The Secret of the Knight’s Sword

Meeting you with a view to a kill

Face to face in secret places, feel the chill

"A View to a Kill" (Duran Duran)

This is actually the first post I have written in over four months...

Detective Conan manga & movies:
Part 1: Volumes 1 ~ 10
Part 2: Volumes 11~20; The Timebombed Skyscraper (1) / The Fourteenth Target (2)
Part 3: Volumes 21~30; The Last Wizard of the Century (3) / Captured in Her Eyes (4)
Part 4: Volumes 31~40; Countdown to Heaven (5) / The Phantom of Baker Street (6)
Part 5: Volumes 41~50; Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (7) / Magician of the Silver Sky (8) / Strategy Above the Depths (9)
Part 6:  Volumes 51~60; Private Eyes' Requiem (10) / Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (11)
Part 7: Volumes 61~70; Full Score of Fear (12) / The Raven Chaser (13) / Lost Ship in the Sky (14)
Part 8: Volumes 71~80; Quarter of Silence (15) / The Eleventh Striker (16) / Private Eye in the Distant Sea (17)
(You will find the links to the reviews of volumes 70, 72~76, 78, 82~104 and the films Quarter of Silence (15), The Eleventh Striker (16), Private Eye in the Distant Sea (17), Dimensional Sniper (18), Sunflowers of Inferno (19), The Darkest Nightmare (20), The Crimson Love Letter (21), Zero the Enforcer (22), The Fist of Blue Sapphire (23), The Scarlet Bullet (24), Bride of Halloween (25) and The Black Iron Submarine (26) in the library or via the Detective Conan tag)

 

High school student detective Hattori Heiji is attending a major kendo tournament in Hakodate, Hokkaido and he hopes to confess his love to his childhood friend Kazuha while they're in Hakodate, as Hokkaido features several spots with beautiful scenery, perfect for such an occassion. However, at the same time, the wealthy Onoe Takuzou, an Hakodate inhabitant, has received a notice from the notorious phantom thief KID, who declares he'll steal his two antique wakizashi swords, which were once gifted to Hishikata Toshizou of the Shingengumi. While wondering why KID is after the sword, as he usually only targets jewels, Hattori and Conan (high school student detective Kudou Shinichi who has been turned into a child and is hiding his identity) manage to fend off KID. However, Onoe's attorney's dead body is later found in the city, with a characteristic X-slash across his chest. Based on his belongings, the gang deduces the attorney had illegally brought another Japanese sword back from Dubai to Japan on orders of his employee, which now has been stolen. They eventually learn the swords were all made by swordmaker Higashikubo Eitatsu. Onoe Keizaburou (Takuzou's grandfather) had more sets of swords created during the war, as he was a high-ranking supplies official and rumors have it he hid a treasure somewhere in Hokkaido, with the swords serving as a clue to its whereabouts. Besides KID himself and the murderer, who is seen wearing a fox-mask, more parties appear on the scene who seem after the treasure, starting a race against the clock to see who can first obtain all the swords and find Onoe's treasure in the 2024 theatrical film Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram.

 

Wait... a Detective Conan film review... in this time of the year? Yes! This is the first time since 2012's The Eleventh Striker where I didn't need to wait for the home video release, but got to see it in the theatres again! First time I saw a Conan film in 4DX too by the way, and while I do complain about the recent films being so more much action-focused at the expense of the mystery plot, I do have to admit watching the modern films in 4DX is a lot of fun!

Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram is the 27th Detective Conan film and marks a return of mystery writer Ookura Takahiro as the screenwriter for the film. I wasn't too big a fan of the mystery plot of his Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire (2019), but I consider Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter (2017) as one of the best Conan films overall, especially mystery plot-wise, and at the very least, one can definitely say Ookura has an excellent grasp on the characters, often inserting very fun character interaction scenes throughout his films. Like The Crimson Love Letter, Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram focuses on the relationship between Hattori and Kazuha, with the film providing a conclusion to a storyline that has been running in the manga for some years now, with Hattori trying to confess his love to Kazuha at a memorable spot. For the character-focused fans of the franchise, The Million-Dollar Pentagram has a lot of great moments, from seeing Hattori finally confronting KID after their first clash in 2019, to the "big secret" of KID which the trailers have been talking about (Thought to be honest I.... don't like the reveal... I really don't) and some cool cameos. What I do appreciate about this film in general is that like The Crimson Love Letter, it's so much more accessible than some of the previous films, which built too strongly on the complicated character relations in the series. With so many character being (double) spies, having their own agendas and complicated pasts, some of the films would demand a lot of a viewer with nil knowledge of Conan, while this film keeps things relatively simple, with a murder mystery/treasure hunt plot, plus a simple rom-com plot of "boy wanting to confess love to girl", and not expecting you to remember that in volume XX, this and that character discussed this together. The previous two films (Black Iron Submarine and Bride of Halloween I both described as films that do "... things I hadn't expected a Detective Conan film to do, but also didn't do a lot of things I expect, or at least hope to get from a Detective Conan film." In that sense, I felt The Million-Dollar Pentagram was much more like a conventional Conan film, being universally easier to see for a wider audience.

As a mystery film however, The Million-Dollar Pentagram is really not especially memorable. While technically it is a murder mystery, the plot is mainly focused on the treasure hunt aspect, with all the parties trying to figure out 1) what Onoe's treasure was and 2) where the treasure is. While fortunately, the treasure hunt isn't reliant on one of those wordplay riddles you often see in the series, the actual puzzle-solving aspect of this film isn't really interesting, and you'll probably just be passively watching everything unfold, rather than really trying to solve any of this yourself. The mystery of the murderer is fairly simple too, partially due to a very small pool of viable suspects, and while there's a very minor piece of misdirection I feel is executed quite well on screen, I won't be recommending this film on its mystery merits. Fortunately, I was watching this in 4DX, so I did physically enjoy all the outrageous clashes between the various parties while chasing after the treasure!

Still, I do wish we have we get a more mystery plot-focused film soon again... I really loved The Crimson Love Letter, as I think it struck a great balance between the plot and the modern focus on action. As always, we already got a sneak preview/teaser of next year's film at the end of The Million-Dollar Pentagram, and while it honestly could go anyway, the teaser did suggest a focus on a set of characters that usually come with pretty robust mystery plots...

I happened to have been watching the 2008 Gegege no Kitarou animated film before this film, where they did a lot of local tourism PR by having Neko Musume visit various places briefly in the film, and I did think The Million-Dollar Pentagram felt a bit like a PR film at times. When the Conan films are set in Tokyo, they are usually set in fictional Beika, or use fictional landmarks like Touto Tower and the Bell Tree Tower instead of the Tokyo Tower and the Skytree. This film however features a lot of real Hakodate (and Hokkaido) landmarks, and with modern visuals, these sights are presented photo-realistically, as compared to the more drawn style we see in the earliest Conan films. Not really a bad thing per se, but seeing a hyper realistic Hakodate in this film did feel a bit weird as usually, real-life locations are drawn in a more stylized fashion in the television anime series.

