Thursday, July 31, 2014

"Red...White...Blue"

「缶ジュースの自動販売機、どうしても欲しいものが2つあったとします。ホットコーヒーと烏龍茶、どっちを飲もうかって迷ってしまう時ってありますよね。 そういう時はこうやって2つのボタンを同時に押す。すると無意識のうちに本当に欲しい方のボタンを先に押してしまうって言うんですが…まあ、お試し下さ い。二者択一と言えば…」
『古畑任三郎:赤か、青か』

"Suppose you're standing in front of a drinks machine and you really want to drink something. Sometimes you just can't choose: hot coffee or oolong tea. At such a time, you push both buttons at the same time. They say you will push the button of the drink you really want most first unconciously. Please try it some time. Talking about having to choose..."
"Furuhata Ninzaburou: Red? Blue?"

I've always wondered why some comics are released on the same day. Take Detective Conan and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo for example. You wouldn't believe how often these rival detective series are released on the same day. Of course, now that both series are serialized, it's not very strange new volumes are released close to each other (as their publication schedules obviously overlap), but even during the years Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo was an irregular series, it occured often that these series would arrive in the stores on the same day. You'd think that it would make more sense to have these two detective series, from two different publishers, released on different days...

Today: a Short Short featuring the two newest volumes of these series, released about two weeks ago.

Detective Conan 84 starts with Prologue of the Scarlet Detective, a flashback case about a murder in an aquarium. Shinichi (before he changed to Conan) and Ran happened to be there (not on a date, Ran emphasizes) and after some preliminary deductions by Shinichi, the police manages to get the suspects lists down from everyone in the aquarium to just three persons. But they all appear to have a solid alibi, because each of them had been taking pictures and movies with their phones. The alibi trick is ridiculous actually, in a sorta funny way, and it's a miracle it worked. Also, this case is supposed to be set in the past, but why is everyone using smartphones?  There was a time when Conan had to use a earring-shaped phone and bentou box fax!

The second story, The Person Behind the Devil's Voice, has the Detective Boys participating in a kite competition. During the competition, one of the contestants falls in the river as he backed up holding his team's kite. At first, this appears to be an accident, but Conan suspects someone told the man to back up all the way to the river. Problem: all witnesses say none of the suspects could have spoken to the victim because he was standing quite a distance from everyone. I actually liked the main trick behind the story quite much, but the rest of the story is disappointing, and it's not even because of the Detective Boys! The case is solved by an incredible stroke of luck, which kinda kills an otherwise okay story. Herb Tea, the Scent of Death on the other hand has a disappointing trick, but an interesting enough premise: a group of friends holds a tea party to cheer up their hospitalized friend, and one of them is poisoned during the party. But how? It's a simple story and setting, but it has a Christie-esque vibe to it. Too bad the trick depends on Obscure Knowledge That Wasn't Hinted At.

But the previous story and Bourbon's Piece to Solve the Puzzle are actually set-ups for a bigger story. There is the story about a teacher being attacked by an unknown assailant at school and it's a fairly good story (though a bit hard to do without some cultural knowledge, though not nearly as obscure as the previous story). But the story is also about the Black Organization spy Bourbon, who has been hanging out around the heroes of story for a long time (even though his cover was blown ages ago), who is investigating a certain important event that happened back in volume 58! In fact, these stories are branded as the Prologue to Scarlet and it appears that the next volume will feature a long story resolving several storylines that have been going on for years, similar to the volume-length stories in volume 42, volume 58 and volume 78.

Detective Conan 84 was an okay volume, but it was probably just a 'silence-before-the-storm' volume and I can't wait for the next!

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 2 first gives us the conclusion to The Snow Demon Legend Murder Case (which started in the first volume). Now that I've read the complete story, I think it's an okay story within the annals of Kindaichi Shounen. Like I mentioned in the review of the first volume, the first half is quite unique in the sense that you don't actually get the confirmation that anything has happened to the people who disappeared because of the Snow Demon. There is a pretty daring trick used by the murderer that seems a bit hard to pull off, but that has been often the case in the series (in fact, the solution to one of the disappearances reminds strongly of a certain early case). At times The Snow Demon Legend Murder Case does feel like a repetition of earlier stories at certain points, but it I definitely like it more than most of the 20th anniversary series.

Volume 2 also brings us the start of The Murder in the Phantom School Building, which is going full throttle into nostalgia lane. Hajime, grandson of the great detective Kindaichi Kousuke and his childhood friend Miyuki participate in a treasure hunt tour on the isolated Kogane Island, still the home to ruins of an old mining town. Inspector Kenmochi and his superior Akechi are also present, because Takatoo Youichi, a professional 'planner of crime' and Hajime's nemesis, has hinted at some event happening on the island. And of course, one by one the participants of the treasure hunt are killed by seemingly the ghost of a teacher...

An isolated island? Check! Treasure hunt? Check! Maps and conveniently unusable passages? Check! A large number of the cast students? Check! Excluding Hong Kong, the last time Kindaichi Shounen featured a story on an island, or a water-related place was actually back in 2010. The Murder in the Phantom School Building actually feels fresh, despite it being a fairly classically built story. The use of Takatoo in the story also attracts attention, especially considering his last appearance, but Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 2 only features half of the story, so we'll have to wait for the next volume to see how this story turns out.

And yes, I will probably discuss Conan and Kindaichi Shounen together in Short Short posts as long as they are released close to each other. Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo R 3 is already scheduled for half September, so let's hope Conan 85 will also be published around the same time!

Original Japanese title(s): 青山剛昌 『名探偵コナン』第84巻; 天城征丸(原)、さとうふみや(画)『金田一少年の事件簿R』第2巻

20 comments :

  1. It's torture to read your reviews, the Kindaichi stories sound great...
    Too bad nobody is translating them!
    Well at least I can read Detective Conan and Q.E.D :p

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    1. Considering the title of the anime series, there is a (slight) chance at least one case will be animated, I think. If so, I'd bet on the second story though (considering the first with its snow theme is a bit out of season).

      I never really got into QED, actually! I read the first...three (?) volumes and watched the live action drama, but it never got really interesting, IMHO. And there is just too much to read if I want to get into the series now ^_^'

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  2. You don't like Q.E.D? :o
    What about C.M.B?

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    1. I don't have anything /against/ QED, but I just thought it a bit bland. Maybe I should have read more, but there was just too little to really captivate me in the parts I did read / watched. I haven't read CMB: I gathered it was a spin-off series of QED, so not really interested.

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    2. It's not a spin-off, it's a different story with different characters, but it takes place in the same world
      A lot of people like the mysteries in C.M.B better than those in Q.E.D so maybe you will like it

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  3. Maybe they're released together to better gauge audience reactions? If two comics/manga with similar premises arrived on the same day, it be easier to follow the sales and see what people would buy given the choice.

    Also, that second Conan story sounds interesting. I love it when mystery writers find new variations on impossibilities!

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    1. Traditionally, Conan /always/ does better than Kindaichi Shounen: Even a currently running live action series /and/ an anime series didn't help Hajime this time (not that its sales are bad: it's just than Conan sells very good). I doubt that both publishers wouldn't have noticed that after so many years.

      I don't doubt there is a lot of overlap between the fans who buy both and actually find it convenient that they're released on the same day (like me), but still, they're similar products and one series consistently outsells the other...

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    2. Infact Kindaichi 1994-1996 done better than Conan, especially even on this day Kindaichi still hold higher initial printing record over Conan. and then start to decline since 1997. it can't help but Kindaichi had disadvantage for being chapter by chapter series unlike Conan. many people might bored about using same pattern every case.

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    3. But you'd have to consider that 1) Kindaichi Shounen started two years earlier and 2) had two TV drama series and a movie starring two popular idol figures in those times; It's only natural that Kindaichi Shounen did better in the early years of Conan's run. By the time both series had anime series and had 'settled' down in their respective formulas, Conan simply 'won' the fight.

      Well, I like both series, so it's not really a X VS Y story or one series being better or worse than another to me, but in terms of sales, Conan just does better on a whole.

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    4. To answer my fellow annonymous, I think Conan is more popular because it attracts a wider audience than Kindaichi, and is translated in more countries
      and to be honest, I like the Kindaichi manga, but the anime adaptation bores me a little

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  4. I'm more surprise you merge two series within one article than two series being released close. since I'm Kindaichi fan and don't care about other so it better to written specific series?

    I think maybe Amagi tried to write something similar to early case for nostgotic. and the 3rd case(not publish in takubon yet) feel heavy similar to one of older Kindaichi case too. so I think it legit to say.

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    1. I chose to do them together because I considered this a "short short" post; i.e. multiple review objects, but shorter / less deep than the regular reviews. I usually throw a bunch of unrelated things together (the previous time it was Conan, Kindaichi Shounen and Dr Sam Hawthorne, and the time before two unrelated detective novels). I like this format better for things like Conan/Kindaichi Shounen, because they are rather formulaistic and sometimes there's just very little new to comment on each individual volume.

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  5. I've always wondered from what country you are from?
    You have a CHINESE name, but you write about JAPANESE stuff in ENGLISH! And you seem fluent in other languages too?

    Of course if my question is too intrusive, you don't have to answer

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    1. Don't mind! It's not really a secret anyway, as I have mentioned in some posts. I'm from the Netherlands (hence the occasional reviews of Dutch novels).

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  6. The artwork in Kindaichi has been getting kind of sloppy lately...

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    1. The collected volumes don't seem particularly different from previous years. In fact, R's art seems a bit more consistent in general than the 20th Anniversary series.

      Of course, there's the 'problem' this week with the weekly chapters, where (important) writing on a chalkboard was unreadable because of the printing / an editor not doing his/her job right...

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  7. In Malaysia, the first volume just published this week.
    Can't wait for the next one.
    perhaps you can tell me what exactly was happened to the people that being killed and who are the murderer..

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    1. I wouldn't want to spoil the fun (actually, I don't remember and I don't have the books with me ATM).

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    2. I don't mind you spoil the fun for me actually. give a hint please!!!

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    3. Sorry, I don't have the books with me ATM and I hardly remember the details of the story...

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