「月恋歌」

月と太陽なら私は月

君がいれば輝けるよ

「キミがいれば」 (伊織)

If I had to choose between the sun and the moon,

I'd be the moon

I only shine if you are next to me

'When you are here' (Iori)

Finally a review of a Japanese novel again! But first, something completely different.

Or not completely different maybe. As I've mentioned in a couple of posts before, I am studying for a year in Japan at the moment. And I happen to be doing that at Kyoto University, which in turn happens to be the host of one of the best known / respected mystery clubs in Japan. Activities of the club include organizing little deduce-who-the-murderer-is quizes, book discussions and a yearly big publication featuring original stories and commentaries and the club has been around since 1974. Writers like Ayatsuji Yukito, Abiko Takemaru and Norizuki Rintarou actually originate this club, which explains why it is so well known to those into new orthodox detective novels.

And I think I am a member of the club now. At least, like Rouletabille said, '"I have eaten all your caviar. I am your guest. I am your friend'. Well, they didn't buy me caviar, but like most clubs the Kyoto University Mystery Club did take potential new members out for dinner, trying to convince them to join their club. Which I wanted to do anyway, so I got a free dinner and I got into a club I wanted to enter in the firt place. And I had a nice chat with people about Japanese detective novels. Which is actually really awesome. Really, really awesome. I don't think I've ever had an oral discussion where I could say that I like Queen-school writers, and having everyone nodding at that. People who have read mystery novels featuring mystery clubs might have an idea of how those conversations go (probably mostly Japanese novels), but it was really like in those novels. I will probably write more about the club later, when I've actually attended to more meetings.

Anyway, among the other new members (and old members), there were also a lot of people who were fans of Arisugawa Alice. Last week I picked up his debut work, Gekkou Game - Y no Higeki '88 ("Moonlight Game  - Tragedy of Y '88"). It is the first volume in the Student Alice series, featuring Arisugawa Alice as a young student at Eito University as the fourth and newest member of the Eito University Mystery Club (EMC). The head of the club is the enigmatic student Egami, who serves as the main detective of the series. In this first story, the EMC heads out to camp on Mount Yabuki  during their summer holiday, where they meet three other groups of students (of various universities and clubs) who had the same idea. The 17 people have a great time at the camp site, until Mount Yabuki, which is actually an dormant volcano, has the fun idea of erupting for the first time in 200 years. And that is not all, because with the eruption, people start to disappear at night and they have the nasty habit of being dead, murdered when they re-appear. And what is that dying message "Y" that keeps popping up? How is the EMC going to get out of this mess?

Obviously through pure Queenian logic. Arisugawa's debut work simply screams Queen. It naturally starts with the pen-name Arisugawa Alice, which is also also the name of the protagonist of the story, but the Queenian influence is also obvious from the dying message that seemingly defies interpretation and the closed circle situation mirroring The Siamese Twin Mystery with the forces of nature forcing the groups of students to hide in the forest every once in a while. There are even several scenes where the group decides to search through each others possessions, in the hopes of finding proof of who the murderer is, mirrorring the classic big searches often seen in early Queen novels. And besides these tropes, we have the actual logical method employed by detective Egami, whose explanation of who the murderer is and how he deduced that fact could have fitted neatly in any Queen novel.

What was interesting was that the cover of the edition I own really emphasized the "Y" dying message (as does the subtitle of the novel, by the way), but the dying message definitely fails to carry the whole plot. It is a cool dying message though, reminiscent of one of Queen's more famous dying message short stories, but quite hard to translate to English I think. Arisugawa uses a neat little trick to keep the reader in the dark regarding the meaning of the message (or at least: I was definitely in a blind spot that was a result of that 'trick'/way of writing) and that was really well done. But it is hard to center a novel-length story around one dying message, which explains why the students also have to deal with a lot more mysterious events (and the vulcano eruptions). As a result though, the importance of the dying message weakens. In fact, it is not even the decisive clue that points to the murderer. Which was kinda surprising. It is more a clue that works in hindsight. I can almost see Arisugawa coming with this cool dying message, only to be forced to diminish its role in the story in order to make it work.

