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Holmes of Kyoto Light Novel #8
Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 8
Aoi has graduated from high school and successfully enrolled in her top pick, Kyoto Prefectural University. Kiyotaka has completed grad school too, and their relationship can finally deepen—or so they thought, but the owner orders Kiyotaka to learn more about the world by working outside of Kyoto! His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City. One weekend, Aoi and Kaori secretly pay his workplace a visit to see how he’s faring, but as it turns out, an unexpected incident is awaiting them there!
- GenresLight NovelMystery
181 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 14, 2017
5 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Mai Mochizuki
89 books331 followersMai Mochizuki was born and raised in Hokkaido and now lives in Kyoto, and originally wrote Alice in Kyouraku Forest as a series of novels. She's written numerous other titles, including 4th Kyoto Book Award winner Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes which was turned into a manga and anime series.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 11, 2023
“An appraiser who has this innate ability to spot forgeries is rare. Being able to instantly identify a fake can be considered something of a sixth sense. You can’t learn it through studying.”
Este volumen empieza mostrando claramente la presión con la que vive Holmes: tiene una gran carga sobre los hombros para complacer a su abuelo Seiji antes de heredar Kura, nunca es suficiente lo que hace y es algo que ya se menciona desde hace tiempo, incluso, volviendo al volumen 6, él hace una declaración muy sincera sobre esto. Así es como se ve obligado a pasar aproximadamente el siguiente año y medio en medio de pasantías en diversas locaciones con el objetivo de abrir su panorama y dejar de ser un “sheltered boy”.
Debido a estas pasantías es que los caminos de Aoi y Holmes comienzan a separarse un poco, siendo así que este libro se lee desde la perspectiva de él también, mostrando sus experiencias como interno en los lugares propuestos por su abuelo. A pesar de que amo a Aoi como narradora, las partes narradas por Holmes lograron ser entretenidas gracias a su ironía y humor habitual.
“There’s a huge gap between your cold and soft sides, man,” said Akihito. “You’re seriously Aoi-obsessed.”
“That’s not a nice way to put it, so please say I’m ‘Aoi-infatuated.’”
El ida y vuelta de sus POVs hace la lectura muy dinámica y el tiempo pasa increíblemente rápido, antes de darme cuenta Aoi ya tiene 19, siendo que el volumen anterior terminó con su fiesta de 18.
Empezando por la pasantía en el Museo Shokado, la historia continúa con un vistazo a la infancia de Holmes desde el punto de vista de Ueda, tratando su primera impresión del mini Holmes siendo este hijo de la mujer de la que él estaba enamorado y su amigo de la universidad. Son muchos sentimientos encontrados que se ven representados, pues el niño es la viva imagen de su madre ya fallecida en ese momento. También se muestra el origen de su apodo en este mismo encuentro con Ueda junto con muchos otros detalles de su crianza hasta ese momento.
“Genetics are amazing, but sometimes they can be terrifying. Even though he wouldn’t remember being raised by her, he was the spitting image of her in both appearance and mannerisms. And now he was sitting on the sofa, completely quiet. He’d probably been hurt in the past by disapproving looks from adults because of his unchildlike behavior. He was behaving himself now, not trying to join our conversation, yet not looking bored.
How many times has he been brought to adult gatherings like this? He was so well behaved that I actually felt sad looking at him.”
Tras esto, él decide que quiere ser otra figura paterna en su vida y sigue relatando a lo largo de los años detalles muy reveladores de la crianza de Holmes. Fue una muy buena explanación del personaje de Ueda, en definitiva se le da mucha profundidad.
“So, Kiyotaka, make sure you marry the girl you love the most,” I declared, looking back at him. “If it’s just dating, you can go with the second or third best. And sometimes you’ll truly fall in love with a girl after dating her. Men are simple, so we tend to grow fonder of people who love us. But you can’t compromise when it comes to marriage.”
“Okay.” He nodded and looked at Takeshi. “But do you really think dad is happy?”
“Yeah. He’s got you, after all.”
Kiyotaka smiled shyly. His face looked so similar to Kiyomi’s that I choked up”.
El siguiente evento trata una ocasión en la que buscando pasar tiempo con la familia de Aoi, Holmes termina involucrado en un misterio que se desarrolla en la Iglesia en donde la madre de Aoi colabora. Luego de eso, pasan la Navidad todos juntos y ellos por primera vez lo celebran como pareja.
