Makai Tantei Meiōsei Ō: Baiorin No Bui

by Matarou Etizen

239 pages, Paperback Shinsho

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Genma496 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Went into this thinking it'd be a mystery novel but its actually a Boogiepop-esque shindenki urban fantasy, which I am not at all complaining about, this goes hard. Otsuichi really crafted an incredible atmosphere with this one, even darker than in Goth I think, and there are some moments of straight up horror in it, but more than that I appreciate him letting his inner jojo fan out with the way the fights combine fun setpieces and interesting abilities with real clever strategy.
The world he set up here is great too, I'm eager to see what the other writers do with it. I think the most interesting running motif is that balance of losing something and gaining an ability as a result, I think it's interesting. I will say though, I think the characters are the weakest aspect of the story so far, so I hope later books improve on that point. I'm just bummed Kadono never joined this project tbh, cuz his style would have fit perfectly with what this book is doing.

[Shinya]

ぐちょぐちょの内臓とかガンアクションとかの中に主人公のヴァイオリンへの欲求がかいまみえる。その後で最後の1ページを見るとかなり強烈なインパクトがある。万人受けするものではないけど、展開とか魅せ方はすごく巧い。