Oh, and while not really related to this film, but I might as well mention it here: I did visit the special Detective Conan 30th Anniversary exhibition that's travelling across Japan now. Pretty interesting to see the original drawings and all of that. While it is understandably very character-focused, so not especially interesting for those who are only interested in Conan for the mystery stories, there were some fun displays for the mystery fans too, like this showcase of the various murder weapons used. Would be fun to see more of these mystery-focused exhibitions. Imagine how fun it'd be to visit sets of murder scenes of famous mystery stories!

Anyway, Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram is a film that is probably best enjoyed by long-time fans of the series, who want to see characters like Hattori and KID interact with each other (and the conclusion to Hattori's attempts at confessing his love to Kazuha), while also being somewhat involved in a murder mystery. The film is better enjoyed for its action scenes than the mystery, but at the very least, it's a lot more accessible than its immediate predecessors as it does work as a standalone rom-com too.  That said, I do hope next year's entry will be a bit more substantial mystery-wise.

Original Japanese title(s): 『名探偵コナン 100万ドルの五稜星』

A Script for Danger

「警察？あんたが？」

「はい」

「保険会社の人かと思った」

「よく言われます」

「禁断の筋書（プロット）」

"You're with the police?"

"Yes."

"I thought you were selling insurances."

"People often do."
"The Forbidden Plot"

Even with series I like, I usually don't get farther than two books a year, so in that regard, I'd say that Mitsuda Shinzou's Toujou Genya series has been a real anomaly these two years. And that also holds for the series I'll be discussing today.

Because this is the third time I'll be reviewing Ookura Takahiro's Lieutenant Fukuie series here this year. Though I'm pretty sure this will be the last one this year: I read the paperback pocket version of this series, but the most recent two volumes are at the moment still only available in the larger format. In essence, this series has not changed a bit since the first volume. In this Columbo-inspired inverted mystery series, we follow both the criminals in each story, as well as Lieutenant Fukuie, a mysterious young-looking woman who is often mistaken for everything but a homicide detective. Her keen eye for detail, her extensive knowledge about the most obscure fields of interests and most of all, her almost frightening focus on the case at hand (she hardly sleeps) always allow her to pick up the little mistakes of even the most perfectly planned crime, and while some might try, nobody mangaes to escape the Lieutenant for long. Fukuie Keibuho no Houkoku ("The Report of Lieutenant Fukuie", 2013) also carries the alternate English title Enter Lieutenant Fukie With A Report and features three new stories of criminals who are unlucky enough to find her on their case.

Three? Okay, if I had to mention one thing that is different from the previous two volumes, it's that this volume features only three stories instead of four, as the middle story is about twice as long as the usual story length. Besides that, it's still the comedic inverted short story series it's always been. Like Columbo, Lieutentant Fukuie has a lot of comedic traits, mostly her forgetfulness in her own private matters, even though she's a mad computer when it comest to her cases. Scenes of Fukuie forgetting to switch on her phone or simply leaving the thing at home, or having to borrow money from her subordinate to pay her cab because she lost her wallet add some personality to a woman who'd otherwise be an almost perfect cop, being able to outwit both criminals and even the brass in her own organization in her pursuit of justice. Fukuie is even portrayed as an almost supernatural being similar to a fairy at times, as many of the witnesses she questions often end up in a better mood after she's finished her business with them. This series features a lot of witnesses by the way: each story has like five or six segments told from the POV of a witness who happens to be visited by Fukuie, so that goes on top of the segments that focus on the criminals themselves and the parts where Fukuie interacts with her fellow detectives.

In the first story Kindan no Plot ("The Forbidden Plot") we are introduced to Kawade Midori, a manga artist who feels herself forced to kill off Miura Mariko. Once they were best of friends and worked together as aspiring manga artists but eventually, only Midori was approached by a publisher to become a professional. Mariko on the other hand became an editor at a publisher and later the head of the sales department. Mariko however never forgave Midori for abandoning her and going pro solo, and in her new position of power, Mariko has slowly been killing off all the projects involving Midori. When Midori realizes that even her new serialization is in danger of being cancelled before it has even started, Midori decides to plea with Mariko, but when she's laughed away, she killed her old friend in a rage. She dresses the scene to make it seem like Mariko had slipped in the bathroom (Mariko had injured her leg earlier and was using a crutch). Things of course don't go as she had plotted when Lieutenant Fukuie appears, who manages to not only immediately prove it was not an accident due to the seemingly insignificant fact of an open bathroom door, but she also quickly finds Midori's trail, who is desperate to make her new series a grand success. On the whole a good, but perhaps not particularly outstanding story. In essence it's built around the same concept of most of the other stories, with Midori not aware of a certain fact as she committed the crime, which eventually ties her to the murder. As always, this is presented in a reasonably fair manner to the reader, so getting there is always satisfying. Like Columbo, Fukuie will also point out countless of other, minor contradictions that the reader is often also capable of guessing, and this keeps the story from start to finish interesting to read, but Kindan no Plot is not particularly better than the usual Fukuie story (or worse, for that matter).

Shoujo no Chinmoku ("The Girl's Silence") is by far the longest story in this series until now, being twice as long as the average length. One year ago, the Kuriyama Group (a yakuza organization) was disbanded, and the now deceased head asked his right hand Sugawara Tatsumi to take care of the 13 members, by helping them find a proper job and keeping them on the straight path. This was of course no a simple task, as few businesses are eager to hire former gang members and it's been a heavy year for Sugawara finding a place for his flock in society and making sure they wouldn't go back to the underworld again. Kuriyama Jirou, younger son of the former head, wants to bring the Kuriyama Group back again though, and kidnaps the daughter of his brother Kunitaka. Kunitaka had always lived a normal life removed from the gangster-business of his father, but now Jirou wants Kunitaka, as the proper heir to the Kuriyama Group, to gather up the members of their old group and attack their nemesis to start a new gang war. Desperate to stop Jirou from undoing everything the old head had wanted, Sugawara quickly takes steps to locate Jirou's hide-out in the mountains using Kanazawa, a former Kuriyama Group member who went to another yakuza group. Sugawara kills both Jirou and Kanazawa and makes it seem the two abducted the girl together and then killed each other in a fall-out. Eventually the local police find the girl alive and unharmed, standing in a pool of blood of the two dead men. It seems like an easy case at first, but Fukuie quickly deduces there might have been a third person present at the crime scene. Sugawara however is desperate not to get caught as long as the members of the former Kuriyama Group still need his help.

A very long story, which in fact doesn't do anything different from the other Fukuie stories in terms of plot, only being longer. It really does drag a bit due to its length, though I have to say that Sugawara is by far the most sympathic murderer we've seen in this series until now. We see a lot of him due to the length of the story, so it helps his story arc is actually engaging to follow, while we also see a bit of more Fukuie's scary side as she also tackles some corrupt cops in the anti-organized crime unit.

