「のち恋い身に暗み生き血の血の名と血吸い貝に砂」

人に名前を尋ねられたら

旅人と

たったそれだけ答えて欲しい

それだけを

『Just Before the Sunrise』 (Rhodes)

When asked for your name

I want you to answer just this

Just a traveller

Just that

"Just Before the Sunrise" (Rhodes)

This negative relation between the height of my reading pile and the amount of posts I publish is kinda interesting. I think it is about time this absurd daily posting thing should stop though.

And yes, this is an actual review of an actual book I hadn't read before. It's been a while since the last 'normal' review. I did say that I don't have a reading pile at the moment, but the truth is that I do have a small pile of four or five unread books. It's just that those books, mostly Uchida Yasuo and Nishimura Kyoutarou novels, are not very interesting looking and I don't really mind whether I read or not, having picked them up once for almost nothing. It is more like an emergency pile, if I really want to read something and there is nothing left anymore. So yesterday I picked up up the book that seemed most alluring, which was Uchida Yasuo's Hokkokukaidou Satsujin Jiken ("The Hokkoku Kaidou Murder Case"). The text on the back of the cover caught my interest as it told me that this was a novel featuring inspector Takemura Iwao (of The Togakushi Murder Case), also known as the Columbo of Shinano, and curious of his other adventures, I decided on this novel. No, I was not really enthusiastic about this book, but I had to read something.

The Hokkoku Kaidou (normally known as the Hokurikudou) refers to both a geographical area and the main road running through it, at the northwestern edge of Honshu, the main island of Japan. The students Tajiri Fumiko and Nomura Yoshiki are having a road trip alongst this route to gather data for their graduation theses: Fumiko is writing about the monk Ryoukan (1758-1831), while Yoshiki is writing about the poet-priest Issa (1763-1827), who are both strongly related to the Hokkoku Kaidou area. During their trip, Yoshiki's camera is stolen and on that occassion meet Takemura Iwao, the star inspector of the prefectural police, who has been working on the case of the skull-less skeleton of H- University's professor Hatano found at the site of a paleolithic excavation of Lake Nojiri. It's from the two students that Takemura hears that on the same day Hatano's skeleton was found, that another university teacher, and like Hatano a Ryoukan expert, was murdered in Gogouan, the old home of Ryoukan. Not believing in such coincidences, Takemura thinks a connection must exist between the two cases.

The first half of the novel is clearly split between a narrative on Takemura's investigation and a narrative on Fumiko and Yoshiki's adventures. The latter just screams stereotypical two-hour suspense drama, with the classic tropes all making an appearance. A young, beautiful girl on a trip, who happens to see something of importance (without realizing it). The traveling and sight-seeing. The stolen camera because the duo (naturally) took a picture they should not have made. A man in sunglasses following them. The inn. The not-really-a-romance-and-a-bit-of-sexual-tension subplot with Yoshiki. It is a very easy read and you can set your brain to cruise control when reading these parts.

The Takemura narrative is a police procedural, with Takemura trying to solve the murder on Hatano, which is a bit hard because he died two or three years ago. The investigation starts out a bit boring, which is sort of logical because Takemura is in charge of the investigation and therefore has to direct his subordinates, not investigate himself.  Though not in the elite track, Takemura managed to make it to this administrative position at a young age through excellent investigative work, but it also forced him out of the scene of the crime itself. However, it does not take long before Takemura is bored and starts to do some old-fashioned investigation on his feet again. This is when the case starts to get interesting, which is reflected in the way the narratives develop. At first, when the police investigation is quite boring, more pages are dedicated to the adventures of Fumiko and Yoshiki, but the moment Takemura starts his own investigation, the balance slowly shifts to him, with Takemura dominating the latter half of the novel.

The mystery behind the dead professors is not very hard to deduce, also because Takemura has a tendency to voice his (usually) correct thoughts the moment new clues arrive at the scene. But the case never reaches points that really invite praise and reading this book almost feels like a zero-sum game. It was entertaining enough for the couple of hours it took to read this, but I am definitely going to forget about it in a couple of days.

Except for maybe the Ryoukan and Issa parts. Uchida really has a knack of presenting history and popular theories about historical persons in a very entertaining way. I knew nothing about those two poets before I read this book, but I like to think that I've learnt something interesting about them, that might come in handy one day in my studies. The focus on popular historic theory is also very entertaining and effectively introduces another -detective- storyline in the plot. Here for example, Fumiko and Yoshiki find it interesting that the two poets, despite living in the same age and geographical area and occupying similar occupations, never met (officially). They both come up with some theories which might be complete nonsense (but which Uchida no dobut based on actual existing research and theories), but amusing for people with an interest in history nonetheless.

I think that this was the first time I really felt engrossed in the sightseeing part of travel mysteries, as you don't just do spatial traveling (in this case, the Hokkoku Kaidou area and Tokyo), but also temporal traveling (the era of Ryouzan and Issa and naturally the time up until the murder in the present time) and in all four dimensions, an investigation of some kind is done. The actual case itself might not be remarkable, but I have to admit that Hokkokukaidou Satsujin Jiken was an entertaining and educating read because of the traveling.

Original Japanese title(s):  内田康夫　『北国街道殺人事件』

The Big Sleep

｢生きているのと、そうでないのと、両者の違いはどこありますか？｣ 

｢そうね……あなたが生きていれば、あなた以外の誰かが、あなたに会いたいと思う。他人に、そう思わせるキーワードが、生きているということかしら｣

『迷宮百年の睡魔』

"To be alive or not, what's the difference?"

"Well, I think as long as you are alive, someone besides you wants to meet you. To be alive is a keyword to let other people feel like that".

"Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus"

So I actually spent quite some time cleaning up the code of the Library, but that is one of the few things readers here actually can't see. I once made a horrible editing mistake, leaving me with an enormous series of [open] tags at the beginning of the list and the [closing] tags spread randomly across the code. The code was just a total mess. For the reader, everything looked alright, but it was getting harder and harder for me to add entries in the library without upsetting the tags. It's clean now, but what an absolutely horrible job it is to go through that enormous list. Yes, there are double entries for writers and non-novel works (i.e. the Detective Conan movies are mentioned twice, once by Aoyama Goushou and once by the movies), but still, I write too much.

Anyway.... The fact that my first contact with Mori Hiroshi actually isn't Subete Ga F Ni Naru (The Perfect Insider), is in a way special, I guess. I for one wouldn't have guessed that it would not be The Perfect Insider, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Meaning I finally listened to NHK Youth Adventure's radio drama adaptation of Mori's Meikyuu Hyakunen no Suima (English title: Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus), the second novel in the 100 Years series. I've had the drama on my mp3 player for just a little bit shorter than 100 years. The 100 Years series is set in the near future, in the twenty-second century. Technological advances have solved all of the world's energy problems. Human society has split itself up in small city-scale self-governing states spread over the globe. our protagonist is Saeba Michiru, a journalist who travels from town to town with his Walkalone partner (= android) Roidy to write up on the many quaint states.

Ile San Jacques is an island that was closed off from the outside world for many, many years. Having found out that his deceased girlfriend Akira once visited this island, Michiru asked for permission to enter the city for an article and was much to his own surprise actually allowed into Ile San Jacques. Arriving there, Michiru and Roidy are surprised to find out that the queen-dowager of Ile San Jacques bears an uncanny resemblance to the queen of Lunatic City, visited in the previous novel. During their visit to the palace, the chief monk is found murdered. The decapitated body lies in the middle of a mandala drawn with sand, not disturbed at all. Who could have chopped off the monk's head and gotten away with it without leaving a trace? Does it has something to do with the muddy past of Ile San Jacques, that says it once lay in the middle of a sandy field until the sea rose overnight to turn it into an island?

