The Secret Lost at Sea

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know.

"Oh, The Places You'll Go!"

Ashibe Taku loves his classic mystery fiction and often writes pastiches of classic detectives and other stories strongly inspired by them. His two-volume series The Exhibition of Great Detectives for example was a collection of entertaining pastiches which had familiar fictional detectives like Lupin and Holmes, or Charlie Chan and Sam Spade team up in criminal crossovers. What Ashibe also showcased in these stories is not only his immense knowledge of the fictional characters and their respective universes, but also of the real-life publication history. A major characteristic of Ashibe's writing is the never-ending stream of literary references and references to all kinds of trivia regarding how these stories were actually created, sometimes even to a fault as occasionally when there's a bit too much trivia.

The famous fictional detectives Akechi Kogorou (by Edogawa Rampo) and Kindaichi Kousuke (by Yokomizo Seishi) have of course also been used multiple times by Ashibe in his pastiches and he even had them team-up more than once. In those stories, the two famous detectives met while working on the same case, but Ashibe Taku has a more interesting concept prepared in Kindaichi Kousuke, Panorama-tou he Iku ("Kindaichi Kousuke Goes To Panorama Island", 2016). This book collects two novellas in which the two detectives visit locales where the other detective famously solved one of their iconic cases: one of Edogawa Rampo's more imaginative novellas is Panorama-tou Kitan ("The Strange Tale of Panorama Island"), while Gokumontou ("Prison Gate/Gokumon Island") is one of the best-known Kindaichi Kousuke novels. In this book, the always shabbily-clad Kindaichi visits Panorama Island many years after the incident that made it famous, while in the meantime, the gentleman-detective Akechi Kogorou, his wife Fumiyo and the boy detective Kobayashi Yoshio travel to the once horrifying island of Gokumon.

Let me start with saying right away that this is a book for the fans. If you haven't read the original stories and preferably even more adventures starring the respective two detectives, there's probably too little to genuinely enjoy within the pages of these two stories. Ashibe goes full-out fanboy with his references to both series, and sometimes (or even often), the trivia will only appeal to the knowledgable fan. We're talking about references about the release years of stories, or how certain stories were only serialized and never released as books and talk about the appearances of characters that only appeared on one single novel. I was familiar with both the original stories and many other sotires in both fictional universes, but some of these references are really nitpicky (in a good way, I guess). A fan will surely grin while reading this, but for someone who has never touched any of these stories,  Kindaichi Kousuke, Panorama-tou he Iku will be hard to follow, especially as the core mystery plot of both stories do touch upon the details of the original work. Of course, pastiches always rely on references, but I think in this case the core mystery plots aren't really entertaining if you go in completely blank.

The first story is the titular Kindaichi Kousuke, Panorama-tou he Iku ("Kindaichi Kousuke Goes To Panorama Island"), which has Kindaichi's old friend Kazama buy up the now defunct Panorama Island. In the original story, this island was rebuilt to be a (fake) paradise on Earth, being a gigantic, island-sized panorama rotunda that not only showed the wonders of the world as a panorama, it also offered all the pleasures of the human world to its king. After the conclusion of the original story, the island was abandoned and allowed to fall apart, until Kazama (a contractor) decided to buy the island and turn it into an entertainment park. Kazama invites Kindaichi along to view the place, knowing his professional interest in the location. After their visit, they return to the mainland and stay in an inn in a bay across the island. That night, Kindaichi is haunted by a nightmare, which seems to have come true: workers of Kazama had gone to the island that morning and discovered a corpse there, whose face had been destroyed completely. The man had been murdered in the night and been left on top of some minature buildings (a panorama works with perspective, so objects in the back are made as scale miniatures). The island is hardly accessible though, and Kazama and Kindaichi had not seen the body during their inspection the day before, so how did that body end up on Panorama Island and why in the first place? It's interesting to see how Ashibe imagined the aftermath of the original story (loads of references to the characters of the original story) and ultimately, the core mystery is actually neatly connected to the original Panorama Island story. The core mystery plot isn't really that complex and the story could easily have been half the length if it wasn't imbedded in this pastiche form, but on the other hand, this trick is one that worked because it was set in such a unique place. It's a funny story for people that know the original tale, though I think it is arguable whether this story needed Kindaichi to be the detective (though there is a reason).

This story is followed time-wise immediately by Akechi Kogorou, Gokumontou he Iku ("Akechi Kogorou Goes To Gokumon Island"), where Akechi Kogorou, his wife and the boy detective Kobayashi visit Gokumon Island, one of the first big cases Kindaichi solved right after he returned from fighting in World War II. Akechi is quite interested in seeing the small island community some years after Kindaichi famously solved the "Gorgon Sisters Murder Case" and meets with a lot of people he already knew from the novel by Y (Yokomizo Seishi) based on the events. As the famous detective and his entourage are being led around the island though, the reader is made aware not all is as it seems though, and it seems Akechi is planning to pull something off on this island, but what? Similar to the Rampo stories, we follow an Akechi who is aware of a lot more facts than the reader, and it's seeing the mysterious events work towards a finale orchestrated by Akechi that makes up most of the fun of this story. It's not really fair because Akechi basically already knows what's up from the early stages of the story on, and the reader is just left wondering why this or that is happening. This story too builds on the aftermath of the original story as imagined by Ashibe, but both the scale and the type of mystery is so different from the original story that it kinda misses the mark: the first story was much better in really feeling like the mystery plot built on specific details of the original story. The real-world references are also incredibly detailed and nitpicky here (and even somewhat confusing as it mixes real and in-universe chronology) and in the end, this story really feels like one for the fans.

Obviously, Kindaichi Kousuke, Panorama-tou he Iku is not going to be an universal recommendation. It's playing up to a very specific target group and there's little to appeal to people outside of that group, as the two stories here don't work well as standalone mystery stories. As someone who does know both stories, and the extended series of both Akechi Kogorou and Kindaichi Kousuke, I did have fun seeing familiar locales and characters, but seen from the point of view of another great detective. The concept is pretty fun, with these characters visiting the places from the stories of the other character, but the result is really only reserved for a small group of readers. You will know of yourself whether you're interested in this story collection or not.

Original Japanese title(s): 芦辺拓『金田一、パノラマ島へ行く』:「金田一、パノラマ島へ行く」/「明智小五郎、獄門島へ行く」

Magical Mystery Enemies

"That's all magic is, an illusion."

"Jonathan Creek"

I thought it had been several years since I last read a Rampo, but it wasn't even that long ago that I read the excellent Yuureitou. Guess I forgot because it wasn't about Akechi.

