The Mistake of the Machine

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Nobody likes people who cut in line, but I decided to move this review forward in the schedule because it's a recent release (it released on June 20th). I actually have enough reviews written and standing by to last me until well into October at the moment...

Machina looks and sounds precisely like you'd expect from a high school girl with long black hair. Except, she isn't one. In fact, she isn't even human. Machina is one of a small group of detective robots made by professor Sakamaki with superior analytic and investigative skills. The professor has kept his inventions a secret for most of the world, but he occasionally sends his robots out on investigations for friends and fellow scientists. His grandson Masayuki is one of the people who knows about the robots. One day however, three of the detective robots go haywire and escape from the laboratory. Machina and Masayuki have to retrieve the robots and figure out what the bugs are in their AI brains in Morikawa Tomoki's Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken ("The Undefined Adventures of Semiconductor Detective Machina").

And while you might think of Blade Runner, the cover kinda gives away this is not a gritty science fiction thriller about ethics of living beings and all. It's just a cute story.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken was released not long after Morikawa Tomoki won the 2014 Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize with Snow White. I loved the wonderful fantasy-filled, yet undeniable orthodox mystery novel and I've been reading his books since. And for those who have been following Morikawa's detectives along with me, must have noticed that all of his novels are heavily influenced by fantasy and/or science fiction elements, but are yet always completely fair mystery novels. Snow White gave the detectives a magic mirror that could tell the answer to any question, and yet it gave enough room for the reader to interact with the story at a deductive level. Shapeshifting cats or all mighty golems? It's still as fair as anything Christie or Queen wrote. So I wasn't too worried when I heard that Morikawa's newest book featured detective robots.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken's premise of a hunt for, not a crime, not a criminal and not even the truth, but detectives is quite interesting, even though the fundamental dynamics don't seem to change much from most of Morikawa's novels. In all of his novels until now, the reader was confronted with multiple parties who try to outsmart each other (some in possession of magical, but predefined powers): you'd be fed conclusions of such battles of the brain, which might seem unbelievable at first, but when it is explained why or how something came to be, you realize that everything was fairly hinted at. In Cat Food for example, shapeshifting cats kept trying to outsmart each other in the hopes of saving / killing a group of humans and it was always possible to logically deduce how actions the other party would take based on the given information.

Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken does bring something new here, because this time the antagonist robot detectives aren't acting logically per se. That is, they do act according to logic, but that logic has an inherent flaw, because of the bugs in their programming. Each of the robots has a different fault in his/her AI brain, and it is up to Machina, Masayuki and the reader to deduce what that bug precisely is, based on the actions of the robots. Reverse engeneering of logic.

The book reminds me most of those scenes where Watson and his literary descendents wonder what the heck the detective is talking about / doing now now. The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime? Beating a dead pig? These events may seem mysterious and strange, but there is always a certain logic behind these actions. Usually, this logic is something that we all share (even if we don't realize it immediately), but in Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken, the logic of the detective robots is flawed. But it is always possible to deduce what that flaw precisely is, and that's what makes this book a fun read: it shifts the focus from an event to be detected, to the brains of the detectives themselves as focus of detection.

And on the whole, I'd say that  Handoutai Tantei Machina no Miteigina Bouken is another fun, lighthearted mystery that shows Morikawa's love for the 'great detective' trope. For some, it might feel a bit too lighthearted and the execution of its premise, while good, never reaches the great heights it did with Snow White, but I had a lot of fun reading this. And that's the most important, right?

Oh, for those interested, these are the reviews on this blog of other Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize winners: Otsuichi's GOTH (2003), Norizuki Rintarou's Nakakubi ni Kiitemiro (2005), Higashino Keigo's Yougisha X no Kenshin (The Devotion of Suspect X) (2006), Arisugawa Alice's Jooukoku no Shiro (2008), Ooyama Seichirou's Misshitsu Shuushuuka (2013) and Snow White - Meitantei Sanzunokawa Kotowari to Shoujo no Kagami wa Sen no Me wo Motsu (2014).

Original Japanese title(s): 森川智喜　『半導体探偵マキナの未定義な冒険』

A Dish Best Served Cold

忘れかけてた甘い夏の日を

あれからどれくらいの時間がたつの？

大好きだったあの笑顔だけしばらく近くで重ねあう日々を

Ah　もう戻れない時を小さく祈っている

「君がいない夏」 (DEEN) 

Those sweet summer days I've begun to forget

How much time has past since then?

