweler's story that's well-written. Admittedly, it can get a little boring sometimes, but overall each episode manages to remain interesting. Characters in it aren't so bad either. I absolutely adore how the main characters express their love for each other despite not being a romantic couple. I'm pleased that the show is fully aware that love between two guys is possible; and it doesn't have to be romantic love. Lastly, I like how this show made me appreciate gemstones more than before. Their beauty is not the only thing that makes them valuable. The art andthe characters in the show may be pretty... but it's actually beyond that which makes this show pretty good.
build-a-buta
Housekishou Richard's biggest asset is its novelty, which it wields very well. It falls off towards the end, but a bit more on that below. Story: First, this anime is more a slice-of-life than mystery, and should be treated as such. Each episode is warm and more serves to expand the audience's perception of people and what's possible than to get them to unravel a big, complicated plan. And because it's more of a slice-of-life, the stories depicted are fresh and unexpected, and take a vastly more liberal tone with the characters than many of its conservative peers in the same genre. To which, itshould be noted that included in that liberalism is a "take-it-however-you-like" approach, adding enough scenes to nudge you into thinking about a possibly queerplatonic relationship between the main characters. As this is an underlying, building theme, it can be uncomfortable for viewers who are not prepared for/interested in it.
My biggest complaint is--as it seems to be the case with many animes--towards the last few episodes. There's a great build-up near the end, leaving the remaining unrelated episodes to fall a little flat. It's greatest/most involved plot was unfortunately a little contrived, but more spoke towards a situation than, again, a complicated or even compelling story.
Animation: Lackluster. Not a complete eyesore, but not stellar, either. That does include Richard, the most "eye-catching" person in the series. I do like the look of the gems, but it clashes with the mundane animation in the series.
Sound: Unremarkable, sans Sakurai. Next.
Characters: Richard steals the show for me, and my love for him carried me all the way to episode 11. He's full of contrasts and telltale quirks, and that's what makes him stand out. He also balances out very well with Seigi, who...has all of the altruistic recklessness of Watanuki Kimihiro and only 50% of his success. I found myself with a bad case of Second Hand Embarrassment with some of Seigi's actions, but somehow, the duo manages to pull through to the end. Unfortunately, other to tell a story or prove a point, most of the side characters have a one-dimensional purpose, and we don't see them more than once or twice. To varying degrees, Seigi, Richard, and Tanimoto endure development over the 12 episodes.
Conclusion: It's a quick, soft, novel, and digestible watch (see: slice-of-life). Its background liberalism caters well to those who like a little fanservice and nuance, but is still conservative enough to check a few boxes...although that does get muddy later on, especially with its implications. It tries to strive for a little of everything (Drama, Romance, Mystery (???), etc.) but doesn't quite pull off anything fully. As a result, you might watch it once, but chances are, you might not be interested enough to watch it twice.
