Strangers on a Train

"It's so simple, too. A couple of fellows meet accidentally, like you and me. No connection between them at all. Never saw each other before. Each of them has somebody he'd like to get rid of, but he can't murder the person he wants to get rid of. He'll get caught. So they swap murders."

- "Swap murders?"

"Each fellow does the other fellow's murder. Then there is nothing to connect them. The one who had the motive isn't there. Each fellow murders a total stranger. Like you do my murder and I do yours."

 "Strangers on a Train"

And in other news, it might be interesting to note that my review of Gyakuten Saiban 5 / Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies gathered a larger total visitor count than any post here, within a week. Probably says more about my regular visitor count than anything else though. And now for something completely different.

Private detective Ukai Morio and his landlord Akemi are going undercover as butler and maid in a mansion in the mountains near the city of Ikagawashi, because the lady of the house suspects her husband is cheating on her. By going out a night (but leaving her detectives in the mansion), she hopes to be able to find proof of his infidelity. Meanwhile, detective apprentice Ryuuhei is having a dare-we-call-it-a-date? with the wealthy Sakura (whom he met in Misshitsu ni Mukatte Ute!), visiting one of Sakura's friends. Strange happenings happen at both sides of the story though, which seems to be connected to a murder in a less-fortunate part of town. What is going on in Koukan Satsujin ni Mukanai Yoru ("A Bad Night To Exchange Murders")?

Fourth novel in Higashigawa Tokuya's Ikagawashi series and personally, I wasn't too big a fan of it. Sure, there's the zany humour and the multi-perspective storytelling we've all come to love in the series, and it was quite fun to see Sakura again from Misshitsu ni Mukatte Ute!, but overall, the book failed to impress. Might be because I read it closely after Kanzen Hanzai ni Neko wa Nanbiki Hitsuyouka, leading to a Higashigawa overload, but there is another fundamental fault to this story.

I've been writing about detective fiction for some years now, usually by focussing on tropes/conventions. This usually works out well for me: I like writing about tropes like locked room murders, closed circles, nursery rhyme murders or even more specific tropes likes Queen's 'fetish' for objects, or the importance of location in the Tantei Jinguuji Saburou games. What's even more important, I can usually write freely about these topics, because they don't really spoil the book for readers. In fact, there are quite some readers for example who read a book, because they know it's a locked room murder. So I feel no hesitation when I describe these murder scenes, or go indepth about tropes across works and adding a little tag to the post with trope X's name on it.

But then there are some you just can't spoil (or at least, I don't want to spoil). I usually try to avoid mentioning narrative tricks and other surprises for example. It makes it hard to review such books for me, because saying that there's a narrative trick hidden in a story, already spoils the surprise for the reader (even if I don't specify what it exactly is), while I myself do really want to write about these kind of things. Heck, there are actually a lot of books reviewed here which should have a 'narrative trick' tag. There are other examples: sometimes not knowing what's coming, improves the enjoyment of a certain story and then it's better not to touch upon the topic in a review (I really want to discuss the trick of a major Japanese work translated in English two, three years ago, for example, but it would spoil the surprise if I specified which work it is).

And that's the problem I have Koukan Satsujin ni Mukanai Yoru, because I might have found the happenings to be slightly more mysterious and puzzling if the title didn't outright say there was a murder exchange going on. In an inverted mystery, it might be better to know beforehand there's a murder exchange, but when the title talks about exchanging murders, and you're presented two parallel running storylines, well, you can make an educated guess what's going on. I was more surprised at the fact the 'reveal' that there was a murder exchange going on was supposed to be surprising.

There is of course a bit more going on than just a 'simple' murder exchange, but the keyword murder exchange already spoils too much of the story, as even the subsequent reveals seemed, at least in my eyes, not very surprising. The fact that the dead body appears quite late in the narrative is also not beneficial to the enjoyment of the novel, as you already know 1) someone is going to die and 2) there will be a murder exchange just from the title; it shouldn't take hundreds of pages to bring the story to that point.

There is also a second 'trick' hidden within the narrative, but it is executed extremely artificial and unbelievable, it's impossible to enjoy (despite it actually being related to one of my academic interests). Especially after seeing the same trick executed, much, much better in other novels, I can't help but wonder what Higashigawa Tokuya was thinking. He has some great work, like the horrible short story Arima Kinen no Bouken shows, sometimes he has a very, ver bad day.

In conclusion, a disappointing entry in an otherwise fun series. Next up: probably something English!

