Telltale Touch

"Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth."
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"

What is it with reviews on sex-focused media that also happen to be mystery fiction this month...  

Last week, I discussed the newest issue of Nemoto Shou's own mystery comic Sharaku Homura: Detective of the Uncanny. Nemoto is not only a creator of mystery fiction in manga form, but also studies it. He has been briefly discussing various mystery manga on his website, especially those that ended up not getting included in Fukui Kenta's (otherwise extremely comprehensive) Honkaku Mystery Manga Zemi ("Honkaku Mystery Comics Seminar", 2018). Not all of these works are easily available now, of course, but as a fan of the mystery comic format myself, I of course try to read the ones I can find.

Today's topic was one highlighted by Nemoto which is still easily obtainable in digital form, and interestingly enough, it has actually seen an official English release in the past, though it is not available anymore: Marina Mystery File was created by Byakkomaru and was originally serialized between 1997-1999 in the magazine Young Teioh, though the magazine later folded and was transformed into Comic Maruman. The four volume series stars Marina, a 22-year old teacher at a high school, who is secretly dating one of her own students: Ishiyama Tooru. Their love is pure, she insists, so while the two do fool around a bit, they have not actually fully consummated their relationship yet, despite Tooru's attempts to convince Marina. The two are also both members of the Japan Mystery Club, a group of people interested in researching mysterious, supernatural events occuring in Japan, ranging from ghost stories and monster and UFO sightings. During their trips with the club however, Marina and Tooru have the knack of getting wrapped up in creepy and bloody murder cases that involve the supernatural phenomena they are investigating. Fortunately for them however, Tooru soon discovers Marina is a rather clever detective herself, but under one condition: she needs to be sexually aroused and pleased to get her little grey cells working at full speed.

Cue the sex scenes! I should probably mention right now that while Marina Mystery File is a mystery manga in the same tradition as Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and Nemoto Shou's Sharaku Homura: Kaiki Tantei, featuring long series of murders that involve monsters or other seemingly supernatural beings/phenomena, it is also an adult manga, meaning it involves plenty of scenes where characters are having sex (rape at times) or fondling each other or themselves and more of that. The art style is rather mild and you can easily imagine Byakkomaru also doing "straight" comedy manga with this style, so the sex doesn't feel too realistic, but it is certainly something to keep in mind if you want to read this. I am not going to mention it in the write-ups on each story below, but just remember that basically every chapter (most stories are about five or six chapters long) will feature one or more scenes with sexual content, the last one generally being Marina being fondled/touching herself so she can get sexually stimulated enough to get that flash of inspiration that allows her to solve the case.

As mentioned before, the series feels very similar in build up to both Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and Nemoto Shou's Sharaku Homura: Kaiki Tantei, though in general, the pure murder plots are not as intricately structured as those series. That said, considering Byakomaru is probably more an adult comic artist than a mystery writer, I do have to admit these comics are often reasonably amusing as mystery fiction, though a lot of the tricks seen here will feel familiar. Still, the stories actually follow good build-up and while not all the clues/hints Byakkomaru uses are as convincing as others, on the whole I'd say he actually gets the fundamentals of a proper mystery comic really good and the base stories are usually interesting too, so if Byakkomaru had studied the genre a little bit more while he was working on the series, this could actually have developed into a mystery manga more of us would remember, I think. The manga was released digitally over a decade ago in English by JManga, but that site is already defunct.

 

The opening story, The Kappa Murder Case, for example, has a great setup: the Japan Mystery Club is visiting a small village near a lake to investigate rumors of a hopping Kappa roaming around: the story goes that centuries ago, a kappa kidnapped a girl and raped her for three days and nights and now that kappa has returned. Which is bad news, as there's a girls' academy near the lake. The day after the club members arrive at the lake, they actually run into the kappa near the lake, and it is holding something gruesome: the head of a teacher of the nearby academy. And that was only the first death, as more people are murdered that seem to have a connection to the school. But why? While the first 'major' deduction of Marina that "proves" the kappa is in fact, not really a kappa is rather boring, there is acutally a pretty good visual clue that involves the identity of the kappa, one that makes very intuitive use of the comic format. Some of the surrounding drama is perhaps not clewed as well and feels rather forced, but this is actually not a bad story to begin with.

The Spirited Away Murder Case has Marina and Tooru visiting the Seikouin Girls' School, a Christian elementary school, which is Marina's old school. As they wander around, Marina learns one of Marina's sempai has become a teacher at the school too. But while they are chatting, children start vanishing from the school, prompting the teachers to call in the parents of the missing children. However, while they are searching the school grounds, one of the teachers is found naked and murdered in a room. Marina goes off to bring the husband to his wife, but when they return the room, they find it empty and clean of any blood traces. This puzzles Marina greatly, as she hadn't been gone for that long, but when they later return to the room again, they find two naked women dead in the room. Why are these women being killed, and where have the children gone off to? This one is immediately less interesting as a mystery. The mystery of the disappearing corpse is pretty easy to solve due to the way it is presented, and the trick itself is one you'll often see in these kinds of stories. The mystery of the disappearing children borders on the insane and doesn't belong in a puzzle plot mystery.

Just like the first volume, volume two and three each contain two full stories. The Ghost Mansion Murder Case has the Japan Mystery Club visiting a haunted mansion on a small island. They have only just arrived when they are welcomed by a poltergeist throwing cutlery around and soon afterwards, one of the members is found stabbed with a cross high up the wall. The boat that brought them to the island won't be back soon however, and soon more people are killed one by one, one of them even while they were inside a cabin that had been locked from the inside. This And Then There Were None-esque story gets the vibe perfectly down, though a lot of the happenings feel a bit familiar: the locked cabin murder for example uses a trick which is telegraphed a bit too obvious and there are famous mystery novels that feature the exact same trick (the iteration here can't even be called a variant). The hint pointing at the killer is... okay in theory, as I do have to admit Byakkomaru uses the comic format in a clever way to subtly show how two seemingly similar actions are not the same, which eventually point to the murderer, which would be fine if the murderer wasn't already looking extremely suspicious in this story even without the clue!

The Zashikiwarashi Murder Case is one of the more interesting stories in terms of execution. Marina and Tooru are visiting Kumono, a remote countryside village where Tooru used to live. They are visiting Sayuri, Tooru's childhood friend who suffers from a weak heart and isn't able to leave the village. Her parents are dead and her brother has run away from home, leaving her all alone. Her father however arranged that his fortune would go to the family member who will take care of Sayuri after his death: however, it is up to Sayuri to decide whether she'll go to her aunt or either of her two uncles, who are all very, very eager to get on her good side. These would-be guardians of Sayuri however are being killed one by one, but why and by whom? The who is a question that is easily answered to be honest, especially as the cast is so small in this story, but the story makes brilliant use of the comic format here to create a good suspenseful story. The foreshadowing here really show off that Byakkomaru does know the potential of the visual, comic format in mystery fiction, and he explains pretty well in this volume's afterword what he was going for in this story, and I think he pulled it off very competently! This is one story I would recommend especially if you're going to read this.

