Sabotage at Sports City

All that glisters is not gold

"The Merchant of Venice"

I've always had a weakness for murders mysteries where the crime occurs during a public event like a sports match, though I guess I haven't seen many where the crime occurs during the award ceremony...

Defense attorney Naruhodou Ryuuichi enters the Judicial Olympics as a contestant because his assistant Mayoi has set her eyes on the special tour of entertainment parks all around the world awarded to the gold medalist. The Judicial Olympics are organized by the International Judicial Federation to determine the ace attorney-at-law of the world. Naruhodou is surprised to see that his old opponent, the prosecutor Godot, is head director of the Judicial Olympics, but also to spot other familar faces among his fellow participants, like his rival Mitsurugi Reiji and the whip-carrying prosecutor Karuma Mei. Naruhodou learns from Mitsurugi that there have always been shady rumors about the International Judicial Federation and that he's making use of this special event to investigate the Federation. The contestants compete in several weird competitions like a rap courtroom battle and dance-offs, and after several days, the winner of the Judicial Olympics is finally determined. But right after the winner is given the gold medal, one of the contestants is murdered on the ceremonial stage. At first, it appears clear as day that the protestors against the IJC who jumped on stage with the knife in her hand committed the murder, but Naruhodou isn't quite convinced. The IJC too wants to play an open hand and it's agreed that the suspect's trial will be broadcast live on television, with Naruhodou as her attorney. Can he find out what really happened in the 2019 stage play Gyakuten Saiban: Gyakuten no Gold Medal ("Turnabout Trial - Turnabout Gold Medal")?

If you read this blog often, it's impossible to not know the Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney franchise, as it's featured a lot here. While it started out in 2001 as a comedic mystery adventure game series starring a defense attorney defying unsurmountable odds in crazy trial, it's grown to be a multimedia franchise, with spin-off games (like this and this one), an anime, manga,  musicals, novels, drama CDs, and stage plays. Three stage plays were performed between 2014-2016, being Gyakuten Saiban – Gyakuten no Spotlight (“Turnabout Trial - Turnabout Spotlight”), Gyakuten Saiban – Saraba Gyakuten (“Turnabout Trial – Farewell, My Turnabout”) and Gyakuten Kenji -  Gyakuten no Teleportation ("Turnabout Prosecutor - Turnabout Teleportation"): all three of these plays were produced by the same company and featured more-or-less the same cast. Gyakuten Saiban: Gyakuten no Gold Medal however features a new cast and also feels quite different from the previous three plays.

With so much spin-off material available, it shouldn't surprise when I tell you that some of this material is designed to attract new audience, while other media is pure fanservice that'll mostly only appeal to existing fans. The live-action film and the manga for example are obviously designed to appeal to a wider audience, hoping to capture new viewers from a new medium and bringing them back to the original games, but the stage plays have always been produced with existing fans in mind, which is pretty logical considering the limited number of viewers a small stage play can attract. The stage plays were full of inside jokes, with familiar characters being put in new situations to entertain the viewers and motions or scenes made to invoke the feeling ofthe original games. But still, I'd say the previous stage plays were also workable as standalone mystery plays (especially the first and third one), with plots that were relatively focused on the core story and not just character interactions.

Gyakuten Saiban: Gyakuten no Gold Medal however seems more focused on fanservice than the previous plays, resulting in a play that might be entertaining for existing fans of the genre, but it's not going to be that interesting for those who are primarily looking for a mystery stage play. The play is a bit over two hours long, but the first hour is basically just fanservice: the Judicial Olympics are just an excuse to see the familiar characters in situations you'd otherwise see them in, like a rap battle or a catwalk competition. While I'm a fan of the franchise, I've always been more interested in Gyakuten Saiban as a mystery franchise rather than as a character-focused drama, so while the idea of Naruhodo rapping might be fun, I was utterly bored for the first hour or so because basically nothing of importance occurs in regards to the mystery plot. One or two scenes might've been okay, but an hour long of 'hahaha, look at our characters in these wacky scenes!' is too much for me.

The murder finally happens during the award ceremony of the Judicial Olympics, but the mystery plot this time is not particularly interesting, to be honest. Gyakuten Saiban is at its best by pointing out little contradictions one after after, the argument slowly crawls towards a grand reveal. What made the games fun was that the contradictions were solvable by the player themselves using the evidence available to them and that that it showed how by even solving relatively easy contradictions, you could eventually reveal a greater picture. In Gyakuten Saiban: Gyakuten no Gold Medal however, a lot of the deductive moments that could have been more memorable, fail to be really impressive, as often, the 'evidence' needed to contradict a point is either kept completely out of sight or tucked away in a tiny corner on the set, so when Naruhodou suddenly says that something's wrong and shows the evidence to back his story up, the viewer is not impressed by his deductions, but just wondering where the hell that evidence just came from because it surely hadn't been shown to the viewer yet. At other times, the story tries to be clever with 'in plain sight' clues that just fall flat because the logical jumps to them cover too much ground. Ultimately, when you look solely at the mystery of the man who got stabbed at the ceremony and the circumstances leading up to that, it's disappointingly minor and easy to see through.