“At any rate, this is my third time going to your house. I still have butterflies in my stomach.” He was clearly trying to change the subject, but since it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t press him.
“You’re nervous? Really?”
“Yes. Do you want to touch my chest and see for yourself?” He grinned mischievously, making my heart skip a beat”
Finalizando el volumen, en la fiesta de Año Nuevo se le organiza formalmente una “presentación en sociedad” a Ensho como aprendiz de Yanagihara, iniciando así un nuevo arco con Holmes como rivales dentro del mismo ámbito.
No lo vengo señalando pero me alegro por la amistad entre Aoi y Kaori, es la persona fuera del local a quien le puede contar todo . En este volumen en particular, en el que ambas empiezan sus estudios en la Universidad de Kyoto, se nota mucho la importancia de la presencia de Kaori, quien hasta reacciona en su lugar, siempre dispuesta a defender a Aoi. En este volumen también hay un mini capítulo narrado por ella en donde parece desarrollar un crush por el Manager.
“Oh gosh. This is bad. Aoi, what should I do? I feel like...I have a crush on the manager”.
Asimismo me encanta la dinámica entre Holmes y Akihito, son muy diferentes entre sí pero ambos muestran, de forma inconsciente, sus “verdaderas caras” ante el otro, lo que refuerza su amistad. Ni Akihito tiene que mostrarse como una “perfecta celebridad” ni Holmes necesita ocultar su lado irónico y calculador. En este libro, como parte de su entrenamiento, Holmes hace de su manager por un día, dando lugar a varias interacciones.
“I don’t know what you got up to in the past, but it’s not like you’re betraying Aoi right now, so why do you care? Are you stupid?”
Akihito bit into his dessert, seeming genuinely exasperated. Kiyotaka blinked in surprise.
“What’s with that look?” Akihito asked.
“I was just thinking that you actually made a good point.”
“Well, we’re best friends, after all.”
Kiyotaka shrugged and said nothing.
“You know, you’ve stopped denying it when I call us best friends,” Akihito said with a grin.
Kiyotaka choked again.”
En resumen, un volumen muy interesante aunque algo diferente a los demás en el buen sentido, ya que se va marcando un estilo de ahora en adelante con diferentes puntos de vista y nuevas tramas a seguir, todo seguido de ocasionales escenas “slice of life” en donde los personajes interactúan y con nuevos misterios (de complejidades variables) por resolver.
Este volumen empieza mostrando claramente la presión con la que vive Holmes: tiene una gran carga sobre los hombros para complacer a su abuelo Seiji antes de heredar Kura, nunca es suficiente lo que hace y es algo que ya se menciona desde hace tiempo, incluso, volviendo al volumen 6, él hace una declaración muy sincera sobre esto. Así es como se ve obligado a pasar aproximadamente el siguiente año y medio en medio de pasantías en diversas locaciones con el objetivo de abrir su panorama y dejar de ser un “sheltered boy”.
Debido a estas pasantías es que los caminos de Aoi y Holmes comienzan a separarse un poco, siendo así que este libro se lee desde la perspectiva de él también, mostrando sus experiencias como interno en los lugares propuestos por su abuelo. A pesar de que amo a Aoi como narradora, las partes narradas por Holmes lograron ser entretenidas gracias a su ironía y humor habitual.
“There’s a huge gap between your cold and soft sides, man,” said Akihito. “You’re seriously Aoi-obsessed.”
“That’s not a nice way to put it, so please say I’m ‘Aoi-infatuated.’”
El ida y vuelta de sus POVs hace la lectura muy dinámica y el tiempo pasa increíblemente rápido, antes de darme cuenta Aoi ya tiene 19, siendo que el volumen anterior terminó con su fiesta de 18.
Empezando por la pasantía en el Museo Shokado, la historia continúa con un vistazo a la infancia de Holmes desde el punto de vista de Ueda, tratando su primera impresión del mini Holmes siendo este hijo de la mujer de la que él estaba enamorado y su amigo de la universidad. Son muchos sentimientos encontrados que se ven representados, pues el niño es la viva imagen de su madre ya fallecida en ese momento. También se muestra el origen de su apodo en este mismo encuentro con Ueda junto con muchos otros detalles de su crianza hasta ese momento.
