Spoilers alert.

I was totally engrossed in Shigofumi that I watched the entire series in two homework-less days. I just loved the quality of the animation and the artwork, and the humour was commendable as well. Each character was more than exceptional, especially Fumika herself because of her all-business personality and bluntness. However, my favourite character overall is Natsuka, even though she reminds me a lot of Maki from Minami-ke and the main protagonist from Ghost Hunt. Most of the other side-characters looked pretty much the same sometimes so I often got confused, but I loved it how nearly everything linked to each other in the end. Chiaki’s arc bored me at the beginning because I sensed a filler-iffic atmosphere but was relieved after learning that it was actually because Fumika’s next delivery was for Chiaki. Despite hearing Fumika define the word Shigofumi over and over again for each new addressee, I realized that she defined the word differently. Hence, I never got tired of hearing (reading the subtitles, actually) because each time it’d sound more awesome than the previous ones.

A Death in Every Sub-Plot

Well, of course, in order for Fukima to deliver her letters someone has to die, but that was what was so fantastic. The repetition of the suicidal incidents annoyed me at one point (it only happened twice, or so) because I wanted to see some more homicides and solving crime scene investigations. Unfortunately, that’s not what Shigofumi is about, but I had hoped to see more intentional murders. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed all the mini-plots but my favourite one would be the very first one. It was such a beautiful yet tragic love story, and I love tragic love stories because they’re so darn tragic. Asuna was so pretty and likable as well, and the plot from then on just became so much more interesting, especially when we learned about her reason for killing her father. I don’t believe anyone deserves to die, but I didn’t feel sorry for the man either. I also really liked episode ten when Takehiro, an otaku, was diagnosed with appendix cancer and his mother was worried about what others thought of him. Also, he had such an adorable and nostalgic sibling/father-daughter relationship with Fumika Junior! I would’ve definitely cried if the little girl had died (dang, she was so cute!), but I did shed a few tears when she thought that Takehiro was sleeping, and then she was telling him to wake up because it was lunch-time.

(Most of) the Characters are Lovable

I don’t like megumi guys, but Kaname was cool. Kanaka’s type usually pisses me off because they tend to get irritating, but I liked her. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, Natsuka is my favourite character, and then Fumika. For a while, I really liked Asuna, even when she revealed her true identity, but she ended up dying anyway, which was a shame, really. Yandere rocks a lot when the chick is pretty and heartless at killing people. I hated her when she stabbed Shouta because he didn’t do anything wrong, and then I felt sorry for her when he wrote that kind letter and she started regretting having done what she did. But in all honesty, it was nice to see her die in the end as well, and it was cool how the rocket finally and successfully launched. Moreover, I absolutely fell for Fumika Junior’s moeness and her lack of understanding the meaning of death. I didn’t quite comprehend why she kept pressing the restart button while asking Fumika about what happened to Takehiro, but I suppose it meant that she was trying to rewind time and bring him back. The four characters I really despised in this series are Miroshita (Half Dead Person 2), the two publishers (I totally felt like screaming “In your face!” when Kasai told them that Kirameki had finished the manuscript), and Kirameki, no doubt. I suppose he’s mentally ill but he’s such an asshole for treating Fumika like that.

Everything Links Up

I originally thought that Shigofumi was going to be like Ghost Hunt or one of those cop tv dramas where every one or two episodes the plot would be totally different and have no connection whatsoever with the previous episode. Shigofumi, however, was brilliant how everything pieced together nicely. Even the minor bits like the fact that Chiaki likes cats was chained with her history when Saiza had climbed a tree to rescue a cat for her. It was certainly a surprise for me when I learned about what Kirameki did to Fumika because she reminded him of his wife, and Kirei was also such a pain in the ass. Thankfully she didn’t appear in the series so much because if she did, I would’ve killed her by then. The ending was very sweet and adorable, especially when both Fumika started crying while holding each other’s hands. Mika is definitely much more loli and moe than Fumi, and I kind of feel sorry for Fumi since she’s not as strong. It was obvious that Natsuka had a crush on Kaname and I was pleased that they finally got her to confess in the end. What else was extremely exciting about Shigofumi was that the second high school Fumika had to visit to deliver a message to Tohru was actually connected to her through Kaname. That school certainly has a bad reputation, and so I did wonder if it was going to ever close down.

The Music was Excellent

The opening theme wasn’t really great so I never bothered to finish listening to it all, and the ending theme was a little bit better but not so awesome compared to other OPs and EDs. However, the instrumental music in the background during each episode was superb. The piano song with the cello in the first episode near the start suited really well with what was happening. Music is very important in this series because there are times when all you could see were the characters’ mouths moving, but everything else was on mute except for the instrumental. The voice-overs were awesome as well, but I loved Fumika Junior’s voice most since it was just too cute. The music also created the right atmosphere when required, and every time something bad was going to happen, this spooky music would creep up. When the music sounded rather cheery, I knew that it meant some hilarity was going to ensue. The funniest part I’d say would be when Fumika fell onto Kaname when he came to visit her other self in the hospital. Fumika is really cute to have a fear of cats, and she must have been terrified when that cat leaped on her. It was just too cute! And poor Kaname, I guess he’ll never know who the culprit is.

Overall Impression: One of the Greatest

I’m actually quite a picky person when it comes to follow a particular anime series and I would never have bothered with the first episode of Shigofumi if my sister hadn’t downloaded the entire season. From start to end I was totally intrigued by the mysteries and urge to know more of Fumika’s past, but I think somewhere in between I got tired (well, I did watch everything in two days!). I’d recommend this series to anyone who enjoys crime stuff and loli power. But it was only the first two episodes of Shigofumi that made me really excited, while everything else was rather decent, and the ending was definitely not a disappointment. I’m glad that Fumi-chan is now going to learn to stand on her own two feet and that Mika still remains as a Mail Carrier. I’d give this anime a rating of 8.5 out of 10.