"I have to go over everything that's happened. I have to remember"
Another Code R: Journey into Lost Memories
Another year has passed, so it's time for the annual recap post. It's been another hectic year, so while I have managed to keep posting my (at least) one post a week, I haven't really been able to do editorial posts, and don't get me started on game-related reviews... Fortunately, I never run out of mystery novels and short stories to discuss, so while some media may not have seen much attention on this blog, I think I've managed to highlight quite a few interesting books this year. I've also managed to have some great mystery-related experiences outside the blog this year, for example attending the Honkaku Mystery Award ceremony for the first time in my life. I have been a member for years, but never managed to actually attend the ceremony because of simply not being in Japan when the ceremony is held, but this year, I finally managed to have a look and I met a lot of authors I've been reading for so many years now like Ooyama Seiichirou, and I also managed to meet a few of the authors whose work I've translated like Imamura Masahiro and Norizuki Rintarou. I'm also happy to say the Honkaku Discord server has recently seen its third birthday, and thanks to the wonderful people there, it's grown to a place where everyone can discuss Japanese mystery fiction (and horror) and participate in community projects like book clubs and guess-the-culprit games. So come and take a look inside the server if you're interested in Japanese mystery fiction! Anyway, 2026 is coming up soon, but don't expect much to change on this blog: I'll just be writing about (mostly) Japanese detective stories here, both old and new, and with a bit of luck, sometimes also announce something about my translation work! Have a nice Christmas and a great new year!
The Best Project Outside The Blog! In 2025!
Another year, and fortunately, I was able to translate another book!
The Clock House Murders by
Ayatsuji Yukito is the fourth book released in English in the successful series about murders happening in strange, creepy houses designed by the same architect and it's perhaps my favorite of the series. In a way, it feels a bit like a new take on
The Decagon House Murders, but with a lot more slasher horror segments added as Ayatsuji had released a few horror novels in the meantime. The grand trick behind the murders is absolutely fantastic and one of my all-time favorites. Ayatsuji is particularly proud of this book and he had wanted to see it published in English for some time now: before the English release of
The Labyrinth House Murders had been decided on, he had suggested perhaps going straight to
The Clock House Murders in case
The Labyrinth House Murders would prove troublesome in terms of translation. Ayatsuji would win the Mystery Writers of Japan Award with this book and next February, the live-action adaptation will release on Hulu in Japan. If you haven't read the book yet, please do! While the UK release was earlier this year, readers in the US have to wait until next year though.
And as it's already listed on some sites, it's not really a secret anymore, but you can expect the next book in the series too somewhere next year...
Best Premise! Seen in 2025!
A lot of the books I read, especially of authors I haven't read yet, are picked because of some alluring premise. From the premise of witches and time travel in
Minami Asov's
Eigoukan Chourenzoku Satsujn Jiken - Majo wa X to Shinu Koto ni Shita ("
The Super Serial Murder Case at the House of Eternity - The Witch Chose To Die With X"), a murder mystery where both the victim and the suspects has been in a thousand-year cryogenic sleep in
Sennen no Whodunnit ("
A Millenial Whodunnit"), to
murders commited on a space station,
mystic murders in medieval China, or
a hospital with detectives as doctors: they all have story set-ups that sound interesting on their own. So it might surprise I picked an otherwise very "plain" story as the tale with the best premise I read this year:
Maya Yutaka's
Momiji no Nishiki ("
Breathtaking Red Leaves") is a short story that's just about a murder that occurs in a mountain town with hot springs, which is basically the description of every other mystery story, but Maya adds a
brilliant twist at the end of the first part of the story, a twist that is both soooo simple and yet so ingenious: while the premise of the story, as a guess-the-culprit scenario, is to guess who the culprit is based on the hints provided, the first part of the story does not actually show
who the victim is! So the reader not only has to deduce who the culprit is, they have to deduce who the victim is first! It's such a great premise for the puzzle and Maya ends up presenting a very elegantly constructed short story.
Most Infuriating Timetable! In 2025!
And as I just explained above, Maya Yutaka is almost never a straight-forward author. He plays with the tropes of the genre, makes fun of them and takes them to their oddest extremes. In Mokusei no Ouji, he goes far with the classic alibi-deconstruction story, presenting the reader with a devilish puzzle with not only a house with an insanely complex layout, but also an extremely detailed timetable that denotes the movements of all the suspects down to the minute as they all wander through the maze-like house. The result is a timetable that is absolutely infuriating to behold, but in a good way, as you know Maya has something in store for you by presenting you with such an odd puzzle.
Silliest Cover! Seen in 2025!
I mean, no contest, right? The thing is, I honestly don't see the connection between the cover and the actual contents of the book. Sure, there's a woman in the book, but I'm pretty sure there was no giant hand in the story, nor a thumb growing out of the woman's face. And it's not like the actual art is bad either. It's just that the actual topic of the picture is so... weird, and not related to the book. I mean, I would've understood it if the hand was made to look like a train, because trains play an important role in the story, but as it is now... Well, it's memorable, at least.
Best Porn Mystery! Read in 2025!
In general, I aim to discuss the mystery genre on this blog, and I don't really have any rules regarding form (medium) or hybrid genres, as log as there's an interesting mystery plot at the core. However, it was a coincidence I happened to discuss two forms of
porn mystery earlier this year.
Chikan Densha: Seiko no Oshiri ("
Molester Train: Seiko's Tush", 1985) was a softcore porn film in a long-running series, directed by someone who would go on to win an Oscar and I had known for years it also contained a locked room murder mystery which authors like
Yamaguchi Masaya and
Abiko Takemaru lauded.
Marina Mystery File (1997-1999) was a manga that came under my attention thanks to manga artist and critic
Nemoto Shou, about a teacher who manages to solve gruesome murder cases whenever she's thoroughly stimulated. While I think the locked room murder in
Seiko no Oshiri is far more original and more complex than the plots we see in
Marina Mystery File, I still think the latter is better as a
porn mystery, in the sense the "sex" is integrated better in the mystery plots. Not always mind you, but in
Seiko no Oshiri, the locked room murder feels completely unrelated to the sexy bits, while
Marina Mystery File at least has some stories where the nudity and sex is actually connected meaningfully to the mystery plot.
Best Post I Accidentally Deleted And Had To Rewrite Completely! In 2025!
No winner.
Another year without casualties! Yay! *knocks on wood*
The Just-Ten-In-No-Particular-Order-No-Comments List
No comments :
Post a Comment