This is a really difficult story to rate. One problem I had with this story was that it is strongly connected with the first novel in the 100 Years series Joou no Hyakunen Misshitsu (God Save the Queen) and I unfortunately was not able to find that radio drama. The events that took place there seem to have a very strong influence on the behavior of the characters in this story, but lacking that backgound information, the first half of the drama was very confusing. A lot of the background information that is considered common knowledge within the story actually came as a shock to me when I first heard it, making it hard to keep up with the story developments at time. For not only was I, as a listener, trying to keep up with the whole world that was considered common knowledge within this story, I also had to keep up with Michiru who, as a visitor to Ile San Jacques, also had to learn about that mysterious world.

Lack of proper knowledge of the background setting also prevented me from really getting into a puzzle-solving mood. Unlike with The Caves of Steel, I was never sure what was technological possible in this world and what was not. Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus is a science fiction fantasy, so with a very dreamy atmosphere controlling the whole world and in a world where it is hard to decide what is feasible or not, I don't feel comfortable in really challenging a murder mystery. In the end, the motive (and the method) of the murder indeed hinged on the science-fiction end of things, but it was a solution that was definitely more satisfying had I first read / listened to God Save the Queen.

Which is not to say that this was a disappointing story. I actually love these kind of science fiction fantasies. With a traveller with a robotic partner visiting different city-states with their own rules and characteristics, Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus reminds of Kino no Tabi which is never a bad thing (I guess the non-Japanese example would be... Sliders?). The setting also allows the writer to become a bit philosophical, which works very well in Labyrinth in Arm of Morpheus, as the discussion is actually connected to the murder.

I did enjoy the story in the end, but more as science fiction fantasy than a proper mystery. This is probably also because I haven't read/listened to God Save the Queen, but I sure am interested now and also in seeing a rumored third and final entry in this series.

Oh, and it was at first a bit distracting to have Takayama Minami in the role of Michiru. Takayama in the role of a detective?

Original Japanese title(s): 森博嗣 （原） 『迷宮百年の睡魔』

「MAKE★YOU」

「探偵は真実を見抜く力―――『推理』を武器に悪と戦うんだ！」

『探偵学園Ｑ』

"A detectives fights evil with the power to see through the truth... with deductions!"

"Detective Academy Q"

The last two days (which is probably almost a week before the actual publishing of this post) followed the same pattern:

• *Read the Tantei Gakuen Q manga after dinner*
• *Stop halfway through a story to sleep*
• *Can't fall asleep because story bothers me*
• *Give up sleeping around two, read until the morning*

I definitely finished rereading the series a few of days earlier than I had planned. And lost a couple hours of sleep somewhere.

Anyway, this will be the last post about in this series discussing the cases in Tantei Gakuen Q ("Detective Academy Q"). Oh, and just for those interested: the anime of this series is a pretty faithful adaptation of the manga, but handles only until the first part volume 7 (of the bunko release), leaving out a couple of short stories in the middle, but adding a couple of original stories to (the soundtrack was sadly enough never released, though I absolutely love this 'I've totally solved' BGM that starts here (spoilers episode 1)). The anime  lacks a proper conclusion to the battle with Pluto and the mystery behind Ryuu's past and it also switches out Kerberos for an original character called Sir Anubis (who for some reason is the only high ranking Pluto agent not having a Greek name).

The live action series on the other hand has a distinct Akihabara-geek setting and most stories are heavily rewritten to only feature the original tricks in different settings. The pilot special for example is also about the entrance exams, but has elements of The Detective Academy Entrance Exams, The Secret of the Old School Building and The Princess Maya Legend Murder Case. The series does have a satisfying conclusion, as it properly adapts the important battles between Pluto and DDS, including the final case of the manga.

But now, a review of the final batch of Q Class's cases.

Detective Academy Q
「迷Ｑ!?」: Volumes 1 ~ 4
「迷宮」: Volumes 5 ~ 8
「MAKE★YOU」: Volumes 9 ~ 12, Premium

In Kiken na Contact ("Dangerous Contact") and Kangoku kara no Message ("The Message from the Prison"), Q Class is brought by Nanami Koutarou to the high security cell of Kerberos, the captured top agent of Pluto, as a special schooltrip. Fearing he might hypnotise his guards, Kerberos is handcuffed at all times and forced to wear an eyemask. Nanami offers Kerberos to appeal for a lighter sentence in exchange for information on Pluto, but Kerberos refuses and declares he will have escaped the next time they will meet again. Kerberos also leaves Q Class with a curious note that is supposed to point them to the identity of the spy inside DDS (which is a lot more complex than seems at first sight). So no, there is no real mystery in these two chapters.

It is back to normal DDS activities are Chinureta Hanazono ("The Bloody Flower Garden"), when Ryuu and Kuniko (from A Class) are sent undercover to investigate the case of a bleeding Holy Mary statue. I think that 'normal' bleeding statues cry, but this particular statue bleeds from her back and the blood forms the word murder. Which kinda seems like some kind of announcement of murder. One little problem: the school is actually an girls' high school. Ryuu is thus forced to crossdress during the story. What is even more mindboggling is that he is forced to take up the role of the prince in a play at the school, meaning he crossdresses as a woman who crossdresses as a man.

During the rehearsals, the head of the school (who also played the villainess vampire Carmilla in the play) is found stabbed to death in her dressing room. Everybody was at the stage during the time of the murder, making it seem like someone from outside did this, but we all know that is never the case with detective stories. The case is pretty simple, as all the hints point to a certain solution. The best part of the stories are undeniably the hilarious reactions Kuniko (who has a crush on Ryuu) has whenever she sees crossdressing Ryuu.

ESCAPE IMPOSSIBLE is the best story of this volume and what a fantastic story it is! Kerberos thinks it is about time to escape and sets in an escape plan in motion that would have made Arsene Lupin proud. Yes, Kerberos might be an expert in hypnotism and highly intelligent, but hey, he wears an eye-mask, his hands are cuffed and he is locked inside a private cell, so that is safe, right? Heck, there is even a hidden trap within the prison building preventing any person to leave it alone (doors only work if two or more people approach them). And yet the guard dog of Hades manages to break free. What makes this story almost even more amazing is that Amagi had actually hidden hints about how Kerberos would escape in previous stories, even before Kerberos was captured!

In Sorezore no Kiro ("Their Own Crossroads"), Kyuu and Ryuu manage to track down two more of Kuzuryuu Takumi's art and they decide to split up to save time. Ryuu is heading for the Seiryuukan Hotel, a building designed by Kuzuryuu, while Kyuu is looking for the Senrinryuu puzzle box. Kyuu finds the box in Tsuribashimura Satsujin Jiken ("The Hanging Bridge Village Murder Case"), located deep in the mountains in Yozara Village, which can only be accessed by crossing a hanging bridge. Knowing that everything made by Kuzuryuu has a secret, Kyuu challenges the box, but he can't seem to open it. At the village, he also learns of an artist who has not left his cottage for a year. The artist was witness to a murder in the village one year ago and he declared that he would make the identity of the murderer known through a sculpture. He has now invited all the suspects in the case to the village and intends to reveal the statue, and the identity of the murderer. The artist also knows how to open the puzzle box, so Kyuu is eager to meet him too. Naturally, the artist gets murdered and the statue destroyed before he managed to tell anyone how the murderer was. And the bridge is destroyed too, cutting the village off the outside world, to complete the picture.

This story is also used to develop the character of Kyuu a bit more, as Kyuu meets a private detective in the village who used to be a disciple of Dan Morihiko and his assistent Renjou (Kyuu's father). It is fun to hear stories about Renjou from someone who, while a student of Renjou, has very different thoughts about what it means to be a detective, as Kyuu (and Renjou) have rather idealistic views about that.