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉  『交換殺人に向かない夜』

Cat Food

「なに、依頼人を殺されたからといって驚くには値しない。一説によると、探偵というものは、依頼人を殺されてはじめて半人前なのだそうだ。事実、過去の探偵たちも、その多くは事件のさいちゅうに依頼人を殺されている。結構、よくあることなのさ」

 それって探偵たちが殺したんじゃないの？きっと中にはそういう事件もあったはず―と朱美は思ったが、さすがに探偵の前ではいいづらい。代わりに、べつの問題。

「依頼人を殺されて探偵はどうすうの？」

「犯人を挙げて依頼人の無念を晴らす、というのが一般的だん。それでやっと一人前」

『完全犯罪に猫は何匹必要か？』　東川篤哉

"You don't have to act so surprises just because my client was murdered. According to some, having your client killed is an important step to become a real detective. A lot of the famous detectives in the past had their clients murdered. It's actually quite common."

Did he mean the detectives were killing the clients themselves? There were probably such cases, Akemi thought, but she didn't say it out loud in front of a detective. So, a different question.

"So what's a detective with a murdered client going to do?"

"Take revenge instead of my client and find the murderer, is the common way of doing things. Do that, and you'll finally be considered a real detective."

"How Many Cats Do You Need For A Perfect Crime?" (Higashigawa Tokuya)

Writing the Dogura Magura review was definitely more tiring than I had expected. But it's honestly the only way I could think of writing something on it. But because of that, I have a horrible backlog of reviews-to-be-written. Well, at least I don't have to worry about material to post about this month.

Goutokuji Toyozou is the owner of the popular sushi chain Manekizushi and a great cat lover. In fact, Manekizushi's trademark is a grand maneki-neko in front of every restaurant (lovingly called "colomeow Meownders"). But his beloved cat has disappeared, so Goutokuji hires the private detective Ukai Morio to find her. The search for the cat isn't going as smooth like Ukai would have wanted, and the murder on Goutokuji in the glass house in his garden some days later isn't really helping the case either. Why was the murderer wearing a cat mask, why was the gigantic maneki-neko statue moved from the mansion's entrance to the glass house and where is that cat of Goutokuji? In short, like the title Kanzen Hanzai ni Neko wa Nanbiki Hitsuyouka? says: how many cats do you need for a perfect crime?

The third novel of Higashigawa Tokuya's Ikagawashi series, which has become familiar terrain by now. Once again we follow the (mis)adventures of private detective Ukai, Ryuuhei (and the office's landlord Akemi) on one side, and the police represented by inspector Sunagawa and his subordinate Shiki on the other side. Like with Higashigawa's other series (like the Koigakubo Academy Detective Club series and Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de), humour plays a large part in these stories. There are a lot of slapstick-funny moments and the whole tone of the book is quite light, but as always the humour shouldn't fool you, because these are all wonderfully constructed Golden Age style detective novels and even the funny moments might contain a crucial hint that leads to the solution of the case.

Like the first novel in the series, Kanzen Hanzai ni Neko wa Nanbiki Hitsuyouka is a bit on the easy side, but the way Higashigawa manages to blend the humour with the proper detective plot is still very enjoyable to see. Part of the humour is derived from mirroring scenes of Ukai and his disciple Ryuuhei, with the events that happen to inspector Sunagawa and Shiki. There is probably an awfully intellectual way to explain how the humour works through the juxtaposition of scenes, but I definitely can't. I just know I like this kind of humour.

The problem of who killed the client, and the mystery behind the moving manekineko is as said a bit easy. The phrase Simpsons did it is strangely enough usable here (no, it's not the Mr. Burns story), but even without having seen it, the hint seems just too... obvious. Especially after the first two novels, the presentation of the main hint seemed a bit crude. There is another murder in the story, of someone at a funeral, and that was much better in terms of tying it up to seemingly meaningless humorous banter. In fact, I very much liked this murder at the funeral (not to be confused with Christie's After the Funeral).

The cat-theme did bring up memories of a discussion I was once present at on so-called cat-mysteries. When is it appropiate to call something a cat-mystery (or more broadly; an animal mystery)? Kanzen Hanzai ni Neko wa Nanbiki Hitsuyouka for example does feature a lot of cat themes, like the manekineko, the murderer's cat mask and the search for the missing cat, but some might argue for fiction where cats themselves play an active role in the case. A series like Akagawa Jirou's Mikeneko Holmes can thus be considered the cat-mystery, but one could also consider a cat leading detectives to clues / murderers to be a bit unrealistic. And I guess that Morikawa Tomoki's Cat Food (with magical cats) is also out of the questions. And if we are only looking at mystery fiction where animals act...well, you'd expect the animal in question to behave, would it be possible to consider Gyakuten Saiban / Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney a parrot mystery?

