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I love a good mystery but I admit, I'm somewhat dim when it comes to figuring them out on my own. I suspect that I tend to turn my brain off a lot when I get into my personal entertainment and thus I'm almost always surprised when I read murder/mystery stories. There aren't nearly enough good murder/mystery manga out there, imho, and I really wish there were more. Out of the few that we do have released and translated into English I think Kindaichi Case Files is amongst the best.
The Kindaichi Case Files revolves around high school student, Hajime Kindaichi, who at first appears to be a brainless slacker that is mildly more perverted (or more obvious about it) than the average teenage boy. We soon discover he's much more than that. Hajime is a genius of sorts, possessing a 180 IQ, and inheriting awesome observation skills and powers of detection from his grandfather, a famous detective by the name of Kousuke Kindaichi.
The series was released partially through Tokyo Pop but sales weren't the best so all the volumes aren't available stateside. You can download the first volume at Manga Traders. They also have The New Kindaichi Detective Files for download which is the sequel to the original series.
For those who like murder/mysteries and crime solving shows on television I think the easiest way to explain the style of The Kindaichi Case Files is to say it's a fusion of Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Each volume is a stand alone story and their plots almost never follow into another volume. Much like Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, high school student, Hajime, happens upon murder after murder in his daily life which requires some suspension of disbelief from the reader. And like Jessica Fletcher he also forms a close relationship with law enforcement who always allow him to assist in solving the murders.
Similarities with Law & Order: Criminal Intent can be seen in how Hajime is unnaturally observant with both clues and the people around him. He appears to have an almost sixth sense in figuring out the motives of the suspects and how they were able to pull off their crimes, no matter how complex the scenario. Quite like Detective Goren. He's often an object of derision for those around him until they see his true self and realize the extent of his intelligence. I think this serves to make readers more fond of Hajime as a character.
Since each volume is its own stand alone story the only thing carried through the series are the characters featured. The most obvious is Hajime himself but another character you see in every volume is his childhood friend and love interest Miyuki Nanase. She's the opposite of Hajime on the surface. A very popular honor role student who is president of the student council. A common theme throughout the manga is for various male characters, who appear to make much better romantic prospects for Miyuki than Hajime, to hit on her. Miyuki always turns them down and is steadfast in her love for Hajime while he tends to show an exaggerated attraction to whatever pretty female he meets but only shows true emotional attachment to Miyuki.
There's also the surly Detective Kenmochi from the homicide department of the Tokyo Police whom we meet in the first volume of the series. He dislikes Hajime at first but after seeing his detective skills he grows to respect him greatly and has even asked for Hajime's help solving cases on occasion. Later we meet Superintendent Akechi who is Kenmochi's supervisor and is a fairly arrogant and abrasive character when he's introduced. There are also a few more characters such as fellow students at Fudo High, where Hajime and Miyuki attend school, and pop idol Reika Hayami who appear in more than one volume in the series.
As each volume has different murders to solve it's impossible to go into plot. I will say that the murders that are written about are never simple ones and there is usually never just one to solve. One murder will lead to another and the reasons why they're committed have grim explanations attached. The murderers all have dark and often vengeance based motivations. While the artwork isn't gruesome the murders are vicious and are sometimes shown with the murderer as a shadowy figure and you do see the bodies and sometimes gory crime scenes.
The crimes aren't easy things to solve nor to look at and there are continual situations with people being killed in locked rooms and occult type murders where people are dismembered. If you're looking for simple cut and dry stories like a man whose wife cheated on him and he murdered her in a fit of rage then these aren't going to be up your alley. None of the murders are simple and neither are the characters involved. But often the reasons why the murders are committed could be considered a tad over dramatic and lends to an almost soap opera like plot twist.
One of my favorite things about the manga is the artwork done by Fumiya Sato who draws the characters in a manner more realistic than stylized. You can see the age lines on older characters faces and it's a nice mix of the minimalism of most manga artwork but with the detail often seen in western comic books. The overall style is similar to Naoki Urasawa who wrote and drew Monster, a seinen manga.
