ID: INVADED

Episode 8

ID: INVADED is getting into some deep analytical territory – analytical in the “literary analysis” sense, anyway. With Hondomachi diving into the well-inside-the-well and Momoki under arrest as the suspected John Walker, the remaining investigators are forced to make some difficult decisions that they might otherwise have avoided, choosing to send brilliant detectives into Momoki's ID Well in the hopes of finding another well-within-a-well through which to pursue Hondomachi, or rather, Hijirido. And yes, they do decide to send two detectives into the well at once, the theory being that one can dive deeper and the other pull him out.

This is where the episode decides to revel in a bit of literary analysis of the mystery genre, and while that's absolutely something I enjoy doing on my own (or tormenting students with), I'm not sure that it works particularly well here. Largely that's because their reservations, or at least the Perforator's reservations, are based on a faulty perception of classic mystery fiction. The idea put forth is that in the classic stories, which are the type to most often feature the quirky “brilliant detective” character (think Sherlock Holmes, C. Auguste Dupin, or, a little later, Hercule Poirot), don't have more than one detective character. It's a nice thought, but it isn't actually true – in most cases, pre-Golden Age detective stories feature both a quirky detective and a savvy cop working together, both responsible for solving different areas of the crime. While the cop rarely gets the same billing as the serialized detective, he's definitely there and doing his bit, so the characters' summation of the risks don't quite add up.

Of course, this could be misdirection on the part of the episode – since Narihisago was in fact a police detective prior to his fall from grace, and since as a brilliant detective Anaido is seriously lacking in skill, things may be working because they follow the pattern of P.I. and cop. Yes, the Anaido and Sakaido roles seem reversed, but they're able to function as a unit because they're still following the basic tenets of classic mystery fiction. If that's the case, I'm probably not giving this show enough credit and it's happily preying on over-analytical viewers like me, using our knowledge and assumptions against us.

That would be well within ID: INVADED's wheelhouse. The arrest of Momoki last week, and the police's questioning of him this week, all speak to the assumptions made by the police department, who have already had what could be viewed as two members go rogue. (Jury's still a bit out on Hondomachi, I feel.) Momoki almost certainly knows more than he's willing to share with his interrogators and may be part of something that's operating on a higher level than anyone realizes; speaking may jeopardize the investigation on a different level than anyone realizes. If that's the case, his arrest may also be part of a major departmental coverup, mandated because he was getting too close to the actual truth, which would shine the spotlight firmly on the older white-haired gentleman, who frankly looks more like a John Walker candidate than Momoki, if only by virtue of his way-too-friendly demeanor and the convenient evidence that turned up under his watch. But the most telling clue that could indicate Momoki's involvement with a higher investigation is the body found in his yard, that of the inventor of the ID Well cockpits. Even if he wasn't himself corrupt, he could have been forced to do something that laid a trap inside Momoki's mind for anyone who began to get too close. Certainly Momoki's freak out when he learns that there are two brilliant detectives in his ID Well is a surprise, and if he was the one who laid the trap, he wouldn't be likely to panic at the thought of his old friend Narihisago getting caught in it.

All of this begs the question of what's really going on here. What is it that John Walker wants? Just to see how corruptible humans are, or is there something more to it? How does Kiki Asukai fit in? Can the series tie it all together without driving a hole through its own figurative head? I'm not sure, but at this point, even though I'm leery of its use of mystery fiction it'd take more than a few weird plot twists to make me drop the show.

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ID: INVADED is currently streaming on FUNimation.