The Bear Detectives

Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife

"The Bare Necessities" (Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman) 

While I am not in direct contact with current members of the Kyoto University Mystery Club, as a former member I do still follow their social media. Personally speaking, my favorite activity at the club were the sessions with whodunnit/guess-the-culprit scenarios: these were short mystery stories written by club members which were clearly divided in a "problem" and "solution" part. The idea is that everyone is first handed the problem part, which traditionally ends with a Challenge to the Reader. The participants get about 45~60 minutes to read the story and (logically!) figure out who the culprit is of the story. If you think you know whodunnit, you can discuss that with the author and they'll tell you whether you got it right or wrong, and after the initial session is over, the author hands out the solution parts to everyone. In a way, the stories do tend to be a bit formulaistic in form, often following Queen-style deduction methods to prove who the culprit is (the culprit knew fact X. Y is proven to not have known fact X, therefore they can't be the killer), but it's exactly the type of mystery story I love, and it was great seeing different members using this form to tell different tales. And while these stories remain "private" for the club generally, I still liked seeing the KUMC social media account briefly tweeting about once in a while about how they did this or that story this week, and how it was received at the session.

Because of that, I still remember how last year, the KUMC account posted how one of their members had written a Danganronpa fanfic as a whodunnit scenario. As someone who enjoys the quirky mystery game series, I was of course intrigued by this concept, as at least in the year I was at the KUMC, people always opted for "original" settings (i.e. not based on existing IPs). But as with most of these stories, I assumed I'd never get a chance to ever read it as I wasn't an active member anymore, and you generally only get to read the story the time it's read at a club session. However, a few weeks ago, I learned the author, Kunou Junki, had actually self-published their fanfic late 2023, selling it at doujin markets. Which was cool, but again, I wasn't really in the position to visit those doujin fairs to pick the booklet up. It was apparently received pretty well though, and Atsukawa Tatsumi even mentioned the story in his ongoing column on mystery fiction, praising it as a whodunnit scenario and as a Danganronpa fanfic. But then.... a few days ago, Kunou announced they were finally selling the fanfic via Booth. So I finally got to read it.

Danganronpa FF - Ame no Kigou, Soshite Happy Birthday ("Danganronpa FF - Rain Code, and Happy Birthday", 2023) is set at the aptly Doujin Academy, where a group of students, each being extremely skilled in a very specific field, are held captured by Monokuma, a cute-looking, but horrifyingly sadistic robotic bear who has set up a game of death among the students. If a student kills a fellow student, a class trial will be held, in which the participants must decide (vote) on a culprit. If the students manage to identify the real culprit, the latter will receive "punishment" (be executed) and the game will continue (more of these rounds) until there are two survivors left, who are free to go. However, if the real culprit manages to elude suspicion at the trial, they are the one will be released, and all the rest of the students will receive "punishment". Monokuma has been feeding the fears and desires of the captured students, making some of them desperate enough to want to kill their fellow students in an attempt to escape Doujin Academy, but fortunately, up until now, the remaining students have been able to correctly identify the real culprit each time, allowing the rest to survive while the real culprits have been executed. At the start of Danganronpa FF, about half of the initial group of students is already dead, either having become a murder victim, or having been executed as a murderer.

The story is told from the POV of Yomikura Suzu, the Ultimate Narrator, who has been acting as a kind of Watson to Aizawa Seishun, the Ultimate Detective, who has been the MVP in the class trials until now: not only has he been solving most of the murders, he is also trying to figure out a way to escape from Monokuma's prison. After the latest execution, Aizawa hopes to set a plan in motion that will allow them to go against Monokuma, and he decides to rope in Yomikura as his accomplice. While the gymnasium is closed off during the night (22:00 - 08:00), all other rooms in the school are accessible, and Aizawa has found out the dressing rooms in the corner of the lecture hall, in front of the passage to the gymnasium, do have cameras, but no microphones, and are also completely soundproofed, so he spends the whole night discussing his plans with Yomikura there, assured Monokuma can't overhear them. When they leave the dressing room the following morning however, they are shocked to find two murdered bodies lying in the lecture hall and that they have been penetrated with a spear. There's also a bloody trail leading from the gymnasium, through the passage, to the lecture hall. A new game of life and death begins, as the remaining students need to figure out who the killer is, or else they themselves will be executed.

Save for the occasional pastiche, I generally don't read fanfics, so I have no real idea of what the standard is, but I sure found Danganronpa FF to be a very effective one. It starts already with the great cover art and the next page introduces you to the various school rules of Doujin Academy, which will be a familiar sight to those who have played the original Danganronpa games: there are the general rules that explain under what conditions a student can escape the school, but also rules about the night time, about ownership of student notebooks and even about how many people a killer may kill (as in: you can't just kill everyone and win the game in that way.). Most of the rules are exactly the same as the games, so it really feels like this is a story set in that world, even if we're now at Doujin Academy. While the characters are original, the characters have concepts that would seem to fit perfectly in the Danganronpa world, from the Ultimate Narrator, to characters like The Ultimate Twin, the Ultimate Ninja and the Ultimate Mountaineer. This story is set after half of the cast has already been wiped out, so it's a bit of a shame some characters are only mentioned briefly by name only, and I'd love to have seen more of them (I wonder of Kunou is planning more stories/"chapters" set in this world?). However, I do have to say that for the most part, you don't really need much prior knowledge of Danganronpa to enjoy this story as a tale of mystery: the essentials are explained adequately (especially with the rule book at the start of the booklet) and ultimately, the mystery really revolves around these specific murders, committed at this specific point in the ongoing story, so no knowledge is necessary about what happened before, or what happens later or about Danganronpa in a meta way. In Danganronpa terms: this is a specific chapter, with its own case.

As a pure whodunnit mystery, I have to say I was surprised how dense this was. It's been a while since I did a 'real run' of a whodunnit scenario, so I'll be the first to admit my deductive senses aren't what they used to be, but Danganronpa FF seems about a full step more complex than the usual KUMC whodunnit scenario, making it unlikely anyone could have gotten all the points within the usual session time (though perhaps they held a longer session than usual). So yeah, this is a really deep whodunnit story following the Queen format, where you can logically deduce who the killer is by identifying criteria the killer must answer to, and then figuring out who of the suspects answers to all of those criteria. Some of these criteria are relatively easy to notice, allowing you to cross off some names early, but others are really cleverly done, and I am the first to admit that I wasn't even close to the answer model provided by the detective at the end. There are quite a few (very devilish!) twists and turns in the long deduction process (which is why I think it would have been difficult for someone to solve all of the story during a normal club session), but for Ellery Queen logic-lovers, this is really great stuff  and I love a lot of the logical processes shown in this story (the initial step alone of the long elimination process is already really good!). What is even more commendable is how cleverly Kunou makes use of the Danganronpa setting. A lot of the things pulled off here in terms of logic only make sense in a Danganronpa-inspired world, with the school rules and Monokuma antics and stuff like that. So I really agree with Atsukawa here about Danganronpa FF is satisfying as both a mystery story, and a Danganronpa fanfic.

The third act of Danganronpa FF wasn't originally part of the scenario presented at the KUMC, as after the initial murder problem and the subsequent solution part, we are treated to what is basically an in-depth essay on the Danganronpa games as mystery games. If you have played the games (or you don't care for spoilers at all), there are some interesting points made (ha, I hadn't expected Kunou to quote Morooka's academic work on shin honkaku mystery and games!), but it is certainly a part that 'takes you out of the story', so your mileage on this closing part may vary. This part has no direct influence on the logical parts of the mystery, so you could choose to ignore it if you wish to do so.

At any rate, I did really enjoy Danganronpa FF - Ame no Kigou, Soshite Happy Birthday, as both a really well-plotted whodunnit scenario as well as a mystery story written with a lot of love for the Danganronpa franchise. Danganronpa FF was apparently also a reason why Kunou was asked to pen an original whodunnit story for the Mystery Carnival event of publisher Seikaisha held last week. I haven't read that story, but I do hope I get to read more of Kunou in the story, as what I have read here really makes me curious to what more they can come up with. Hopefully, we'll see more of them in the future!

Original Japanese title(s):　久納淳生 『ダンガンロンパFF　雨の記号、そしてハッピィバースデイ』

Regarding the English translation of The Labyrinth House Murders

My translation of The Labyrinth House Murders (Yukito AYATSUJI) was released three weeks ago in the UK by Pushkin Press. I hope the people who have read it enjoyed it, and that those who still have to read it, will find it as entertaining as I did when I first read the work. As much as I love the original work however, there was one point in the original work that wasn't likely to work "as is" in an English translation, and after deliberation with the editor and Ayatsuji himself, it was decided I'd change part of the mystery slightly, in order to keep the fair play spirit of the original work intact for the English-language reader. However, I still want people to know what the real idea was Ayatsuji had planted in his book, so I decided to write a piece explaining about what was changed and why, and go over a few other translation-related points while I am at it.

As you probably can guess, I'll be discussing major spoilers for The Labyrinth House Murders in that piece, so you should only read it after reading the book.

You can find the page here, and I will be re-posting this announcement when the US version of the book will be released coming Spring.

The Time Thief

We could steal time just for one day

We can be heroes for ever and ever 

"Heroes" (David Bowie)

Gorgeous cover!

Earlier this year, I discussed Yuuki Haruo's Salome no Guillotine, a very memorable mystery set in the Taishou era, revolving around a series of murders among artists. It was only after reading the book I learned it was actually the latest entry in a series. In fact, I only realized that after I first opened the book of today's review, and saw the names of the protagonists of Salome's Guillotine on the first page... Yuuki Haruo's Tokeidorobou to Akunin ("Clock Thieves & Crooks" 2023) is the second book featuring the adventures of painter Iguchi Sakuta and his friend and former burglar Hasuno in the late Taishou era, with the handsome Hasuno with his criminal experience of course being the detective, while Iguchi functions as our Watson. Iguchi and his wife are good friends with the loner Hasuno, who after a short career in relieving people of their possessions has now become mostly an upstanding citizen, though the adventures of the two occasionally force Hasuno to make use of his unique talents again. And yes, this is the second book in the series apparently, so I'm reading these out of order and I have no idea how much about their initial meeting is explained in the first book, but in Tokeidorobou to Akunin, they form a great team. The book is technically a short story collection, but the stories do flow from one into the next, even if there's no tight overarching storyline. 

The book opens with Kaemon-shi no Bijutsukan ("The Art Museum of Mr Kaemon"), where Iguchi has a major problem. Long ago, his father had bought an antique Dutch clock which once belonged to the Dutch royal family. When he purchased the clock, he also received a very well-made imitation of the clock, as the previous owner had been scared of theft. When Iguchi's father sold the clock to the collector Kaemon, he gave the imitation to Kaemon. The latter never noticed it, and Iguchi suspects his late father did it on purpose. The elderly Kaemon has not long to live anymore, and has recently had his country house renovated to include an art museum to display the art collection he gathered throughout the years. This would include the Dutch table clock, and Iguchi is afraid fellow art connoisseurs who will visit the museum will realize it's a fake, and that it will become public his father sold Kaemon imitation art. Iguchi and Hasuno visit Kaemon at his house, to see if they could just apologize and give him the real clock, but the attitude of the grumpy old man makes it clear there is only one solution: Iguchi and Hasuno have to break in the museum and swap the fake clock for the real one themselves. What follows is a fun adventure of Iguchi and Hasuno trying to sneak inside the museum, but while they are there, they notice something is off about the museum, but what? This is one of those mysteries where you don't really know what the mystery is until the conclusion, so I can't say too much about the mystery. But I'd definitely say it's a memorable one! The ingenious twist is definitely set-up very well with both physical and psychological clues, and I love the themes (motive) behind this story. Great opening of the book, especially with the banter between Iguchi and Hasuno.

