Mystery of the Samurai Sword

"For all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

"Matthew 26" (New Revised Standard Version)

Reading these books does bring back memories as while Spiral was far from the first anime I ever saw, it was one of the first series I encountered once I started to actually look for mystery anime series after Conan and Kindaichi Shounen.

 

Ayumu, piano and deductive prodigy, solved two murder cases that occured at his high school, but never had he expected to find himself dueling a teacher of his school. Kuromine Kiriko is one of the best swordfighters in Japan and now Ayumu, who has never even picked up a sword in his life before, is standing in a dojo, facing this terrifyingly cold martial artist. Ayumu is to win one point by hitting Kiriko in one of the vital points of Kendo, but how is a complete amateur going to win even one point against a swordmaster? The reason why Ayumu is in this predicament? The murder on Sakurazaki Kengo. Kengo and Kiriko had been Kendo-rivals since their youth and had been polar opposites. Kengo fought with passion and would overwhelm his opponents with his blazing energy, Kiriko fought calculated, striking with cold preciseness. Both also happened to enroll in the same dojo, and were the top students there. Jinpachi, the master of the dojo had to decide who would become the next master and inherit the centuries-old sword Yuugao. While it was clear Kengo, who was not only dating the master's granddaughter, but with his warm personality, was obviously the better "people's person" when it came to leading a school, Kiriko in the end was the better swordsman and out of the many duels between Kengo and Kiriko, it was usually Kiriko who became the victor. However, when the master had Kiriko and Kengo have one final duel to win Yuugao, Kengo managed to win, and with that, he'd became the next master. Seven months ago, Jinpachi handed Kengo the sword Yuugao. While Jinpachi had to go to the hospital afterwards, his granddaughter of course celebrated the occasion with Kengo, and even Kiriko stopped by to congratulate him. However, the following morning, Kengo's dead body was found in a burning car, a stake having been driven through his chest. The murderer was never caught, even though Himeko is sure Kiriko killed her brother. And now seven months later, Kiriko is set to receive Yuugao, as Jinpachi also passed away in the meantime and the dojo needs a new master. The police never managed to find evidence Kiriko killed Kengo, so Himeko at least want to damage his reputation as a swordmaster by winning a point on him, but Ayumu decides to look in the case, as he perhaps can figure out how Kiriko killed Kengo despite having an alibi, but he then finds himself having to fight Kiriko himself... Can Ayumu win this duel and prove who killed Kengo in Shirodaira Kyou's Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 1: Swordmaster no Hanzai ("Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning 1: The Crime of the Swordmaster" 2001)? 

 

Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna or Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning, the mystery(-themed) manga created by writer Shirodaira Kyou and artist Mizuno Eita, was about Ayumu, whose brother Kiyotaka disappeared two years ago after a final phone call with Ayumu where he mentioned the phrase "Blade Children". At the start of the series, Ayumu, who like his brother is a prodigy in both the piano and reasoning, gets involved in a murder case that occurs at his school, but with the help of the school newspaper club president Hiyono, he manages to prove his innocence, only to learn that this murder involved the Blade Children. This spin-off book was the first of four to be released, and is set extremely early in the series. It basically has no connections whatsoever with the main series save for the presence of Ayumu and Hiyono and tonally, it's also fairly different, so it really feels like a spin-off.

While this is the first novel, I have already read the second and third ones because I don't read books in order, so I already expected this book to be a bit different in tone compared to the main series. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by the media res opening scene where Ayumu faces Kiriko in a Kendo duel where Ayumu has to deduce his way to winning a point against a swordmaster. This is the type of "logic battle" we often saw in the main series, where Ayumu had to outsmart his opponents in life-or-death games involving bombs, guns or... a ball game, so this scene felt very much like Spiral. Like in those situations, Ayumu can actually logically deduce what to do in a Kendo duel, and while this sounds weird at first, he comes up with a very logical conclusion to what to do in this duel in order to win a point over Kiriko. It all makes surprisingly sense, and is cleverly clewed in a fair way, which you wouldn't expect for a sword fight, which makes it all the more fun. It also ties in well with the past problem about Kengo's murder, because if you figure that out, it gives you strong hints about Kiriko's actions in the duel, so those parts are really well integrated.