The days with just the smile I loved close to me passing by

Aah, I silently pray for the time we can no longer return to

"The Summer Without You" (DEEN)

One of the best ice dessert I ever ate was a patbingsu in Seoul. Unlike Japanese shaved ice, which is only covered with a syrup, patbingsu was loaded with many yummy ingredients like fruits. And talking about ice, I am not that big a fan of matcha and black sesame ice cream you see so often lately. Also, I never did muster up the courage to eat the soy sauce soft icecream they sold at the Kikkoman factory...

The Petit Bourgeoisie series
The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case (2004)
The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case (2006)

Kobato Jougorou and Osanai Yuki are two model second year high school students. Indeed, all they think of everyday is to how to be the perfect citizen, a real petit bourgeoisie. But their examplary behaviour is just a disguise, a goal to distract themselves from their inherent character faults: Jougorou has the habit of flaunting with his deductive capabilities, while Yuki loves taking revenge on people who have done her wrong. On the first day of summer holiday, Jougorou is visited by Yuki, who wants him to join her with her summer plans: to eat all the summer special desserts / icecream / cakes / other sweets the many bakeries in their town offer. Jougorou tags along on her fattening summer plans, but during their quest for sweetness, the two come across a gang led by someone who has an ax to grind with Yuki. Can the duo uphold their perfect, upstanding image as the petit bourgeoisie in Yonezawa Honobu's Kaki Gentei Tropical Parfait Jiken ("The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case")?

The first book in Yonezawa Honobu's Petit Bourgeoisie series, The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case, was a sweet surprise: while I am not a fan of the everyday life mystery genre, which usually revolves around rather mundane troubles, I had to admit that quite enjoyed the things Yonezawa did in that book. How to Make Delicious Chocolate Milk, a story where Jougorou and Yuki deduce how three cups of chocolate milk were served, was fantastic: the problem was extremely simple and mundane, but the logic behind the duo used to find out how the milk could have been served under the specific circumstances was something you'd expect in an all-out investigation by Inspector Queen. The protagonists were quite funny too, so I was looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

To start with the conclusion, I like The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case. Heck, I like it overall better than The Spring Special Strawberry Tart. Overall, I stress, because I don't think that any moment Summer Special reaches the heights of the chocolate milk story of the first book, but the overall story of Summer Special is better structured, I think and more engaging to read. Like the first book, The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case consists of multiple short story-esque chapters, but with an overarching story to connect all these stories (the sweets Yuki wants to eat in the summer).

The best of the bunch is the opening story, Charlotte Dake wa Boku no Mono ("Only the Charlottes for me"), which is a fantastic inverted crime mystery, but of course in the vein of a everyday life mystery. Jougorou is presented with the problem of having to hide the fact he actually already ate one of the three charlotte cakes he bought: he hopes to make it seem like he only bought two. It has the thrills of a good inverted story, with Jougorou trying to hide all the evidence that hints at the existence of a third cake and him having eaten it, but on the other hand, hiding the fact you stole some sweets is pretty much the most childish crime there is. For me, the everyday life mystery works best when it applies deep analytical thinking on extremely mundane problems, because it's just funny.

The other stories deal with code cracking and some other mysteries, but and while not bad, none of them really reach the level of the opening story (except for maybe the final chapter). What is interesting though, is the fact The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case does deal more with crime than The Spring Special Strawberry Tart Case. Sure, there was a stolen bike there and there was a bit more 'regular' (criminal) mysteries as it neared the end, but it seems like The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case is a bit more 'normal' criminal mystery oriented, than just focused purely on everyday life mysteries.

The Summer Special Tropical Parfait Case is a sweet book, and has just the right mix of crime and everyday life mystery to keep the reader satisfied. One warning though: you will want to eat something sweet when you read this.

Original Japanese title(s): 米澤穂信 『夏期限定トロピカルパフェ事件』

Murder under Glass

「後学のためにお聞きしたいんだが、この後どうなる？」

「殺しはしねぇでも生かしてもおかねぇ。もっと 詳しく聞きてぇか？」

「いや、結構」

　『探偵はBarにいる2　ススキノ大交差点』

"Just out of curiosity, what's going to happen with him?"

