Kamen Tantei, Volume 1

Kamen Tantei #1

by Matsuri Akino

When two high schoolers--and aspiring manga mystery authors--get involved in bizarre cases involving their fellow students, the only person who can help them solve the crimes is the mysterious Masked Detective.

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Fantasy

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

About the author

Matsuri Akino (秋乃 茉莉 Akino Matsuri), is a Japanese manga artist from Mitaka, Tokyo, now a resident of Yokohama. Her work is a mix of the fantasy, mystery, and horror genres. Her self portrait is usually a kappa, sometimes with braids or an odango hairstyle.

Reviews

[Claire]

low key boring, Masato was cool though

[Michelle Kobus]

Very juvenile. The mystery aspects are ludicrously over the top cheesy, unbelievable, and immature. The police send the teenage MCs home from a crime scene without taking down their personal info because they are underage, as if their age exonerated them from knowing anything or being involved (they didn't know anything and weren't involved, but the police had no way of knowing that because they never asked any questions). There seems to be a hint of the supernatural (ghosts), but I'm unsure if it's just an illusion or what. The artwork is passable, but nothing beautiful.

[anli]

The plot itself is pretty interesting and I liked it a lot! The problem was with everything else. The characters were pretty basic, and would be a lot more interesting if they had been fleshed out and written better. Speaking of writing, the manga would probably be way more popular and have better ratings if the writing had been more detailed and the chapters didn't go by so fast. Overall, it was an okay read and I might read the rest if I ever have time.

[Wendy]

I feel like this series is pretty underrated. I love the idea that once you've written characters they take on a life of their own and affect things much more than you think.
The lines between reality and fiction blur until you almost can't tell what's going on. But to me, that makes the story all the more compelling.

[Stephanie Jachymek]

Every story in this was stupid.
Each chapter follows a new "mystery" and these annoying ass kids need to figure it out with the help of some guy they made up that's semi come to life.
And the outcomes aren't even good, it's just bullshit.

[Christine]

“Wow! Writing in a hotel. I want to be a big time author!”

3.5 stars, tentatively rounded up. A couple amusing moments here and there but not “hilarious” as the back cover claims. And the cases themselves are far from hilarious; I was a little surprised by the T rating (as opposed to at least OT) because of the graphic/violent scenes in the first two chapters (especially the first chapter, yikes… very dark and I was NOT expecting it, nor the subsequent reveal) though that may just be my own unfamiliarity with how these ratings are decided.

I’m not sure I would really even consider this to be a mystery story in itself, in part because of the particular role the ‘masked detective’ plays (trying to avoid spoilers here). Each chapter is very short and I wasn’t really satisfied with the resolution at the end of each one. There’s also a pretty strong supernatural element that is not fully addressed - that plus the crimes and graphic scenes, as well as the abrupt end of each chapter, for me, made for an overall dark and sad tone. So…. maybe more supernatural/suspense than mystery?

That said, I thought this manga was still compelling to read and for the most part I enjoyed the time I spent on it! Not sure yet if I’ll go out of my way to find a copy of the second volume, but I’ll certainly read it if I come across it.

What I really liked about it was the overall premise - two teens co-writing a mystery novel and trying to get it published. If that premise had been woven more explicitly throughout the text, or been used to explain more about the masked detective as a character (maybe that’s just me reading into things?) that would have brought this to 5 stars for me despite the aspects I wasn’t such a fan of.

[rimachristine]

I remember liking this manga so much back in high school. Reading it now, I still gave it 4 stars. I think many will disagree with me but I think the manga was not that bad. It was a pretty fun read for teens. I mean, some parts didn't make sense at all but maybe the author intended it to not make sense at all (if that makes sense lmao). I think analyzing every single event in this manga is impossible. It's a bizarre mystery that deals with the supernatural. It looks like the Masked Detective in the series was just a product of Masato and Haruka's imagination that happened to materialize as a person and helps them solve these impossible and bizarre crimes. I like the art style so much. I like the humor. The characters are too typical. Also, I have criticisms in some parts of the story. *Spoiler: In chapter 4, the part where Erika (I can't remember her name but I think it's Erika) only dated Takumi because of a bet. Then suddenly, when his ghost appeared, she told him she truly loved him! Like, I don't know man, I'm hecka confused here. Maybe the story was just too fast-paced, it failed to show such details. It would like to read the rest of the manga but I couldn't find any scans online and all the physical copies were all sold out.

[Dabria Vaughn]

It was cute. It’s nothing groundbreaking, the plot is kinda boring, and most of the characters aren’t really interesting (the exception being Taro Susuki, the masked detective himself). Anyways, it’s super cheesy and shallow. But, it can be a fun read if you go in with the right attitude.

[Reza Aleeya]

For light reading...maybe

[Jessica]

The idea of this book is very interesting,mystery writers solving murders, but I do not believe that this story is very well developed. The chapters just seem like short stories and the characters are not well developed and indeed are rather flat. This is good for a quick read, but nothing more.

[Margaret]

Definitely want to read more of them.

[Carrie]

3 & a half stars