A sequel to this play, with the same cast, was originally going to be performed in spring 2020 by the way, but it was put on hold due to the pandemic. For the moment, it seems they still plan to do it whenever it's possible, but the story introduction at least makes it sound they'll stick to the more fanservice-focused approach with that play too...

So unlike some of the previous stage plays in this franchise, I'd say Gyakuten Saiban: Gyakuten no Gold Medal is really just for the existing fans, and not worth watching if you're not familiar with the franchise and only looking for an interesting mystery play. As a detective story, there's just too little that manages to impress, with too much distractions going on that, resulting in something that's just so uninspired and contrived you're wondering why it also needed an hour of fanservice as a set-up. Your mileage may be very different if you're a fan of the characters of the series and want to see them thrown in all kinds of crazy situations, but even then it's hard to deny the core mystery plot feels like it's playing second fiddle to the fanservice

Original Japanese title(s): 『逆転裁判　逆転のGold Medal』

Black Coffee Rag

「オレは今、オレ自身の２つの問題で精いっぱいさ。コーヒーはなぜ、黒いのか？ そして‥‥なぜ、ニガいのか‥‥？」

『逆転裁判3』

"Right now, I have my hands full with my own two questions. Why is coffee black? And why... is it so bitter...?"

"Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations"

Coffee is something I don't see as much as a tasteful beverage, but more like a practical drink for its caffeine. Ice coffee however is a completely different story, as I love that.

Famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is asked by the famous scientist Sir Claud Amory to come by his house as he is facing a problem he himself can not solve. Amory had created a formula for a new explosive, but then he discovers that someone in his house has stolen it, probably to sell to a foreign agent willing to pay much for it and he needs Poirot's grey cells to figure out who did it. By the time Poirot and Hastings arrive at stately Amory manor though, it's been too late: Sir Claud had been poisoned through his black coffee. Was it the thief of the formula who murdered the man, or was there another person intent at taking the inventor's life? Hoping to at least help Sir Claud in his death, Poirot decides to investigate the manner of Sir Claud's demise, as well as of the theft of the explosive formula in Charles Osborne's Black Coffee (1998).

Black Coffee was originally a play written by Agatha Christie herself in 1930 featuring her famous creation Poirot. The play was not very well-known among Poirot fans, but in 1998, Charles Osborn wrote a novelization of the play, giving Black Coffee new life. When I first heard about this book, I have to admit I was not very interested, as it was "just" a novelization by someone else, and even though the source material was by Christie herself, I have to admit I was never that much a fan of the other plays by her I knew (like The Mousetrap or the other Poirot plays). Of course, now we're several years later and as I know all the other Poirot stories now, I thought that perhaps trying Black Coffee out could not hurt (yes, I know, I didn't exactly go in with really high expectations).

That said though, there is very little to say about Black Coffee, as it is an incredibly simple story, and even in novel-form you feel it was made for the theater. The whole set-up (Poirot being called to find a thief/murderer among a small household) reminds a lot of the Poirot short stories The Under Dog and The Incredible Theft, and Black Coffee is basically simply another variation on that theme. In terms of scale, Black Coffee is also barely a short story worth of plot, so that strengthens the similarities between these stories. As a mystery story, Black Coffee is nothing special at all, which is once again something this story shares with the Poirot stories mentioned, as I suspect few view them as the highlights of the Poirot short stories. Christie for example makes use of a device in regards to the whereabouts of the formula that was probably already old and over-used when this story was written and most of the rest of the tale consists of Poirot asking people questions that don't seem to lead anywhere. Black Coffee is definitely not Christie gold.

I can't compare the novelization to the original play, but you definitely can tell that this story was originally a play. Most of the story takes place inside the room where the murder took place, with all the characters moving in and out of the room to suit the plot. Of course, every time a person is all alone in the room, they'll act suspiciously for no apparent reader but to show the reader they're suspicious, I guess the novelization is probably faithful to the play in this regard, and it shows it respects the source material, but I had definitely preferred some more variety. This is a novel, so you don't need to incorporate every element of the play, especially if it's something that probably only exists because of the limitations of a medium. One might say that the final solution with Poirot works better if the whole story is set in the same room, but I don't think the effect is weakened that much if we'd see even a bit more of the outside world, and in any case, the prologue is in fact set outside the room (in Poirot's apartment to be exact), so I don't think it would've hurt that much.

I had hoped I'd be able to write something more substantial about Black Coffee, but there's so little I can say about it. Black Coffee is a full novel, but the core plot mystery is just barely enough for a short story in truth, as it's quite simple and nothing special, and certainly not something I'd consider a Christie classic (and she has written some great short stories!). The novelization is also, I suspect, quite faithful to the original play in being mainly set in one location, but this again strengthens the feeling of this being a short story being dragged out to a full novel. had this been a short story, Black Coffee would've been a mediocre effort of a mystery story. As a full novel, it's simply tedious and nothing special, and not even Poirot and Hastings can save it.

A Good Medium is Rare

 "Nothing is impossible," declared The Thinking Machine with equal emphasis. He always spoke petulantly. "The mind is master of all things. When science fully recognizes that fact a great advance will have been made."

"The Problem of Cell 13"

I've reviewed a couple theater mystery productions now, but still haven't seen one live....