This novel actually does feel a bit unpolished, or maybe I should refer to it as signs that this really is a debut work (something a member of the Kyoto University Mystery Club also mentioned to me). First of all, you really, really don't need 17 students in a closed circle situation. That is overdoing it. Especially as they are all students. Yes, Arisugawa tries to keep them apart by giving them nicknames and placing them in different faculties and stuff, but seventeen is really overdoing it. Arisugawa might have fun writing them and it might have reminded him of his own experiences as a student, but it does not really work on paper (I was glad someone told me that even Japanese readers have trouble keeping all those students apart). I also had a bit of problems with the pacing. The story does start with an in media res prologue, but it takes long before things actually start, and the whole middle part is kinda slow and not very convincing (yes, it might be dangerous to move on an active vulcano, but it is probably more dangerous to stay on an active vulcano with a murderer. It doesn't take days to figure that out). Finally, there were several subplots and theories refered to which.... didn't go anywhere. Some of them might be considered red herrings, but others might have been addressed in more detail to actually strengthen the atmosphere of the story (the occult moon theories for example).

Anyway, as a debut work, Gekkou Game is not without its flaws, but it is definitely an amusing story written in the Queen-school. It's the second Student Alice novel I read and while not nearly as cool as Soutou no Akuma, I think Gekkou Game is decent enough to start with if you are into that whole reading-in-chronological-order thing.

Original Japanese title(s): 有栖川有栖『月光ゲーム　Ｙの悲劇 '88』

「フィルムの中のアリバイ」その１

"That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed...! That's not fair!"

"The Twilight Zone: Time Enough At Last"

Where I pretend to make a meaningful post by showing books I've bought the first week since I've returned to Japan. I've only started in one of them though.

I've been quite modest actually (hey, I also need to eat!), so the 'damage' after one week is just:

Nikaidou Reito, Soumenjuu Jiken ("The Double-Faced Monster Case")
Shimada Souji, Ihou no Kishi ("A Knight In Strange Lands")
Nikaidou Reito, Yuri no Meikyuu ("Labyrinth of Lillies")
Mori Hiroshi, Joou no Hyakunen Misshitsu ("God Save the Queen")
Takagi Akimitsu, Ningyou wa Naze Korosareru ("Why Was The Puppet Killed?")
Kyougoku Natsuhiko, Ubume no Natsu ("Summer of the Ubume") (1+2)
Kyougoku Natsuhiko, Mouryou no Hako ("Mouryou's Box")
Arisugawa Alice, Gekkou Game - Y no Higeki '88 ("Moonlight Game - The Tragedy of Y '88")
Higashigawa Tokuya, Misshitsu ni Mukatte Ute ("Shoot Towards The Locked Room!")
Higashigawa Tokuya, Kanzen Hanzai ni Neko Nanpiki Hitsuyou Ka ("How Many Cats Are Needed For A Perfect Crime?")
Higashigawa Tokuya, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de ("Mystery Solving is After Dinner")
Higashigawa Tokuya, Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni ("After School, Together With Mystery")

All second-hand by the way. And half of them only 105 yen. I love Japanese bookstores <3 Oh, and about the 'normal' review posts: I still intend to make them, but it just takes longer for me to read here, so I think even one post a week is going to be a challenge. But I'll figure out something. I can always do more movies/series reviews. And the worst case scenario: I'll post a picture of the backlog every week to show how much the pile is not shrinking.

『帰ってこさせられた33分探偵』

「えー、『あの泥棒が羨ましい』 二人のあいだにこんな言葉がかわせるほど、そのころはーって渋いね、菜緒ちゃん、こんなの読んでるんだ」

鞄の中に江戸川乱歩の『二銭銅貨』を忍ばせている女子高生。どうやら僕は高林奈緒子という同級生に対する認識を改めなければならないようだ。この娘、只者ではないのかも。 

「霧ヶ峰涼と見えない毒」

"Hmm, 'That's one lucky thief'. During the time these words which passed between those two.... Hey, that's sneaky, Nao! You read this too!"

