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About three years ago I spotted this book in a bookstore. The classic Japanese illustration on the cover jumped out at me as I walked past it. I bought it right then, but for some reason it’s taken me until just recently to finish reading it. It’s not that it isn’t interesting; I just kept getting distracted with other things.
Shinju is a historical mystery novel by Laura Joh Rowland. It’s based in Japan during the late 1600s, and follows the story of a police detective named Sano Ichiro as he investigates what appears to be a double suicide. He believes that the supposed lovers were actually murdered, and investigation soon produces evidence that this is true. In his pursuit of truth and justice, Ichiro faces many challenges that a modern detective would not encounter due to cultural restrictions and standards of propriety of the day. In the end, he discovers that the murders were just a small part of an intricate conspiracy with the ultimate aim of assassinating the shogun and starting a revolution.
Ichiro makes an interesting protagonist. He’s not just a detective but also a samurai, a man raised with martial training and a strong sense of duty. As a samurai, Ichiro is a man of action and a capable swordsman. His sense of duty is both a cause for inner conflict and a strong motivator for him. At first he almost determines to cease his investigations when his immediate superiors frown on his efforts. However, while his duty to them demands that he obey, he feels an even stronger duty to the pursuit of justice. Eventually he finds fulfillment when he discovers that his perseverance means the protection of the shogun, the highest lord to whom he owes his allegiance.
In reading this book I also learned some interesting things about ancient Japanese culture. When Ichiro wanted an autopsy of the dead man to determine the true cause of his death, he had to pursue it in secret because of the cultural taboo against cutting on dead bodies. One of the evidences against the original assumption that the two victims were lovers who had committed suicide together was the fact that the man was a known homosexual, and such a practice was socially accepted in Japan that long ago. It was also interesting to learn that the class distinctions of the day would allow a samurai to kill a commoner with little penalty, but murder of a samurai could result in execution. It was also interesting to learn about the arrangements imposed on the Japanese noblemen by the shogun in order to control them. All of the great landowners were required to maintain a luxurious estate in the capitol in addition to their estates on their own land. They were also required to keep their families there in the capitol. This meant that if they attempted to rebel the shogun could hold their families hostage and seize their properties in the city.
Overall, it was a very interesting read. Ichiro was an intelligent man, a skilled warrior, and a man of some character. The plot remained interesting from beginning to end, with the stakes gradually rising as the investigation progressed so that the excitement continued to mount.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to absorb most material with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from Shinju.
Cultural Elements in Setting: The setting of historical Japan contributed a lot to the conflicts and complications of this story. It might be fun to play a game set in this period. I’ve never played a game where the setting gave much attention to cultural quirks and class distinctions. This story demonstrated that such elements can be powerful elements for bringing characters to life.
Mystery: I’ve played a couple of games where mystery was an element of the plot. In the game InSpectres, the player characters solve mysteries, but the solution to the mystery is provided by the players themselves. In the game Dogs in the Vineyard, the player characters have to investigate the goings-on of each town they visit, but the focus is less on solving mysteries and more on finding solutions to complex moral dilemmas. A game where the player characters investigate a mystery with the simple goal of discovering who-done-it and bringing that person to justice could be an interesting experience, though it would require careful attention from the GM to create a believable mystery with just the right amount of clues so that it is neither too easy to solve nor impossible to overcome.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is an anime series about an eccentric and hyper-active high school girl who is bored with her life and the world. While Haruhi is the central character in the plot, the story is told from the perspective of Kyon, one of her classmates. The anime is an adaptation of a series of Japanese novels. The first six episodes of the show adapt the story of the first book, while the next seven episodes adapt random chapters of later novels, and the final episode is an original story written specifically for the anime.
The story begins with the beginning of a new school-year. When Haruhi has the opportunity to introduce herself to the class, she flatly declares: “I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, from East Junior High. First off, I'm not interested in ordinary people. But, if any of you are aliens, time-travelers, or espers, please come see me. That is all!”
