Zaregoto Series
Zaregoto

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First off let me start by saying that this is series of light novel author Nisio Isin (Bakemonogatari, Katanagatari and Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases). There are are a total of nine novels but only the first two have been translated and licensed by Del Rey with no plans for future release.

The story is a murder mystery that takes place on a isolated island. The protagonist "Ii-chan" and his friend computer genius Tomo Kunagisa are invited to the island by the it's wealthy owner who has invited female geniuses from all over the world for her own entertainment. ... One of the guests is found murder in a "locked room" scenario and the story unfolds...

If you do not like mystery novels don't worry I don't either. Personally, I thought the story was the the weakest element, but it entirely makes up for it with the main character "Ii-chan."

The story is told from his perspective. His thought and actions strongly resemble the main character in the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus or possibly the main character from Onani Master Kurosawa except less malicious. The main character is very indifferent of the world around him. He is the kind of person that makes you think "What the hell is wrong with him."

People must have caught on that the series is great because I bought the first book back in 2010 when the second novel came out for about $5 new. Now it sells on amazon for about $50 used. I would still recommend it even for that price you will not be disappointed.

No spoilers.

The first book's concept is very similar to a standard mystery novel, and is executed very well. It just allows you to work things out enough that you can piece together clues and figure out flaws within character logic. However, it will be impossible for you to work out what actually happens unless you are an ace detective.

The main character- Ii-chan plays the role of Watson in the novel. He isn't really solving the mystery completely and is only filling in gaps in what actually happens. This of course means the reader is also left unaware of what is truly going on ... until the very end, where the character that has been foreshadowed all along to be an ace detective finally shows up and results in some great interaction between the main character and them.

The cast of characters is absolutely great, each have their own nuances and are clearly defined in a short space of time. One of my favourites is the mind reader character. She has some of the best interaction with the main character and sets up the second novel. Pretty much all the interactions between her and Ii-chan is a build up and foreshadows the events of the next book and the rest of the series.

It's a murder mystery that's well executed, I can't describe it due to spoilers though.

The second book is where is picks up immensely. Ii-chan's character is so clearly defined here that he no longer becomes a viewpoint for the reader but an unreliable narrator for the story. The characters that are introduced in this book are very interesting, and 2 of them are actually quite strange complex characters on the inside but aren't elaborated on for reasons.

The the second book is better than the first and slowly bridges the way out of the mystery novel genre and into something new in the third book.

I highly recommend this series. Currently 2 books have been published in the west and the rest are being fan translated.

Zaregoto is a messy series. Even in more modern works, NisiOisiN isn’t the best at narrative construction - leaning more towards characterisation through extensive and intricate monologues - and so in such an early series of his it’s perhaps only to be expected that it’d be at the very least a bit confused. Let’s take it arc by arc for context because a lot of its flaws only come out when examined chronologically rather than retrospectively.

Kubikiri Cycle (Volume 1) was a good mystery story, but only decent setup for the series. It has a lot of good dialogue and the mystery was well put together ... (though I did solve it hehe), but in retrospect it maybe could’ve set up more than it does. It’s clear now that Isin didn’t have a comprehensive plan for the overall story, and as such each arc is more cohesive within itself than as an entry in Zaregoto.

Kubishime Romanticist (Volume 2) was really good, though a little overrated. As far as Ii-chan setup goes it does everything that V1 doesn’t, establishing so much about his unreliability as a narrator and his various character flaws (and personal mischaracterisations). Not only that but the story is pretty damn good in this one too, and the mystery is really solid too (though again I did largely solve it, other than the X/Y thing because that’s dependent on Japanese I think?).

Kubitsuri High School (Volume 3) was… quite bad. It progresses Ii-chan’s character nicely (his character is the only constantly good thing in the series) but the story is uninteresting, the dialogue is uninteresting; everything about it just makes me yell that I don’t care at all.

Psycho Logical (Volumes 4 & 5) were GREAT and I hate how underrated they are. The most compelling storyline in the series, some of the best dialogue (Utsurigi Gaisuke’s convos), some of the coolest Ii-chan characterisation; just all round great to read.

Cannibal Magic (Volume 6) was the best arc. The chapter wherein Ii-chan discovers Hime-chan is easily the coolest chapter in the series; the turning point of his character, a surprising yet inevitable story beat mixed with some beautiful and moving monologising. And the rest of the arc is almost as good, the discourse surrounding Kuchiha is awesome and Izumu is really great. And of course it introduces Mr Fox in a really exciting and intriguing way.

Nekosogi Radical (Volume 7-9) is where it gets the messiest BY FAR. Thus far, each arc has introduced some vaguely related but mostly disconnected ideas and characters, and this arc’s job is to introduce ten times more still and then tie them all to everything up to this point. Now while I do believe it eventually achieves this in V9, before that V7&8 make an absolute dog’s breakfast of it, and fixing it afterwards doesn’t undo that. In theory I LOVE the ideas of found family this arc plays with, the ideas of the chaotic powers of fate, the ideas of bonding through opposition, the ideas of the ‘end of the world’; of closure and despair and dissatisfaction and how it all describes the unchanging yet ephemeral nature of life and its struggles; but for such a long time it makes SUCH a boring story. No, I didn’t know where it was going in V7&8, and frankly it didn’t do a good job of making me care.

Kunagisa and Aikawa had a confusing thematic role and it couldn’t decide what the end of the world really symbolised and there were TOO MANY DAMN CHARACTERS popping out of nowhere and introducing their long-ass Japanese names and the story went every which direction. But as I said, Volume 9 fixed it all (with one exception imo). It explained what Kunagisa meant to Ii, what Magokoro is to Ii and Aikawa to Magokoro and to Ii and what Ii is to Fox and Fox to Ii and Zerozaki to Ii; their dynamics surrounding their various struggles with confronting life are intricate and well written, and I know because Zaregoto SPELLS IT ALL OUT for me in excruciating explicitness; it can only be too vague or too obvious, nothing in between. Regardless, the theme writing all makes sense in the end and I genuinely loved most of Volume 9, especially the last 2 chapters. My 1 exception is that I HATE the trope they used by resurrecting Kunagisa. Like I get that it still works symbolically as Ii moving on from her perfectionism and whatnot, but it’s CHEAP and shallow and would’ve worked better if he’d done a found family type thing with that also. It’s not the worst thing ever but it bothers me, especially as Kunagisa is already a character who I don’t think stands on her own, only being interesting as an aspect of Ii.

Ultimately I think it stuck the landing, Zaregoto, but it remains a thoroughly flawed series to me, emblematic of so many of Isin’s shortcomings as a writer (and a person, did he really have to have Ii GROOM a 14 year old in this LN? Like, she legitimately develops a dependency on him by the end, this is actual child grooming). Regardless, I do see why some value this as one of their favourites, even though it doesn’t quite hit like that for me. Still miles better than Medaka Box after all