A female high school student who hides a copy of Edogawa Rampo's The Two-Sen Copper Coin in her bag. It seems like I will have to revise my image of my classmate Takabayashi Naoko. This girl, she might not be just an ordinary person.

"Kirigamine Ryou and the Invisible Poison"

Still alive! I think. Reporting live from Japan. Have I ever mentioned how I always suffer quite a lot of jetlag? The last time I had it this bad... I made my first translation for this blog. It's not that bad this time, but I'm still 'off' a couple of hours from my usual schedule. Anyway, it's been a long time tradition that first days back in Japan include a search for (preferably second hand) book stores in the neighborhood. The closest one I've found at the moment is five minutes away with the bike, so I'll be swinging by often. Unless a storm suddenly decides to visit Kyoto, like two hours ago.

And the first book I bought here... is a familiar one. By now, we've seen Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni pass by at this blog as a radio drama, a CD drama and two translations (based on the radio plays). Which is quite often, considering the original work is just a single volume (and not that big either). But yes, the reason why it is featured here so often is because I absolutely love this short story collection starring the tomboy Kirigamine Ryou, the vice-president of the Koigakubo Academy Detective Club who despite being the protagonist of the stories, never seems to be able to solve a case on her own. I am not going to review all the stories again, as I already did that in my review of the radio drama, but I did mention there that the radio drama had left out two short stories from the book. Which is just enough material for a short review.

Kirigamine Ryou to Mienai Doku ("Kirigamine Ryou and the Invisible Poison") has Ryou and her friend Naoko trying to figure out whether somebody is trying to kill old man Kadokura. Kadokura is a distant (and rich) relative of Naoko and she lives with him (and his family) because it is closer to school. Some days ago, a roof tile just barely missed falling on Kadokura's head and Naoko suspects that someone in Kadokura's family, consisting of his son, daughter-in-law and his grandson, doesn't have the patience to wait for the old man to die a natural death. Just as Ryou and Naoko are investigating the case, the old man is poisoned (though he survives!) as he was drinking his coffee. His last words before he passed out were 'poison in the coffee', but forensics show that the coffee wasn't poisoned at all. So how did the would-be murderer introduce the poison to Kadokura's body and who is (s)he?

Like many of the stories in Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, this story hinges on customs, movements and other little things that are part of what we call 'common sense'. In Higashigawa's stories, the clues often hinge on either a situation that doesn't seem to comply to 'common sense', or even erratic situations that become perfectly understandable if you just apply common sense to it. The same holds for this story, though I have to admit that the story doesn't feel as satisfying as some of the Nazotoki stories.

I had high expectations for Kirigamine Ryou to Ekkusu no Higeki ("Kirigamine Ryou and the Tragedy of X (Ekkusu)"). Why? Higashigawa himself said that it took him ten years to write the short story, as he just couldn't find a way to make his initial trick work. Anyway, the final version starts with a meteor shower party at school, organized by the geography teacher Ikegami. The party is not really a succes, but Ikegami and Ryou suddenly spot a strange flying object that emits a greenish light and flies in an erratic pattern. Ikegami immediately decides that it is an UFO (the alien kind, not the literal definition) and starts chasing it (taking Ryou along with her). The UFO disappears though and in the middle of the field where they last saw it, the duo spot the body of a unconscious woman. The woman presumably lost her conciousness because she was strangled by someone (as seen by the marks on the neck), but the only footsteps on the wet field are those of the woman. The only logical explanation? The UFO dropped the woman off in the middle of the field!

Well, there is another explanation too, of course. I have no experience in writing stories and plotting, but I have to admit that my reaction was 'did this really take ten years to write?'. Which doesn't mean that this is a bad story. Actually, it is a very good impossible crime story that is quite dense for the short page count and the atmosphere of the story is also entertaining. Strictly speaking, the solution is a (much altered) version of a well-known impossible situation, but it's done so well and originally that it really doesn't matter. A very cool story, but it doesn't need the 'ten years' story. I am sorry I brought it up.