Divine Dragon Village is a small community in the mountains on the verge of extinction because of its rapidly greying population, but also because it might be literally wiped away from the map because of talks of a dam being built nearby, which would lead to the flooding of the village. The one thing that keeps it alive now is a small filming studio, where the popular live-action series Psychic Academy Sigma is being filmed. Prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji, police detective Itonokogiri and the energetic thief-in-training Mikumo are invited there by Mitsurugi's friend Yahari, who works at the studio as an assistant-director. The discovery of the body of the director puts a hold to the filming, but an initial investigation quickly leads to a suspect. Actor Asukai, who plays the lead Psychic Teacher admits he's the murderer, but there is one, enormous problem to this conclusion. The body of the director was found in the morning at the studio, but they have proof she was killed last night at the shrine high up in the mountains where the village treasure, the Dragon's Scale, is kept. However, the only path that leads up to the shrine was blocked last night due to a landslide following a heavy rainfall, so how was the body moved from the shrine down to the studio if the road was blocked? Asukai claims he used his psychic powers of teleportation to move the body, but Mitsurugi refuses to accept this supernatural explanation and tries to figure out how the body was "teleported" down the mountain in the stage play Gyakuten Kenji -  Gyakuten no Teleportation ("Turnabout Prosecutor - Turnabout Teleportation", 2016).

Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney is a comedic mystery adventure game series starring a defense attorney defying unsurmountable odds in crazy trials that started in 2001. A spin-off game Gyakuten Kenji ("Turnabout Prosecutor") was released in 2009, starring the popular character of prosecutor Mitsurugi Reiji (known in the localized games as Miles Edgeworth), who'd investigate crimes himself on the scene to find his suspects. The spin-off was followed by a sequel in 2011, a manga series, and even a musical version performed by the all-female troupe Takarazuka. Gyakuten no Teleportation is a stage play (not a musical), performed by the same troupe that brought the two stage plays Gyakuten no Spotlight (2014) and Saraba, Gyakuten (2015) based on the main Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney series.

The story of Gyakuten no Teleportation is based on an unused plot idea originally conceived for the second game, though it is difficult to say how much of it has been changed for Gyakuten no Teleportation. Anyway, it does feature an interesting mystery plot, as we are soon introduced to the suspect who gladly confesses to the crime, but who could not have done what he says he has done: teleporting a dead body from a mountain down to the studio in the village. What follows is a plot that mainly revolves around looking around at the crime scene and finding clues. This is similar to the games the play is based off, so that is something for the fans, but the story can feel a bit slow at times, as there are few plot developments until the finale, with most of the time being spent on exposition on locations/character backgrounds, making it feel like the main problem of teleportation is being pushed aside for something that could've been presented in a more direct, concise manner. The mystery of the teleportation trick is a bit crude, but adequately clewed, though there is a missed chance of presenting a truly great clue to the audience: I was convinced that they'd reveal a certain clue in the finale, as it appeared everything was pointing towards that, only to find out they totally ignored a chance to come up with a memorable clue. There is a great piece of misdirection going on though, one which worked perfectly with the medium of the story.

Of the three stage plays, I think the first made best use of its medium as it was a stage play about a murder happening during a stage play, and while this one is somewhat similar in idea (a murder that happens in a studio with actors), I thought this play was less... ambitious? The things they do with the props and other theatrical "tricks" are similar throughout the three stage plays, but whereas it was exciting and new in the first play, it's just not as original anymore when you see it performed for the third time with nothing new. There are also some points about the plot that don't seem to synergize well with the medium: the way the locations are connected is for example fairly important to the plot, but on stage you only see discrete sets without really showing how the previous set is connected to the other in geographical terms.
 

The live-action film and the Takarazuka musicals were made to appeal to a wider audience, but the stage plays have always been more directly aimed at existing fans of the franchise, so generally, the acting is usually a lot closer to the original games, with many of the quirks and motions of the actors being lifted straight out of the game. This works for these fan-oriented productions, though even as a fan of Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney, I never disliked the more serious, darker tone the live-action film had, even though I always hear people complaining how it was not EXACTLY like the original games. People who do want their live-action productions to be very, very much like the games, they need to seek out these stage plays, because these productions are very clearly made to appeal to that audience. There is also more interaction with the actors and the audience (talking about their favorite characters), and there is ad-libbing going on too, so these stage plays have more at-home feeling.

Gyakuten Kenji -  Gyakuten no Teleportation is a good mystery stage play though, that manages to combine a faithful adaptation of the source characters and atmosphere to a decent mystery plot that the audience can also solve themselves. If you have never seen any of these, you're in for a treat, though in terms of production, this play is not very different from the previous ones, so it might feel a bit underwhelming.

Original Japanese title(s): 『逆転検事　逆転のテレポーテーション』

Trials & Tribulations

"The miracle never happen (sic)"

"Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Justice for All"

And it's the final review in this month of legal mystery fiction. Of which most were actually stage plays. Weird things happen on this blog sometimes.