 

Like the other novels, this book consists out of one short novella (the titular The Crime of the Swordmaster) and two short stories, so ultimately, the main story isn't that complex. The Kengo murder is... okay, considering it's a short story. I think one part of the misdirection is a bit too weak, and once you realize what that misdirection was intended to do, you also know the how and why behind Kengo's death. So it's a bit short and straightforward as a mystery story. It also depends on a few characters acting in certain ways to have this mystery work in the first place, though I think the motivation for these characters is supported well enough. But as a perfect alibi story, it's fairly weak, and I think the way it ties back to the duel scene, is the more memorable part of this book.

The book also includes two stories which were originally published online, which focus on Ayumi's brother Kiyotaka when he was a police detective. The stories were originally published in two parts, a Problem and Solution part, so I suppose the idea was you had a week or something like that to guess who did it between the posting of the first and second parts. While they are okay short mystery stories, one about a woman being killed by a jellyfish stuffed in her mouth, and the other about a braindead woman who'd die anyway being stabbed in the heart, I don't think they really work well in this format of "guess the solution", because the type of mystery these stories are about aren't really that straightforward. Ellery Queen-esque reasonings where you cross off suspects off a list one by one work better for these kind of puzzle challenges I think. I do think the second story, about the stabbed braindead woman, was good as a mystery story, just not as one that is intentionally split up in two parts.

Overall, I'd say Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 1: Swordmaster no Hanzai is a pretty decent first spin-off novel. While it is still quite different from the main series, I'd say that of the three I have read now, it comes closest to the tropes we know of the main series, so it feels the most as part of the Spiral world. As a mystery story, the second one is the best, but it also feels barely connected to the main series. Anyway, one more to go!

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京(著) 水野英多(イラスト) 『小説　スパイラル～推理の絆1　ソードマスターの犯罪』

Murder Digs Deep

「論理の旋律は必ず真実を奏でる」

『スパイラル～推理の絆』

"The melody of logic always plays the truth."

"Spiral - The Bonds of Reasoning"

Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna or Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning was a mystery(-themed) manga created by writer Shirodaira Kyou and artist Mizuno Eita which ran from 1999 until 2005, and which also saw an anime adaptation in 2002. The series was about Ayumu, who lives with his sister-in-law Madoka after his brother Kiyotaka disappeared. Kiyotaka was a true prodigy, talented at everything he did and his brilliant mind was put to good use as he was a police detective, but two years ago, Kiyotaka disappeared after a final phone call with Ayumu where he mentioned the phrase "Blade Children". At the start of the series, Ayumu gets involved in a murder case that occurs at his school, but with the help of the school newspaper club president Hiyono, he manages to prove his innocence, only to learn that this murder involved the Blade Children and that he himself, as the younger brother of Kiyotaka, has become involved with this affair too. This is the start of an adventure where Ayumu and Hiyono start digging in the mystery of the Blade Children, which however is not without danger for themselves and more often than not, Ayumu finds himself forced into deadly games of life and death to get to the truth. While the first volume or so might make Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning look like Detective Conan or Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo with 'a case of the week', it soon becomes a very different series, focusing more on deadly strategic games where Ayumu has to fight for survival with his mind, and the last third/ending of the series is probably not at all like you'd expect based on the first chapter, 