“Genetics are amazing, but sometimes they can be terrifying. Even though he wouldn’t remember being raised by her, he was the spitting image of her in both appearance and mannerisms. And now he was sitting on the sofa, completely quiet. He’d probably been hurt in the past by disapproving looks from adults because of his unchildlike behavior. He was behaving himself now, not trying to join our conversation, yet not looking bored.
How many times has he been brought to adult gatherings like this? He was so well behaved that I actually felt sad looking at him.”
Tras esto, él decide que quiere ser otra figura paterna en su vida y sigue relatando a lo largo de los años detalles muy reveladores de la crianza de Holmes. Fue una muy buena explanación del personaje de Ueda, en definitiva se le da mucha profundidad.
“So, Kiyotaka, make sure you marry the girl you love the most,” I declared, looking back at him. “If it’s just dating, you can go with the second or third best. And sometimes you’ll truly fall in love with a girl after dating her. Men are simple, so we tend to grow fonder of people who love us. But you can’t compromise when it comes to marriage.”
“Okay.” He nodded and looked at Takeshi. “But do you really think dad is happy?”
“Yeah. He’s got you, after all.”
Kiyotaka smiled shyly. His face looked so similar to Kiyomi’s that I choked up”.
El siguiente evento trata una ocasión en la que buscando pasar tiempo con la familia de Aoi, Holmes termina involucrado en un misterio que se desarrolla en la Iglesia en donde la madre de Aoi colabora. Luego de eso, pasan la Navidad todos juntos y ellos por primera vez lo celebran como pareja.
“At any rate, this is my third time going to your house. I still have butterflies in my stomach.” He was clearly trying to change the subject, but since it seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t press him.
“You’re nervous? Really?”
“Yes. Do you want to touch my chest and see for yourself?” He grinned mischievously, making my heart skip a beat”
Finalizando el volumen, en la fiesta de Año Nuevo se le organiza formalmente una “presentación en sociedad” a Ensho como aprendiz de Yanagihara, iniciando así un nuevo arco con Holmes como rivales dentro del mismo ámbito.
No lo vengo señalando pero me alegro por la amistad entre Aoi y Kaori, es la persona fuera del local a quien le puede contar todo . En este volumen en particular, en el que ambas empiezan sus estudios en la Universidad de Kyoto, se nota mucho la importancia de la presencia de Kaori, quien hasta reacciona en su lugar, siempre dispuesta a defender a Aoi. En este volumen también hay un mini capítulo narrado por ella en donde parece desarrollar un crush por el Manager.
“Oh gosh. This is bad. Aoi, what should I do? I feel like...I have a crush on the manager”.
Asimismo me encanta la dinámica entre Holmes y Akihito, son muy diferentes entre sí pero ambos muestran, de forma inconsciente, sus “verdaderas caras” ante el otro, lo que refuerza su amistad. Ni Akihito tiene que mostrarse como una “perfecta celebridad” ni Holmes necesita ocultar su lado irónico y calculador. En este libro, como parte de su entrenamiento, Holmes hace de su manager por un día, dando lugar a varias interacciones.
“I don’t know what you got up to in the past, but it’s not like you’re betraying Aoi right now, so why do you care? Are you stupid?”
Akihito bit into his dessert, seeming genuinely exasperated. Kiyotaka blinked in surprise.
“What’s with that look?” Akihito asked.
“I was just thinking that you actually made a good point.”
“Well, we’re best friends, after all.”
Kiyotaka shrugged and said nothing.
“You know, you’ve stopped denying it when I call us best friends,” Akihito said with a grin.
Kiyotaka choked again.”
En resumen, un volumen muy interesante aunque algo diferente a los demás en el buen sentido, ya que se va marcando un estilo de ahora en adelante con diferentes puntos de vista y nuevas tramas a seguir, todo seguido de ocasionales escenas “slice of life” en donde los personajes interactúan y con nuevos misterios (de complejidades variables) por resolver.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2022
Volume 8 consists of three main events. Holmes works at a garden museum to get experience outside of Kyoto, and right when Aoi pays a visit something odd happens. The second part delves a bit into Holmes childhood through the eyes of Ueda, the best friend of the Manager. The book ends with Holmes paying a visit to Aoi's parents and ending up involved with a statue of Mary crying blood at a small neighbourhood Christian church.
The book was much like previous volumes: a fun mix of slice-of-life, tour guide to Kyoto and the surrounding areas, a bit of awkward romance, and a some of art history. The mysteries were not particular intriguing, but that is nothing new. The story about the crying statue was rather sappy though. Personally, I am also not a fan of the overly protective jealous boyfriend, although at least it is depicted as somewhat of a character flaw.