The Hero of Heroes show, where the best TV superhero is elected, is held in the Bandou Hotel, and defense attorney Naruhodou, his assistant Mayoi and her cousin Harumi are present too to watch the show live. However, Fujimino Isao, actor of the hero Ninja Nanja is found murdered in his dressing room and suspicion falls on Outorou Shingo, actor of the hero Tonosaman Hei. Amidst the chaos, an unknown person kidnaps Mayoi, and the kidnapper’s demands are that Naruhodou is to act as Outorou’s attorney, and that he should get Outorou a Not Guilty verdict, because the kidnapper doesn’t like to see Outorou hang for a crime he didn’t commit. Naruhodou has no choice but to defend Outorou, who swears he really didn’t kill Fujimino. The best way to get Outorou off the hook is of course finding out who did kill Fujimino, but the investigation leads into a maze with professional killers, a dirty past between Fujimino and Outorou and even a ghost from Naruhodou’s own past. Can Naruhodou win the trial and save Mayoi’s life in the 2015 stage play Gyakuten Saiban – Saraba Gyakuten (“Turnabout Trial – Farewell, My Turnabout”)?

This stage play is a sequel to the 2014 stage play Gyakuten Saiban - Gyakuten no Spotlight, and both based on the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) courtroom mystery videogame series. While Gyakuten no Spotlight was an original story, Saraba Gyakuten is directly based on the final episode included in the second game.

In general, I’d say this play is the better one. This is mainly because the original story on which this play is based is really an exciting mystery story that fits the real-time format well. The kidnapping adds a sense of urgency, while the setting of a murder among hero actors fits the format of a stage play. The conclusion of the story was one of the most exciting, and captivating moments of the whole game series, nay, of courtroom drama mysteries in general, and that feeling is retained in this stage play. The series has always been about turning seemingly hopeless situations in the courtroom around, but few were ever so desperate as these, and the way everything is turned around is fantastic. As a pure murder mystery story, it is actually really not that special, but as a courtroom mystery, Saraba Gyakuten is something special and it translates well to this stage play.

But does this stage play have something to add to the original game story, as you might as well play the game, right? Well, I have to admit that this issue is a bit more difficult to decide on. In terms of acting and presentation, I’d say it’s basically the same compared to Gyakuten no Spotlight. The main cast is the same, even if  this time you see less of Mayoi (because she is kidnapped) and more of her cousin Harumi. I wouldn’t say the acting was much better or worse than with the first play, and in terms of presentation, I think this stage play had a few moments that were quite inspired (the way the backgrounds are used), but that never had really impressive moments like the action scenes or the video footage scene in the first play. The actor-audience interaction is also similar, so the one thing that really sets these two plays apart is the story. And while Saraba Gyakuten is definitely the better story, I think that Gyakuten no Spotlight made better use of the fact that is a stage play, and the fact it is a completely original story of course also scores points.

This is of course always a problem with adaptations. Do you want to adapt an existing story into a different medium, or do you want to do something new using the existing world? I personally prefer the latter in general and I do think that taken on the whole, Gyakuten no Spotlight is the more interesting play of the two, even if the mystery plot in general is not as good as Saraba Gyakuten. I can however imagine that a lot of fans of the Ace Attorney series will prefer Saraba Gyakuten, with the idea of that they always wanted to see this story in live-action. I did think that this play was a lot more tightly plotted than the previous one. Which is because it’s based on the game  scenario of course, but it at least didn’t feature scenes I thought were really useless in the grand picture, which the previous play did have.

Overall though, I think that fans of the series will be satisfied by Gyakuten Saiban - Saraba Gyakuten’s adaptation of the game.  It is a solid stage play that has a captivating story, and the actors do a good job at getting the audience involved with the dramatic events that unfold. If I had to choose, I’d say the first one is the more interesting and original one, but in terms of story, I think this one wins easily.

Original Japanese title(s): 『逆転裁判　さらば逆転』

It's Show Time!

"The show must go on" 

(Adage)

Yep, another review of a mystery story performed on the stage!

Defense attorney Naruhodou Ryuuichi and his assistant Mayoi managed to get tickets for a stage play of Mayoi’s favorite superhero show: Tonosaman. But during the climax of the show, a giant paper lantern prop comes crashing down, severely injuring the actor Dan Yuuya, who played the antagonist in the play, the Crow Tengu. It is suspected that the actor who played Tonosaman, Niboshi Saburou, engineered this ‘accident’ on purpose. He was the one who was supposed to give the cue to the stage hand to lower the lantern,  and the cops think he gave the cue when Dan was standing beneath the lantern on purpose in an attempt to kill him. Naruhodou and Mayoi, who have saved Niboshi once before in a trial, want to save him again and start investigating the theater and the actors in the 2014 stage play Gyakuten Saiban – Gyakuten no Spotlight (“Turnabout Trial - Turnabout Spotlight”).

I have seriously reviewed almost all forms of the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) franchise on this blog now. From the original games, from the manga and the film to the novel, from the musicals to the ‘normal’ stage play now. I’d have done the drama CDs and the anime too if they weren’t that errr, not interesting.

But anyway, this time a stage play of the successful videogame series about a defense attorney solving crimes in court. I have discussed the musicals by the Takarazuka Revue before, but Gyakuten no Spotlight is a ‘normal’ theater play, which is pretty interesting. The film, even if it also features actors, is obviously very different from these productions which are performed in real-time in front of an audience, but Gyakuten no Spotlight is also quite different from the Takarazuka Revue musicals, because this stage play is done in a much smaller theater, and the actors are all much closer to the audience. You can really see the actors react to the audience and vice-versa, which is not much the case with the Takarazuka Revue musicals, which are set in a surreal world on its own. In fact, Gyakuten no Spotlight has a pretty funny opening, where Naruhodou and Mayoi sit down together with the real audience, because they too are there to watch the Tonosaman stage play. It gives this mystery play a very homely feel, which something you seldom experience with mystery fiction.