After defeating the crazy murderer the Spider-Man in the novel Kumo Otoko (1929-1930), amateur detective Akechi Kogorou decided to take a long deserved holiday, resting at a lakeside hotel. There he becomes friends with Taeko, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy jeweler Tamamura Zentarou. After she returned to Tokyo, Akechi of course hoped he'd be able to meet her again, but he couldn't have guessed their reunion would come so soon: Akechi is contacted by the police, who want his help involving a mysterious threatening case. At first, Akechi refused, until he learns that it involves Fukunaga Tokujirou, the uncle of Taeko. Letters with numbers counting down have been appearing in the man's house every day now, and Fukunaga is afraid that once the countdown reaches zero, something horrible will happen. Akechi takes the first train back to Tokyo, but he's immediately kidnapped by an unknown party and during Akechi's absence, Fukunaga is murdered inside his locked bedroom by apparently a gigantic man. It seems like Akechi's latest foe can truly make the impossible possible and stopping this fiend won't be easy in Edogawa Rampo's Majutsushi ("The Magician", 1930).

After a series of short stories with the amateur detective Akechi Kogorou, Edogawa Rampo (father of the Japanese detective story) also had Akechi appear in novels. Akechi'd slowly transform from a bookish student to an amateur detective, to a dandy gentleman detective over the course of his career, with Majutsushi still being set in his amateur days, though he finally opens a true detective agency at the end of this novel. Akechi also meets his future assistant/wife in this novel, who's often an active character in subsequent Akechi novels, as well as in the Boys Detective Club series, so for fans of the character Akechi Kogorou, Majutsushi is a must-read for fleshing out his life.

Rampo had Akechi confront a terrifying, almost inhuman murderer in the thriller Kumo Otoko (1929-1930) and Majutsushi continues with that trend. In fact, most Akechi novels pit him against some kind of superfiend, like a Scooby Doo! monster, with whom Akechi will have several confrontations over the course of the story. This is also what happens in Majutsushi, where Akechi sometimes outwits, and sometimes is outwitted by a murderer who appears in front of Akechi as a circus magician, and who is hell-bent on killing all members of the Tamamura family. Besides the silly super-criminal trope, you also have the usual Rampo tropes here, like a focus on voyeurism, with several of the murders being displayed in public in all their goriness. Like I mentioned in my review of Issunboushi, exhibitionism, and a delayed realization of that plays a big role in Rampo's detective stories. In Majutsushi too, the eponymous Magician stages for some of his murders (or chopped off body parts) to appear in public, and usually people first look at it, find it odd, and only after that, it slowly starts to dawn upon them that what they just saw, was something horrible. Lenses and mirrors are also a Rampo-thing, and true enough, mirrors also appear in this story (not so curious of course, considering Akechi is fighting a magician).

As a mystery story, it's a bit like most Rampo novels, that is, not particularly memorable. Majutsushi is a serialized novel, and give it some credit, this is one of the better plotted ones by Rampo because with most of his other serialized novels, you can really tell he's simply winging things as he's going, while Majutsushi is actually reasonably tightly plotted, but still, the whole thing feels like a somewhat unambitious pulpy thriller. Most of the events that happen are just there to 'shock' the reader, even though they never really do, and the few truly horrifying scenes we get, are taken from Edgar Allan Poe stories (which Rampo also points out in his own look back at this novel). The locked room murder at the start of the novel has a silly, uninspired solution that Rampo has actually used in other novels in better ways, and other events in this novel aren't about detecting anymore, but at "look at how gruesome that is!". This is a pulp thriller, a very pulpy one at that too, but not nearly as entertaining as other Rampo pulps like Kurotokage.

There's a juvenile version of this novel by the way, also titled Majutsushi, set in the Boys Detective Club series. Rampo rewrote several of his stories as juvenile stories for this series starring the young assistant of Akechi Kogorou, Kobayashi.

So overall, Majutsushi is very typical of a Rampo serialized novel, that is, it's an incredibly pulpy story brimming with Rampo's trademark tropes. Judged solely on its mystery plot, Majutsushi does nothing particularly special, even if it tries to throw some surprises at the reader, but overall, I think this novel is most notable for its place in the Akechi timeline, establishing both the background of his future wife and Akechi's move to a professional private detective.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩『魔術師』

Golden Cocktail

危険。混ぜるな。

Do not mix. Hazardous.

Seems like it's been a while since I did a review on a 'proper' Japanese detective novel, instead of a Japanese translation of a Western novel or reviews on (Japanese) games.

Akechi Kogorou tai Kindaichi Kousuke ("Akechi Kogorou VS Kindaichi Kousuke") is a 2002 short story collection by Ashibe Taku, and the second volume in his The Exhibition of Great Detectives series, a showcase of pastiches starring famous detectives from both East and West. Like many pastiches, these stories also feature an element of parody, and they are best enjoyed if by the reader if they do actually know the detective beneath the spotlight. The story which lends its title to this collection for example, Akechi Kogorou tai Kindaichi Kousuke, features arguably the two most influential detectives in Japanese detective fiction: Edogawa Rampo's famous gentleman-detective Akechi Kogorou and Yokomizo Seishi's quintessential Japanese detective Kindaichi Kousuke. And the reader is sure to enjoy this story if they know something about these detectives, because at the core, this is a very Kindaichi-esque story, about two rival pharmacy shops which used to be one single shop (many Kindaichi stories about the troubles that exist between main and branch families). I already discussed the 2013 TV drama adaptation back then, so I refer to that review for more indepth views on the story. It's a good mystery yarn, with a surprising conclusion, and I definitely prefer the stort story to the drama version, which had some questionable direction in terms of characterization. In the end, this story is still not really a "Versus" story though, so the title might be a bit misleading.

French Keibu to Raimei no Shiro ("Inspector French and the Thunderclap Castle") has Freeman Wills Crofts' Inspector French going on a well-deserved holiday with his wife Emily. The couple needs to change trains at the station of Cranerock, but there they run into a little problem. Old man Smithers, butler of the Callaway family, has been waiting for ages for a "famous detective from London with the initial F", and thinks that he has found his man in Inspector French. The Inspector learns the story of Harriet Cathaway, last of the Cathaways and owner of Thunderclap Castle in Cranerock. She has recently become of age, but her legal guardian, Mannering, wants to sell the castle behind her back to settle his debts. Mannering is willing to do anything to accomplish this, which is why Harriet's grandfather had arranged for the "famous detective F" to watch over Harriet after his demise. Inspector French and his wife stay for the night in Thunderclap Castle, but the following morning, the body of Mannering is found in the Cathaway Crypt. What's more baffling is that no footsteps of anybody leaving the crypt were found on the snowfield surrounding the crypt, and the crypt was locked from inside, with the key found inside Mannering's mouth.

