The Tragedy of 1 / 一の悲劇

I assume most people reading this blog know who Ellery Queen is, but for who don’t, he (actually the joint pseudonym for two cousins) is one of the most influential writers from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. He was famous for novels resolved by a chain of deductions from physical clues, used to narrow down the suspect list to one candidate. While there aren’t many authors writing mystery stories with that style of plotting in English nowadays, there are plenty of Japanese writers who have adopted the style, including Alice Arisugawa and Yuugo Aosaki (who was marketed as “Queen of the Heisei period” with quite unfortunate timing since Japan’s emperor passed shortly thereafter, ending the Heisei period).

But another author who writes in the Queensian school is Rintarou Norizuki (which, like Ellery Queen, is both the author’s pen name and the name of his fictional detective), author of The Tragedy of 1, which is clearly a reference to Queen’s Drury Lane series. To be honest, I’m not sure why I read this book. As you may have noticed from my blog, I usually play a series or read an author’s work in order unless there’s a particular reason to start with a different work. The Tragedy of 1 is not Norizuki’s first novel, and I can’t remember what (if anything) prompted me to buy it... but I suppose it’s a decent choice to read “1”st.

(Following the same convention as my Alice Arisugawa reviews, Norizuki will refer to the author and Rintarou to the character.)

Who's the Shadow? / シャドウ

Who’s the Shadow? is about Ousuke Gamo, a boy whose luck would give the Baudelaires’ a run for its money. First his mom dies, and then his best friend’s mom dies, and then his best friend gets hit by a car. And that’s just the start of the book.

The Hunting Party

As far as modern "mystery" novels go, The Hunting Party might be the most enjoyable one I've read. I think it's because the book doesn't actually focus on the crime itself, but the relationship between the various parties involved. So rather than concentrating on something that is often disappointing in modern "mysteries," it focuses on an element that Foley can apparently do well.

Hurting Distance (aka The Truth-Teller's Lie)

Naomi Jenkins is madly in love with her boyfriend Robert Haworth. (Emphasis on "mad.") However, Robert suffers from an unfortunate condition known as "marriage," so Naomi and Robert can only meet for three hours per week, in the same room at the same motel. But one week, Robert doesn't show up. Robert would never stand Naomi up, so she knows—knows!—something terrible has happened to Robert, and resolves to find out what.

Edge

Suzuki Kouji’s Edge is about Saeko Kuriyama, a freelance journalist who has been brought onto a project to do a TV special about the missing Fujinuma family. The Fujinuma case had captured national attention a few weeks prior, when they appeared to have vanished into thin air. They were a perfectly normal family—father, mother, son, daughter—and the state of their house implied that all four members disappeared in the middle of a perfectly normal evening. Despite the intense national scrutiny, absolutely no dark secrets or typical causes for disappearances (such as debt) came to light, and in fact no evidence or testimony of any kind was obtained. Even though this is Saeko’s first time officially working on a missing persons case, she has plenty of experience since her own father disappeared without a trace 18 years ago and she investigated his whereabouts thoroughly (to no avail).

Although the driving thrust of Edge is a disappearance, don’t mistake it for a fair-play mystery. If you allow me a video game comparison, this is much more Zero Escape than Ace Attorney. We aren’t investigating crimes; we’re logically diving into bizarre happenings with regular metaphilosophical tangents and a hefty slice of horror. (Suzuki also wrote Ring, by the way.)

Birth ME Code

You may or may not have heard the term "ontological mystery" before, but if you're the kind of person that reads a blog like this, you've probably already encountered some. An ontological mystery is essentially a story where the characters find themselves in an unfamiliar and often limited setting, and one of the main focuses of the story is learning about and escaping from the setting. I've already reviewed a few of them. Other major questions often include why these people in particular were chosen and who is behind everything.

Birth ME Code, the second game in the ABiMe series, takes this sub-genre and flips it on its head by letting you play as the mastermind and tasking you with ensuring your death game runs smoothly. (Well... Without naming any names, a fair number of ontological mysteries are convoluted enough where it turns out by the end that you were the mastermind the whole time. But Birth ME Code is different because it bakes this into the premise.)

Or at least, it tries to flip the sub-genre on its head. It's a solid ontological mystery, especially considering it was all done by one guy (even if he calls himself "Team" Miracle Moon), and a noticeable improvement from his previous game, Head AS Code. There's a lot to like, and Birth ME Code will undoubtedly scratch your itch if you're looking for games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa, but, along with a few other pitfalls, it never really manages to live up to its central conceit.