Gyakuten no Spotlight is a completely original story, even if it shares some parallels with stories from the games. It’s a fairly meta-conscious mystery story, as it’s a stage play about an attempted murder that happened during a stage play, and this is done very well: they explain a lot about how things go backstage and how a play like that is performed and all of that also is strongly connected to the actual mystery plot and the gimmicks which were used to pull the attempt of. Overall, it’s a fairly simple mystery story if you look closely at the details and the way the hints are spread out isn’t particularly inspiring, but it certainly gets the thing done. The ‘problem’ is of course that this is a real-time play. In the games they can present a piece of evidence early on, allow you look at it for four hours, and just about the time you have forgotten about it, you get to use it. This doesn’t work in a stage play and so it asks for a different type of laying hints around, but there were times here where the hints were just presented in a clumsily way (like one minute before they used it), or were just too simply.

Like in the games, the play is roughly decided in two phases (times two): one phase where Naruhodou and Mayoi investigate in the theater looking for clues, while the climaxes are to be found in the trial scenes, where all mysteries are solved and the true culprit is revealed. I think the audience has more than a fair chance to solve the case themselves, and personally I’d preferred it too be just a bit more complex, just a bit more shocking, but all well.

I did like the feeling of the stage play. Like I said earlier, things are a lot more interactive here, with the audience and the actors reacting to each other, and it gives a very different kind of vibe off compared to the film (which is of course edited and a ‘past’ performance, as compared to the real-time performance of the stage play). Gyakuten no Spotlight is fun to watch, and as it’s two hours long , that is also definitely something that is necessary, but certainly not something that is easy to achieve. I did have the feeling that sometimes some scenes felt a bit ‘dragging’, which is of course the other side of the same coin: everything is being done real time, so there is no editing or quick cuts to other scenes and stuff. They did do neat stuff you could only do in theater though, like a clever way do present the scenes set in the detention center, or a hilarious way to show ‘video footage’ of the Tonosaman play. One thing I thought weird was that some scenes seemed really unnecessary for the story (for example, the ones with the girl who is infatuated with the prosecutor Mitsurugi). It was like they were there only to prolong the story and to give everyone a role in the play.

In the Takarazuka Revue musical adaptations, the actors would do very convincing recreations of animations from the games. This isn’t done in this stage play, which is a missed chance, though I do understand why. This stage play is fairly natural and everything happens in a dynamic way, but game animations would look very strange in that world. Recreating the game animations worked in the Takarazuka Revue musicals, because they are set in an artificial world. By the way, they do use music from the games in Gyakuten no Spotlight, and there are some nice rearrangements there.

Gyakuten Saiban - Gyakuten no Spotlight is overall an entertaining, and original adaptation of the Ace Attorney series though, which manages to offer a new experience not seen in other adaptations. And I think that original mystery plays are not that common anymore nowadays, so that I think this might also be interesting for people who like mystery fiction in general, and not just people who like the Ace Attorney series, as you seldom see something like this.

Original Japanese title(s): 『逆転裁判　逆転のスポットライト』

Turnabout Time Traveler

「検事として犯罪と戦っていくのか、弁護士として人を助けていくのか」　

『逆転検事２』

"Will you punish crime as a prosecutor, or save people as a defense attorney?"

"Turnabout Prosecutor 2"

Once more, with feeling!

In 2011, I wrote a review of the Takarazuka Revue’s take on the Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) videogame franchise. The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female revue specializing in musicals with an almost fairy-tale like presentation, and their version of the mystery videogame series was not perfect, though that was mostly because the original plot had been simplified a lot. The random dancing and singing was weird, but not bad at all actually. In 2013, the Takarazuka Revue did their third adaptation of the game series. Gyakuten Saiban 3  - Kenji Miles Edgeworth (“Turnabout Trial 3 - Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth”) stars the prodigy prosecutor Miles Edgeworth in a journey to find a new way in life after his defeat by the hands of Phoenix Wright, the protagonist of the previous two musicals. He comes across his childhood friend Larry Butz at the airport, who convinces him to fly back home to California. The two step on the plane, but mysterious powers send Edgeworth and Larry back in the past. There they come across Edgeworth’s father Gregory, to whom Edgeworth always looked up to. His father was a defense attorney and it was his father's murder during his childhood that led Edgeworth down the path of the prosecutor. But the Gregory Edgeworth they see in the past, is not the same Edgeworth had in his memories: Gregory Edgeworth was a defense attorney who tampered with evidence, and did anything to get a Not Guilty verdict. Now he’s doing the same in a case where a musician is the defendant in a murder case, and his son is determined to stop his own father from making a mockery of the law, even if it means he has to oppose him in court.

Seriously, how many blogs on mystery fiction will ever get to write about musicals…

As with the previous Takarazuka adaptations, Gyakuten Saiban 3 - Kenji Miles Edgeworth uses the localized names of the characters. This is because Takarazuka musicals aren’t set in the “real world” but in a fantasy-like world where anything can happen. Because of that, they decided not to use the Japanese names, but the English names to give the whole musical an extra touch of “otherworldliness”. The musical is very loosely based on the 2012 videogame Gyakuten Kenji 2 (‘Turnabout Prosecutor 2’), which used a mystery plot to explore the character of Mitsurugi (Edgeworth) and his bond with his father. The story of the musical in particular takes some very vague cues from the third episode included in the game, but you really need to do your best to recognize it, and you might as well consider it an original story.

Overall, it’s a fairly decent mystery story. Which is sometimes interrupted by singing and dancing. It’s too bad I have to say that the singing and dancing isn’t actually related to the mystery plot. It’s a missed chance, because it;d give an extra dimension to the fact the play is a musical in the first place, but now the story just gets interrupted once in a while with music. And I guess that the usual Takarazuka Revue public wants that, but I do wish there was a bit more synergy. By the way, do not underestimate the immense popularity of the Takarazuka Revue. Some might think “Ha! An all-female musical revue?!”, but they are really popular in Japan, with many of the actresses also having a good acting career after they leave the troupe. But that also means a lot of their musicals follow a certain formula, and that also holds for Gyakuten Saiban 3 - Kenji Miles Edgeworth. Obviously, this story also features a lot more emphasis on the drama of the story.

I had kinda forgotten about this, because it’s been a while since I saw the first musical, but they do a pretty good job at translating a videogame mystery game to a play that is done in real-time. There’s some clever use of a screen to show off evidence, and while the mystery itself is not very complex, you usually get just enough time to form some idea for yourself, before they show you the answer. The format of the Ace Attorney games also lends itself very well for a play that is done real-time, because the story does not build towards one big denouement at the end. Like with Columbo, smaller mysteries and contradictions are solved on at a time, which all add up to one bigger story.  Things never get too big for the viewer, which is good. Each format obviously has its own strengths and weaknesses, and I think that this works very well for a theater form.

And fans of the games, they might be happy to hear that the play has the familiar cues, like music taken from the game. The actors are also very good at recreating the animations from the game, and portray the characters really well. Some of them are basically frame-for-frame recreations. For people who have played the games, this is an extra, while I think that for people who don’t know the games, these ‘game-like movements’ add a bit to the surreal world.

If you can get past the time-traveling plot,  Gyakuten Saiban 3 - Kenji Miles Edgeworth is a pretty interesting take on the franchise. It’s definitely not meant as a straight-up adaptation of the series, but a crossover between the games and the Takarazuka Revue’s home style and I think it does a fairly good job at it. The first musical was, despite the changes, still a recognizable adaptation of one of the episodes from the game, while this third musical is, considering everything, basically an all-original story, which might make it a bit more exciting to watch, as you don’t know what to expect.

Original Japanese title(s): 『逆転裁判3 検事マイルズ・エッジワース』

Author! Author!

"All the world's a stage"

"As you like it"

No, I don't have an Ayatsuji Yukito quotum for this month. Really. Next week the new Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney will be released, so expect something on that when I've finished that, but before that, I promise I'll post some non-Ayatsuji related reviews. Heck, They'll even be about non-Japanese novels! One of them, about poisoned chocolates...

But first, to show it's over with Ayatsuji for this month, we'll kill him off, in Ayatsuji Yukito Satsujin Jiken - Arujitachi no Yakata ("The Ayatsuji Yukito Murder Case - The House of the Owners"). Nakamura Seiji is a famous architect, who always placed secret hallways and hidden doors in his creations. For some reason, his creations also seem to attract death, as his houses have been the setting for many murder cases. One day, the owners of Nakamura's Decagon House, the Labyrinth House, the Clock House and the Black Cat House, who are all referred to by their house, gather in the Mirage House. It is said that a stack of gold is hidden somewhere in the mansion, probably in one of secret rooms Nakamura designed, and the four men hope to find the treasure by solving a mysterious code. Black Cat House however manages to solve the code before the other three do, and he sneaks into the secret treasure room alone. The other people manage to solve the code themselves not long afterwards, but when they open the secret room, they find the murdered Black Cat House inside!

Such goes a mystery play Mystery Night organized together with famous writer Ayatsuji Yukito (writer of the series about Nakamura Seiji's houses). Atsumi Reika, the editor in charge of Ayatsuji Yukito, is attending the play, but it turns out that the actor playing Black Cat House was really murdered during the performance. The only people who could have commited the murder were the actors on stage and the people in the wings of the stage, during the times the lights were out for scene changes. Morishita, the stage director, hopes that Ayatsuji Yukito will solve the case, as he's a famous detective writer, but then Ayatsuji himself is found as a corpse!

Well, of course Ayatsuji Yukito isn't really dead (or I have been mailing with a dead man this week). A bit confusing, but The Ayatsuji Yukito Murder Case - The House of the Owners is the novelization of a stage play, about a murder commited during a stage play. And it wasn't a normal stage play either. For it was organized by Mystery Night, a murder play group which has been around for 26 years. As far as I know, the basic set-up is the same every time: a murder play is performed in front of the public, after which the public have a chance to question the suspects. At the end of the night, guests hand in sheets with their deductions / who they think the murderer is. Gather enough points and your name will be remembered as a great detective forever (or something like that). This particular 'crossover' was held in the summer of 2012, as it was the 25th anniversary since their debut for both Ayatsuji Yukito and Mystery Night,

The book contains a novelization of the murder play, written by Amane Ryou, as well as a report on how the play went and some interviews with the actors and Ayatsuji Yukito himself. For this review, I'll only look at the novelization of the play. The rest is probably quite interesting if you attended the play yourself, but a report on how the project was organized just isn't that captivating if you weren't there. I have to note that the novelization is very short, with the novelization about as long as the rest of the book (300 pages in total).

