The Shrine

Like Detective Conan, this is the murder mystery manga that never ends. As I read through another installment, I just realized if this is how the legal system work in Japan, it'd really suck if you're a defendent because Kindaichi can convict you for murder without any proof whatsoever. Occam's razor or evidence is not relevent compared to logic. If there was a way you could logically be guilty, you ARE guilty even if there are no evidence whatsoever. If logically a ninja in optical camofluage could've been the murderer, then he MUST be the murderer.

Here's a scenario from the latest story:

A and B are found in a locked, impenetrable room. B was hanged, but cops manage to resuscitate B so he did not die.

Now, normally you'd think A was the one who is responsible to do this, but if you're Kindachi, what actually happened was B hanged himself to frame A. Now B pointed out it was not possible he coudl've hanged himself because there's nothing to stand on in the whole room, but Kindaichi deduced that he rolled up the carpet, stood on top of the rolled carpet, and then kicked the carpet and hanged himself. And this is why there is a carpet below the spot B was hanged.

Now obviously this is indeed what happened, but the fact that this is possible is not proof. At best you can say either A or B could've done this. Kindaichi doesn't have the proof that B indeed rolled up the carpet. All he has is the fact that there was a carpet below the spot B was hanged. Of course in the land fiction, after hearing this B will confess since his master plan was ruined. Serial murderers in Japan must crack very easily!

What was A doing the whole time while B hung himself? I assume he was knocked out or something?

I still think it sounds like a fun mystery manga. Granted, your point about the perpetrator admitting everything once his plan is figured out is valid, but otherwise there would never be a resolution to anything. You have to make the characters stupid or act unlike a real world liar/murderer would or else there is no story. Go with it! A real life manga would be boring, as real life sucks.

On a side note, i like your little writeups about the mangas you read. The baseball one was particularly funny.

My understanding is that the Japanese courts depend on confessions - if not officially, at least in practice. This can lead to abuse: Pressed by Police, Even Innocent Confess in Japan

Yeah A is obviously knocked out somewhere (since indeed B was trying to frame him), but of course that is no proof that A was innocent. I'd think if you go to court at best you can say either guy could've done it, and that's not even close to 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.

It is certainly a fun mystery manga even though at least 25% of the time Kindachi knows stuff that you the reader cannot know. For example he knows that even if the DNA test proved A did was the murderer, it was actually B, A's long lost identical twin, that did it, because he knew A has a long lost identical twin (that you're never told about). Kindachi almost always deal with serial kilings, and usually he'd have evidence that one guy was definitely killed by this guy, but all the other guys that die would have no evidence. He will deduce how these guys are killed, but he still has no evidence. Of course once he finishes his deduction the serial murderer will invariably go: "OH NO YOU FOUND OUT MY PLAN! I CONFESS EVERYTHING!" Clearly mass murderers in Japan don't really understand the law system very well.

Another recurring theme is that there is usually a guy wearing a mask who turns out to be Takato, the Puppetmaster, an evil genius who assists other people to carry out their serial killing (hence his title). So after the plan is foiled, you'd usually see Takato take off his mask, kills the guy for incompetence, and then say something like "Until we meet again friends!" and makes an escape. And you'd see Kindaichi and other cops talk about how they got fooled again by the Puppetmaster, because nobody thought 'the man with the mask' could have been Takato even though every 'man with the mask' so far turned out to be Takato.

In some sense, it reminds me of Inspector Gadget. Of course Kindaichi is meant to be super smart, but he sure can never figure out 'the man with the mask' is the equivalent of Dr. Claw.

Kupek wrote:My understanding is that the Japanese courts depend on confessions - if not officially, at least in practice. This can lead to abuse: Pressed by Police, Even Innocent Confess in Japan

Phoenix Wright ftw.

Kupek wrote:My understanding is that the Japanese courts depend on confessions - if not officially, at least in practice. This can lead to abuse: Pressed by Police, Even Innocent Confess in Japan

It's kind of funny whenever Takato talks to his puppet while they're being grilled by the police in a Shakespeare "aside" fashion he's always like "JUST DO NOT CONFESS ANYTHING THEY GOT NO PROOF!" but of course the puppet never listens. I doubt it's supposed to be some kind of satire on the society, but it is really ironic that Kindachi always just relies on getting the murderer to confess as opposed to building a case on solid evidence. There are some cases where he does not have ANY proof relating to any of the murders.

For example, in the Russian Doll Serial Murder he deduced it was the maid who read the will of some dead guy, found out that if all the trustees for the will died she'd get the money, so she killed all the trustees so she can get the money. However, the only evidence he had was that the maid indeed read the will first. He had no evidence that she commited any of the murders, because it's sufficient that he can deduce that it was POSSIBLE for the maid to have killed all those guys.