Kindaichi Case Files

Kindaichi Case Files (Japanese: 金田一少年の事件簿, Hepburn: Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo) is a Japanese mystery manga series based on the crime solving adventures of a high school student, Hajime Kindaichi, the supposed grandson of the famous (fictional) private detective Kosuke Kindaichi.^[4][5] They are written by Yōzaburō Kanari or Seimaru Amagi (depending on series) and illustrated by Fumiya Satō.^[6] The Kindaichi series, which started serialization in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1992,^[6] is one of the earliest works in the mystery manga genre. In 1995, the manga won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen.^[7]

The serialization of the new Kindaichi series started in 2004,^[8][9] but not on a regular basis until 2012. The manga resumed regular serialization in 2012 to commemorate the 20th anniversary. The regular weekly serialization continues in 2013 with the title changed to Kindaichi Case Files R (Returns) (金田一少年の事件簿R, Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo Ritānzu). Kindaichi tankōbon were ranked 2nd and 3rd in a Japanese Comic Ranking in October, 2009.^[10]

The series has also been animated by Toei Animation, first as a feature film, with Kappei Yamaguchi as the voice of Kindaichi, released in 1996 and then a television series, with Taiki Matsuno voicing Kindaichi in this and subsequent productions for 148 episodes from 1997 to 2000,^[5][11] and there has since been a live-action film,^[12] four live-action drama series, three live-action television specials and further animated features for cinema and television.^[11] A new anime television series adaptation, titled Kindaichi Case Files R (Returns), began airing on April 5, 2014 and concluded on September 27, 2014. The voice actors of the main characters from the first anime television series reprise their roles.^[13] A second season began airing on October 3, 2015.^[14]

The collected stories are published in English by Tokyopop with the title The Kindaichi Case Files.^[15] Only the first 17 volumes (the first series) have been licensed by Tokyopop; the rest are unlikely to see print in the United States unless their relatively poor sales improve.^[16] The series was released on television in Southeast Asia as The File of Young Kindaichi.^[17]

Overview

Kindaichi mysteries are whodunnit stories featuring (usually multiple) gruesome murders, often with a supernatural tinge. They are typically of the style of John Dickson Carr, and frequently feature a locked room mystery^[5] or other seemingly "impossible" crimes, such as a murder occurring when all surviving suspects have (apparently) airtight alibis.

A notable distinction of The Kindaichi Case Files is that the killers are not depicted as psychopathic murderers and the murders are never committed for financial reasons alone. The identified killers all have deep rooted problems, often involving great emotional trauma through the greed or thoughtlessness of others, as their reasons for committing the murder(s). Thus the killers are often portrayed as sympathetic figures, as opposed to cold, calculating killers in some other mystery series.

In addition of this, after being revealed the criminal usually attempts to commit suicide.^[18]

Characters

Hajime Kindaichi (金田一 一, Kindaichi Hajime)

Voiced by: Taiki Matsuno and Kappei Yamaguchi (Anime film #1 only)

Played by: Tsuyoshi Domoto (1995 show), Jun Matsumoto (2001 show), Kazuya Kamenashi, Ryosuke Yamada

Fudo High School student Hajime is unmotivated, lazy, and a little lecherous, much to the exasperation of childhood friend Miyuki Nanase. However, only a few people see his great intelligence and deductive prowess by his -180 IQ, possibly inherited from his grandfather, private detective Kosuke Kindaichi. He is also an accomplished sleight of hand artist. Despite his clumsiness and myriad other flaws, he is a loyal friend and a first-rate detective.

Miyuki Nanase (七瀬 美雪, Nanase Miyuki)

Voiced by: Akiko Nakagawa

Played by: Rie Tomosaka (1995 show), Anne Suzuki (2001 show), Juri Ueno, Haruna Kawaguchi

The childhood friend and next door neighbor of "Hajime-chan"; many question why a model student like Miyuki is friends with a slacker like him. Deep down inside, Miyuki feels Hajime is not an idiot, and they seem to have a love that neither has yet fully expressed. She possesses remarkable logic and perception, although she is obviously not as gifted as he is. Miyuki is the president of Fudo High's student council.