Akunin Ikka no Misshitsu ("The Locked Room of the Family of Crooks") follows Atsuko, the maid of the Minoda family, who live in a large manor in Yokohama. Patriarch Akiyoshi lives in England with his wife, while his four children live in their parental home in Japan. None of the children, all of different mothers, really like their father, nor each other, but money is a great binding tissue, so they all live together. Oldest son Yukimasa one day receives a letter from his father telling him he is returning from England and he has also sent boxes full of furniture back to Japan. It appears his wife died, and now he's coming back, but his father wants his home in England replicated perfectly in the annex of their Japanese home, hence Akiyoshi not only sending back sofas and chairs, but even the doors. Yukimusa arranges for builders to come and construction starts based on the photographs his father sent him. One night however, as the maid Atsuko returns, she notices a figure floating in the rooms under construction, and when she peeks through the window, she sees Yukimasa's body hanging from a rope, with his legs resting on the bolted door latch (which was also imported from England). She calls the other siblings, but they can only enter the room by breaking the door down: meaning this was a locked room. At first sight, this therefore looks like a suicide, but when Iguchi and Hasuno visit the place (Iguchi's patron had sent Iguchi and Hasuno to sort out something with Yukimasa), they soon uncover not only that all of Yukimasa's siblings had a motive to kill him,, but they also find clues that indicate this was indeed a murder. But how could the murderer have left the locked room? On a purely technical level, the locked room mystery is not very original perhaps, but the way it ties to the motive is really great! It provides a fantastic reason why such a rudimentary trick was used, and the small unique elements of this locked room, like balancing the victim's feet on the latch, do transform it enough to create a good story. But it's definitely the motive, and the final implication regarding the victim, that makes this another good entry.

Yuukai to Ooyuki - Yuukai no Shou ("Abduction and Heavy Snow: Abduction") and Yuukai to Ooyuki - Ooyuki no Shou ("Abduction and Heavy Snow: Heavy Snow") is a two-part story, each focusing on a different mystery. In the first part, Hasuno asked to come disguised as a salesman to Iguchi's sister-in-law's place. When he arrives there, he learns Iguchi's niece Mineko has been abducted and a ransom note has been left in their letter-box. They ask Hasuno for advise, but the latter soon notices several odd points about the ransom note, leading to a surprising conclusion regarding why Mineko was abducted. The story then deals with the drop-off for the ransom, which is done by Iguchi's father-in-law, while Hasuno and Iguchi, in disguise, try to spot the abductors. Again, Hasuno quickly sees through the trickery of the abductors and soon the two are on their way to save Mineko. This chapter is the most adventurous of the whole book, I think, with a good deal of suspense as Hasuno slowly deduces the bigger story behind Mineko's abduction simply based on the instructions in the ransom note. The trick regarding the ransom money drop-off is fairly simple, but it's basically just a set-up to lead into the second part of the story. There we follow the story first from Mineko's point of view, as she finds herself abducted by a group of men. In the night, she's taken by one of the leaders to a hut outside and thrown on a hay bed: Mineko fears the worst and is knocked out by the man. When she wakes up however, she finds that man stabbed to death lying next to her. It is at that time her uncle arrives together with Hasuno, having found out where she was being held, but they have two problems: one is that their car broke down and even if they try to get away on foot now, they'll probably be caught by the rest of the gang in the house next door. The second problem is that the only footprints leading to the hut are those of the dead man, Mineko and Iguchi and Hasuno who arrived just now, meaning the only person who could've killed that man is Mineko. While Mineko has no recollection of killing the man, and Iguchi and Hasuno also don't believe that is the case, who then did kill the man, and how? While it might be hard to guess the details of how this was done, I think the general idea behind the locked room is probably fairly easy to guess, even if it can be a bit tricky figuring out the exact timing. The story then ends in a kind of reverse Home Alone, where Iguchi, Hasuno and Mineko try to round up the whole gang themselves, which results in some funny swashbuckling scenes.

Iguchi, like many of his fellow artists, has found a patron in the art-loving businessman Harumi. In Harumi-shi no Gaikoku Tegami ("Mr Harumi's Letter from Abroad"), Harumi asks Iguchi for some help, or to be exact, he needs the help of Iguchi's friend Hasuno. Not because Hasuno was a burglar, but because Hasuno also knows languages and Harumi needs a translator. His wife passed away some time ago, and he only now got around to sorting out her possessions, but he came across a strange letter from France, even though she did not have any friends there. Hasuno translates the letter, which is sent by the nephew of Marcel Champlain, stating he writes on behalf of his recently deceased uncle, who implored him to write a letter to Japan to express his thanks, and love to Ms Harumi. Harumi has no idea who this Marcel Champlain is, and asks Iguchi and Hasuno to figure out who he is and what his relationship was with his wife. The two dig into the history of Harumi's late wife, which is rather complex: Harumi's recently deceased wife was actually his second, and his first wife was actually her twin sister, who also passed away early, and there was another older sister too. The precise relationship between Harumi and his wife and sister-in-laws is rather complex and can make this story a bit confusing, and again, this is the type of mystery you don't really know was even present until it is explained to you, though I do like the truth Hasuno eventually uncovers, and it gives a very sad, but memorable meaning to the letter sent on Marcel's behalf.

