Little Wing

「世の中甘くみてるなら安心だ。どこにも光がないと絶望してるより」

『麒麟の翼』

 "I'm relieved you can still look lightly at the harshness of society. It's better than only feel despair without any hope of light"

"The Wings of the Kirin"

As always using this first paragraph to say something random: I had played Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon only once, when it was first released and remembered it as the game where you had to solve a crate pushing puzzle every two minutes. But thinking I might have just made it seem more horrible in my memory, I played the game again recently. But it turns out Broken Sword 3 was indeed riddled with crate puzzles. Sigh. But now back to today's topic.

Kaga Kyouichirou series
Sotsugyou ("Graduation") (1986)
Nemuri no Mori ("Forest of Sleep") (1989)
Dochiraka ga Kanojo wo Koroshita ("One of the Two Killed Her") (1996)
Akui ("Malice") (1996)
Watashi ga Kare wo Koroshita ("I Killed Him") (1999)
Uso wo Mou Hitotsu Dake ("One More Lie") (2000)
Akai Yubi ("Red Fingers")  (2006)
Shinzanmono ("Newcomer") (2009)
Kirin no Tsubasa ("The Wings of the Kirin") (2011)
Inori no Maku ga Oriru Toki ("When the Curtains of Hope Come Down") (2013)

It is said that Nihonbashi is where all roads start in Japan, being the starting point of the Edo five routes. To Aoyagi Takeaki, Nihonbashi Bridge meant the ending point of his life. Aoyagi was stabbed in a underpass near the bridge, but for some reason walked, staggered all the way to the bridge, without asking for help from anyone, only to pass away in front of the winged Kirin statue on Nihonbashi bridge. Why was he so anxious to get to the Kirin statue? Around the same time, a young man Yajima Fyuki is found holding Aoyagi's belongings, but he is hit by a car during a chase by policemen. How are the two incidents connected? Kaga Kyouichirou from Nihonbashi station sets out once more to find what tragedy lies behind this all in Kirin no Tsubasa ("The Wings of the Kirin").

As you can see above, I've reviewed most of Higashino Keigo's Kaga Kyouichirou series, though it's not just novels; the reviews of the books until 2000's Uso wo Mou Hitotsu Dake are all based on the novels, but I wrote my thoughts on Akai Yubi and Shinzanmono based on their TV adaptations starring Abe Hiroshi as Kaga Kyouichirou. Kirin no Tsubasa (2012) is the motion picture set in the same series, with the same actors / production team behind it.

As a mystery film, Kirin no Tsubasa leaves a lot to be desired for. Like Shinzanmono and Akai Yubi, most of the film you'll be seeing scenes of how those left behind (Aoyagi's family and Yajima's girlfriend) are coping with their losses and how the police investigation forces them to rethink what a family is. Kaga is always there, doing his work, but he serves more like a bridge between these more emotional scenes. This was admittedly also the case with Shinzanmono and Akai Yubi, but they worked in their own, specific ways: Shinzanmono was a TV show, so you had a conclusion of some sorts every episode (every episode a small mystery was solved), while Akai Yubi was an inverted detective, where you know the family in focus was actually involved with the crime, so you had a sense of suspense watching how the family stuck together in an attempt to deceive Kaga. With Kirin no Tsubasa, you're just watching and waiting for something to happen. And you will have to wait for a long, long time for anything to happen (but crying and yelling).

And then the production team suddenly remembered this is a mystery film and they have a dead guy in their story. In the last thirty, forty minutes of the film, the viewer is suddenly presented with a lot of information and developments which kinda come out of nowhere, without proper foreshadowing and hinting. And before you know it, the case is solved.

I was stumped.

The last half of the film basically said,  "A large part of the first part of this two hour film you're watching, well, you can forget about that. That one character we paid so much attention to? Forget her. We will too. Oh, you need clues? Well, we kinda forget them in the first half, so we'll show them to you now, right before we use them to progress in the story. That way, you can't say there were no hints!". Storylines pop up from nowhere, and a lot of the parallel storytelling and linking up to the Winged Kirin statue disappear. As if you're watching two different films.

Kirin no Tsubasa in the end is more of a character study than a proper mystery film, and while Higashino Keigo's works often walk along a vague line of mystery/character drama, I can't help but feel that either he, or the film production committee went overboard with the human drama stuff. Of course better for the general public and the Shinzanmono, Akai Yubi and Kirin no Tsubasa productions might indeed purposedly focus more on human drama, but even within this set Kirin no Tsubasa feels off.

But this might be said of the Kaga Kyouichirou series in general. The earlier novels like Sotsguyou are classic puzzle plots, and Dochiraka ga Kanojo wo Koroshita and Watashi ga Kare wo Koroshita are fun puzzle experiments due to those stories not having a proper solution (i.e. the hints are there and it is possible to deduce the murderer, but names are not mentioned in the text itself), but the last few entries in the series are lighter on mystery and heavier on drama. Though that might be because I only saw the adaptations.

Shinzanmono had a whole season to flesh out the city of Ningyouchou as a setting and did that wonderfully; Kirin no Tsubasa had only two hours to do the same and it didn't work out that well. Nihonbashi bridge does form an excellent starting point of the film, and it is wonderful how the story keeps leading us back to this starting point of all roads, but even though the rest of Nihonbashi is also important to the story, there is just too little time to really present it as a believable setting; they're just points on a map. A shame, because I thought setting was one of the things Shinzanmono did really well.

I haven't read the original novel, so I don't know how faithful the Kirin no Tsubasa film is to the original, but it does not work as a mystery film. It just doesn't. It drags on, it offers little payback and the things that made Shinzanmono work as a human drama - mystery film hybrid, are precisely the elements that are not present in this production.

Original Japanese title(s): 東野圭吾　（原）　『麒麟の翼』

Paging the Crime Doctor

Primum non nocere 

Not sure whether I was influenced subliminally or not by the subject of this review, but I have been playing the classic game Theme Hospital lately. Many, many moons I played the game, but never finished it. And now., many years later.. it's still a fun game. I play a lot of games, but I have never really gotten into strategy/management games... except for this game, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. Maybe I should read a detective featuring a rollercoaster...

A year ago, I reviewed Edward D. Hoch's Diagnosis: Impossible, the short story collection featuring Dr. Sam Hawthorne solving the most incredible impossible crimes. Well, to be exact, it was the Japanese version of that collection, which added an extra Hoch story. Also, there have only been two Sam Hawthorne collections published in English (I have been told a third is on its way), but the complete Dr. Sam Hawthorne series has been available in Japanese for years. Which is also sitting here in my bookcase. And so we move on to the third Japanese volume, which has the English subtitle of Diagnosis: Murder 3 - Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne. General practictioner Dr. Sam Hawthorne has been living in the small New England town of Northmont for a long time now, which has proven to be a great home to him, despite a rather big part of the population consisting of mastercriminals who specialize in impossible crimes and a declining population rate because of said crimes (murders). But a town is just a part of a greater country, and thus we see nationwide socio-economical changes like Great Depression and the Prohibition form the background of this set of Dr. Sam's adventures.