Isamu Kenmochi (剣持 勇, Kenmochi Isamu)

Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi and Isao Natsuyagi (Anime film only)

Played by: Masato Furuoya (1995 show), Masaya Kato, Tomomitsu Yamaguchi

A Tokyo homicide police inspector who met Kindaichi on his first case, and was so impressed that he has lent the youngster his unquestioning support ever since. He is often the investigating officer on Kindaichi's cases, and provides the official stamp of approval Kindaichi often needs to pursue his investigations. He believes fully in Kindaichi's ability.

Kengo Akechi (明智 健悟, Akechi Kengo)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Played by: Mansaku Ikeuchi

An extremely intelligent, elite-level police detective (superintendent), who is Kenmochi's supervisor. He is an arrogant and snobbish character that becomes a rival to Kindaichi in crime-solving. However, Akechi (indeliberately) not only helped Kindaichi solve the case, but also aided him out of trouble. His relationship to Kindaichi is abrasive at the least, but they have an unspoken mutual respect for each other's abilities. He often compares the crimes in Japan to his experience in Los Angeles. He is proficient in English and French.

Ryuta Saki (佐木 竜太, Saki Ryūta) and Ryuji Saki (佐木 竜二, Saki Ryūji)

Voiced by: Keiichi Nanba (Ryuta Saki)

Played by: Tomohiro Hara (1995 show), Jun Hasegawa (2001 show) (Ryuta Saki)

Played by: Daiki Arioka (Ryuji Saki)

He is obsessed with filming through a V8 camera. He basically shoots everywhere at any time. His tape helped Kindaichi solved the case. In "The Santa Slayings", his tape recorded a critical piece of evidence and he was killed for this. In "Kindaichi the Killer", his younger brother, Ryuji Saki, who very much resembled his elder brother, approached Kindaichi at a party, telling him his elder brother told him in a dream that Kindaichi would be in trouble. Soon after, Ryuji helped Kindaichi avoid a murder trap. Afterwards, Ryuji claims himself as Kindaichi's assistant and sometimes really helps Kindaichi in solving cases. In the anime series, Ryuta survived the attack in "The Santa Slayings" story arc and Ryuji did not appear later on.

Reika Hayami (速水 玲香, Hayami Reika)

Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka

A famous actress and singer, first appearing in "Death TV", who initially appeared to be arrogant but turned out to be weak and desperate for protection. After this case, Reika has had a crush on Kindaichi and sent her only Valentine's Day gift, a heart-shaped chocolate, to him without revealing her name. Since then, she and Miyuki seem to be rivals over Kindaichi. In "Playing the Fool", Reika's past, that even she lost memory of, was revealed. In "Reika's Kidnapping", it was revealed that Reika's real mother is veteran actress Keiko Mitamura, but throughout the series Reika never knew it, and it was a secret that only Keiko and Kindaichi know.

Fumi Kindaichi (金田一 二三, Kindaichi Fumi)

Voiced by: Haruna Ikezawa

Kindaichi's cousin. First appeared in "Saint Valentine's Murders" in manga and "The Undying Butterflies" in the anime television series, and later became a regular character appearing in the majority of cases for an extended period. Fumi has good reasoning skills (although not as good as Hajime), she even solves a few mysteries on her own. She sometimes pokes fun at Kindaichi when nobody else is around. Inspector Kenmochi nicknames her "Chibikin" (meaning little Kindaichi).

Yoichi Takato (高遠 遙一, Takatō Yōichi)

Voiced by: Kenichi Ono

Played by: Hiroki Narimiya

Kindaichi's nemesis, also known as "The Puppeteer From Hell" (地獄の傀儡師, Jigoku no Kugutsushi). He is known to be extremely intelligent, considers himself to be the evil twin of Kindaichi, and describes their relationship as parallel lines. He is the only son of Reiko Chikamiya, an internationally known magician, who in turn drove Takato to be a magician himself. What he uncovered about the murder of his mother triggered what he is today. A twisted, cold-hearted magician who considers his devilish setups for the perfect crime as masterpieces, and tolerates no mistakes from the people he uses as his puppets.

Media

Manga

In Japan, there is a total of 73 volumes with 44 full cases, 17 Kindaichi's short cases and 7 Akechi's short cases. Together, the volumes have sold over 90 million copies in Japan, making it one of the best selling manga of the 1990s.^[19] There are currently 11 volumes^[20] in the new re-run after serialisation of Detective School Q completes.

