Episode 10

This week's episode of "The Perfect Insider" is the big reveal of who exactly committed the murder. The misdirection from last week (and if you've been tethering yourself to Nishinosono's beliefs) serves for one last twist ending that explains once and for all, what has become of Dr. Magata Shiki.

Without spoiling that ending, I've begun to really examine why I kept coming back to "The Perfect Insider" even though it is painstakingly slow in comparison to other post-modern anime series.

The lingering within in moods and moments is actually what makes a good mystery.

If you force your audience to analyze every bit of information it is presented, the ending result is that some things will be deemed unimportant or some things may be skipped over. That setup allows for excellent misdirection. If you hold up the mystery of "The Perfect Insider" to this season's other mysterious anime "Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation" you can see how in terms of plotting, "The Perfect Insider" has no missteps.

Granted, comparisons here really only point back to the differences of format. But "The Perfect Insider's" haunting yet complete story is refreshing in the age of endless shonen series with over 500 episodes and complaints about filler arcs and episodes.

"The Perfect Insider" draws you in and keeps you there in the world of these academics through the murder mystery plot, but ultimately you also stick around because you know at the end of the season, the mystery will be solved and all your questions will be answered.

On top of being pleased with how consistent the pacing is for "The Perfect Insider" is, I'm also still very attached to the conflict dynamic between Saikawa and Nishinosono. Though their romance is placed on the back-burner for the sake of finally confronting Magata, their internal and external back-and-forth is still very engaging.

That is to say, "The Perfect Insider" is nothing without the sustained race toward knowledge between Saikawa and Nishinosono.

Overall, this week's episode gave answers and as such is a little bit less exciting in terms of development. But now that all the answers have been given, I appreciate the slow but deliberate pacing.