Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Notes on Text and Translations
Introduction: The Lost Generation and the Revival of the Boy Detective
1. Tracking the Boy Detective from Novel to Manga: Context, Criticism and Debates
2. Tracking the Boy Detective in Three Manga Traditions
3. The Rebel Boy Detective
4. The Ideal Boy Detective
5. The Criminal Boy Detective
6. The Future of Boy Detectives
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

Explores the revival of the boy detective archetype in three commercially successful manga published between the 1990s to the early 2000s as a response to the crisis of youth culture in Japan’s so-called 'lost decade'.

About the Author

Mimi Okabe is an award-winning instructor and is currently a clinical assistant professor in the Asian Studies program at SUNY Buffalo, USA. She has published several papers in international journals as well as book chapters on Japanese media and culture.

Reviews

A thrillingly accessible read that will delight both fans of its subject matter, as well as those coming to it through a passing interest in Japan in general, or detective fiction as a wider oeuvre.
*The Japan Society Review*

With a keen eye for details, Dr. Okabe expertly investigates iconic boy sleuths of manga, revealing how they entertain and inspire us and teach us about storytelling techniques and social issues.
*Alisa Freedman, Professor, University of Oregon, USA*

Set in the era of the “wild child of the 1990s” that gripped the Japanese imagination, Mimi Okabe’s well-researched and engaging book Manga, Murder and Mystery weaves together cultural and social theory to explore the phenomenon of boy detectives in the manga Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo and Meitantei Konan. Building on scholarship of the history of Japanese detective fiction in both English and Japanese, the book focuses on the history and development of the boy detective created by Edogawa Rampo and Tezuka Osamu and others before focusing on the 1990s manga series. These boy detectives model good behavior and a love of justice that stands in contrast to the image of wild and lawless youth of the lost generation characterized by its antithesis the manga Death Note. Okabe’s book is a welcome and significant contribution to the scholarship on Japanese youth culture and particularly of boy’s culture of the Heisei Era.
*Amanda C. Seaman, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA*

Anyone wanting to learn more about the twin cultural creations of Japan's manga and anime would be well advised to study Manga, Murder, and Mystery. Dr. Okabe's work has added greatly to the literature in unique fashion and is highly recommended reading. But perhaps even more important, it serves to enlighten and educate all readers while continuing the tradition of keeping green the Master's memory in Japanese culture.
*Sherlock Holmes Journal*