Every Fifteen Minutes

Eric Parrish is a good guy. Okay?

Like, a really good guy.

He’s a brilliant doctor—the head of his hospital’s psychiatry ward!—and legitimately cares about his patients and making them better. He’s courteous, respectful, handsome (he has the cuttest abs of all the dads), diligent, and hard-working. He’s a loving father to his seven year old daughter, and still cares deeply for his ex-wife, even though she left him and is acting like a massive jerk in their divorce proceedings.

But bad stuff keeps happening to him! And he’s such a good guy! Don’t you feel bad for him? He’s so good! And this stuff is so unfair! Argh!!

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

It occurred to me while reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King that all the stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon are titled as "adventures." They aren't "cases" or "mysteries" (or "satsujin jiken"); they are "adventures." I find the character of Sherlock Holmes obnoxious, and the stories tend to be obvious, trivial, absurd, or lacking anything that could be called deduction (or some combination of the four), so I don't particularly like Sherlock Holmes stories... as mysteries, at least. But maybe they aren't meant to be "mysteries"; maybe they're meant to be "adventures," and should instead be evaluated from that perspective. Or maybe they are meant to be mysteries, which they clearly present themselves as and what they are widely considered to be, and I am simply putting too much stock in a single word.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice made me consider these things because I realized as I was reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice that "adventure" was a much more apt word to describe it than "mystery." As a suspense novel, it might be fine. But as detective fiction, it is certainly not. Even if I do not particularly like the Sherlock Holmes stories, I do think they have a certain charm in presenting situations with flair, but The Beekeeper's Apprentice lacks even that.

That being said, The Beekeeper's Apprentice isn't a total wash. Even if suspense isn't detective fiction, it's still gripping. The writing is great, and the characters touching. While there will definitely be some Sherlockians who object to Laurie King's interpretation of Holmes, I think there will also be a portion that enjoys it... and yet I'm still not sure who this book would be for.

Kill-Each-Other House - Second / 殺し合いハウス Second

Kill-Each-Other House - Second is the third entry in the House series, returning to the spirit of the first entry. While it avoids the lows of the second game, it doesn't quite manage to reach the highs of the original.

Re: Mind

Eleven girls awaken in an elegant dining room, filled with an eclectic collection of seemingly unrelated items. The girls' legs are locked to the floor, preventing them from standing up, let alone leaving. And quality-wise, things basically go downhill from there.

Stranger Things 2

Although I watched Stranger Things in a few chunks, I watched Stranger Things 2 the way it was meant to be watched—all in one sitting! I'm not a TV/cinema guy, so this is gonna be pretty short.

This review will have light spoilers. I'm going to try to write the review so that you can still have full enjoyment of the series, but I wouldn't read if you wanted to go in completely blind.

The Human Chair / 人間椅子

A second Ranpo story, to go with the first! I had known there was something about this story, but I had no idea what. It wasn't as bad as I thought, but... it was still freaky.

Death Note (Netflix)

I'm not a big movie buff, but there's no way I could not watch this one, and I figured I may as well write about it. I'm going to be focusing on the plot, and you're warned now that there are SPOILERS. (I'm also working off memory for the original Death Note, so apologies if I get any details about it wrong.)

As you've probably already heard, Netflix's new Death Note isn't very good. But if you like the franchise, there are less entertaining ways to spend an hour and a half.

Trick-Each-Other House / 騙し合いハウス

Here we go again! Trick-Each-Other House is the sequel to Kill-Each-Other House, and is another free online web series about a psychological game presented in the style of a fully voiced visual novel. I really liked Kill-Each-Other House, and while Trick-Each-Other House was okay, it didn't feel quite as elegant or clever as the previous series. (And, like Kill-Each-Other House, it's entirely in Japanese.)

Kill-Each-Other House / 殺し合いハウス

(This is not a review I expected to write...)

Kill-Each-Other House is a fully voiced Japanese amateur web series presented in the style of a visual novel. (Kill-Each-Other House is a direct translation of the title. If I was going to localize it, I'd probably call it something like "Murder Mansion.") The creators described their intention as creating a cross between Liar Game and Future Diary, and I think they succeeded! (And just in case you didn't believe those two works were the inspiration, there's a character named Akiyama Minane.) Kill-Each-Other House has the basic Future Diary plot of a bunch of people with magic powers trying to kill each other, with the aesthetic and structure of a game as in Liar Game. I stumbled upon this series by complete accident today, and gave the whole thing a whirl... and it held up!