The village full of artists reminds of Arisugawa Alice's Soutou no Akuma, especially as in both stories the village gets sealed off from the outside world because a bridge breaks down. The story is also a throwback to old Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo stories that focus on checking out alibis by checking out the distance between the victim's cottage and the suspects' locations during the time of the murder (for example The Hiren Lake Murder Case and The Amakusa Treasure Murder Case). While not inherently bad, this focus on spatial and temporal locations of people are usually rather boring to read, as it comes down to a long list of moving icons on a map, plotted against a timeline. Even with a visual medium like manga, it is not really comfortable to read and I think these kind of alibi-checking things work the best... in videogames, where interactivity enables the 'reader' to quickly check out differences between two (temporal or spatial) points. In the DS game Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense Kyoto, Atami, Zekkai no Kotou Satsui no Wana, there are bonus train alibi tricks scenarios to solve which make perfect use of this and are not confusing at all.

Kyuu returns to the normal world in Sara ni Fukaki Yami he ("Towards a Deeper Darkness"), having solved the riddle of the puzzle box. There he found a picture of Kuzuryuu Takumi and an unknown boy looks a lot like Ryuu. Ryuu confirms that the boy is his grandfather, King Hades, head of Pluto. He also tells Kyuu that he has no memory of before he was five years old. The story then changes to a discussion of Q Class about what the code Kerberos left them means. The code is supposed to point to the identity of the spy within DDS, but Q Class comes up with three possible interpretations, pointing to three suspects: the teachers Hongou, Maki and Katagiri.

In Saiaku no Yokan, Dan Morihiko calls a meeting with his senior DDC detectives, discussing with them who the spy might be. The other half of the story is about Ryuu taking up a part time job as a private tutor, which continues in Kiken na Katei Kyoushi. This is a hilarious thriller (paradox?). The mother of Ryuu's tutee is killed by her lover's wife and the murdereress is just about to leave the house, having hidden the body, when Ryuu arrives, who naturally assumes that she is the mother of his tutee. She can't afford to have been seen in this house, so she decides to pretend to be the mother until she finds a chance to kill Ryuu. This story mirrors a set of short inverted stories in Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, where Hajime and Kenmochi always happen to stumble upon a complex murder plan in motion, with the murderers trying to act as normal as possible (the most hilarious of them is probably Murder Restaurant, where Hajime and Kenmochi enter a little cafeteria whose master has just been killed, forcing the murderer to pretend like he is the master).

Kako Kara no Shoutaijou ("The Invitation from the Past"), Spy Tsuiseki Sakusen ("The Spy Chasing Plan"), Aratanaru Shuppatsu ("A New Departure") and Yochimu wo Miru Onna ("The Woman Who Sees The Future") set up the stories to come and deals with two major plot points. One is investigation of Q Class into the identity of the Pluto spy. While Q Class doesn't find out who the spy is, his/her identity is made known to the reader. The other plot point is the National Talent Development Research Center, the place where Megu had been to develop her photographic memory. She is invited to a reunion as the building will be taken down soon, though she hesitates because of a strange case that happened there. Ryuu has a deja vu when he sees a picture of the research center, making him and Kyuu suspect that Ryuu's past might be connected to the center.

Megu, Kyuu and Ryuu go together to the reunion in Psychic Murder. The National Talent Development Research Center wasn't only for children with an exceptional high IQ, but they also tried to find develop psychics, some of them also present at the reunion. Megu tells about a mysterious locked room murder case that happened in the past, where a man inside a small lodge was found dead, his body smashed with three axes. Nobody could explain how someone manages to kill the victim and get away from the little lodge and it was always thought that one of the psychics at the center must have done it. And the tragedy is repeated, when a murder happens again under the same conditions!

The murder is almost suprisingly easy to solve, because the hint behind the trick is clear the moment it appears in the story. At first this is a bit disappointing, as up until now all plans made by Pluto were quite complex, but it is actually logical why this plan seems so simple to solve. The whole purpose of this story was to present the reader with a story with faults, with red herrings that were completely unnecessary. Amagi wrote a detective story that seems good, but is full of faults on purpose, making use of popular tropes used in average detective fiction. It is pointed later on in the story by all the detectives present that this was a horrible plan that really should not have been made by Pluto in the first place (well, ignoring the whole murder is bad thing). It almost feels like Writing Detective Fiction 101, where Amagi points out faults in the murder plots other writers make.

Wana ni wa Wana wo ("A Trap for A Trap"), Tokihanatareta Kioku ("The Released Memory"), Kokuhaku, Soshite... ("Confessions, and...") and Kawanu Michi ("Roads That Never Cross") deal with the aftermath of Psychic Murder, with the identity of the Pluto spy revealed and Ryuu confessing to Dan Morihiko that his life story and the fact that his grandfather is King Hades, boss of Pluto. They also release the hypnosis memory lock placed on Megu by King Hades, helping her remember that she used to friends with Ryuu at the Research Center for a short time. Unbeknown to the others, a memory lock on Ryuu is also unlocked, making him remember something about seeing his father commit suicide when he was young. Finally, Dan Morihiko tells Kyuu that he knows who King Hades is and how their destinies as detective and criminal were decided in their youth, when they were best friends.

Meitantei Kerberos ("The Dark Detective Kerberos") is an extra story about the third case the top Pluto agent Kerberos handled when he was just a rookie in Pluto. Having constructed a complex murder plan for his client, he is surprised to see that his client has been murdered before she could execute Kerberos' plan. Furious with the one who killed his client and messed up his perfect plan, he swears to find the murderer for his own honor. As a detective story, it is decent, but the story's main attraction is definitely seeing someone who up until now has only appeared in a purely evil role as a detective. OK, he is definitely not solving the case for something like justice, but as we have seen how smart he was when he escaped from the prison, it is really exciting seeing Kerberos solving a murder. The fact he is basically a murderer though does make the conclusion quite exciting, as it is not clear what he'll do with the one who messed up his plans.

Owari no Hajimari ("The Beginning of the End") is what says it is and the end is the extremely long Seiryuukan Satsujin Jiken ("Seiryuukan Murder Case"). The Seiryuukan are nine buildings designed by Kuzuryuu Takumi, one of them being the old school building at the DDS. The buildings are all named after the nine Dragon children. Four of them once belonged to Ryuu's family, but due to his father's disappearance, the four Seiryuukan have gone to his family's helpers, who manage the Amakusa assets. Having his memory unlocked in the last story, Ryuu remembers the image of his father hanging dead in a room in their old house, which is nowadays Seiryuukan Hotel. He decides to leave Q Class and investigate the supposed murder of his father alone. At the hotel, there is a convention of the owners of the nine Seiryuukan buildings (including the four current managers of the Amakusa family, who had the strongest motive for doing away with Ryuu's father). At the same time, the remaining members of Q Class are charged with investigating the convention, because it was apparently organised by someone pretending to be Dan Morihiko and they suspect something might happen during the convention.

Which happens. Ryuu is found near the body of one of the managers holding the murder weapon, which is kinda suspicious. While the scene of the crime has two entrances, one of them was blocked off and the other entrance was under constant camera surveillance, proving that only Ryuu entered the room after the victim. Ryuu is thus seen as the main suspect in this case, but he escapes during his escort to the police station. More murders happen (among the managers of the Amakusa holdings) and every time Ryuu is spotted near the scene of the crime. What is even more disturbing is the fact that the victims are all murdered following the legends of the Dragon children (i.e. the owner of Koufuku, who likes water, is found in a bathtub).