"We won't kill him, but we won't let him live either. Want to know the details?"

"No, I've heard enough"

"The Detective is in the Bar 2 - The Great Crossroads of Susukino"

While I do think metropolises have their charm, I just never get used to actually living there. It's just too... busy. The image of a never-sleeping city sounds fun, but it's just too... restless for me. Everything, everyone always on the movement. One of my scariest experiences in a metropolis was..... simply taking the bus in Busan, South Korea. Everything needs to go fast there, so you need to be standing at the exit before the bus reaches the stop, and the bus basically starts driving away from the stop while your first foot is still somewhere in the air halfway the bus and the pavement.

There is always something happening in the red light district Susukino in Sapporo, capital of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Sometimes something good, sometimes something bad. Masako, one of the popular 'ladies' in a crossdresser's bar, winning a TV talent hunt with her illusion show is something good. Masako being murdered is something bad. The unnamed protagonist private detective and his sidekick Takada wants to know who is responsible for the death of their good friend, but nobody wants to talk about the case for some reason. The detectives eventually pick up some rumors that Masako might have been 'erased' because she used to be romantically involved with a local politician who has been on the rise lately. But the moment the duo starts to investigate this trail, their two heads are marked by both supporters of the politician as well as his enemies (who aim for a I-scratch-your-back scheme). Can they find out who killed Masako whilse being chased all over Sapporo in the 2013 movie Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 - Susukino Daikousaten ("The Detective is in the Bar 2 - The Great Crossroads of Susukino")?

Tantei wa Bar ni Iru is a film series based on Azuma Naomi's Susukino Detective novel series: the films are named after the first book in the series, even though the first movie was based on the second novel: Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 is based on the fifth novel (Tantei wa Hitoribocchi; "The Detective On His One"). The basic set-up for both the novel and the film series is the same: a comedic hardboiled detective series starrring an unnamed detective and his assistant, set in the red light district Susukino in Sapporo (Azuma's hometown). The titular bar refers to the bar Keller Ohata, which the protagonist uses as his base of operations: he doesn't own a mobile phone, so people who want to reach him have to call there.

I haven't seen the first movie, but the basic setting is very simple, so you'll get into it really quickly. In fact, the whole film moves at quite a fast pace: the protagonist and his assistant are marked by their enemies very early in the story and a lot of the movie consists not out of the detective following every trail he comes across in search for Masako's murderer, rather than fleeing for, and occasionally fighting with the many, many people who try to kill him (and occasionally coming across a hint during his flight). Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 is an easy watch and as a hardboiled detective story definitely more about the journey, rather than the destination. But that's not a bad thing: Ooizumi You (protagonist; also the voice actor of Professor Layton) and Matsuda Ryuuhei (the sidekick Takada) really fit their roles and their banter is just fantastic (the film is actually quite funny).

The ending does come rather suddenly though, and even if the journey was the main event, I wish the destination was a bit more impressive. It's not bad, per se, but the way the protagonist and his assistant basically stumble upon the whole truth behind Masako's murder is rather disappointing and feels extremely forced. I can imagine the scriptwriters discussing the endgame of this film: How are we going to give the detective a hint? Oh, you know, we can just let the murderer give at all away at the end. We only have a few minutes left for the ending, so yeah, let's just give it to him straight without any funny business!  Okay, it's not that bad, but depending on the viewer, the ending can disappoint extremely.

In my opinion, one of the more interesting points of Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 is the setting of Sapporo. Setting aside Yokomizo Seishi's novels, most Japanese mystery fiction is set in, or near capital Tokyo, or sometimes Osaka and Kyoto, so I always find it refreshing when a story is set somewhere else (see for example my reviews of Matsumoto Seichou's Ten to Sen or Nishimura Ken's Hakata Tantei File). Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 is mostly set in the capital of the north, and it has a distinct atmosphere. I have never visited Sapporo or the island of Hokkaido, so I loved seeing this part of Japan. The red light disctrict of Susukino also really comes alive in this movie, and the way it is depicted as partly a seedy neighbourhood, but also as a crossroads of destinies where all kinds of people gather to simply try to make a living, is similar to the way Shinjuku is depicted in series as Tantei Jinguuji Saburou and City Hunter (or Shibuya in the fantastic game Machi ~ Unmei no Kousaten). Sure, it's a very romantic version of the place, but I think these titles are exceptionally good at depicting a location as a living being with distinct characteristics and atmosphere.

