Saint's Fallen Antlers

Sasaki Agency Series #3

by Rokakoen, Cal Hampton (Translator)

After a few months of relative calm, the Sasaki Agency is inundated with requests to solve a series of unnerving cases that all appear to have arisen from a single incident. According to eyewitness reports, a man in black has been showing up at a Tokyo hospital and miraculously healing children of diseases and genetic conditions with no known cures. Yet the recipients of his “treatment” quickly become unrecognizable, exhibiting strange shifts in personality and singing to herald the arrival of a deity known as “Lady Osara.” Over the course of her investigation, Rumi realizes that local legends concerning the moon could be the key to resolving the case. But between her encounters with the paranormal growing increasingly dangerous, and her assistant Aoyama becoming increasingly distant, can Rumi turn things around before more people become victims?

Genres: Horror

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 24, 2023

Reviews

[Tyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

"From Aoyama's god's point of view, all other gods are just demons, right?"

Another creepy, disturbing volume of Sasaki Agency Series that, just like the previous volumes, I enjoyed a lot. It still deals with questions of faith and the darkness of human soul. The basic question might seem a pretty common theme: What if you get beyond frustrated that the god you've been believing since a child seemed not to do anything to alleviate suffering, and instead just watch, then another entity promises you that it won't just watch, that it will do something? Then it takes us delving into a subject I really like reading about: local worship of deities in Japan, with a good splash of horror. Yes, that's also the reason why I love titles like Divine Incursions.

And what is very disturbing about this book to me is not only the mysterious beings, the questioning of one's own faith, the children acting strange, the eyes turned to different directions: we read of husbands leaving their wives to take care of their disabled children alone. Of frustrations, of strained relationships, that we can understand to some extent, yet also feel.... very not right. Are children and their parents happier when their ailments disappear, even though something must be taken from them to make it happen? Or were they happier before?

The translation offers a smooth reading even though the text deals with so many Japanese religious (or mythological, whichever you prefer) concepts. However, I noticed some errors in the translation. There were missing words, and at least one wrong attribution (the one laughing "haw haw haw" in the last chapter should be Mononobe instead of Aoyama, isn't it?). Hopefully there will be less errors in the next volumes.

Apparently, in Japan, a spinoff featuring Mononobe was published before volume 4 of the series. I wonder if Yen Press will pick that up too, or just continue with the next volume.

[Emi · Rating 3 out of 5]

結局名前なんだったんだろ？最後も気になる。
新刊出たばっかりだけど早く次巻出てほしい。完全にこのシリーズにハマってってる。