All in all, a good read, if a tad short.
The book was much like previous volumes: a fun mix of slice-of-life, tour guide to Kyoto and the surrounding areas, a bit of awkward romance, and a some of art history. The mysteries were not particular intriguing, but that is nothing new. The story about the crying statue was rather sappy though. Personally, I am also not a fan of the overly protective jealous boyfriend, although at least it is depicted as somewhat of a character flaw.
All in all, a good read, if a tad short.
July 13, 2022
You know this couple just can’t catch a break.
May 18, 2025
This new story arc really is a big change for the characters, especially Holmes. The previous books already showed him to be so cultured, knowledgeable and skilled. In this book it's taken to another level as he takes on internships not only in other parts of the Japan but also in another part of the world. As a reader, I feel like I get to see him in a new light, although he still does use a lot of his old, familiar skills and personality. It's edifying and wondrous to vicariously experience many new places. I feel like my horizons were a little broadened just by reading this book.
Outside of his internships, an invitation of Holmes to Aoi's home for dinner leads to many revelations about Holmes (including a past secret), Aoi, Aoi's family, and a new mystery to be solved. Holmes and Aoi continue to grow together as they overcome both external mysteries and internal troubles.
Lastly, Ensho makes a debut in his new role, sparking a new form of rivalry between Ensho and Holmes. As of now, I'm not sure how much it will actually benefit either of them or if it's just there with the intention to make the story more interesting. Time will tell.
Looking forward to the next book.
Outside of his internships, an invitation of Holmes to Aoi's home for dinner leads to many revelations about Holmes (including a past secret), Aoi, Aoi's family, and a new mystery to be solved. Holmes and Aoi continue to grow together as they overcome both external mysteries and internal troubles.
Lastly, Ensho makes a debut in his new role, sparking a new form of rivalry between Ensho and Holmes. As of now, I'm not sure how much it will actually benefit either of them or if it's just there with the intention to make the story more interesting. Time will tell.
Looking forward to the next book.
May 10, 2022
Volume 8 in the series.
Kiyotaka is ordered by his grandfather to broaden his knowledge by working outside of Kyoto. His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City, where Aoi and Kaori sneak in, to secretly watch him work, but Kiyotaka's keen eye quickly catches them.
We also get a brief look into Kiyotaka's childhood, through the eyes of Ueda, which I really enjoyed.
I look forward to reading the next volume!
Kiyotaka is ordered by his grandfather to broaden his knowledge by working outside of Kyoto. His first placement is at Shokado Garden Art Museum in Yawata City, where Aoi and Kaori sneak in, to secretly watch him work, but Kiyotaka's keen eye quickly catches them.
We also get a brief look into Kiyotaka's childhood, through the eyes of Ueda, which I really enjoyed.
I look forward to reading the next volume!
April 6, 2023
In this instalment of Holmes of Kyoto, we start a new arc for both Aoi and Kiyotaka. Aoi has graduated from High School and so, starts her journey as a student of History at Kyoto Prefectural University, while Kiyotaka has just finished Grad School and now has to go into professional training in various places.
One of my favourite things about this series is how is a cute romance + cozy mystery novel disguised as a cultural-historical guide of Kyoto, Japan and world Arts. And honestly, I don't mind the history lectures that are dumped through it, it is quite interesting and not boring at all, I learn quite a lot reading the books (even if I later shamelessly forget all about it).
Also, I will not deny that Aoi and Kiyotaka are honestly the sweetest couples ever, there are just too cute for their own good.
New plot point seeds are sowed in this volume, and I can't wait to see what happens in the following ones. The books are so easy to read and so short, you can read them in less than 5 hours really.
Thank you J Novel for translating the series :)
One of my favourite things about this series is how is a cute romance + cozy mystery novel disguised as a cultural-historical guide of Kyoto, Japan and world Arts. And honestly, I don't mind the history lectures that are dumped through it, it is quite interesting and not boring at all, I learn quite a lot reading the books (even if I later shamelessly forget all about it).
Also, I will not deny that Aoi and Kiyotaka are honestly the sweetest couples ever, there are just too cute for their own good.
New plot point seeds are sowed in this volume, and I can't wait to see what happens in the following ones. The books are so easy to read and so short, you can read them in less than 5 hours really.
Thank you J Novel for translating the series :)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews