Review: Tigtone “Tigtone and the Murder Mystery at the Death Tournament”

Overview(Spoilers Below):

Tigtone is ready to prove his physical worth in a tantalizing death tournament against dangerous and deadly opponents. Such a challenge is exactly the kind of fun that Tigtone longs for, but his innocent efforts to maim and kill lead to the hero’s life being on the line…in a different way. Tigtone continues to excel at this death tournament, but he’s unaware that the competition is merely a ruse to lead to his demise. Tigtone begins to put the pieces together and is prepared to solve this mystery, but his problem solving skills may not be enough to hold off the efforts of a deadly assassin.

Our Take:

If there’s anything that’s been made abundantly clear about Tigtone it’s that he’s an incredibly impulsive character. A reckless and spontaneous attitude is the exact opposite of how a detective operates and these are traits that are highly antithetical to the mystery genre as a whole. Tigtone is absolutely the kind of individual who slashes first and asks questions later. He’s someone that even after he has a clear summation of his quest will still unnecessarily dismember individuals in a manner that’s more about satiating his bloodlust than efficiently saving the day. It’s for this reason that the general premise of “Tigtone and the Murder Mystery at the Death Tournament” holds such potential.

“Murder Mystery at the Death Tournament” falls into a pretty clear pattern, but one that never stops being entertaining. Tigtone narrowly and obliviously avoids the attempts to assassinate him while he then tries to overanalyze these actions and form some kind of hypothesis for who’s out to off him. Tigtone indulges in flowing monologues about his suspicions as he wails away on some new opponent. He deals with both direct and indirect danger, but struggles to determine which of the two he should be more concerned over. It’s a dazzling juggling act that keeps adding more balls and never allows itself the opportunity to slow down.

“Tigtone and the Murder Mystery at the Death Tournament” is a weird mix of sensibilities that gets the series to simultaneously riff on gladiatorial combat and Agatha Christie. Tigtone is not a series that often turns to logic or reasonable deduction, so it’s a brilliant idea to center an episode around Tigtone’s attempts to use this side of his brain. “Murder Mystery at the Death Tournament” crams in a lot of content and by the end it succeeds in not only senseless violence and a competent mystery, but the episode also features marginal development between Tigtone and Helpy’s relationship as well the uncomfortable bond between Prince Lavender and Spaceress. Tigtone is still likely going to pull out a blunt weapon before he takes out a magnifying glass, but at least now the audience knows that when that magnifying glass does appear that Tigtone will be able to solve clues nearly as well as he can use it to cave in skulls.