Feet of Clay

探せ 追え 謎を解け

BD7 BD7 BD7 は 少年探偵団

『いくぞ！BD7』

Search! Chase! Solve the mystery!

BD7 BD7 BD7 are the Boy Detectives!

"Let's Go! BD7

About a year ago, I raved about Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White, as an excellent example of how to implement fantasy elements like magic in an orthodox detective novel. The magic mirror that told the detective-character everything was a wonderful plot element, and the story's sense of speed and thrill was fantastic. Indeed, it's not strange Snow White was nominated for the Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize last week. And since reading Snow White, I have also been going through Morikawa's other works, like Cat Food and the non-series Two Detectives and One Watson, but we'll go back to Morikawa's main series for this review.

Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series

Cat Food

Snow White

Odoru Ningyou ("The Dancing Dollls")

Odoru Ningyou - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Golem no E wa Shinjutsu no E ("The Dancing Dolls - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the E of Golem is the E of Truth") is a mouthful, so let's just call it Odoru Ningyou. Elementary school student Fumiko gets acquainted with professor Minami, who is working on the creation of a real-life Golem. The second time they meet, the professor tells Fumiko that she has succeeded in the experiment, but is now forced by the powerful, immortal Golem to create more of these beings. The professor had just managed to escape, but the Golem quickly manages to locate her, and takes her (and Fumiko) back to his lair. Furusawa, Fumiko's classmate and proud member of the Boy Detectives, enlists the help of the group leader Shima to help and stop the Golem from executing his evil plans. If only the Boy Detective's boss, the great detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari were here to help them...

Oh, and for those who haven't read the reviews of the other books in the series yet: Sanzunokawa Kotowari is an utterly evil detective who always ends up as the antagonist of the story.

Odoru Ningyou is obviously inspired by Edogawa Rampo's Shounen Tantei Dan series, with a team of child detectives trying to stop a thief/murderer/Golem-intent-on-outliving-humans. It feels particular similar to the first book in the Shounen Tantei Dan series, Kaijin Nijuu Mensou, following a similar two-part structure of the Boy Detectives being forced to cope with the enemy themselves in the first half, before their boss (Akechi Kogorou, and in the case of Odoru Ningyou, Sanzunokawa) appears to finish the job off in the second half. The energy of the young detectives is felt throughout the story, and Odoru Ningyou is a light-hearted, fast-paced mystery that keeps your eyes glued to the pages from start to finish.

The main flow of the novel is what you'd expect from the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series: the Boy Detectives and the Golem have several skirmishes over the course of the story, with each side outsmarting the other side several times. The situation keeps changing, and you, as the reader, have to guess which side will pull one over the other, and more importantly how. In Snow White, this battle of the wits was based on creative use of the magic mirrors and this time the outcome of the battles hinge on the special powers and characteristics of the Golem (who split up his clay body and control each part). Because the story is based on clear rules (the extent of the Golem's powers are explained), Odoru Ningyou is a fair detective story, despite featuring magical elements (see also the other books in the series, but also i.e. something like Professor Layton vs Gyakuten Saiban).

But the elements that make Odoru Ningyou fun, are also those elements we've been familiar with since the first entry in the series, and in that sense, Odoru Ningyou is also a bit too predictable. All three books are structured around a magical plot-device with certain rules (transforming cats, a magic mirror and now a Golem) and rapid-fire, fast-paced battle of wits. There's a bit of been-there, done-that feeling here, and while the theme of the Boy Detectives is done well here, I have to admit I prefer the magical whodunnit of the magical cats in Cat Food, and the more Death Note-like approach of Snow White to Odoru Ningyou's boy adventure. A personal preference of course, but it's difficult to deny these books are all quite alike (even if they're fun).

Sanzunokawa Kotowari is still an interesting plot device and character. Even though it's called the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series, one has to keep in mind that there is no series continuity whatsoever: what happens in one book, has absolutely nothing to do with another, and they are all set in seperate worlds. One can see it as the 'actor' Sanzunokawa being (type)cast in different stories each time, so while he appears each time as the same person (himself), events and background settings of one story do no apply to another, even if it's one series. Of course, by now the reader knows Sanzunokawa is not a very nice guy, so even though he is set up as the boss of the Boy Detectives in Odoru Ningyou, everyone knows not to trust him by now. This kind of character typecasting across stories is of course famously done by Tezuka Osamu (his Star System), but not a practice you come across very often.