As a comedy hardboiled detective movie, Tantei wa Bar ni Iru 2 -  Susukino Daikousaten is quite amusing. It won't be recorded in the annals of international detective fiction, but if you want to kill some time, spending some time wih the unnamed detective in Sapporo is certainly not a bad choice.

Original Japanese title(s): 『探偵はBarにいる２　ススキノ大交差点』

The Last Vampyre

Like a Bloody Storm

熱く Like a Bloody Stone 

血脈に刻まれた因縁に

浮き上がる消えない誇りの絆

握りしめて

『Bloody Stream』 (CODA)

Like a Bloody Storm

Hot like a bloody stone

The ever-floating bonds of pride

that are carved within the blood lineage of destiny

Hold on them tight

"Bloody Stream" (CODA)

I'm finally nearing the end of my backlog book list! That said, 'nearing' is just a relative word: considering the fact I lived off my gigantic to be read stash for more than a year, I could still continue normal business on this blog for months without getting new material.

Mitarai Kiyoshi series
Senseijutsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Astrology Murder Case") [1981]
Naname Yashiki no Hanzai ("The Crime at the Slanted Mansion") [1982]
Mitarai Kiyoshi no Aisatsu ("Mitarai Kiyoshi's Greetings") [1987]
Ihou no Kishi ("A Knight in Strange Lands") [1988]
Mitarai Kiyoshi no Dance ("Mitarai Kiyoshi's Dance") [1990]
Suishou no Pyramid ("The Crystal Pyramid") [1991]
Atopos [1993]
Nejishiki Zazetsuki  ("Screw-Type Zazetsuki") [2003]

Shimada Souji's Atopos starts a while after the troublesome shooting of the film Aida '87. Actress Matsuzaki Reona's new Hollywood adventure is Salome, a musical drama movie she wrote, with some help of horror writer Michael Berkeley. who has just released a new book based on the infamous female serial killer countess Elizabeth Báthory. The Salome project is a troubled one however. Starting with the murder on Barkeley, Tinseltown is struck with one horrifying event after the other: the drowned body of Sharon Moore, an actress in Salome, is discovered, and the baby children (and grandchildren) of several people in Salome's production staff are kidnapped. Some witnesses claim to have seen a bald, bloody monster at the crime scenes, but the police thinks that Reona, who has a history with drugs and a reputation of being mentally unstable, might know more about the case. The police can't prevent the main cast and production team of Salome from going to the Dead Sea for on-location shooting though. But Death seems to have chased the project all the way from Hollywood to Israel: both the mysterious building (with maze-like layout) where the team stays and the gigantic floating movie set in the Dead Sea serve as the background for more bloody murders, with Reona as the obvious suspect (it certainly didn't help her case when she was discovered covered in blood next to one of the victims).

And at around eighty percent in the novel, detective Mitarai Kiyoshi finally arrives to save Reona and explain what happened.

Atopos is very similar to Shimada Souji's Suishou no Pyramid: both novels revolve around the shooting of a film starring Matsuzaki Reona at an isolated location. Both novels feature an incredibly long prelude: you won't reach the main story until half way through the book. And you have to wait even longer for series detective Mitarai Kiyoshi to appear. I am also not precisely sure how I feel about both novels.

You can hardly call Atopos a short book, as it is nearly 1000 pages long. One might call it two books though. The first 400 pages consists out of a novel-within-a-novel: the book about Elizabeth Báthory by Michael Berkeley. It's bloody horror amusement and quite captivating if you're interested in these kind of famous crimes in history (Nikaidou Reito's Jinroujou no Kyoufu similarly told the story of Gilles de Rais amongst others. But then again, it also featured Nazi Werewolves). But... this narrative about Báthory is actually not really related to the main story of Atopos. The novel-within-a-novel is just to strengthen the atmosphere of the book, suggesting that Matsuzaki Reona might be possesed by the same sadistic bloodlust as the countess, but it's kinda overshooting its goal. To put it in perspective; most of the full novels I review on this site, are shorter than this novel-within-a-novel. A bit of background information and the creation of a setting/atmosphere is good, but this is just too much. But it's entertaining, I'll admit: Suishou no Pyramid did the same thing, but I didn't care for the narrative-within-a-narrative there at all.