The last story, Megami no Hohoemi ("The Smile of The Goddess") features an unlikely duo of murderers: an elderly couple, of whom the wife is mostly confined to a wheelchair. The story starts with the duo making a bomb, which they plant on an unsuspecting man. The elderly man calmly waits to find the man with the bomb step inside a van with two other man, and then coolly detonates the thing, blowing a car up in broad daylight in the busy shopping streets of Ginza. It turns out the three men were actually bank robbers on the run, who were about to strike again. At first, the police suspects the three had a bomb ready to blow up the safe of their new target, as they had used a bomb the last time too, but small details like the fact the van was parked a block away from their target and a restaurant which had a fake reservation bring Fukuie to the old couple, who thoroughly enjoy Fukuie as a person, but whose sharp questions show she's right on their trail. The final fact Fukuie uncovers to prove the old couple did is really cleverly done and even after Fukuie revealed the fact initially I didn't quite comprehend what the implications were, leading to a delayed "Ooooh, of course!" sensation. The part where Fukuie explains how the couple horribly misunderstood part of the robbers' plan would've been better as a fair-play part in a visual format I think, as it's really cleverly done, but in novel form, it's just told to the reader, and there's no way they could've figured out that part themselves.

I don't sound particularly enthusiastic about Fukuie Keibuho no Houkoku perhaps, but it's really a well-done inverted short story collection. After reading three volumes in a (for me) relatively short period of time though, the stories do feel similar in terms of set-up, so by now, I might be missing a genuine feeling of surprise. All three volumes until now have maintained a very good level of quality in terms of readability and plotting, so any of these volumes is a safe read, guaranteed to satisfy a mystery reader. That said, I do think it's a good thing that I'll have to wait a while for the paperback pockets to be released before I'll see the Lieutenant again.

Original Japanese title(s): 大倉崇裕　『福家警部補の報告』: 「禁断の筋書（プロット）」/「少女の沈黙」/「女神の微笑」

The Adventure of the Lion's Mane

「握った拳の中にまるで何があるように思わせるのがマジシャンで、

その拳を開く前に中身を言い当てるのが探偵だろ？」

『名探偵コナン　紺青の拳（フィスト）』

"A magician can make you believe he's holding something in his fist, but it's a detective who can guess what's inside the fist before it's even opened."

"Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire"

Many reviews of mystery fiction in a visual format lately!

Detective Conan manga & movies:
Part 1: Volumes 1 ~ 10
Part 2: Volumes 11~20; The Timebombed Skyscraper (1) / The Fourteenth Target (2)
Part 3: Volumes 21~30; The Last Wizard of the Century (3) / Captured in Her Eyes (4)
Part 4: Volumes 31~40; Countdown to Heaven (5) / The Phantom of Baker Street (6)
Part 5: Volumes 41~50; Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (7) / Magician of the Silver Sky (8) / Strategy Above the Depths (9)
Part 6:  Volumes 51~60; Private Eyes' Requiem (10) / Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (11)
Part 7: Volumes 61~70; Full Score of Fear (12) / The Raven Chaser (13) / Lost Ship in the Sky (14)
Part 8: Volumes 71~80; Quarter of Silence (15) / The Eleventh Striker (16) / Private Eye in the Distant Sea (17)
(You will find the links to the reviews of volumes 70, 72~76, 78, 82~96 and the films Quarter of Silence (15), The Eleventh Striker (16), Private Eye in the Distant Sea (17), Dimensional Sniper (18), Sunflowers of Inferno (19), The Darkest Nightmare (20), The Crimson Love Letter (21) and Zero the Enforcer (22) in the library)

The Fist of Blue Sapphire is an enormous jewel that once was the symbol of the King of Pirates, but the fist-sized treasure had been sleeping in a wreck on the bottom of the ocean for centuries until it was finally located and salvaged by the Singaporean entepreneur Zhonhan Chen. Because Chen's a lover of martial arts, he has decided to organize a karate tournament, and the winner awaits a champion's belt with the coveted Fist of Blue Sapphire imbedded inside. One of the participants in the tournament is Kyougoku Makoto, the unrivaled high school student martial arts prodigy who also happens to be the boyfriend of Sonoko. Sonoko has invited Ran, her father Sleeping Detective Mouri Kogorou and Shinichi to come to Singapore to see the tournament. As Shinichi's body got shrunken and is now living under the assumed name of Conan (who has no passport), Conan can't travel abroad. At least, not legally. The phantom thief KID decides to tag along with Sonoko's party disguised as Shinichi, and he even kidnaps Conan to come along to Singapore. The gentleman thief's goal is of course to steal the Fist of Blue Sapphire, but he also needs Conan's help here in the Lion City because he's been framed in a murder case in Singapore. At the center of all events is the enigmatic Leon Lowe, an expert on criminal psychology who is known as the Great Detective of Singapore. Leon's is not only responsible for the security surrounding the Fist of the Blue Sapphire, but he seems to have a personal link with the murder victim. Conan needs KID's help to be able to return to Japan, so Conan pretends to be a local kid called Arthur Hirai (ha!) and takes up the job of investigating the murder KID's accused of, as well as the protection of the Fist of Blue Sapphire in the 2019 theatrical release Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire.

The twenty-third theatrical film of Detective Conan was released in April 2019 (the home video release came out last week) and marked the seventh year in row in which it broke franchise revenue records. To put in context: the twenty-first movie The Crimson Love Letter was the highest grossing domestic (Japanese) film of the entire year. So this parallel movie franchise based on the original comics by Aoyama Goushou has been doing really well the last few years, pulling a lot of visitors. In fact, The Fist of Blue Sapphire even managed to steal back the number one ranking in Japan from Avengers: Endgame in the latter's fourth week, making Japan the only place where Endgame wasn't the top-rated movie in the world that period, because that little detective outplayed all those superheroes.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The blue MacGuffin in this story is of course the fist-sized Blue Sapphire, but to start with the old in this movie: The Fist of Blue Sapphire sees Ookura Takahiro return as the writer of this movie's story. The author of the Columbo-inspired Lt. Fukuie novels came up with the very impressive The Crimson Love Letter (arguably the best Conan movie in a decade), so I was really looking forward to the film, though the trailer seemed to suggest this one was more action-oriented (more on that later). And there's also a lot of new stuff to digest in this twenty-third feature. This is the first time Kyougoku Makoto got a prominent role in the movie franchise and this is the very first Detective Conan movie that is not set in Japan, but abroad (Singapore). We also have a new director, after last year's Tachikawa Yuzuru. Nagaoka Tomoka is the first female head director of the Detective Conan film franchise, though she's been a part of the franchise for a long time as senior artist and director. Tachikawa definitely had a very unique take on the franchise, so I was also interested to see how Nagaoka would present her Conan.

I have to start with saying that as a mystery film, The Fist of the Blue Sapphire is nowhere near the heights of The Crimson Love Letter. Whereas the latter presented a great mystery that cleverly mixed the romance-comedy, sports and mystery elements of the story in one delightful flick, The Fist of the Blue Sapphire is less synergetic. Most of the film it's actually not even clear to KID and Conan (Arthur Hirai) what's happening around them. Why was KID framed for the murder? Why was the victim murdered anyway? Why is Leon Lowe trying to rig the karate tournament? Who is trying to frame KID even further? These questions drive the first half of the story, but with no clear answers found, the viewer is just along with the ride as new developments follow after another, without clear connecting tissue. Mind you, the first half is actually quite enjoyable as an action-comedy with romantic elements. The way KID blackmails Conan/Arthur into helping him in Singapore, Ran getting all lovey-dovey with Shinichi not knowing he's actually KID, KID's antics as he plans to steal the Fist of Blue Sapphire and even a deeper look at the relationship between Sonoko and her stoic boyfriend Makoto: it's genuinely fun to watch for the Detective Conan fans and if anything, Nagaoka has a penchant for a good presentation of the story to tell.