Author Shirodaira Kyou also wrote four novels set in the world of Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning (with illustrations by artist Mizuno), and in general, they seem to have been received pretty well, so I always wanted to read them, and recently, I managed to get hold of them. The first one I read is not the first on the series though: I started with the second one, because it was often referred to as the best in the series and I even sometimes saw references to the book outside of a Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning context, so just on its merits as a mystery novel! Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2: Koutetsu Banchou no Misshitsu ("Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning 2: The Locked Room of the Steel Gang Boss") was first released in 2002 and as I am typing this, I was paging through my own copy, which was apparently from the 14th printing run in 2004, so I guess this book sold reasonably well to have at least so many print runs! The book has no direct ties to the main series, so you could get pretty easily into it without any prior knowledge of the series, as it is clearly set very early in the series' timeline, when most of the Super Dramatic Events haven't happened yet. You could easily read it after just reading the first volume of the manga or watching the first few episodes. The book opens with a nightly visit to the convenience store by Ayumu, when he witnesses a girl dancing on the street. The girl feels offended by Ayumu's staring eyes, while Ayumu is offended by her dancing in the street for everybody to see, and after a bit of bickering, the girl orders Ayumu she never wants to see him again, but also gives him a metal badge with the kanji for "steel" etched into it, telling him to keep it safe. The following day, when Ayumu is loofing around in the newspaper club's office, Hiyono immediately recognizes the badge as the one once owned by the "Steel Banchou" or "Steel Gang Boss" about five decades ago. She tells about the Golden Age of School Gangs, when juvenile delinquents at schools across the country formed gangs who would gather under charismatic "banchou" (gang bosses) like the Magic Gang Boss or Pistol Gang Boss, and how ultimately the dramatic suicide of the Steel Gang Boss prevented a nation-wide gang war. Ayumu buys nothing of Hiyono's story, but then the mysterious girl, who happens to be a student at their school too, appears in the club office. At first it appears she wanted to hire Hiyono to locate "the boy she gave a badge to", but finally noticing Ayumu in the room and being too proud to admit she wants the badge back, she changes her request to Hiyono (and Ayumu): she wants them to prove that contrary to what is believed, the Steel Boss didn't commit suicide, but was in fact murdered inside a locked room and by doing so, destroy the nearly fifty-year old legend of the Steel Boss who gave his life to prevent a war.

Okay, I have to admit this book wasn't at all what I had expected of it. For on the whole, this tale isn't really connected to the main Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning series and at times even feels out of place. The only real connections are Ayumu and Hiyono, but the "world-building" presented in this story sounds nothing at all like the rest of the series, which is really odd. It feels more like a story author Shirodaira wanted to write, and he happened to use Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning to tell this story because it would have an established audience of readers already. On the other hand, I can definitely understand why so many readers like this particular novel, and how it is an important novel when seen in a wider context, to be exact, in relation to Shirodaira's later work.

So the book doesn't really feel like a Spiral story, and that's also because almost half of the book consists of excerpts from an in-universe book, being the definitive work on the Golden Age of School Gangs and their wars. This book details how in post-war Japan,  juvenile delinquent students started forming gangs at school under the leadership of banchou, who would get into fights with the leaders of other schools. What follows is an absolutely bonkers story about school gang bosses plotting to become the number one boss across the whole of Japan, putting other schools under their control, and in-party power struggles eventually leading to the rise of the Magic Gang Boss and the Pistol Gang Boss, two charismatic leaders who basically each controlled half of the schools in Japan. But when a new leader arrived in the form of the Steel Boss, the balance of powers was disturbed, and things were heading to a nation-wide school war between the three factions, until on the day of the war of the fates, the Steel Boss was found dead inside the little shed he was living in on the riverside. He had taken poison, and the cottage was locked from the inside. A few days later, letters were delivered to the Magic Gang Boss and the Pistol Gang Boss signed by the Steel Boss, where he stated his wishes to stop unnecessary bloodshed and his death should be enough to make everyone realize this, and this became the legend of the Steel Boss. Author Shirodaira obviously has immense fun writing this completely ridiculous story of high school students fighting each other like Warring State period generals, with 'wars' being fought along the riverside and 'clever' strategies and tricks employed by the warring factions, It doesn't feel like it fits Spiral ~ The Bonds of Reasoning, but the world of those stereotypical Japanese school gang delinquents fighting nation-wide wars is just really funny, and while this "history lesson" is really really long, it does set-up the mystery and all the necessary clues to solve the death of the Steel Boss. For the facts say the Steel Gang Boss died drinking poison in a small river-side shed, of which the door was barred from the inside and the window wouldn't open due to a crooked frame. That coupled with the suicide letters sent to the Magic Gang Boss and the Pistol Gang Boss seems to indicate suicide, so can Ayumu prove this was actually not a suicide, but a locked room murder, and can he prove who did this and why?

And this is the point where this book becomes important in the greater context, for we soon learn their client isn't exactly looking for the truth, but she simply wants to destroy the legend of the Steel Gang Boss. And so Ayumu comes up with three different explanations based on the known facts for the death of the Steel Gang Boss that indeed put the Steel Boss' death in a completely different light, changing his death from a honorable suicide to prevent a war, to a one-direction murder. So in a way, Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2: Koutetsu Banchou no Misshitsu is a kind of direct precursor to Shirodaira's later series Kyokou Suiri (known in English as both Invented Inference and In/Spectre). In Invented Inference, the truth usually often involves something supernatural, and the series detective has to come up with a believable human explanation for the events, so one without the supernatural stuff even though that is the truth. So that series revolves around coming up with believable inferences based on the known facts, but they don't need to be true. Invented Inference is about interpretation and multiple solutions and those are exactly the themes of Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2: Koutetsu Banchou no Misshitsu: we are told what is likely a factual build-up to the death of the Steel Boss nearly fifty years ago, but Ayumu then comes up with alternate interpretations of the facts that lead to believable theories about the murder of the Steel Boss. And that is quite fun! The basic puzzle pieces are all the same, but by shuffling them and turning some pieces around, you are able to come up with a very different picture. Each of Ayumu's theories seem plausible enough, but make use of clever interpretation of the facts presented in the excerpts from the history on the Golden Age of Gang Bosses, allowing him to "open the locked room" and change the Steel Boss' suicide into a murder and make the Steel Boss a simple "victim" rather than someone who sacrificed himself. The book isn't really long, so the three "solutions" are all fairly simple, but they are supported well by the clues both in terms of "mechanics to create the locked room situation" as well as in motive, and they can be quite surprising. I believe a lot of readers praised this book because it was their first encounter with a mystery novel built around multiple solutions/interpretations, and given that Shirodaira later came up with Invented Inference, I think he himself liked the idea a lot too. The book is more interesting read as a book about motives though than as an actual locked room mystery, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2: Koutetsu Banchou no Misshitsu also contains a short story which is technically a prequel, starrring Ayumu's brother Kiyotaka back when he was in the police force. Apparently, there was a whole series of these short stories published online back when the manga was still being serialized. The four novels would all include these stories with Kiyotaka as extras. This particular story is a pure whodunnit which is split up in two parts, the problem and the solution, so I assume originally, they published the first part online and the solution would be published a bit later, allowing readers some time to guess who the murderer was. As a whodunnit it's pretty simple, and a bit weird because it involves a man creating a robotic hand for himself to commit a murder but stuff happens of course, but it's fun enough considering this was just a short story published on the official site. 

Anyway, Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2: Koutetsu Banchou no Misshitsu is not at all what I had expected. I have read spin-off novels for detective manga series before, like those of Detective Conan and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, but those novels were written to be like the stories in the manga. Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2 was clearly not written with such intentions. It is only marginally connected to the Spiral series. but as a mystery story, it's pretty fun, focusing on the concepts of multiple solutions. The story itself, about the student gang wars, is really ridiculous, but you can sense Shirodaira had a lot of fun coming up with that backstory and especially knowing he later went on to write Invented Inference, I think Spiral ~ Suiri no Kizuna 2 is a pretty rewarding mystery.

Original Japanese title(s): 城平京(著) 水野英多(イラスト) 『小説　スパイラル～推理の絆2　鋼鉄番長の密室』