4/2/21

The New Kindaichi Files (1994) by Seimaru Amagi

Two years ago, I reviewed Seimaru Amagi's Dennō sansō satsujin jiken (Murder On-Line, 1996), a so-called "light novel," which is the Japanese, manga-like equivalent of young adult fiction complete with illustrations and penned all nine light novels in The Kindaichi Case Files series – published between 1994 and 2001. Only four of the novels were translated as part of the Kodansha English Library, but copies have become scarce over the past two decades. 

Ho-Ling Wong commented on my review to explain that "these books were not really intended for the international market," but to help Japanese readers who were learning to speak English and the reason why there are English/Japanese vocabulary lists at the end of the books. So not that many copies journeyed to the West.

Nevertheless, when has the obscure, out-of-print status of a tantalizing-sounding detective novel ever stopped any of us? John Norris has obscurity serve him drinks while reading. I managed to get hold of a copy of the first novel in the series, Operazakan – aratanaru satsujin (Opera House, the New Murders, 1994), which appeared in English under the nondescript title of The New Kindaichi Files. But don't let the bland title fool you. The book is an important entry in the series mythos and a sterling performance of the theatrical mystery novel with a five-star locked room-trick! 

The New Kindaichi Files is a sequel to the very first Kindaichi (manga) story, Operazakan satsujin jiken (The Opera House Murder Case, 1993), published in English in 2003 by TokyoPop as The Opera House Murders, which brought Hajime Kindaichi to the Hotel Opera on Utashima Island – where he was confronted by a string of murders modeled on Gaston Leroux's Le fantôme de l'opéra (The Phantom of the Opera, 1909). Kindaichi would return to Utashima Island a total of four times to solve Phantom of the Opera-themed murders. Ho-Ling reviewed the first three cases in 2012 in his blog-post "Three Act Tragedy" and discussed the fourth story in two-parts, which can be read here and here. But, for now, let's take a closer look at the second story that once again bathed the small island in blood.

Kazuma Kurosawa is one of the top five directors in Japan, reformer of modern drama and "the man behind the commercial success of theater" who had written and directed eight hit versions of The Phantom of the Opera. Ten years ago, Kurosawa had bought the island and spent six years restoring and converting the Georgian-style vacation home into a hotel with theater, which opened four years before The New Kindaichi Files. And what happened during its opening can be read in The Opera House Murders. Four years later, the old theater had been torn down and a new one built where Kurosawa plans to stage his ninth version of The Phantom of the Opera.

Hajime Kindaichi, Miyuki Nanase and Inspector Isamu Kenmochi all receive an invitation to the grand reopening of the Hotel Opera, because they were caught in the middle of "the serial murders at the Hotel Opera" and it was Kindaichi who unmasked the Phantom – although it was Kenmoichi who received the credit and the Metropolitan Police Superintendent's Medal. When they arrived on the island, Kindaichi experiences "a twinge of nostalgia" and "something less pleasant." A strong feeling that something bad is about the happen and the cast of characters for the impending tragedy have already taken their place on the stage.

The stars of the Genso theater group and play are an husband-and-wife acting duo, Kozaburo and Seiko Nojo, but they're not particular warm, or pleasant, people to be around. Yukio Midorikawa, Atsushi Takizawa and Rio Kanai are the other actors of the troupe who have one, or more, roles to play in the production. There's also a university student, Rokuro Eguchi, who works on the island every summer and a reclusive painter, Seiji Makube, whose features are obscured by a surgical mask. Dr. Eisaku Yuki rounds out the party and he was also present during the first series of murders on the island. Only eight hours pass before all hell breaks loose on the isolated island.

A small piece of paper with an ominous warning is found, saying "Carlotta sang farewell as the chandelier fell," signed "P," but when they investigate the theater with "an enormous chandelier" suspended over the stage, it's discovered completely empty. So they fastened the door from the outside with a padlock, but a short time later a crash shakes the house and rattles the windows, which unmistakably came from the theater. The door is opened in full view of everyone and what they discover is Seiko Nojo's body on the stage, "crushed beyond recognition," among the smashed and shattered remains of "that massive piece of intricate glasswork." More shockingly, Seiko had been strangled before the murderer dropped the chandelier on her. But how?