And yes, this was not that interesting a review.  It's relatively easy to write about a really good, or bad book, but filling a post on something slightly beneath average - average - slightly above average is surprisingly difficult.

Original Japanese title(s): 東川篤哉 『完全犯罪に猫は何匹必要か？』

『ドグラ・マグラ』

胎児よ

胎児よ

何故躍る

母親の心がわかって

おそろしいのか

『ドグラ・マグラ』

Ding dong... dong.... dong...... --------

The continuing sound of a bell faraway awakened me. I found myself in a small room, with only one bed and one chair as its decoration. A barrred window provided the only light in the room. It was midday. Strange. This is really strange. I have no memory of anything before the toiling of the bells.

I touched my own face, to find glasses there. A chin sticking out. Strange. This was not a face I knew. 

Suddenly, I heard knocking on the wall. A girl's voice cried out.

"My love, my love, my love, my love! Do you hear me? Answer me if you hear me. My love. My love. Say you remember me. It is I, your bride you yourself killed. But they brought me back to life, so just say you remember me, and who you are, and we can go freely, back home!" 

"She is right, you know." A man had appeared in my room. "Do you remember who you are?"

No, I replied . I had no memory of this room, the girl next door, this man or even myself.
 

"Do not worry, in due time, you will remember who you are. Let me introduce myself, I am professor Wakabayashi of Kyushu Imperial University. You are the subject of an experiment by the brilliant professor Masaki, who died last month. Professor Masaki was working on a method to cure mental patients. He believed that madness is a form of genetically inherited memory. It is passed on for hundreds of generations, making some people relive the memories of his ancestors. The professor has gone now, but he believed you would be his first succesful subject. And indeed, you have finally awakened from a long slumber and you are on the verge of remembering what happened to you."

I was not sure what the man was talking about. Was I a madman? While I was not clothed in a straightjacket, this room did look like a clinic's room. Would this explain why I have no memories of before I awoke?

"I want you to read this now. Professor Masaki, and I, believe that this will help you remember your past," the man said, and he took a book and a bunch of papers from his bag. I took the scrap of paper on top.

The Three Great Occult Books

The Three Great Occult Books (Sandaikisho) refer to the three Japanese detective / fantasy novels The Black Death Mansion Murder Case (Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken, 1935) Dogura Magura (1935) and Offerings to Nothingness (Kyomu he no Kumotsu, 1964). Some add Takemoto Kenji's Paradise Lost Inside a Box (Hako no Naka no Shitsuraku, 1977), calling them the Four Great Occult Books, but there is no general consensus about this. In China, the term kisho refers to works of great, superior quality, as used in the Four Great Classical Novels, but in Japan the term adds the nuance of strangeness, deviantism and occultism.

As soon as I saw the title Dogura Magura, I felt my whole body shudder. Professor Wakabayashi seemed pleased to see me react like that.

"You're remembering. Here, read this now," he said and he handed me two small pocket books, with questionable covers. The text was in Japanese, but I could read it for some reason. It read Dogura Magura. I started to read the two books. It felt like it took me days, weeks to go through it, but professor Wakabayashi was always standing there, watching my every reaction to the story told within the pages.
 

Dogura Magura (1935)

By Yumeno Kyuusaku.

A Summary

1926. A young, amnesiac man awakens in an isolation room of the Kyushu Imperial University. He is told by professor Wakabayashi that he is the subject of an experiment to cure mental patients and that they are on the verge of a breakthrough. The man only needs to remember who he is and what happened to succesfully end the experiment. The man is led into the room of the deceased head of the project, professor Masaki, and is shown several documents and videos to help his memory. Among them are the research theses of professor Masaki on psychological heredity, a document called Dogura Magura written by a madman and the curious research of professor Wakabayashi and Masaki on the murder of the young madman Kure Ichirou on his young bride Moyoko. And so the amnesiac tries to figure out who he is and what led him to be the subject of an experiment, despite the fact that every document seems to contradict the other.

Dogura magura: history unclear. Thought to be derived from the verbs tomado-u (v., to be confused), menkura-u (v., to be perplexed) in a Kyushu dialect.

I didn't understand anything. Why were professor Masaki and Wakabayashi appearing in this novel? Why did my situation seem to mimic that of the narrator of Dogura Magura? Why was there no clear ending to the story? Was the story all the imagination of a madman? Was it a dream? Or was someone trying to set him up? Was the narrator Kure Ichirou? The professor Wakabayashi who stood in front of me, threw a smile.

"You're confused. Naturally. I am sure you have a lot of questions. But first, tell me what you think about Dogura Magura. I will answer any questions afterwards. Write your thoughts down here. I will go out and get you food while you're writing," the professor said and left the room. He came back after what felt like an eternity. I had in my hands my note, of which I had no memory of writing.