But the core mystery plot is not quite at the same level as the presentation. It's for example kinda hard to believe that the first murder (yes, there are multiple) could've been committed like that without anyone noticing (and the clewing wasn't really done well either) and there are more scenes that seem more like they were just thought off because they looked cool on screen, and given a rather lame 'explanation' later. The gruesome image of the Merlion Fountain spewing blood (red water) in the prologue for example was awesome: the explanation for that utterly ridiculous. The motive for the major culprit is also rather difficult to believe, which is really a shame as both The Crimson Love Letter and Zero the Enforcer did really good things with a well-themed murderer. Here you're left wondering what the hell the culprit really wanted to accomplish and whether this was really the smartest way to do that. What doesn't help either is that the film tries to juggle a lot of balls at the same time. The slogan for this movie was Trinity Battle Mystery, but in practice, it means the film wants to show you KID and his impossible heist attempts, Conan uncovering a grand conspiracy plot, Kyougoku's action and his relation with Sonoko and more, but often, the connection between these various plotlines feels quite flimsy.

Is The Fist of Blue Sapphire a complete dud then, like Sunflowers of Inferno? No, that it really isn't. Like I said, the first half of the movie does a really good job at capturing the romantic comedy elements of Detective Conan, which has been one of the main pillars of the series since it runs in Shonen Sunday. The banter between the characters while they interact with a murder mystery really feels like you're used to from the original comics, especially from the larger stories of the last few years like The Scarlet School Trip storyline. The way this film picks up the rivalry between master thief KID and Kyougoku Makoto, who was once hired as the "best security system on Earth" (volume 82), works surprisingly well too. KID as a person framed for a crime he didn't commit is also a lot easier to swallow than the "has KID gone rogue?"  angle of Sunflowers of Inferno, which really didn't work there because it was unbelievable as a driving force for a story. Having KID kidnap Conan to have him solve that mystery, while he himself tries to steal a jewel? Yep, that's what fans want to see. Leon Lowe as the Singaporean Great Detective was pretty interesting, especially as he's quite different from other "Great Detective" characters in this series, focusing more on profiling and psychological manipulation. As per custom, the movie becomes more action-oriented as the ending nears, with this year's climax being really grand. Talking about something borrowed, I'd say that this year's movie seems to borrow from the old James Bond movies with its climax, and it was pretty interesting to see, as I really doubt we'll see anything similar any time soon in this film series.

There are some really nice scenes in the film that really work well as scenes on their own with good composition or cute shots of the characters, and the scene where Conan/Arthur and KID go over the facts of the murders is absolutely phenomenal to see in a mystery movie. But like I said, the film sometimes has trouble presenting itself as a consistent whole, with some scenes not being necessary plotwise. Zero the Enforcer was in many ways not really a Detective Conan movie, but a deep police procedural that happened in the Conan universe, but it was really good at presenting a mystery plot with a consistent theme which it explored throughout its scenes. The Fist of Blue Sapphire is a film I enjoyed as a piece of entertainment, with funny and exciting scenes that look great, but which as a mystery or crime film feels lacking due to poor clewing (though the short theft scenes are good!) and poor character motivation.

When the credits rolled, I asked myself the question: did I like Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire? Ultimately, I think my answer is yes. As a standalone mystery film, it's definitely not a standout in this series (at times even sloppy), but as a Detective Conan movie, as a once-in-a-year event which puts the familiar characters in otherwise unbelievable situations, I really did like watching the movie. It's highly enjoyable as a mainstream comedy-action movie, but I wouldn't recommend The Fist of Blue Sapphire as a mystery movie to someone who had never seen anything of Detective Conan, while I could with for example The Crimson Love Letter. On the other hand, I'd say The Fist of the Blue Sapphire does a great job at being an enormously entertaining flick. Anyway, another custom of these movies is that the film ends with a teaser for next year's feature, and while it's not completely clear what the theme'll be, I have to say I'm at least intrigued! Next year, same time, same Bat-Channel!

Original Japanese title(s): 『名探偵コナン　紺青の拳（フィスト）』

Famous Mistakes

「いろりろおききするのが、私の仕事でして」

「失敬な人だな。いったいどこの局？名前と所属を聞いておくよ」

「名前は福家です。所属は警視庁捜査一課です」

『相棒』

"It is my job to ask questions about everything."

"Do you know how rude you are? What station are you working for? Give me your name and your department."

'My name is Fukie. My department is the Metropolitan Police Department, Division 1."

"Partners"

Now I think about it, I don't really read many inverted mystery series. Sure, Conan and Kindaichi Shounen have some occasionally, but I haven't actually read a whole series that consists solely out of inverted stories... (with the Columbo and Furuhata Ninzaburou novels/short stories being exceptions, but not really series on their own in the first place).

Earlier this year I reviewed Ookura Takahiro's Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu, the first volume featuring the inverted mystery stories starring Lieutenant Fukuie of the Metropolitan Police Department. Ookura had in the past written several official Columbo novelizations for the Japanese market and the inspiration the Lieutenant Fukuie series takes from his grand predecessor are quite easy to pick up. Fukuie is a youthful-looking, small woman with frameless glasses who is often mistaken to be a college student, reporter, secretary or anything but a police detective, but she is in fact one of the sharpest officers in Division 1, in charge of homicide investigations. The first impression of most people is that of a scatterminded, clumsy woman, who has a knack for losing track of her police badge, but the real criminals soon learn that Fukuie is more than meets the eye, as the efficiency with she works, as well as her eye for fine detail usually put her right on their trail. Fukuie Keibuho no Saihou ("The Second Visit of Lieutenant Fukuie, 2009), which also carries the alternate English title of Reenter Lieutenant Fukuie, contains four stories told from the perspective of the criminals as they're being cornered by the Lieutenant, from a popular screenwriter who comes up with an elaborate fake abduction to secure his own alibi to one half of a comedy duo who takes drastic measures in order to break up his partnership.

Not much time passed between me reading the first volume and this second volume in the series, which usually indicates that this is a series I enjoy, obviously. And it is! Granted, the stories are all relatively short and because each of these stories follow the same inverted style, they eventually feel somewhat alike as most of the time the set-up of the core plot is rather similar (criminal comes up with perfect plan to commit murder, unforeseen happening during the crime allows Fukuie to solve the case), but nonetheless, this is great entertainment, and like an episode of Columbo, much of the joy comes from seeing how Fukuie slowly but surely manages to creep up to the murderer with evidence. Part of the fun also lies in the diverse backgrounds of each of the stories. In one story, you'll be reading up on the world of vinyl figures and counterfeit toys, the other is about a manzai stand-up comedy duo and the entertainment industry. Each story touches upon completely different worlds, so at least in that aspect, this series never disappoints. Like many of the Columbo episodes, the criminals are usually people who have been succesful in their lives (or at least in the past). Different however is that most of the murderers in this volume are driven to their crime because they're being blackmailed for a past mistake. Only one story features a motive that is closer to the "immediate gain"/"removing an obstacle" motive often seen in Columbo.

