Customer Reviews

Kamen Tantei Volume 1

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Everyone things Taro Suziki is a male author, but he's actually Haruka Akashi; a young girl who likes mysteries & Masato Nishina; her typist, & no, they never date. A series of bizzare events leads to a faceless detective calling himself Taro Suzuki, & becides solving mysteries with him, the young writers spend a gret deal of time wondering just who the heck this guy is.

Like with Petshop of Horrors, the characters are memorable & the stories are excelent. There's a sequil called Shin Kamen Tantei in Japan now.

If you like this, I reccomend Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. Until Shounen Jump/Viz picks it up, you can only read scanlations or watch fansubs of it online.

Masato and Hakura are two high school students and aspiring mystery writers. They write under the pen name "Taro Suzuki" and already have a publisher. But in order to write a good murder mystery, it is obvious that you need to get involved in real life murder as well, or so Hakura believes. While investigating their first case, a masked man appears and helps them out. Later, he claims that he is Taro Suzuki, and the detective from their stories!

The mysteries in this series (there are 4 volumes on all) are never very long, and while they often involve murder, they aren't particularly serious. In fact, the line between make believe and reality is very blurred and often you wonder if the murder you are reading about taking place in "real life" is actually just another of Masato and Hakura's stories. Masato and Hakura are fun characters and interact well with each other. The whole premise of fictional characters coming out of their stories is lots of fun and a little mind bending at times. The art is very detailed, beautiful, and unique. Matsuri Akino is avery talented artist and writer, and I have loved everything she has written. Kamen Tantei is her shortest series, so for a taste of her work, it is a good place to start. If you enjoy it, be sure to check out Pet Shop of Horrors (Pet Shop of Horror 01).