About Dogura Magura

By: ???

A very interesting story, as it is narrated by a man who might or might not be mad. Like the narrator, the reader is thrown into a spiral of confusion, as he is told the strange story of how the young man Kure Ichirou became mad and murdered his bride. The various documents presented to the narrator make up the bulk of the narrative and seem to guide the narrator slowly towards the truth behind the murder, the motive and the real murderer of Moyoko, but nothing is ever what it seems at first sight, or even second or third sight. Depending on whether you believe the narrator to be mad or not, and to believe everything, nothing or parts of the documents presented, you might figure out a truth, but there is no definite answer to anything. Considering that within Dogura Magura, there is a document also called Dogura Magura that is written by a madman, anything seems to go. This is a detective/mystery story in the broad sense of the word, dealing with a mystery (surrounding the narrator), but you're never sure about anything. The chaotic structure is one of the books defining traits however and the writing style is sure to suck any reader into its betrayingly deep story.

I handed the note to professor Wakabayashi. He seemed pleased. Now it was time for my questions, if I had any, he said. I had many.

"Am I the narrator of Dogura Magura? Why are you in the book... and here in front of me? What has Dogura Magura to do with my memory loss?"

"First of all, this isn't 1926, but 2013. And I am both the Wakabayashi from the book, and not. And as for your relation to Dogura Magura, let me first assure you are not the narrator from the book. But as for you who you are, you'll find out when you read the rest of the documents I have here.

Detecting Texts - The metaphysical detective story - from Poe to postmodernism (1999)

By: Patricia Merivale and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney

"A metaphysical detective story is a text that parodies or subverts traditional detective-story conventions - such as narrative closure and the detective's role as surrogate reader - with the intention, or at least the effect, of asking questions about mysteries of being and knowing which transcend the mere machinations of the mystery plot. Metaphysical detective stories often emphasize this transcendence, morever, by becoming self-reflexive."(p. 2)

"Is Dogura Magura a metaphysical detective story? Is this why you showed me this?," I asked. The professor coughed.

"Metaphysical detective story, postmodern detective story, anti-mystery, there have been many terms used in the past, and in the future for these kind of novels. Though post-modern would be strange to use on a book from 1935. But I didn't show you this note because I agree, or disagree with it. But it is connected to you. But I see you are tired. Go to sleep now, and we'll talk tomorrow."

I wanted to talk more, to figure out who I was, but professor Wakabayashi walked out of the room and locked it behind him. I sat on the bed. It was night now. I tried to sleep, but was afraid I would lose my memories again. Then suddenly, a man tapped me on the head. I had never seen the man before. I think.
 

"I am professor Masaki. I heard you woke up, so I came here to talk to you."
 

"Professor Masaki? But I heard you were dead?," I asked surprised.
 

"Heard that from professor Wakabayashi, right? Hahahahaha, I tell you, don't believe everything he says. He is trying to prove something, and will do anything to achieve his goal. Read this, and you will understand everything."

He gave me a sheet of paper. I looked up. The professor was gone.

Lament of the Reviewer

By: Professor Masaki Keishi of Kyushu Imperial University

▲Aaaaaaaa------ Look at the man trying to write down his thoughts in a logical way on something illogical... Trying to create order out of disorder. He tries to rectify it, to present it the chaos to others, but in his attemps, he falls victim to the confusion himself....

▲Aaaaaaa------ Look at the man with his notes... notes on structure... notes on the metaphysical... notes on narrative... but none of his notes describe how the feeling of the book... he was never told how to explain chaos through the order of grammar and words....

▲Aaaaaaa------  Look at the man staring at the book. Did he understand it? Didn't he understand it? Could he have understood it? Could anyone have understood it? Is it possible to understand something that does not wants to be understood?

▲Aaaaaaa------ Let us lament the reviewer, let us lament him, for he will not be among us sane anymore------- Aaaaaaaaa

It was morning. Professor Wakabayashi was standing in the room. He asked me what I was reading. I told him of professor Masaki's visit.

"I am sorry to say, but that is utterly impossible. Like I told you yesterday, professor Masaki died last month. He commited suicide, you know. But enough about him. Have you remembered already? Do you know why Dogura Magura is so important to you?"

I answered no. Strange. I felt my body wanted to scream yes. What is it? Do I understand? Strange.

"Well then, no need to hurry. I am sure you'll remember everything in due time. Here is a bit more for you to read," he said and he handed me a sheet of paper, and the two Dogura Magura books. The sheet of paper had one sentence.

It is impossible to summarize the book in a coherent manner

"Don't mind that," the professor said, "just try to read Dogura Magura again, maybe you will figure it out this time."

