Human beings live
Human beings fall.
There is no convenient shortcut
to save human beings, except that.
(From "Discourse on Decadence" by Sakaguchi Ango)
Boston, USA
So, you're going home after all, ain't ya?
Yes
There's a man I need to see
I must see Japan's future, with my own eyes
TOKYO
<If you bang your head, you will hear the sound of civilization opening up.
Japan, liberated from the feudal world
was overflowing with an air of freedom, eager to catch up with and surpass Western civilization.>
Stop it. (horses whinnying)
My Lady. Hey. What happened?
My Lady! Please return. Let go of me!
Don't be rough with the lady.
If you have nothing to do with this, stay back!
Then... it can't be helped.
Don't fuss over me. You guys stay back.
Tomboy?
It means an unmanageable woman
Rude man!
Don't follow me. Understand?
<"This young man who returned from overseas, his name was Yuki Shinjuro.
He will later be known as Japan's Sherlock Holmes.>
Meiji Kaika: Shinjuro Tanteicho
Case 1 Murder at the Masquerade Party
Dear! Yes?
Here. - Yeah.
WIFE
There's going to be a masquerade party at the Kano household today.
Tokyo Gazette, Issue 38 Masquerade Party starts today
The rich and powerful will be disguised as Western princes,
pirates, warlords, the god of wealth, the god of arts and wisdom, and others.
What's with the masquerade party?
You're imitating western monkeys.
Isn't it nice?
Hey, you're blocking my view
I'd like to go out in this gorgeous dress.
Behind the scenes, it's all about money and greed.
This is the sign of a ruined country.
KANO GOHEI RESIDENCE
BUSINESSMAN KANO GOHEI
PRIME MINISTER KAMIZUMI YOSHIKI
That's Kamizumi-sama. Hohohoho.
The warlord costume suits you well.
Ha-ha-ha! Thanks to you, I've finally made it this far.
If we announce the establishment of the ironworks here today.
Kanda, who's working with the British,
BUSINESSMAN Kanda MASAHIKO
BRITISH AMBASSADOR SHERARD
won't be able to do anything about it.
What took you so long?
I was out for a business meeting and the rickshaw that was to pick me up got the time wrong.
Hurry up and carry the rickshaw.
SUPERINTENDENT, TOKYO METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT HAYAMI HOSHIKEN
Don't let the bastard ride.
All right.
AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE DAN PIERRE
How is Rie doing?
She'll be here soon. Tonight, she's wearing a dress
KANO GOHEI'S WIFE ATSUKO
specially tailored for Sir Dan Pierre
So you will accept my proposal of marriage?
Of course I will. My husband is eager to hear it too.
Ah.
Rie-san...
KANO RIE
She's like Venus.
Hey...
Kano-dono? Kano-dono!
What's wrong? Hey!
Oh! No!
Kano-dono! (screams)
Mistress! Ma'am!
What's the matter! Call "An".
What? I'm talking about the "An" man, Yuki Shinjuro!
Yuki Shinjuro?
FENCING INSTRUCTOR (KATSU'S DISCIPLE) IZUMIYAMA TORANOSUKE
Yes! He's a detective who's been solving a lot of difficult cases lately.
He's a detective on his way back from abroad.
I've accompanied him to the crime scene.
How smart he is... hahahaha.
Oh, I'm sorry. Of course, he can't compare to Mr. Katsu's brilliant mind, but...
Ha-ha-ha. I wish I could meet him.
(Door opening sound) Hm?
Oh no~!
Katsu-sensei! Yes.
There's a case! Whoa, whoa, whoa...
EDITOR IN CHIEF, NISHIKIE NEWSPAPER HANANOYA INGA
Kano Gohei was killed during the masquerade party.
What? I heard that the detective was called immediately.
Yeah! I can't miss this!
Ah...! Hey, hey, hey.
Excuse me.
You're here.
What is this?
I heard there was a masquerade party going on.
I see. The Superintendent is a palanquin bearer.
Ahem
Now that this man has come, he'll solve it right away.
Isn't that right, Yuki-kun.
That's the special detective from the Metropolitan Police Department...
The murder weapon has been identified. Here.
What was the situation at the time of the crime?
He suddenly collapsed in front of me, holding his chest.
At that time, there was no one near him.
When Tadokoro-san and I ran to him and picked him up,
he was already stabbed.
Oh... Kano-dono!
I can vouch for that.
There's no doubt about it.
If we assume.... It has to be a flying object.
Someone must have thrown it.
(sniffing sound)
Poison.
This knife was coated with poison.
That's my man, Shinjuro!
How did you recognize the cause of death at first glance?
You again? You and I are partners, aren't we?
My Lady.
Who killed my father?
You...
"Jajauma" (Tomboy, Unmanageable Woman)
What are you doing in a place like this?
Ah... this is Detective Yuki Shinjuro.
And I'm his partner, Izumiyama Toranosuke...
Detective? I find it hard to believe that a person like you can find the murderer.
There are many people who wanted to kill my father.
What do you mean?
My father became what he is today in a single lifetime.
Because of that, he had many enemies and many people who held grudges against him.
I'm sure there are some among you.
Is this everyone who was at the masquerade party?
No, his wife.
She collapsed from exhaustion... Who are you?
I'm Asano, the butler of this house.
The culprit must still be in here.
Can you all please stand where you were when the incident occurred?
I'm leaving! Please wait.
Please wait. You too must go back to your original place.
Who do you think I am? Whoever you are, I'm here to solve this case.
Everyone was just looking at the young lady's appearance.
Gohei...
collapsed like this, clutching his chest.
What was the angle of the knife?
I think...
Yes, that's right.
Then the direction it came from...
Nonsense! I was looking at Rie-san!
(Sherard) Wha... Me too!
As expected of Yuki Shinjuro.
No matter what I think, that businessman and the British ambassador are suspicious.
Oh, and just so you know, I was the one who noticed it first, right?
Oh, that's right. I have to go tell Katsu-sensei about this.
What do you think? Why don't you go with me?
Is that... Katsu Kaishuu?
Yes, the famous Katsu Kaishuu,
the man who accomplished the bloodless siege of Edo with the late Lord Saigo.
I'm his number one disciple who learned swordsmanship from him.
Hehe, follow me!
This is Katsu-sensei's house!
Ah! Excuse me! I'm sorry.
I've only just joined as an apprentice... - Excuse me!
No, no, no.
Aah, you've gotten wet
I'll get you something to wipe with now. - No problem.
Nice.
That's what I call a good man who's full of water.
Sensei! I've brought him.
This is Yuki Shinjuro.
Oh, so you're the one who's a famous detective.
Nice to meet you.
A knife came flying at him? Yes.
I heard there's a technique in the West to throw knives like shuriken.
I think the British ambassador, Mr. Sherard, might be a suspect.
British ambassador...
Ah, the cause of death was poisoning. Shinjuro has already found that out.
So you're a great detective with some knowledge of medicine.
A little.
The knife, the poison, it all smells like a Western crime.
No, there's no way the British would directly cross a dangerous bridge like that.
If anyone had a hand in it, it was Kanda Masahiko.
Do you know him?
Yeah. He's a big businessman now.
He made his fortune in the confusion of the Restoration.
He's willing to kill for money or greed.
What is the motive?
Hmm?
What's the reason why Kano Gohei held that masquerade party in the first place?
It's probably to unveil his new business.
New business...? Ah.
He's planning to use foreign capital to build a steel mill in Japan.
Why is that?
Even though the railways are now running from Shinbashi to Yokohama,
all the equipment is imported from abroad. Japan needs to produce its own steel.
But Japan doesn't have the initial funds.
Hmm. As expected of a great detective.
Hey, Tora. - Ah, yes.
The murdered Kano Gohei obtained funds from France.
He was trying to build a steel mill with the support of Prime Minister Ueizumi.
Kanda, on the other hand, teamed up with the British.
and was vying for the lead with a government bigwig on his side.
So the culprit is as you guessed...
Hmm... Kanda must have done it to keep Kano from getting the jump on him.
That's amazing Katsu-sensei!
You should know this already. Hahahahaha.
It wasn't me!
I didn't throw the knife! I didn't do anything like that!
Bullshit! Tell me everything!
But what I'm worried about is the current state of affairs in this country,
where people are trying to join forces
with the French and the British for their own interests.
Even the bigwigs in the government.
In the midst of all this...
If the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department suspects the British ambassador...
I have nothing to do with this!
It's going to cause a huge uproar
I'm afraid it will shake the very foundations of the current government.
Come on, come on, come on. We'll talk about such complicated matters later.
What do you mean "complicated"? This looks delicious.
Come on, you too, Detective.
So what does the detective think?
Why...
Yeah.
Why did the murder take place at that masquerade party...
So it's because he didn't want his big business to be taken away.
That Kanda guy.
He went to the trouble of risking himself in front of so many people's eyes?
Hmmm...
I see...
You're really good, Yuki Shinjuro. You had a plan...
I didn't know he studied in America.
I'd like to go there at least once too.
Oh, I'll take you there.
You're not going to say that and go alone again, are you?
You were sick in bed with a cold last time, but you said you were going to go there.
You even went to America on a ship called the Kairin Maru, didn't you!
For several months.
I came back, it's fine.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm just saying that I don't know what you're capable of!
Hey, don't do that! Hey you!
Seriously
But the resemblance is striking.
What?
That Shinjuro-san.
To you when you were young.
Huh.
FOREIGN WINES IMPORTED ART WORKS
Something strange
There's something different about him from those guys.
He's the very poster child of the Meiji era. Hmm...
Oh.
So who is the real culprit in the masquerade murder case?
Is it a big businessman or the British ambassador?
I'll buy one! I'll buy one!
SAIGOU TAKAMORI
I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
It's been a while, hasn't it?
It's the same as that time. I was waiting and Saigou-san came late.
JUST BEFORE THE EDO ATTACK
If you really want to fight a war here in Edo, we are prepared to do the same.
I have no intention of doing such a barbaric thing.
Is this true?
If there had been a war at that time, we would have been preyed upon
by the Western powers who were vigilantly targeting this country. Yes.
But... now things have become unpleasant again.
The incident, you mean?
The British may use our suspicion of the ambassador as an excuse to intervene in the government at once.
If that happens, our nation's very existence could be at stake.
The situation is just as tense as it was back then.
I understand what you are saying.
Without Saigo, there would be no victory.
(laughs)
METROPOLITAN POLICE
We've been told not to investigate the British ambassador any further!
Yes...
It's an order from the government, sir.
In return, the British will cease their protest.
This is the will of Lord Saigou himself.
What the hell? Lord Saigou!
Stop the investigation into Sherard.
But what about the case?
The culprit is Sir Kanda.
No mistake, it's Kanda.
Hey! Kanda is the culprit already . Why are we still investigating now?
Whoa...
Yes. Yesterday, when he came home, he ate some ochazuke* with pickled plums *a simple Japanese dish made by pouring green tea, dashi, or hot water over cooked rice
to prevent himself from getting drunk,
and then hurriedly changed into his costume and went to the hall.
Is the rice here? Yes, where are the pickled plums?
Here.
In this cabinet.
So, recently... has anything changed in this house?
Oh.
What is it?
Actually... the Master and the Lady... the night before last...
Are you planning to sell me to France?
Trying to make me marry a foreigner I don't even like!
The future of the Kano family is at stake!
If I succeed in establishing the ironworks, I will be a great entrepreneur in this new Meiji era!
Do you want to succeed in your own business at the expense of your daughter?
Shut up! You're making it too difficult for Rie...
These are my orders as the patriarch!
At tomorrow's masquerade party, with the new business,
I will also announce the engagement of you to Dan Pierre!
I understand.
But I don't know what I will do.
Rie-dono didn't wear the dress she had prepared,
but instead appeared as Venus, drawing everyone's attention, right?
Yes.
Does she always have such a temperament, Rie-san?
Her biological mother died early,
and she and I didn't get along very well.
When I tried to get her to meet Monsieur Dan Pierre the other day.
She got out of the carriage without permission and ran back...
Stop here!
That time...
Hmm? What is it?
Hey... hey!
By the way, this is you, right? Yes.
Isn't this family crest...
Doesn't it belong to the Yachiyo family?
Speaking of the Yachiyo family...
a former daimyo*?
*powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings.
The family died out, but my husband insisted I be the successor.
(Knock)
Go ahead.
WESTERN STYLE PAINTER TADOKORO ORINOSUKE
We'd better do this later...
No, it was Tadokoro-san, wasn't it? Yesterday, I believe, you were dressed as a Buddhist monk.
Yes.
I heard you're a painter. Ah, you painted this?
Ah, yes. He's been living in this house to teach me how to paint.
When Gohei-san collapsed, you were the first ones to arrive.
Wasn't it you and Inspector Hayami who came first? That's right.
When everyone was looking at Rie-san's Venus figure...
Ah... Hey!
Kano-san collapsed...
Kano-dono!
It's no wonder no one saw the moment the knife came flying.
If she appeared like that, everyone's eyes would be drawn to her.
Perhaps the murderer saw it coming and threw the knife.
I never thought of that person as my mother
How's that?
She showed the face of a virtuous wife to my father.
But behind the scenes, she's probably in love with Tadokoro.
She brought him into your home on the pretext that he would teach her how to paint?
Yes.
You were in a heated argument with Gohei-san the night before the incident, weren't you?
Yes. I'm not a doll.
I even decided on that Venus costume myself.
To break the engagement.
That girl might be an accomplice too, huh?
Whoa! Yeah! Hey!
She didn't want to marry the French ambassador, did she?
That's why she showed up at the masquerade party in an eye-catching outfit to communicate with Kanda, her father's enemy.
And had Kanda throw a knife at him.
Aaah! Wow.
As expected, Katsu-sensei has such keen insight, I truly admire it!
Yes.
Katsu-sensei sees Rie-dono as an accomplice.
That beauty almost stole my heart once too.
No rose without a thorn
Yeah... what is that?
A beautiful flower has a thorn.
I see.
(Doorbell)
Oh, your preparations were excellent.
You're going to get the story out of her, aren't you? Thank you for coming.
What do you want?
That woman was also a part of the Meiji era, wasn't she?
I'd like to ask you...
Who decided on your father's costume for the masquerade?
What?
Was it you?
What do you mean you've found out the truth?
Why did the murderer carry out the murder at this masquerade party?
Kano Gohei was killed by his opponent who was fighting over the new business.
What if it was to make us think that?
What?
And did the knife really fly?
What nonsense.
It fell right in front of me. There was no one there when it happened!
What if it was a set-up?
A set-up you say?
No one would doubt the Grand Inspector if he said it was so.
But to make you believe that,
what if he had worked alongside Kano Gohei as his palanquin-pushing partner?
What the hell?
At that time, there was another person beside him.
Tadokoro-san.
Grand Inspector Hayami and Kano Gohei carried the palanquin.
And then Rie appeared, and while everyone was looking at her.
Gohei collapsed.
And then you ran up to him and pretended to pick him up, and you thrust a knife into his chest.
Kano-dono!
Do you mean...
Why did Gohei collapse before the knife went in?
It's because of the poison.
Poison?
Gohei had already been poisoned before the masquerade party started.
To hide it, the knife was also poisoned.
Then the culprit is...
No, the real culprit is someone else.
This is the pickled plum that Gohei ate with his chazuke before the masquerade party.
Before an important dinner, to prevent drunkenness.
This is the pickled plum he ate with chazuke before the masquerade party.
Oh... oh...
So, the poison was in the pickled plums?
Someone who could do that without being suspected by the maids in the kitchen.
And that person delayed the time for the rickshaw to pick Gohei up.
To get him to eat the pickled plums just before the masquerade party started.
How can you do such a thing...
Now then, this girl...
Can you eat this?
No way...
That's... that's enough.
Sister.
Your sister?
Tadokoro-san is Atsuko-san's younger brother.
You're the heir to the Yachiyo family, the former daimyo, right, Tokumaru-sama?
Eh?
He was thought to have died in the Battle of Boshin, but he was actually alive.
Isn't that so?
So, the culprits in this case are...
The wife and her brother?
The deciding factor was... who decided to dress up as Gohei this time.
Is it you?
My father and that person.
And that person is Atsuko?
Yes.
Why? Why my father?
What's so bad about that? What?
That man put me behind him because he wanted the title that came with the daughter of a feudal lord.
I was just a tool to make himself look bigger and expand his business.
Why are you neglecting (your duties)?
That's why I was never treated like a human being.
And that ridiculous masquerade party.
The people who rose to power, and the people from Satsuma and Choshu,
replaced the Tokugawa shoguns as the government's top officials.
What civilization tolerates this type of festive racket!
The Meiji Civilization is just a lie!
Because of this, we, the Yachiyo family, have fallen.
My father, my mother, and all my retainers did not die in that battle!
That man will die at the much-vaunted masquerade party.
The world will be in an uproar...!
This is an example to this world.
Hahahahahaha... What could be so funny?
Hahahahahahaha...! Ahahahahahaha...
Ugh...
Sister!
Did you take the poison? Sister!
The Meiji era... I hope it collapses...
Sister...
Sister!
Ugh... sister!
Stop! Ugh!
There's no need for you to die too.
(whimpering)
Falling is not the end.
(whimpering)
Sister...
The small word "ultio" written in the corner of this picture means "revenge" in Latin.
Revenge...
And that's when I realized it.
The horrible woman who killed my father...
But for some reason, I don't feel like hating her.
Is the Meiji Civilization a lie?
Ugh...
(cough)
Hey, is this all you have? That's not much luggage.
Ah.
I didn't know that the great detective was going to stay at my place.
I asked him if he wanted to play chess with me, and he came easily.
But it's not anyone's fault
You saw it for yourself
The one who solved the case was Shinjuro-san. He's indeed a great detective.
There are things you can't understand unless you go to the scene.
You're being such a sore loser again.
In general, such an ill-advised search for the culprit.
I didn't expect you to be right from the start.
Hey, hey, hey. That's enough.
That's the end of this case.
"Ah, well, hoi, hoi, hoi.
(playing the Shamisen)
"The shamisen of the departing ship..."
"Absent minded tending of the field..."
She's the best geisha in Fukagawa, isn't she?
She's as good as they come. She's worthy to be my partner.
Do you like solving riddles?
You might be able to see it. - See it?
Does the Meiji era drown its people?
Hmm?
Or... can it save them?
Checkmate.
Hm?
Ah!
Hey... wait a minute, you. Hey, this is a little...
I'm beaten.
<This young man seems to have some secrets.
My intuition as a woman ...>
CASE 2 RICKSHAW OF THE REAPER
NEXT EPISODE
The Reaper's rickshaw...
(screams)
Something Strange... People are fooled by what they see...
Ouch.