I'm still not sure how things will work out with the blog as I'm in Japan now. There is certainly no lack of material unlike the last three months (hoho, books of 800 pages, double columns for 200 yen?), but I need time/intention to read and write. Which might be the bottleneck this time.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 『放課後はミステリーとともに』:  「霧ヶ峰涼と見えない毒」 /　「霧ヶ峰涼とエックスの悲劇」

番外編： The Fiend With Twenty Faces

What? The post title is not the title of a book or a quote? There is no introducing quote? Shocking! But there is a reason for that.

Because this post is more like a service announcement. Or a commercial. Some might have noticed that Kurodahan Press, who has published some interesting Edogawa Rampo novels / essays in the past, has released The Fiend with Twenty Faces a couple of days ago, the first volume in the Shounen Tantei Dan ("Boys Detective Club") series. The children's literature series stars masterdetective Akechi Kogorou and his assistents the Boys Detectives in their battles against the criminal mastermind Twenty Faces and quite famous in Japan and can been seen as the main inspiration for modern detective comic series like Conan and Kindaichi Shounen.

I had the pleasure and honor of writing the introduction to Kurodahan's The Fiend with Twenty Faces actually. Which was fun! And entertaining! Readers here might have noticed that I 1) like Edogawa Rampo and 2) I like writing about him and his works and to actually do it for an official release, well, I couldn't wish for more! It also means that I actually have the honor of having my name next to Edogawa Rampo's name on sites like Amazon. Which is really weird.

So for people interested in modern detective manga, 1930s children literature, Edogawa Rampo, Arsene Lupin and grand battles between good and evil, masterdetectives and masterthieves (not all of the above per se), take a look at Rampo's famous novel!

And now to solve the puzzle of packing for a year without making my luggage too heavy.

「殺しの際は帽子をお忘れなく」

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?

- That depends a good deal on where you want to get to

I don't much care where.

- Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

…so long as I get somewhere.

- Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Those who can read Japanese (or those who are adept at using translation websites), might have seen it in the comments already. Or you might have deduced it from the fact I kept mentioning I don't have any unread books left, yet didn't went out to purchase them. Anyway, I will be leaving late next week for Japan to study there for a year. Yes, again. In fact, this blog started in 2009 just as a personal blog to keep the home front up to date when I went to study in Tokyo and Fukuoka, but somewhere along the way it transformed into the.... thing that it is now. So the reason I didn't buy new (Japanese) books was because it would be cheaper to buy them there.

I have to admit though that I am not sure what I will do with this blog. I will keep updating with reviews and stuff (I think), but experience has taught me that my post-amount will drop (significantly!), because life tends to get a bit busier as an international student (which is why I made sure that I at least have more posts this year than in 2010!). The other thing is that I am not sure whether I will post non-detective/personal posts here. At one hand, this blog did start out as such, so I might just return to the origins. On the other hand, it might not be very interesting if you're mainly here to read about (Japanese) detectives (I guess that most people only know about the reviews) and you're suddenly reading about ramen. There is a big chance I will write about food.

Anyway, I will keep posting about detective fiction, just not as regularly as now I think.

And now that we have gone over that: short shorts! Where I write short pieces about detective fiction because I couldn't come up with longer texts. Today's victims: the 1946 movie Green for Danger, the 2011 movie Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil and once again an audio drama of Houkago wa Mystery to tomo ni!

Green For Danger (1946) is based on Christianna Brand's novel of the same name and widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best movie based on a Golden Age detective novel. And I have little to add to that. I haven't read the original book, but this is really a neat movie that oh, I don't know, deserves a Criterion Collection release. Oh, wait, that exists already? Great, great! Anyway, the story is set in England, 1944. The country is suffering under the V-1 bomber attacks and the people at Heron's Park Emergency Hospital, a rural war hospital, have quite busy days taking care of their patients. One day, their local postman is brought in having been injured by a flying bomb and has to undergo surgery. The postman never survived the operation, because he died on the operating table before the operation could actually start. Later, one of nurses claims that this was not just an accident or natural death, but she gets killed off before she is able to say more about it. Inspector Cockrill is brought in to investigate the case.

Like I said, I am not familiar with the original novel, but this movie really brought a nice puzzler, combined with captivating characters and especially the setting of the hospital is very memorable. Furthermore, Alastair Sim as the inspector Cockrill is just a delight to look at and he alone is enough of a reason to recommend this movie (though it is a great movie overall). The mystery behind the postman's death is somewhat easy to solve though, but this is just a splendid production.

It reminds me a lot of Team Batista no Eikou ("The Glory of Team Batista"), a popular Japanese mystery novel that has been turned into a movie and TV show amongst others. The main mystery there is also a series of death on the operating table of the elite Team Batista, experts in a very complex procedure. They pride themselves on a perfect record, but then more and more patiens of them die on the operating table, leading to the suspicion that one of doctors might be sabotaging the operations. It relies quite a bit on medial knowledge, but the movie is pretty awesome, starring Abe Hiroshi as the official in charge of investigating whether the deaths were accidents or deaths. Abe's usually stoic, yet at times very playful (almost mean), detective also reminds of Sim's inspector Cockrill.

From England to Korea. I finally got a chance to 2011's Joseon Myungtamjung : Gakshituku Ggotui Bimil ("Joseon Great Detective: Secret of the Wolfsbane Flower"), which has the international title of Detective K: Secret of the Virtuous Widow. The movie is based on a novel by Kim Tak-Hwan and is set in 1782, 16 years after king Jeongjo took the throne. A series of murders on magistrates and other officials, combined with rumors of large-scale embezzling force the king to appoint a secret agent to investigate the case. The unnamed detective (though apparently called "detective K" outside of South-Korea) starts off his investigation rather roughly (resulting in being accused of murder himself and leading to assault on soldiers and such) and the king is forced to 'punish' his detective by sending him off on another, less important investigation (which luckily is strongly related with the serial murders). Helped by a dog thief, the detective start to uncover an intrige of unbelievable scale. And he finds a lot of hidden Christians. Hmmm.

This movie was pretty fun to look at, but it really needed polishing. The overall plot seems too complex at times, but not for the right reasons. Some scenes show some interesting detective work by the protagonist, or Conan-esque emergency escape plans, but it never feels like one coherent story. The plot seem little more than a easy way to glue the scenes to each other, instead of the plot dictating the way the movie progresses. The plot also gets unneccesary complex at the end with plot-twists and reveals that add little to the story, but for the fact that they are so totally surprising and unexpected. Oh, and they could have made the subplot of the Christians suffering under the Confucian rule a bit less... obvious. Yes, I know that a large part of the South-Korean population is Christian, but this was waaaaay too obvious a religous agenda.

Overall, this movie seems highly influenced by Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, providing a lot of comedy and action, but it is just less polished. Like those Holmes movies, it is possible to set your mind at cruise control and enjoy the scenery. A special mention for Kim Myung-min, who plays a wonderful unnamed protagonist though. At times sharp and brave, but mostly a coward: which means he is similar to Houshin Engi's Taikoubou. Which is never a bad thing (seriously, any protagonist who loudly proclaims that 'I need to find more friends. To have them do the fighting for me', is genius). The international title of this movie by the way seems highly influenced by Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

And finally, once again Higashigawa Tokuya's Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. First of all, a drama series based on the book (and I suspect some of the uncollected stories) will start late next month! Yeah! And secondly, I finally listened to Momogre's audio adaptation of Houkago wa Mystery to Tomo ni. Yes, I have already reviewed NHK's adaption of the book, but I was also interested in hearing how Momogre did their version, as their adaptations of Swiss Dokei no Nazo, 46 Banme no Misshitsu and ABC Satsujin Jiken were fun. And I am just a big fan of protagonist Kirigamine Ryou, the vice-president of Koigakubo Academy's detective club (who never seems to be able to solve a case herself).