In Mitsukawamaru no Ayashii Bansan ("The Alluring Dinner on the Mitsukawa-Maru"), Iguchi, Hasuno and fellow artist Ootsuki find themselves on the ship Mitsukawa-Maru, as representives of Harumi. The Mitsukawa-Maru recently returned from India, but ran into trouble just off the coast: while the ship itself is in no direct danger of sinking and the crew safely returned to the mainland, it will take a few days before the ship itself can be pulled free. However, the ship was carrying a unique cargo: two tigers.... which are going to be served at dinner. Hirokawa Koutarou, the owner of the ship, also runs a shady secret club where the members can enjoy strange things, which is why he had planned a dinner party with tiger meat. Due to the ship's troubles however, he has decided to hold the party on the ship itself now, with the invitees being brought especially on the Mitsukawa-Maru as it lays off the coast.  While one tiger has already been prepared, the other is bit more troublesome: the ship's troubles led to one tiger cage being broken, and now that tiger is running free in two connected rooms in the hold. Terue is Hirokawa's maid, and she's on the ship too to take care of her boss' guests, but she comes across the dead body of one of them! She reports to her boss, but when they return to the place, the body is gone, and her boss is not really believing her. Hasuno and Iguchi however have reason to believe Terue might be right, as the victim was a reporter on the trail of a serial killer, who might be one of the other guests, and they start poking around and looking for the body. This is by far the longest story of the bunch, offering a closed circle mystery with unique elements like a friggin' tiger in the hold, but I feel this story was way longer than it needed to be, and even felt a bit tiring after a while. Hasuno and Iguchi are already aware of much of the background story by the time the story starts, so the reader is always at a disadvantage, and unfortunately, this story has no floorplan even though the characters move around a lot on the ship. Eventually, Hasuno deduces who the murderer is based on the actions they took, but to be honest, the whodunnit wasn't nearly as impressive as the whydunnit. At least, the whydunnit regarding the direct motive for the second death and the implications of that death was absolutely great, and I would perhaps have preferred a story focusing solely on that.

Houseki Dorobou to Okidokei ("A Jewel Thief and the Table Clock") brings up back to the Dutch table clock from the first story. Iguchi receives a letter from the (son of the) previous owner of the clock, who hopes to buy back the clock. Iguchi has two major problems: due to the conclusion of the first story, Iguchi is still in possession of the clock, even though it belongs to Kaemon and two: the clock was stolen. He had kept it wrapped up in a cloth in the bedroom, but for some reason someone stole the clock, and just the clock, with nothing else in the bedroom being disturbed. This was also only one theft in a series of thefts among friends of his wife: several rubies have been stolen, but all under nearly impossible circumstances: for example, one friend had a bracelet with a ruby embedded in it, and hidden it within an orange cloth, put in a box with many other wrapped up cloths, but the thief managed to steal only the one with the bracelet in it, without opening the other cloths. In another theft, the thief stole a ruby which had been put on a dress, but there had been four identical dresses, with the other three having very well made imitations, so how could the thief so quickly found the real ruby, not even having to touch the other three dresses? While the tricks behind each of these cases is fairly simple, I do like how some of them are connected, leading to some nice synergy moments: the explanation for the ruby on the dress theft for example is pretty clever on its own, but it also gives a great explanation for how the thief managed to find the antique clock in Iguchi's home. While I don't really think this is a very memorable story (I think I had expected it to connect a bit more strongly to the previous stories), it's an okay one, and it also leads directly into the events of Salome's Guillotine.

Overall though, I did really enjoy Tokeidorobou to Akunin. I think Yuuki Haruo especially excels in coming up with cool motives that not only are memorable, but they also often naturally lead to the core mysteries of howdunnit or whodunnit. I already noticed that in Salome's Guillotine, but as a short story collection, you of course see more instances of that here. The banter between Hasuno and Iguchi is also fun, and while some of the stories can become a bit darker, there is usually a slight comedic tone to them (the two stories told from the maid's POV for example have some funny moments where they lament having to work for their employers). So another recommended read! I should probably read the first book too...

Original Japanese title(s): 夕木春央『時計泥棒と悪人』: 「加右衛門氏の美術館」/「悪人一家の密室」/「誘拐と大雪　誘拐の章」/「誘拐と大雪　大雪の章」/「晴海氏の外国手紙」/「光川丸の妖しい晩餐」/「宝石泥棒と置時計」

The Labyrinth Seduction

"There is no need to build a labyrinth when the entire universe is one."

"Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings"

I wasn't aware the full title of this book was so long until I started writing this review...

Shizuku is a detective. At least, she plays one, in the virtual reality MMORPG Alfheim Online. As "Spica", she has her own detective agency, with even her very own Watson (her childhood friend, and narrator Endou). In reality, she has never ever taken a case, and the two just hang out in the office every day after school, but don't say that out loud in front of Spica. One day, the narrator finds a mysterious object in his inventory: he has no memories of ever picking up such an item, so how could it have been added to his inventory? When the two take a look at the diary, they realize they have in their possession an impossible object. For this diary purports to be written by a player of the VR MMORPG Sword Art Online, and written within SAO. Which is impossible: Sword Art Online was the infamous brainchild of Kayaba Akihiko, who made a revolutionary virtual game system with a helmet that stimulates all 5 senses, but when the game launched, the players found themselves trapped inside Sword Art Online by Kayaba. Players were unable to log out and they were told that if they died in-game, the helmet would also kill them in real-life, which would also happen if someone tried to forcibly log them out by messing with the hardware. In the end, players did manage to beat the game and escape, but many of the players had suffered deaths in the meantime. After the game was beaten, most of the data of Sword Art Online and all the records of what happened within the world was deleted however. The in-game world was completely lost, though the very basics of the system survived, allowing the creation of the (safer) Alfheim Online as a spiritual successor. So how could Spica and the narrator now have a diary that was written by one of the players in Sword Art Online during that period, and how did it appear in Alfheim Online?