This is either a hard to describe short story collection, or a very easy one.. It's basically the same as the first collection. And the second. One might have noted that this review is about the third collection. Where's the review of the second one? Well, I had skipped writing one, because I couldn't think of anything to add to my review of the first collection! I could have reposted that review, just swapping the titles. And to be honest, I could have done the same for this third collection...

Which probably makes it sound like Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a boring set of stories, but again, it isn't! It's a very solid collection of wonderfully constructed impossible crimes, each of them a great example of how to write a mystery short story! The way Hoch manages to present a new impossible crime and flesh out the background setting every time perfectly in just that amount of pages per story is amazing! Many writers would commit an impossible crime to have such a talent.

The 'problem' is that Hoch manages to keep a fairly high standard, every time, always.  The first collection is not much different from the second or the third. They're all good, but it would be difficult to describe the differences between the collections, because there are few. Sure, I could do a short summary of every story, but I once again choose not too, because considering the length of the stories and their set-up, it would be very easy to spoil some of them. But they are good. Of course, not every story is as good as another, but the 'lesser' ones are good stuff. In Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne, I liked The Problem of the Snowbound Cabin (well, snow + impossible crime = you can guess), The Problem of the Invisible Acrobat (acrobat disappearing during act) and The Problem of Hunting Lodge (murder scene without foot prints), but every story is worth reading.

The fact is though that a lot of the stories are actually very similar. Like a Scooby Doo episode, you can guess the following is present. 1) Sam Hawthorne meets a fellow townsman whom we have never met before, but Sam is acquainted with (in same cases a recurring character). Said character is involved in way or another with whatever the title of the story is. 2) Sam is witness to the impossible crime. He usually just happens to be there (often doing his rounds). There is a moment where all witness lose sight of the subject or object of the crime. 3) The trick behind the impossible crime was done in that split moment nobody could have seen anything, be it a switch, or setting off a mechanism. 4) The story ends, and Sam alludes to his next adventure. Most adventures follow this scheme, making it easy to guess what's going on. If you'd just read the stories seperatedly, this might not seem to obvious, but as every collection has about ten stories you read in one go, yeah, this pattern tends to become obvious.

And now I noticed I already said this in my review of the first collection. Aaah. Like I said, the collections, and thus the reviews, are not very different....

Well, there are some minor changes. The background setting of Northmont keeps developing throughout the stories. Minor storylines like Sam's car and his assistent keep popping up, providing a lively world in which all these crimes happen. And while I said all the stories are very much alike (also in their high standard), there are some little surprises here and there, like stories like fake solutions. Which considering the length of the stories, is actually amazing. To do a great impossible crime story, in a believable setting, and a fake solution, all of that in a limited amount of pages...

This Japanese volume also contains a bonus Hoch story, The Nile Cat. It's a short crime story about figuring out the motive for a crime. Short, but good. Not much to tell about without getting into spoilerific territory.

In short, Diagnosis: Impossible 3 - Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne (the English release will probably feature a different title, I guess?) is a great impossible crime short story collection. If you liked previous collections, you're bound to love this one too. If you got bored by the formula though, you won't find anything new here.

Original title(s): Edward D. Hoch 『サム・ホーソーンの事件簿』Ⅲ: 'The Problem of the Hunting Lodge' 「ハンティングロッジの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Body in the Haystack' 「干し草に埋もれた死体の謎」 / 'The Problem of Santa's Lighthouse' 「サンタの灯台の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Graveyard Picnic' 「墓地のピクニックの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Crying Room' 「防音を施した親子室の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Fatal Fireworks'「危険な爆竹の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Unfinished Painting'「描きかけの水彩画の 謎」 / 'The Problem of the Sealed Bottle'「密封された酒びんの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Invisible Acrobat' 「 消えた空中ブランコ乗りの謎」 / 'The Problem of the Curing Barn' 「 真っ暗になった通期熟成所の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Snowbound Cabin' 「雪に閉ざされた山小屋の謎」 / 'The Problem of the Thunder Room' 「窓のない避雷室の謎」 / 'The Nile Cat' 「ナイルの猫」

Three Days to Heaven

思い出はいつもキレイだけど

それだけでおなかがすくわ

「そばかす」　(Judy and Mary)

Memories are always beautiful

But my stomach feels empty with just that

"Freckles" (Judy and Mary)

And because I always use this first paragraph to talk about random topics: Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse Episode 1 was great! Muuuuuch better than the previous two games, and a great, humurous adventure on its own. But now I'll have to wait another two months before the final episode is released.... And talking about stories split up in two volumes...

I had a lot of fun with the game Danganronpa and its sequel Super Danganronpa 2 is probably the best detective game I played this year. The story of a group of students of the Hope Peak's Academy forced to commit the perfect murder and the surviving members trying to find the murderer in classroom trials was incredibly exciting, and this quirky mix of Battle Royale, Gyakuten Saiban and the psychedelic atmosphere proved to be a great hit in Japan, which in turn spawned a mountain of related merchandise and other releases. Among them is the novel Danganronpa / Zero (written by Kodaka Kazutaka), which serves as the prequel to the games. Set in a time when Hope's Peak Academy was just a school for super class students, when people weren't forced to kill each other yet.

Or maybe not. A certain incident has happened within the grounds of Hope's Peak Academy, leading to a very big group of unhappy students, despite the school's council efforts at a cover-up. The situation is looking grim and it seems like a violent storm might take over the school any day. But Otonashi Ryouko has little to do with that. Mostly because she is suffering from severe amnesia, which causes her to forget pretty much anything, including the tension in the academy. The only thing she remembers is her friend, Super Class Neurologist Matsuda, who is treating her. But it seems that even her forgetfulness might not be enough of an excuse, because despite her best efforts at not getting involved, Ryouko seems to be unable to avoid getting in the center of events. What is the incident that caused this, and what has it to do with her lost memories?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. How to talk about Danganronpa / Zero. First of all, forget about reading this before playing Danganronpa. Heck, you might even consider playing Super Danganronpa 2 first. Sure, this is the prequel and set before all of the events in those two games, but it also spoils a lot of the plot twists you're supposed to uncover yourself in those games. Most important of all, despite being a prequel, Danganronpa / Zero will spoil the identity of the big bad of the first game. Furthermore, Danganronpa / Zero is actually quite badly written, so you really need the background information available in the games to even start thinking about enjoying Danganronpa / Zero. Many references and allusions to certain events and characters only make sense if you have played the games, and the world setting as presented in Danganronpa / Zero is very vague, showing just a glimpse. It's basically impossible to get a clear idea of the world of Danganronpa through just this novel, even though it's a pretty important aspect of the story.