The Ghost Photograph Murder Case starts with the death of one of the Japan Mystery Club members. Apparently their death was already foreshadowed by a "ghost photograph": a while back, the club members visited an abandoned hospital which was supposed to be haunted, and one of the photographs taken of the member who died, featured a strange dark shadow covering half of their body. Marina herself hadn't gone on that trip then, but now the club is going once more to investigate this creepy photograph. While they are driving to the hospital, a landslide ends up covering the road behind them, trapping them in the hospital. They eventually go to sleep, all staying in the same large hall, but when they wake up, they find one of them has been strangled to death. But was it by a human, or a ghost...? A human of course. While the overall flow of the story, as in the scene-to-scene transitions, feel a bit unoriented, I do have to say I really like some of the psychological hints introduced in this story. The hint pointing at how the murderer managed to strangle one of the members without anyone noticing, even though everybody was sleeping in the same (spacious) hall and just a few meters away from each other, is actually really good in the context of this manga, and another psychological clue that points to the identity of the murderer, is actually a very clever idea with far deeper (cultural) roots than you'd guess at first sight.

The Snow Woman Murder Case has Marina being invited by her friend Naoko to a ski trip with some more acquaintances: they are staying at the holiday villa of Isaki Fusako at the ski resort. Three years ago, Fusako's son Seijirou got injured while skiing, but he was saved by the people at the piste: the people they have invited to stay at the villa now (+ Marina). They learn that there's a local ghost story of a Snow Woman, who can instantly freeze men and... she then breaks off their penises and runs off with it. That evening, Marina thinks she sees the Snow Woman outside, and the following morning they find... the corpse of Fusako outside, buried in the snow. Who is obviously not a man, so why was she killed? Heavy snowfall prevents them from getting help, and Fusako ends up being only the first of more murder victims in the villa, which seem to be committed by the Snow Woman, as the second murder is actually witnessed by several people, who then see the white Snow Woman jump out of the window as she flees into the snow outside while holding a dildo. This is an extremely daring mystery story, which uses a trick that is both brilliant... and not convincing. While there is good shock value when the trick is revealed, it also instantly raises so many practical questions about how it all works, it immediately makes you wonder if it could work. That said, it does make interesting use of the visual medium once again and I think it's still worth it, even if only for the hilarious image of a Snow Woman running around with a dildo.

The fourth and final volume features three stories which are bit shorter than the usual ones. The Kokkuri-san Murder Case centers around a group of girls in Marina's  class, who recently did a session of Kokkuri-san (table turning), which seems to have backfired on them, as the participants are dying one by one. The story seems more focused to tell a thrilling story than be a puzzle plot mystery, and while there's an interesting hint in theory that allows Marina to figure out something fishy's going on and who is the one that stinks, I feel Byakkomaru could probably have used the visual format a bit more to make the clue feel fairer: I think the idea is alright enough (even if limited, but that's also because of the shorter length of the story), but showing it more often would have made it feel more satisfying when the clue is pointed out to the reader.

Marina became acquainted with the police detective Eguchi Gorou in the previous story, and he has invited Marina to come along to the shooting of a film he will appear in to on orders of his superiors (to promote the police).  The Haunted School Murder Case takes place in an abandoned school, which stands on a cliff and is only accessible via a bridge and it is here where the film will be shot. And by now you of course already know the bridge will collapse and that people will be killed one by one. There is a locked room murder, but the trick is hopelessly outdated and boring. In comparison, the hint that points to the murderer is actually really clever, using Queenian logic to cross off suspects of the list. It is just a one stage deduction, but certainly one of the best mystery moments in this series.

The final story, The Black Magic Murder Case, is set at Marina's school, and starts with the discovery of a student being stabbed into the blackboard at school, surrounded by satanic symbols. It turns out some of the senior staff at the school are actually in some kind of crazy cult, but then these people are being killed one by one too. The main murder situation is very simple in set-up, and there's not really much of a mystery here in presentation: they find the victim dead in a room, but it was not like it was a locked room or anything. The misdirection falls a bit flat here, and the trick itself relies on what might be the one of the oldest/most cliched locked room tricks that exist: while Byakkomaru does introduce a twist, this twist feels impractical and not likely a trick that would succeed,

Marina Mystery File was oddly enough a series that left me slightly disappointed not because it didn't succeed as a mystery manga: I was disappointed because while my expectations were low, there are genuinely moments that surprised me mystery-wise, and you can tell Byakkomaru is familiar with the genre, so it somewhere I feel like it perhaps could have been much better as a mystery series. It didn't crash and burn, and comes close to being good. Very few of the sexy moments in this series are actually "needed" for the mystery plot, but when they do become relevant in terms of the mystery solving, it works pretty well, and you almost feel like if Byakkomaru had been given some more research time to work out the mystery plots more, this could have been a much better known mystery-cum-porn manga. Now it's just an interesting note in the annals of mystery manga.

Original Japanese title(s): 白虎丸『まりなミステリーファイル』

The Way to Dusty Death

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere."

"Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones"

And another short comic post week!

Sharaku Homura: Detective of the Uncanny has been one of my favorite mystery manga ever since I discovered it in 2018. Manga artist Nemoto Shou has been self-publishing the comics for many years now, though major publisher Bungeishunju has also been releasing collected volumes of this comic digitally, making all the older issues available via the major e-book storefronts. In more recent years, Nemoto Shou has been releasing newer issues via his Note site and I have been discussing those releases here too. There's no fixed release schedule though, as he does these comics between other work, so it's a matter of a lot of patience, and checking his website often. 

And last week, he finally updated again with a new entry in this series: Kaiki Tantei Sharaku Homura: Sunazukin ("Sharaku Homura: Detective of the Uncanny - The Sand Hood", 2005) is just fifty pages long, which is basically a short story in this series (long stories can run closer to 150), so it's fairly simple in set-up. A novelist from a neighboring prefecture is visiting Shimoyama City, or to be more exact: he's visiting the sand dunes of Shimiyama City to gain inspiration for his new book, which includes a scene of a man crashing with a plane in the desert. The writer is staying at the nearest inn, and goes out pacing around the dunes to experience what it is to be lost in the desert. However, it's his life that gets lost there, as later that day, a man discovers the author lying dead among the sand dunes, his head smashed so hard he lost his teeth. However, for some reason the only footsteps near the poor man are of his own: his footsteps show how he had been wandering around in the dunes, and then started circling around in thought, and he himself now lies dead in the circle of his own footsteps. But where did the killer who hit him come from, and where did they go? One onlooker suggests it was the handiwork of the Sand Hood, a local ghoul, who is said to be the ghost of a monk who died in these dunes and then became a Sand Man-esque character. The police then get a mysterious phone call of someone calling themselves the Sand Hood, and they have souvenirs for the police: the author's missing hat (which he wore while he was hiking in the dunes), and a metal pipe which according to the Sand Dune the victim had used in an attempt to fight the Sand Hood. The police doesn't know how to solve this murder, so they call in the help of middle student Sharaku Homura, who asssisted by Karate Kid once again try to reveal what's beneath the uncanny exterior of this case.

