Category: Manga

Each case in this manga is a stand alone mystery, and we are still fairly early in the series. So while reading in order will be better to understand the recurring characters, it’s not necessary to enjoy the individual stories.

Hajime Kindaichi is tricked into qualifying for a treasure hunt on an isolated island, thinking his family is in financial trouble. The reward soon becomes the furthest thing from his mind when the fortune seekers find themselves trapped on the island with a murderer.

The Kindaichi Case Files manga continues to be somewhat formulaic in that each case is set up in classical mystery style. We get some set up, meet potential victims/suspects, something bad happens and away we go. The fun with this series is the way pieces of the story combine and the fact that Kindaichi’s adventures are always pretty distinct, interesting, and clever. Treasure Isle gives us a particularly weird cast of characters with diverse reactions to what’s happening. This mystery felt different than the others, which is always nice in a genre where things can get repetitive. I really liked the twists in this one and the way it all came together. As always while some plot details will remain obscured until spelled out there are clues throughout and the main mystery is solvable.

One of the best volumes yet. Highly recommended.

Each case in this manga is a stand alone mystery, and we are still very early in the series. So while reading in order will be better to understand the recurring characters, it’s not necessary to enjoy the individual stories.

After three cases finding Hajime Kindaichi during his travels matters of life and death now visit him closer to home. When an old school building is scheduled for demolition threatening letters arrive from the “Afterschool Magician,” a legend around the school with ties to seven gruesome mystery stories passed down through the years. But the threats become something worse when the mystery club starts investigating the rumors.

Smoke and Mirrors is a solid blend of several plotlines that converge nicely at the end. Themes of magic and misdirection are incorporated well and provide nice layers and twists to the mystery. The ties to the school’s history and previous investigations into the seven mysteries added a good amount of intrigue to the story. As a whole I found this volume a slight step down from the previous ones, although not for any particular reason I can point to and it is still quite good. As usual there are clues throughout and while some story details will be beyond deduction the core of the mystery is solvable.

The translation of this particular mystery presented some extra difficulty for the publisher, which they handled well and explain in detail at the end.

Overall another solid installment featuring our favorite high school detective.

Each case in this manga is a stand alone mystery, and we are still very early in the series. So while reading in order will be better to understand the recurring characters, it’s not necessary to enjoy the individual stories.

Hajime Kindaichi travels to a remote villa during winter break as an intern for a reality tv show, Shock TV. When a supposed prank turns into an actual murder he must team with an old acquaintance from the police force to not only stop the killer, but to do it faster than a new superintendent with something to prove.

Like the previous volumes we get set up and meet key characters upfront and then descend into a tense race against time after the first body hits. One of the things I like most about this series is how it finds unique ways to put little twists on established mystery elements while still retaining a classic feel. Leaving Miyuki home for this one and having a cop on Kindaichi’s side for a change shakes up the dynamic a little and makes things interesting. There are also some nice turns the mystery takes during the volume including a wonderfully clever double twist. The characters were strong here and seeing Akechi try to solve the mystery in parallel was interesting.

These stories do require some level of suspension of disbelief, and a key element to this one strains it quite a bit for some readers. Personally I didn’t find it much more implausible than some of the things in the first two, but be aware that while things are kept in the realm of reality and proceed logically drama does take precedence when needed. As usual there are clues throughout and while some story details will be beyond deduction the core of the mystery is solvable.

A fair amount of this story hinges on the visuals and the art does a great job conveying atmosphere, tension and all the relevant information.

I really enjoyed Death TV and Kindaichi’s adventures are clearly just getting started.

Each case in this manga is a stand alone mystery, and we are still very early in the series. So while reading in order will be better to understand the recurring characters, it’s not necessary to enjoy the individual stories.

The Mummy’s Curse brings our highschool detective and his best friend to a strange isolated village in the country by way of a school scandal. When preparations for their classmate’s arranged wedding are interrupted with murder Hajime must unravel the truth behind the village’s curse.

Like volume 1 (The Opera House Murders), this is a classically built murder mystery. Some key setup and all the players established up front and then the danger and tension hit hard and build rapidly. There are a lot of interlocking layers here to explain and the resolution spans most of the second half of the volume, but it’s all done very well. One of the main secrets is a classic twist that has been seen before. But everything comes together and is used in unique ways and combinations, making this a very interesting read. There are also some great little touches and instances of the author playing with preconceptions. Subtle clues are available and while the reader will never piece out every little detail the core mystery is solvable, which makes these stories particularly intriguing.