Haruhi quickly imposes her forceful personality on Kyon, a rather easily overshadowed guy, and draws him into her wacky antics and her search for the mysterious and abnormal. Together they form a school club called the SOS Brigade with a mission statement of: “Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade” They quickly build the cast of supporting characters by enlisting three more students into their club: a quiet, brainy girl who seems to do little but read, a meek girl who Haruhi bullies into cosplay hijinks, and a ‘mysterious’ transfer student with a carefree attitude.
Gradually, Kyon discovers that Yuki, the brainy girl, is in fact a “humanoid interface,” or an artificial human, created by an extraterrestrial supercomputer in order to interact with organic life-forms. Mikuru, the meek cosplayer, soon reveals to Kyon that she is actually a time-traveler from the future. And finally, Itsuki, the easy-going transfer student, shows Kyon that he is actually an esper, a human gifted with psionic powers. All three of them have been assigned by their various agencies to observe Haruhi whom they each believe is critically important for various reasons. Yuki says that Haruhi’s existence produces contradictory data in the universe, Mikuru says that Haruhi disrupts the time stream, and Itsuki claims that Haruhi may be more than human, and that the entire universe may exist in its present state because of her. Haruhi remains, and must remain, unaware of her importance, and Kyon must now help the other three prevent one crisis after another, as Haruhi’s reality-changing powers threaten to destroy the world if left unchecked.
Now, when I first began watching this anime, I knew nothing about the novels it was based on, or about the plotline in general. All I knew was that it featured a young, spunky female lead. Any of you should know by now that those kinds of characters appeal to me (witness Ahsoka Tano, Rosetta Passel, Rani Dashel). Haruhi doesn’t quite shine as bright as she could in this way, however, because she pushes the paradigm just a bit too far, to the point of obnoxiousness. She does soften up a bit in the latter part of the series, but I would have liked to see her do so just a bit more, and maybe form some more obvious attachments with the supporting characters.
Likewise, I was pleasantly surprised by the wacky sci-fi elements, but was a little disappointed by the way that, after the first six episodes, the show abandons any over-arching plot and simply becomes “what crazy story can we tell this time?”. Also, the series lacks a satisfying conclusion, though supposedly there is a second season in the works.
However, after doing a little more research and learning about the show’s origins, I can understand why the show turned out somewhat dissatisfying. I think they would have done better to fill the second half of the show by completely adapting another one of the books instead of grabbing random stories from the rest of the series. I think I might be interested in getting the complete story from the novels if there is an English translation.
As far as production values go, it’s a newer anime from a good studio, so overall the art, music, etc. was very nice but not ground breaking. Some of the writing was hilarious, especially some of Kyon’s internal narrations. The Japanese voice-acting was good, but I didn’t listen to the English dubs, so I can’t say anything about them. The show featured some perverted humor/fan-service, but it wasn’t a pervasive element, and only appeared periodically.
Roleplaying
Because of my obsession with roleplaying games, I tend to watch most movies and shows with an eye for what I could take from it and apply to gaming. Here are some ideas from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Non-serious Sci-Fi: I’ve only ever explored this once in RPGs with the game InSpectres. This show definitely has fun with its mix-match of sci-fi tropes, and I think running a sci-fi game that’s loose and zany could be fun.
A Supporting Character's Narration: I think it’s interesting how this show is obviously about Haruhi even though it’s narrated by her friend Kyon. This might be challenging to set up, but I think it could be interesting to play a game where the player characters are the supporting cast through whom the life of the main character is explored. This goes against the grain of RPGs in general, where the PCs are supposed to be the stars of the show. It also threatens to leave the players feeling bored and disaffected. If it could be pulled off it would require a central NPC character with a really dynamic personality that could capture the players’ interest and affection, and the PCs would have to be allowed to have an important impact on the story even as supporting characters. Perhaps the central character could even be a sort of “communal” PC that the players share, while they each also have their own side character.