Jukkakukan no Satsujin
The Decagon House Murders

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The Decagon House Murders:
An introduction to Honkaku Mystery

When Agatha Christie’s famous novel “And then there were none” came out it spawned a new kind of genre based on the popular whodunnit story.

This is the Honkaku Mystery, as I learnt reading this manga, a subgenre of mystery that focuses on fair play.

Characters were stuck all together in one place with no way of escape, and one by one they all died. So by logic the murdered was amongst them and the characters needed to find out who was the one that was murdering them all.

In Japan, the novel of the Decagon House Murders saved ... the mystery genre. It came out in a time when no one was interested anymore in mystery books and created a novel that followed the works of Christie, Poe and the likes, with a an emphasis on you, the reader, trying to figure piece after piece who was the murderer behind the killings. The genre also uses intense psychological and dramatic elements that fit well with the Japanese style of telling a story, especially a mystery story.

So you can assume what this manga is about. It is in fact based on a novel, a very notorious novel as well. The inspiration for this story comes from of course “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie.

A group of university students, take a trip on an island, to—you guessed it, a decagon house. There, a series of murders start taking place and one after another the characters die. Now they have to figure out who is the one that’s doing all this.

Of course, this isn’t an innovative story, but for the true mystery fans of the genre, this is a must read. The drawings are gorgeous, the characters are memorable, and there is a lesson to be learnt from this story, that isn’t just about the killer.

Personally, I wanted to enjoy it more, because I had guessed way too many things that became true way too early in the story. Unfortunately you finish the manga that you don’t get all the answers leaving you with a lot of questions. I’ve read that the novel does a good job with this part, so if you are curious in looking into it more, I highly recommend you check it.

I did not read the original novel, I only read the manga. From the manga, as a detective story “The Decagon House Murders” is quite average. Nothing outstanding, but nothing too bad either. The story starts with way too many characters at once, it was hard to track who is who at first. The characters had an alias and real name only added to the confusion. The characters became more clearly defined later. The story is similar to Agatha Christie’s “And then there were none”. If you liked "And then there were none", then you might like this one. Of course, there is ... a twist at the end, but I sort of guessed it. As a manga, the art is good. For me, it just feels like an average detective story after all.

I adored Decagon House. Yes, it takes some leeways here and there, but not enough to be troubling. Decagon House is an interesting twist on one of my favorite books (and old mystery movies), Ten Little Indians, written by the one of the greatest mystery writers of all time, Agatha Christie. There's also a nice homage to Sherlock Holmes with some Holmes & Watson moments. Seven college friends and lovers of mysteries arrive on a supposedly deserted island only to find themselves being picked off one by one. Who is the culprit? Will they figure it out before the last of them is ... killed? The idea and thought of it is nerve wracking.

The story is solid. There are no extra characters meaning there isn't anyone in the story that doesn't give you some kind of information to help you make a decision. Because it is a manga there are clues in the panels that the reader may not pay attention to. I dare say, 99% of the readers ignored it. I had the question in my head and moved right passed it just as the writer probably intended. Personally I think the story is woven extremely well, especially given the length. Almost everything you need to figure it out completely is right there. Actually, I almost had it. I had the murderer from the start, but not the why. That little tidbit remained a mystery until the end. Sherlock's usual. Basically, the writer took a Christie mystery and had Sherlock Holmes solve it. Hercule Poirot was busy.

Reading it took no time. It was like binging an anime or reading a book you can't put down. If you're a mystery fan, especially of the old guard mysteries of the early to mid 1900s and/or the subsequent b&w movies that were made based on them, I think you'll enjoy Decagon House.

SPOILERS BELOW!! & Disclaimer: I didn't read the novel before reading the manga!

TL;DR: the decagon murder house is a class locked room murder story an interesting read that had a fair amount of legitimately good and compelling twists. there were some aspects of the characters, plot and twists that just werent THAT convincing and i felt slowed the momentum of the story. overall is was an easy, fun and thrilling read for what it's worth. if youve read books like "and then there were none" by agatha christi or books like that, then youll like this.

SYNOPSIS: K university has a mystery novel club consisting of ... students from all walks of life who share a love of true crime and mystery books. the club decides to take a group trip to an off shore island that is also the home of a mysterious quadruple murder-suicide of a well known architect, his wife, and 3 employees. the club stays at another property (previously owned by said architect) and events quickly take a turn for the worst as ominous plates appear in the house labeled "victim 1 - victim 5, murderer, and detective". soon after, the club members start dying one by one and its a race against the clock to try and identify the killer before there is no one left.

ART (9/10): the art is amazing. every character had their own unique look that was easily identifiable and it looked like the mangaka put a lot of thought into the art direction of each character. the scenery was beautifully done also. the illustrations really helped set the scenes in the best way. some of the deaths of the club members are a bit violent but props to them for not making them super over the top gory; with the death scenes, the mangaka made their point and then let the plot do the rest of the heavy lifting. there was no real need to have "Saw" levels of gore.

CHARACTERS (5/10): im not too sure if the novel does a better job with this but i felt like a lot of the characters were half baked in the manga. determining which of the "main" characters got some level of back story flushed out seemed completely arbitrary. there is an argument to be made that if a couple of club members were simply deleted from the manga version that it would impact the general plot very little. i felt like every "main" character outside of orzcy and ellery needed waaaay more context. without it, it made their motivations, and there connections to each other so much more 1 dimensional and less impactful (ill get to this more in the story and spoilers section).

STORY (7/10): the story overall is solid. its a locked room murder story and it executes that well. the story had some depth with the context given from some of the character backstories and there were so twists that were surprising in a good way! i felt like while the story was tense and a bit heavy at times that it was paced well enough where i didnt feel bored or confused by what was happening. there were portions of the story that i did question but i believe that goes back to what did (or didnt) happen with the characters backstory. i felt like there were a lot of missing context, especially in the middle of the story because characters were flushed out so we are working on a lot of assumptions. for examples: the ellery vs. carr dynamic was confusing, the agatha & orzcy duo seemed superficial and unconvincing, the van & chiori duo was a revelation for the last volume, and the conan & shimuda duo seemed rushed and unrealistic. had there been more time to really unpack these characters, i think the story would be more air tight and more convincing.

OVERALL (7/10): the manga isnt awful. it did have me on the edge of my seat at times and there was a fair amount of twists that kept me hooked & engaged with the story. there was just enough gore to get the point across and everything was very visually interesting. i wish there was more of a deep dive into the characters and their relationships with each other to truly understand their motives and intentions but for what this was it isnt offense.