Furuhata Ninzaburō: The Terror of Dr. Kuroiwa ★★★★☆
A bit strange to have the extended “Furuhata is back!” section when the SMAP special came out a few months before this one. Perhaps some production issue messed with the ordering? Everyone wanking him off for being so cool also goes on far too long.
But it’s a very fun case! Clever and logical (which is to say, I figured out where it was going in advance and was able to happily pat myself on the back for doing so) and plays with the format in a cute ways.
There are two different moments when they stop playing with a different genre and start the “normal” Furuhata episode: First when he agrees to take the case and they drop the self-serious pretending that Furuhata is some kind of thriller protagonist that they are recruiting from a prison cell and the second time when the first actual murder happens and he goes from having to put together clues like a normal detective and gets to step into his Columbo shoes and circle his prey.