This is a really long case, befitting the final case of this series and resembles the final case Kindaichi Hajime had to solve in his first season. In both stories a protagonist is set up as the murderer in a serial killing case and forced to work on the case while fighting time. In both stories, the mastercriminal behind it all is something who has no direct part in the murders, only planning the whole thing out. The plan in this story is what you would expect from King Hades, head of Pluto, but it does rely on some 'coincidences' (that are explained, but then we get into the question of what is considered realistic, even in manga). There is a locked room mystery in it too, but not as amazing as you'd hoped from the final story (it is a nice trick though). Overall, it is quite a complex and satisfying story, made even more perplexing because the reader also knows that multiple owners of the Seiryuukan buildings are in fact Pluto members in disguise, adding another layer of mystery to the story.

Honoo no Hate ("At the End of the Flames"),  Saigo no Present ("The Last Present") and Tantei Gakuen yo Eien ni ("Detective Academy Forever") deal with the aftermath of the Seiryuukan Satsujin Jiken, resolving some little plotlines like the mystery behind Ryuu's father and the future of Q Class. These chapters really do nothing more than cleaning up for the ending of the series.

But in reality, the series has one little sequel. Tantei Gakuen Q Premium was released two years after the serialisation of the original series ended and is a standalone volume. The story is set some time (two years?) after the ending of the series, with Nanami Koutarou having taken over the function of director of Dan Detective School. The members of Q Class have all grown up a bit and Kyuu and Megu actually being a couple now. Which for some reason was already sorta established at the end of the series, but they apparently kept it secret to the others until now (at least they thought so). The first story, Senritsu no Alibi ("A Melody Alibi"), a contestant in a violin concours is attacked brutally just before it is her turn. Kyuu and Megu were present at the contest, as they came to see one of Megu's friends perform. The story showcases the five's strong points, which is nice, but the story lacks... impact. There is nothing really baffling to the case at first sight and while the basic idea of the alibi trick of the murderer is pretty smart, it is full of holes and could have been solved by the normal police.

The same holds for Time Limit ni Idome ("Challenge the Time Limit!"), where the perfect suspect for a murder has an ironclad alibi for the murder. The murder was commited in Osaka around three, but the suspect left Tokyo by car at twelve and could not have made it to Osaka before three. The police is actually the one confirming his alibi, as the suspect was caught on camera for speeding on the highway. The solution to this conundrum is almost painfully easy to deduce.

The final story Ai to Kanashimi no Misshitsu ("A Locked Room of Love and Sadness") is a multi-layered locked room mystery, the victim being a teacher accused of bullying around students (until they commit suicide). There are some interesting particulars to this case (including a trope not used before in this series), but it is fairly disappointing. In fact, the only real point of interest is the ending of the story, where Kerberos returns on the scene with a newly rebuilt Pluto, challenging Q Class again in a new fight between good and evil.

Tantei Gakuen Q Premium suffers a lot from being a one-shot, featuring three mediocre short stories. It would have been so much exciting (and probably more interesting) to have had a long story, like the annual one-shot stories Kindaichi Shounen nowadays has. Now it is a standalone sequel that really adds nothing substantial to the whole series. The ending seems like a pitch for a new series of Tantei Gakuen Q, with the return of Pluto, but it has been since five years since Premium was released I don't see that going anywhere. The 'problem' with Tantei Gakuen Q is that it is not fit for the annual one-shots of Kindaichi Shounnen, as it is much more focused on bringing an overall storyline between the cases. The stories collected in Premium lack an overall storyline, resulting in a boring volume that should not be the end of an awesome series.

Because this is really an awesome detective series that no fan should miss. The impressive amount of impossible crimes is something that really makes this series worthwile, but Tantei Gakuen Q also manages to succesfully combine the shounen teamwork formula with a true orthodox detective story, resulting in an original setting. The overarching storyline of Q Class and the criminal organisation Pluto especially make this series feel distinctly different from other detective series because of its cohesiveness. The series is really addictive because of the ever-developing main storyline combined with solid detective stories that few series will manage to match.

Let's hope that Q Class will return in the future again!

Original Japanese title(s): 天樹征丸（原）& さとうふみや（画）『探偵学園Ｑ』　第９巻～１２巻　（文庫）,　『探偵学園Ｑプレミアム』

『殺意は必ず三度ある』

"認めたくないものだな。自分自身の若さゆえの過ちというものを"

『機動戦士ガンダム』

"One does not care to aknowledge the mistakes of one's youth"

"Mobile Suit Gundam"

I already said this once, but I am actually not that big a fan of Higashino Keigo, despite the fact I seem to use his name tag quite often on this blog. When he writes something good, it is really good like Meitantei no Okite ("The Laws of the Great Detective") and Yougisha X no Kenshin ("The Devotion of Suspect X"). Lately, many of his novels tend to be sad love stories with a mystery plot, but Higashino's skill in writing and a knack for coming up with neat narrative tricks usually make them very interesting to read. When he has a bad day though, his books really just feel like a checklist of detective tropes combined a love story, with little creativity.

In June 2011, Fuji TV broadcast three TV specials based on three early novels by Higashino Keigo. His early novels tend to be more orthodox detective novels as opposed to his more ambiguous later novels, but they are usually not very interesting, following the basic tropes and formula of the genre, with SUSPICOUS characters and DRAMATIC revelations and TEARBREAKING conclusions. Or something like that. They are well-suited for TV-format though, I have to admit.

11 Moji no Satsujin ("The Eleven Characters Murders") was the first of the specials, broadcast on June 10 2011 and definitely the worst of the bunch. The story is about a female detective fiction writer, who while well known, has lately been in a writing slump. One day her boyfriend is found murdered and the only message he left was "from an unhabited island, with murderous intent" (which is written Japanese in eleven characters, hence the title). While she might have troubles with her own fictional murders, the writer decides to investigate the murder herself with the help of her editor/friend, but it seems like her boyfriend's murder was not the only one to happen recently and she finds out that her boyfriend was related to an incident that happened one year ago on a small island, which may the reason of his death.

This story is really just Higashino Keigo checking off a gigantic list of tropes that seemed to fit his idea of a detective story. 11 Moji no Satsujin almost feels made for a TV adaptation as it really feels like those two-hour suspense dramas. It is only missing a denouement at a cliff overlooking the sea! In fact, it had helped this special if it had a denouement scene at a cliff overlooking the sea. Now I was just like "Oh, she solved the case. Nice for her". I had actually seen this special right after it was broadcast last summer, but it was so utterly boring that it took me until now to work the courage to watch the other two specials. The only point of interest: an alibi that crumbles due to the testimony of a blind person, which is reminiscent of a certain famous Yokomizo Seishi novel.

Brutus no Shinzou ("Brutus' Heart"), the second special broadcast on June 17 2011 is a lot better. A very succesful engineer Suenaga Takuya is seen as the new hope of a gigantic heavy industry corporation, having constructed Brutus, a high-tech robot. The CEO also intends to marry his daughter off to him and nothing stands in his way to the top. Except for his mistress Yasuko who says she is pregnant with his child and intends to blackmail him. He discovers that two other men in the corporation are being blackmailed (for the same reasons) and they decide to work together to kill her off. They come up with the plan of a murder-relay: the three men split up the murder in three parts (the actual murder in Osaka, transport to Tokyo and disposal of the body in Tokyo). By making sure they do have an alibi for the parts they don't have to do, they hope to fool the police.

Which seems like a nice plan, until they find out that the body they have been transporting was the body of one of three conspirators and that Yasuko is still alive the next day. Who killed their fellow conspirator? Was it Yasuko? Who knew of the plan? Fearing for his own life, Takuya hopes to find the murderer to cover up his relation to the murder relay.