The setting of an actual murder happening during a murder play isn't new, of course. I remember an early Kindachi Shounen no Jikenbo story for example, as well as a very recent Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney stage play. And if we go further and go to murders committed during filming of movies / TV shows and such, we could probably fill a very interesting post. But not this time. But on topic: the novelization of Ayatsuji Yukito Satsujin Jiken is surprisingly fun, but it does show to an extent that sometimes, tricks just seem better suited for certain media over others.

The whole story about how the actor of Black Cat House was murdered in a locked room on stage, and the consequent Ayatsuji Yukito murder is definitely fun to read. The setting, a murder play in the theater, is used to its fullest and the original writers obviously wrote this keeping in mind the public would walk around the set looking for clues The main trick, while not particularly original, does really fit the stage. As such, this is quite a good example of a fair play mystery play.

But on the other hand, some might think the novelization of the stage play is less succesful, because you can't see it performed in front of your eyes or walk around the set. While I didn't had any problems with the main trick, I have seen several reviews of the book by people who said they had troubles visualizing the trick, which might betray its origins as a stage play. The novelization by award-winning Amane Ryou is also a bit... bland, I have to admit. I don't know how much he added to the original stage play (probably mostly Reika as the reader-proxy), but while adequate, the novelization does not impress as a "nove.".

For fans of Ayatsuji Yukitos novels, there's a lot to be found here: the play-within-the-play is presented as a side-story of Ayatsuji's Yakata series, complete with a Nakamura Seiji mansion. Heck, the title Mirage House was actually one of the proposed titles of Ningyoukan no Satsujin. But the most surprising part is of course Ayatsuji's own demise in the story. As he notes himself, one could consider it retribution for having killed so many people in his books. It's a bit surreal to see him in this role, but funny.

But I admit that this novelization is a hard sale for people who don't particularly like Ayatsuji Yukito. The story works better as a stage play than a novel, I admit, and the allure of this project is mostly derived from having Ayatsuji killed... so if you're nto a big fan of him, you probably won't enjoy this book. The novelization is also very short, and the rest of the book is only interesting if you want to read some interviews and a field report on how the original stage play went.

Original Japanese title(s): 綾辻行人（編集）、天祢涼（ノベライズ）　『綾辻行人殺人事件　主たちの館』

One Ahead System

「事件の真相を暴くのは法廷の仕事。私達の仕事はね、推理じゃない。見てきたことを、お金を貰って喋るだけ」

『時給探偵～１７時までの名探偵』

"Finding out the truth is the job of the law. Deductions, that's not our job. We just talk about what we saw for money"

"Detective Paid By The Hour ~A Great Detective Until 17:00"

And another Short Shorts, that limbo-like place where I write about detective fiction-related things that couldn't fill a proper post on their own. So I just stick them together to make it seem less awkward. Or is forcefully putting unrelated items together more awkward?

Today's topics: a short story by Yokomizo Seishi, the theater-play-turned-into-an-app Jikyuu Tantei and the PlaySation videogame THE Sound Novel. Like I said, they are pretty much unrelated. Heck, I don't even bother to write connecting sentences/bridges between the different parts.

Jokai ("Female Monster") is a Kindaichi Kousuke short story by Yokomizo Seishi, collected in Akuma no Koutansai ("The Devil's Christmas"). Normally, I would do a review of the complete collection, but it only consists of three stories and the other two stories (Akuma no Koutansai and Kiri no Sansou) are rewritten versions of stories I have reviewed in the past already (in The Return of Kindaichi Kousuke; Kiri no Sansou was originally Kiri no Bessou). As those two stories weren't very interesting, I decided it wasn't worth the time and effort to see if the rewritten versions were any better. So back to Jokai. After the events in Yoru Aruku and Yatsu Haka Mura, Kindaichi Kousuke decides to take a little break together with his writer friend Yokomizo Seishi (also the narrator of the story). They arrive at a little town, where the two see how a strange monk steals away the skull of a buried man. The man turns out to be the dead husband of Nijoko, the owner of a bar in Ginza and also the woman whom Kindaichi Kousuke is harboring romantic feelings for. Wanting to help his love, Kindaichi starts investigating the strange theft. But let's be honest, it is not hard to guess how this story will develop, considering the title of female monster and the fact that the detective is in love with the widow. There is nothing surprising to be found in this story (except maybe for the fact that Kindaichi actually harbors feelings for someone else than that girl from Gokumontou). This story is thus another of many, many disappointing Kindaichi Kousuke short stories.