Like so often in this series, we have a genuine impossible murder mystery on our hands, and this time, it's one of the 'no footprints in the snow' variant, or in this case, sand. We have seen other examples of that in this series, like in Semi-Otoko ("The Cicada Man") (one of my favorite reads of 2023!) and Hagoromo no Kijo ("The Ogress With the Robe of Feathers") (one of my favorite reads of 20219!). However, there is one major difference between those stories, which I consider masterpieces of the puzzle plot mystery comic genre, and Sunazukin, and that is length. This story is barely a third of the length of the previously mentioned stories, and that of course severely limits the scale of this tale.

And that is immediately apparent once Homura explains the trick behind how the murderer managed to hit the victim in the face without leaving their own footprints in the sand. While I suppose the reader could very well randomly guess the solution to this, it's a shame the actual clues Nemoto planted to allow the reader to logically deduce the solution are uncharacteristically sloppy: he's usually extremely good at doing visual clues for example, but here it just doesn't work, and what's worse, in-universe, Sharaku doesn't even have to logically deduce the solution herself, as it's basically handed to her on a platter by being at the right place at the right time by complete coincidence. Nemoto is generally great at making a satisfying build-up to the solution, showing exactly (with page references!) where all the visual hints were that would allow the reader to figure out the solution based on those clue, here that process is barely there.

However, I do have to say I really liked the supporting clues, that revolve around the Sand Hood taunting the police by giving them the victim's hat and the metal pipe. The visual clues here that show you how this is all connected to the grand picture are much better in comparison, and show glimpses of how good Nemoto can really plot mystery stories, though it is just a very small element of this story, so it only makes you wanting for more.

Considering Nemoto Shou has written some of my favorite "no footprints in the snow" mystery comics in the past, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed by Sunazukin, even if I could guess from the page count it would be a relative simple story. I wouldn't recommend this one as your first Sharaku Homura read, as Nemoto's written much better ones, but I guess it's alright considering the length and all, and I still like the auxiliary clue. But I do think Nemoto really shines with the longer stories, and while I understand those take a lot of time (and he offers them for free too), I hope we'll see one of those super long stories again this year.

Original Japanese title(s): 根本尚（札幌の六畳一間）「怪奇探偵 写楽炎　砂頭巾」

The Clue of the Broken Locket

 月が闇を照らすとき伝説が宇宙を舞う

禁断のデュエルの時　タナトスが読んでる　遠く

「嘆きのロザリオ」(JAM Project)

 

When the moon casts light on the darkness, legends will dance in the sky

When the time of the forbidden duel comes, Thanatos will call from far beyond...

"Rosario of Lament" (JAM Project)

There's something ironic about writing about a detective who's a member of the church right after the previous post on this blog...

The Mystery Cases of Sister Holmes: The Diamond Rosary (2025) is a one-shot manga by Queenie Chan, created for the Viz Original One-Shots program, a project led by former Weekly Shonen Jump editor-in-chief Sakaki Hisashi as he searches for new comic talent to showcase. Set in an alternative Britain (no, not Parallel Britain, that's a different one!) in the year 1890: that world is similar in some ways to our own, and different in other ways. One similarity is the existence of crime though, and  another one is the existence of detectives. Sister Holmes is a nun from the Order from the Three Marys with a keen eye for detail and a knack for solving mysteries, accompanied by Father John Watson, who seems to be a hit with women churchgoers of their parish. After succesfully solving the theft of the diamond rosary of the widowed Baroness Radcliffe, Sister Holmes is surprised to learn the baroness had been receiving threatening letters with the accusation her family fortune has been stolen, and that she is to return the rosary. Fearing the thief Sister Holmes caught might not be the sender of these letters, the baroness once asks for the presence of Sister Holmes to investigate letters. However, upon arrival at the manor, Sister Holmes and Father Watson learn the baroness' rosary has been stolen once again. Why the fixation on the diamond rosary, and how was it stolen?

 

As the title of the comic, and the name of the protagonist suggests, The Mystery Cases of Sister Holmes is written very much like a Sherlock Holmes story: not only is it set in the same time period (though in an alternative version of 1890s Britain) and do we have a main cast with familiar names, we have a tale that doesn't involve murder per se, but the theft of a piece of jewellery and perhaps more importantly, the motive for the theft and the underlying story that compelled the thief to act. The (second) theft of the rosary is solved very swiftly actually, and if you're familiar with impossible theft stories, you might recognize the basic concept behind the trick, but props for the visual clue showing how it was done, as it makes this feel like a proper mystery manga that makes use of its medium.

The majority of the nearly seventy pages of this comic however is devoted to uncovering the background of the crime: why is the thief after the diamond rosary, and what is the meaning behind these letters sent to Baroness Radcliffe? Here the Sherlock Holmes influences are felt the strongest, with a dramatic backstory acting as the motivation for certain characters to take desperate actions: the story makes good use of its historical setting (which despite its fictional setting, feels very realistic) and you can almost imagine this being a real Holmes story. The visual clues here are again used to help flesh out the mystery-related aspects of the tale, though I do think the reveals here feel a bit underwhelming: the focus lies more on the underlying story unraveling and the consequences for the involved characters, with the mystery elements acting as a device to facilitate those moments, so as a puzzle-focused reader, I can't help but feel wanting for a bit more surprise in the mystery department.

That said, as a one-shot mystery manga, The Mystery Cases of Sister Holmes: The Diamond Rosary is decent enough and as the world already feels quite fleshed out, but with the potential of showing more depth, it'd be interesting to see if this could be extended into a full serialization, for the characters of Sister Holmes, father Watson and the rest are quite fun to follow. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of them. The comic can be read for free at the website of Viz, so I'd recommend have a look there, though there is geo-locking, so depending on your location you might not be able to read it.

Broadway Malady

"The show must go on"

Phrase in show business 

Note to self: typing with just one hand because of a broken elbow is time consuming. That is why this post is a bit shorter than usual.

Detective Conan volume 106 was released in October 2024, about six months after the 2024 film Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram, but it's main story is closely related to that film's plot and functions as a kind of epilogue, so it is worth it to first watch the film before reading this volume to get the intended effect. However, the volume itself starts with a fairly normal story: The SOS Message Delivered by Torakage started in the previous volume and has Conan and the gang notice a neighborhood playing with a piece of paper, on which someone called Saori asks for help. Meanwhile, Inspector Sato and Takagi are chasing after a kidnapper, who manages to escape, get rid of his jacket and disappear in a restaurant in the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse. Because the kidnapper saw Sato, it's Takagi and Shinagawa traffic police officer Chihaya who enter the restaurant (posing as a couple) to find the kidnapper.