The diary itself is written by a player called Jason, who is the leader of a party called the Argonauts. While they are fairly powerful, they are not strong enough to be leading the attempt to clear all 100 floors of Sword Art Online. The Argonauts however do fulfill an important role. Because the frontline parties try to clear each floor as quickly as possible, they are not able to explore each floor completely. Parties like the Argonauts are active a few floors behind the frontline parties and help explore every corner of each floor, because they might find hidden equipment, items or hints that may help the frontline parties. It is during one of these exploration missions Jason, and his comrades Orpheus, Hercules, Asklepios, Atalanta and Caenis find themselves transported in an underground labyrinth. While they explore the place, they are suddenly attacked by a menacing Blind Minotaur. While the party display fantastic teamwork, they soon realize that the Blind Minotaur is faaaaar more powerful than they are, and they are hardly able to chip off even a little of his hit points. As a hopeless battle, all they can do is flee, and then soon learn that they are safe if they manage to stay inside one of the few rooms in the labyrinth and keep the door closed, as the Minotaur is not able to get inside "uninvited." The Argonauts try to find a way out, but run into a different party who just made it here: the Legendary Heroes consist of Arthur, Evelyn, Rocky, Azrael, Mark and Omega, but unlike the Argonauts, it's clear this party isn't really a team, and their whole strategy revolves around Arthur alone. The two parties don't really trust each other, and decide to try to find a way out on their own, while avoiding the Blind Minotaur, who seems to have a set pattern of appearing from an underground lair once in a while and then return again. However, the Argonauts are later contacted by the Legendary Heroes with shocking news: it appears Arthur had gone out into the labyrinth on his own during the night, and was killed by the Blind Minotaur (something his party members can see "on screen" happen, as you can always check a party member's hit points and status). There are however suspicious points to Arthur's death, as why did he sneak out in the night and why would he try to take on the Minotaur alone? The two parties agree to find a way out together, and they suspect this dungeon isn't about beating the Blind Minotaur, but finding some kind of secret that solves the dungeon, but while they are trying, more and more people are killed, and they soon start to realize some of these deaths weren't commited by the Minotaur, but one of their own. But why?

As long as it's a mystery, I'm interested, so I occasionally consume mystery media based on IPs I don't even know or have ever seen/read. In the past I have for example discussed the Fate/Grand Order mystery novels by Van Madoy, even though I don't play the game and have still not ever played any of the Fate games or seen any of the anime series. I also originally had no interest in watching Oppenheimer, until someone told me you could totally watch it as a mystery film, and... he was right. So when I learned Konno Tenryuu had written a mystery novel for Sword Art Online, the franchise based on the light novels by Kawahara Reki. I was immediately interested, even though I have not seen or read the series. Yes, I know it's really popular, but I'm from the generation where "an isekai series of a boy having to clear floors to beat a RPG-like world" equals Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru. Anyway, I have read a few of Konno's books too, many of them dealing with fantasy elements, and I like his work, so I knew I wanted to read Sword Art Online Alternative: Mystery Labyrinth - Meikyuukan no Satsujin (2023), or as the cover also says: Murder in the Labyrinth Pavillion.

I can at least say that even with zero prior knowledge of the Sword Art Online franchise, this was pretty accessible. It is, as far as I know, not directly connected to any events from the series, and is mostly a standalone story, though it is set after the original Sword Art Online was beaten, so the first series/book. The mystery plays at two levels, the series of murders that occur in the Labyrinth Pavillion dungeon and the parties' attempts at finding an exit out of the maze, and a meta-mystery where Spica and the narrator try to figure out how this diary could've made it out of Sword Art Online, a world that has been destroyed, and into Alfheim Online.

The murders in the Labyrinth Pavillion are of course the meat of the mystery and I found it highly entertaining. Konno does a great job at actually incorporating the game-element of Sword Art Online to create highly original mysteries, that are truly only possible in such a setting. For example, we have characters witnessing a murder and learning the exact time of a death not because they seeing the death with their own eyes, but because they can see their party member's HP bar dropping in the party member status screen: where else could you ever see such a way to establish a time of death and alibis for the suspects!? Other cool things are how there are no corpses in the world of Sword Art Online, with the player's body simply disappearing from the game world if they are killed, though they do leave whatever they have equiped at the time, again opening up possibilities for shenanigans as the murderer doesn't have to deal with hiding bodies. As a closed circle setting, the Labyrinth Pavillion is also interesting, as the rules of the game make it a place you can't easily get in or out to, making it a very convincing confined location. Add in the rules of how many people can stay in a room and how you have to invite people inside, and the characteristics of the Blind Minotaur (the players slowly learn its attack and reaction patterns through their various encounters, which again tells them how the Minotaur could've been used to faciliate the murders) and you end up with a novel that is just fun to read because you're constantly confronted with new ways to present a mystery due to the unique setting. Clever things are done here, and the fact the Blind Minotaur (a force of nature/a game enemy) is used as a "murder weapon" is of course also really interesting. The motive for the murders is also rather unique to this series: while I don't think it's completely convincing, I do think Konno did a great job at really making this a motive that works in Sword Art Online. The one thing that didn't really work for me was solution to beating the Labyrinth Pavillion: that part of the mystery is just too farfetched, and nobody would be ever able to solve such a puzzle...

Meanwhile, the meta-mystery at the Alfheim Online level is probably easier to guess, as Spica seems to know what the trick is from a very early stage and gives out hints. The answer might seem a bit predictable once you reach about the middle of the book, but overall, I think it provides a nice side-story to Sword Art Online, being completely seperate of the main story, but still firmly set within that world. It probably helps the book was based on an idea by series creator Kawahara, and also supervised by him!

So even without ever having seen any Sword Art Online, I can safely say Sword Art Online Alternative: Mystery Labyrinth - Meikyuukan no Satsujin is a fun mystery novel, that makes great use of its VR MMORPG setting to present a mystery with elements you won't find in other mystery novels. It is a book that fully utilizes the fact it is based on an existing IP, building on the story and rules of the franchise, yet at the same time is not at all dependent on the main story. It's really impressive what Konno managed to do here in that sense.

Original Japanese title(s): 川原礫（草案・監修）、 紺野天龍『ソードアート・オンライン オルタナティブ ミステリ・ラビリンス 迷宮館の殺人』

Murder, Country Style

"Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood"
"The Masque of Red Death"

I knew this book only from the listings on webshops with just a small picture of the cover; I only realized those were wisterias on the cover when I actually got the physical book and saw the cover at a better resolution...