Momogre's version is based on the first two stories, Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku ("Kirigamine Ryou's Humiliation") and Kirigamine Ryou no Gyakushuu ("Kirigamine Ryou's Counterattack") (translation available for the latter). For a review on the stories themselves, I refer to the NHK version review, as the stories are identical and even the scripts are very similar (even though Momogre's version of Kirigamine Ryou no Kutsujoku is a bit unfair because of something important is mentioned at a later moment). So if they are so similar, why discuss Momogre version? Well, I wanted to convey the feeling of surprise when I, halfway through the drama, finally noticed that this was a Men Only version, i.e. there were no female voice actresses here. Ad yes, Ryou is a girl, but she has a speech pattern similar to a boy anyway, so I wasn't really bothered by the voice. It gets a bit distracting when women who talk like... women are voiced by a man. Momogre's Ryou was also quite different from NHK's Ryou: the latter was an energetic, almost hyperactive girl who wanted to be a detective. Momogre's Ryou.... was a man trying to speak like a girl, resulting in a nagging voice who never seemed as powerful as NHK's Ryou. Which is a big part of Ryou's charm. So in short, NHK's version is superior. In all aspects.

So, I think that this will be the last post of this month and next month... might bring food. Or detective fiction. Maybe detective fiction and food.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 (原)　『放課後はミステリのあとで』
Original Korean title(s): 조선명탐정 : 각시투구꽃의 비밀

「君をイッツ・ア・スモールワールドに閉じ込めることに決まったよ。はっは！」

底蟲村の　しん太郎どん

痛い痛いと　泣いてござる

何が痛いと　蟹コがきけば

悪たれ鼬の　ふうのしんに

喉を切られて　話ができぬ

それで痛いと　泣いてござる

びゅうびゅうびゅうの　ざんぶらぶん

びゅうびゅうびゅうの　ざんぶらぶん

『かまいたちの夜２　監獄島のわらべ唄』

Shintaroudon of Sokomushi Village

Cried: it hurts it hurts

The small crab asked what hurts

The evil weasle Fuu no Shin

Cut my throat and now I cannot spreak

That is why I am crying it hurts

Byuubyuubyuu no Zanburabun

Byuubyuubyuu no Zanburabun

"Night of the Kamaitachi 2 - The Warabe Uta of Prison Island"

So I did keep myself to my restraint of not buying new Japanese novels this month. But games? Games are something totally different! Even if it is a Japanese sound novel. Yes, that was the closest thing I could find to a novel that was not an actual novel.

I've already made clear that I absolutely loved Kamaitachi no Yoru, a mystery sound novel penned by Abiko Takemaru. The basic scenario, a locked room murder in the ski-lodge Spur (no idea whether I'm spelling that right) in a snow storm, was not particularly original, but the fact that the story developed according to the player's choices, the fact that the story featured multiple endings was really fun. If you were good, you could actually prevent more murders from happening in Spur, while the story would end in a paranoia horror-ending if the player was unable to solve the case as time progressed. It was definitely one of the best games I played last year.

So it shouldn't come as a surpise if I tell you that I had set my eyes on playing Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 - Kangokujima no Warabe Uta ("Night of the Kamaitachi 2 - The Warabe Uta of Prison Island"). The story starts by telling you that within the world of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2, the first Kamaitachi no Yoru was a hit videogame. The characters from the first game were based on actual guests that visited the ski-lodge Spur one night and apparently, some of the dialogue from the game was also based on dialogues the guests had then. There was of course no locked room murder that night though; that was all made-up by Abiko Takemaru, the writer of the game. Abiko has made a small fortune with the game and has bought an old unhabitated island, Moon Crescent Island (and the Moon Crescent Mansion on it) with the profits. He has now invited all of the guests that were present that night at Spur to his mansion as a thanks for having used their names for his story. The strange thing though.... Abiko Takemaru wasn't one of the guests at Spur that night, so how could he have based his story on the guests and events of that night?