As you can guess, this story develops on two fronts: Conan and the Detective Boys found a note signed by the kidnapped Saori, meaning she should be nearby, while the plot set in the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse is a classic "which of the three suspects" set-up. I have to admit nether side really managed to impress me: the ultimate step to determine who the kidnapper is, is something the reader can't predict (any of the three could have been the kidnapper even with the decisive clue obtained), so it doesn't really feel fair, while the plot about the search for the kidnapped girl rvolves a lot around coded messages, and those often feel just like trivia storiees, like it did here.

The Enamoto Azusa Abduction Case starts in Cafe Poirot, where Ran, Sonoko, Sera and Conan are having a drink while watching Azusa and Amuro helping the other customers, When they run out of a certained herb-infused salt, Conan says he knows a shop in the neighboring district that stocks it, so he and Azusa go out for groceries, but they soon realize they're being followed. They try to make it back to Poirot, but are abducted right in front of Amuro and the others. A bystander overheard Conan and Azusa cry out the kidnapper was someone with a cough who was just now in the cafe: three men appear the main suspects: one who seemed intent on getting the recipe for Poirot's beef stew, another customer who asked Azusa to keep something secret and a man who was having coffee at the counter. Meanwhile, Azusa wakes up to find herself and Conan chained in a dark room and to her great surprise.... she sees a decapitated head in a glass jar. Have they been kidnapped by the notorious serial killer who's been terrorizing the city lately?

This was a simple, but okay story, considering its limited space. When Azusa wakes up, she uses Conan's Detective Boys badge to contact the people at Poirot, just as the abductors enter the room. Amuro and Sera overhear the culprits mentioning they will get rid of Azusa and Conan in four hours, once it's midnight, but then the kidnappers notice the badge and destroy it. However, this does allow for the story to do some  The Nine-Mile Walk-esque deductions about what's so special about midnight and how it could pertain to the three suspects. Ultimately, the story is not that grand and many may easily guess where it's going, but I liked it. I wonder if the story's plot came from sonething Aoyama himself experienced....

 The Curse of The Demon Puppeteer is a long story and the sequel to volume 102's Kyoto Sweets and Poison. The stage play based on Mouri Kogorou and Hattori Heiji has finally been performed, despite the death of the director in the previous story. Kogorou, Ran and Conan, as well as Hattori and Kazuha are of course present in the audience as the show is done in Osaka. After the succesful show however, one of the actresses falls of a building, followed by her phone falling next to her, with a message signed by "the Demon Puppeteer", the nickname of the deceased director because of he controlled his actors. It seems a lot of jealousy is going around backstage among the actors, and soon more deaths follow, all signed by the the Demon Puppeteer...

Oh, and there's of course still that subplot where Hattori is looking for the perfect place to confess his love to Kazuha...

I'm torn on this story! It's not one to be really memorable on its merits of plotting and tricks per se: as a mystery, the elements Aoyama used are likely to feel familiar one way or another and I don't like the clewing that much. On the other hand, I defintely liked how this tale built further on Kyoto Sweets and Poison and introduced an interesting cast (literally) for this series of murders. The story also has some implications for the ongoing story and introduces a new character in a way that is probably not as surprising as intended. So a story I can appreciate for its story/characters, but I had hoped for something grander trick-wise, as lately, a lot of the stories seem to rely too much on trivia or otherwise using the latest fad.

I can't say Detective Conan volume 106 really managed to overturn the trend of somewhat mediocre stories mystery-wise the last two years or so, but I think I liked it better than the previous one on the whole. The next volume has no official release window announced by the way, so I guess it'll release around April when the 2025 film hits the theaters... Really looking forward to that film by the way, so I'll try to review it as soon as I can!

Original Japanese title(s): 青山剛昌 『名探偵コナン』第106巻 

Mischievous Scientist

Once we were a race of beings roaming the universe on the search for answers and knowledge, but only found more questions and misery. Eons have passed before the first member of our people realised that there was a deeper structured process behind the common reality we were able to see and live. 

"Mystery of Time and Space"

A non-fiction book for a change!

While Detective Conan is at the core a fair-play mystery manga, it remains a series that also has a lot of unrealistic elements that are a part of the series identity: the core premise of high school student detective Kudo Shinichi being turned into a child due to an experimental drug is of course the prime example, but because the rom-com and action genres are also a fundamental part of Conan, we also see characters sometimes pull off things that would be completely impossible in a "realistic" setting, and if their feats were part of the mysteries, it'd definitely feel unfair, but usually, these superhuman scenes only occur after the core mystery has been solved. That said. sometimes it's fun to think a bit more about these superhuman feats. Kuusou Kagaku Dokuhon ("The Fictional Science Reader") is a long-running series by Yanagida Rikao that explores the science in anime/manga/tokusatsu/games etcetera. Can our current knowledge of science explain how a certain scene in an anime played out? Or how much strength would be needed for someone to pull off that one memorable scene? Earlier this year, Yanagida released a special crossover volume with Detective Conan: Meitantei Conan Kuusou Kagaku Dokuhon ("Detective Conan: The Fictional Science Reader" 2024) looks at the long-running mystery manga with a wink, exploring questions like "How does the drug that shrunk Conan's body work?", "How many murder cases *does* Conan encounter on average?" and "How hard can Ran kick people?".

Many years ago, I wrote a short piece about how I wanted to see more reference/guidebooks on established mystery series: I referred to a Conan guide among others, that had short summaries for each case, including a focus on the important clues/trick/murder weapon, and a Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney guide that had timelines for each case, showing what everyone was doing at what time. I haven't seen many interesting guides released since then, sadly enough. But while Detective Conan: Meitantei Conan Kuusou Kagaku Dokuhon isn't exactly what I was talking about at the time, I think this was a pretty funny book for fans of the series, though not really for general mystery fans.

In the book, Yanagida explores several memorable scenes and pivotal moments from the Detective Conan series, focusing specifically on the manga until volume 105. He then uses science to muse about these scenes: a funny example is from one of the earliest chapters in the series, when Ran kicks a kidnapper and he flies a few meters until he lands on the ground. Obviously, it would be impossible in real-life for her to kick a grown adult so far: if she *could* be so strong, it'd mean other people in this world could also be so strong and use their strength to pull off what appear to be "impossible" crimes for us. But as I mentioned earlier, Ran's "super strength" (and that of other characters) is only seen after the core mystery plot has been resolved, so it's not really jarring, as you can easily see this is just "comics reality". Which is why it's so funny when Yanagida starts calculating how much force it'd require for Ran to kick that man the way she did, and ending up with the conclusion she has the kick strength of nearly 600 kickboxers.