One of the problems of the story as it is told, is it lacks any sense of direction. We're introduced to the amnesiac antics of Ryouko, and then stuff just happens to her. A lot of stuff, including murderous attempts at her life and Ryouko being framed for a murder. And Ryouko just flows along with the events. The whole story is seen from a very passive point of view, which is a bit hard to believe considering the seriousness of the events. Sure, Danganronpa always had a bit of a weird atmosphere ("Oh, one of us got killed... the murderer is among us... wanna go on a date? I have a present for ya!"), but Danganronpa / Zero takes a long time to get an interesting point. Add in that Ryouko's narration is a bit... tiresome to get through and you might understand why even though it's a very short story, it's pretty hard to get through.

As a detective novel, it's a bit strange too. The Danganronpa games were basically courtroom dramas in the spirit of the Gyakuten Saiban games; uncovering the murder through debates, finding contradictions and coming up with over the top deductions. The atmosphere might be pop'n psychodelic, but the mysteries are as classic as you can get, with the player/detective slowly getting closer to the truth. Danganronpa / Zero is nothing like that. Stuff just happens, and then the truth is suddenly revealed. And to be very honest, the truth that was revealed wasn't too surprising either, as I suspected that at the end of the first volume (of two), though I have to say that the hints were laid down very neatly.

As a mystery novel, Danganronpa / Zero is a bit disappointing. As a stand-alone novel Danganronpa / Zero is impossible. You really need to have played the first Danganronpa (and preferably Super Danganronpa 2 too) to even want to understand it, and even then it's just a mediocre story. It gives a bit more background information, but nothing groundbreaking. This is really just for the hardcore fans who just need to have more Danganronpa in their life.

Original Japanese title(s): 小高 和剛 『ダンガンロンパ　 / ゼロ』

St. Ellery Slays the Dragon

"I'm sorry, Beau," said Mr. Queen in a gentle voice. "My specialty is murder, not romance."

"The Dragon's Teeth"

And as I was writing this review, bad memories of the ending of Broken Sword 3 were revived in my mind. But yay, Broken Sword 5 will be out tomorrow!

Millionaire Cadmus Cole had spent most of the last 18 years on sea, so Ellery Queen and Beau Rummel were quite surprised to find the illustrious man in the offices of Ellery Queen, Confidential Investigations. Ellery (and specifically him alone) is hired for services to be rendered in the future, but Cadmus refuses to tell him what he'll have to do, saying he'll know when the times comes. After the death of Cadmus, Ellery discovers that he is hired to find the two heirs of his will. One problem though: his appendix has burst, forcing Beau to take up the job under the name of Ellery. The suspicious circumstances of Cadmus Cole's death on sea, and his will which bestows his fortune upon his two nieces, who in turn must live together and never marry, give Beau and Ellery enough trouble to fill the pages of The Dragon's Teeth.

A Queen novel that starts out a bit strange, but manages to get back on trail just in time for the conclusion. First of all, the structure of The Dragon's Teeth is a lot like The Door Between: a woman in distress, a private eye trying to protect and falling in love with her, and Ellery staying most of the story in the background. Sure, Ellery appears more often here, and we know he works together with Beau, but still, these Queen novels with surrogate detective figures are weird. Of course, even in The Roman Hat Mystery Ellery wasn't that prominent present, but Beau in The Dragon's Teeth, and Terry in The Door Between are just characters that seem to be created to attract a new audience who want a more romantically involved and impulsive hero. The book also has a fairly small cast, a trait it shares with The Door Between too.

The first half of the story feels like Yokomizo Seishi's Inugamike no Ichizoku (or chronologically speaking, the other way around). The will that determines the marriage life of its beneficiaries, the tension that exists between the two nieces, the legal trouble and discussion about identities... As if Cadmus Cole, and Inugami Sahei after him, followed a course in making wills that will lead to a lot of trouble, and very possibly murder. Which reminds me, testaments, lawyers and the legal world seem to appear quite often in Queen novels now I think about it.

Ellery appears a bit more often near the end though (after a murder) and the novel becomes a lot more fun because of that. The conclusion, though not as impressive as in his earlier novels, does show elements of the Queen deductions we've all come to love. Like in so many of his novels, the state of certain items and their location is very important, and like I noted in my review of The Roman Hat Mystery, there seems to be fetish for objects in these novels,  as it's always deductions surrounding singular items that take the spotlight in the end. The murderer is also a type of person that seems to appear a lot in Queen novels, so experienced readers might even be able to guess the murderer's identity based on his/her role in the story(but of course, it's more impressive if you can actually build a logical case against said person, rather than just meta-guessing).

The murder happens quite late in the novel, which is a bit of a shame. I admit there's a lot going on to satisfy the reader for the moment, but I really liked the way all of his earlier novels featured murder quite quickly (see my reviews of the nationality novels starting with The Roman Hat Mystery). Which reminds me, I have given up on writing a full review of Queen's The Scarlet Letters, but that had the same problem: a very, very late murder and unlike The Dragon's Teeth where the hints pointing to the murderer were spread across the story, most of the important clues of The Scarlet Letters (including a dying message) appeared after the murder, as if they had forgotten to write them. (Add in the problem of Ellery and Nikki babysitting a couple in marital trouble for 80% of the book and you'll see why I hesitated with writing a full review on The Scarlet Letters. This paragraph is the review).

Location-wise, The Dragon's Teeth shows a bit of Queen's past books. From the millionaire living on sea (like in The Egyptian Cross Mystery), the mansion just outside of New York City (The Hamlet from the Drury Lane novels, Hollywood (from The Devil to Pay and The Four of Hearts) to good old New York City (most of Queen's novels), it's a mishmash of familiar locales. I am personally more a fan of the confined settings like the theater, department store and hospital, but ti's hard to deny the 'Queenesque' quality of the elements found in The Dragon's Teeth.

The Dragon's Teeth was definitely as bad as I had first thought. It's not a masterpiece, and the premise of a fake Ellery and the late murder are not that alluring, but the ending is what you'd expect from a Queen novel.

The Cosmic Turnabout

Wishing on a dream that seems far off

Hoping it will come today.

Into the starlit night,

Foolish dreamers turn their gaze,

Waiting on a shooting star

"Lunar Silver Star Story"

Oh, I had forgotten to mention it, this month will probably consist of reviews of mostly Western detective fiction, because of coincidence and the prolonged procrastination of writing reviews.