When all of his guests (almost all of the cast of the first game and some persons involved with the production of a planned sequel to the game) have arrived at the island, they are told by the old servant Kiyo that Abiko Takemaru himself has not arrived at the island yet. They are also told about the origins of Moon Crescent Island: it used to be called Prison Island, property of the wealthy Kishizaru clan (which made a fortune with spinning factories during the Japanese industrial revolution). The Moon Crescent Mansion was actually a prison built to keep their workers under control, which explains the curious architecture of the building, like the fact that practically no rooms have windows. Genre-savvy people among the cast naturally understand that bad things are going to happen here and they decide to leave the island, but they are told that that is impossible. That night happens to be 'the Night of the Kamaitachi", which refers to a tremendously heavy storm that rages over the island once every 50 years. This is related to a belief that the island is haunted by the Sickle Weasle demon Fuu no Shin, who also appears in a local warabe uta ('nursery rhyme'-esque songs). Our cast is not able to leave the island that night and the mansion even gets locked up completely to prevent rain and wind from coming in. And then, in the early hours of the following day, a loud scream travels through the mansion. When they find out where the scream originated from, they find game producer Shintarou with his throat cut open in a locked room. Just like the first verse of the warebe uta. There are five verses.

The game-system is still the same, so I refer to my review of Kamaitachi no Yoru for more details on that. Short story: this is a novel (accompanied by background pictures and music), where you occasionally have to make choices (which may lead to bad endings etc.). It is up to the player to pick out the right choices to get to the good ending. Technically and contents-wise, this is a more=better version of Kamaitachi no Yoru. The first game was released on the Super Famicom (and later on the PlayStation), while the second game was released for the PlayStation 2 (and PSP), so graphically, there is quite a change, most prominently visible in the use of actually CG models for the characters and sporadic use of cut-scenes. I have to admit that this took a bit away from the creepy ambiance of the original game though, as the notion of motion, of characters and the camera actually moving, adds a sense of life, of safety to the game (which is not really needed for detective). The more=better philosophy is also carried over to the amount of unique ending sequences in this game, which number over a hundred! I've seen three: the good ending and two radically different bad endings (one with the protagonist Tooru getting a seizure because his love-interest Mari found someone else...).

I actually haven't completed the game yet, but I did finish the Warabe Uta Hen ("Warabe Uta Chapter"), the main story/mystery of the game (the game features several scenarios, some are humorous takes on the main story, some go towards science-fiction, etc.). With murders following a nursery rhyme pattern on an island formally called Prison Island, it is obvious that this is a reference to Yokomizo Seishi's Gokumontou. The mystery of whodunnit is not very hard to solve if you are genre-savvy, as Abiko mostly reuses familar patterns and tropes in this story (though it definitely helps if you have played the first game). Which might sound a bit disappointing, but the trick used for the first murder, a locked room murder, is really good and also fantastically hinted at. It is definitely the highlight of the whole story and even though it is still early in the year, I think this will rank among the best I will read this year. The overall atmosphere of the first game was better (though it is still good here), but this trick really makes it hard to decide which story was better.

The setting of Moon Crescent Island and the Moon Crescent Mansion is also fantastic. The mansion is definitely presented as expected from a yakata-mono (mansion-story), which both creepy descriptions and background pictures presenting a claustrophobic image of the former prison. The mansion is really terrifying, with swords sticking out of ponds preventing prisoners from jumping out of the windows and sickles hanging from the roofs to ward of the evil weasle demon. This is a location you will remember even long after clearing this game. Especially if you try out the other scenarios: I've just finished the Sokomushi Village Chapter, which is a horror science-fiction take on the main story, but IT IS CREEPY. The island is creeheepy~

I am not sure whether I should be disappointed or glad I arrived at the solution relatively fast. Yes, that means my deductions were right, but there were a couple of places I definitely screwed up, but I wasn't punished for that (game-wise). It seems like that the first Kamaitachi no Yoru was harder, with more difficult choices to make with fewer retry options. In this game, you could retry some of the (finger-pointing) segments and they even presented the major clues in a systematic way near the end of the story, making it a lot easier to solve the case.You couldn't even prevent murders from happening like in the first game, which makes this a much more linear experience.

