Underachiever Hajime Kindaichi must use his magician's skills to investigate reports of ghostly appearances and a series of threatening letters signed by the "Afterschool Magician."
i’m addicted to these now can’t stoppp. The murderer in this volume was easy to guess for me after a couple chapters and the motive was a mess and not as interesting as the previous ones. ugh i hope it gets harder to guess. Kindaichi being fake friend-zoned was funny. Miyuki needs to confess already.
3.5 stars, but I’ll round down because I don’t love how some of this hangs together. Still, there’s no denying that this is still a really fun Kindaichi story, even if it has a shockingly tame body count compared to many of the other books.
Like every Japanese high school, Kindaichi and Miyuki’s has been issued (presumably when it was built) with seven mysteries of occultish gruesomeness. The rumour is that anybody who knows all seven mysteries will themselves be killed... and wouldn’t you know that that’s exactly what happens?
Throw in a small suspect pool and a case where the most obvious suspect is indeed the culprit and you have the rare Kindaichi that makes you feel smart for once. Character-wise, you wouldn’t think they could come up with a more obnoxious character than Superintendent Akechi, but smug mystery-writing student asshole Makabe is very, very close. It adds some zing to the proceedings seeing Kindaichi take him on.
On the downside, backstory for this one makes half sense (it could really have been dealt with long before all this happened), then they throw in a decidedly insane cryptogram whose solution I still don’t think you could figure out without being explicitly told, and we finish off with a fairly ridiculous two visits from deus ex Richter scale.
Still, there are some great points. The setting IS enjoyable enough and Kenmochi’s frustration about how the school is apparently full of crazy students based on the usual weirdos in the suspect pool is great. There’s also a hilariously complicated solution that turns out to be too simple and a fake-out for the actual solution which is arguably more simple than the other one. That’s the kind of stuff I’m here for.
Further, I think this is the actual first dramatic close-up ‘I swear on my grandfather, etc’ moment in the series, which is definitely to be watched for in every story after this one. Not an exemplary example of the series, but not without its charms either.
Each case in this manga is a stand alone mystery, and we are still very early in the series. So while reading in order will be better to understand the recurring characters, it's not necessary to enjoy the individual stories.
After three cases finding Hajime Kindaichi during his travels matters of life and death now visit him closer to home. When an old school building is scheduled for demolition threatening letters arrive from the "Afterschool Magician," a legend around the school with ties to seven gruesome mystery stories passed down through the years. But the threats become something worse when the mystery club starts investigating the rumors.
Smoke and Mirrors is a solid blend of several plotlines that converge nicely at the end. Themes of magic and misdirection are incorporated well and provide nice layers and twists to the mystery. The ties to the school's history and previous investigations into the seven mysteries added a good amount of intrigue to the story. As a whole I found this volume a slight step down from the previous ones, although not for any particular reason I can point to and it is still quite good. As usual there are clues throughout and while some story details will be beyond deduction the core of the mystery is solvable.
The translation of this particular mystery presented some extra difficulty for the publisher, which they handled well and explain in detail at the end.
Overall another solid installment featuring our favorite high school detective.
Murders, rumors, threatening secrets and a mysterious figure known only as The After School Magician haunted Kindaichi and Miyuki's highschool. Vol. 4 of The Kindaichi Case Files is as amazing as it can get when it comes to detective mangas.
Though our fearless teenager detective Kindaichi manages to solve the case *only after* a lot of people got killed or hurt, how typical! XD
This is one of my favorites from the series. I liked the fact that these are not just revenge killings and just about everyone has a secret! I was also much more emotionally involved in this story.
Setiap sekolah mesti ada kisah misteri legenda urban. Di sekolah Hajime pula iaitu Sekolah Tinggi Fudo, terdapat 7 kisah kejadian misteri. Jika ada seseorang yang tahu kesemua 7 kisah tersebut, dia akan dibunuh. Hajime kemudiannya diajak menyertai Kelab Penyiasatan Misteri semenjak 7 kisah misteri itu kembali hangat diperkatakan setelah pengetua sekolah tu menerima surat ancaman untuk memberhentikan segera kerja meroboh bangunan lama sekolah.
Malangnya presiden kelab itu dibunuh setelah dia berjaya membongkar kesemua 7 kisah misteri itu, sama seperti legenda itu sendiri. Kecelakaan turut menimpa kepada seorang lagi ahli kelab itu dan juga Miyuki! Oh, tidak 😱!
Kali ni akan ada masalah bagi yang bukan pengguna bahasa Jepun untuk merungkaikan mesej rahsia dalam fail kes. Kesukaran itu letaknya pada penggunaan aksara Hiragana dan Romaji di papan kekunci komputer.
Trivia: kemunculan kedua mak Kindaichi dalam siri ni.
This case is more straightforward than the previous case, the Snow Yaksha Legend Murder Case. This story is easier to read because it goes in sequential flow. It's also less complicated because all the murders happened at one place.
Dalam buku keempat ini, Kindaichi bekerja di sekolahnya. Ia membantu menemukan teka-teki dari misteri pembunuhan dengan korban adalah anggota klub misteri. Ada sesuatu misteri di gedung lama sekolah, membuat Kindaichi harus segera memecahkan teka-teki sebelum korban terus berjatuhan.
Ruiko Sakuragi sang ketua klub peneliti misteri adalah korban pertama. Ia pada malam itu menelpon Kindaichi dan memberitahunya ia telah memecahkan misteri ketujuh dari tujuh keanehan di sekolah.
Oh ya pada cerita ini latarnya adalah sebulan sebelum perayaan ulang tahun sekolah Kindaichi, SMA Fudo. Ada surat ancaman ditujukan ke sekolah oleh pihak yang menyebutnya penyihir sepulang sekolah. Ancaman ini muncul ketika pihak sekolah merencanakan untuk memugar bangunan lama yang menjadi lokasi klub misteri. Ruiko sendiri diduga menjadi korban penyihir sepulang sekolah karena hendak menyingkap misteri bangunan lama tersebut.
Ada tujuh keanehan. Lokasinya ada di pohon, sumur, ruang kelas, dan sebagainya. Tapi apa sebenarnya misteri ketujuh dan kenapa Ruiko yang menemukannya menjadi korban? Kindaichi semakin panas dan bergegas menyelesaikan misteri ini ketika Miyuki kemudian menjadi korban.
Ceritanya lagi-lagi dibumbui dengan mitos. Memang ada banyak kisah horor di sekolah dan mitos-mitos yang menyelimutinya. Di sini mitosnya rata-rata sadis karena umumnya berkaitan dengan nyawa manusia.
Cerita Kindaichi memang dingin menurutku. Korban ya korban untuk memecahkan misteri. Tapi unsur emosinya kurang. Yang menarik dari kisah Kindaichi adalah bagaimana ia membongkar cara pelakunya yang kadang-kadang terlalu imajinatif dan nampaknya begitu sadis si pelakunya. Di sini pelakunya sulit ditebak dan ceritanya memiliki unsur berlapis berkaitan dengan sejarah masa lampau.
Satu lagi yang agak minus di buku kali ini, ada banyak adegan minus di buku ini. Ada playboy yang suka melakukan pelecehan ke perempuan. Ia tak malu-malu melakukannya di sekolah. Ada juga para perempuan genit yang mencoba bermain mata dengan Kindaichi. Eh rasanya kok jadi kayak si Ryo dalam City Hunter lama-lama si Kindaichi-nya.
When an old school building is scheduled for demolition, a school curse resurfaces. The Mystery Club begins to investigate, and soon students are being murdered in ways similar to the stories of the curse. Kindaichi, as a member of the Mystery Club, begins to investigate. He discovers that the curse has a history much more explicable than a supernatural curse.
I picked this book up upon the recommendation of a student. She said this series was creepy, and I should try them.
I finished the book because I wanted to see how the mystery would be explained. Also, it has been a long time since I read a manga, so I thought I should try this genre again.
I would recommend this to Aiyana. She is willing to try new genres, and would like the challenge of solving the mystery.
2019 reread: The story revolve around the 7 legends in Fudo High School where Kindaichi & Miyuki go. When one of their senior was killed trying to solve the mystery surrounding the legends, things got a little bit shady. This is the volume we get introduced to Saki, one of the precious sidekick in the Kindaichi case franchise.
Wow, gaya gambarnya beda dari yang terbitan baru, ya. Udah lama juga gak baca kasus dengan trik bangunan, tapi yang ini gak serumit waktu penjahatnya Takato di Kindaichi 20th Anniversary, sih. Tahu-tahu baca jilid 4, soalnya dapet gratisan di kantor sih (ehehehe). Untungnya meski ada nomor jilidnya, Kindaichi Premium ini bisa dibaca per buku karena tidak ada kasus yang bersambung (bener kan?)
Ternyata! Wajah si penyihir pas noleh di antara dua pintu yang terbuka di komik inilah yang dulu bikin rada-rada males sama gelap ^^; bukan takut loh, ya~ cuma males aja...
Tapi kembalinya 'hantu-masa-kecil' saat sudah dewasa dan berani tidur sendiri gini ternyata lumayan ngangenin~ *salah satu alasan kenapa jadi ngikutin seri ini ^///^
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