tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post491228255522613350..comments2024-03-27T22:32:02.739+01:00Comments on Beneath the Stains of Time: End GameTomCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-46253076434338274372017-06-04T08:59:48.099+02:002017-06-04T08:59:48.099+02:00"I confess that I was went 'Noooooooooo&#..."<i>I confess that I was went 'Noooooooooo' when I discovered you started your tentative foray into Kindaichi R with 'The Blood Pool Hall Murder'.</i>"<br /><br />I probably should have started with one of Ho-Ling's recommendations, but always wanted to read, or watch, a detective story set amongst Go players. It seemed like backdrop with a ton of potential. I was not wrong. <br /><br />On the strength of your comment/recommendation, <i>The Prison Prep School Murder Case</i> is going to be next one on my playlist. That will be something for next week or so. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-66824864440296724712017-06-04T08:55:19.972+02:002017-06-04T08:55:19.972+02:00"is it just me or do these anime creators go ..."<i>is it just me or do these anime creators go so over the top with the cases that it ends up hyper confusing and not making any sense?</i>"<br /><br />This is the first anime I watched in a long time. So no idea about that. However, I had no problem in following and understanding the plot of the Go case. As I said in my review, the murderer perhaps assumed too much by predicting everyone's actions to create the alibi-trick, but I would not call it (hyper) confusing. <br /><br />But I'll be able to give proper commentary whether the plots are too complex, or not, when I have seen more of the series. So stay tuned! <br /><br />By the way, I have not read your spoilers. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-27593868560702424752017-06-04T00:43:51.367+02:002017-06-04T00:43:51.367+02:00I'm very excited, TomCat, that you're givi...I'm very excited, TomCat, that you're giving Kindaichi another go - it's one of my favourite series of all times. :) I confess that I was went 'Noooooooooo' when I discovered you started your tentative foray into Kindaichi R with 'The Blood Pool Hall Murder'. I've read it in manga format, and the fact that I can't remember much, if anything, made me wonder if it would have been a good starting point for you. But I'm glad you didn't find it off-putting. If so, I feel quite confident you would like 'The Prison Prep School Murder Case' and 'The Death March of Young Kindaichi'. Having just looked at the playlist for the Kindaichi R anime series, I also think these are the strongest entries, together with 'The Rosencreuz Mansion Murders'. If I recall correctly - and I only read the manga for all these three titles - 'Prison Prep' in particular boasted of one or two audacious tricks. The sort that would make you flip quickly back to one of the pages at the start and gape at it. :D Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03389512470283015279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-82438293293089731652017-06-04T00:40:33.296+02:002017-06-04T00:40:33.296+02:00i just watched like 7 episodes of that season (the...i just watched like 7 episodes of that season (the go mystery and the rose castle mystery). <br /><br />is it just me or do these anime creators go so over the top with the cases that it ends up hyper confusing and not making any sense? <br /><br />i confess that i am not that smart but i am capable of following a storyline that's concise and elegant. however it seems to me lately that japanese artists are so famished for unique and creative twists that they lose their audience in the process. <br /><br />the most blatant of that is the 999/zero escape series which had a stellar forst entry but was then shattered with each consecutive sequel.<br /><br />SPOILERS FOR KINDAICHI SHOUNEN NO JIKENBO RETURNS SEASON 1<br /><br />returning to kindaichi. i think the main problem is picturing the design of the environments themselves. yes we are shown mapsv but they're either too quick or wih an angled view. and most of the problems are tied to the environments. for example, the rose mansion problem with the cross architecture wasn't really clear for me and could have been delivered in a clearer way. moreover, i liked the idea behing a rotating room, but how did he come to the conclusion just by looking at the stake? and how does that even function tbh?<br /><br />for the go mystery you talked about, it was weird for me to think that tying all these pebbles together is not really a smart thing to do. if you do it in the water and then need to pick them back up they will surely fall from the gaps made in the lace.