I didn't mention it in my review of the first volume, but the Lieutentant Fukuie also resembles Columbo due to the comedic undertones. Fukuie being mistaken for all kinds of people, the way the forensic investigator Nioka always ends up having to tag along with Fukuie as she goes off on a hunch of hers and the numerous hints to Fukuie's private life all bring some lighthearted moments. Fukuie makes no hints about her husband or any private relations, but she reveals herself to be a big fan of stand-up comedies and even children's action hero series, and it's a mystery how she manages to watch them as she never sleeps whenever she's working on a case. A lot of comedy is also derived from the many, many side characters who appear each story. Each story is usually divided in about 10 segments, and often, four or so of them are about related parties, like acquaintances of the victim or culprit or just the waiter from an often-frequented restaurant, getting a visit of Fukuie. These segments are usually very short, five or six pages, each featuring characters who only make their one appearance then, so while the stories are relatively short and the core crime fairly compact, you'll always see quite a few characters pass by as you follow Fukuie's investigation. These characters are also surprisingly well-defined despite their short time on the stage, and they too often lighten the mood.

Like I mentioned in the other review however, I do find it hard to write down my thoughts on the individual stories, as it's so easy to spoil too much about them. Their inverted nature mean that the reader will always know more than the Lieutenant and that much of the underlying mystery plot is revealed right from the start to them: from the way the murderer committed the crime to the lines of defense erected by them to divert suspicion. Most of the time, the mystery for the readers revolves around two points: how did Fukuie first start to suspect the true criminal, and how will she manage to prove her target did it? Usually, the trail is born because some unforeseen event occured during the crime, for example because the victim fought back or something else happened at the same time as the crime, and it's up to both the reader and Fukuie to deduce what that event is. This is also the case in the opening story, Max-Gou Jiken ("The Incident On The Max"). Harada Akihiro is the director of a home security company who who is an often-seen guest on television as an expert on his field, and his security company is preparing to do business in the States too. That is why Harada is desperate to hide the fact that long ago, when he started out as a private detective, he blackmailed people: it was this money that eventually made him the man he is now. His partner in crime then was Naomi, a freelance investigator. She too used her money to open her own business, but her bar has now folded, and with gambling debts too weighing her down, she turns to Harada "for old times' sake", with some audio tapes with incriminating conversations as her insurance. Fearing she'll forever keep him on a leash, Harada decides to kill Naomi. He invites her to the Max, a small leisure cruise ship that's usually carrying guests from Muroran, Hokkaido (Northern Japan) to Hakata/Fukuoka (Southern Japan), but  this time, the Max has been chartered by a tour operator for a overnight trip to the islands south of Tokyo back. Harada's plan is to kill Naomi and make it seem like another of her victims is the killer (as one of their men was sent to the Max too to keep an eye on Naomi). What Harada couldn't have guessed however that Lieutenant Fukuie would accidently become a stowaway on the Max (having lingered too long on the ship for a different investigation). Most of the mystery is already revealed to the reader, though it's a bit of a stretch of how Fukuie managed to guess that Harada would be present on the ship in the first place. The clue that proves that Harada is the killer however is done splendidly, with you knowing that something must have happened that neither Harada nor the reader know, but which Fukuie manages to deduce based on the same things both the killer and we know.

Ushinawareta Tomoshibi ("Lost Light") reminds slightly of the Columbo episode Negative Reaction, as it concerns a fake kidnapping. Toudou Masaya is a succesful screenwriter for both the silver screen and television, but nobody knows his hit debut work was actually stolen from a childhood friend who died young. Well, nobody except for a shady antiques dealer who happened to come across the same script when the friend's parents were selling the contents of their old storage. Toudou comes up with an elaborate plan to kill the antiques dealer. Mimuro Kanji is a unsuccesful actor who is a big fan of Toudou and even comes close to being a stalker. Toudou tells Mimuro he wants him to play the role of the kidnapper in his upcoming production. The final call is on the head of the director and the producer of the movie, so Toudou says he'll secretly go through the play together with Mimuro so he'll nail the audition. The two leave in secret to Toudou's villa in the forest to practice the role, but in reality Toudou's been secretly recording all of Mimuro's lines as a kidnapper. Later, he knocks Mimuro out, and uses the recordings to call his own secretary to fake his own abduction. Of course, Toudou kills the antiques dealer during his "abduction" and after his return to the villa, Mimuro is also silenced, with the scene looking as if Toudou killed Mimuro in self-defence. This is the longest story of the volume, with two murders no less, and it's certainly also one of the better stories in the series. Fukuie's suspicions are first pointed towards the curiosities at the abduction site. The clues are relatively "insignificant", but taken together really show Fukuie's suspicions are justified, like how the order of the shoes in the entrance was wrong, or how strangely enough, Toudou's laptop's battery was empty despite him having been captive for the day. The way Fukuie eventually manages to trap Toudou on the murder on the antiques dealer depends on a very old trope in inverted mystery stories, but the way this is set-up is good: Ookura leaves several incomplete and seemingly insignificant clues throughout the story that when taken together indicate a certain happening that forms the key to solving the case.

Aibou ("Partners") is about the manzai stand-up comedy duo Yamanote Nobori / Kudari, veterans in the trade but lately not doing as good as in the past. Half of the duo, Tachiishi Kouji, has been offered a chance to go at it solo, but his partner, Utsumi Tamao, is not willing to disband, at least not until the anniversary of the death of their mentor. The offer for Tachiishi however will not last for so many months. It also frustrates him that these last months, Utsumi has clearly been winging his gigs with Tachiishi, sometimes forgetting his lines or mistiming them, so Tachiishi decides the only way out is to eliminate his former partner. The plan is to lure Utsumi to their secret hide-out, a house they bought together long ago in the outskirts of Tokyo where they could practice their sketches. Knowing that Utsumi, who has lost his key, will try to climb the tree in the garden to get the spare key hidden in the potted plants on the balcony on the second floor, Tachiishi awaits Utsumi there to push him from the tree. He succeeds, but Fukuie, a fan of manzai comedy, quickly notices something's off. The greatest mystery here lies in the fact that Utsumi had taken a few weird actions before coming to the house (like dressing up in the clothing from when Yamanote Nobori / Kudari debuted). This is a riddle to both Tachiishi and the reader, so in that aspect, you're on level ground with Fukuie, who is still likely to figure things out swifter. Once you know why Utsumi did those things, it still takes a bit of imagination to arrive at the clue that will prove that Tachiishi killed his partner, but overall, this is a short, but nice enough story.

