Category: Detectives

Ongoing Investigations: Case #162

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If I knew Fables started with a murder mystery, I’d have picked up vol. 1 ages ago! Seriously, why does no one try to sell me with the important things? Any way, now that I have read it I am ready for much more. The series is set in modern-day New York City which Fabletown lives within including having their own government. Everyone has been displaced from their fairytale homes by a mysterious figure we know only as The Adversary so far. Heading things up in their current home is Snow White serving as Deputy Mayor (King Cole is really just a figurehead as Mayor) and Bigby The Big Bad Wolf as acting Sheriff. Snow is sharp and cold and her relationship with Prince Charming, well let’s just say they aren’t together anymore. Bigby gruff and observant and is perfectly in the vein of noir detective. The series is a delight from the Fable world within our own to the rebranding of the characters we know so well. It is an adult version but not in a mocking way, it just pushes things to after the “happily ever after.” Certainly people would get divorced or have marital problems after being together for hundreds of years! Feuds, friendships, affairs, alliances it is all here with all of the fairytale characters which there looks to be no limit of. Fables is playful, smart, and has a great hook. I can’t wait to pick up more in the series.

Hayate the Combat Butler is finally back.  I really missed reading the manga when it was on break. It was a rough 6 weeks. I never did find out what Kenjiro Hata was doing when he took off. I wonder if and when he will reveal what he was doing on the hiatus. But while he was gone they at little mini articles about super rare Hayate merchandise. The bag looked super cute. I wish I could read the 4koma on it. It is just more things that I wish I had to money to track down. But Hayate is thankfully back up to steam with Hayate fighting illness and trying to get Yakiniku. I always sympathize with Hayate’s mixture of poverty and misfortune. Also I would love to eat some Yakiniku. My favorite part of the newest batch of chapters since the hiatus has been the stories of heart breaking disappointment. I did not realize that the Japanese were hit by the Sea Monkey craze as well. I had assumed it was an exclusively American phenomenon but apparently that was not the case. If nothing else I have noticed that Maria is much more active in the plot lately. This is always a good thing. I am glad to see Hayate is running at full speed again. It is always a high point of my week.

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S.W.A.T. Reviews: Winter 2012 Pt. 3

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The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the next three of the new season:

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Listen – Episode 1 of Inu x Boku SS from David Production with the opening “Nirvana” by MUCC and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of Thermae Romae from DLE Inc. with the ending ”Thermae Roman” by Chatmonchy.

Listen – Episode 1 of Deka Kurokawa Suzuki from NTV and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #152

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I thought it appropriate to make Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (movie 15) my first anime of 2012 and it set the year off right! In this case Conan takes on a bomber looking to destroy a dam but there is a lot more to this mystery in the small snowy town Kitanosawa whose residents have many secrets. The film starts off with a flashback many years in the past of a young boy being chased and falling down the mountain side. We then move to present day where Conan must first stop a threat to the Governor of Tokyo and a train bomb that leads them to Niigata Prefecture. We learn that the town of Kitanosawa was relocated five years prior when the dam building took place and it was not popular with many of the residents. The setting plays a major role in the film as it is small and fairly isolated and we have the added attraction of snow and all the dangers that come with it. We meet a group of childhood friends with a lot of complications between them and that boy on the mountain top, don’t count him out yet. Since there are multiple mysteries going on it keeps you guessing in good form. There isn’t too much romance in this film which is a nice break and I really enjoyed the friendship that The Detective Boys kindred with the injured boy from the mountain. This movie loves to push the limits of Conan’s skateboard from having him go upside down in a tunnel to its transformation into a snowboard which he uses to create an avalanche in the final tense climax. This in a very enjoyable addition to the franchise making me feel as if they are on a roll with the Conan movies!

I finally got to reading Twin Spica six through ten when I borrowed them from Narutaki. As I stated when I made this the manga of the month the story mixes the best of science fictions hopeful dreams of progress with the draw of excellent human drama. And it has not dropped off in the least. Although it is a story about space the main focus is the characters, their interactions, and their growth. We learn that everyone has at least one major secret that they are keeping from everyone. Some are huge, some are bizarre, some are very personal, and one is all three. But no matter how wacky anyone’s secret is Kou Yaginuma makes sure that it has an appropriate emotional gravitas. And so powerful moments are still effective. Marika Ukita’s angry loneliness,  Shu Suzuki’s carefree facade, Kei Oumi’s blitzkrieging energy, and even Asumi Kamogawa’s melancholy earnestness will always carefully play with your heart and mind without ever feeling manipulative. There is at least one story in each book that will make your earnestly well up with emotion while still having a light mood that prevents you from feeling emotionally blogged down. I am glad to see everyone is still growing. Marika Ukita clearly has had the most obvious arc of growth but everyone is moving forward at their own pace. I will say that chapter 10 ended rather unexpectedly for me. I thought something like that might happen but not at that point in the story. With only two books left to go this is a great time to start the series if you have not picked it up.

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