The whole auditorium had been "completely locked up," but somehow, "the murderer carried the body onto the stage" and "dropped the chandelier on it" before vanishing from a theater where "one set of doors was closed from the inside" and "the other entrance was shut with a padlock" – not a window to be found. Honestly, The New Kindaichi Files is the best and most original locked room mystery I've come across since Tokuya Higashigawa's Misshitsu no kagi kashimasu (Lending the Key to the Locked Room, 2002) and James Scott Byrnside's The Strange Case of the Barrington Hills Vampire (2020). Amagi crafted a minor gem of a locked room mystery, while flexing his plotting skills, peeling away the layers as he added new ones. Such as giving away part of the trick early on in the story, but at the same time complicating the whole problem with pesky alibis, unclear motives, more murders and a false-solution to the padlocked entrance. Only to deliver a knockout punch in the end with a thoroughly satisfying and original solution the murder in the locked theater. A solution that even takes into account the illogicality of presenting the murder as an impossible crime and what gave the murder the idea to stage such a trick.

A multi-layered locked room-puzzle that clearly shows the difference between Amagi and the series co-creator, Yozaburo Kanari. Amagi understands what makes a detective-plot ticks and Kanari clearly doesn't. Something that's also reflected in how Amagi managed to cleverly subvert the series formula to (temporarily) hide the murderer. It's why it took me longer than usual with this series to catch on to the murderer, which gave me a pretty good idea about the real angle of the motive. But not the locked room-trick. The trick I envisioned was amateurishly stupid and clumsy in comparison. Amagi is the Soji Shimada of the anime-and manga detective story.

Only weak spots in the solution is that the story conveniently ignores how easily a padlock can be picked open, or refastened again, and long-time mystery readers unfamiliar with the series will likely have an easier time spotting the murderer – because they don't know what they're supposed to expect from the setup. Other than that, The New Kindaichi Files is not merely a good and solid entry in the long-running Kindaichi series, but an excellent and beautifully executed theatrical locked room mystery in its own right. I can't exactly tell you why, but this is the most fun I had reading/watching Kindaichi. Highly recommended, if you can find a copy!

So let me end this review with a plea to Kodansha to reprint those four light novels that were translated into English during the 1990s, which would now be a welcome addition to the steadily increasing stream of shin honkaku translations. Now there's an actual audience for them. A good alternative would be a four-in-one volume from Locked Room International with Ho-Ling, a huge fan of the series, writing the introduction to give new readers a crash course in all things Kindaichi. Even better would be brand new translations of all nine novels, but that's perhaps asking too much. Well, here's hoping something will materialize in the not so distant future.

On a truly last note, my edition is a thing of beauty: a paperback with dustjacket with the back and leaves covered in Japanese writing, but you can actually read the story inside with the detailed floor plan of the theater, diagram of part of the locked room-trick and illustrations of the characters/scenes as the cherry on top – giving you the best of all worlds.

16 comments:

  1. Are these books really that hard to come by now though? My own copy of this book dates 2006, which is the 13th run, ten years after the original release of the book. You'd think there'd be a fair number in circulation as it was hardly a limited run. Heck, I even gave one copy of this book away to someone once because I had a spare :P

    But yeah, this is a fun book and a great first entry in the novels of this series. I love how this story actually makes the death by falling chandelier/lighting a tradition in the Opera House stories XD The first animated movie is an adaptation of this book, and it actually pre-dates the television series. This films interestlingyl has a different voice actor for Hajime: he's played by Yamaguchi Kappei (Shinichi/Kaito in Conan) here, but because the anime of Conan and Kindaichi would run together, the producer wanted someone else for Hajime for the television series because it would be too much Kappei.

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    1. I'm sure copies are more abundant in Japan, but, over here, copies have become a bit scarce. This would be a perfect time to dust off and reprint these ready-to-go translations, which are short enough to bundle as an omnibus edition. However, I fear publishers might find Western Kindaichi readers too niche an audience to make it worthwhile. Although you can sell it to Western readers as a shin honkaku collection of mystery novels crammed with locked rooms and unbreakable alibis. One can only hope.

      "I love how this story actually makes the death by falling chandelier/lighting a tradition in the Opera House stories"

      So a traditionalists mystery in the truest sense of the word :)

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    2. Just noticed I already mentioned the reprint opinion in the review. There was a little time between writing/posting and reread my own reviews only when my memory needs refreshing on a title. Well, I never claimed to have been anything more than a hack reviewer. :)

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  2. I have not been able to read this story, but I have read the first, third, and fourth opera house murders. I also really enjoyed the third one, and I thought the tricks are really well done, although I am still a newbie in this genre (only read a couple of Carrs).

    I do agree that Amagi is the Shimada of mystery manga in terms of tricks. While Aoyama is probably more like Christie because of the clever poisoning tricks. Then while Q.E.D and C.M.B might not excel in tricks, they were really good in coming up with novel types and settings of mysteries.

    Having said that, I hope that the Kindaichi english novel will be reprinted. As well as the novel by the Q.E.D. author which Ho-ling also enjoyed.

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    1. "...although I am still a newbie in this genre (only read a couple of Carrs)"

      Being new to the genre and especially Carr is a blessing in disguise. Enjoy the ride!

      I've not read C.M.B., but Q.E.D. is incomparable to anything, anywhere, in the genre. That series truly did something different with the (manga) detective story. Agreed about Aoyama.

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  3. Now this sounds very interesting indeed. But, this series really does have a scarcity problem. I checked, and managed to find a not too expensive copy, but from one of those companies who are not very good about correctly labeling the condition of their books. I've bought a couple of books from them over the years, and none of them have been "very good." (And then there's the $575.98 copy, which is, in the most literal sense, completely laughable!) So, I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open for one in a store.

    And you're right, that is a very nice edition. I think that the Japanese bunkobon is a really well designed format. They can be read with one hand, can be carried in a pocket, and the binding and grade of paper are generally better than the mass market paperbacks currently being printed. (Although, if you go back a bit, they get quite good starting about 30 or 40 years ago.) The closest thing to them in English would be the Dell paperbacks from the 30s & 40s and the Pocket Books from the 50s & 60s. Those fit comfortably in the hand and the Dells especially had very nice paper.

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    1. So you gave that not too expensive copy a pass? You may come to regret that!

      Yes, $575 is preposterous, but not the most outrageous price-tagging I've come across. Last year, I tacked a mini-review to the review of Case Closed, vol. 73 of TV tie-in "novel" (a 100-page booklet in large print) of the '90s Jonny Quest series. A copy happened to come my way, but, when looking online to see what else might be available, I found copies with prices ranging between $50-$1000 + shipping! I laughed.

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    2. I took another look at the available listings, as thought I might have tracked down a cheaper copy. I had not, but it turned out to not matter. You see, the cover on Amazon looked a bit different, albeit close enough that it took me a while to notice, but the cover wasn't the only thing that was off. Somehow, the author had metamorphisized from Seimaru Amagi to Yozaburo Kanari. (It took me a second to realize that they were different books, so my first thought was surprise that you liked a novel by Kanari so much :) It turns out that one of the translated manga volumes had been listed under the title of the novel.

      That'd be bad enough, but the confusion doesn't stop there! I was pretty sure that I'd been looking at the right book yesterday, and, in a way, I had been. Amazon has it listed as an alternate edition of it's sequel, The Amakusa Treasure Hunt Murders. So, if you look for it in a search engine, it comes up, but not if you look on Amazon. Unfortunately, the novel is more expensive than the comic volume, so that was kind of a bust. (On the other hand, I'm glad that the comic cost as much as it did. Otherwise, I might have wound up with a Kanari plot, only to find out years later that it was cribbed from somewhere else...)