The final story is Project Blue. Arai Nobuhiro is the director of Swamp Imp, a project planning bureau that specializes in toys, coming up with toy designs, promotions for toys etc. 15 years ago however, Arai made money by manufacturing counterfeits of rare vinyl kaiju/monster figures. Nishimura, a toy modeler, has finally found proof of Arai's shady past, but Arai quickly eliminates this threat, and dresses the scene to look like an accident, with Nishimura "apparently" having been hit by his own car with bad brakes after he had parked it on a slope. When Fukuie first visits Arai, we learn his alibi for the murder: he claims he had been working on a model figure of the new version of Blueman. The hero of the show that is now airing will have a powered-up form next year, and final decisions on the design were only made last night by the TV production team: they immediately mailed the design to Swamp Imp, and Arai made and painted his prototype that same night, giving him the alibi. It's not particularly hard to guess how Arai managed to prepare his alibi, but the manner in which Fukuie eventually manages to prove Arai was at the crime scene at the time of the murder is again slyly done, with several smaller incidents that don't seem to mean much on their own, indicating an important event that had gone unnoticed by both the murderer and the reader until it's too late.

Fukuie Keibuho no Saihou is perhaps not very different from the first volume: here too you'll find four well-plotted inverted mystery stories that admittedly can feel somewhat similar in structure and in the way Fukuie manages to catch the culprit, but the stories are all really well done and the whole volume is a very solid read overall. It's very consistent in its quality, and I think for me, it'll be one of those 'safe reads' when I don't know what to read next and simply want something I know will be good.

Original Japanese title(s):『福家警部補の再訪』：「マックス号事件」/「失われた灯」/「相棒」/「プロジェクトブルー」

Model Crime

「でも何ていうか、あなたはそうは見えなかったから」

「よく言われます」

『最後の一冊』

 

"But you see, you didn't look like you were the boss here."

"I'm often told that."

"The Last Volume"

I don't remember when I first heard of mystery author Ookura Takahiro, but I know quite a few years passed between me first learning of him, and me actually getting to know something written by him.  Surprisingly through, my first experience with Ookura was through Detective Conan. Ookura was the scriptwriter for the 2017 Detective Conan theatrical feature The Crimson Love Letter, but in the lead-up to the release of the film, he also wrote the screenplay for episode 829, The Mysterious Boy, of the animated TV series, which was the first time I had seen anything created by Ookura. The Crimson Love Letter was an excellent mystery film (and the novel version written by Ookura was also okay), so I grew very interested in seeing more of Ookura's work, and what better way to start than with one of his more famous creations? And yes, I know he's also working on the 2019 Detective Conan: The Fist of the Blue Sapphire, but the trailer didn't really manage to hit the right places for me quite yet.

Fukuie is a small woman with short, black hair and a pair of frame-less glasses who is often mistaken for a college student, but she is in fact a lieutenant of the Metropolitan Police Department, in charge of homicide investigations. Despite her unassuming appearance and sometimes even careless habits (she often forgets her police badge), criminals are warned not to underestimate this woman, as she has a keen eye for details, and no matter how crafty a plan might be, you count on in it that Lieutenant Fukuie will not only figure everything out, she'll also be sure to come up with some way to actually arrest the criminal with proof. Whether you're a librarian trying to save the library from being sold off or an actress killing off her blackmailing rival, Lieutenant Fukuie will always find the weak spots in the criminal's plan and bring everything tumbling down in Ookura Takahiro's short story collection Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu ("The Greetings of Lieutenant Fukuie", 2006), which also carries the alternative English title of Enter Lieutenant Fukuie.

The Lieutenant Fukuie series is one of Ookura's best known series, especially as it has also seen TV adaptations. Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu is the first book in the still-running inverted detective series. As in the tradition of all great inverted mystery fiction, each story is told from the perspective of the culprit, who carries out their murderous plan. At first, their plans seem foolproof, but then the lieutenant appears, and starts picking out small contradictions left here and there. It might seem Lieutenant Fukuie is just guessing, but by the time the culprit realizes how crafty Fukuie really is, it's already too late and for the reader, the fun of the mystery lies in not guessing whodunit, but how Fukuie is going to figure out what really happened. The Lieutenant Fukuie series is obviously heavily inspired by Columbo, though something interesting has to be mentioned here. Ookura has penned several official novelizations of Columbo in the past and while Ookura was credited as "translator" for these novelizations, he was the person who actually wrote these novels (the prose) especially for the Japanese market. These novelizations were based on the original screenplays of existing episodes, or plot outlines for unfilmed stories, which Ookura then had to expand into a novel-form. For these books, people like Columbo creators Levinson & Link, or other screenplay writers were credited for the "original work", though technically, they didn't write the specific novel form of these stories, which were entirely Ookura's invention and don't exist outside Japan. In a way, it's no wonder Ookura would later write his own inverted mystery stories about a police lieutenant.

By the way, the animation sequence accompanying the fiftieth ending song of Detective Conan (La PomPon's cover of Zard's Unmei no Roulette Mawashite) has the regular cast dressed as characters from several famous police and detective TV dramas, and Ran is featured as Lieutenant Fukuie, looking in her bag for her police badge as always.

One thing I find difficult about writing about inverted mystery stories is figuring out how much I should write about the plot actually, as in most inverted stories, a lot is already revealed to the reader. In fact, the fun in these stories often lies in the fact that although the reader knows more about the facts of the case than the Lieutenant, she'll usually still out-think you. In order not to spoil too much, I'll keep my summaries for the four stories rather short. The volume opens with Saigo no Issatsu ("The Last Volume"), which stars Amamiya Sachiko, head librarian of the Enamito Library. Enamito Kousuke was during his life a true connoisseur of books and when he retired, he had his secretary Sachiko become head of his own library, but after his death, the library became the property of his son Hirohisa, a no-good bum who is keen on selling off everything as soon as he can to get some money. Sachiko plans to kill Hirohisa in order to save the library, and she dresses the scene so it looks like Hirohisa had snuck into the library himself in order to steal some rare books to sell. This first story is a not particularly baffling, but still entertaining mystery, with a few different points that attract the Lieutenant's attention which a careful reader will also notice. Some of these contradictions are presented quite open (fact A and fact B don't mesh), but some also require the reader to make another, logical assumption (if both fact A and fact B are true, that must mean fact C), and this also keeps the reader on their toes in this fairly short opening story.

In Occam no Kamisori ("Occam's Razor"), Lieuteant Fukuie is investigating the murder on associate professor Ikeuchi, who was seemingly killed by the same robber who has been roaming the neighborhood lately. The questions Fukuie has about the murder however lead her to Yanagida Yoshifumi, a university teacher who used to teach scientific investigation at the police academy, and who has actually taught Fukuie herself in her rookie days. What makes this story interesting is not only the fact we have an expert in crime investigation who commited the murder, the story is also written in a way so not everything about Yanagida's plan is explained right from the beginning, leaving also a few things for the reader to find out as they read on .For example, Yanagida steals a pack of cigarettes from the victim in their first scene, before the murder occurs, but the implication of that isn't explained until later. 

Aijou no Scenario ("A Scenario of Love") is about the actress Ogino Mariko, who's being blackmailed by her rival actress Kakinuma Emi to give up on a certain audition. Mariko kills Emi by feeding her sleeping pills, and then leaving Emi's car running in the garage so she'd suffocate. That way it'd seem Emi had simply taken her usual sleeping draught without switching her car off. A receipt of the things Emi bought at the convenience store gives Fukuie more than enough leeway to suspect this isn't just an accident. While the true motive of the murderer isn't really well-hinted at, I'd say that as a mystery, this short story works reasonably well with more than enough well-clewed parts that explain why Fukuie would start having her doubts about the whole case.