To be honest, I was a bit confused when I started with this story. An Inspector French story, with a Gothic feel and an impossible crime? I had expected an alibi deconstruction story, like Mystery on Southampton Water. But there is a perfectly good reason why this story does not feel like an Inspector French story and a lot more like a story featuring a certain different character, though it would spoil a bit of the surprise if I'd tell you now. Suffice to say that not all is what they appear to be. The impossible crime plot is great by the way, as it ties in fantastically with that one plot-point I can't tell you about here. Is it a completely fair story? No, as it requires some information not explicitly made known to the reader until the conclusion, but for readers who know about the characters featured in this story, French Keibu to Raimei no Shiro is nothing less than fun, that is a great pastiche, parody and impossible crime story. Definitely my favorite of the book.

Brown Shinpu no Japonisme ("The Japonisme of Father Brown") is based on a fanzine story by Komori Kentarou, but heavily rewritten by Ashibe. G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown finds himself at the residence of Lord Huntington, recently deceased, as the request of his old friend Flambeau. Under the influence of his wife, Lord Huntington had become a great collector of anything from the Far East, especially Japan, and he had hired Flambeau for his detective services. The lord however was found murdered yesterday inside a locked exhibition room, filled will Japanese collectibles. His body was stuffed inside a nagamochi storage trunk, while the murder weapon, a pistol, was found inside an urn. Suspects include the lord's wife, a socialist journalist, who had just had an interview with the lord and a Japanese businessman who had a big row with the lord. The solution Father Brown poses is absolutely brilliant, but almost cheating. It's a wonderfully Father Brown-esque solution, reminiscent of the famous The Invisible Man, but taken to the extreme. It's a bit hard to swallow, especially in this time and age, but it's not one I would deem utterly impossible, and I think it works quite well here, though I do wish there were more hints to this solution. Brilliant, but so utterly crazy it wouldn't work in something outside a pastiche or parody.

Soshite Orient Kyuukou Kara Dare Mo Inaku Natta ("And Then There Were None On The Orient Express") is a very short epilogue set in an alternative universe to Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, which focuses on the Yuguslavian Police Force, who were given a dead body and a report of Hercule Poirot's solution to the crime after the events in the book. It's a simple story that with a surprise ending gimmick, which was not bad. It's not a mystery story though, it's just offering a different way to look at the ending of Murder on the Orient Express.

Q no Higeki - Mata wa Futari no Kurofukumen no Bouken ("The Tragedy of Q - Or: The Adventure of the Two Men With Black Masks") starts with the discovery of the body of Professor Cotswinkel  in his research room in the Detroit Public Library. A witness (and suspect) says the last time he talked with the professor, the man said he had just seen Ellery Queen. The problem is: which Ellery Queen? Because both Manfred B. Lee and Frederic Dannay were in Detroit to do a lecture as Ellery Queen and Barnaby Ross. This is an original pastiche about the Queen cousins, as opposed to the character, set in the time when Lee and Dannay were posing as both Ellery Queen and Barnaby Ross. The story makes good use of this past of the Queen cousins and the solution to the problem is solved in a typical Queen manner, by logical reasoning. The denouement scene is golden by the way: with both "Ellery Queen" and "Barnaby Ross" deducing their way to the murderer in front of an audience. 

Tantei Eiga no Yoru ("Night of the Detective Films") is not a pastiche, but combines an essay on Hollywood adaptations of mystery novels with a locked room murder. A big fan of mystery films is murdered inside his house, and several witnesses swear they saw a strange green, alien-like creature inside the house just moments before the murder was committed. But when the victim's fiancée and the local beat cop enter the house right after the murder, they find only the mask of the alien, with no sign of the person who should've been wearing it. A simple story: the impossible crime is just a minor variation of a familiar pattern. I described the story as a combination of an essay and a mystery short story, but that's really what it is. The first part was intended as an essay on Hollywood adaptations, but it was expanded a bit to include a mystery story.

The final story in the collection, Shounen wa Kaijin wo Yume Miru ("The Boy Who Dreamt of a Fiend"), is basically impossible to describe without giving it away. It's not a mystery story actually, more a fantasy/adventure novel and it ties in eventually with one of the more well-known figures in Japanese mystery fiction, but yeah, mentioning who would spoil the whole thing. Not a big fan of the story, but it is also a very different kind of story compared to the rest.

Overall though, I'd say Akechi Kogorou tai Kindaichi Kousuke is a very amusing pastische collection. The book features a lot of impossible crime situations, and I'd say most of them are actually quite good (especially the first half of the book), though I have to say the collection feels a lot more rewarding if you actually know the many characters that appear here, because the book definitely has a slight parody-angle.

Original Japanese title(s): 『明智小五郎対金田一耕助』: 「明智小五郎対金田一耕助」 / 「フレンチ警部と雷鳴の城」 / 「ブラウン神父と日本趣味（ジャポニズム）」 / 「そしてオリエント急行から誰もいなくなった」 / 「Ｑの悲劇　または二人の黒覆面の冒険」 / 「探偵映画の夜」 / 「少年は怪人を夢見る」

Killed in the Ratings

Something old, something new, 

something borrowed, something blue,

The holiday season traditionally has a lot of mystery and murder on TV, for some reason. For the bigger and more interesting productions, I usually write seperate posts, but this season there was little I saw that warranted its post, so I grouped it all together in a short short post (where I write shorter reviews/thoughts on multiple mystery media, as opposed to longer, focused reviews). Funnily enough, this is the first short short posts in almost two years that does not feature either Detective Conan or The Young Kindaichi Case Files.

The TV special Kurotokage ("The Black Lizard") was broadcast on Japanese TV on December 22, 2015 and is an adaptation of Edogawa Rampo's 1934 book, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the writer's death. The original book is one of Rampo's best known stories and chronicles the adventures of great detective Akechi Kogorou as he attempts to capture the female thief the Black Lizard. It is a very pulpy adventure book, but oh-so-fun. The campy 1968 film was a very faithful and enjoyable adaptation of the book. The 2015 special is in a word horrible. I can live with the fact they moved the story to the present, or the fact they made Akechi Kogorou the Deputy Superintendent General of the police department, rather than a private detective. But the special is just dull.

Attempts at lighthearted comedy kill any attempts of creating atmosphere, the acting is mediocre at best (and the awful script is definitely not helping the actors) and the story has boring and uninspired attempts at adding "original" elements to the original book. The latter wouldn't be even that bad if they had at least tried to follow the spirit of the book, or Rampo's writings in general: 2004's Rampo R's version of the book was only based very loosely on the book, but at least it built on the themes of the book and Rampo in general, so that was a a lot more enjoyable than 2015's TV special. This is not how you should commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the most infuential mystery writer of Japan.