Jikyuu Tantei ~17 Ji Made no Meitantei ("Detective Paid By the Hour ~  A Great Detective Until 17:00") was originally a small-scale comedy play by the Suzuki-ku Theater Group. I haven't seen it live, but Suzuki-ku did something awesome with the play: they made a free Itunes app of the play, allowing people to read the script accompanied by photos and music of the play itself. In short, they made a sound novel of their own play. I have to admit that the idea itself is much more brilliant than the play itself, though it is entertaining if you have some free time. It seems that there are two Jikyu Tantei plays (the other with the subtitle Kieta Tantei Joshu / The Lost Detective Assistant), but that play has no app.

The protagonist Karasawagi Kokogorou is a private detective, assisted by the young Komakomai Tomato. An usual day for them consists of looking for lost pets and such (even though that is hampered by Tomato's allergy for animals) and as they are not particularly succesful detectives, they have trouble keeping up with their rent payments. One day, Kokogorou discovers a corpse when he enters his office. A corpse with a knife stuck in his head. Very probably murder. What's a body doing in his office? Normal people would panic, but as Kokogorou is a financial pinch, he delays reporting the body to the police, hoping that someone will come to him with a request for an investigation into this body. Two little problems: people from the apartment building keep coming in and out of office. Two: Tomato only works until five, so they have to receive a request and solve the case by then.

Jikyuu Tantei is a really light-hearted slapstick comedy, with some really weird characters running on and off the stage. It has some funny scenes and I was quite surprised to see that there was actually a bit of clueing and an actual denouement scene in the play, though the investigation into the mysteriously dumped corpse is definitely not the real driving force behind the story developments. I doubt I would have gone to the play had I even known about it, but the idea of turning these plays into sound novel apps is just awesome. There is also a short digest recording of the play available.

And having gone in a sound novel mood, I tried out THE Sound Novel for the PlayStation. Gamers who don't know Japanese might not know about D3's THE SIMPLE series: a budget game series published by D3, that basically copies popular game themes. SIMPLE titles include generic games like THE Mahjong and THE Chess, but also 'copies' of more popular games like THE My Taxi (of Crazy Taxi). There are also some surprisingly good games that have gone on to spawn their own series, like THE Oneechanbara (bikini-clad zombie slaying game) and THE Chikyuu Boueigun (apocalyptic monster-swarm shooter) (especially the latter was an awesome game).

THE Sound Novel　(volume 31 of THE SIMPLE series) actually has a proper title, Kuraki Mori no Hate ni ("Beyond the Dark Forest"), but that title is only seen during the opening credits. The story starts with Takahashi Seiichi, a young man on his way to the Genjou mansion to pick up his not-girlfriend-so-why-did-she-ask-me-friend Yui, who works there as a private tutor. On his way, Seiichi picks up some other people on their way to the mansion. When they finally arrive at the mansion, Yui comes out of the house, hoping to leave with Seiichi when a stray bullet fired by a maid, meant for the rats, hits the tire of Seiichi's car, forcing Seiichi and Yui to stay one night extra in the mansion, which has some strange inhabitants. The hellish stay at the Genjou mansion doesn't really start until that Seiichi's car is blown up though...

THE Sound Novel is basically a 'copy' of Chunsoft's sound novels and most specifically, Kamaitachi no Yoru. Graphically, this is very clear from the use of blue (male) and red (female) silhouettes in the background images, but also the font used is eerily similar to Chunsoft's games. From a game-design point of view, it mirrors the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-esque story-telling, with choices made by the player having profound influence on how the story develops. There are about ten different endings in THE Sound Novel, most of them branched storylines that end up as bad endings, which is a bit few, but considering that this is a budget title, acceptable. The problem is that the game does not include a flowchart (the one thing they didn't copy from Kamaitachi no Yoru!), which makes it very frustrating and difficult to see how the player-choices influence the story developments. I first got the very first bad ending possible in the game, but I had really no idea which choice I made earlier got me into this path. For these games, a flowchart is simply a must, as there are just too many nodes to keep in my head.

The story is also very standard, I mean, a boy and a girl locked inside a Western mansion where stuff happens? So the game is not getting points for originality, but then again, that is seldom the case with THE SIMPLE games. As a 'cheap copy' I would say that THE Sound Novel works relatively well. There is a proper mystery plot here going on and while not mind-blowing, I would say that the story is written nicely and includes at least one (and maybe two) tricks that I really found interesting. It was a bit disappointing though that the player, unlike in Kamaitachi no Yoru, doesn't have to deduce much himself. As long as you make the right choices and get into the right storyline branch, Seiichi will solve the case for you. Which takes away part of the fun.

The graphics and the writing managed to evoke the horror-like closed circle atmosphere of the mansion fantastically, but the game is hampered by the fact that it has very few characters (one of them almost a carbon copy of a Kamaitachi no Yoru character) and that there is almost no music present during the game. Especially the latter is very disappointing. There were maybe three or four music tracks in the whole game, only used at select scenes, but total silence for the rest of the game (save some 'incident' sounds like screams). Sound novels works so well because there is music, so this was a really weird design choice. I mean, would Kamaitachi no Yoru have been as scary without music like Gishinanki?

Yes, the only reason I would want a PlayStation Vita at the moment, is the new Kamaitachi no Yoru.

Original Japanese title(s):　横溝正史　「女怪」 / 劇団東京都鈴木区　『時給探偵～１７時までの名探偵』 / 『ＴＨＥサウンドノベル』