Overall, the main storyline of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 is awesome though. It's a great closed circle detective featuring a great locked room murder trick and it's interactive too! And now to play the other scenarios and to find the remaining 100 ending scenes...

Original Japanese title(s): 『かまいたちの夜２　監獄島のわらべ唄』

A Night of Fright is No Delight

「また博多？この会社、博多枠があるんか？いま博多スリーカードやで」

『ゲームセンターＣＸ　#31 「海腹川背」どうでしょう?課長リターンズ』

"Another one from Hakata? Does this company have a Hakata quotum? We have three Hakata cards here!"

"Game Center CX #31 - How about 'Umihara Kawase'? The Section Chief Returns"

Another historical mystery? Do I have a historical mystery quotum? We've had three historical mysteries in a row now!

I wrote rather extensively about Judge Dee last week, so I'll just refer to that post for the basics and characteristics of that series. Anyway, this week I finally had a chance to look at Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders, a 1974 telefilm based on van Gulik's 1961 novel The Haunted Monastery. I haven't read that book, so I have no idea whether it is faithful to the original story or not, but most people on the internet, to refer to an anonymous entity, seem to agree that it is mostly faithful. Anyway, the story starts off very Scooby Doo-like. Judge Dee, his three wives and Tao Gan (and other servants) are forced to spend a night at a Taoist monastery because the axle of the Mystery Machine their coach broke down during a dreadful storm. That night also happens to be the anniversary night of the monastery and the judge, despite having caught a cold, naturally has to join the monks in their celebrations because of his rank. But there is more than meets the eye to his monastery, or else it would make for a rather boring story. A window that disappears before the very eyes of the judge, the murky past of the monastery that involves the death of no less than three girls that once stayed here and even the previous abbot and more. Dee has a busy, busy night trying to solve all the mysteries that lurk in this dark place.

And just like that most of Scooby Doo's episodes are fun, this is a truly entertaining telefilm. Which is partly because of the great production values. The titular haunted monastery really seems haunted, as the sets are wonderfully gloomy and eerie. There is a distinct atmosphere of pressure and fear throughout the story, as the judge wanders through the lonely hallways of the monestary and you never know what might be hiding around the corner. Indeed, just like a Scooby Doo episode.

One thing I really liked about this production were the use of still frames that turn into illustrations (I suppose they functioned as eye-catchers for the commercial breaks). It was reminiscent of the late anime director Dezaki Osamu's 'postcard memories' technique, where he would also use still frames that turned into actual illustrations (instead of motionless animation) at dramatic moments. In fact, the overall production values for this telefilm are quite high, and while some of the artistic decisions were a bit doubtful (I was not a fan of the color-schemes of the clothing, for example), this is a really well-made movie.

The sets form a great background to the judge's investigations and while the story is more about the judge's spooky adventures in the building than about bringing a classical orthodox story, there are actually quite some interesting things to be seen here. Most impressive was the deduction the judge shows concerning a picture of a cat by the late abbot and the overall story really comes together nicely near the end, where the judge has one of those moments when everything comes together and the case is solved.

While Khigh Dhiegh physically does not resemble the Judge Dee of the illustrations by van Gulik, I was not really bothered by that. In fact, the whole production conveyed the atmosphere from the series very good (even though I have not read this specific story) and I suspect that some of the dialogue are lifted (almost?) completely from the book. I also think that the reason this telefilm works so well is because the story is located in one specific place without too many references to the outside world. It works perfectly as a stand-alone telefilm, with not too much series-luggage and not too many (temporal specific) cultural references. The down-side is that the setting sometimes leans towards very non-specific, stereotypical depictions of 'Ancient China', but it works in the context of this particular story. It's a shame they didn't continue with a whole series based in this telefilm.

Anyway, I had fun watching this movie and it is certainly recommended to fans of the Judge Dee series.