Kurotokage moved the story to the present, something Sherlock also did in its main series by moving Sherlock Holmes to a modern background, but the 2016 New Year's special The Abominable Bride goes back to the past. The story is set in Victorian London, where one Emilia Ricoletti managed to do the impossible by first committing suicide and then returning as a ghoul bride to kill her husband with a shotgun. Back at the morgue, Inspector Lestrade is horrified to discover that Ricoletti's corpse in the morgue showed signs of having moved and asks Sherlock Holmes of 221b Baker Street to help him. Note that this special is set in Victorian London like in the original stories, but that the characters are those from Sherlock and not that of the original canon. Anyway, this was a mostly enjoyable special.

The story has a bit of a Scooby Doo vibe actually, with demon brides haunting town. The mystery plot is rather forgettable though: I wouldn't say it's particularly smart, it's actually a rehash of something Sherlock has already done and the way it comes to a conclusion is very clumsily done. On the other hand: the latter half of the special gives the viewer a new perspective on the narrative up until then, and manages to give a rather bland mystery plot a bit more glamour by using that narrative as part of a bigger narrative. Overall an enjoyable TV special that fits well in the spirit of the series despite the setting, but I wouldn't watch it for the impossible crime.

Last year, an interesting, if flawed TV adaptation of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express was broadcast on Japanese TV, but this holiday season also featured a Christie adaptation, but on British TV (where else?). And Then There Were None, a three-part series based on Agatha Christie's classic that started on Boxing Day 2015, was perhaps the biggest surprise. Other recent adaptations of Christie's work on the TV were err... not optimal., so I was not expecting too much of this series, so imagine how surprised I was when I realized that this was actually a very faithful series. This series does an especially great job at visualizing the pressing atmosphere on Soldier Island, where invisible Death awaits ten sinful men and women.

The series is rather long (3x55 minutes), so there are some original parts that build on the original book in order to fill the running time, but little of it feels unnatural (I say little, because I'm not fond of one particular scene in the last episode). Overall, I think And Then There Were None was a great mini-series.

And that's it for today. Mystery-wise, this holiday season was better than than last year's, though nothing beats the extravaganza of two years ago (with Sherlock, Trick, The Kindaichi Case Files and more all starting in the first few days of the New Year). I hope next year will be at least as good as this year!

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩（原）　『黒蜥蜴』

The Sign of Three

熱い心クサリでつないでも今は無駄だよ

邪魔する奴は指先ひとつでダウンさ

「愛をとりもどせ!!」 (クリスタルキング)

Even if you bind my burning hart with chains, it's no use

I knock down everyone who stands in my one with just one finger

"Take back my love!" (Crystal King)

I have a whole bunch of unread Edogawa Rampo volumes lying around here. It's basically my emergency kit: whenever I have nothing else to read, or I want to read something I know I can get through quickly and still have some fun with, I pick up one of these volumes. And so today, another of Rampo's novels.

In Edogawa Rampo's Akuma no Monshou ("The Crest of the Devil", 1937~38), an unknown enemy has threatened to wipe off CEO Kawate Shoutarou and his family of the face of this world. Because the famous detective Akechi Kogorou has left the country for other business, Kawate decides to hire Professor Munakatari, another private detective who has been making a name for himself as being at least the equal of the great Akechi Kogorou. But even Professor Munakatari has to admit that this case is a lot more complex, and the secret adversary much more dangerous than he had assumed. Without breaking even a sweat, the avenger manages to kill one of Munakatari's assistants, do the same with Kawate's youngest daughter and stage a disappearing act with the elder sister from a guarded room inside a well-secured house. The only clue Munakatari has is the murderer's fingerpint: this mark of the devil with three distinctive swirls appears on every crime scene, like a face laughing at Kawate and Munakatari.

Akuma no Monshou was originally serialized in the magazine Hi no De from September 1937 until October of the following year, with Yokomizo Seishi as its editor. Rampo was also busy with the serialization of Shounen Tantei Dan in the same period by the way, so it was a productive time for him. Wthin the oeuvre of Rampo, Akuma no Monshou holds a B-rank in terms of name I think: it's not as known as other works by Rampo, but it is certainly not an obscure title (I even have a comic version of it by The Accidents' Yamada Takatoshi).

But this is definitely not Edogawa Rampo at his best. A lot of the plot consists of reusing elements of other, and usually better stories he had written in the past and considering Rampo's strange fascination for mirrors, Akuma no Monshou ironically feels like a laughing mirror version of these stories. Mirrors appear in the form of a mirror house in this novel by the way, and you'll see a lot of other familar Rampo tropes too, but their use never feels original. It's all an inferior version of what Rampo had already done a lot better in the past. People hiding in stuff? Done better in The Human Chair. Public display of dead bodies and themes of voyeurism? Done better in The Dwarf. Mirrors and lenses? The Hell of Mirrors. A long detective story? Kotou no Oni was much more entertaining and it doesn't even come close to the excellent novella Nanimono (translation here). Every element in Akuma no Monshou has been done before by Rampo himself and much better.

And while I have the feeling Rampo was aiming for a traditional mystery plot with Akuma no Monshou, it's so full of silly stuff it is hard to take the novel seriously. The plan of the avenger is unneccessary complex and time-consuming, half of the plot is held together through threads of coincidence and luck and even though I absolutely love Rampo's work in general, even the sillier ones, I have difficulty finding something that really sets this novel apart from other Rampo stories in a positive way. The only part remotely interesting is the way the three-swirl fingerprint keeps turning up everywhere as the symbol of the avenger, but even that isn't really as terrifying as it could have been.

In general, Rampo has problems with longer stories. His novels were usually serialized, and he often just winged the plot together as he went (Kohantei Jiken for example). Because of that, a lot of stories feel very episodic and never really well planned out. This doesn't mean all of Rampo's longer works are bad: sometimes the chaos works (it certainly worked out for something like Ougon Kamen for example) and as the Lupin novels also show, episodic events do add a sense of thrill and adventure to the overall story. But Akuma no Monshou is an example of how it sometimes kinda falls apart and you're left with something, while not absolutely unreadable, is still not close what it could have been.

Personally, I have to admit that this has been a good lesson because for some reason, I've liked practically all I've read of Rampo. Even though I know he wasn't always at his best when at the writing table: there are actually quite a lot of his stories that were received quite badly when they were published and Rampo himself is the first to admit that a lot of his work isn't as good as it should be, one can read in his memoirs. But for me, Akuma no Monshou was the first story I just didn't manage to really like. Ah well, at least now I am sure I am not just a blind Rampo fanboy.

Akuma no Monshou is a very mediocre work by Rampo. You can find practically all of it, in a better form, in Rampo's other works. You're better off reading those stories, and if you have already, then there's no need whatsoever to read Akuma no Monshou.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩 『悪魔の紋章』

Step by Step

無邪気に笑い　踊る君　シェリーを口にする度 
妖艶 & 豹変　大人の女に変わってく

「Miss Mystery」（Breakerz）

Smiling innocently and dancing, every time you put sherry to your lips,

A bewitching transformation, you change into an adult woman

"Miss Mystery" (Breakerz)

Lots of firsts in this review: the first appearance of the first quintessential Japanese master detective, a stor that is commonly regarded as the very first Japanese locked room/location mystery and the first time here I was provided with a review copy by the publisher. And that leads into my very first disclosure message.