So when you have gone through nearly half of the book, you finally reach the main story (the filming of Salome at the Dead Sea). There are quite some murders in this part of the book, with the impossible murder where someone of the staff is impaled on the sword sticking out on top of the floating movie set the most eye catching one: with no cranes in the neighbourhood and no real means of climbing the set (unless you deconstruct the set), nobody could have placed the body there. Another murder is a semi-impossible situation: only Reona could have commited the murder of one of her fellow actresses, but she denies having done so. The murder was commited in the strange building the staff found all ready for their stay right next to the Dead Sea, with a four distinct wings and a maze-like interior: the building is incredibly strange, so as the reader you know something is wrong with it and that it has to do with the murders, but even if you realize that, it's next to impossible to deduce its role in the grand scheme of things (also: compare to the mysterious 'tofu' structure in Onda Riku's MAZE).

I liked how all the murders were connected to one daring solution: even though the murders took all kinds of forms, you could all bring it back to one common factor. However, that solution is quite farfetched and nobody would think of it. In that respect, Atopos really resembles MAZE. And I say Atopos is ridiculous having read other books by Shimada Souji like Naname Yashiki no Hanzai and Suishou no Pyramid, so I know how absolutely crazy (and awesome) Shimada's solutions can turn out to be: but Atopos's main revelation... well, it's not coming out of completely nowhere, but really only Mitarai Kiyoshi could have arrived at the solution based on those hints!

Atopos is very similar to Suishou no Pyramid in terms of set-up and execution, but my feelings towards them are precisely the opposite: I liked the main story and the locked room situation of Suishou no Pyramid, while I thought the first, narrative-within-narrative part of the book almost a waste of my time. On the other hand, I quite liked the first, narrative-within-narrative about Elizabeth Báthory part of Atopos, but I am not that big a fan of the mystery (and its solution) presented in the main story. In general though, Atopos does a better job at presenting itself as one coherent narrative though.

Original Japanese title(s): 島田荘司　『アトポス』

Detective School Dropouts

みえないストーリー

戸惑い抱いて

僕らはまだやれると 

信じていいでしょう? 

『みえないストーリー』　（岸本早未）

An invisible story

We're still uncertain
But is it alright for us

to believe we can still go on?

"An Invisible Story" (Kishimoto Hayami)

I sometimes make comments about my book backlog, but that backlog isn't even nearly as horrible as my games backlog. Today, a game I think I purchased two years ago. But it could also have been five years ago. I forgot.

Two years ago, I discussed the complete Tantei Gakuen Q ("Detective Academy Q") manga series in three parts (part one, two and three). The series, created by the people behind Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, told the story of Q (Qualified) Class, a group of five young students of the prestigious Dan Detective School. Kyuu, Megu, Kinta, Kazuma and Ryuu all had their own fields of speciality (Kyuu and Ryuu were geniuses in reasoning, Megu had photographic memory, Kinta had extraordinary physical skills and Kazuma was the resident whizzkid) and would combine their powers to form Voltron to solve a myriad of cases, from simple thefts to serial murders. Tantei Gakuen Q: Meitantei wa Kimi da! ("Detective Academy Q: You're the Great Detective!") is the first of two Game Boy Advance games based on the series and offers the player, in the role of Kyuu, four different cases to solve together with the other members of Q Class.

It shouldn't be very surprising if I tell you Tantei Gakuen Q: Meitantei wa Kimi da! is a detective adventure game. Not all, but a fair amount of the games I discuss on this blog follow the same exact command-style format (in fact, that's where this blog's current look is based upon. To be precise, the lay-out is based on Famicom Tantei Club). Talk to the right persons and investigate the right places to obtain the necessary evidence and answer a few questions in the denouement scene to solve the case. Nothing new here.

Well, one interesting special feature is the evidence collecting system: the player has to 'notice' and write down the evidence himself. Whenever you see something suspicious (the dialogue usually gives it away), you have to press a button to 'record' these hints in a notebook yourself. Then, at the end of each story, you'll have to select a certain, set amount of these hints that lead to the solution of the case. The catch is that 1) it's thus possible to miss the necessary hints (if you didn't record the hint) and 2) there are a lot of fake hints. If you chose the wrong evidence, your case will be faulty and fall apart during the denouement. This system makes the investigations a bit more exciting, as you wouldn't want to miss recording a decisive piece of evidence. The red herring hints are also fun, as these make it a bit more difficult figuring out what really happened.