I had already heard James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars, the first novel in the Giant series, described as a science fiction mystery novel, but still, I was quite surprised when I discovered it had ranked in the Tozai Mystery Best 100, beating titles like The Egyptian Cross Mystery and Le Mystère de la chambre jaune. So why not, I thought when I saw the book going for almost nothing at a second hand bookstore. It's the actually-not-that-far-off-anymore year of 2027: man has conquered the moon. Bases are built all over the surface and commercial flights are available. But the moon still has a big surprise in store for mankind. One day, the corpse of a man dressed in a spacesuit is found on the moon. But nobody on the moon has been reported missing, and with no idea where the unknown corpse dubbed Charlie came from, carbon dating is done on the body and his equipment. Results: the corpse is over 50.000 years old! Physicist Victor Hunt is asked by the United Nations Space Arm to help in figuring out where Charlie comes from and what he was doing on the moon.

Like I noted in my review of Asimov's The Caves of Steel, I have read only one or two science fiction mysteries, and they were always written as fair play mysteries. Like with fantasy mystery fiction, as long you know 'the rules' of the world, you know what's possible, then making a fair play mystery is possible in any kind of background, whether it is a world where witchcraft exists, or a future with humanoid robots (or both). But they were all clearly written as classic mystery novels.

Inherit the Stars on the other hand is first of all a hard science fiction novel, and secondly a mystery novel. The two themes are strongly intertwined, but Inherit the Stars with its grand scale investigation into the history of Charlie, with specialists from all fields of science, from mathematicians to linguisticians and biologists, with theories about disappearing species and space travelling is relatively heavy. Don't expect a simple, personal murder or an alibi trick in Inherit the Stars, Charlie's mystery serves to talk about human kind and its future.

But that doesn't make the mystery of Charlie less captivating. Now that I think about it, there are alibi tricks in Inherit the Stars, as how can Charlie and his space suit have existed in a time when humans weren't fully evolved yet? The solution to it all is quite memorable too, especially considering the scale of it all, but once again it feels closer towards science fiction than a fair play mystery (though it is definitely able to arrive at the solution based on the hints). I guess that The Caves of Steel did the same, but Inherit the Stars goes a bit deeper into science fiction fields than The Caves of Steel, I think.

Inherit the Stars isn't exactly my kind of detective novel, but the mystery of 50.000 year old Charlie is indeed very interesting, and the solution, while a bit 'different' from what you'd expect, makes quite the impression.

The Secret Adversary

"Ik ben alleen bang dat een dermate interessant geval zich in de practijk niet voor zal doen. Belangrijke misdaden, wèrkelijk intelligent bedachte en uitgevoerde moorden, worden hoe langer hoe zeldzamer. Het is alsof de mensen niet meer durven, bang zijn voor de moderne, verfijnde hulpmiddelen van de politie."

"Een tip van Brissac"

"But I am afraid such interesting cases don't exist in reality. Important murders, keenly thought-out and executed murders are becoming rarer by the minute. It is like people don't have the guts anymore, scared for the modern, sophisticated instruments of the police."

"A Tip from Brissac" 

And because this is a post on a fairly unknown Dutch mystery novel on a site mostly about Japanese mystery fiction, I once again predict a horrible view count!

I was made aware of Dutch author/actor Jan Apon's detective novels about half a year ago (from a Japanese source!), but his books seldom seem to pop up in second hand stores, so it took a while before I finally got my hands on one of them. Een tip from Brissac ("A Tip from Brissac", 1940) was the last book in Apon's Raoul Bertin series and starts by introducing us to André Babelay, wealthy and influential banker. We follow him on this typical day, getting acquainted with his lover, learning about his wife's adultery, see him sadistically push a company into destruction and finally, we see him die. To be precise, he is killed. The Sûreté's inspector Chadel calls in ex-collegue Raoul Bertin to help him with this case, in which almost everyone seems to have a motive to kill Babelay, and also everyone seems to have a connection to the mysterious moneylender Brissac, who might or might not be involved in the murder.

I wasn't able to find anything about the contents of this novel, so I was not sure what to expect precisely when I opened the book, but it was a surprisingly fun, actually. We have here all the ingredients you'd expect in an orthodox detective novel, and it's overall done very well. After the initial part leading up to the murder, we're treated to an investigation filled with sharp observations and keen deductions about the coming and going of several suspect parties to the crime scene, and the way the name Brissac slowly becomes more prominent as the story continues is great. And while it's not very original, the setting of a rich banker murdered in his own library, a mansion with suspicious servants and guests, people going in and out the mansion, the classic atmosphere is what I enjoyed greatly. Sure, Cor Docter's novels were a bit more realistic (slightly), but I am personally definitely more a fan of the more classic tropes.

Een tip van Brissac has its shares of flaws though. During the denouement for example, Bertin conjures up a series of evidence of which I am pretty sure I wasn't informed of until then. But then again, it was pretty easy to guess who the murderer was because of that one strange, ah yes oh so strange action that person took... The middle part of the book is great though, with the investigation moving at a pleasant pace and new deductions and revelations made once a while to keep the reader hooked. Apon apparently wrote radio dramas after World War II, but Een tip van Brissac, with its many time-stamped scene changes (there are no formal chapters) and fast-paced dialogues might be an early experiment of Apon into that medium.

I also have a strange habit of reading Dutch mystery novels that aren't set in the Netherlands. Van Gulik's Judge Dee and Aafjes' Judge Ooka are set in different eras in the Far East. Een Tip van Brissac (and I assume the rest of the series) is set in France. Cor Docter's novels seem the expection really, though it 's probably more because of my eclectic reading than a common trope in Dutch mystery fiction.

And the fact that Raoul Bertin is an ex-policeman is interesting though. Detectives in Dutch mystery fiction are moften official police detectives (or judges...), and while the term amateur detective might not be correct, the fact Bertin has no official authority concerning the investigation is something that struck me as odd.

All in all a little surprise. Een tip van Brissac isn't perfect, but it was definitely a fun Dutch mystery to read, and definitely the most classic in form of the books I've read up until now (admittedly, not very much though). Let's hope I'll be able to find some more of Apon's books!

Original Dutch title(s):  Jan Apon, Een tip van Brissac

The Gold Solution

The Real Folk Blues

本当の喜びを知りたいだけ

光るものの全てが黄金とは限らない

The Real Folk Blues (山根麻衣)

The Real Folk Blues

I just want to know real happiness

Not all that glitters is gold

"The Real Folk Blues" (Yamane Mai)

The new Detective Conan film looks awesome! At least, the story seems, like Countdown to Heaven and The Raven Chaser before it, somewhat related to the bigger storyline, so excited! Now if only I can get myself in Japan around April...