Full disclosure: Review copy of Edogawa Rampo's The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō was provided by Kurodahan Press. I have written the introduction to Kurodahan Press' publication of Edogawa Rampo's The Fiend with Twenty Faces (2012).

Maybe I should also disclose that I'm a huge Edogawa Rampo fan. Though I think that should have been quite clear by now considering how often I mention him...

Edogawa Rampo, the father of the Japanese detective story, is a well-known name even outside Japan. I myself have reviewed a lot of his books on this blog and while a lot of the material I discuss here isn't translated, actually quite a lot of Edogawa Rampo's novels are available in English, a great number of them starring his series detective Akechi Kogorō. From early inverted stories like The Pyschological Test (in: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination) and Stalker in the Attic (In: The Edogawa Rampo Reader) and novelettes/novels like The Black Lizard (In: The Black Lizard / Beast in the Shadows) and The Fiend with Twenty Faces, Akechi Kogorō has been quite active in the English world. The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō, released early this month, is the latest in Kurodahan Press' series of English Rampo releases and collects three short stories and one novelette featuring the master detective. As the title suggests, these stories are all early Rampo works and let's be honest: as a writer he was usually a lot better early in his career than later on.

The collection starts with one of the best known titles of Japanese detective stories: The Case of the Murder on D. Hill (1925) is not only Akechi's first appearance, it is also seen as the very first original Japanese locked room mystery. As often with early Rampo stories, D. Hill features a loafing narrator/author avatar who is having a drink with the mysterious Akechi, with whom he recently became acquainted. As they have a chat, they notice something weird is going on in the secondhand bookshop on the other side of the road and when they take a look, they discover the wife of the owner has been murdered. Puzzling however is that nobody seems to have seen anybody suspicious leave the block of houses there.

This was not the first time I've read D. Hill, but I've always appreciated this story more for other elements than its impossible crime angle, which really is a bit weak. Granted: considering that Japanese houses in the period often featured thin paper walls, it's kinda difficult to construct a locked room mystery as seen in Western fiction from the same time period and Rampo's first steps, even if a bit shakey like his name suggests, did serve as an example for others to follow. As such, I think the historical meaning of D. Hill is much more impressive than the pure puzzle. But I actually like the other thing Rampo did much better, which I can't really explain in detail without going in spoilers. But suffice to say that for fans D. Hill does feature early examples of familiar Rampo tropes and that as a first appearance story, it is quite enjoyable. I think that anybody interested in Rampo or Japanese detective fiction should at least read this story.

The Black Hand Gang (1925) is the only story of the collection I had not read in Japanese before and quite enjoyed it. The titular gang of vanguards has been making a name for itself in the capital by kidnapping children of wealthy families for ransom. When the narrator's cousin has been kidnapped too, he asks Akechi to help save her. The plot is simple, but fairly satisfying considering the length of the story and it features quite some enjoyable Rampo tropes, including a fairly ingenious code (that sadly enough is a bit hard to understand if you have no knowledge of Japanese at all). Codes of course are fairly important when discussing Rampo, as it was the main puzzle in his debut story The Two-Sen Copper Coin (available in English in Modanizumu), which is often praised for its ingenious code strongly linked to the Japanese language. The Black Hand Gang is also notable for featuring well, a gang that kidnaps children and who act like phantom thieves: fantastic criminals pop up all the time in Rampo's writings (most notably with The Fiend with Twenty Faces, but also someone like The Black Lizard), while kidnapping...whoo, you could write a whole book just about the number of kidnappings in Rampo's stories! It's like every other creation of Rampo will be kidnapped at some time in the story.

Most of Rampo's stories have fairly simple, to-the-point titles and as you can guess, The Ghost (1925), features a ghost. The ghost of old Tsujidō has been haunting his arch-enemy Hirata: his figure follows Hirata everywhere and despite several measures taken (including double-checking Tsujidō's death and keeping an eye on Tsujidō's son), he still can't explain how the face of a dead man can keep popping up. The solution is almost cheating, though it does involve elements that are actually quite ingenious. Better for its basic idea than the actual execution, I think and easily the weakest story included in the collection.

When Akechi Kogorō made his first appearance The Case of the Murder on D. Hill, he was described as an amateur detective / scholar and this was his image throughout all of his early stories published in 1925. These stories have now all been released in English:

1. The Case of the Murder on D. Hill (In: The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō)

2. The Pyschological Test (In: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination)

3. The Black Hand Gang (In: The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō)

4. The Ghost (In: The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō)

5. The Stalker in the Attic (In: The Edogawa Rampo Reader)

From 1925-1926's serialized novelette The Dwarf on however (the final story in The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō), Akechi slowly changed into a gentleman private detective, which is how Akechi is commonly depicted as nowadays. Well, he starts off here dressed in Chinese clothes, but trust me, he'll become the dandy gentleman detective later on. The Dwarf is about the investigation into the role of a mysterious dwarf in the disapperance of Yamano Michiko. And I could write a lot about this novelette here, but I actually already did when I wrote a review of the book when I read it in Japanese two years ago, so I'd like to link to that review (man, I used to write really comprehensive reviews, I noticed just now... publication history, voyeurism and modernism among other topics). The short version: The Dwarf is a feast for those into Rampomania, as it has pretty much all of the important Rampo tropes. As a mystery story it's has its share of faults, but I enjoyed it as a pulpy detective story with a dwarf running around with human limbs. There probably aren't many of them out there, I think.

Overall, The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō is a decent collection. The Black Hand Gang and The Ghost aren't the most impressive of Rampo's short stories, but The Case of the Murder on D. Hill and The Dwarf are great additions to Rampo's English library: D. Hill has great value in the history of Japanese detective fiction, while The Dwarf is a fun pulpy detective in the spirit of The Fiend with Twenty Faces and The Black Lizard. I still think Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination is the best introduction of Rampo available, but for those who have developed a love for Rampo's pulpy detectives, The Early Cases of Akechi Kogorō offers more of his early work.

Finally, I really gotta ask this: I'm pretty sure that the cover is supposed to be based on The Dwarf, but I can't possibly be the only one who was thinking of the moon of Majora's Mask, right?!

Double Exposure

 Two's company, three's a crowd

I usually keep an eye out on Japanese TV for interesting mystery shows (I want to see Maya Yutaka's live mystery show!), but I have to admit that this one caught me by complete surprise. Had I not seen some Twitter trends for it, I would have totally missed it.

