And for the second week, Chapter 1.1
And now the mystery will start in earnest !
I quite like the abundance of architectural details about the manor itself. I find it funny because it reminds me so much, though on a larger scale, of western cabinets of curiosities. With the exact same feeling of mismatched styles. I honestly can’t picture at the same time the Scottish castles of Hamlet with the french-style gardens of Lenôtre, and english garden style pavements ! I wonder what japanese readers make of that. On the whole, the outside of the manor doesn’t look to frightening…
…which of course changes right by the time our protagonists enter the manor. I still can’t decide wether Mass-Acre is very clever or the worst pun I’ve ever read. and all the paintings look very ominous. On the whole, the setting is right for a horror story…
As for the switch of japanese armor parts, I guess it will be important later, but I didn’t quite know what to make of it, except for the fact that some malevolent presence is haunting the manor
More cabinet of curiosities vibes once they enter the murder room; on the whole, this is very much a classical gothic setting…
And finally, our (first ?) victim, the poor Grete Danneberg. Complete with suspicious marks (could there be something of a family curse, what with the crest being used to mark here) and an eerie otherwordly glow !
I really liked that set-up. The dynamic between our three main characters is already firmly established, 法水 as Sherlock Holmes, 支倉 as Watson, 熊城 as Lestrade. And this is shaping up somewhere between a classical mystery and a ghost story of sorts. I wonder how much of a role the manor itself will have, since its architecture and interior design is so detailed. Somehow it feels like the manor might be a character of sorts. The lore-dump felt less like a dump, and more like a natural explanation (though that might change later). On the whole, what did you all think ?
