Turnabout Memories - Part 9

"I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember"

Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories

It is probably the most boring manner in which one can end the year, but alas, it's the tradition here: in the final week of the year, I always write a short overview of the titles and posts of the year that stood out the most. And by which I mean the few ones I still remember. My tendency to work months ahead usually means a fair number of the reviews published early this year, were actually read in 2018, while quite a few (great!) novels I've read this year, won't be properly reviewed until 2020. That coupled with my bad memory usually means things become err, vague. Also: don't take the categories and lists here too seriously. A new Detective Conan volume was released last week, and if the postal services will cooperate, I might do one final review this year, but otherwise this post will be the last and I can already reveal that the book of the first review of 2020 is one I am absolutey sure will end up at the best-of list at the end of that year. Have a nice week!

Important note to future self: update the post archive more often. Adding more than a year's worth of posts is time-consuming and extremely tedious work.

Best Project Outside The Blog!
A Smart Dummy In The Tent

Okay, I'll have to be honest here and say there wasn't much competition this year. Abiko Takemaru's The 8 Mansion Murders was received very positively in 2018, so I was glad I got to work on another one of his works in 2019. This short story about the ventriloquist dummy detective Mario was published in the June/August 2019 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and features a rather interesting impossible crime in a circus fair setting. It's definitely a story I can recommend to those who have a special affinity with the impossible crime trope, because it's got a very original concept. And it's a really funny read too. Some might be disappointed that I didn't get to work on another Locked Room International release of a full novel this year, but errr, sometimes things don't go exactly as one'd hope. I can reveal that there's definitely something coming next year, because err, I've been busy these few months.

Best Mystery Movie/TV series/other linear audiovisual media! Seen in 2019 but probably older!
Hitou Yukiyami Furisode Jiken ("The Case of the Furisode of the Hot Spring Hidden In The Snow Darkness") (Detective Conan episodes 379-380)

I've seen a fair amount of mystery television and film productions, but choosing the best of them wasn't very difficult, to be honest. Not all of them were truly bad, but the two-parter Hitou Yukiyami Furisode Jiken was easily the best of them. As expected of screenplay writer Ochi Hirihito, this 2004 story was another prime example of an impossible murder that involves multiple elements that synergize exceedingly well together, with each element both depending on, but also strengthening another element. The 2019 theatrical release Detective Conan: Fist of the Blue Sapphire was on the other hand more a flick focused on action and comedy. It's actually an incredibly entertaining Conan movie, but as a standalone mystery movie, it's definitely not as impressive. Doraemon: Nobita no Himitsu Dougu Museum was a surprisingly fun, but very light mystery movie. The last two months, I have also followed a few on-going Japanese mystery dramas I'm probably not going to write about in seperate posts, but I have to say that Sherlock - Untold Stories ended up much more entertaining than I had feared: it borrows a lot from BBC's Sherlock, but the idea to use plots loosely inspired by the references to unsolved cases in the original Holmes stories worked out really well. The final episode was errr, very, very disappointing though. There was a reason "Who the hell is Moriya" went trending  on Twiter during the broadcast. The third Jikou Keisatsu series, Jikou Keisatsu ga Hajimemashita ("The Limitation Task Force has Started") was extremely entertaining thanks to a cast who are still having as much fun as ten years ago (when the previous series ran). The mystery plots were pretty simple and outright silly at times, but man, there were some minor gems like one of the most original murder weapons ever in episode 7, and a murder case inspired by the indie zombie film One Cut of the Dead, where the director was murdered even though everybody was busy shooting a whole zombie movie in only one cut.

Best Mystery Merchandise!
Fuwamofu Detective Pikachu pillow (San-ei Boeki)

The Detective Pikachu movie itself was not particularly impressive as a mystery movie (I liked the 3DS Detective Pikachu game better), but it was pretty fun to watch as someone who does like Pokémon. But man, there was some really cool, and absolutely adorable merchandise! Last year, I wrote a short article on merchandise of mystery series, but this pillow (technically, it's not a stuffed doll) is exactly the kind of things I want! The moment I saw this Pikachu with the deerstalker I knew I needed to have it and I quickly ordered it. It's so fluffy! And long-time readers might've noticed that I changed my avatar to Detective Pikachu a few months ago.