Kazuichi was the heir of the Sekimori clan, one of the two prominent families in the isolated village of Umesato in Tochigi Prefecture, but he left the village for Tokyo, having had enough of the struggle for power between the Sekimori and the Hasumi clans. The Sekimoris run a succesful plum business, a driving force for the local economy, which has earned the Sekimoris the name "The Plum Clan" in the family. The Hasumis are known as the "Wisteria Clan" due to their splendid wisteria garden and have lately been gaining political and econimcal influence by opening a waste processing plant. Kazuichi's wish of becoming independent in Tokyo didn't work out well, as business didn't go well, but he did find the love of his life: Ayako, a single mother, with whom he was going to have a child. In order to care for Ayako, her daughter Mana and the upcoming second child, Kazuichi decides to return home and to work in the family business, but as he had feared, his grandmother, mother and uncle, as well as far relatives and other people with close ties to the Sekimoris try to push him to become the Sekimori patriarch and have him run for mayor in the upcoming election. After one of these family meetings in the annex, Kazuchi stays in the room to clean up, while everybody leaves the room. Just as they are all out in the hallway and the last one shuts the door behind him, they hear a loud bang. They all run up to the door, but when they look inside the room, they find Kazuichi has been shot, with the pistol lying near him. However, because the windows were all shut and the shot rang very soon after everyone had left the room, with most people still in sight of others, Kazuchi's death is considered a suicide.

Ayako had not yet married Kazuichi, but as she is carrying their baby, she is, somewhat begrudgingly, allowed to stay at the Sekimori family as the mother of the future heir of the family. However, her stay in Umesato Village is a very dangerous one: an old legend tells about the curse of Aya, a villager who was wronged and who since has cursed the village. Because of that, the name "Aya" and variations of it are a taboo in the village, and many villagers even blame Ayako for the death of Kazuichi, believing her to be an omen of ill fortune. Some time passes, with Ayako simply trying to live her life in the village, but things start to develop when Sakoshima Hiraku, a photographer and old friend of Kazuichi, visits the village: he had been travelling and had only recently learned of his friend's death. When he learns about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kazuichi's death, he starts poking around, and he learns some months ago, a monk of the local temple had died too, in what appeared to be simple accident of slipping in a hot spring and hitting his head. Some people blame Ayako for this death too, but Sakoshima starts to suspect something is going on in the village, and his suspicions are confirmed when another death occurs in another of the hot springs managed by the Sekimoris. While the villagers are becoming more and more convinced this is the result of Aya's curse and Ayako's presence in the village, Sakoshima is sure there's a rational and humanly evil explanation for the mysterious deaths in the village and he's determined to find out who is behind Kazuichi's death in Nikaidou Reito and Uzumi Miyuki's 2022 novel Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Murder Case of the Legendary Curse").

While I have read a lot by Nikaidou Reito, I think this is the first time I read one of his collaborative efforts, though I do know he has quite a few of those. Uzumi Miyuki is an author I was not familiar with at all, though it appears she made it through the first judging round of the 18th Ayukawa Tetsuya Award with a manuscript with a title that also features the name "Aya" in it, and now I am wondering if that manuscript served as a base for this book. My attention was mainly drawn to this book when it first released, because it was the first substantial new release by Nikaidou in years, timed with the 30th anniversary since he first debuted, but I honestly had no idea what it was going to be about or how the collaborative work was done on this book, and sadly enough, the book does not feature an afterword that goes into detail.

Of all of Nikaidou's work, I love his Ranko series best, and specifically, the earlier Ranko novels, up until Jinroujou no Kyoufu, as the books take on a different tone afterwards. With a summary about a locked room murder, an isolated village and a legendary curse, I had hoped Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken would be a book close to the Ranko novels in spirit. Perhaps not surprisingly however, the most direct inspiration of this book is probably Yokomizo Seishi's work, and especially the Kindaichi Kousuke novels. Isolated village in the middle of nowhere, rivaling families with fueds going back centuries, a local, bloody legend which is believed by the villagers and will cause them to act on their fears and a free-minded, disarming detective who happens to visit the village. A lot in this book feels very familiar, and that's not a bad thing per se, as if you're looking for a book with such an atmosphere, you'll definitely be pleased with Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken. At the same time, and I have to admit I was surprised by this knowing Nikaidou's work, the book is decidedly less gruesome and horrific than you'd expect of such a story. Considering the graphic imagery shown in a lot of Nikaidou's work, I assume this is Uzumi's writing shining through strongest, with somewhat distached depictions of the various deaths in the story, and a narrative that is mostly told through Ayako's point of view, offering a lot of insight in her thoughts on not just the events, but her own situation too and her somewhat fragile relationship with her in-laws. It's a lot more "internally" focused than I would have expected of a book bearing Nikaidou's name as one of the authors, which is a reason why I was a bit disappointed, as it was exactly his style I was actually hoping to find in this book, even if that's not really the fault of this work.