Edogawa Rampo's Ougon Kamen ("The Golden Mask") is named after a mysterious figure wearing the titular item, a golden mask with only a set of slit eyes and a giant smile as its face. The Golden Mask has been responsible for the most audicious thefts in recent memory and is also considered the main suspect for several murders. The police has no idea of how to stop the illustrious thief, and the matter seems to turn into an international affair when the Golden Mask threatens to rob the French ambassador. But celebrated detective Akechi Kogorou is also involved and he claims he knows who the mysterious figure is, just based on the discovery of a note with the initials A.L.

Okay, I'll just spoil it now: it is Arsene Lupin. Yes, it was the famous French gentleman thief who had been making trouble in Tokyo wearing a golden mask. Of course, most people who read Ougon Kamen now, read it because they know Arsene Lupin appears in it, so it's not that big a spoiler.

Maurice LeBlanc famously pitted a certain consulting detective against his Arsene Lupin; Edogawa Rampo in turn pitted Lupin against his Akechi Kogorou. LeBlanc was forced to chance the name of this consulting detective to something less dangerous in the courtroom, but with the more lax copyright rules at the time (and most likely also the smaller market and people simply not knowing of the book), Lupin has always stayed Lupin in Ougon Kamen (though TV adaptations wisely didn't use his name).

Anyway, the basic idea shouldn't be hard to guess. Over the course of the novel, Akechi and Lupin have several skirmishes, each party trying to outsmart the other. As with practically all of Rampo's serialized novels, he seems to improvise most of the time, and what you get is a chaotic series of entertaining confrontations between the two. Nothing too deep, but simply fun to read. Especially one part in the middle, which takes place during a party styled after Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of Red Death, is great stuff, as well as a climax that has elements of both the Lupin and Akechi series.

Ougon Kamen was written in 1930-1931, so it is not hard to see how the fight between Arsene Lupin and Akechi Kogorou seemed to have inspired the creation of the Fiend with Twenty Faces (1936), Rampo's own thief-and-master-in-disguises. In fact, the Lupin in Ougon Kamen has some character elements that seem more like the Fiend, than the actual Lupin. Sure, Ougon Kamen's Lupin is still very popular among women, but he is also a bit more ruthless, a bit more willing to shed blood than the real Lupin. Akechi says this might be because Lupin doesn't consider Asians worthy of the same courtesy he shows his own countrymen, but still, this is a weird Lupin. But it's not hard to guess why: Akechi Kogorou is the protagonist, so Lupin has to appear as an actual villain for you to root for Akechi (the same happened to that consulting detective in LeBlanc's crossovers...). In the end we're left with a Lupin who is mostly like Lupin, but also a Lupin who obviously serves as a prototype for the Fiend. I think that Akechi Kogorou himself commented that the Lupin in Ougon Kamen was weird in Nishimura Kyoutarou's Meitantei ga Oosugiru (the legal nightmare crossover with Ellery Queen, Hercule Poirot, Maigret and Akechi Kogorou vs. the Fiend with the Twenty Faces and Arsene Lupin).
  
Ougon Kamen is like most of Rampo's serialized novels a bit of a chaotic mess, but the kind of mess that is fun, amusing and bound to leave a smile on your face. It's written for the masses, which is not a bad thing per se, and the childish ideas might not be for everyone, but I know I was amused from start to finish.

Original Japanese title(s): 江戸川乱歩　『黄金仮面』

Friend of a Friend (FOAF)

永遠なんて言葉は苦しくて

明日を謳うことが出来ないよ

静かに眠れるその日が来たのなら

遠い過去ともサヨナラ出来る…でしょう?

「Phantom」 (村田あゆみ)

The word forever is too painful

I can't even talk about tomorrow

But when the day I can sleep silently comes

I will also be able to say goodbye to the faraway past.... right?

"Phantom" (Murata Ayumi)

And as I was writing this post, I wondered, what are some of the better known urban legends in mystery fiction? I don't mean urban legends in mystery fiction, but urban legends about novels / writers et cetera. I have to be honest and I can't think of any at the moment, though I am pretty sure they exists... (and if I am told one now, I'd probably go "oh yeah, I heard that one...")

I heard this from a friend of a friend... you know the Metropolitan Police Department? That building in Tokyo? Well, I was told that there is a secret fifth basement floor. Oh you have heard about that? So you know about the rumors, about dead people having appeared there, and about the voices coming from the rooms? But I bet ya you hadn't heard that on the fifth basement floor, in the Police Historical Archives room, there is a secret police unit working! Well, working isn't the right word, maybe. I heard the higher-ups assigned two policemen to the Police Historical Archives, who have no idea about the truth behind their unit, but they are assigned to cases that seem to be connected to urban legends, supernatural powers and all that is occult. What, there is no thing as the occult? Maybe you're right. Maybe there's a logical explanation for the strange cases in Hayarigami Keishichou Kaii Jiken File ("Hayarigami - MPD's Occult Case Files").

Hayarigami is a sound novel game series, like Kamaitachi no Yoru and 428. For those not familiar with the concept; the story is presented to the player through plain text (accompanied with background images and music), and the player is occasionally forced to make choices, that influence the flow of the story. In short, choose-your-own-adventure books, but in game form. In Hayarigami, you take the role of Lieutenant Kazami of the Police Historical Archives, making the correct decisions in order to unreveal the truth behind the seemingly occult cases. Make the wrong decisions, and the case might go unsolved forever. There are three Hayarigami games, with the first being available on PS2, PSP, DS and even iOS. 

The interesting thing to Hayarigami is that you have two distinct ways of tackling the case; scientific or supernatural. As every case is connected to urban legends and other occult phenomena, one can choose to actually believe in the supernatural (i.e. make choices that show you're open to supernatural explanations), and the case will unfold in a way that poses that occult powers were responsible for the incident. Choose the scientific route, and the case will unfold in a way that poses a rational explanation to the events. And so every story basically gives you two solutions, one that fits a classic, rational detective model, one that fits ghost stories. But they're actually both interesting to go through, and it actually pays to go through both the scientific and supernatural routes, because the routes complement each other, each filling in the little gaps of the other route.

The cases are fun, though a bit short. They all deal with (Japanese) urban legends like Kokkuri-san and cursed chain mails and through the dialogues and such, you actually learn a lot not just about their contents, but also about urban legends as a field in folklore and social studies. I've already mentioned in the reviews of Norizuki Rintarou's Toshi Densetsu Puzzle and Kyougoku Natsuhiko's Hyakki Yakou series (amongst others), I'd always had an interest in urban legends, but playing Hayarigami has really made more interested in the material, and I have found myself going through Brunvand's books on the topic for example.