For some reason, Fujiwara Tatsuya always seems to be playing the role of an elite arrogant young man with a murderous streak and an awful, awful laugh in detective productions. Light in Death Note, that guy whose name I forgot in the first episode of Furuhata Ninzaburou FINAL, Takuya in this Brutus no Shinzou, Fujiwara seems rather typecast for these kinds of things. Anyway, Brutus no Shinzou is really an improvement to 11 Moji no Satsujin, as the plot of a murder relay gone wrong is quite exciting. At first you think it starts out as an inverted detective, but the plot really takes a different turn when they discover that their fellow-conspirator is dead and the intended target not. Though I have to admit that the idea is a lot better than the execution, as the conclusion with the surprising identity of the murderer (in reality not really surprising) is a bit bland and the some of the subplots were really, really generic.

Luckily, they saved the best for last, as Kairoutei Satsujin Jiken ("The Kairoutei Murder Case"), the final special broadcast on June 24 2011, was actually pretty good. The wealthy Ichigahara Takaaki has died and his family, mostly brothers and sisters from different mothers, have all gathered in Kairoutei, a Japanese inn, to await the presentation of his will. Besides the family, the beautiful Miwako is also present as a representative of her mother, an old family friend. Little does the family now however that Miwako is in fact Kiryuu Eriko, the secretary of Takaaki who is said to have commited suicide half a year ago after she had an attempt on her life by her boyfriend Jirou in a forced love suicide, all at the Kairoutei. She however knows that Jirou did not commit suicide, but was killed and faked her own suicide to take revenge (having undergone plastic surgery to change her face). Now all the guests that were present that day half a year ago are here gathered at the Kairoutei again and she intends to take revenge.

Confusing? It is and the first twenty minutes I really had no idea what I was watching but the simple version is 'Eriko (pretending to be Miwako) wants to kill murderer of her boyfriend, but does not know who (s)he is'. Eriko sets a trap and having found out the identity of murder, goes to his/her room to murder to murder him/her, only to find out that her victim is already dead! Why was the murderer killed before Eriko could have done the deed? Was the victim really the murderer or was Eriko's trap faulty? As the police slowly starts to doubt Eriko's real identity, she has to hurry finding out who it was who killed her Jirou to take her revenge.

The original novel is known for a certain narrative trick, that did not translate well to the screen, but there is in fact another narrative trick hidden in this special that really worked well. I was caught completely off guard when the reveal came for that trick and that won me over. With a murderer who is planning to kill another murderer (with something going wrong, like in Brutus no Shinzou), Kairoutei Satsujin Jiken is really a great suspensful story, that despite a really confusing beginning with flashbacks and an excessively complex family tree of multiple mothers and deceased family members, really manages to deliver at the end. In fact, this special's plot really became better and better as it neared its conclusion, making it a really satisfying story. Tokiwa Takako also stole the show as a vengeful Eriko and she was definitely the best lead part of the three specials.

In the end, these specials did little more than confirming my ideas about Higashino Keigo: you have to be careful with what you read of him, as the quality of his works can vary quite a bit, especially his earlier works.

Original Japanese title(s): 東野圭吾（原）　『１１文字の殺人』 / 『ブルータスの心臓』 / 『回廊亭殺人事件』

「迷宮」

愛する人がどんどん増えてく

それって素敵な事ね　きっと人生

宝物なんだ

『ありがとう』　（レミオロメン）

More and more people I love

That is a wonderful thing

Life is really a treasure

"Thanks" (Remioromen)

Second part in the Tantei Gakuen Q ("Detective Academy Q") case by case review series. Yes, I am going fast, but it's also because I kinda skimmed throught the stories I still remembered. Which was about half of the stories here. The previous four volumes formed a solid foundation for this teamwork based detective series, but volumes five to eight are more focused on developing the characters and the main storyline.

Detective Academy Q
「迷Ｑ!?」: Volumes 1 ~ 4
「迷宮」: Volumes 5 ~ 8
「MAKE★YOU」: Volumes 9 ~ 12, Premium

Kateikashitsu no Nazo ("The Mystery of the Home Economics Classroom") continues the trend of cases tailor made for individual students of Q Class. This time the story is set at Kazuma's primary school, where Kazuma's favorite teacher gets attacked by somebody with a cursed poison blowpipe in her office. The would-be murderer flees into the home economics classroom, next to the office, but when Kazua enters the room, he is astounded to find it completely empty, with every window locked from the inside and no other ways of escape. Oh, I did mention cursed poison blowpipe, right? Those things apparently can be found at primary schools. Anyway, the trick behind the impossible disappearance of the assailant is really smart and it is almost a shame that it was 'just' for a story two chapters long!

Alibi Ressha de Ikou ("Let's Go With The Alibi Train") is one of my favorite stories of the series, even though it is nothing special. I just have a thing for inverted detective stories. Kyuu and Kinta are sent away on an assignment for DDS and travel by train to their destination. The same train an illustrator (and murderer-to-be) has chosen for her alibi trick. She starts up a conversation with Kyuu and Kinta, making sure they remember her as she will need them as decisive witnesses she couldn't have commited the murder during the ride (of course, she did). Of course, using two members of the prestigious DDS's Q Class as pawns in your murder plan is definitely going to fail. Especially if one of them is Kyuu. The story mirrors a series of short inverted stories of the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, complete with the humorous tone and the elegant simplicity of the slip-up and it is really a shame there are so few inverted stories in Tantei Gakuen Q.

The trio of Megu, Yukihira and Kuniko (of A Class) are sent to help Kyuu and Kinta, as they were mistaken for gropers on a train in the last case. Thus Bishoujo Tantei (Trio The Beauty) Kikippatsu ("Beautiful Girl Detectives (Trio The Beauty) In A Pinch") starts off with our three girls taking the train (which is packed because of the rain), but during the trip Kuniko is molested by a groper. As Kuniko screams, the groper's arm disappears into the mass of people, but Megu is able to find the groper thanks to her photographic memory and bring the man to the train police. The suspect denies all charges though and claims that he wasn't even on the train during the period Kuniko was being molested.

By now, we've seen quite a lot of gruesome murders in this series, yet I was kinda surprised to see a story addressing sexual harassment here. The story is pretty simple, but the problem of proving someone's guilt or innocence in a grope case are quite well known in Japan. Famous are the 'women only' sections in trains during the busy morning rush in Tokyo. I have the unforgetable memory of being squished every morning in the train in Tokyo for three months and I can say that as a male you do make an effort to make sure the position of your hands isn't going to be mistaken for a more criminal act. Which isn't always easy if there is literally no place to move because everybody is leaning against you. The movie Soredemo Boku Wa Yattenai (based on a true story) is pretty famous, where a man is accused of molesting a high school girl in the train and he sees no way to proof he did not do it.

Gensoukan Satsujin Jiken ("The Gensou Mansion Murder Case") goes back to the format of a long Kindaichi Shounen-esque story. In fact, this story is remniscent of Akuma Kumikyoku Satsujin Jiken ("The Devil's Symphony Murder Case"), originally a Kindaichi Shounen audio drama. Both stories are about the legacy of a eminent musician, with a lot of rivalry and hatred amongst his disciples. In this story, the disciples of Yuge (who is still alive, by the way) are all hoping to get the Testa di Drago, a magnificent violin. A threatening letter has been sent to Yuge, supposedly sent by a disciple who died six months ago, saying the Testa di Drago belongs to her and that she'll come get it. But what is even more interesting is that the Testa di Drago was made by Kuzuryuu Takumi, the mysterious allround artist who also designed the old school building with a hidden prison (volume 4). Thus Dan Morihiko sends Q Class to investigate the case, hoping they will find out more about Kuzuryuu too. And of course people die during Q Class' stay at the Gensou Mansion, a mountain villa where Yuge and his disciples reside.