I read, and I read, and nothing came out of it. I was sucked into the world again, but I never understood why. Not even what had happened. After I had finished the book, I decided to read the back of the book. The final sentence of the publisher's introduction burned into my eyes.

It is said that whoever reads this book, becomes mad

I felt a slight dizziness.  Even though the midday sun was shining through the barred windows, everything started to become dark. Complete darkness. The last thing I remember before passing out, was the continuing sound of a bell faraway.

Ding dong... dong.... dong...... --------

Original Japanese title(s): 夢野久作　『ドグラ・マグラ』

Justice ~Future Mystery~

FIRE AWAY 心解き放つ

研ぎ澄ました瞳で

全ての謎を解き明かす

胸騒ぎの未来を今

"Justice ~Future Mystery~" (Two-Mix)

Fire away and release your heart

Solve all the mystery

With your sharp eyes

Can you feel the thrilling future now?

"Justice ~Future Mystery~" (Two-Mix)

I thought getting my Professor Layton vs Gyakuten Saiban review out on the net three days after the release was fast, but apparently, I can write/play games even faster. Hmm.

The legendary attorney Naruhodo/Phoenix Wright was disbarred eight years ago for a crime he didn't commit. He promptly escaped from maxi He passed some years as a poker player / pianist, but has now returned to the law world in Gyakuten Saiban 5 (to be released as Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies in the near future). And things have changed in eight years. Dark times are upon the legal world. The public has lost its trust in the legal system. Even attorneys and prosecutors themselves don't believe that justice is served in court anymore and feel forced to fabricate evidence themselves to ensure they reach their goals. Heck, things have gone so crazy that even prosecutors convicted for murder, can still stand in court and proceed their work! Naruhodo, backed up by his two subordinates Odoroki and Kokone, once agains stands in court to turn this grim situation around like he has done so many times in the past.

A new Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney game! Longtime readers know that I am a big fan of this courtroom drama game. I wrote my bachelor thesis based on the script of Gyakuten Saiban 3. I have discussed the game mechanics, the manga, the musical, the movie and spin-off titles like Gyakuten Kenji 2 and Professor Layton vs Gyakuten Saiban in the past on this blog. But a new title in the main series? It's been many years since Gyakuten Saiban 4, so I was very excited. Heck, I bought my Nintendo DS for the original Gyakuten Saiban, and my current Nintendo 3DS mostly for Gyakuten Saiban 5 (and Animal Crossing, of course).

As a detective game, I still think that the Gyakuten Saiban series is undefeated. There are many ways to translate detective fiction to a game, but the method original creator Takumi Shuu introduced in the world many years ago was just brilliant. The player had to find contradictions in testimonies in court, which in turn lead to new testimonies (with new contradictions), and it was by this process that the story progressed, because each new testimony brought you new information. What is so great about this system is, is that works as both a gameplay mechanic and detective fiction. A flawed detective game like Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Earring for example just forces you find a lot of evidence, and then suddenly everything is explained for you in a movie without any interaction. This might work in a book, but is boring as hell in a game. In the Gyakuten Saiban games however, every testimony gives you that distinct great feeling when you solve a mystery, and it makes you feel like a brilliant (but struggling) detective when you finally see the big picture of the case. Add in quirky humor, a great music and HOTBLOODED FINGERPOINTING, and there you have Gyakuten Saiban in a nutshell.

Last year's crossover title Professor Layton vs Gyakuten Saiban felt really fresh, because a slew of new mechanics and a unique world setting, brought us a new way to enjoy the courtroom. Witchcraft in a trial? This game made it work, and mechanics like mob testimonies kept the player on their toes. Gyakuten Saiban 5 however is set in the real world and does not differ in principle much from the previous games. Yes, there is that new mechanic based on psychology where you look for contradictions between a witness' testimony and his emotions, which actually works out quite well, but for some reason feels less 'organic' to the trial parts, than the magic tome and witchcraft rules in Professor Layton vs. Gyakuten Saiban. There is too much of a gap between parts where they keep hammering on the fact you need evidence in the court, and you then talk about how it is a contradiction that someone was feeling glad even though she should've been sad.

But more of the same of Gyakuten Saiban, is still quite good. There are some interesting cases to be solved here, including one that seems to be committed by a youkai (a supernatural being), for it was committed in a locked room where the seal on an ancient monster has been removed. Great stuff, as　the story 1) actually plays on the youkai boom in Japan that started several years ago, and 2) the theories and legends surrounding youkai are actually of vital importance to the plot, in a Kyougoku Natsuhiko way. Though I have to admit, the case also reminded me of a certain Mori Hiroshi story too. The case in the game is short, and you figure out who the murderer is quite fast, but the way the twists and turns are plotted, is very good.