Of course, myths/(urban) legends and ghost stories have always been a part of mystery fiction, but most of them use and refer to them as simply a background story ("the man was killed in an impossible way, just like in that ghost story I just told you"). Hayarigami (but also Kyougoku's novels on youkai for example) does that too, but also discusses these constructs in the context of folklore and other social studies, how urban legends come to existence, how they evolve and how they are used in a wide variety of ways. It's also why Hayarigami as a game, promoting both a supernatural and a scientific mode at the same time, works without feeling too shizophrenic or contradictory: for a supernatural object, can be used in a rational way. It shows that communication, thoughts and memes can be used in mystery fiction, which is something I'd like to see much more.

As a game, Hayarigami is sadly enough not nearly as long as something like Kamaitachi no Yoru (which has an amazing number of bonus scenarios). Yes, you can basically go through each scenario twice (and there are two bonus scenarios), but it's still a relatively short game. The sound and art direction are top notch though; especially the art is doing a great job in conveying a slightly unsettling atmoshere.

For those interested in (Japanese) urban legends, Hayarigami Keishichou Kaii Jiken File is a great way to start. It is a bit short and might only present a small selection of urban legends, but the way the material is handled is great and bound to pique your interest in the study of urban legends. As mystery fiction, Hayarigami is also fun, providing slightly creepy stories that may or may not have a supernatural tone to them. It all depends on what you choose to believe.

Original Japanese title(s): 『流行り神 PORTABLE　警視庁怪異事件ファイル』

A Friend in Deed

仕組まれた自由に誰もきづかずに

あがいた日々も終わる

この支配からの卒業

戦いからの卒業

『卒業』　尾崎豊

Nobody realizes our freedom is fake

Our days of struggling will end

Graduation from this control

Graduation from the fight

"Graduation" (Ozaki Yutaka)

Hmm, I'll probably write about the last season of Poirot,  but seeing that three of the four posts this month were already about TV/film productions, I think I'll push that post to December. Which is close anyway (though at my current writing tempo, it might become next year...)

Kaga Kyouichirou series
Sotsugyou ("Graduation") (1986)
Nemuri no Mori ("Forest of Sleep") (1989)
Dochiraka ga Kanojo wo Koroshita ("One of the Two Killed Her") (1996)
Akui ("Malice") (1996)
Watashi ga Kare wo Koroshita ("I Killed Him") (1999)
Uso wo Mou Hitotsu Dake ("One More Lie") (2000)
Akai Yubi ("Red Fingers")  (2006)
Shinzanmono ("Newcomer") (2009)
Kirin no Tsubasa ("The Wings of the Kirin") (2011)
Inori no Maku ga Oriru Toki ("When the Curtains of Hope Come Down") (2013)

Higashino Keigo is probably better known internationally for his Detective Galileo series (thanks to the succes of The Devotion of Suspect X), but his longest running series is the Kaga Kyouichirou series, which started with his second novel Sotsugyou - Setsugekka Satsujin Game ("Graduation - The Setsugekka Murder Game"). I have already written about the later entries in the series (see above), where Kaga appears as an extremely competent police detective, so I was kinda surprised that Kaga was still an university student in this novel. Though the title should have tipped me off. Anyway, Kaga Kyouichirou is in his last year of university, and like the rest of his friends thinking about his future. One of his friends, Youko, however, seemingly commits suicide in her apartment,  but a series of curious facts leads the police, and Kaga to suspect it might have been murder. And when another of his friends dies during a tea ceremony game, it becomes clear something evil has been hiding among Kaga's friends.

Considering this series is Higashino's oldest series, it shouldn't be surprising when I tell you that this novel is quite different from more recent entries in the seriesl. The biggest change: Kaga Kyouichirou appears prominently in the story. Most of the later novels are narrated from the point of view of suspects, with Kaga occasionally popping up to ask annoying questions like he was a disciple of Columbo or Furuhata Ninzaburou. Sotsugyou is definitely his novel though, being about his friends. It shows a side of Kaga I had never seen before, which was interesting.

Sotsugyou is also much more an orthodox detective novel than the psychological mystery dramas that later entries seem to be. Dochiraka ga Kanojo wo Koroshita and Watashi ga Kare wo Koroshita are a bit of anomolies in the series (as they are fair play mysteries, but don't tell you who the murderer is), but the rest of the novels seem to focus more on the suspects and the drama that led up to the murder. Sotsugyou however features two seemingly impossible murders (one in a locked apartment room with limited accessibility and another where suicide seems to be the only solution), making it feel much more 'classic'. Indeed, older Higashino Keigo novels seem more like conventional detectives with clear problems (see also his parody series Meitantei Tenkaichi), which is more fun to read in my opinion. Then again, these older works by Higashino sometimes have the trouble of feeling a bit too conventional, as if he's just writing them with a checklist of tropes besides him.

Overall, I have to say that I do feel that Sotsugyou is a bit underwhelming. The solution to the locked room problem is a bit... well, I guess it forebodes his Detective Galileo series and shows Higashino's scientific background, but content, I am not. And the poisoning murder during the tea ceremony (which is where the subtitle Setsugetsuka refers to) is insanely complex. If you have a story where you need four pages of text, and another four pages of diagrams to explain where every cup was during each stage of the tea ceremony, then the story is probably too difficult for its own good. The two problems also feel very disjointed, and it's almost like reading two seperate storylines. It can work for some stories, but not here.

I wouldn't say that Sotsugyou is a bad novel, but it's not particularly memorable either. For those interested in Kaga's history, it has some nice moments, but as a detective novel it feels a bit safe, and not particularly inventive.

Original Japanese title(s): 東野圭吾『卒業　 雪月花殺人ゲーム』

One More Time

「どんなに迷ったって見つけてくれるんでしょう・・・新一は名探偵だからね」

『名探偵コナン　絶海の探偵』

"No matter how lost I get, you'll find me, right? Because you're a great detective"

"Detective Conan - Private Eye in the Distant Sea"

Some might wonder why I haven't been doing my Conan manga reviews anymore. It's not because I'm not reading it anymore. But with volume 80 released a while back, I figured it would be easier to just do a ten volumes summary review post in the near future. But I need to reread some volumes, so that might take a while.