As of November 4, 2008, 17 volumes have been published in North America, all except 2 with a complete story. New readers are recommended to read the volumes in order, since later stories sometimes reference killers or characters from previous tales, especially Kindaichi's nemesis, who will reappear in at least one of the mysteries not yet published. In general, all the mysteries followed a certain theme (such as a famous legend/story), or have a certain modus operandi.

Light novels

The novels were written by Seimaru Amagi and illustrated by Fumiya Satō. 9 volumes were released in Japan between September 22, 1994^[21] and April 20, 2001.^[22]

Anime

Produced by Toei Animation and directed by Daisuke Nishio, the anime adaptation of the original manga aired on Nippon Television between April 7, 1997 and September 11, 2000,^[11] spanning 148 episodes plus one special episode. In addition, two animated films were released on December 14, 1996 and August 21, 1999 respectively. Seven years after the conclusion of the TV anime, two new animated episodes were aired in Japan on November 12, 2007 and November 19, 2007 respectively.^[23]

On April 6, 2007, DVD collector's box of Kindaichi was released by Warner Home Video to mark the 10th anniversary of airing of the original TV anime.^[24]

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the series, two special episodes based on "The Black Magic Murders" were released on DVDs in November 2012 and February 2013.

An anime television series, Kindaichi Case Files R aired from April 5 to 27 September 2014.^[25] A second season began airing on October 3, 2015. They are streamed on Crunchyroll.

Video games

7 Kindaichi video games were released as of September 17, 2009. All of them were released in Japan only. Many of the game voice actors differ from those in the anime version.

CD books

Kodansha released two CD books in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Both have been made into anime. However, nearly all CD books voice actors are not the same as those in the anime version.

Live action series

The first issue of the crossover series between Case Closed and Kindaichi Case Files

NTV aired four live action series in 1995, 1996, 2001, and 2014.^[36] Specials were aired in 2005,^[37] 2013, and 2014.

Tsuyoshi Dōmoto of the Kinki Kids and Rie Tomosaka starred as Kindaichi and Nanase Miyuki in the first two series. In season 3, Matsumoto Jun of Arashi starred as Kindaichi and Suzuki Anne starred as Nanase Miyuki. In season 4, Ryosuke Yamada starred as Kindaichi while Haruna Kawaguchi portrayed Nanase Miyuki.

In 2005, a special based on "The Legendary Vampire Murders" was aired featuring Kamenashi Kazuya of KAT-TUN and Ueno Juri as Kindaichi and Nanase Miyuki.

In 2013, a special based on "Treasure in Kowloon, Hong Kong" was aired featuring Ryosuke Yamada of Hey! Say! JUMP and Haruna Kawaguchi as Hajime Kindaichi and Miyuki Nanase.

In 2014, a special based on "Gate of Jail Private School Murders" was aired also featuring Ryosuke Yamada and Haruna Kawaguchi.

Live action film

A live action film entitled Shanghai Mermaid Legend Murder Case, was released on December 13, 1997 in Japan. The film was directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi and starring Tsuyoshi Dōmoto and Rie Tomosaka.^[12][38] It is an adaptation of the Kindaichi novel of the same title.

Detective Conan & Kindaichi

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shōnen Sunday and Weekly Shōnen Magazine, the two magazines collaborated to publish twelve biweekly magazines consisting of chapters from Weekly Shōnen Sunday's Case Closed and Weekly Shōnen Magazine's Kindaichi Case Files.^[39][40] The magazine ran between April 10, 2008 and September 25, 2008.^[40]

Reception

In 1995, the manga won the Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen's category.^[7]

Allen Divers of Anime News Network said that while Kindaichi Case Files "presents some whoppers", the series also has mysteries that are very "familiar", calling it "the Japanese version of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew."^[41] In Manga: The Complete Guide Jason Thompson described the mystery scenarios as "inventive and intricate, offering genuine brain teasers", but criticised the artwork as "bland".^[42]

References

External links

• THE FILE OF YOUNG KINDAICHI - Animax Asia
• Tokyopop manga website
• Kindaichi 20th anniversary website
• Toei Animation's Kindaichi website
• Yomiuri TV's Kindaichi R website
• Toei Animation's Kindaichi R website
• Kindaichi Case Files (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kindaichi Shōnen no Jikenbo (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia