@terrence said in Meitantei no Jouken (Requirements for a Crack Detective) [迷探偵の条件]:

(I think "Conditions for a 'Crack' Detective" may be what they're going for with the English on the cover? Referencing the conditions of the curse. Other places listing it as "Conditions of a Lost Detective", which is what MTL spits out for the title).

It seems to be a pun. 迷探偵 is read "meitantei," same as 名探偵 ("Great Detective") but 迷 means lost or foolish.

"Crack" is... maybe an okay translation here? A crack commando gives me the impression of an elite soldier, while a crack doctor is a fraud.

(I have no opinion on the series itself, I'm just here for the pun.)

Cover illustration for volume 3, released November 2nd

alt text

Tsukumodo Antique Shop's first few volumes was a novel I read alongside Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, back when I still new to light novels.

So, imagine this scenario: there's someone new to light novels, and those two novels were the very first ones he read. At the time (and to this point), he likes one as much as the other. Years later, I still have difficulty finding novels that can rival the writings of those novels. From the top of my head, I can only name probably novels like Biblia Koshodou or works by Sugaru Miaki that can rival them.

Now of course, as a random anonymous person, my opinions hold little to no importance. But I do hope my point comes across, point beingTsukumodo Kottouten is an excellent novel.

It has unfortunately not been licensed, so there is no official translation. Digging around a bit, it looks like there are fan translations for several of the volumes online, but I don't think that we're allowed to post links to that sort of thing here.

Bump.

It's been a long time, I figured it may be worth revisiting to gauge if interest has changed at all.

To avoid adding nothing new, here is a quick summary and review quoted directly from this Reddit post made around the same time as my original post here.

Broken Keel(折れた竜骨) 2011 Weekly Bunchun Mystery Award 2nd. 2012 Japanese Authentic Mystery Novel Award 1st. 2012 This mystery is awesome Award 2nd. 2012 I want to read Mysteries Award 1st. 2011 Japanese Authentic Mystery Grand Award final candidate.

Intro: This is the late 12th Century, the age of crusade, but with magic real and everywhere. Amina Aylwin always dreams world past the Solon isles, which is very remote, only reached by sailing the North Sea for three days from London. But as the daughter of the Laurent Aylwin, lord of the isles, that seems impossible. One day, her father gathers mercenaries and soldiers, saying the long-forgotten Immortal-Cursed Danes will invade the island. After just that, Sir Falk Fitzone of the Order of the St. Ambrosius Hospitaller Brotherhood and his page Nicola arrives at Solon isles. They warn about the Assassination Knights, renegade templars who studied Hashashin's assassination magics. One of the, Edric, has crept into the isles and plotting the murder of the Lord Laurent. A day later, Laurent is found dead at his operation room. Sir Fitzone announces the use of the forced creed, a magic that forces its victim to kill the designated target...

Review: My favorite book. I really wishes it could be turned into anime. Yonezawa successfully merges fantasy, medieval history, and classical mystery all together. The main characters and suspects are all iconic, memorable, and has hidden depth, plus acts like real medieval persons, not some modern person thrown in 12th Century.. Doubly enjoyable if you know the medieval history well(and triply if you enjoy the Assassins Creed series! - Templar, Hashashins, "Creed") The mystery element of this novel is very well planned, but its twist being rather predictable. The fantasy part features a giant robot, undead horde, german witchcraft while staying realistic. Also liked the novel's theme: "Using logic and reason to purge the restraints(symbolized by magic)". Has been adapted into manga by Famitsu.

I’d be interested in reading this.

@theredjet yeah that makes sense, well we just have to buy more LN so that one day Sam is rich enough to throw some money at Fate ^^

Really appreciate if it licensed...

Just started watching the anime, and it become immediately obvious that the original material was a novel. Went looking to find out if I could buy and read it somewhere, but to no avail. As such I would love for J-novel to get the English novel rights!

I‘ve read the manga adaption of this novel on German and I sooo want to know how the story continues. It would be great if the novel got licensed!

@terrence That's actually a pretty good idea.

I’ve read a a little bit of the manga, and it made me very curious about the series. I would love to read the novel.