There are some other interesting statistical analyses that are more mystery-related. It turns out that over the course of the first 105 volumes, there were "just" 202 murder cases,  a number which surprised me a bit, but I guess with the anime and other media around, you just get the idea there are more. As in-universe, not even a full year has passed since the first volume, Yanagida then uses that to compare Conan's "murder encounter" rate to that of the average Japanese civilian and to that of homicide detectives in Tokyo, which... of course makes it too clear Conan is really a death magnet. And if you count all the non-murder (but criminal) cases, it turns out Conan even averages over 1 incident per day. Something you kinda expect when reading the series of course, but it's more amusing by seeing the scientific support for the gut feeling. Life in Beika City is also shown to be a real dystopia, considering the murder rate in one single city...

Other funny musings are about the efficiency of Conan's tranquilizer wristwatch and his other gadgets like his turbo skateboard and ball-dispensing belt, the speed required for Kyougoku Makoto to dodge a shotgun shot at point-blank range, how painful would it really be to have a bag full of gold fall on you from a meter or ten (spoiler: very painful). Most of the scenes picked will be very familiar to Conan fans, and seeing them "nitpicked" like this is more than entertaining.

But as I said, this is really just for Conan fans, and not for mystery fans in general. But! I was thinking, it would be cool if there was a mystery-focused volume of Kuusou Kagaku Dokuhon, just not focusing on one specific IP, but exploring several famous mystery novels. Sure, it'd be full of spoilers, but imagine Yanagida going over the science behind the locked room murder trick in Honjin Satsujin Jiken/The Honjin Murders or all of those Kitayama Takekuni locked room murders. Going over the physics behind physical locked room tricks would of course be the major attraction, but I could also imagine a shorter column going over how poisons are shown to work in the novels and checking whether they really work like that. 

Anyway, Meitantei Conan Kuusou Kagaku Dokuhon is a fun coffee table-type of book for Detective Conan fans, with just the right about of "seriousness" about silly subjects. Because it's mostly about really specific scenes, I can't recommend it to anyone else, but it does show a lot of potential for a more "general mystery" entry in this series, and I hope that in the future, such a volume will be released!

Original Japanese title(s): 柳田理科雄『名探偵コナン空想科学読本』

There Wolf

"The killer is not wolf! It is werewolf! You must hunt it down, and kill it!"

"The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery"

Warning you now already: there will be no Werewolf-themed manga next week, despite the trend set by today's post and last week's post...

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of those franchises you'll hear about sooner or later once you start reading manga or watching anime. It is an enormous franchise, and even if you have never seen any of the many anime series, you might know the series through for example the video games, or the plastic Gundam models. The franchise originally started as an anime series created by Tomino Yoshikyuki and detailed the space war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, known as the One Year War. In the world of Gundam, long-range precision warfare is made impossible due to Minovsky particles, which disrupts communications and inferes with electronic circuitry. Military tasks are therefore conducted with mobile suits, piloted bulky robots which excel in close and semi-close combat quarters: the titular Gundam is a special type of mobile suit, featuring more advanced weaponry and technology, but usually therefore also not suitable for all pilots. While the series was not a huge succes initially, it has now grown into one of the best known Japanese franchises in the world and probably the one franchise you think of when you think of mecha anime. The franchise is huge with probably hundreds of different works, so it was actually surprising there never had been a mystery Gundam entry before, at least, not until 2023.

It is the year Universal Century 0087: the aftermath of the One Year War has resulted in a three-way conflict between the Titans, an elite unit created by the Earth Federation; the Axis of Zeon, consisting of remnants of the Principality of Zeon, and the AEUG, the Anti Earth Union Group which opposses the militaristic Titans taskforce. The Hecate is a Pegasus class carrier of the Titans with a secret mission: to test out a new experimental Gundam model. However, somehow information on their mission leaked, and they find themselves attacked by mobile suits of the AEUG. Because Gundam W.E.A.R. Wolf is still in the testing phase, it is not deployed, to the chagrin of the test pilot Rasaid Grendon. Most of the mobile suits of the Hecate are destroyed during the surprise attack, but the carrier itself manages to escape, though not unscathed: its propulsion system has been hit, and they find themselves now drifting in a lonely part of the Zebra Zone. When they find themselves attacked once more, but this time by the Axis, it seems clear they may have a intelligence problem, but this time, Rasaid can't sit still. He strongarms mechanic Makami Talbot into preparing Gundam W.E.A.R. Wolf. W.E.A.R. Wolf's immense might soon forces the enemy to retreat, much to the relief of the crew of the Hecate, who welcome W.E.A.R. Wolf back into the hangar. When Rasaid doesn't appear out of the cockpit however, they fear he might have gotten injured during the skirmish, despite the Gundam not having any external damage. The ship's doctor is standing by as the cockpit is remotely opened, but to everyone's shock, they find Rasaid shot through the heart. But as the Gundam itself is undamaged, it means Rasaid was shot while inside the cockpit after the skirmish. This would of course have been impossible: the cockpit was opened in front of everyone, and considering the small size of a cockpit, it would have been impossible for a murderer to hide in the cockpit with Rasaid during the whole raid and escape unseen. This means the Gundam's cockpit was a locked room. In any way, it seems more than likely Rasaid was killed by someone on the ship, meaning the murderer is one of their own. 

Despite the physical impossibility however, mechanic Makami is accused of the murder, as he was the last one to see Rasaid alive before he boarded W.E.A.R. Wolf and because he was being bullied by Rasaid. Because they are stranded and can't contact home base, Lycus Freyburg, captain of the Hecate, makes a desperate decision: in twelve hours, the whole crew has to take a vote on who they think the murderer is. By making it a "democratic decision", Lycus hopes the whole crew will band together again and keep their morals up, having "found the murderer of the Gundam test pilot" together. Leto Shia, a reserve mobile suit pilot, however warns Makami that at this rate, it'll be he who'll be branded the murderer. Leto herself also admits she had a motive, as she was being sexually harrassed by Rasaid. She decides to investigate the locked Gundam murder in order to find the real murderer in Itou Kei's Kidou Senshi Gundam Wearwolf  ("Mobile Suit Gundam Wearwolf", 2023-).

Kidou Senshi Gundam Wearwolf is a manga which started serialization in Gumdam Ace in 2023 and is drawn by Itou Kei, with a scenario by Shigenobu Kou. At this moment, two volumes collecting eight chapters have been released, and the series is still running (with a few uncollected chapters already having been released). I myself am not at all super familiar with Gundam to be honest: I have basically only seen the original trilogy films (based on the original series) and Gundam Wing, which story-wise are not directly related to the story of Gundam Wearwolf, but despite a few names being dropped which seemed to be coming from other series like Zeta Gundam, I could still follow it pretty good, so as long as you know what mobile suits are, you should be able to follow this. 