Last year, Edogawa Rampo's Akechi Kogorou and Yokomizo Seishi's Kindaichi Kousuke appeared together in Fuji TV's crossover TV special Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou, based on a pastiche by Ashibe Taku. Last monday, the two best known fictional detectives from the Japanese islands reunited in a new TV special with the simple title Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou Futatabi ("Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Once Again"). Being hired to find out who is behind the attempted poisoning of Baron Ryuujou, Kindaichi Kousuke travels to a small secluded village in Nagano where the baron is revered as its benevolent lord. Meanwhile, Akechi Kogorou also makes his way to Baron Ryuujou's dwellings, because his nemesis the Fiend with Twenty Faces has threatened to whisk away a golden Tathāgata statue in possession of the baron. And thus Kindaichi Kousuke and Akechi Kogorou find themselves working side by side again to expose a silent murderer and a flamboyant thief.

I wasn't too impressed with last year's special actually, so I was quite surprised when I learned they made a sequel. The idea of a crossover between the best known fictional Japanese detectives is fun, of course and while such crossovers often stay within the realm of fanfiction and low-profile pastiches, this was a crossover written by a well known mystery writer, broadcasting in prime time and starring some big names (Yamashita Tomohisa as Kindaichi and Itou Hideaki as Akechi). But with last year's special I had the feeling that the mystery, while decent enough, didn't need the big names of Kindaichi and Akechi and that it didn't really fit either of the two. But a new year and new chances and this time we even have Rampo's the Fiend with Twenty Faces appear, so expectations were raised.

Well, the story and setting of Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou Futatabi definitely fits both detectives, especially Kindaichi. Twisted family relations, inheritance conflicts, a secluded community with a secret, old nursery rhymes, a cave, everything you expect from a Kindaichi Kousuke story. Heck, the baron even has three daughters (a small trope within Yokomizo's novels, see also The Inugami Clan and Gokumontou) and of course, Kindaichi Kousuke mysteries often involve the aristocracy (or to be exact, the impovered ex-aristocracy, but that is because most Kindaichi Kousuke stories are set after World War II). Even Akechi Kogorou seems natural in this setting and I could definitely imagine the Fiend of Twenty Faces schemng to steal a golden statue, so in the very least, I have no complaints about the setting (there's even a small confession scene that is a straight send-up to the one in The Inugami Clan!)

But you can feel the but coming, right? I think I have three problems with this special. One is that the mystery itself is incredibly easy. Sure, they usually simply mysteries for the TV format, but last year's TV special at least featured a mystery plot that was a bit more challenging. This time, the plot is both boring and simple. It feels as if they tried to fill a two hour show with enough plot for maybe fifty minutes, and even those fifty minutes would have been pretty yawn-inducing too! The moment the mystery is explained, you can't help but shrug and ask 'so?'. This would have been a bad plot in any detective show, let alone one which borrows the name of both Rampo's Akechi Kogorou and Yokomizo's Kindaichi Kousuke. Also, the plot-lines of the attempted poisoning, and the scheme of the Fiend with Twenty Faces (who hardly does anything) aren't really connected, so it feels like you're watching to parallel stories. Which is kinda a waste, because this special doesn't feel like Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou, but more like Kindaichi Kousuke AND Akechi Kogorou happen to be at the same place but they are actually working on different cases so they have nothing to do with each other (but that would be a rather long title).

A second gripe I have is that though the setting itself was good, this stage is never used to its full potential. A creepy secluded community.... but we only see maybe two minutes of that, tops. Twisted family relations... that never feel twisted enough because most family members have little screen time. A climax in a creepy cave... of which I had forgotten its existence until the very end because it was mentioned like only once throughout the show. The great nemesis of Akechi, the Fiend with Twenty Faces... but he hardly adds anything to the plot and he might as well not have been there. The Big Plot Twist at the end would also have been much better if the background setting of the village had been fleshed out more (it's also a Big Plot Twist I've seen a bit too often now too). I'll be the first to admit that I tend to focus too much on just the mystery plot, with little attention on topics like characterization and fleshing out background settings, but the original Akechi Kogorou and Kindaichi Kousuke stories were always oozing with atmosphere. The Kindaichi Kousuke stories in particular always make me feel uneasy with their human horror-like settings, but the Akechi stories too are filled with Rampo's rather addictive enthusiasm that one can sense in every page, every sentence. Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou Futatabi has the right elements, but doesn't really make use of them.

I just said I hardly look at characterization, but I really have to mention this, as I apparently forgot to write something about it in the review of last year's special: the Kindaichi Kousuke in this special, is nothing like the real Kindaichi Kousuke. Petty rivalry with Akechi Kogorou? This Kindaichi is kinda childish, which makes no sense whatsoever within the 'official' chronology of the character (compare; this special is set in the same year as Honjin Satsujin Jiken, so Kindaichi should act like the calm, attentive detective he was there. Also, most of his chidish traits should be gone having returned from a short stay in the States and recovered from a little drug addiction). I probably wouldn't have mind Kindaichi's strange characterization so much, if not for the fact that Akechi Kogorou acts mostly like he should do. It's only Kindaichi who has changed considerably and the only reason I can see for that change is to be able to score some cheap laughs. The special is based on a pastiche by Ashibe Taku, but in the case of Kindaichi Kousuke, this story does not even attempt to emulate the style or atmosphere of the original character, it seems.

Overall, my feelings for Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou Futatabi are the opposite of those I have for last year's special. At least on the surface, the setting this time fits the two characters quite well, but as a mystery, this year's special is kinda forgettable. In fact, while I still remember the big lines of the mystery plot of last year's special, I can guarantee you that I will not be able to recall anything of this special same time next year. I don't know if there's a demand for it (none from my side at any rate), but if they make another special next year, I hope they get all the elements right this time.  I think a special with both Kindaichi Kousuke and Akechi Kogorou deserves that (And they should probably get rid of the Fiend; it is a bit too crowdy in this crossover despite the Fiend's minimal contribution)

Original Japanese title(s): 『金田一耕助VS明智小五郎、ふたたび』

The Gold Solution

The Real Folk Blues

本当の喜びを知りたいだけ

光るものの全てが黄金とは限らない

The Real Folk Blues (山根麻衣)

The Real Folk Blues

I just want to know real happiness

Not all that glitters is gold

"The Real Folk Blues" (Yamane Mai)

The new Detective Conan film looks awesome! At least, the story seems, like Countdown to Heaven and The Raven Chaser before it, somewhat related to the bigger storyline, so excited! Now if only I can get myself in Japan around April...