Detective Conan manga & movies:
Part 1: 『平成のホームズ』: The Heisei Holmes (volumes 1 ~ 10)
Part 2: 『奇妙な集まり』: A Strange Gathering (volumes 11~20; The Timebombed Skysraper/The Fourteenth Target)
Part 3: 『心強き名探偵達』: The Brave Detectives (volumes 21~30; The Last Wizard of the Century/Captured in Her Eyes) 
Part 4: 『白い影・・・黒い影・・・』: White Shadow... Black Shadow... (volumes 31~40; Countdown to Heaven/The Phantom of Baker Street)
Part 5: 『満月の夜と黒い宴の罠』: A Full Moon's Night and Trap at a Black Banquet (volumes 41~50; Crossroad in the Ancient Capital/Magician of the Silver Sky/Strategy Above the Depths)
Part 6: 『探偵甲子園』: Detective Koushien (volumes 51~60; Private Eyes' Requiem/Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure)
Part 7: 『よくあるパターン』: A Common Pattern (volumes 61~70; Full Score of Fear/The Raven Chaser/Lost Ship in the Sky)
(You will find the links to the reviews of volume 70, 72~76, 78, and the films Quarter of Silence and The Eleventh Striker in the library)

Unlike last year, I wasn't able to see this year's Detective Conan film in the theater, so I had to wait for the home release of the 17th movie, Detective Conan -Private Eye in the Distant Sea. The film starts with Conan and the gang boarding an Aegis vessel for a tour. The vessel makes a small trip across the sea while the visitors have a look around the gigantic ship and at its state of the art technology. During the sea tour however, the severed arm of a member of the Self Defense Force is discovered, and strange objects placed on the sea route of the Aegis vessel leads the ship's crew, the police and of course Conan to suspect the presence of a spy X on board of the ship. The Aegis is one of the most important weapons in Japan's military line of defense and it would be disastrous for the country to have information stolen. Can Conan figure out who X is before it's too late?

You might guess from the summary, but Private Eye in the Distant Sea is a bit different from most Conan films. Which is probably because the script was penned by Sakurai Takeharu, who is best known for his contributions to the TV drama Aibou (he also happened to have penned the script for the Gyakuten Saiban film). One can definitely feel the influence of police procedural Aibou on Private Eye in the Distant Sea: Conan might have done a series of heroic things in the past, but catching a spy to protect Japan's international relations is a whole different scale from his exploits in the past, and feels a bit strange. The story of the police working together with the Self Defense Force (Japan can't have an 'army' formally), i.e. government organizations working together, is what you'll see in every other Aibou episode, and gives Private Eye in the Distant Sea its own distinct face despite being the seventeenth movie in the series.

It reminds me of the sixth Conan film, The Phantom of Baker Street, which was penned by the late Nozawa Hisashi. That movie might be best remembered for Ninja Jack the Ripper (TM), but it also functioned as a critique on Japanese society, which gave the film a very heavy atmosphere. The atmosphere in Private Eye in the Distant Sea never becomes that heavy though and I liked it better as a Conan film than Baker Street actually.

As a spy-movie, it's okay, I guess. It is pretty easy to figure out who X is, and the film seems more focused on presenting a police procedural (again, like Aibou) and the workings of an Aegis vessel. The film was made with cooperation of the maritime SDF, and that results in a lot of (not very good) promotion shots of a CG-built Aegis, as if you're taking a tour on the Aegis yourself too. But instances where Conan has to be careful in using his satellite phone as the crew is detecting his signals and stuff do make it feel like a real spy thriller and there are actually one or two real surprises hidden in the story. Oh, and like the previous couple of movies, Private Eye in the Distant Sea features guest voice-acting, but Shibasaki Kou is actually an actress, so she did a great job. Then again, nothing can be as bad as the guest voice acting in Quarter of Silence (by a cameraman) and The Eleventh Striker (by professional soccer players). 

I have also seldom laughed this much because of a Conan film, though probably for the wrong reasons (though the fact that Conan has to go the toilet every ten minutes (to make phone calls) was probably meant to evoke laughter). When the film first started, I was kinda worried. Every Conan film starts with a short introduction for those who don't know the basic story, but one could easily they reused everything from previous movies. So I was wondering where the budget went. Well, it went into 1) an awesome(ly ridiculous) fight scene where Ran stops being a mere human and defies all laws of gravity, 2) a scene where Conan's soccer ball kicking should have deadly results and 3) a fantastic scene where Conan figures everything out with evidence and memories flying past him. All these scenes were ridiculously exaggerated, but so awesome (note: people who have seen Quarter of Silence and The Eleventh Striker might know that you have to get pretty crazy to get an action scene dubbed 'ridiculous' in comparison).

Overall, I did like Private Eye in the Distant Sea, probably because it was quite different from the other Conan films. I mean, you have to do something different when you're the seventeenth movie in the series. It might not really feel Conan-esque, but Ran's action scene alone makes it worthwhile a watch for fans.

Original Japanese title(s): 『名探偵コナン　絶海の探偵』

Look into my Eyes

Look into my eyes　きっと会える

 探し続けた人も、場所も　求め続けた答えも

"Look into my Eyes" (Fayray)

Look into my eyes You will definitely find

the person you've been looking for, the place, the answer you've been searching for

"Look into my Eyes" (Fayray)

Now that I think about it, this review has been waiting to be written for almost two months now. I should really work a bit faster...

The 2004 TV drama Rampo R is based on the works of Edogawa Rampo, grandfather of the Japanese mystery story, and set in contemporary times. Our protagonist is Akechi Kogorou III, grandson of the original Akechi Kogorou, the greatest detective Japan has ever known. Due to his father's sudden demise, Akechi III has to take over as the field agent of the famous Akechi Kogorou Detective Agency, which in turn brings him in contact with the strangest cases and the most grotesque of murderers. The original Akechi Kogorou is known for having solved countless of crimes featuring the most strange murderers, but can Akechi III live up to his family name, and will he be able to solve the mystery of his grandfather's nemesis the Fiend with Twenty Faces, who is said to be still alive?

Rampo R has long been lauded as one of the best Rampo adaptations available, so I didn't hesitate when I had the chance to finally see it. And it certainly didn't disappoint. I have discussed a great number of adaptations of Edogawa Rampo's works by now (Kyoufu Kikei Ningen, Kurotokage, Rampo, Rampo Noir, Moujuu, Yaneura no Sanposha, Issun Boushi VS Moujuu, Akechi Kogorou VS Kaijin Nijuu Mensou, and those are just the TV/film adaptations...), but I will declare it now, Rampo R is by far the most interesting of them all.

It is also one of the most loose adaptations of Rampo's works, but that doesn't hurt Rampo R a bit. Sure, the main story is pretty generic (grandson of the original Akechi Kogorou following his footsteps), but don't let that fool you. Every episode is based on one story (or more) by Rampo (though not all stories originally featured Akechi), set in contemporary times and often highly rewritten to fit in the time-limit of one episode. What makes this series a bit different from most Rampo adapations, is the fact the creators actually aimed for a fair detecive drama, instead of focusing on the more erotic and grotesque aspects of his works. The first episode is based on the horror short story Ningen Isu ("The Human Chair") for example, but this has been extensively rewritten to be a fair detective story. And it works! In fact, Ningen Isu has often been used as an 'element' within other Rampo film adapations (Kyoufu Kikei Ningen and Yaneura no Sanposha had it, for example), but never has it been 1) used as the main plot and 2) done so well (I will admit that Ningen Isu is one of my favorite stories, so Rampo R gets bonus points for that).

