[Letting Go of Being Right] "The Harmfulness of the Great Detective" by Kazuki Sakuraba | A Quiet Will to Face One's Mistakes

Summary

"The Harmfulness of the Great Detective" by Kazuki Sakuraba
What if the ideal image of a "great detective" cast a shadow over someone's life? This is a work that poses such a quiet question through the journey of a middle-aged man and woman. The themes of re-examining justice, responsibility, and one's own past linger gently in the heart.

There are three points that left a particularly strong impression:
1. The way it does not end the question of "Was the great detective harmful?" with a simple affirmation or denial
2. The way it carefully depicts the shift in values from the consumption of heroes in the Heisei era to the denunciation of the Reiwa era
3. The process by which the two let go of the conviction that "we must have been right" and update their past

Rather than presenting a flashy answer, this is a book that gently offers the courage to admit that "I might have been wrong" and the quiet will to move forward anyway. After finishing it, you will find yourself reflecting on your own past.
#TheHarmfulnessOfTheGreatDetective #KazukiSakuraba #FinishedReading

Impressions

"The Harmfulness of the Great Detective" by Kazuki Sakuraba

What if the ideal image of a "great detective" cast a shadow over someone's life? Kazuki Sakuraba's "The Harmfulness of the Great Detective" is a work that poses such a quiet question through the journey of a middle-aged man and woman. While borrowing the framework of a mystery, its essence lies in "justice," "responsibility," and "re-examining one's life in middle age."

About thirty years ago, Japan had an era of "great detectives." When difficult cases occurred, they would appear beyond the scope of the police and the media, solve the mysteries with logic alone, and then leave. Among them, the top-class great detectives known as the "Four Heavenly Kings" enlivened television and magazines and were celebrated as the heroes of the era. One of them was Fuu Gokotaki. Accompanying him as his assistant was Yuurei Narumiya.

More than twenty years have passed since then, and now it is the Reiwa era. Yuurei, who has reached the age of fifty, runs a small coffee shop called "Oedipus" with her husband in Kameido, Tokyo, living a very ordinary daily life. Suddenly, Fuu appears. At the same time, a video titled "Exposing the Harmfulness of the Great Detective" begins to be distributed on a popular YouTube channel, and Fuu is singled out. Triggered by the words of the accuser who says, "My life was stolen by the great detective," the two set out on a journey to re-examine the cases they once thought they had solved.

While this story borrows the framework of a mystery, it is woven in a tone that is somewhat warm, occasionally humorous, and cherishes a quiet lingering effect.

The most interesting part of the work is that it does not end the question of "Was the great detective harmful?" with a simple affirmation or denial. On the surface, it depicts the composition of a hero image created by the media and the subsequent "denunciation." During the Heisei era, the great detective was consumed as a symbol of extra-legal justice, and now in the Reiwa era, past actions are taken out of context on the internet and become the target of criticism. The work carefully tracks how this rapid shift in values affects individual lives. Was the action Fuu took really correct? Were the case books written by Yuurei convincing to everyone involved? Such concrete questions emerge repeatedly during the journey.
Against the backdrop of these changing times, the story connects to even deeper internal themes. The perspective of "updating one's past" was particularly impressive. At the time, it was taken for granted that women were assistants to men, and there was an atmosphere where even if they raised their voices, they would not be taken seriously. Therefore, the combination of the two great detectives was transformed into "the great detective and the assistant," and the two accepted it. As a result, they were unable to say what they should have said to each other. As I read the process of the two gradually letting go of the conviction that "we must have been right" while continuing their journey, I myself remembered things I "could not say" in the past. The pain of letting go of being right and the quiet will to move forward anyway overlapped, and my chest felt a little tight. Not completely denying my past self, but living while acknowledging my mistakes—I felt that this attitude quietly illuminated my own way of living.

"The Harmfulness of the Great Detective" is a story about a middle-aged man and woman re-examining their lives while borrowing the form of a detective novel. It handles themes such as "justice," "responsibility," and "how to face one's past self" carefully and without being pushy. What remains after reading is not a flashy catharsis, but a gentle lingering effect and a sense of quietly reflecting on one's own way of life.

It is not a work that presents a flashy answer. However, it is a book that gently offers the courage to admit that "I might have been wrong" and the quiet will to move forward anyway. After finishing it, you will find yourself reflecting on your own past. "Was I really right at that time?"—such a quiet question remains in a corner of daily life.
#TheHarmfulnessOfTheGreatDetective #KazukiSakuraba #FinishedReading #BookReview #Mystery #ReadingRecord #RecommendedBooks #RedefiningLife

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▶︎ [Novel Impressions] The moment when that daily life is reversed, and the lingering effect woven by words

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