But it's also a very faulty system. Most importantly, the system is extremely vague (in fact, it's not even explained in the game! I am not that big a fan of tutorials, but this really should have been explained...). Because you have to 'save' evidence yourself, and because of the existence of fake evidence, you never know whether you have collected all the necesssary, right evidence to solve the case. You just have to guess. The game sometimes gives you the option to expose the murderer / trick early, but you'll often need evidence you can only find after being given that option. Which makes no sense at all. That's like Ellery Queen giving you a Challenge to the Reader, only to reveal that you needed facts made known after the Challenge!

Also, it's extremely vague what the game expects from you at the end of each story. When you choose to expose the criminal, you are told that an X amount of hints will reveal the truth behind the case. But that's all. You are never given a specific description of what the game wants of you (do you want evidence that points to the criminal? Evidence of how a certain trick was performed? Evidence of when the crime was commited?), and it often results in just a guessing game in just what the games wants you to prove. The Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney games in comparison always make it very clear, mostly by very precise wording and focus on contradiction between testimony and evidence. Trick DS also had a lot of fake evidence/hypotheses, but at least you were given a direction, because the game would tell you exactly what hypothesis would follow out of each specific combination of evidence pieces. In Tantei Gakuen Q: Meitantei wa Kimi da!, you can only pray you're going in the same direction the game wants you to go, because it never tells you anything.

Oh, and finally, I was kinda disappointed that the game was so focused solely on tricks. If you do manage to read the game's mind and 1) collect all of the right evidence before entering the finale and 2) select the right evidence despite not being told what the game wants you to prove in the first place, you're done. The game is focused completely on just figuring out how a thief managed to get to the eight floor of a department store, steal an art artifact, and get out within five minutes, or what kind of alibi trick is behind the multiple murders in a small mountain village (real examples from the game) and if you do manage to get these parts right, the criminal will confess immediately, without any effort at defending himself. Which is kinda anti-climatic. Once again, Gyakuten Saiban / Ace Attorney is built completely around the premise of deductive confrontations with criminals, but even other adventures without such an obvious detective vs criminal confronation system usually feature a criminal who will at least give you the pretense of putting up a fight, instead of just saying "yes, you're right, arrest me".

Was there nothing good about Tantei Gakuen Q: Meitantei wa Kimi da!? Well, the stories themselves are also quite boring, so mostly no. I do have to mention that I did think this was technically a good game. I don't mean that in a mocking way, but the character design (based on the manga), the menus, the voice samples (the voice actors from the animated TV show), the music, I really liked what Konami did for this game in terms of presentation. I know it sounds sarcastic, but I do like the game on a technical level. And I do think the evidence collecting system has potential. But presentation and ideas aren't enough to make a good game... (Also: see this older post where I talk more about mechanics in detective games)

And two more notes: each chapter opens with a short test about a variety of topics, to simulate the 'school' element of the series. The idea is good and the questions that test your deductive skills and other detective related skills are fun, but a lot of the questions are just random trivia questions, and hard ones too! Also, there's a competitive card minigame, which is insanely fun, because this minigame actually does test your deductive skills up to an extent. I had more fun with the minigame than with the main game.

Anyway, Tantei Gakuen Q: Meitantei wa Kimi da!? is a pretty disappointing game. And I mean pretty in the literal way of the word. There's a vaguely good idea with the evidence collecting system, but it stays vague the whole game, leaving the player in the dark as to what he's supposed to do. A bit more direction would have helped the game. As well as more interesting stories. Conclusion: this game definitely does not belong in the Qualified Class.

Original Japanese title(s): 『探偵学園Q  名探偵はキミだ！』

Snow Light Shower

la la la- la- la-

僕らの世界

夢　うつろな　ユートピア

堅い殻の　クルミが割れたら

現実（せかい）は不意に流れ出す

la- la- la- la- Marionette Fantasia

『Marionette Fantasia』　（Garnet Crow)

la la la- la- la-

Our world

A dream, a hollow utopia

When the hard shell of the walnuts break

The world will flow out of them

la- la- la- la- Marionette Fantasia

"Marionette Fantasia" (Garnet Crow)

Confession to make: I had read the prologue of today's book at least six times in the last two year or so. And every time I thought, naah, kinda boring, I'll read this later. But the book turned to be much more fun than I had expected actually, as I finished this book in just two days when I finally did get past the prologue...