When this manga was first announced last year, I knew I wanted to read this, because the premise just sounded so much fun: the story was going to be inspired by the social deduction game Werewolf/Mafia, but also feature a locked room murder. And let's admit: a locked room murder in the cockpit of a Gundam is an awesome premise. To be honest, the werewolf theme in turn is a bit underused: while the Gundam itself is called W.E.A.R. Wolf and allies and enemies all liken the powerful mobile suit to the monstrous werewolf as it rages in battle, the social game is not really used in the manga itself, at least, not in the first two volumes. For the story focuses very much on Leto and Makami as they investigate clues in order to find the real murderer of Rasaid, while there's not that much of seeing the other members of the crew discussing the case or really coming up with theories why X or Y could be the murderer or pointing at each other. Up to this moment, the Werewolf theme is only used effectively as a time limit to have a voting round, though this could change in coming volumes.

So while the manga is still running, the how behind the locked room murder of Rasaid has already been solved in these first two cases, which is why I decided to already discuss this manga, especially as this series runs in a monthly, so it's not moving really fast. I have to start with admitting the start was a bit rough for me: the art is alright in normal scenes, but Itou Kei's action scenes are really difficult to follow: it's very hard to make out how mobile suits are moving about or how they are even attacking each other and while it's not very important for the mystery, the chaotic action scene with which the series opens, and the ones which we occasionally see later in the series too, are rather disappointing. It makes you really appreciate again how brilliantly the fights in Dragon Ball are drawn by Toriyama, simple but so incredibly effective in showing how characters were moving in relation to each other and the environment.

But let's focus on the main mystery of these first two volumes: the locked cockpit murder. The premise is sublime, as we have seen pilots going in and out of their mobile suits since forever in this franchise, and of course many pilots have been murdered while in a mobile suit.... but usually not under impossible circumstances (i.e. being shot down or having a beam sword pierce the cockpit is not an impossible crime...). The W.E.A.R. Wolf cockpit however was a locked space: there are logs of when the cockpit is opened and closed and Rasaid was confirmed to be alive when he entered the Gundam, as he actively fought in a skirmish and commnicated with others before his return to the Hecate, but when they open the cockpit for him in the hangar, they find he has been shot with a pistol through his heart. The situation is brilliant, and I wonder why it took so long for such a mystery to be created. The Gundam franchise has a lot of sci-fi gadgets of course that would allow for interesting murder situations and tricks (like the above mentioned Minovsky particles), so while a murder mystery in the world of Gundam can feel a bit "artificial", it is also true that Gundam has such strongly established world-building, a lot of tricks, even if relying on "sci-fi gadgets" would feel very fair, because they are constantly featured in so many series.

In that regard, I found the locked room of Gundam Wearwolf a bit disappointing. The trick itself for shooting Rasaid is one I feel very indifferent about. I think the psychology why the trick would have worked in general reasonable, but it feels a bit unfair to the reader because they can't know whether Rasaid would have realized what was going on in time or not (Rasaid is the one person likely to have been able to predict it). The actual trick is one that I feel could have been used in so many situations besides an actual Gundam cockpit, which is what makes it feel a bit like a let-down: I would have loved to have seen a trick that seemed more uniquely Gundam: it comes close now, but not quite, and ultimately, it is a variation of a trick you could also imagine seeing in a modern, or even classic setting and if you had seen it there, you would probably have found it a very trite trick. A lot of the investigation scenes with Leto and Makami also ultimately don't really focus on figuring out how the murder was committed (Leto basically figures it out in a dream), with most of their poking around resulting in information about the why, which would have been more interesting if the story had focused more on the social aspect of Werewolves.That said, Gundam Wearwolf is still running, and even though the first locked room murder has been solved, there's more mystery awaiting the crew of the Hecate it seems, so perhaps the series will manage to develop itself.

At this moment, the merits of Gundam Wearwolf as a detective manga lie more in its cool premise, of combining Gundam with a murder mystery set-up, than its actual execution. In the first two volumes, we are treated to a very cool and unique premise, but its solution is nowhere as original and creative as that. The theme of Werewolves is also underutilized, though that may change if the series continues on longer: I was actually expecting this to be a relatively short series, but with the way the second volume ends (and I believe there's already enough material serialized for a third volume), this aspect of the series might be used in a more memorable way. Anyway, it's likely I will continue reading this eventually, so perhaps my feelings on this series will change in time!

Original Japanese title(s): 伊藤亰 (漫画), 重信康（シナリオ）、小太刀右京（アドバイザー） 、矢立肇・富野由悠季（原案） 『機動戦士ガンダム ウェアヴォルフ』第1, 2巻

Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland

"Just the right size for the Big Bad Wolf to come down the chimney... unless he's already here."

"The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery"

The voice actor of Hajime in the television anime series of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, Matsuno Taiki, passed away last week at the young age of 56... While unlike many other fictional anime characters, Hajime actually had seen a handful of different voice actors for various media, ranging from theatrical anime, games and audio dramas, Matsuno played the role for the longest time across the most well-known productions, so most people do associate his voice the strongest to Hajime. Really a great loss. I myself usually read the manga with Matsuno's voice in mind, which is what I also did when I read this story (I read it before Matsuno's death was announced)

Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo ("The Case Files of Kindaichi, Age 37") had a short serialization hiatus because it had been replaced by the limited series Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo 30th, or The Case File of Kindaichi 30th, celebrating the franchise's thirtieth birthday, but with that series wrapping up last year, the adventures of a middle-aged Hajime reluctantly solving crimes continue. In The Werewolf Murder Case, Hajime and his assistant Marin are put in charge of providing support to a special Werewolf (the social deduction game) event. They are responsible for the logistics like welcoming all the participants and the catering, though the game itself is set-up by a different company. At the station in snowy Nagano, Hajime and Marin welcome a group of very fanatic, and well-known Werewolf players, like the influencer Mineyuki Kouta, the musician Fuyiki Gakuto and the idol Touka. Hajime drives everyone to the location where the event will take place: Schwarzdorf, an abandoned theme park themed after a quaint German forest village. They will stay in the Weiss Schloss, which consists of an East and West annex. Upon arrival, the guests all instructed to wear special robes and masks (with built-in voice changers), so they can't recognize each other. They are also each given an in-game name (Alain, Ben etc.) to be used during this game. After that, they are randomly assigned their roles within the Werewolf game (villager, werewolf etc.). One of the participants, "Henry," is assigned the task of Game Master, who will coordinate the game, so Hajime and Marin can focus on providing service. After the initial explanation of the rules, everyone is sent back to their room as the Night Phase of the game will start, where the werewolf will kill one of the villagers. Before this part of the game can start however, Hajime and Marin stumble upon the body of... Henry in the courtyard gazebo! Beneath the mask is the musician Gakuto, who has been stabbed in the chest. It seems a real Werewolf has committed a murder during this game, but the footprints in the snow in the courtyard seem to tell a curious story: snow falling from the roof had blocked the direct passageway between the east and west annex, so people can only go from one building to the other via the courtyard, but there is only one set of footsteps going from the east annex to the gazebo, with none returning. That means that the murderer can't be in the east annex: while one can go to the west annex from the gazebo without leaving any footprints in the snow due to a covered passageway, this is not the case for the east annex. So whether the murderer has a room in the east or west annex, they couldn't have gone to the east annex after the Henry murder. Hajime tries to phone the police, but their mobiles have no reception and the landline has been cut, and their van has also been tampered with. They know of course help will eventually come if they don't return as per schedule, but Hajime fears more murders will take place before they'll be saved...