I think this is one of the last stories incorporated in the anime and it is a pretty interesting story, even if a bit straightforward. The scale of this story is mostly derived because the murderer commits several murders, but the individual murders are not all that interesting to be honest (except for a cool alibi trick used in the first murder). Suspense in this story is mostly derived from the fact the people in the Gensou Mansion are cut off the outside world because of a storm, while Kinta and the DDS teacher Hongou are still on their way to the villa. The closed circle setting and the motive behind the murders is definitely a throwback to Kindaichi Shounen, but 'fresh' in this series.

Maybe the more interesting part of Gensoukan Satsujin Jiken is that Hongou finally explains the truth behind Pluto, the criminal organisation that sells perfect murder plans, to Q Class and its connection to the cases Q Class has solved in the past. They also manage to capture Miss Kaori, one of Pluto's agents, but not before Ryuu was stabbed by the murderer (who was hypnotised to fight back if he was caught). Ryuu also finally realized his connection to Pluto in this story, which is made even more clear in Shisha wa Kurayami Yori ("The Messenger from the Darkness"), a transition chapter that introduces Kerberos, a high ranking Pluto agent who will act as the face of Pluto for the time being.

Shounentachi no Yoru ("Boys' Night"), Kuzuryuu Takumi no Nazo ("The Mystery of Kuzuryuu Takumi"), Shiunryuu no Hen'i ("The Change of the Shiunryuu"), Uketsugareshi Mono ("He Who Inherits") and Kuzuryuu Nikki no Himitsu ("The Secret of the Kuzuryuu Diary") is a little story arc that I think is missing from the anime. After the events surrounding Pluto, Ryuu decides to leave his home and decides to live in Kyuu's home. There the two boys decide to do more research on the mysterious Kuzuryuu Takumi, whose art seems to have the strange power of bringing the worst out of people. Thanks to a lucky break (Kyuu's mom once had a translation assignment connected with Kuzuryuu), the duo manages to track down the Shiunryuu, a beautiful vase Kuzuryuu made. There is a little disappearing case with the Shiunryuu during their visit, but they manage to solve that and also a small secret behind the vase. It appears that there is a secret behind every thing Kuzuryuu made (for example the secret prison in the old school building) and when the boys get hold of a translated copy of Kuzuryuu's diary, they suspect there is a secret code hidden there, but they can't solve it.

Leaving the secret behind the diary, Q Class is sent away on another assignment in Mayahime Densetsu Satsujin Jiken ("The Princess Maya Legend Murder Case"), because a threatening letter has been sent to a politican regarding the construction of a dam. Q Class quickly find out that many villagers of Jinchuu, the politican's hometown, are not happy at all with the plans and it should not come as a surprise that the murder of this story turns out to be the politician. No, the surprise lies in the fact that the man was found inside a locked storage house. And with locked I mean it was blocked by a block of concrete used for building the dam. What has this to do with the legends surrounding the human pillar sacrifices that are told in this village? A funny code is also added to the locked room mystery, but the latter is certainly the star of the story. Why use a key or a bolt to lock a door if you can also use a concrete block? Just going that extra mile in the presentation makes this an interesting locked room story.

Mittsu no Yubiwa ("The Three Rings") is a supplement story about a ring Megu wears, but nothing special (cute though!). Hikari to Kage no Kizuna ("The Bonds of Light and Darkness") is another transition story, where we learn a bit more about the fate of the Pluto agent Miss Kaori, who has lost her mind ever since Kerberos hypnotised her. Dan Morihiko still has no idea how to retrieve her mind (so he can question her about Pluto). At the DDS, Megu is presented with a code she has to solve herself, which is I guess to be considered her 'own' case like Kyuu, Kinta and Kazuma got? Or it was volume 5's Bishoujo Tantei (Trio The Beauty) Kikippatsu, but that was actually done with three people...

Kochira DSD Kagaku Kenkyuushitsu ("This is the DDS Laboratory") is a short story that introduces Doctor Skull, the man responsible for the gadgets used by the DDS. He is short on hands and he asks Kyuu, Megu and Ryuu to solve a case for him (while smart, Doctor Skull is technically not a detective, so he leaves this up to the real detectives). The case involves a murder of a woman in her own flat, with the main suspect living two apartments above her. The problem is that the suspect has an ironclad alibi, as he had friends over at his apartment during the time of the murder. The trick is a good and simple one, which is also the best way to describe this story. While this case is solved completely at the DDS laboratory, the live action drama turned this story into a case Q Class actually has to investigate themselves. And added in a weird idol otaku subplot.

Shinrei Camera de Scoop ("A Scoop With a Ghost Camera") is the first in a series of stories related to supernatural phenomena. During school, Kuniko of A Class shows off some of her ghost photographs. Most of the students think that they are fun, but nothing more than retouched pictures, so they don't think much more about it. On their way back home, Ryuu and Kyuu are witness to an awful train accident and help out a bit with identifying the man. They have a feeling something is wrong though and visit the victim's closest relatives, his brother and sister-in-law, but come up with nothing. But imagine the surprise as Kyuu makes a photograph of Ryuu (Kyuu has been playing with his new camera for some time) and they discover the face of the deceased man floating behind Ryuu on the photograph! The mystery the ghost picture is surprisingly clever and one of the most original tricks in the series. This might be a short, relatively light-hearted story, but the quality is still as high as any other story.

Contuining the investigation into urban legends, Q Class investigates the mystery of the headless woman dressed in kimono who is supposed to haunt a certain neighbourhood in Meirokouji no Kubinashi Onna ("The Headless Woman of the Road Labyrinth"). Kyuu, Megu and Kinta stake the place out and actually see the headless woman and they decide to chase and catch her. The ghost (?) runs into a small labyrinth of walled off alleyways, with Q Class right behind her, but when Q Class arrive at the end of the labyrinth, the ghost has disappeared. This is a really light and easy mystery, not much more to be said about it.

After ghost pictures and monsters, now aliens in UFO Kara Ai wo Komete ("From UFO with Love")! Kazuma has a mail-friend from Hokkaidou who has made a picture of an UFO and she also says that a certain class of her school has been acting very strange ever since the appearance of the UFO. Q Class flies to Hokkaidou (paid by Kazuma) to investigate the case, but who would have expected that even crop circles would appear near the town?! A case of misdirection, with some smarter mysteries hidden behind the main mystery, which is not really difficult to deduce.

The previous stories already refered to an upcoming exam at DDS, that determines your class ranking. Q Class naturally has to take the exam too and there is a real danger of being degraded to a lower class. The five students therefore decice to go on a training camp in Kurayamidera Yuurei Jiken ("The Kurayamidera Ghost Case"). Their training location is at the summer house of Kinta's family, a place deep in the mountains where he spent his youth. There they meet Sumire, an old friend (love interest?) of Kinta and she convinces the five members of Q Class to do a kimodameshi (test of courage) in the Kurayamidera temple, involving passing a candle in a relay. But even though one of them chickens out of the test, the relay doesn't end in a failure. Which is impossible with just four members due the rules. The only conclusion: a ghost took over the place of the one who chickened out! Another light-hearted story, but this story is actually set up to serve as a meaningful introduction of the following story. The kimodameshi is a trope that is used a couple of times in Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo actually. They always ended up in murder.