Another case is set at a law high school with special attorney/prosecutor/judge classes. What makes this case so memorable is that it ties in well with the overall theme of the game, the so-called dark times of the law, without being too obvious so. The problem is addressed through the teaching goals of several teachers at the school (some think it' okay to forge evidence to get your client off the hook), but it never feels like they rubbing it your face. The case itself, where a teacher is killed in the same way as a mock trial scenario written by a student, is fun too, as it combines the school setting and the murder-according-to-a-scenario in an interesting way.

There are one or two instances, where events of an earlier case, are mirrored in a not-very-obvious way in later cases: this is excellent plotting: it shows that the writers didn't just brainstorm a couple of cases and stuck them together. The youkai case for example addresses issues which wll be of importance in the last case Naruhodo has to solve in this game, but it is luckily done subtle and shows how to do a proper storyline that consists of seperate, but related cases. In Gyakuten Kenji, this was done by tying up the storylines of the seperate cases through an overlapping entity, but I much more prefer this thematic mirroring done in Gyakuten Saiban 5. One problem however is that there were quite a few instances of cases in Gyakuten Saiban 5 mirroring events of earlier games: at some times does give the player a feeling of deja vu, because it is basically presenting the same case in a slightly different jacket. This is not foreshadowing or thematic mirroring, this is just reusing an old plot.

Oh, and this has always been a series that has its share of interesting murder settings, which include film studios, the prosecutor's office, courtrooms, an amusement park and an airplane, but even I was surprised they skipped 'water' and went straight for... outer space (in a way). Overall though, it does feel like Gyakuten Saiban 5 was made a bit 'safer' than spin-off title Gyakuten Kenji 2. The latter for example featured an Ellery Queen-like search in a prison and a much more tightely structured overall plotline. Gyakuten Saiban 5 is more or less what you'd expect, both in gameplay mechanics as in cases, and that is not a bad thing, but makes it hard to distinguish from other games in the series.

It's definitely not a perfect game though. It in fact suffers a bit from having too much legacy: the return of Naruhodo, the 'dark times of the law' and a bloated cast of returning characters in the final case which means nothing to someone who has never played a Gyakuten Saiban game before. It's not incomprehensible, but its hard to get into for a newcomer. Which is a shame, because it's one of the best detective games on the 3DS at the moment. Oh, and this has become a pet peeve of mine lately, but like in The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, this game has problems with presenting a coherent narration: the game keeps changing the point of view, going from this character to another. And at times, the character narrating (in the first person) isn't even the same as the character you're playing, mirroring the weird Watson/Holmes problem I encountered last week.

As someone who loves detecive fiction, would I recommend this game? Yes. And yes. The feeling you get when you slowly, but surely solve little contradictions in testimonies until you manage to turn things around in the courtroom, is something only this series can provide. There are some great cases in this game and thematic mirroring between cases is something what should be done more often in detective series. It is the fifth entry in a series though and builds upon that past, so you should play the previous games first.

As a Gyakuten Saiban fan, would I recommend this game? Yes. And yes. It feels at time very much as a reaction, to the (sometimes somewhat negative) reception of Gyakuten Saiban 4, but it does that mostly well, in my opinion. Music and animation are top-notch, the story addresses some serious themes that can be seen as a natural result of all the major cases Naruhodo has solved until now and there is quite a bit of fan service. It does give you a deju vu feeling at times though, and I don't think the way the new character Kokone is implemented in the story is correct (i.e. she comes off to me as a Mary Sue), but hey, it's a new Gyakuten Saiban 5 and we've all been waiting for this.

Original Japanese title(s): 　『逆転裁判５』. TBR as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

Sherlockian!

"I think that I had better go, Holmes."

"Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell"

 "A Scandal in Bohemia"

Okay, so maybe blogs on Japanese detective fiction are a bit of a niche, so I shouldn't expect many more of them to just pop up. But what about something on detective games? Not just from the 'traditional' game reviewer's point of view, but also as a piece of detective fiction? Please?

The actions of Sherlock Holmes have not always been clear to John H. Watson, despite having worked many years with the illustrious detective. Sometimes things only make sense if you have a highly analytical mind like Holmes himself. But lately, Holmes' actions have seemed not only strange, but outright suspicious to Watson. The newspapers also seem to suggest that Mr. Holmes of Baker Street isn't all he seems: they seem to have evidence that proves that some of Holmes' best cases, were in fact set up by Holmes himself and that threats, blackmail and even murder aren't uncommon for him. Watson naturally does not want to believe the newspapers, but during the dynamic duo's investigation of the brutal murder on a Bishop, the good doctor can't but see that Holmes is indeed acting very strange, and he can only watch as his greatest fear slowly becomes true in the adventure game The Testament of Sherlock Holmes.

