Pulptober 2025 Day 2-Genius of Justice-Kiyoshi Mitaral
In the 1960s and 1970s,a style called "Social School" became popular in japanese detective novels.These novels emphasized reflecting social issues,describing the background of the case and the motives of the criminals in detail,while reasoning and trickery were placed in a relatively secondary position.It was not until the 1980s that some Japanese detective novelists began to create works that imitated classical forms and were relatively free of realism.This new style was called "New Honkaku" (this term corresponds to the Japanese word "Honkaku" for classical whodunit).The definition of New Honkaku is debated,but these subgenres do exhibit some common characteristics,including an emphasis on the novelty and flamboyance of the mysteries and tricks,while downplaying their realism;specifically,a story might depict a murderer building a house in order to kill a person,if this were necessary for the trick.In 1981,the famous New Honkaka novelist Soji Shimada created The Tokyo Zodiac Murders,which is hailed as the first New Honkaku mystery novel,and the detective of the story,Kiyoshi Mitarai,is the first New Honkaku great detective.
Kiyoshi Mitarai is a complete weirdo.His mood swings were extreme,sometimes he seemed to be suffering from depression,and sometimes he would excitedly do strange things like dancing Zulu dances or barking like a dog.He is very focused on things that interest him,but he gets bored easily,for example,he was once passionate about astrology and worked as an astrologer,even remembering people's birthdays more easily than their names,but he later almost completely forgot about astrology,so that his assistant Kazumi Ishioka suspected he had amnesia.He loved dogs so much that he would bring dogs borrowed from other places to his home.He dropped out of Kyoto University while studying medicine because he hated animal experiments.He hates women due to his past experiences, but he is a person who believes in gender equality,and tend to judge people based on their character and abilities.Also,his name 御手洗 潔means "toilet cleaning" in Japanese,and as a result he was bullied and traumatized as a child.
There is no doubt that he is a genius.He has an IQ of over 300,and has demonstrated excellent observation and reasoning skills since childhood,and continued to solve difficult mysteries throughout kindergarten and elementary school.He once opened a detective agency with Ishioka,and became famous because of Ishioka's records of their investigative experiences.He is also a versatile person.In addition to being a professor of brain neuroscience,he is also proficient in psychology,genetic engineering,meteorology,astronomy,history,surgery,chem and so on.It is worth mentioning that he knows almost all the languages in the world and could master Latin vocabulary word by word within a week.(However,he couldn't read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics in The Crystal Pyramid.)Also,he is proficient in playing many musical instruments,especially guitar,and his ability is not inferior to that of professional guitarists.
By the way,many of the mysteries solved by Kiyoshi Mitarai have quite gorgeous and exaggerated appearances,such as a doll appearing in the air outside the window of a strangely tilted house,someone witnessing a monster like the one from ancient Egyptian mythology,a victim being drowned in a closed room high in a crystal pyramid,a corpse actually moving a distance on its own,etc.These mysteries may seem even impossible happen,but eventually the great detective would uncovers a truth(which often far more prosaic than it's appearances).
The manga of Kiyoshi Mitaral series,Mitarai: Detective Kiyoshi Mitarai's Case Records.Illustrated by Tenka Hara.
Kiyoshi Mitaral played by Hiroshi Tamaki.
Art by Gosho Aoyama.