It's been more than a year since I last discussed the Kindaichi Shounen series! The Werewolf Murder Case is collected in volumes 14 until 16 of Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo, though I have to admit I have only read until volume 15: it's at that point the culprit starts monologuing about their motive for the murders, with the bulk of the mystery has already been solved by Hajime, so I decided to review the story already: I was planning to buy volume 16 once the story that starts there ends, together with the other necessary volumes.

As I mentioned, I have never played Werewolf myself, but I have read a few mysteries that take direct or indirect inspiration from that game (like Danganronpa Kirigiri 2), so of course, I can understand the potential of using it as a vehicle to tell a murder mystery. In this case, what I did like about the case was that it allowed for all characters to be genre savvy: they are all experts in playing Werewolf, so even after the real murder is committed, all the characters are able to come up with reasonable theories and arguments to point to or away from suspects, and it's certainly more interesting than the "I'm not staying with you in one room, one of you might be a killer!" type of character. At some times, the story tries to portray the participants a bit off, as they seem to approach the discussions about the real murder as if it were a game, with a noticable sense of excitement: Hajime does note more than a few times this is not a game and that they're dealing with a real murderer, but I felt this part fell a bit flat, as ultimately, Hajime does constantly continues the discussion on the murders, so of course, they'd approach it in the way they play the Werewolf game and use the techniques they learned there: not everyone is like Hajime and encountering a real murder every two weeks and have a specific skillset for real murders!Anyway, by having these characters, it feels like we have more delving into theories by various characters than in most conventional Kindaichi Shounen stories (save for those that have multiple detective characters of course), and in that sense, I think The Werewolf Murder Case provided an interesting set-up with far more able characters than you usually see in the series. Also: was I the only one who thought it strange some of the participants also seemed used to discussing the logic behind the footsteps, even though practicality behind the murders in a typical Werewolf game shouldn't be important? A werewolf can just kill a villager right, it's not like they have to "explain" how they got inside or away...

So in terms of the type of characters, this story was interesting, but only if the mystery was the same...

While the story starts interesting enough with all the masks, it's kind of a shame the actual murders basically take place outside the framework of the Werewolf game: not even one round of the actual game is played before Gakuto is murdered, and after that, Hajime of course cancels the game and everyone is free to take off their masks and robes. Gakuto's death isn't the only one to happen, of course, because this is a Kindaichi Shounen story, but by then, it really has nothing to do with Werewolf anymore, with tricks and situations that could have used in any nondescript setting. This was a big disappointment to me, as the Werewolf game offers so much more potential than seen in this story. At the start of the story, Hajime very briefly explains the Werewolf game to his boss, and this was a very rudimentary explanation, but that was really all you ever needed to know, as it's barely used. The main mystery revolves around Gakuto's death: the crime scene suggests the murderer must be one of the persons present in the east annex after the murder.... which of course meta-wise strongly suggests it was actually someone in the west annex, making this an impossible murder. Oddly enough, this story seems reluctant to show you a clear floorplan until relatively late in the story, though this is not really troublesome. But I think this story is far too simple when it comes to the logic pointing to the murder of Gakuto: the way the major trail of clues is laid out to point to who it was, is done so obviously on the pages, the moment the scene comes up, you know exactly what its purpose is. And because it's a one-stage clue (i.e. the clue points at one single person, instead of excluding a Y number of suspects of the total pool of X), you just instantly know who did it. From there, figuring out howdunnit is not difficult, as some parts of the story set-up and presentation stand out too much to not be involved in how it was done. There is a second murder, that also involves most characters having an alibi (a body being placed outside in the courtyard during a time when most of them were chatting together), but again, the clewing for the solution to the howdunnit is incredibly straightforward, as if writer Amagi had no idea how to properly set-up the introduction of this clue, so he just decided to just have it appear randomly on the page.  Not to mention the solution itself is very basic and not at all memorable...

Well, at least Hajime gets to do something memorable he seldom manages to do in the series, and that's cool, though I guess I still don't know what happens in the last few chapters found in volume 16...

No, The Werewolf Murder Case in volumes 14 until 16 of Kindaichi 37-sai no Jikenbo is far from being my favorite story in the series. While the idea of a real murderer taking over a game of Werewolf sounds really cool in theory, this story barely goes beyond that premise, offering a mystery story that in terms of actual content might as well have been a short story. The only thing I thought interesting, was the fact we have more characters who seemed into discussing theories regarding the murder, but that was far from enough to save this tale for me. Volume 16 with the next story is already out, but my guess it won't properly end until volume 18, so it might take another while before I discuss this series again.

Original Japanese title(s): 天樹征丸（原）、さとうふみや（画）『金田一37歳の事件簿』第14+15巻

Mystery of the Glowing Eye

"His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf: a great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame."

"The Fellowship of the Ring"

Some years ago, I reviewed the animated film Doraemon: Nobita's Secret Gadget Museum, and I started the post by saying how weird it was I was going to explain what Doraemon was. Doraemon has been so immensely popular for decades not only in Japan, but the whole of South-East Asia, so having to explain what it was, was basically the same as having to explain who Mickey Mouse. In a way, having to explain GeGeGe no Kitarou today feels the same. GeGeGe no Kitarou is a series created by manga legend Mizuki Shigeru and has been very popular since it was created in the late 50s. Or is it the 30s? Originally, the story of Kitarou, a young boy with otherworldly roots who fights supernatural evil, was created in the thirties by Itou Masami and Tatsumi Keiyou as kamishibai, a form of street art where storytellers would use illustrated boards to tell serialized stories while selling candy. After World War II, Mizuki Shigeru, a talented kamishibai illustrator, was asked by the original publisher to continue the series known as Hakaba Kitarou. He would later also create comics-for-rent starring Kitarou of the Graveyard and eventually, Mizuki was given the offer to do a serialized manga series in Shounen Magazine in the late 60s, which came with the new title GeGeGe no Kitarou it is best known as now. 