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    3. "...so my first thought was surprise that you liked a novel by Kanari so much"

      As much as I dislike Kanari, I've always said House of Wax is good and gave The Headless Samurai a positive review, which one day will come back to haunt me. I can see it coming from miles away. Some day, a well-known and beloved Japanese locked room mystery will get translated only to discover, while reading, Kanari borrowed from its plot to write House of Wax. Sometimes, I'm just too fair and generous.

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    4. It seems to me Kacey that you’ve been looking at the Kodansha bilingual comics for Kindaichi - rather than the the Kodansha light novels for Kindaichi. The Amakusa Treasure Hunt Murders is an entry in the comics series, not the light novels.

      Kanari did write one of the Opera House cases - the 1st of the four cases; the other 3 are written by Amagi. The 2nd is the light novel that’s being reviewed in this post, the 3rd is part of the manga series, and the 4th is part of the Kindachi 37 year old series.

      While I think the 3rd Opera House Murders is one of the best Kindaichi cases, the very 1st one, written by Kanari, is actually one of the worst. Its central trick is borrowed wholesale from a classic mystery story, and is used in a rather transparent fashion.

      To be fair, not all of Kanari’s stories are sub-par - the Headless Samurai case by him is one of the best entries in the series.

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    5. @TomCat: You're right, House of Wax was pretty clever. I've not read The Headless Samural, but I'll get around to it eventually (although I'm a bit worried about that too).

      @Jonathan: The first one I was looking at was a Kondasha bilingual comic, but the second one is the Opera House light novel, despite apparently being listed as an alternated edition of one of the manga volumes. (It's under "all formats and editions" here.) I'm not really surprised by this sort of thing anymore. After all, it's not too long ago that I ordered a CD and wound up with a bag of friendship bracelet beads....

      And, by the way, happy Easter to everyone!

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    6. A happy belated Easter yourself!

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  4. Thanks for the review - I’m heartened by the commendation you’ve given to “Second Opera House Murders”, as I do actually own a copy of it in English translation. I purchased the rest of the light novels in Chinese translation, but they are in the traditional Chinese script, which I find harder to read than the modern script. Thus far, I’ve only read “Shanghai Mermaid Murders”, which I quite enjoyed. So it’s good to hear that there’s a treat in store with “Second Opera House Murders”.

    I echo an earlier comment that of all the four Opera House cases, the third is good - in fact, it’s one of my favourite Kindaichi manga cases.

    Even as I’m awaiting the slow release of the 37-year-old Kindaichi manga volumes, I’m also eyeing Amagi’s new mystery manga series - the first volume is out in Chinese translation. 🤩

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    1. This one is a treat alright. And that comes from someone who didn't start out as a fan of the series. It's such a shame there isn't a bigger overlap between readers of regular mysteries and anime/manga mysteries. Particularly the people on my side of aisle have no idea what they're missing out on.

      A new Amagi mystery series, you say? Do enlighten us! And is there a reprint/translation boom going on in China? I remember reading your comments on other blogs about all kinds of mysteries that were published in Chinese.

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    2. Yes, it seems like Amagi has released four volumes of a new manga series, of which only the 1st has been translated into Chinese. It seems, from the blurb, that the puzzle and deduction for this series has a mathematical flavour...

      Japanese culture has been popular in Taiwan for many decades, and so plenty of Japanese drama series, anime, manga and novels have been translated into the traditional Chinese script. Now, many of these dramas, anime, manga and novels have received translation in Mainland China as well - and therefore have been translated into the modern Chinese script.

      The mystery writing scene in Taiwan and China seems less developed than the mystery writing scene in Japan - but there is clearly a generation of Chinese mystery writers very much influenced by the shin-honkaku movement in Japan. So apart from Japanese mystery novels translated into Chinese, there is an increasing number of Chinese mystery novels being published.

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