I'd say that Odoru Ningyou is a somewhat predictable entry in the series, but not bad per se. Personally, I prefer the previous two novels but it's an enjoyable series no matter the entry. And because there's no series continuity, it really doesn't matter where you start. If you're a big fan of Rampo's Shounen Tantei Dan, Odoru Ningyou is very solid choice.

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜 『踊る人形　名探偵三途川理とゴーレムのEは真実のE』

『完全犯罪に猫は何匹必要か？』

「この本は、ネコの手の届かないところに保管してください。殺人をたからむ恐れがあります」

 『キャットフード 名探偵三途川理と注文の多い館の殺人』

"Keep this book away from cats. They might be planning a murder"

("Cat Food - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the Murders of the House with Many Orders")

When I was in Kyoto last year, I lived in a dormitory for international students. I think I've seen my neighbour only once, and that was not in before our rooms, but in a class we happened to take together. After a bit of talking, we suddenly discovered we had lived next to each other for over half a year without ever meeting once. As I lived at the end of the corridor, I had only one neighbour inside the dorm, but I also had three stray cats living somewhere near my room whom I saw/heard quite often. Actually, I probably saw those cats more often than other people in my dorm. They were quite popular too, with children always creeping into the bushes to play with them (which was a bit creepy actually; those kids always popped up from a little shrine in front of the bushes... almost as ghosts). Anyway, those cats were good neighbours. Of course, they might also have been evil cats keeping an eye on me.

I loved Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White, and with his third novel out this week, I had to sneak in his debut work with the overly long title Cat Food - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Chuumon no Ooi Yakata no Satsujin ("Cat Food - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and the Murders of the House with Many Orders"). Four high school students have won a free stay on a resort island. What they don't know, is that the whole island is a trap set up by... cats. Evil cats. Evil cats who try to take over the world. The world of processed cat food that is. For these cats have come up with a new product for the nouveau riche of the cat-world: cat food made out of human flesh. The four students are the ingredients needed for the first test run of the factory. Of course, this wouldn't be possible for normal cats, but the brains behind the Pluto Meat Company are a group of transforming cats, who can change at will into about everything (humans amongst others). One problem though: Willy, another transforming cat has taken the place of one of their ingredient-humans, but they don't know which of the four is Willy. While cats are allowed to kill humans, they can't just kill other cats (that would be illegal) and thus starts a clash of deductions, with the cats of PMC are trying to figure out which of their ingredients is Willy, who is desperately trying to save everybody without blowing his cover.

Snow White featured a battle of the wits based on a fantasy setting (magic mirrors) and it worked out great there, and the same can be said of Cat Food (I am not going to use the full title). Transforming cats might sound a bit unfair, but there are clear rules (the cats can only change to objects / persons of a certain size, they have to obey the 'cat-laws', the human ingredients have to be processed into food, so they can't just blow up everyone and the island...), so in the end, Cat Food works out as as you would expect from any good deduction battle story. The first part of the story is centered around Willy trying to figure out a way to get everybody of the island safe, while the cats are spying on the humans in the hopes of discovering who Willy changed into. In the second part of Cat Food, Pluto, the leader of the evil cats, asks for the help of her owner, the unscrupulous, yet brilliant great detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari. He agrees in helping finding out which of the humans is Willy (and thus agrees in helping the cats making cat food out of the other humans).

The story consists of several confrontations between Willy and the other cats and Sanzunokawa, with each time one side trying to outsmart the other. The point of view constantly jumps between these two sides and while the reader is shown some of the thoughts/plans of either side, you never really know is going on until the confrontation is over and that is, similiar to Snow White, the best point of the story. You just never know who is going to win each confrontation and the great tempo with which these battles follow each other keeps the reader hooked to the pages.

It's also a fun novel. The whole idea of evil, transforming cats is alluring (and probably not very far from reality...), but the narrative is also always written in a light, humorous tone that works wonderful with the fantasy setting. Considering the basic premise, this could also easily have been written as a horror-mystery novel (the whole humans being made into cat food premise offers enough material for that)... but it's just funnier to read about cute evil cats planning our demise, rather than actually evil and scary cats planning our demise.

Cat Food is a really short novel though, even shorter than Snow White I think. It's great fun while it lasts, but that's not very long and considering Cat Food is released under the prizey Kodansha Box imprint (softcover novels with a sturdy silver cardboard box), I can't really recommend the reader buying this new / for the set price. The same holds for Snow White, but that one actually has a neat thing going on with the box design, while Cat Food's box is... just a grey box (Van Madoy's novels are also published under this imprint, but are much longer).