The adaptation of famous Rampo stories as fair play detective stories works mostly well. Most of the stories were written as such anyway, but an episode like Kurotokage is a bit strange; the original was a Great Detective VS Great Criminal story, but turning that into a whodunnit of sorts, doesn't work, because everyone knows who the Black Lizard is. Rampo's works often featured larger-than-life criminals (seriously, have you ever seen the titles of his books? From vampires to clowns from hell and electric men, Rampo has everything), so sometimes it feels a bit strange to have a rookie detective face off against them, but then again, he is the grandson of Akechi Kogorou.

Of course, free adaptations don't always work well. In some eyes, any change from the original might be seen as a bad thing. Some might consider minor changes, but Rampo R's changes are anything but minor. Yet, I don't think it is a bad thing per se, and I actually doubt Rampo himself would have really minded, considering a lot of his works were in fact rewritten versions of / reconfigurations of / inspired by other books / ideas / concepts. I think that Rampo, who was often moved (forced) to writing more mainstream, grotesque horror stories, would have appreciated more 'orthodox detective' versions of his own stories. And more importantly, the stories as presented in Rampo R are fun! The spirit of the original stories are kept intact and one can feel the love for Rampo's work throughout the series. And as long as the end product is good and keeps the spirit of the original intact, you won't see me complaining (and even then, I actually enjoyed the TV adaptations of Christie's The Big Four and The Labours of Hercules quite well, even though they were quite different from the spirit of the original novels).

Visually, the series does suffer a bit from being made on a TV series budget. It sorta adds to the childish atmosphere some of the Rampo stories have (a man hiding in a chair is not that scary if you think about it), but still, some of the sets seem a bit cheap. The music on the other hand is fantastic though.

Rampo R is a very free adaptation of Edogawa Rampo's work, but also one of the best. In fact, I think it's the easiest Rampo adaptation to recommend to people and a great example of how adapatations don't have to follow the original to the letter to be good, and respectful to the original at the same time.

Original Japanese title(s): 『乱歩Ｒ』

Risky Room

番人：「そこまで脱獄を・・・一体何がお前をそうさせる？！」

囚人Ａ：「プリゾン・ブレイク！」

囚人Ｂ：「海外ドラマか！マジかよお前？くだらないって」

番人：「…参ったな。あれ、面白いもんな。」

『レッドシアター』：　ジャングルポケットＸ牢屋

Guard: "Why do you want to escape from this prison that much? What is driving you to do all of this?!"

Prisoner A: ".... Prison Break!"

Prisoner B: "A television series! You serious?! That's just stupid!"

Guard: "...Damn. I have to admit, that is really a cool series!"

"Red Theater" Jungle Pocket X Jail Sketch

I said to myself last month, I have a review backlog of four, five items, so I should post a bit more often in November. And then I noticed we're already about one third into the month with just one review finished. Aaargh. Man, november? It's almost time to start thinking about which pieces of mystery fiction I consumed this year were the best!

The 2013 film Kankin Tantei ("The Confined Detectives") starts with a fateful encounter between Ryouta and Akane. Might sound like the start of a romantic movie, if not for the fact the two are standing in the apartment across Ryouta's one, and that the inhabitant of this apartment, the model Rena, lies dead on the floor. Both claim to have just discovered the body, but seeing the doubtful eyes of Akane (a friend of Rena), he decides to take Akane prisoner in his room, until he can find evidence to clear his own name. Akane, tied to Ryouta's bed, however seems not even fazed by her imprisonment and claims she will be able to solve Rena's murder even from the confines of this room. The time limit is the next morning, when Rena's absence from her work will be noticed. Can Ryouta and Akane solve the murder from within this 'locked room'?

When I first heard about this film, I was really interested. It is based on a comic written by Abiko Takemaru (who seems to dabble a lot in 'modern' media like games and manga) and the concept of basically an armchair detective movie, only with the detectives confined to a room, i.e. a locked room mystery of sorts (if you interpret the words in a different way), seemed awesome.

I used the part tense, because while the concept was fun, the execution was less... intellectually stimulating, as it was basically actress Natsuna in a variety of alluring poses tied to a bed. Which is definitely an effective way of making the detective genre film a lot more atttractive.

As a detective story, Kankin Tantei does a lot wrong, but also a little bit good. The first half hour has a great sense of speed, as Akane and Ryouta slowly learn more about each other through deductions (in a Sherlock Holmes way), and try to find out why both of them were in Rena's room. It never goes really deep, but I guess it works for a film (which just offers less room for really deep, abstract deduction chains). It's also in this first half where Akane and Ryouta slowly find out who might have killed Rena and why.

The fact that they first used 'normal' deductions to figure each other out kinda sets the viewer on the wrong track, because a lot of the inital discoveries surrounding Rena's murder is done by the Wondrous Internet and Magic Applications and Hacking For Dummies. Which... is kinda lame. The truth behind Rena's murder is very disappointing too, and the 'hints' laid down are ridiculous; as if they suddenly remembered they actually needed a murderer, and hints leading to him, and forcefully wrote them in the script. A lot of the happenings in this movie feel like script filler (especially the second half of the film), which is seldom a good thing, and especially not in a detective movie, which ideally is a neatly structured story presenting a good mystery.

There is also the 'problem' of Akane sorta trying to escape from her imprisonment. The first few minutes are quite tenseful, when she's tied to the bed (and Ryouta for no other feasible reason but to live out his fantasies sits on top of her as if that is the most logical way to keep a kidnapped girl quiet), and you're not quite sure what's going to happen and if she's going to escape, but after that first part, you'll see plenty of chances for Akane to get help, but she doesn't. The concept of a confined detective, a detective being forced to solve a crime can be quite exiting (see the last story in volume 38 of Detective Conan for example, but here there never seems to be any real danger. Akane teases Ryouta a lot, even though he is supposed to be her imprisoner. It doesn't help that a lot of the scenes of Akane tied up are obvious fanservice shots with actress Natsuna, so it's kinda hard to take them serious.

But I said the film did some good, right? Well, the puzzle of Rena's murderer was solved kinda badly, there is one aspect of the mystery that was actually done quite well. The hints were nicely spread across the whole movie. During the whole film, I had wondered about little bits and pieces of the plot, thinking they were just signs of bad writing, but all these little things actually came together in a logical way and it was quite well done, I think. If only the whole plot had seen this much care.

While not a great movie by any standard, I am glad I can say Kankin Tantei isn't a total wreck and I did find several aspects quite amusing. Not something to really recommend, but if you have nothing else to do, want to see a bit of mystery, a bit of Natsuna tied to a bed, then it's not that bad a film.

Original Japanese title(s): 『監禁探偵』