So if you're someone who likes stand alone murder/mystery stories and can overlook the coincidence of a high school boy happening upon murder after murder in his every day life I'd recommend The Kindaichi Case Files. The stories are wonderfully written and the art is perfectly suited to the content of the manga.
The Kindaichi Case Files revolves around high school student, Hajime Kindaichi, who at first appears to be a brainless slacker that is mildly more perverted (or more obvious about it) than the average teenage boy. We soon discover he's much more than that. Hajime is a genius of sorts, possessing a 180 IQ, and inheriting awesome observation skills and powers of detection from his grandfather, a famous detective by the name of Kousuke Kindaichi.
The series was released partially through Tokyo Pop but sales weren't the best so all the volumes aren't available stateside. You can download the first volume at Manga Traders. They also have The New Kindaichi Detective Files for download which is the sequel to the original series.
For those who like murder/mysteries and crime solving shows on television I think the easiest way to explain the style of The Kindaichi Case Files is to say it's a fusion of Murder, She Wrote and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Each volume is a stand alone story and their plots almost never follow into another volume. Much like Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, high school student, Hajime, happens upon murder after murder in his daily life which requires some suspension of disbelief from the reader. And like Jessica Fletcher he also forms a close relationship with law enforcement who always allow him to assist in solving the murders.
Similarities with Law & Order: Criminal Intent can be seen in how Hajime is unnaturally observant with both clues and the people around him. He appears to have an almost sixth sense in figuring out the motives of the suspects and how they were able to pull off their crimes, no matter how complex the scenario. Quite like Detective Goren. He's often an object of derision for those around him until they see his true self and realize the extent of his intelligence. I think this serves to make readers more fond of Hajime as a character.
Since each volume is its own stand alone story the only thing carried through the series are the characters featured. The most obvious is Hajime himself but another character you see in every volume is his childhood friend and love interest Miyuki Nanase. She's the opposite of Hajime on the surface. A very popular honor role student who is president of the student council. A common theme throughout the manga is for various male characters, who appear to make much better romantic prospects for Miyuki than Hajime, to hit on her. Miyuki always turns them down and is steadfast in her love for Hajime while he tends to show an exaggerated attraction to whatever pretty female he meets but only shows true emotional attachment to Miyuki.
There's also the surly Detective Kenmochi from the homicide department of the Tokyo Police whom we meet in the first volume of the series. He dislikes Hajime at first but after seeing his detective skills he grows to respect him greatly and has even asked for Hajime's help solving cases on occasion. Later we meet Superintendent Akechi who is Kenmochi's supervisor and is a fairly arrogant and abrasive character when he's introduced. There are also a few more characters such as fellow students at Fudo High, where Hajime and Miyuki attend school, and pop idol Reika Hayami who appear in more than one volume in the series.
As each volume has different murders to solve it's impossible to go into plot. I will say that the murders that are written about are never simple ones and there is usually never just one to solve. One murder will lead to another and the reasons why they're committed have grim explanations attached. The murderers all have dark and often vengeance based motivations. While the artwork isn't gruesome the murders are vicious and are sometimes shown with the murderer as a shadowy figure and you do see the bodies and sometimes gory crime scenes.
The crimes aren't easy things to solve nor to look at and there are continual situations with people being killed in locked rooms and occult type murders where people are dismembered. If you're looking for simple cut and dry stories like a man whose wife cheated on him and he murdered her in a fit of rage then these aren't going to be up your alley. None of the murders are simple and neither are the characters involved. But often the reasons why the murders are committed could be considered a tad over dramatic and lends to an almost soap opera like plot twist.
One of my favorite things about the manga is the artwork done by Fumiya Sato who draws the characters in a manner more realistic than stylized. You can see the age lines on older characters faces and it's a nice mix of the minimalism of most manga artwork but with the detail often seen in western comic books. The overall style is similar to Naoki Urasawa who wrote and drew Monster, a seinen manga.
So if you're someone who likes stand alone murder/mystery stories and can overlook the coincidence of a high school boy happening upon murder after murder in his every day life I'd recommend The Kindaichi Case Files. The stories are wonderfully written and the art is perfectly suited to the content of the manga.