The art is extremely good. It’s well detailed, easy to follow and conveys atmosphere and tension wonderfully, acting as a great component to the storytelling.

The Mummy’s Curse is a strong second installment in Kanari and Sato’s mystery series and continues to build momentum for more stories about our young detective.

The Opera House Murders introduces Hajime Kindaichi, deceptively smart grandson of a famous detective and under-achieving best friend of straight-A student Miyuki Nanase. An isolated retreat for a drama club practice already darkened by the recent suicide of the former lead gets even more tragic when guest start dying in a similar manner to the play they’re rehearsing – The Phantom of the Opera.

This is a murder mystery with all the classical trimmings. Our cast and the setting is slowly established to start and then from the first strike on it’s a tense race to figure everything out and stop the killings. The various layers to the story and twists to the mystery are extremely well done and all integrated together flawlessly. And while there are pieces of the motive not revealed until the end there are clues and a good chunk of it all is solvable as you read. Add in a carefully developed dark and dangerous atmosphere and a smart adversary and it all comes together quite impressively. There is a fair bit of exposition towards the end, but it’s presented well and is needed to unravel all the cleverly connected elements of the solution.

The art is detailed, clean, and easy to follow. This is all extremely important for a mystery, where establishing clues, characters and even the geography of their surroundings can all be vital to having the plot unfold properly.

I’ve always loved a good mystery, and Kanari and Sato’s manga about a deceptively bright high school student descended from a famous detective is a wonderful collection of them. The Kindaichi Case Files is a fantastic series and The Opera House Murders gets us off to a great start.

“What do I want to be? What do I want to do?”

Emi’s unexpected relationship with the captivating Kei progresses, drawing her further and further into Kei’s personal circle as the pair tries to sell Kei’s friends on holding an event that will push them all to their limit.  But Emi had a life, unhappy as it was, before meeting Kei, and her failure to disclose the details to Kei hangs heavily over her head …

After Hours continues to be something special in this middle volume of the series. As I remarked in my review of volume 1 the choice of adult protagonists has a hugely positive effect on the story, with complex perspectives and problems, as well a refreshing frankness about their happiness and the realities of adult relationships, underlying Emi and Kei’s tale that keep it all feeling natural and genuine. Also important is that they both make mistakes, and they both have to deal with the consequences of their choices, which gives a nice, resonant layer of depth beneath the core story of two women falling in love.  It’s highly compelling to follow Emi’s point of view as she’s drawn further into Kei’s world, and I’m really looking forward to the 3rd and final volume

“Looking back on it now, I realize that incident is what turned me into the novelist I am today. An author is someone who creates tales, but an aspiring author is someone who lies, and nothing more. This incident happened ten years ago, when I was in college, and merely an aspiring author. If those events never took place I wouldn’t have become much of anything at all, which is why I think I need to thank her, thank that girl …”

I’ll be sharing thoughts on the entire series (volumes 1-3) as a whole here. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible, but the above description from volume 1 by the publisher does NOTHING to convey what the series is really about so I will have to get into some plot details to properly discuss the points I wish to make.

Ok, so the book description provides an intriguing hook and is connected to the narrator’s personal arc, but gives pretty much no information or framework about the plot. I find this to be an issue mostly because the story is pretty messed up. The college aged narrator is kidnapped and held captive by an elementary school girl after randomly seeing her act oddly at the scene of an accident where her friend was killed. Exactly what you’d expect, right? No, me neither.

From that disturbing premise came a manga that was unsettling in a lot of the wrong ways yet still extremely compelling and intriguing. I was constantly torn between wondering where things were going and being afraid to find out. Oh, and wanting to shake the main character for being an idiot. The girl was a far more interesting character, and even in context of all the strange happenings, emotional issues being addressed, psychological elements, etc, the narrator’s actions and reasonings often overstepped from those of someone in over their head and dealing poorly to flat out nonsensical. On top of that I considered abandoning it after the second volume also due to how creepy it was, but continued since there was only one left to go and I was admittedly curious.

I am glad I finished it. The overall concept of the story and pieces of what was being built towards were as interesting as certain elements along the way indicated. But it all could have been much better executed. It strayed too often from psychological suspense towards full on horror, and certain, important context regarding the narrator’s actions seemed short changed due to pacing issues and info dumps. I don’t know if these issues were in the source material or an effect of adaptation, but overall I wish the journey was approached differently to do more justice to the admittedly compelling underlying story line.

