Banana

The world building and the characters were great, the plot a bit cliche but it served its purposed. Unfortunately is the beginning of a long wait for the second book.

Another super old Japanese crime fiction, it has a lot of the staple/cliches of Japanese crime fiction, but was this the pioneer of them all?

As a story it was quite enjoyable and the ending was pretty fun to read, the prose felt a bit sterile and to the point to me.

One issue I had was that given that this is a period piece, some parts was a bit confusing as I lacked some of the knowledge of like old japanese building structures and building parts to really paint the full picture of what was being described.

It was pretty fun read, saw it at a bookstore, bought it and finished it on the ride home from the bookstore. You can definitely feel how he influenced the current landscape of Japanese Detective Novels, If I didn't know that Rampo was from the 1920s, I would have mistakenly believed he was influenced by current authors like Keigo Higashino. The plot points can be a bit cliche by current standards but I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it given how short it was.

Strong start, intriguing premise, interesting take on immortality

Epilogue of the book ruins any emotional gravitas of the ending

A little slice of life story about 3 sisters coming back together to support each other in times of needs. It felt like watching a movie where the plot itself doesn't matter and is all about how the characters go through life. Outside of the great cast of characters, you also get the exploration on what it means to be a half japanese person leaving in japan, and their treatment of people who stand out in such a homogenous society.