Review: "Remote"

It's been a while since I've been able to post anything here--primarily because my education gets in the way of my thriller-related reading. I should have a review of John le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold at some point in the next week. In the mean time, here's a review that might be of interest:

Remote: 05: Story by Seimaru Amagi; Art by Tetsuya Koshiba.

My favorite used book store--Deb's Bookstore in Cullman, Alabama--has a little room in the back where they have a sale going on, including a token bit of Manga--discounted from $5 to $1. Since I've been interested in trying out Manga, I picked up this book. Since I'm not conversant with the genre, this review will be very much an outsider's perspective on an insider's artform, and so will focus on those elements I am familiar with--detective plots.

Since Remotestarts in the middle of an ongoing story, I had to do a little research. The basic premise is intriguing--a genius detective, Inspector Kozaburo cut off from human emotions and unable to leave his headquarters, works with a young woman, Detective Kurumi Ayaki--via cell 'phone--to solve crimes. That's the premise, and that's really all one needs to know to enjoy this volume.

Volume 5 contains two stories--or, rather, one and a half, since the first three chapters are the conclusion of a case presumably begun in the first volume. The first is pretty standard detective stuff--Detective Kurumi Ayaki investigates a closed circle of suspects in order to prove that her fiance is innocent of murder. The trick, too, is pure Agatha Christie, though only having half the story--and being unfamiliar with conventions of the genre--made it difficult to guess.

The second story in the volume is "Assassin Bob." Again, Kurumi Ayaki is trying to clear a friend of suspicion--this time, that he is an assassin known as the Coyote. This story is much more in the thriller line than the previous, with a couple of really nail-biting sequences--especially the climax. However, the central trick is fairly easy to spot, even if you miss the specific clue that leads Kozaburo Himuro to the real villain.

I liked this book. In general, I find the artwork in Manga more exciting and generally interesting to look at than standard comic books. In addition, the stories are well-done--especially "Assassin Bob," which works well even if the reader has no idea who Bob actually is in the context of the series.

There are a couple of problems: Kurumi Ayaki is meant to be sweet and innocent--she's an ex-meter maid--but she comes across as simply dumb too much of the time. I know, it's a trope that's as old as detective fiction--even if Watson wasn't particularly dumb himself--but it gets tiresome. Then, too, it may be part of my unfamiliarity with Manga--overwrought, even hilarious, emotion in a purportedly dark thriller series may be par for the course. I'm just not used to it.

I might check out more in this series. It's all pretty disposable, but it has some promise, and being able to read from the first volume would probably make this volume more comprehensible to me.