Overall I felt this short manga series both tried too hard in some ways and not hard enough in others. Again, it could all relate to the source material. Part of me wants to recommend anyone who can stomach the premise read it anyway because of the things it does do right and some of the thought provoking themes struggling to transcend the telling, but between the uncomfortableness of the approach and missteps along the way I really can’t.

Twenty-four year old Emi Ashiana is rather miserable after being dragged out to a dance club, which is not at all her normal scene, by a friend who then disappeared on her to pick up men.  But then she meets one of the DJs, a self assured woman named Kei, and the night, as well as Emi’s life, might be turning around.

The unfolding relationship between the socially uncomfortable Emi and the more confident and in control Kei is paced in a way that feels natural in real terms yet perhaps a bit unusual and uneven for a fictional story. As the point of view character Emi is the lens through which the reader views Kei and the story’s events, but Emi’s own thoughts and situation aren’t broadcast through monologues or internal narration. So in a sense the readers are meeting BOTH Emi and Kei gradually and seeing bits and pieces of the issues that surround them in a way that is building nicely and slowly foreshadowing future developments but perhaps requires more patience than normal for a story of this type. There’s an uncomfortableness to uncertainty, and the way the narrative is structured conveys a touch of that feeling to the reader at the same time it’s being experienced by the characters. Emi’s thrown into a series of unexpected situations, reacting instinctively, and often dealing with the emotional weight over everything after the fact. This makes for a fascinating, engaging story, but necessarily means a little of the chaos of real life must be captured intruding over the normal “neatness” of constructed stories.

That touch of the unexpected is underscored by the extremely interesting way After Hours both utilizes and upends tropes and stereotypes of typical romance stories. The cliched elements and themes that appear, as well as the more unique ones, are incorporated in a natural way that feel like legitimate extensions of the characters’ emotions and it all blends together in a complimentary mix that elevates the complex undertones I touched on above.

One last thing I’d like to mention is the somewhat unusual, and excellent, choice of going with adult protagonists. It adds a significant amount of depth and nuance to the story to be starting with emotionally mature characters with adult responsibilities and complications and exploring things from there. It also facilitates the deft touch with which Nisho handles the subtext and themes of Emi’s simultaneous hesitance and excitement and she unexpectedly begins to fall for another woman.

I didn’t know much about this going in, but the first volume of After Hours proved to be a wonderful start to a romantic story that felt incredibly fresh and genuine.

“Did I open a Pandora’s box I never should have laid my hands upon?”

Awyn (the) Gardner is living his perfect life tending the remote estate gardens belonging to a young lady he devotedly serves and wishes to protect. However when the ruling Angels’ crusading knights arrive to wreak havoc on his peaceful corner of the world he may have to revisit his less than savory skills of the past… and make a deal with a demon.

7th Garden runs through a lot of cliche checkboxes: a quiet main character who’s more than he appears, an idyllic life he wants left alone, ruling Angels who are unjust and devils who still tend towards evil but maybe more just, etc. But the first volume shows just enough nuance to the characters and does well enough in the execution that I enjoyed this and am intrigued to see where it goes from here.

The fanservice is in-your-face when it happens, but in at least one character’s case they seem to be building to some story justification for it. The art is good and easy to follow in the action sequences, and the end of the volume is already hinting at deeper secrets to be uncovered involving Awyn’s demon “friend.”

Pretty standard Shounen fare here, but good for what it is.

Middle aged Mikami’s life isn’t nearly as exciting as he’d hoped, stuck in a salaryman’s job with no girlfriend and friends who primarily come around to brag about their good fortune. But that all might be the least of his worries when he’s unexpectedly stabbed to death and reborn in a fantasy world as the lowliest of monsters.

So this is pretty absurd, fairly amusing, and completely and sufficiently described by the title alone. Though nothing’s really been explained yet the setup is easy to follow and the premise interesting. The atmosphere is stereotypical Shounen power fantasy so far with the monster angle being the only real twist.

The pace seems pretty breakneck. I understand the necessity of getting to the point where Mikami can actually do something quickly, but more time spent with him exploring his predicament would have been nice. He’s a monster that seems more harmless than he is and has to learn to use his powers rather than one who has to learn to cope with being powerless and find a way to get stronger. The latter would have been much more interesting, and is more what the book description implies. There’s already a formula starting to develop to his encounters, which is a tad worrisome so early on.

Still, while nothing groundbreaking That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a decent, quick read. It will be interesting to see if the pace settles down and if the series can find a bit more depth once the main cast and environment are fully established.