The book opens with a very nice map of Umesato Village, with the two manors of the Plum and Wisteria Clans, as well as two waterfalls with accompanying hot springs, the "Aya Lake" where the legendary Aya died and more rather detailed diagrams depicting the various crime scenes.... but for some reason, it feels like this was a bit overkill for a story, that ultimately isn't so complex you actually need such detailed diagrams. So funnily enough, the effort put into those diagrams made me assume the plot would be much more complex than it actually turned out to be. The various mysteries that make up the plot of the book, often feel a bit too disjointed from each other, with no real sense of interrelated set-up and pay-off, with one event naturally resulting in another. One "accident" Sakoshima quickly deduces to be a murder for example, is basically resolved the moment we first hear about it, with no build-up at all. Meanwhile, the death of Kazuchi is introduced in great detail in the first chapter of the book, but is then mainly left untouched until the very end of the book, even though most of the information needed to solve the mystery already being introduced in the first part, but then not addressed until the denouement, again making things feel detached. Because of that, each single mystery remains fairly simple, as they too often feel like discrete events, despite it all happening in the same village in a short period of time. While the book tries to tie these events through the legend of Aya and a local song (yes, we have a mitate/resembling or themed murder case here), for some reason it didn't quite work for me. Perhaps because the song is introduced relatively late, perhaps because we ultimately dwell on each crime scene so shortly they don't make enough an impression, but overall, the book feels too much like a few fairly simple murders strung one after another. The solutions to the  locked room murders miss the grandeur we see in the earlier Ranko novels, while as a whodunnit, the book has some good ideas, but also has trouble presenting it in a satisfying manner, as the hinting to certain elements of the murderer feels lacking. The book is on the longer side, but because the narrative doesn't always feel as connected, and in fact sometimes has to rely on a few coincidences to tie things together, the feeling of catharsis when everything is explained also feels a bit lacking. Oh well, I did like the trick and clewing to the second hot spring death though, as well as one certain linguistics-based clue that seemed to invoke the Yokomizo spirit.

Overall though, I do think the atmosphere of the book is good, even though it didn't go as far as I had hoped for. In fact, I can easily imagine a book based on the exact same plot structure, addressing the same story beats, but going deeper into the curse and the horror behind it, and it'd probably be much more to my liking as a mystery novel. It's probably not the book Uzumi wanted to write, but the book I did want to read based on Nikaidou's name, to be very honest.

While it's not really Jubaku Densetsu Satsujin Jiken's fault, I have to say I was a bit disappointed with it. With Nikaidou's name on it, and the fact it was timed with his 30th anniversary as a professional writer, I had hoped it would be a book that'd harken back to his earliest novels in terms of style and plotting, but in a way, this book was intentionally written as a more lite-version of those themes. While it does capture the Yokomizo Seishi-vibe really well and there are, mystery-wise, also interesting clues, it was simply not the book I was looking for, though I do think it's an enjoyable mystery on its own if approached with the right expectations, as it does feel like the classic Japanese mystery novel it is obviously emulating.

Original Japanese title(s):羽純未雪, 二階堂黎人『呪縛伝説殺人事件』

The Laughing Policeman

"Smile, you're on Candid Camera!"

"Candid Camera"

This summer, Nintendo dropped a super eerie teaser video for a new project, which they would announce later on. Never could I have imagined it would be a brand new Famicom Detective Club title: while 2021 brought us Switch remakes of the first two Famicom Detective Club, originally released on the Famicom Disk System, I never expected those remakes to do well enough to warrant a new game, especially relatively so soon. 1997's BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni Kieta Kako was the latest title in the series and while Satellaview games are not likely to see any remakes,  I had actually sooner expected a remake of the third game, rather than a completely original game. But here we are in 2024, with a new Famicom Detective Club game, released on the Nintendo Switch.

Famicom Detective Club: Emio starts with a call from the police to the Utsugi Detective Agency, as Inspector Kamada is working on a case that might have ties to an old case he worked on in the past, and one Utsugi too knows about. The crime scene is a pumping station outside the town, where Eisuke, a 14-year old middle school student, was found strangled. However, what made this crime scene bizarre was the fact the boy was found with a paper bag covering his head, with a creepy smiling face drawn on it. The unnamed protagonist learns that 18 years ago, there was a serial murder case that followed the same pattern: all the three girls found murdered had been wearing such a paper bag with a smiling face on it. Because the police had kept this detail of those murders a secret, it is not likely it's a mere copycat who's behind Eisuke's death, and the people at the Utsugi Detective Agency are asked to look into the connection between the two cases. When fellow assistant Ayumi hears about the circumstances of the two cases, she's reminded of the urban legend of Emio, the Smiling Man, who looks for crying girls in the night, strangles them and puts a paper bag with a face over their heads. What is the connection between Eisuke's death, the series of murders 18 years ago and the story of Emio?

It probably helps the remakes of the first two Famicom Detective Club are relatively recent, but the moment you start with Emio, it feels exactly like a late 80s/early 90s command-based adventure game. The story itself is also still vaguely set in the late eighties like the original games (though with a few time anomalies), though I don't remember seeing something that put this game firmly before or after BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni Kieta Kako. Gameplay-wise, there are no real surprises: you use commands to guide the protagonist to for example talk with someone about certain topics, or to show them evidence you have obtained. Bringing up topic X to witness Y might allow you to move to location A to talk with Z about topic X, which leads to another story development. In the original Famicom games, finding the right commands to proceed in the story could be a bit frustrating because sometimes you have to ask a person the same question multiple times or sometimes a story flag is activated by finishing an action that seems completely unrelated, but fortunately, they introduced a QOL change from the Super Famicom remake of Part II where they highlight newly changed commands in the Switch remakes of Part I and II, and it's back again in Emio. And in order to suit modern gaming conventions even more, this gameplay loop is streamlined a lot more than in previous games, often locking you at a location until you have done everything there. I found this a bit disappointing, as it made the game more on rails than the previous games (and it wasn't like the previous games were offering you that much freedom in the first place), but I guess most modern players would find the old adventure conventions too cumbersome. While the 'detective' gameplay is fairly minimal and there's no real difficulty, as in, you can usually just advance in the story by talking to everyone about everything, the story occasionally asks you questions to check whether you have been paying attention, and at times, you have to manually input answers, so it's not a completely passive experience. But all in all, Emio is very similar to the Famicom Detective Club titles preceding it and in that sense it feels like a familiar place. 

On the audio and visual side of things, Emio is developed by the same team that worked on the Switch remakes of Part I and II, retaining the same art direction and once again, the game is fully voiced, which is a nice touch, with Ogata Megumi (Hinata from the Danganronpa games, Kyuu in the Tantei Gakuen Q anime) returning as the protagonist and Minaguchi Yuuko as Ayumi There's even a rather surprising something awaiting you at the very end of the game, something I honestly hadn't expected and it was a very welcome surprise indeed. The game might play like an old Famicom adventure game (though more streamlined), it certainly doesn't look or sound like one, and I mean that in a good way!