Writer Alice series
46 Banme no Misshitsu ("The 46th Locked Room") (1992)
Russia Koucha no Nazo ("The Russian Tea Mystery") (1994)
Sweden Kan no Nazo ("The Swedish Mansion Mystery") (1995)
Brazil Chou no Nazo ("The Brazilian Butterfly Mystery") (1996)
Eikoku Teien no Nazo ("The English Garden Mystery") (1997)
Zekkyoujou Satsujin Jiken ("The -Castle of Screams- Murder Case") (2001)
Malay Tetsudou no Nazo ("The Malay Railroad Mystery") (2002)
Swiss Dokei no Nazo ("The Swiss Watch Mystery") (2003)
Nagai Rouka no Aru Ie ("The House with the Long Hallway") (2010)

Mystery writer Arisugawa Alice has traveled to Mount Bandai in Fukushima prefecture to gain some inspiration for his new book. Next to Alice's inn stands the Swedish Mansion, which is named like that because it's a Swedish style woodlodge, but also because the mistress of the house came from Sweden. Otsukawa Ryuu is a writer of children's stories, and he lives in the Swedish Mansion with his beautiful wife Veronica. Ryuu and Veronica love guests, and even though they are already entertaining some friends at their house (which has an annex building), they also invite Alice for tea. The same night however, one of Ryuu and Veronica's guests is found murdered at the annex building: and the only footprints in the snow leading to the annex were those of the victim herself. How did the murderer get away from the crime scene without leaving footprints? Being a suspect himself (as the only 'outsider' to the party), Alice asks his friend, the criminologist Himura, to help him in Arisugawa Alice's  Sweden Kan no Nazo ("The Swedish Mansion Mystery").

Mystery writer Arisugawa Alice and criminologist Himura Hideo first appeared in 46 Banme no Misshitsu and has since then been Arisugawa Alice (the actual writer, not the character)'s most popular series characters. Within the Writer Alice series (not to be confused with the Student Alice series),  there's a subset of stories that follow the titles of Ellery Queen's nationality novels: Sweden Kan no Nazo is the second of that series, following the short story collection Russia Koucha no Nazo. I got kinda tired of this series with the third and fourth entries in the series (Brazil Chou no Nazo and Eikoku Teien no Nazo), so what did I think of the second novel?

I quite liked it actually. The impossible crime trope of the missing footprints in the snow is a classic of course, but that doesn't mean it can't be good. Sure, by now I've seen countless of variants of it, and while I wouldn't say that Sweden Kan no Nazo provided a really surprising new twist on the formula, it's definitely a solid entry in the history of Missing Footprints in the Snow. But more impressive than the trick itself, is the way at which detective Himura arrived at the truth: Sweden Kan no Nazo might be an impossible crime story, but the thought process behind it is pure Queen. You don't need ridiculous imagination to solve this puzzle: just follow the clues all to their natural conclusion, and you can solve the case by sheer logic. And that's the best way to do a detective story! In a sense, Sweden Kan no Nazo feels like a smaller scale version of the amazing deduction chain of Kotou Puzzle: the deduction chain here is also mostly based on one little contradiction in the circumstances, which eventually leads to the truth.

The setting of the lodges, and the snow do feel a bit similar to 46 Banme no Misshitsu, Alice and Himura's debut story; the major differences of course being that 46 Banme no Misshitsu was set inside a house. On the other hand, the fact that Himura doesn't appear until halfway through the story feels fresh: Alice and Himura always appear together with their typical banter, so it's a nice change of pace to see more of just Alice for once (because Alice is always the butt of the jokes).

In fact, it's this banter of Himura and Alice that kinda doesn't work for me. It starts out okay, but as the series continued, it seemed like a lot of the stories were not really interesting as detective stories, and that a lot more attention was being paid at presenting 'fun' conversations between Himura and Alice. Mostly by having Himura act all cool, while Alice constantly being at the receiving ends of things. And the problem is: it sells. It sells really good, even. It even sells audio dramas! I suspect that writer Arisugawa Alice is actually really happy he's able to write lighter mysteries with just bantering Alice and Himura as these books fill his pockets, and once in a while he'll write a more serious and complex Student Alice books to keep the more die-hard mystery readers happy.