In the final story Tsuki no Shizuku ("Moon Tear"), Tanimoto Kichirou, owner of the Tanimoto Sake Brewery, kills his rival Satou of the Satou Brewery. The two had very different approaches when it came to sake: the Satou Brewery was producing in masses, but connoisseurs couldn't stand their awful sake, while the Tanimoto Sake Brewery did everything the old-fashioned way to maintain quality, but they could hardly produce enough to keep the company floating. Satou was trying to kill off Tanimoto Sake Brewery once and for all by adopting a cost leader strategy, which Tanimoto couldn't survive for long, so Tanimoto Kichirou killed Satou, making it seem like Satou had snuck into the Tanimoto Sake Brewery to spy on their sake and had fallen into one of the empty sake tanks. The decisive hint that shows Tanimoto killed Satou is quite brilliantly hidden within the text, and perfectly fitting for the story. Looking at this core mystery plot, I think this one is the best plotted one, with a really interesting situation for the reader to solve even though they should know more than Fukuie.

By the way, it's interesting how Lieutenant Fukuie is quite the nondescript character most of the time. While the spotlight's supposed to be on the culprit in Columbo, Columbo actually always has a presence on screen whenever he's in the scene. That doesn't really work with novels though. Mitani Kouki's novelization of his own Furuhata Ninzaburou series (also inspired by Columbo) shows this difference very well: while on the television screen, Furuhata has countless of quirky traits and commandeers every scene he's in, he's actually almost a traitless figure in the novel version, who appears only to put the pressure on the culprit. By putting as little emphasis on the detective character, the focus shifts almost completely to the psychology of the culprit and to how they view the detective. This is also more or less what happens in the Lieutenant Fukuie series, where Fukuie seldom becomes more than the woman with short black hair and frameless glasses who has an eerie smile on her face as she talks with the suspects.

Fukuie Keibuho no Aisatsu is on the whole a capable mystery story collection that really manages to scratch that itch for Columbo-esque inverted mystery stories. There's also surprising variety in these stories, so I am quite curious to see what other adventures Fukuie has in the following volumes and I'm sure I'll be seeing more of her soon here.

Original Japanese title(s): 大倉崇裕 『福家警部補の挨拶』:「最後の一冊」/「オッカムの剃刀」/「愛情のシナリオ」/「月の雫」

Murder at the Television Studio

"Print! Radio! That's what reaches people. Television is just a frivolous, expensive playtoy."

 "The Adventure of the Hardhearted Huckster"

As I mentioned in my review of the excellent Japanese TV adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I try to review mystery fiction in various formats on this blog, which often means either a movie or a drama. The reason I often end up reviewing movies is simple: they take relatively little time to consume. I also watch Japanese TV dramas regularly, but for some reason or another, I often forget to write a review of the series whenever the series is over. Last year's Kizoku Tantei was an exception in that regard, as more often than not, I end up only writing something about the first episode, like with Himura Hideo no Suiri or Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, which were both fun series nonetheless.

For those like-minded people who enjoy watching proper mystery fiction in the audiovisual format, the recently released 21 Seiki Honkaku Mystery Eizou Taizen ("The Encyclopedia of 21st Century Honkaku Mystery Video", 2018) is a book to keep in mind. As the title suggests, this reference guide is a catalogue edited by mystery critic Sengai Akiyuki (and contributions from various people including Mitsuda Shinzou and Ookura Takahiro) with over 250 titles of honkaku mystery fiction in video form released in the 21st century. The book is divided in six categories: Japanese films, TV drama series and animation, foreign films and TV drama series, and "variety shows". The entries vary from length from half a page, full page to two-page spread, offering a short summary, some comments on the qualities of the product and occassionally other useful information like the best episodes in a series, or pointing out what other (mystery) works the screenplay writer or director has worked on. There are also a few short editorials (one a very detailed explanation about the differences between the original stories and the TV adaptation of Kizoku Tantei) and interviews to fill up the volume,

This book does not purport to be a complete guide, but on the whole, this is a packed volume with lots of alluring titles listed. The volume focuses on productions from the 21st century, which in general means productions from 2000 until late 2017, when work on this volume was finished (I think that Murder on the Orient Express (2017) is the most recent entry included, which dates from the end of 2017). With franchises or series pre-dating 2000, the book will only discuss those works released from 2000 on. The two-page spread on the Detective Conan movies for example starts with the 2000 release Detective Conan: Captured in her Eyes, while the Furuhata Ninzaburou entry only discusses the couple of specials released since 2000.

All the sections are richly filled with both familiar and interesting-looking titles though, even if there are some strange omissions like the more recent TV adaptations of the Asami Mitsuhiko series not even being mentioned in the Japanese TV drama section. I was surprised I had actually seen a good amount of the Japanese TV drama section, but there are still enough titles I hadn't even heard of. The foreign movie section is also surprisingly varied, with not only entries from the English-language world, but also plenty of works from Asia (South Korea especially) and Europe (Italian and French movies). The Japanese animation section is of course also quite important, as there are plenty of great Japanese animated mystery shows, and this especially is a form that is likely to be missed by English-language publications with similar goals (if they exist in the first place).

Is this a perfect guide? No, there are plenty of quirks that are easily noticed. Some are minor annoyances, like the foreign film/drama sections only mentioning the localized, Japanese titles, with the original titles (in their source language) only available in the index. Some entries are also hidden in other entries: the TV special based on Shimada Souji's Mitarai Kiyoshi series for example does not have its own entry and is not mentioned in the index, but it is briefly mentioned in the entry for the film Tantei Mitarai no Jikenbo - Seiro no Umi. The Galileo films on the other hand are mentioned within the entry for the two TV series of Galileo. You'd think that they're only putting franchises together, but this is not done consistently: the Detective Conan animated TV series and the film series have two pages each (but there is no entry for the various live-action adaptations). Death Note has entries for the films and the anime series, but not for the live-action TV series. So the selection can sometimes be a bit weird.

The quality of the entries also vary wildly. Some are really well-written considering how short they can be, with a brief summary, pointing out why it's good or not, the best episodes, and some insight in the staff behind the series. Others are overly-long summaries that barely give you any idea if the product in question is worth watching or not. The entry for Liar Game for example spends probably 90% of the available space to summarize the various games they play throughout the series, while arguably this series is one that would benefit so much more by a good explanation of why it's a mystery series for those who haven't seen it yet, as it is so different.

Despite some small points though, I'd say 21 Seiki Honkaku Mystery Eizou Taizen is a handy volume to have for the mystery fan. While the book is obviously somewhat more expansive on Japanese productions than on foreign productions, it's still a comprehensive work on mystery fiction in video form from all over the world and sure to provide some tips for future viewing. Though not each entry is as good as the other, I think this volume also provides some interesting reading on productions you haven't seen yet, but also on ones you already know.