As a mystery story though, I think Emio has some nice moments, but for some reason, it didn't quite manage to capture me as much as previous games. With this being the first brand-new title in 35 years, and with all the developments we've seen in those three decades in game storytelling, especially when it comes to mystery games, and the scale of stories, I found it a bit disappointing the story is actually fairly compact in cast and overall scale. And I understand it's intentional, but I had hoped we'd see a 'bigger' world with a larger mystery, rather than the more human drama-focused approach Emio took. While the game starts out promising enough with the creepy circumstances surrounding Eisuke's mysterious death and the ties it might have with the series of murders committed eighteen years ago, as well as the urban legend of Emio, the first half of the game is very slow, with few story developments going on. There are moments where something interesting seems to come, especially when Ayumi first notices the connection between the urban legend and the murders and Utsugi starts musing about how real-life events could have led to the creation of the urban legend, but then Utsugi disappears to investigate this super fascinating 'reality and folklore' angle of the case, while the player is left to do other things. The game didn't have to go full Hayarigami on me, but it was here where I would have hoped that they'd play up both the horror angle of the urban legend, as well as allow you to dig into the rational background behind the urban legend, in a way for example the first Famicom Detective Club partially did with the curse of the Ayashiros: that game of course had the limitations of the hardware, so I had kinda hoped we'd see that fleshed out more here, but Emio intentionally moves away from that. You are mostly talking to a surprisingly small cast about the same topics for a long time but with little new developments: a lot of the dialogue is there to flesh out the characters, but as someone who's more into these games for the mystery, it feels like a lot of the story just moves around the mystery because there's not enough of that. It's only around 70% of the story, it finally feels like things are moving and a lot of that feels unearned: a few of the most crucial hints are obtained from persons who completely coincidentally happen to be in possession of those hints, and whom the narrator just happens to come across by chance. 

For people who are into the human drama behind a mystery story, or for example Higashino Keigo's work, I do think Emio might be exactly what they are looking for. It's the most dramatic Famicom Detective Club to be released, building on themes of previous games like the importance of friendship and family in the wake of tragic deaths, but in a way you wouldn't immediately expect of a Nintendo-published game. On a sidenote: while they did something different with the culprit this time and I can see why people find this memorable, I do have to admit I like the previous culprits more.

Overall though, I am more than grateful we finally got a new Famicom Detective Club after more than 35 years, and while it isn't my favorite one, it's still a very competently developed game that mostly succeeds in presenting itself as an eighties adventure game, while also being a game created for a 2024 audience. In that sense, I think this is a succesful product. Now I hope we finally get that BS Tantei Club remake...

Original Japanese title(s): 『ファミコン探偵倶楽部　笑み男』

番外編：The Labyrinth House Murders Released

I probably mentioned it earlier on this blog, but today's finally the day: this is the day Pushkin Press is releasing my English translation of The Labyrinth House Murders (Meirokan no Satsujin) by Yukito AYATSUJI. Or at least, in the United Kingdom, I believe the US release will follow in a few months.

While my English translation of The Decagon House Murders was released via Locked Room International back in 2015, Pushkin Press took over the license, starting first with a revised re-release in 2021, and then following up with the sequel The Mill House Murders in 2023. Fortunately, both Ayatsuji himself and Pushkin wanted me on board again for the sequel and I was glad to hear that they also had intentions of continuing the series, so that brings us to the third book in the series: The Labyrinth House Murders was originally released in 1988 and is set in a rather unique location: the titular house is a genuine underground maze inspired by the myth of the Minotaur and the home of Miyagaki Yotaro, a veteran mystery writer who has been active for decades not only as an author, but also in an editing position where he helps younger authors debut in his beloved genre. As of late however, he has decided to retire, but for his sixtieth birthday, he has decided to invite some of his closest comrades, like writers who debuted under his tutelage and an editor with whom he has worked for a long time. However, soon after everyone has arrived, a shocking death is sprung upon the guests, and they are locked inside the Labyrinth House and are asked to participate in a bizarre competition with deadly results...

The Decagon House Murders was not written as a 'series' book with obvious story hooks or anything like that, which explains why The Mill House Murders, as a sequel, could be read without any prior knowledge of the series. That also holds for The Labyrinth House Murders: while a few references are dropped about earlier cases, the tale itself can be read independently, so there's no real problem if you decide to start with this book.   

Personally, this has always been one of my favorite entries in the series, ever since I read it over a decade ago. This is in part due to the background setting: ever since I was a child, I have loved Greek mythology, so the setting of the labyrinth and rooms named after figures related to the myth of the Minotaur really appeal to me. The floorplan of the titular Labyrinth House is also much more complex than any of the maps we have seen so far: it's a genuine maze and each time you want to move from one room to another, you need to go through the maze. As you read, you'll be looking at the floorplan, and that adds a fun element, kinda like how you'd read The Lord of the Rings and check how everyone was moving while heading for Mordor. But the story itself is also fun: we have a group of genre-savvy characters gathered together, from mystery writers to a critic, an editor and a huge fan of the genre, and the plot plays a lot with that. As for the mystery, it's a really tricky one once again, that has hints hidden in more places than you'd expect.  

Translation-wise, there's something I do want to discuss in due time, but I might wait a little bit longer to get back to that, as it's not something to mention right away on release day! 

Anyway, if you liked The Decagon House Murders and/or The Mill House Murders, please read The Labyrinth House Murders too, and if not... try it anyway! In a way, it's the most "detectivey" book of the three books released until now, so I have no doubt a lot of readers will enjoy this one. And as for more translations of this series? As you can expect, positive reception is the most likely to ensure more translations follow (hopefully by me of course), so it'd be great if you'd pick the book!