The setting of  Cat Food - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Chuumon no Ooi Yakata no Satsujin alone makes it worth reading. It's lighthearted fun mystery, but it does leave you wanting for more. Both because it's just plain addicting, but also because it's a bit lacking in volume.

Original Japanese title(s): 『キャットフード 名探偵三途川理と注文の多い館の殺人』

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

「それでは、鏡や鏡。この中で誰がいちばん名探偵か、いっておくれ」

「私です」

『スノーホワイト　名探偵三途川 断りと少女の鏡は千の目を持つ』

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the greatest detective of us all?"

"I am"

"Snow White - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and The Girl's Mirror Has Thousand Eyes"

Maybe I should review something Western in the hopes of getting comments again. I should ask a mirror whether that would work.

For most detectives, finding out the truth behind a case is an important, if not the most important part of their jobs. But what if you'd have a detective who would always know the truth? That is the premise of Morikawa Tomoki's Snow White -  Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Shoujo no Kagami wa Sen no Me wo Motsu ("Snow White - Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari and The Girl's Mirror Has A Thousand Eyes"). Our protagonist is Erioto Mamae, a teenage girl who runs her own detective agency. Which would be quite impossible under normal circumstances, but having a magic mirror that can answer any question probably doesn't count as normal circumstances. So while 'normal' detectives would have to listen to testimonies, gather evidence and build up a chain of deduction in order to solve a murder, Mamae just has to ask her mirror who did it. In short, she cheats. Her assistant, the dwarf Grumpy Ingram who came from the same world as the magic mirror, doesn't really like that, for he would rather want Mamae to at least try to deduce a bit herself, but it least keeps the agency running.

And then you ask, how can a detective novel be fun if the detective can always cheat? Well, it's because the author had a lot of fun with his little gadget. For instance, using the mirror means you don't have to deduce, but with Mamae that means she doesn't deduce. She just tells what she saw in the mirror, which often includes more information than the client ever told her. And sometimes, clients do want to hear how she managed to 'deduce' the truth or else they won't be convinced. And because Snow White itself is still a fair-play detective novel, it is indeed possible to deduce the truth based on the information offered. So it is like cheating with a mathematical problem at school: you might know the right answer and write on your testpaper, but the teacher isn't going to be satisfied with just the right answer: you have to show how you arrived at the answer. One could also see some parallels with the inversed detective stories like Columbo, with the 'answer' already known the viewer right from the start. At any rate, it does bring a fresh dynamic to the story-structure.

But the second part is where Snow White really shines, when the Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari, a young unscrupulous, yet brilliant boy, is hired to kill Mamae and gets his hands on his own magic mirror. And Snow White suddenly changes in a grand batte of wits, with two detectives in possession of a magic mirror. Here the focus changes from 'reversed' deducing to how to make full use of the properties of the magic mirror, keeping in mind that the opponent also has a mirror can answer anything from 'who is trying to kill me and why' to 'what is my opponent planning to do next?'. And yes, this second part feels a lot like Death Note: a magic item with a certain set of rules and properties forming the basis of a heated battle between two detectives. I wouldn't say geniuses, because Mamae really isn't highly intelligent like Sanzunokawa, but even Sanzunokawa has to be careful in his attempts to commit murder, knowing his opponent can instantly find out the truth using the mirror the moment something suspicious happens.

The concept of Snow White is interesting on its own, but the story also has a great sense of speed and tempo. It keeps providing the reader with new stimuli: every case Mamae encounters is different from the previous one and I don't mean just regarding the contents: the way the mirror is used, the structure of the story, it is every time something else, from start to finish. What also helps is that Morikawa seems to have a great love for Great Detectives (TM), because we have no less than three (!) detectives running around in Snow White, and they're all great in their own way. The love the author has for this trope can be felt throughout this novel and you can sense the fun he had writing it. It almost feels childish, but in an innocent, pure-hearted way.

A lot of reactions on the novel included wanting to see Snow White adapted as an anime or something of the sorts, and I concur it really feels suitable for it. The slight fantasy-setting, the one-case-a-episode setup at the beginning and the great battle of wits in the second half, greater-than-life characters. It would work perfectly. Maybe in a few years?

Morikawa by the way originates from the Kyoto University Mystery Club and Snow White is the second novel in his Great Detective Sanzunokawa Kotowari series, which is kinda surprising considering Sanzukawa is definitely the antagonist in this story! I really should read Cat Food, the first novel too (and the third novel is already scheduled for this summer).

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜　『スノーホワイト　名探偵三途川理と少女の鏡は千の目を持つ』