Original Japanese title(s): 『21世紀本格ミステリ映像大全』

Burn Card

瀬を早み　岩にせかるる　滝川の 

われても末に　逢はむとぞ思ふ 

(崇徳院)

Rushing over a steep plummet / The rapid stream of the river / Is split in two by a rock

But like how those two streams will join once more / We too will find each other once more

(Poem by Sutokuin)

And we start the new year with a familiar face....

While Aoyama Goushou is of course the original creator of Detective Conan, the franchise has grown out to be much, much more than his original comic. Of the many products based on the hit mystery comic, the annual theatrical releases are probably the best known in Japan. Ever since 1997, each April has given us a new theatrical edition of Detective Conan with all-new original stories on a scale not feasible in the comic form. It is actually very rare in most cases in Japan for the original creator to get involved with the production of an animated theatrical adaptation personally, but Aoyama has always been a major part of these movies, often deciding on the main theme of each year's entry, as well as drawing key animation scenes himself (known among fans as the Aoyama key-frames, as they are instantly recognizable). The screenplays however are always written by other people, often specialized screenwriters who have worked on the animated TV series. The last few years, the release of each new theatrical film has also been accompanied with a novelization of said movie in publisher Shogakukan's Junior Bunko series: these novelizations are written for a young public, adapting the movies quite faithfully.

The twenty-first Detective Conan film, The Crimson Love Letter, was released in April 2017 and was received extremely well: it was in fact the highest grossing domestic (Japanese) film of 2017. Let that sink in for a while: the highest grossing Japanese film of 2017 was a mystery film, and an animated one too at that! When details about The Crimson Love Letter's production were first released in 2016, we learned that mystery author Ookura Takahiro was responsible for the screenplay. Ookura, who was written several succesful mystery series that have been adapted for live-action TV dramas (most prominently the Lt. Fukuie series), had not worked on Detective Conan before, but for this special occassion, he was not only put on the screenplay for the film, but also on an episode for the animated series. The Shogakukan Junior Bunko novelization (by Mizuki Shima) of course also released in April, but I waited for the home-video release in October 2017 to watch The Crimson Love Letter, and absolutely loved it.

But I was quite surprised when I learned that an another novelization of The Crimson Love Letter would be released in December 2017. Shousetsu Meitantei Conan: Karakurenai no Love Letter (A Novel: Detective Conan - The Crimson Love Letter, 2017) is a novelization written by the screenplay writer Ookura Takahiro himself, and is based on the final version of the screenplay he handed in. As you can guess: his version is not exactly like the final product, with several scenes either slightly changed, or cut out completely from the film. This new novelization is thus somewhat like a Director's Cut of the film, based on the original vision of the screenplay writer (whereas the Junior Bunko is based on the film that was released, and written for a younger audience). The base story however is of course the same in this version: a nation-wide high school karuta competition is about to start in a few days, so a program to promote the competive game of karuta, the Satsuki Cup and the Satsuki High School Cup is being recorded at a TV studio. A bomber however destroys the whole studio during the recording, and high school student-turned-into-six-year-old-boy Conan and the high school student detective Hattori Heiji suspect that the bomber's aim is focused on key members in the Satsuki Karuta Assocation, as they learn that the champion of the Satsuki Cup has also been killed on the same day. Meanwhile, Hattori's childhood friend Kazuha finds herself in a predicament: she suddenly has to participate in the Satsuki High School competition because her friend Mikoko got injured during the bombing, and one of her opponents is Oo'oka Momiji, a girl who is considered the future karuta queen who also claims she's Hattori's fiancée....

AND OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS COVER.

Ahm. It's only been two months ago since I wrote down my thoughts on The Crimson Love Letter, so I want refer to the film review for my main thoughts about the story and its relation to the main series, as the core plot in the novelization is exactly the same. The novelization is still a great Detective Conan story that manages to mix a proper mystery plot, with a captivating sport story surrounding karuta as well as romantic comedy elements. The film was easily one of the better entries these last few years thanks to the story, and that also holds for this novel. So in this review, I want to pick up some of the differences between the film, and this novelization.

I do want to point out right away that about 80% of the book is more-or-less the same as the film. Sure, most of the scenes have their differences, but these changes are very small. For example: the film starts with the whole cast chatting in the TV studio. In the novelization, their chat starts outside the studio. The novel does make good use of its medium to explain a bit more about various topics, most importantly the game of karuta. I noted in my review of the film that certain details of karuta, like basic rules or strategies, weren't explained really well there: the novelization does a much better job at that, as well as exploring the themes behind the poems on the karuta cards in relation to the film. The downside is that reading about the actual karuta matches isn't as fun as actually seeing them. While karuta is a card game in essence, it's actually a very physical game (see also Chihayafuru), and the energy and dynamic movements going during these matches are of course conveyed much better in the animated feature compared to the novelization. The final act of the story is about the actual Satsuki High School Cup, which was mostly skimmed over in the film with a montage (because it's a sports film!) to jump to the final match, while the novel actually goes a bit more into detail in the various rounds of the competition, fleshing out some characters we only see very briefly in the film.

The novelization also brings some improvements to the mystery plot. Some of the developments in the plot that were handled only briefly in the film are explored more deeply in the novel, which greatly helps the story. While the film works on its own, some of the red herrings and clues were discussed rather briefly there, but Ookura manages to explain them much better in detail in the novel, so for the people who thought things went too fast in the film: try this book!  On the other hand, it's also clear the story was indeed written for a film, as some of the more crucial, and also better clues of this story work much better in a visual format, as opposed to in a novel.

What also work much better in the animated format are the action scenes. The theatrical releases of Detective Conan have always been known for their over-the-top action scenes that you usually wouldn't see in the original comic (precisely because they can't do over-the-top action there), and the animated version of The Crimson Love Letter has some fantastic scenes in a great opening set-piece as well an impressive climax scene. Those same action parts are completely different in the novelization and it's not even a contest: the action scenes in the final film are muuuch better than the ones Ookura originally had in mind (and they are a bit strange too: since when does Conan has a wire in his wristwatch? He's not Lupin III!). What's interesting is that the major scenes that were cut out of Ookura's script were in fact also action scenes. The novelization (and thus Ookura's original script) contains two action scenes that didn't make it into the final movie. While the second of these is admittedly quite unnecessary (I'd argue cutting this scene out was a good choice), it's a pity the first of these action scenes didn't make it. A certain revelation is made in the movie after this scene, and it's one of those parts of the mystery plot that work better in the novel, precisely because this action scene actually helps set-up that revelation. Including the scene, in one way or another, would've improved the mystery plot, so I kinda wish this action scene would've been there, especially because it'd be more interesting to actually see the scene animated.

In the end though, it's clear that The Crimson Love Letter's best version is still the animated feature. While this novelization by Ookura does offer some more insight into the plot, as well as some other versions of certain scenes, this "Director's Cut" is not the best version, precisely because the plot was originally written for an animated film and many of its elements work out better in motion. I'd recommend the novel to those who loved The Crimson Love Letter and want to see how Ookura originally envisioned the story, but yeah, go watch the film if you haven't seen it yet. 

Original Japanese title(s): 青山剛昌（原）、大倉崇裕　『小説　名探偵コナン　から紅の恋歌』