While there are differences across the various iterations of the series, the core remains the same: Kitarou, born at a graveyard, is the last of the Ghost Tribe and together with his father (who after some hardships in life is now a walking & talking eyeball), the two of them help humans in need whenever they face supernatural danger. With his remendous supernatural powers and the help of other friendly ghouls & ghosts from mainly Japanese mythology, Kitarou faces youkai who prey on helpless humans and want to disturb the balance between the human and supernatural world. The series led to a genuine youkai boom in Japan at the time, reacquainting children with "old" Japanese youkai and mythology. GeGeGe no Kitarou is one of the earliest anime series to be made, but has never been gone from the Japanese pop culture consciousness since: new anime series are created every few years and multiple generations have been brought up with the knowledge Kitarou and his posse have always been there protecting them.

As GeGeGe no Kitarou is of course all about the supernatural adventures Kitarou and his friends have, I honestly never expected I'd be writing about this series here, as the franchise honestly doesn't even aspire to anything even remotely close to a detective.... until late last year. For in November 2023, the animated film Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo ("The Birth of Kitarou ~ The Mystery of GeGeGe") was released to commemorate what would have been Mizuki Shigeru's 100th birthday and it turns out this film is actually.... a detective film. Up to a degree!

Set in 1956, the viewer is first introduced to Mizuki, an employee at the Imperial Blood Bank who desperately wants to climb the corporate ladder. When he learns that Ryuuga Tokisada has passed away, he knows this is his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: Mizuki is in charge of the account of Ryuuga Medicine and close to Ryuuga Katsunori, the president of Ryuuga Medicine and Tokisada's son-in-law. Mizuki expects Katsunori will become the new patriarch of the Ryuuga clan, controlling the vast fortune of the family, so he decides to travel to the very remote lake village of Nagura to convey his condoleances to the family, but more importantly, to secure himself a comfortable place in Katsunori's pocket. Arriving at the village, Mizuki meets Katsunori's daughter Sayo and her weakly cousin Tokiya, who have never left the village and dream of seeing the great capital Tokyo. Mizuki is allowed to attend the reading of the will, but to everyone's great surprise, it's not Katsunori who inherits everything, but Tokisada's son Tokimaro, a recluse with a few screws loose in his head. The will also stipulates that in the case of Tokimaro's death, Tokiya will inherit everything. The following day, Tokimaro is found brutally murdered, but the mayor and his men soon arrest a wandering stranger, who refuses to say his name, though Mizuki comes to call him Gegerou. The mayor wants to execute Gegerou on the spot, being convinced this stranger is the killer, but Mizuki insists the police should investigate Tokimaro's death properly. Gegerou eventually confides to Mizuki that his wife disappeared many years ago and that he has been looking for her since: sources have revealed to him she was seen in this village before her disappearance. Meanwhile, more people within the Ryuuga clan are killed in horrid manners, but while Mizuki is at first convinced the police must handle these incidents, he soon learns via Gegerou that supernatural powers are at play here, and while Gegerou turns out to be in possession of tremendous spiritual powers himself, solving these murders and the mystery of his missing wife is no easy task...

Let me temper your expectations right away: the finale of this film is not a denouement where Gegerou and Mizuki use logic to solve all the murders: it's all about youkai and other supernatural powers and there are more than a few battles where the combatants all have inhuman powers. This film is not really created as a fair-play mystery film, so don't come in expecting exactly that. That said, I did really enjoy this film, which delves into the story of Kitarou's father before he became a walking eyeball and as a buddy film with Mizuki and Gegerou, Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo is honestly a great watch with a fantastic dark atmosphere. Don't let the poster with Kitarou fool you: while this film is technically tied to the sixth anime series in terms of character designs/voice actors, this film can be surprisingly gory and it's definitely meant for an older audience than the core audience of that series (in fact, it is PG12 in Japan I believe, whereas the series is probably for all ages).

But on the whole, it is clear the production team behind Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo had Yokomizo Seishi in mind and certainly the first half of the film, you could honestly be fooled into thinking you were watching a film based on Yokomizo's work. The remote village is a familiar trope from the Kindaichi Kousuke novels, and the reading of the surprising will in the manor with all the family members all coveting a large share of the pie is very similar to the famous scene from Inugamike no Ichizoku, as well as the unique conditions of the will which seems to spark a series of gruesome murders among the family. The incredibly dark atmosphere, the horrifying underlying motive behind the murders and the whole "something is off about this family and the community" vibe and the sense of how everything slowly seems to crumble as more and more murders are committed, is done splendidly in this film, and I would love to see this team work on an actual Kindaichi anime adaptation, because they absolutely nailed the atmosphere they should be going for. But again, Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo however is not meant to be a fair-play mystery using those elements: it's not like youkai X having this or that power is meant to be a clue about how a certain murder was committed, nor does it expect you to deduce a certain youkai's identity based on the supernatural happenings in the film, so in that sense, it's very different from the other supernatural mysteries I discuss here. But the film's plot structure and main story is taken straight from a mystery story and it's fantastic in its execution of those elements. Guessing who the murderer is, might not be very difficult, but I do love some of the folkloristic clues given in the film, and of course, with talk about youkai and other religious visual imagery going on, at times you're also reminded of the work of Kyougoku Natsuhiko (who has worked on the GeGeGe no Kitarou franchise) and Mitsuda Shinzou, and that's never bad company when it comes to mystery stories involved folklore!

While the murders are the main worry of the people in the Ryuuga clan, Gegerou is of course more interested in the disappearance of his wife, and while this part follows familar mystery tropes less faithfully, I do have to say I really appreciated how this plotline ties back to important themes in Mizuku Shigeru's works, themes that are also partially reflected in the fictional character of Mizuki (who is not meant to be Mizuki Shigeru per se). The film is its own original story by the way, but does take cues from the very first Hakaba no Kitarou story from the rental comics, which tells the story of how Kitarou was born at a graveyard. Because the film features a mostly original story, set before the main GeGeGe no Kitarou series (which doesn't really have a strong chronology anyway), the film can be watched without any prior knowledge of the franchise, I think. The book-ending parts are set in the present with Kitarou, but these parts are short, and other references to the main series in the story set in the past are minor.

I doubt I will ever be writing about GeGeGe no Kitarou on this blog again, but that is also why I decided to discuss Kitarou Tanjou GeGeGe no Nazo this time, because it's just such a unique work within the franchise. I saw the film quite a few months ago, and initially I wasn't planning on writing about it, but after some reflexion, I thought: why not, actually? The film is without a doubt in essence the kind of mystery film I do like to see. It got the atmosphere down perfectly and setting aside the matter of it really being a mystery film or not: As an animated film, it's a visual and auditory delight and the relaxed Gegerou and really stressed out Mizuki work great as reluctant buddies working together. Definitely a must-see for fans of the Kindaichi novels!

Original Japanese title(s): 水木しげる（原作）『鬼太郎誕生 ゲゲゲの謎』