Tag: yukito ayatsuji

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Anime Debaser

Another

We binged the entirety of this series today (12 episodes), which is based on a book by Yukito Ayatsuji, who is my wife’s favorite author (and I read his mystery novel The Decagon House Murders not too long ago). Ayatsuji is better known for his mystery novels, but this story is horror, although there’s certainly a mystery surrounding the whole affaire, which is capped with an ending I didn’t guess (same as Decagon). It’s a fantastic series, beautifully animated (while quite gruesome at certain points), with an opening theme song that is just insanely weird (and kinda suits the series). Highly recommended.

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Books Debaser

The Decagon House Murders

I mentioned that I was reading this book back in December, and although I was quite enjoying it, it got put aside for a while — as often happens when I read books, because of my shitty attention span. I picked it up again this past Sunday, and cruised through the final 100 or so pages, which I enjoyed immensely. This is a terrific mystery novel, and the trick was quite well done — I was far from guessing the ending. Yukito Ayatsuji is my wife’s favorite mystery author, and not only is this his first novel, but it also marked the birth of a return to classic whodunnits in Japanese mystery novel writing. The book also has a great intro that helps explain all of this, as well as an afterword that gives some context. It’s a great translation, and I’ve just started another book by the same publisher (The Moai Island Puzzle).

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Books Web

Mystery Writers of Japan

decagon-01

I’m currently in the process of reading Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders, a mystery novel that was recommended to me by my wife, as Ayatsuji is her favorite mystery novelist. Earlier this year I had done a bit of research about the world of mystery novels in Japan, and Decagon even kicks off with a forward that takes a look at this history. I was very happy to see last month that the Mystery Writers of Japan association — yup, a real association that has quite the pedigree — launched an English website, that shares info on all of the novels that get English translations. A great resource if you’re interested in Japanese mystery novels.