But that's another story. I might be complaining about the direction of the series in general, but Sweden Kan no Nazo is really a decent imposssible crime mystery, especially when you realize that the method of detecting is one not normally associated with impossible crimes. Definitely one to read (after the Student Alice series, of course).

Original Japanese title(s): 有栖川有栖 『スウェーデン館の謎』

L-C Crisis

「この世に解けない謎、盗めない宝は塵ひとつ存在しねぇ」

『ルパン三世ＶＳ名探偵コナン The Movie』

"In this world, there's no mystery that can be solved, and not a treasure that can't be stolen"

"Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie"

It will be a while before I'll see this year's Detective Conan movie (Dimensional Sniper), so today a review of another Detective Conan related movie to pass the time!

Conan, the great detective turned into a kid and Lupin III, grandson of Arsene Lupin and the greatest thief in the world, first crossed paths in 2009's Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan, a somewhat disappointing TV special which should only be remembered for the absolutely magnificent performance of voice actor Kamiya Akira. But the crossover between these two series turned out to be rather succesful, because a sequel was released in December 2013, in the form of Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie. Lupin III and his gang are back in Japan and they are planning to steal a jewel called the Cherry Sapphire which is held at a bank near Conan's home. At the same time, Conan discovers that crackshot Jigen Daisuke, Lupin's right hand, is working as a bodyguard for the popular Italian idol singer Emilio, who will be performing in Japan soon. How are these two jobs related and what is Lupin III really after?

What once started as a funny crossover cameo in Detective Conan - Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure, made possible because both Lupin III and Detective Conan are animated at TMS, has now become a little franchise series and I have to say, I enjoyed Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie much better than the original 2009 TV special. Which was just weird with fake foreign countries and lookalike princesses and stuff. Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie on the other hand is a normal heist movie, which we see from those sides: we follow both Lupin III and the gang slowly setting things up for their heist, as well as Conan (and other characters from the series) doing detectivey stuff. It's what you'd expect from a crossover between a series starring a detective, and a series starring a thief, and it works mostly.

Mostly, I say, because the story itself is actually not very good. The plot surrounding Emilio is quite ridiculous if you stop and think about it and whenever the movie enters Story Exposition Time, you just hope it is over soon. Also a fair warning, it's preferable if you watch the 2009 Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan TV special before the movie: there are no strong links, but references to the TV special do fall out of the sky near the end of the movie, and if you haven't seen the special, it would just be distracting and confusing.

But what is there to enjoy if the story is bad? Two things: action scenes and character interactions. I already noticed that the action scenes in Detective Conan movies have become more spectacular with each movie the last few years (incredible skateboard scene in 2010's Lost Ship in the Sky, incredible snowboard scene in 2011's Quarter of Silence, another incredible skateboard scene in 2012's The Eleventh Striker and... incredible fight and soccer scenes in 2013's Private Eye in the Distant Sea), but because this is a crossover with Lupin III, which is more of a comedic/slapstick action series, you can expect even more over-the-top action (heck, it starts right away with incredible waterboard/skateboard action..). I wouldn't say that Detective Conan is realistic, but sometimes the action does feel a bit too out of there for Conan. But they're definitely fun scenes and whenever several characters of either series are together, you can expect something fun to happen, be it of the action variety, or just character interaction.

Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie is really just something for the fans (duh, it's a crossover), who of course want to see how characters from different series react to each other and this movie delivers in that category, and in a way much better than was done in the original TV special. The stars of the movie are definitely cocky kid Conan and marksman Jigen, who spend some amazing time together as a bickering father-son duo. It's absolutely beautiful (second place goes to the duo Fujiko and Haibara). But a meeting between hardboiled ICPO inspector Zenigata and the somewhat bumbling police detective Takagi works wonderfully well too.

But I guess that's the main objective of a crossover like Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie. Pander to the fans. I know both series quite well, so I enjoyed seeing the two series blend together in this movie (in a manner done much better than the 2009 TV special), but I wouldn't recommend the movie if you have never seen Detective Conan or Lupin III. But then again, I can't imagine anyone would want to see this movie if not already familiar with at least one side of the crossover...

Original Japanese title(s):　モンキー・パンチ　（原：『ルパン三世』）、青山剛昌（原：『名探偵コナン』）　『ルパン三世VS名探偵コナン』