<br /><br />i donno if my questions have reasonable answers. but my point still stands that i am consistently underwhelmed with the solutions and their presentations in these types of anime/jdramas. being someone who can grasp an agatha christie/paul halter book without a problem, i am left scratching my head most of the time with japan efforts. they just lack elegance and simplicity, which is essential for a well crafted plot.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-41458267205298239602017-06-03T16:46:51.208+02:002017-06-03T16:46:51.208+02:00Thanks for pointing out the mistake. It has been f...Thanks for pointing out the mistake. It has been fixed. <br /><br />What can I say? Japanese names are confusing! Not just the spelling, but also the order in which the names should appear. I always try to use the Western order (first name, last name), but I probably bungled it more than once. <br /><br />You didn't renounce Kanari! You only gave an explanation about his role in the series. Why can't you bring yourself to admit that he's a hack? This farce has to stop! <br /><br />Anyway, I might try <i>The Death March of Young Kindaichi</i> next. The plot sounds interesting enough. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-61203249845652456192017-06-03T16:40:30.035+02:002017-06-03T16:40:30.035+02:00Yes, translating a detective story with a plot tha...Yes, translating a detective story with a plot that hinges on language can be tricky endeavor, which is more than once demonstrated by the dying message and code cracking stories in <i>Case Closed</i>. Interestingly, there a semi-meta story about this problem in the volume 25. A misunderstanding between an English and Japanese speaking character lead to a tragic (locked room) murder case. So there you have a good reason to start on the second dozen! ;) <br /><br />Oh, I know not everyone's going to agree with my definition of the impossible alibi. A good argument against is that there are so few of them that differentiating between a normal and an impossible alibi seems like splitting hairs. TomCathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415176301265218101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-76065730247899281642017-06-03T15:29:56.328+02:002017-06-03T15:29:56.328+02:00Glad you liked these episodes, though I have to ad...Glad you liked these episodes, though I have to admit I remember very little of this short story! It's been some years since I read it (the story was originally serialized in 2008). The R anime series adapts most of the stories (long and short) that had not been adapted yet in the original anime TV series: most of them are from the 2nd Season series (the post-2004 series), with The Death March of Young Kindaichi being the major expection, as it was originally the grand finale of the 1st original season/run back in 2000.<br /><br />Regarding the invoking grandfather's name thingy: They have been using it again for quite some years now (in the comics), so they worked something out. IIRC, it was about halfway in the original comic series when they suddenly avoided explicit name-dropping.<br /><br />Fudou High is probably the most dangerous school in existence by the way. Students and teachers alike have been murderers and victims, and there are (of course!) various scandals involved with the school too...<br /><br />It's Seimaru by the way, not Seimura. It's hard to tell what his role was in the original comic series by the way. He's credited as the original creator, while Kanari was credited as the writer, so presumably, Amagi came up with the concept, but we are not sure how much a hold he had on Kanari. Amagi and Kanari then got co-credits for a few stories late in the series, and by the time the 1st season ended in 2000, Kanari was out of the picture. Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5516189026477178777.post-53373994561257332712017-06-03T15:21:32.161+02:002017-06-03T15:21:32.161+02:00I'm intrigued now by the dying GO message. I h...I'm intrigued now by the dying GO message. I have read the first dozen issues of CASE CLOSED, and Detective Conan is often confronted with dying messages. Sooooo frustrating, since they are always untranslatable, but it's kind of fun watching the characters smack their heads and say, "How could I have been so stupid?!" <br /><br />I know exactly which Christie novel you're talking about, TomCat, as we were discussing it over at my place just the other day. You pose an excellent question that I have also pondered: whether the impossible alibi counts as an impossible crime story. I see your point, but they feel so very different to me that I tend to categorize them separately. And yet, they are both part of the "howdunit" category, so I think I need to adjust my thinking!Brad (ahsweetmystery)https://www.blogger.com/profile/12012914349226406144noreply@blogger.com