I reviewed Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes and the Silver Earring in March: The Testament of Sherlock Homes is the most recent entry in their longrunning series with Holmes. Previous Holmes games featured crossovers with Chtulhu, Arsene Lupin and Jack the Ripper, but Testament is a pure Holmesian affair. I have to admit though, after the grim reality of Sherlock Holmes VS Jack the Ripper, the plot surrounding the The Testament is a bit farfetched and slightly non-Holmes-like, with very exotic poisons and a rather explosive endgame, and there are some bad scene transitions and plot points left open at the end, but it is overall quite captivating, I have to admit.

The biggest problem of the game however, is that the developers didn't seem to be able to make up how to implement both Holmes and Watson. In the novels/short stories (except for those two), the role of Watson is clear: he is the narrator, and serves to give the reader a look at Holmes from the outside. Through Watson, we see Holmes making enigmatic utterances about dogs that don't bark and for who knows for what reason walking around measuring rooms, making him the more mysterious, and more impressive when he explains what happened.

In Frogwares' games however, you're usually controlling Holmes, even though the story is narrated by Watson. It's a very strange gap between narration, and actual point of view and it results in a very shizophrenic experience. The Silver Earring had the same problem (only a lot more extreme), where you're controlling Holmes to gather evidence, but you are not Holmes: the character of Holmes makes his own deductions seperate from the player, and actually withholds information from both Watson, and the player! So the game tries to accomplish two things at the same time: allow the player to 'be' Holmes, while at the same time being able to surprise the player with one of Holmes' genius deductions. But it feels so strange, because it is only achieved by dividing the player interaction in the two categories of narrative point of view, and gameplay-wise point of view. Most of the time, Holmes decides to go somewhere without informing Watson (the player point of view), then the player controls Holmes doing whatever without any explanation as to why, and then afterwards, Holmes (might) explain to Watson (once again, the player) what they just did.

Takumi Shuu correctly noted that the above two points, surprising the player, as well as allowing the player become a genius detective, are hard to accomplish within a game. His Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney series therefore does not have a genius detective, and is more focused on short bursts of tht feeling where the player suddenly figures out everything.

There are some instances in Testament where you control Watson, but most of them are very tedious and meaningless jobs. There are instances where you first control Holmes, then ask Watson to get a book five meters away, after which you control Watson. You get the book, give it to Holmes, and the player control returns to Holmes. Useless perspective switches which don't add to the experience.

And that is a shame, because there are many instances where this could have implemented much better, especially as the story focuses on Watson's suspicions of Holmes. Early in the game, Holmes and Watson split up, and Holmes (accidently) causes a death. Watson arrives later and can't help but wonder what happened there (and this only helps his suspicion grow). But the players knows it was accidental, because he controlled Holmes up to that moment. Had the player controlled Watson and only seen the result, then the suspicion would be grounded. As it is now, it's just bad story-telling.

Another unsolved problem of The Silver Earring are the logic puzzles. Apparently, everybody in London used complex IQ puzzles to lock their belongings at the turn of the previous century, instead of just lock and key. Hidden love letters? Hidden in a chess puzzle. Vault? Locked with a Queens Problem. Little box with stuff for work? IQ puzzles. In the Professor Layton games, it is part of the setting to have puzzles literally everywhere ('oh, that reminds me of a puzzle'), but for a game striving to recreate 19th century London, these puzzles feel extremely artifical.

Is it all bad? No, actually, it is not. I might seem very negative about The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, but I actually quite enjoyed it. When it's doing things right, it's really doing things right. There are some deduction scenes where you gather evidence, and then have to logically combine the things you saw/heard, to arrive at a conclusion. While easy, these scenes really put you in the feet of a great detective logically figuring things out. One part in particular is very good, where you deduce what a man did in a room, by looking at the state of the room itself.

The atmosphere is also fantastic. Frogwares has been working for many years with the Sherlock Holmes title, and have archieved two things: they managed to replicate the world through attention to detail. Walking the streets of Whitechapel, really feels like walking through the streets of Whitechapel. 221b Street? Little details like VR shot in the wall, or a photograph of the woman in Holmes' night stand are not neccessary from a gamewise point of view, but add so much to the Holmes feel. But Frogwares has also introduced a slew of interesting locations and places to their Holmes world in the last few years, and while we don't have visit our favorite bookshops Barnes, we see some familiar faces in Whitechapel (from Sherlock Holmes VS Jack the Ripper) that really give us the feeling that this is indeed a coherent world.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is a decent game, and quite fun for Holmes fans. The overall design, from story to world view, is great, but it is the transition to game that doesn't always work that well. The split between narration point of view, and gameplay point of view (=Holmes vs. Watson) just doesn't work out that well and many puzzles feel very artificial. Frogwares' newest Holmes game, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, is scheduled for next year and I hope they manage to smooth out these problems.