Best Theme! Of 2019!
The supernatural in mystery

Okay, this wasn't planned, but I read a lot of mystery fiction this year that featured either supernatural or fantasy elements in a great way. To quote myself from a different post: "Actual prophecies destined to come true, magic watches that show you to the exact moment of death of any person, a murder mystery set in Alice's Wonderland, robotic cats with technology from the future and a 5000 light year road trip through space: this year alone I've gone through heaps of great mystery stories that utilize the supernatural in one way or another, and all of them were interesting puzzle plot mysteries that played the game square and fair." I have read a few other great examples too that will be reviewed next year, but if anything, my readings of this year have only strengthened my beliefs in how much potential the mystery genre holds.

Best Non-Review Post! Of 2019!
Clocks in mystery fiction

For some reason, I always write more editorials/features near the end of the year. Anyway, I've written short pieces on the potential of the supernatural/fantasy elements in mystery fiction, the potential of what a mystery can be, family tress in mystery fiction, the meaning of the Challenge to the Reader and the closed circle situation. As I'm writing this, I realize the reason why I chose the article on clocks as my favorite, is the exact reason why I choose the article on glasses as my favorite last year! For this article was probably the only one I actually thought about before I started writing, instead of just winging it and writing as I went on.Though I do like the Challenge to the Reader one too.

Most Interesting Mystery Game Played In 2019! But Probably Older!
Armchair Detective Case. 1

I haven't played many 'major' mystery games this year, I think. I already knew in advance the two Shin Hayarigami games would involve the supernatural heavily in their plot and not present pure puzzle plots, even if I did really enjoy the second a lot. The Raven Remastered and Detective Conan - Mirage of Remembrance were replays of games I already knew were quite flawed and while I was pleasantly surprised by the release of a new Tantei Jinguuji Saburou mobile app in the summer, it too was far too limited in scale to leave any lasting impression on its on. Ise-Shima Mystery Annai: Itsuwari no Kuroshinju was a fun, small game inspired by Famicom adventure games, while I have to admit I expected more comments on my post on Dennis Wheatley and J.G. Links Murder Off Miami, a gamebook which included the actual, physical evidence like photographs, handwritten letters (even on in Japanese!), telegrams and even strands of hair retrieved from a comb. In the end, I had to choose between Armchair Detective and The Return of the Obra Dinn: the latter was a fantastic game that really forced you to think as you try to figure out what name and face belonged to the deceased on the abandoned ghost ship, but in the end, I decided to choose Armchair Detective Case. 1 because the synergy between the gameplay mechanics and the overall mystery story made a better impression on me. It's only part of what should become a bigger game, and I hope the whole thing will be released soon.

I didn't review Layton's Mystery Journey DX here, but while the presentation was top-notch as ever, you really do notice that the original puzzle supervisor is gone now. Obviously, I don't only play mystery games, so to name a few other titles that left an impression me this year: Box-Boy & Box-Girl! was a great addition to the small puzzle title, Dragon Quest XI S was a phenomenal game that manages to give a very modern feel to what is in the essence a very traditional system, Pokémon Sword might not be very surprising, but the many QOL improvements and the Wild Area are so good. Worst game played was Tales of the Tempest. By far.

Craziest Detective (Character) Read in 2019!
Yu Bu-ran in Hwanggeumgul ("The Golden Cave")

Okay, this creation by Kim Nae-seong, the father of the Korean detective story, always had a rather melodramatic and theatrical side to him, but I hadn't expected to see him go overboard in the book Baekgamyeon ("The White Mask"), which collected two of the juvenile adventures starring Yu Bu-ran. In the second story, Hwanggeumgul, Yu Bu-ran goes around shooting pirates with his pistol, while crying out to the orphaned children he's supposed to protect to watch him as he guns everybody down. That's... that's probably not how one should act in front of children...

The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List
- Alice Goroshi ("The Murder of Alice") (Kobayashi Yasumi)
- Invented Inference (Shirodaira Kyou)
- Hagoromo no Kijo ("The Ogress With the Robe of Feathers") (Nemoto Shou)
- Astra Lost In Space (Shinohara Kenta)
- Hitou Yukiyami Furisode Jiken ("The Case of the Furisode of the Hot Spring Hidden In The Snow Darkness") (Detective Conan episodes 379-380)
- Shi to Sunadokei ("Death and the Hourglass") (Torikai Hiu)
- Magan no Hako no Satsujin ("The Murders In the Box of The Devil Eye") (Imamura Masahiro)
- Mizuchi no Gotoki Shizumu Mono ("Those Who Submerge Like The Water Spirit") (Mitsuda Shinzou)
- Alibi Kuzushi Uketamawarimasu ("Alibi Cracking, At Your Service") (Ooyama Seiichirou)
- Shiryou no Gotoki Aruku Mono ("Those Who Walk Like The Dead Spirits") (Mitsuda Shinzou)