Kindaichi Case Files [manga]

[Ragnar]

Not having anything better to do, and looking for an informal read, I recently checked volumes 1-4 of The Kindaichi Case Files out of the library. This series, written by Yozaburo Kanari and drawn by Fumiya Sato, turned out to be a bit of a letdown. The main character, Hajime Kindaichi, is quite a slacker, and his best friend, Miyuki Nanase, seems to be the only person who wants to have anything to do with him. However, underneath that exterior, he is a genius with a 180 IQ and the school's top entrance exam grades. It's only natural for the grandson of famous detective Kousuke Kindaichi, and Hajime seems to have inherited his grandfather's abilities. Miyuki has a strong crush on Hajime, and it appears that Hajime may have feelings for her too; on the other hand, seeing as their romantic encounters seem to consist mainly of his head and her breasts, he may just be another teenage pervert. Unfortunately, the plot of all four books (each containing one story) is essentially the same, with only the location changing. Instead of boring you with details from every book, I've provided the general outline of all of them.
First, the book opens with a non-sequitor preface narrated by Hajime, and then changes to focus on his everyday life at Fudo high school. The cases start out when he takes a trip to a somewhat-secluded location, usually with Miyuki and other students. About the time everyone has settled in, body of the first dead person is found, killed in graphic detail. Shock is pronounced and accusations are flung about, and someone always stands out as an obvious suspect. The suspect, of course, is found dead not long after. Detectives arrive and end up being completely overshadowed by Hajime as he investigates the murders; meanwhile, the number of victims slowly increases. Clues gather. An inappropriately-placed sexual joke appears. Gradually, all the pieces came together: the victims were part of a conspiracy in the past, and the person that they conspired against, or his descendant, has come back for revenge. At this point, there's only one person left who took part in the original conspiracy. By this point, Hajime has figured it all out, and he calls everyone together to confront the murderer, telling them exactly how the crimes were done. Then, suddenly, one of two things happens: either the murderer kills the last remaining member, or the last remaining member kills the murderer. Whoever managed to make it out in one piece confesses. The detectives are amazed, and Hajime goes off with Miyuki to engage in more innuendos back at Fudo High (how the school continues to operate is completely beyond me; after losing 10 members of the school in only two cases, you think people would stay away).
Sound exciting? Maybe the first time, but by the fourth incarnation you have the same feeling you get when watching yet another modern-day remake of a Shakespeare play you've seen eight million times already. While the art is quite good, albeit graphic in places, the storytelling comes off as amateurish. I suppose it seemed a little less cheesy when it came out in Japan in 1993, but twelve years later, the series is amusing at best. Not totally unredeemable, but not worth the money to buy it.

EDIT: After looking at these books again, I'd like to revise my first opinion, especially now that I'm using a standardized grading scale. Using the new system, I'd give these a 5 out of 7.

[DB]

I'll take the opposite stand here, but it's mostly because I like the formula used. Aside from that, everything Ragnar said is pretty much true. I enjoyed the mysteries presented, and my usually in vein attempts to solve the multiple murders. But Ragnar is pretty much correct about either liking or disliking it.  For me, it works on every level, but it's for personal reasons.

Myself, I give it a 10 out of 10 (I buy the books as soon as they come out, which I don't do for any other manga series)

DB Sommer

[Kwokinator]

I side with DB here.  Kindaichi is one of the few manga that, IMO, truly succeeds at what it does, despite the limits of the genre.  Although the essential formula is the same  (we can probably count on one hand the number of series that really don't use one formula), it's continuously surprising and involving ^_^

Kindaichi is the kind of series that even though you may know the formula for the series, and even if you take into account what happened in the stories before, you'd still be hard-pressed to solve the murder before Kindaichi neatly points it all out for you ^_^

And Kindaichi is something of a perv, which is cool ^_^

10/10 on my front too ^_^