Edogawa Rampo's Ougon Kamen ("The Golden Mask") is named after a mysterious figure wearing the titular item, a golden mask with only a set of slit eyes and a giant smile as its face. The Golden Mask has been responsible for the most audicious thefts in recent memory and is also considered the main suspect for several murders. The police has no idea of how to stop the illustrious thief, and the matter seems to turn into an international affair when the Golden Mask threatens to rob the French ambassador. But celebrated detective Akechi Kogorou is also involved and he claims he knows who the mysterious figure is, just based on the discovery of a note with the initials A.L.

Okay, I'll just spoil it now: it is Arsene Lupin. Yes, it was the famous French gentleman thief who had been making trouble in Tokyo wearing a golden mask. Of course, most people who read Ougon Kamen now, read it because they know Arsene Lupin appears in it, so it's not that big a spoiler.

Maurice LeBlanc famously pitted a certain consulting detective against his Arsene Lupin; Edogawa Rampo in turn pitted Lupin against his Akechi Kogorou. LeBlanc was forced to chance the name of this consulting detective to something less dangerous in the courtroom, but with the more lax copyright rules at the time (and most likely also the smaller market and people simply not knowing of the book), Lupin has always stayed Lupin in Ougon Kamen (though TV adaptations wisely didn't use his name).

Anyway, the basic idea shouldn't be hard to guess. Over the course of the novel, Akechi and Lupin have several skirmishes, each party trying to outsmart the other. As with practically all of Rampo's serialized novels, he seems to improvise most of the time, and what you get is a chaotic series of entertaining confrontations between the two. Nothing too deep, but simply fun to read. Especially one part in the middle, which takes place during a party styled after Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of Red Death, is great stuff, as well as a climax that has elements of both the Lupin and Akechi series.

Ougon Kamen was written in 1930-1931, so it is not hard to see how the fight between Arsene Lupin and Akechi Kogorou seemed to have inspired the creation of the Fiend with Twenty Faces (1936), Rampo's own thief-and-master-in-disguises. In fact, the Lupin in Ougon Kamen has some character elements that seem more like the Fiend, than the actual Lupin. Sure, Ougon Kamen's Lupin is still very popular among women, but he is also a bit more ruthless, a bit more willing to shed blood than the real Lupin. Akechi says this might be because Lupin doesn't consider Asians worthy of the same courtesy he shows his own countrymen, but still, this is a weird Lupin. But it's not hard to guess why: Akechi Kogorou is the protagonist, so Lupin has to appear as an actual villain for you to root for Akechi (the same happened to that consulting detective in LeBlanc's crossovers...). In the end we're left with a Lupin who is mostly like Lupin, but also a Lupin who obviously serves as a prototype for the Fiend. I think that Akechi Kogorou himself commented that the Lupin in Ougon Kamen was weird in Nishimura Kyoutarou's Meitantei ga Oosugiru (the legal nightmare crossover with Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot, Maigret and Akechi Kogorou vs. the Fiend with the Twenty Faces and Arsene Lupin).
  
Ougon Kamen is like most of Rampo's serialized novels a bit of a chaotic mess, but the kind of mess that is fun, amusing and bound to leave a smile on your face. It's written for the masses, which is not a bad thing per se, and the childish ideas might not be for everyone, but I know I was amused from start to finish.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩　『黄金仮面』

Look into my Eyes

Look into my eyes　きっと会える

 探し続けた人も、場所も　求め続けた答えも

"Look into my Eyes" (Fayray)

Look into my eyes You will definitely find

the person you've been looking for, the place, the answer you've been searching for

"Look into my Eyes" (Fayray)

Now that I think about it, this review has been waiting to be written for almost two months now. I should really work a bit faster...

The 2004 TV drama Rampo R is based on the works of Edogawa Rampo, grandfather of the Japanese mystery story, and set in contemporary times. Our protagonist is Akechi Kogorou III, grandson of the original Akechi Kogorou, the greatest detective Japan has ever known. Due to his father's sudden demise, Akechi III has to take over as the field agent of the famous Akechi Kogorou Detective Agency, which in turn brings him in contact with the strangest cases and the most grotesque of murderers. The original Akechi Kogorou is known for having solved countless of crimes featuring the most strange murderers, but can Akechi III live up to his family name, and will he be able to solve the mystery of his grandfather's nemesis the Fiend with Twenty Faces, who is said to be still alive?

Rampo R has long been lauded as one of the best Rampo adaptations available, so I didn't hesitate when I had the chance to finally see it. And it certainly didn't disappoint. I have discussed a great number of adaptations of Edogawa Rampo's works by now (Kyoufu Kikei Ningen, Kurotokage, Rampo, Rampo Noir, Moujuu, Yaneura no Sanposha, Issun Boushi VS Moujuu, Akechi Kogorou VS Kaijin Nijuu Mensou, and those are just the TV/film adaptations...), but I will declare it now, Rampo R is by far the most interesting of them all.

It is also one of the most loose adaptations of Rampo's works, but that doesn't hurt Rampo R a bit. Sure, the main story is pretty generic (grandson of the original Akechi Kogorou following his footsteps), but don't let that fool you. Every episode is based on one story (or more) by Rampo (though not all stories originally featured Akechi), set in contemporary times and often highly rewritten to fit in the time-limit of one episode. What makes this series a bit different from most Rampo adapations, is the fact the creators actually aimed for a fair detecive drama, instead of focusing on the more erotic and grotesque aspects of his works. The first episode is based on the horror short story Ningen Isu ("The Human Chair") for example, but this has been extensively rewritten to be a fair detective story. And it works! In fact, Ningen Isu has often been used as an 'element' within other Rampo film adapations (Kyoufu Kikei Ningen and Yaneura no Sanposha had it, for example), but never has it been 1) used as the main plot and 2) done so well (I will admit that Ningen Isu is one of my favorite stories, so Rampo R gets bonus points for that).

The adaptation of famous Rampo stories as fair play detective stories works mostly well. Most of the stories were written as such anyway, but an episode like Kurotokage is a bit strange; the original was a Great Detective VS Great Criminal story, but turning that into a whodunnit of sorts, doesn't work, because everyone knows who the Black Lizard is. Rampo's works often featured larger-than-life criminals (seriously, have you ever seen the titles of his books? From vampires to clowns from hell and electric men, Rampo has everything), so sometimes it feels a bit strange to have a rookie detective face off against them, but then again, he is the grandson of Akechi Kogorou.

Of course, free adaptations don't always work well. In some eyes, any change from the original might be seen as a bad thing. Some might consider minor changes, but Rampo R's changes are anything but minor. Yet, I don't think it is a bad thing per se, and I actually doubt Rampo himself would have really minded, considering a lot of his works were in fact rewritten versions of / reconfigurations of / inspired by other books / ideas / concepts. I think that Rampo, who was often moved (forced) to writing more mainstream, grotesque horror stories, would have appreciated more 'orthodox detective' versions of his own stories. And more importantly, the stories as presented in Rampo R are fun! The spirit of the original stories are kept intact and one can feel the love for Rampo's work throughout the series. And as long as the end product is good and keeps the spirit of the original intact, you won't see me complaining (and even then, I actually enjoyed the TV adaptations of Christie's The Big Four and The Labours of Hercules quite well, even though they were quite different from the spirit of the original novels).