Setsugekka Satsujin Jiken ("Setsugekka Murder Case") is a very long and complex story, probably the longest of the series save the last case and includins substories titled Q Class De Aru Tame Ni ("Because We Are Q Class"), Abakereta Katachi ("The Blown Cover") and Setsugekka no Shinjitsu ("The Truth Behind Setsugekka"). The Setsugekka are a set of scrolls painted by Kuzuryuu Takumi and in the possesion of the Kiryuu family. Kiryuu Ukon, the youngest son of the family, is a childhood friend of Kinta and Sumire and was once known as a genius trickster, but some years ago his mind suddenly turned for the worse and nowadays has a very childish personality. He is still best friends with Kinta though and happily shows Q Class the three Setsugekka scrolls, depicting a demoness with a snow, moon and flower setting.

But the Kuzuryuu Takumi art objects are always connected to crime and the following night one of Ukon's stepsisters is found stabbed in her neck in the room of the scrolls. Seeing only Ukon and his father have keys to the room (and Ukon's father isn't able to walk anymore), Ukon is seen as the main suspect of the case by the police. Kinta has to solve the case to save his friend, but little does he know that Kerberos, the top Pluto agent, is behind this case.

And what a case this is! The live action drama did a poorly distilled version of this story, but that really didn't do any justice to this impressive case. It's a very deeply layered case that is sure to fool most readers and is made even more impressive as Amagi ups the Pluto storyline, by letting Kyuu discover Ryuu's connection to the criminal organisation. This story is also the first time we see Kerberos in action and what a debut! He takes his cues from Kindaichi Shounen's Hell's Puppeteer, as both are extremely smart criminals who sell murder plans, but don't dirty their own hands (which in turn builds on the identity of the criminal in a certain famous novel I won't mention by name). Kerberos easily uses several psychological tricks on Ryuu, tricking him into making rash deductions and it takes the likes of Nanami Koutarou and Dan Morihiko himself to cope with the watchdog of Hades. This is the most satisfactory story in the whole series until now, splendidly mixing in the whole idea of detective teamwork, visual clueing and the idea of fighting a criminal organisation that are central to this series with a really complex detective plot. One of the subplots also eerily mirrors the Conan story KID and the Four Masterpieces (volume 53).

Amagi seemed eager to further the main story line and in thus deals with the 'mystery' behind the mysterious detective who taught Kyuu everything he knows in Sono Na wa Renjou Satoru ("His Name is Renjou Satoru"), Oshie wo Tsuide ("Inheriting the Lessons") and Takusareta Inori ("The Entrusted Wish"). It shouldn't be a big surprise to hear that Kyuu is the son of the (deceased) first assistent of Dan Morihiko and while it makes for a nice 'now-the-circle-is-complete' feeling, no mystery is present in these chapters. Well, except for the fact that Kazuma makes the daring (yet perfect!) guess that Pluto might have infiltrated the DDS, seeing as several of Pluto's actions lately seem to rely on information that must have come from the DDS itself. This is confirmed in Akuma no Egao ("The Devil's True Face"), where Dan Morihiko manages to release Pluto agent Miss Kaori's hypnosis and asks her the question: who of the people he brought with him here is the spy inside DDS?

Volumes five to eight really show the difference of this series with series like Conan and Kindaichi Shounen, by focusing much more and better on the main storyline and the fight with Pluto. There are some great short and long stories in these volumes, which really shows off the diversity of this series and it also moves away from the impossible crime-oriented beginning of this series. We also see that Amagi tries to develop the characters a bit more by giving everyone their own story arcs and while Ryuu and Megu seem to have little attention at this point, their importance will be shown in the last part of the series, so Amagi was able to pay a little bit less attention to them.

Even though I already read this series, I am actually really excited to read the last part now!

Original Japanese title(s): 天樹征丸（原）& さとうふみや（画）『探偵学園Ｑ』　第５巻～８巻　（文庫）

『誰が女神を殺したか?』

「勇気を振り絞り、私はここらであの有名な言葉を書いておこうとおもう。

‹私は読者に挑戦する›」

『占星術殺人事件』

"Gathering all my courage, I'd like to leave those famous words here:

I challenge the reader"

"The Astrology Murder Case"

I think I'll stop my series of reviews of English translated Japanese novels for the moment, but the final one just had to be this novel.

Shimada Souji debuted in 1981 with The Tokyo Zodiac Murder Case (Original title: Senseijutsu Satsujin Jiken - "The Astrology Murder Case"). At the time it was not well received that very good with the public, as the novel was quite different from the dominant style at the time. The late seventies - early eighties were the years after the Yokomizo boom, when the social school (usually represented by Matsumoto Seichou) reigned and dry police procedurals were considered the way to go for detective fiction. So what chance did Shimada had with his debut novel, that was a clear homage to the Golden Age detective novels, with an amateur detective who outsmarts the police, with references to great detectives of old like Sherlock Holmes, with its preposterous complex murder plot including a locked room murder and its pretentious Challenge to the Reader?

Luckily, Shimada was not the only writer in Japan who felt an urge to return to the old orthodox detective fiction and The Tokyo Zodiac Murders showed these young writers the possibility of modern orthodox detective novels. Shimda inspired and helped several authors during this important time. Ayatsuji Yukito, whose novels were first marketed as New Orthodox detectives, got his pen-name from Shimada actually, just like Abiko Takemaru. Shimada should thus be considered the driving force behind the New Orthodox detective fiction movement and it all started with The Tokyo Zodiac Murders. It is thanks to this novel that I can still enjoy classically structured detective novels complete with locked room mysteries and Challenges to the Readers in this time and age. Thank you.

Oh, and you know, the plot of this book is actually awesome too. The story starts with the will of Umezawa Heikichi, an artist with an obsession with alchemy and astrology. Haunted by the image of Azoth, the perfect woman, he decides to murder his six daughters and nieces and to use their body parts in order to construct Azoth himself. And indeed, 1936 is the year the Umezawa family gets slaughtered, with the bodies (minus the parts used for Azoth) of the poor girls being found all across Japan. Oh, but as we have Umezawa's will, we know he did it right? Well, the problem is that Umezawa was killed, inside a locked room, before any of the girls were murdered. Which makes it somewhat difficult for him to have commited the murders. Or was it? The case became known as the Umezawa astrology murders and while the police and amateur detectives have challenged the case countless of times, it still remains unsolved after 40 years. Until fortune-teller Mitarai Kiyoshi (who occassionally works as a detective) gets hold on a manuscript that brings another light on the case and he declares that he will solve the baffling case within a week.

The main trick behind the novel is simply brilliant and not enough words can exist to praise it. Shimada has a talent for coming up with fantastically grand tricks that surprise the reader because they are just so unbelievable. With most novels, you think 'Oh, that's pretty smart' when you find out what the trick was. With Shimada, it's more like "Wha... WHAT? YOU'VE GOTTA....BUT... AAH, IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!". As if Shimada is working on a totally different scale than most readers. If the traditional locked room is created with a thread and needle, then Shimada's tools are a gigantic steel wire rope and iron bar and he would still be subtle with them. The grand trick is something typically Shimada and can also be seen in for example his second novel, Naname Yashiki no Hanzai ("The Crime at the Slanted Mansion") and the short stories Shissou suru Shisha ("The Running Dead Man"), Yamatakabou no Ikaros ("Icarus with a Bowler Hat") and Aru Kishi no Monogatari ("A Story of a Knight").

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders develops similarly to Ellery Queen's A Study In Terror, as in both stories the detectives are solving a case based solely on old documents. This turns the story in a pure logic puzzle, as it misses the excitement that comes from a case that is developing in the present progressive. More than half the novel consists of old manuscripts and Ishioka telling Mitarai about the case 40 years ago and I have to admit that at times these segments seem to drag on a bit because they are quite dry. Even if quite bloody and messy. In Shimada's second novel, Naname Yashiki no Hanzai, he wisely chose to depict the crime in real-time, which was much more appealing.

