宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 少年と螺鈿箪笥

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard #12

by Nanako Tsujimura, Utako Yukihiro (Illustrator)

ドラッグストアで絆創膏を万引きしようとした少年は、不思議な男と出会ってしまう。ポケットの中にあったはずの絆創膏は、いつの間にか男の手の中にあった。数奇な出会いから二人の運命は交錯してゆく。病に臥せがちな母、楽しくない中学校、乏しい家計の収入、そして誰も住んでいないはずの屋敷に出没する『幽霊』。少年の世界の全てを変えてしまった男は『中田正義』と名乗り――? 大人気シリーズ、第三部開幕!

Genres: Light Novel

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2022

About the author

Associated Names:
Nanako Tsujimura
辻村 七子 (Japanese)
辻村七子 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book is quite different than the other installments, I still really enjoyed it. This volume follows Minoru, a middle schooler with a sick mother. After learning that Seigi is his distant relative, Minoru decides to stay with him while his mother is hospitalized. The story does almost fully follow Minoru, with the exception of the last two short stories (which follow Seigi and Richard then Olivia and Vincent). I really liked Minoru as a character. I also always love to see Seigi and Richard. It was really interesting seeing Seigi and Richard from a different perspective. Seigi comes off very different and it was interesting seeing how he is viewed by others. Richard honestly was pretty much the same. Minoru's opinion of Richard was relatively similar to Seigi's. Only Seigi spends a lot more time fawning over Richard than Minoru does.
While it would've been nice to get more of Seigi and Richard, I still really liked this installment and hope the next volume will get translated into English!

[lulu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seigi Nakata beamed once more. Like the sun, Minoru thought. Seigi Nakata smiled often and proudly, never once caring what people might think about someone so open. It showed real maturity.

This volume starts the third and final part (😭) of this series with a framing device different from anything in this story so far. Up until now we’ve read the story told by Seigi’s pov; here, we have a brand new narrator - a 13-year-old boy called Minoru.

I wasn’t sure what to feel about this change of pace at first, but I was quick to warm up to Minoru. The poor baby is going through a lot, I really wanted to hug him and tell him everything’s gonna be okay. His story really tugged at my heartstrings.

I loved seeing Seigi and Richard through his eyes, Seigi especially. Seigi is always prone to wax poetics about Richard while downplaying his own worth, so it was fresh to see him described as such a cool person. He is 27(!) in this volume, I feel like I’ve watched him grown up and mature from the clueless college kid with a heart of gold he was back in volume 1. Now Seigi is almost as old as Richard was at the beginning of the series (he was 28); it’s making me feel nostalgic.

My only complaint about this volume: there weren't enough Seigi and Richard moments!!! 😫 If I’m dying of thirst in the desert a single sip of water won’t do, I needed more!!!!! There’s a 3-year gap between the last time we saw them and this volume. They are so old married couple coded now, I could eat their interactions with a spoon. We get some info, but not enough! I WANT EVERYTHIIIING

*(ok I have one more complaint: I could live without the chapter with Vince and Octavia. It’s really short and even skippable; I just don’t like them)

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 🌟 / 5.0 🌟