Visually, the series does suffer a bit from being made on a TV series budget. It sorta adds to the childish atmosphere some of the Rampo stories have (a man hiding in a chair is not that scary if you think about it), but still, some of the sets seem a bit cheap. The music on the other hand is fantastic though.

Rampo R is a very free adaptation of Edogawa Rampo's work, but also one of the best. In fact, I think it's the easiest Rampo adaptation to recommend to people and a great example of how adapatations don't have to follow the original to the letter to be good, and respectful to the original at the same time.

Original Japanese title(s): 『乱歩Ｒ』

The Most Dangerous Match

「....中国の、古い故事だ。ムカシ、楚の国に、ある武器商人がいた。王の前に出た彼は、２つの商品を取り出した。１つ目は....すべてを貫く《矛》。どんな防具も貫く、最強の武器だ。もう１つは、決して破らぬ《盾》。どんな攻撃も防ぐ、最強の防具だ。」

「ふうん.......あれ。その証人の発言は、アキラカにムジュンしているッ！」

『逆転裁判　蘇る逆転』

"It's an old story from China. There was a weapons merchant in the country of So long ago. He appeared before the king and presented two of his goods. The first, was an invincible halberd. A weapon which could pierce any defense. The second item was an unbreakable shield. A shield which could fend off everything"

"Hmmm... wait, that merchant's story, is a contradiction!"
"Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Rise from the Ashes"

I just realized that I haven't used Japanese in my post titles for some time now. Visitor-wise, I don't think there's a significant difference though.

1937. The young Kindaichi Kousuke has recently started his own private detective agency, but has problems drawing in clients. As he has to pay his rent, he does not hesitate to take a case even if it means he has to travel all the way to the city of Osaka. He finds himself getting involved with two rivaling pharmacy shops: the two shops used to be one, but when the original master of the shop died without appointing a successor, his two disciples each opened their own shop, both claiming to be the true successor. A kidnapping case and the discovery of a burnt body keep our young detective busy in the bustling Kansai city. Meanwhile, the famous private detecive Akechi Kogorou has recently returned from Manchuria, and he too decides to involve himself with the case, albeit in the background. Thus starts the grand crossover TV special Kindachi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou.

Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou is a 2013 TV special for Fuji TV, based on a story written by Ashibe Taku. Please note that this is different from the 2005 Asahi TV Akechi Kogorou VS Kindaichi Kousuke special, which was a crossover special set in contemporary times. Anyway, as a concept, this is pretty awesome: Edogawa Rampo's Akechi Kogorou and Yokomizo Seishi's Kindaichi Kousuke are arguably the best known fictional Japanese detectives and a crossover between the detectives of different writers is quite rare. This is something big, like a Hercule Poirot VS Ellery Queen. And of course, certain expectations are created by combining the two names (Nishimura Kyoutarou's series featuring Akechi Kogorou, Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot and Jules Maigret was therefore doomed from the start, I guess).

 Overall, I have to be honest and say I was a bit disappointed by the special. This was not because of the plot of the special though. It was a relatively entertaining story with several good twists that kept the plot going. Hints were layed out very fairly and while the main trick is a bit silly when you actually see it in action (I suspect this part worked better as a written story), the special did provide for an entertaining 100 minutes.

But were the names Kindaichi Kousuke and Akechi Kogorou really needed? The title might say 'versus', but there is no real confrontation, or at least no fair confrontation, between the two detectives. Kindaichi Kousuke has most of the screentime, and a disguised Akechi Kogorou just appears now and then, but it is clear from the start that the famous, more experienced Akechi Kogorou is a better detective than Kindaichi. Akechi is just there to give Kindaichi hints (while Kindaichi doesn't even know he's talking to his idol Akechi Kogorou) and the whole thing feels more like Akechi Kogorou Teaches Kindaichi Kousuke, rather than Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou. Both characters do sorta resemble their original counterparts, but were these two names really needed for this story?

Like I wrote in the review for Morikawa Tomoki's Two Detectives and One Watson, when you have two (or more) rival detectives in one story, you need to make them comparable in deductive powers to maintain an element of competition. This isn't the case here. Other methods might be having the two rival detectives taking on different sides of the case. Strangely enough, the best examples of detective crossovers I can come up with now, are games: Professor Layton vs. Gyakuten Saiban and Detective Conan vs. Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo give each series the same amount of time to shine, without one overshadowing the other in terms of deductive powers/usefulness. In Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou, Kindaichi manages to come up with good deductions, but the viewer knows that Akechi Kogorou is always one step ahead.

Which is a shame, because the basic story does fit Kindaichi Kousuke in theme I think. The ending especially feels like it could fit in with the canon Kindaichi Kousuke stories. The use of Akechi Kogorou on the other hand adds nothing to the story, and in fact takes away most of the good feeling you'd get had this just been presented as a young-Kindaichi-in-training story.

Kindaichi Kousuke VS Akechi Kogorou is an okay detective story, but it does not live up to the expectations created by putting the two famous names together. Nothing bad, but also a bit more bland than you'd want something with such a title to be.

Original Japanese title(s): 『金田一耕助VS明智小五郎』

番外編： The Fiend With Twenty Faces

What? The post title is not the title of a book or a quote? There is no introducing quote? Shocking! But there is a reason for that.

Because this post is more like a service announcement. Or a commercial. Some might have noticed that Kurodahan Press, who has published some interesting Edogawa Rampo novels / essays in the past, has released The Fiend with Twenty Faces a couple of days ago, the first volume in the Shounen Tantei Dan ("Boys Detective Club") series. The children's literature series stars masterdetective Akechi Kogorou and his assistents the Boys Detectives in their battles against the criminal mastermind Twenty Faces and quite famous in Japan and can been seen as the main inspiration for modern detective comic series like Conan and Kindaichi Shounen.

I had the pleasure and honor of writing the introduction to Kurodahan's The Fiend with Twenty Faces actually. Which was fun! And entertaining! Readers here might have noticed that I 1) like Edogawa Rampo and 2) I like writing about him and his works and to actually do it for an official release, well, I couldn't wish for more! It also means that I actually have the honor of having my name next to Edogawa Rampo's name on sites like Amazon. Which is really weird.

So for people interested in modern detective manga, 1930s children literature, Edogawa Rampo, Arsene Lupin and grand battles between good and evil, masterdetectives and masterthieves (not all of the above per se), take a look at Rampo's famous novel!

And now to solve the puzzle of packing for a year without making my luggage too heavy.