The setup for the game this time around was super interesting and engaging, but the major mystery of this book didn’t do it for me at all. I wasn’t a fan of the solution to the mystery, which sucks for a setup this good. Last volume next and its sad to say I think across the board this series has been just ok. It has good ideas and moments but constantly feels like it’s suffocating itself with gimmicks and tricks to allow the story to breathe more properly. The relationship between the protagonists is the best but most secondary and supporting characters have not engaged me as much as I think the series would of hoped for. I like Lico but it doesn’t go much beyond that basic level of like, Johnny I can’t really buy into much as a character and it sucks given his focus here.
Maybe the last volume will be truly outstanding, and I did like this volume more than the 3-5 arc, but 1 and 2 are still uncontested as my favourite volumes.
Much like volumes 1 and 3 this one takes point and introduces an entirely new location and challenge, but despite that still functions the same way as the previous: The MCs solve the crime, piece together clues and eventually come to a conclusion.
Much of the events featured take the form of perspective changes and in the beginning the MCs are introduced to one of 3 high ranked detectives, Johnny Arp. He comes up with a challenge involving them taking the role of outsiders in a case and having 3 sniper bullets to intercept before Arp and his partner eliminates them. The story emphasizes on that specific arc a bit much and in the end some details end up never being used as Samidare and Kirigiri default to investigation.
The story then moves on to various perspective changes with Arp and his partner investigating the amusement park case, Samidare and her partner investigating an island and returning back to the amusement park as well as heading back to her dorm. All this seems to be presented in varying perspective changes and they way the chapters flow gives off a bit of confusion regarding chronology, but in the end nothing really matters because the book defaults to the same story-telling style as the previous volumes. As for characters and story, things come and go, especially for minor detectives featured in some cases are brought up only to be never mentioned again. It feels as if things were focused too much on some events that essentially, other details are left aside.