The Clue of the Chocolate Box

お願い 想いが届くといいな
対決の日が来た

チョコレイト・ディスコ

 『チョコレートディスコ』(Perfume)

I hope my feelings reach him

The day to face him has come

Chocolate Disco

"Chocolate Disco" (Perfume)

Ignoring the Ellery Queen review series (which were re-reads), it's been over half a year since I last reviewed an English novel (I did discuss three Dutch novels three months ago though!). And even then I read it in Japanese. So I thought it was finally time to read that classic of detective fiction. And the next review will also be of something Western, though probably not something most readers would expect. Or actually, if they have been here long enough, they would definitely expect that.

In Anthony Berkeley's The Poisoned Chocolates Case, the Crimes Circle, a group of amateur detectives led Roger Sheringham, tries its hand at solving a case that has proven to be too difficult for Scotland Yard. The case: a box of chocolates was delivered to Sir Eustace Pennefather at his club, which he in turn gave to fellow member Graham Bendix. Bendix took the box home to give to his wife. The box of chocolates turn out be poisoned however and Joan Bendix dies; Graham luckily has eaten less chocolates and was 'just' severely ill. The police has no idea who poisoned the chocolates or why. At the suggestion of Sheringham, all six members try to figure out who the culprit is, and to everyone's surprise, every member manages to present a completely different explanation to the case!

Yes, this Japanese cover is absolutely awesome.

As is the book itself, by the way. The Poisoned Chocolates Case is of course most famous for its structure: the six members all focus on different aspects of the case, employ different methods (induction / deduction / combination /etc) and propose different solutions to the case, and all theories sound very plausible. What becomes clear as the story progresses though, is how every detectives works in a biased way (even if they don't notice it themselves), choosing to look at what fits their theory, or what they think is the focal point of the case, ignoring elements that don't fit their train of thought.

Detective stories with multiple (false/incorrect) solutions aren't rare, of course. In fact, it's a convention I really like in detective fiction, as I love to see how ideas develop into full-fledged theories; whether something is true or not, is of less importance to me. There seem to be roughly types to the false solution: 1) the false solution based on faked evidence by the real murderer and 2) the false solution based on a faulty deduction by the detective. The first type is quite prevelant in the Queen novels, most famously in The Greek Coffin Mystery, where the murderer keeps planting clues to manipulate Ellery's deductions. The second type needs a bit of clarification: with a faulty deduction, I don't mean faulty as in that the logic itself is wrong, but rather based on incomplete / false information. This seems very close to the first type, with as biggest difference the fact that this isn't set up by the murderer, it happens completely independent from the murderer's intentions. The Poisoned Chocolates Case is of course an example of the second type. Each of the detectives choose to ignore significant elements of the case, which is why they all arrive at different solutions. What is so great is that the solutions are all convincing, thanks to the perfect presentation skills of the members of the Crimes Club (and Berkeley's writing).

An extreme version of the second type is seen in Van Madoy's Marutamachi Revoir, where the detectives purposely construct very plausible, but (probably) false theories, deliberately ignoring evidence and brushing elements of a case off as insignificant. In the special (non-official) courtrooms of Marutamachi Revoir, the goal is to convince the judge, which means that the detectives are practically encouraged to just make something up, as long as the judge believes it and the solution fits their goal.

Having this many solutions of course leads to a post-modernistic ambiance: what can we believe if solutions keep getting rejected. The brilliancy of The Poisoned Chocolates Case lies in the fact that despite the somewhat pessimistic stance towards truth, there is actually a point to the various solutions which saves us from the helplessness of post-modernism. Would I call it an anti-mystery? No, definitely not, and that is all because Berkeley conciouslessly walked along, but never across the line.

Berkeley does really like poking at the genre though. Not only does he give you a handful of solutions, his Crimes Circle is full of the amateur detectives you've come to expect from the genre. Their upper-class conciousness and their pride in being 'experts in criminology' is simply hilarious, and the remarks they throw at each other. Of Berkeley's other books, I've only read Jumping Jenny, which was basically also just making fun of Roger Sheringham. I'd almost feel sorry for him. If he wasn't such a snob.

In conclusion: a must-read. It is both a critique of, and an ode to the classic genre and what makes it fun and it works!

Oh, and pure chocolate is the best.

Author! Author!

"All the world's a stage"

"As you like it"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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