Mitarai Kiyoshi (whose name is hilariously written as a clean honorable toilet) is also the first in the long line of amateur detectives in new orthodox detective novels. In good detective fiction tradition, Mitarai starts off the adventure by talking very badly about his literary predecessors and especially Holmes is the victim of Mitarai's foul words. What is even more hilarious is that Shimada actually included a lot of Mitarai's comments about Holmes in his own Holmes pastiche, Souseki to Rondon Miira Satsujin Jiken ("Souseki and the London Mummy Murder Case"). Mitarai is here a fortune-teller with an interest in crime, like in the next novel, but he trades in his occupation to become a private detective in the short story collection Mitarai Kiyoshi no Aisatsu ("Mitarai Kiyoshi's Greetings"), introducing himself as criminologist with an interest in astrology.

The Challenge to the Reader in this novel really caught on with subsequent authors (who may or may not be new orthodox writers). Even if I limit myself to the writers mentioned in the side bar, you'd have Abiko Takemaru, Amagi Seimaru, Arisugawa Alice, Ayatsuji Yukito, Higashino Keigo, Maya Yutaka, Mitani Kouki, Takemoto Kenji, Yokomizo Seishi who I remember having used explicit Challenges to the Readers in their works (and probably more I forget. And even more writers work with implied Challenges (for example, Aoyama Goushou's stories are almost always structured so that Conan figures out everything at the end of a chapter, while Nikaidou Reito's Jinroujou no Kyoufu ("Terror of Werewolf Castle") has two implicit Challenges, mirroring the two Challenges presented in Shimada's The Tokyo Zodiac Murders).

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is one of those rare books that is not only amazing at what it was supposed to be (a detective story), but also stands symbol for important changes within the literary history of detective fiction. As such, it is a novel everyone should have read. And this is one of the few recommendations I can make that actually has an English version available!

One note of warning: the second Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo story arc, Ijinkanmura Satsujin Jiken ("The Ijinkanmura Murder Case", published in the US as The Mummy's Curse) plagiarizes the main tricks of this novel. There were quite some troubles surrounding this at the time and all publications nowadays include a clear warning for those who have not read The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (which seems to be missing in the US publication).

Original Japanese title(s): 島田荘司 『占星術殺人事件』

「この番組的には、流行語大賞はＯｈ！ガメオベールと思います」

「ラーク？タバコを吸う奴おったっけな・・・・　神宮寺しかおらへんで！」

『ゲームセンターＣＸ　134:  解決しろ！「探偵神宮寺三郎 新宿中央公園殺人事件」』

"A Lark cigarette? Was there a suspect who smoked...? Jinguuji is the only one smoking!"

"Game Center CX 134: Solve it! Detective Jinguuji Saburou Shinjuku Central Park Murder Case"

So this might be because of the whole connection with Japanese culture and the average age of bloggers out there, but is the only blog dedicated to detective fiction that actually discusses (detective) games at all? Am I the only one who uses a 'game' tag? I really can't see why a mystery fan wouldn't try the Ace Attorney games for example...

Anyway, I have discussed my random thoughts about observing other people while they are tackling a piece of detective fiction earlier, using the fantastic program Game Center CX as an example. In the program, section chief Arino Shinya (of comedy duo Yoiko) is locked up with a retro (and usually hard) videogame in a room, which he needs to beat. He has challenged detective games earlier, but luck has it that this week's episode was actually of the section chief playing Detective Jinguuji Saburou - The Shinjuku Central Park Murder Case, the first game in a series I absolutely love and have mentioned quite often here. In fact, I have sorta reviewed the game here too, so for the basic game mechanics I refer to that post. Anyway, as a fan of both the game and the program itself, I was really interested to see how section chief Arino would handle the role of the hardboiled detective and the case of the mysterious murdered girl who was found in the middle of Shinjuku Central Park.

What makes the Game Center CX's episodes with graphic adventure games so fun is the fact that Arino is forced to talk a lot more than usual. In most episodes, Arino's challenges concern action games and humour is derived from the fact that Arino is, to put it lightly, usually not very good at those games. And with not good I mean that is very likely that he will get stuck for hours on on just one level. Maybe just one part of a level (looking at you, Castlevania III episode!). Thus much time of a episode is spent on just watching Arino falling from a cliff again. Or walking into an enemy. Or accidently forgetting to press continue. Or forgetting to equip the super special awesome rare sword he spent hours forging, making him unable to fight back and die miserably. Which makes it seem likes Game Center CX is only fun if you have like to see others fail, which isn't true. It is so awesome because Arino keeps on trying despite failing constantly.

These events just don't happen often in adventure games though. Though to be honest, I was quite surprised to see Arino getting a game over screen almost immediately in The Shinjuku Central Park Murder Case, because he insisted on treating the police detective in charge of the case as a suspect. Interactivity and unpredicability of videogames at his best. Heck, I didn't even know you could get a game over screen so soon! Seeing him running around looking for 'the disappeared' Youko for a long time in the park only for him to find out that Youko is Jinguuji's assistent and just waiting at the office is just hilarious.

To make up for the lack of action and humour derived from the footage itself in this game, Arino just talks a lot. Usually it is just seeing him making hilarous comments about the game and the dialogue (he is technically a tsukkomi in Yoiko, or at least the lesser boke). But at other times you hear him seriously voicing his thoughts about the case and see an 'actual' detective at work. This is something really fun you'd practically never see in real life: see how a fellow 'reader' (in this case a gamer) handles a piece of detective fiction: how he interprets the evidence, how he thinks about the suspects, how he connects the little puzzles of the plot into one cohesive net of murder. To aid the TV audience, but especially himself, Arino for example has the neat habit of writing everything down on a whiteboard in a chart. He organises all the evidence, testimonies and his own suspicions in a grand scheme, with arrows pointing here and there. I know that some people indeed sometimes write these things down when reading detective fiction (I tend to keep it all in my head), so it is really funny to see how someone handles a detective story.

Which is made even more clear by the fact that this is a videogame. While there are limits to your freedom within a game, especially in older adventure games, it is still clear that Arino moves according to his deductions. He visits the people he suspects first and is clearly less polite to them (there is a threaten command in the game) than to people he thinks are innoccent. There are some psychological researches on how people handle detective fiction, looking at how people come up with deductions and hypotheses based on the story itself, experience with the genre and knowledge of tropes (see the attic for some Japanese sources). Because of all these parameters, very different interpretations are made of the same situation and it is within the realm of interactive detective fiction that you really clearly see what for results this can have. The way the plot develops in The Shinjuku Central Park Murder Case is relatively an on-rails experience, but here it was clear that Arino did same stuff different from me. I for one didn't get a game over screen five minutes in the game.

Arino makes some big deductions during the episode and is asked to make his final thoughts clear just before the big finale. Receiving a pack of chocolate cigarettes of the director Inoue (the legendary assistant director who only seemed to work against Arino when in cooperative play), Arino mimicks the smoking private detective Jinguuji and actually comes up with some great deductions during his play of the game. Or were it guesses? Fact is that he has an impressive track record with detective games (Kamaitachi no Yoru and Ohotsk ni Kiyu) where he keeps on solving cases long before the finale. Seeing Arino actually being incredibly good at games is also fun at times.

It was strange to see no in-game smoking scenes though, even though there is a special command to smoke. Yes, you can actually opt to choose to smoke in this game series and sometimes, it is even required to advance in the game.

Anyway, it was interesting to see in details how someone else solves a detective story. And even better that it was a game I know and like, in the setting of a TV progam I love.

Original Japanese title(s): 『ゲームセンターＣＸ　134: 解決しろ！「探偵神宮寺三郎 新宿中央公園殺人事件」』