Perman, Ojiro, and P-man are all detectives! / The F-World is full of amateur detectives ③

"Perman"
"Perman Reasons""Shogaku Gonensei/Rokunensei" January 1968 issue / Complete Works Vol. 4
"New Obake no Q-taro"
"Q-chan is a Master Detective""Shogaku Gonensei" April 1972 issue / Complete Works Vol. 3
"Chinpui"
"Eri-chan's Pacifier Master Detective""Fujiko Fujio Land" Published March 1987 / Complete Works Vol. 2

This is the third installment in a series titled "The F-World is full of amateur detectives." Despite the title, I have only introduced Doraemon, Nobita, and Suneo so far, so this time I will introduce four more at once. The previous articles are as follows.

In the "Doraemon" stories we have looked at so far, there were many patterns where the culprit turned out to be the protagonist himself, and I speculated that Fujiko F. Fujio preferred this unexpected development. The three works I will cover this time all have different themes, allowing us to see other patterns.

First, from "Perman," "Perman Reasons" (published January 1968).

It is characteristic that it begins with Mitsuo's meta-like statement at the start. Since it is the New Year's issue, he is talking about his resolutions for the new year, but it is quite unique, so I would like to excerpt it as is.

“1968, thoughts at the beginning of the year... There is a limit to relying solely on brute force as Perman has done until now. The weapon of the future is the brain! Wisdom! It should be scientific deductive reasoning! From now on, I will solve cases through deduction. Like Zenigata Heiji. Like Holmes. Like Akechi Kogoro. Even if this manga becomes boring because of that, it cannot be helped.”

Fighting with the brain instead of force... It is certainly different from the purpose of "Perman" so far, so I cannot deny the possibility that the manga will become boring, but...

Then his younger sister Ganko comes to call Perman. It seems something terrible has happened. Mitsuo, citing Sherlock Holmes, tells Ganko not to say anything and that he will guess it.

“You are Suwa Ganko, I guessed right, didn't I?”
“Obviously.”
“You don't have a job. In other words, you are unemployed.”
“I'm a kid.”
“You are a girl.”
“Is that your deduction? Shall I try? Brother, you've been reading manga since this morning, taking naps, and got scolded for snacking, right?”
“Whoa, Ganko is a genius. Tell me how you knew.”
“What you do is the same every day.”

And so, a manzai-like comedy routine takes place. I laugh every time I read this part. The word “genius” appears here too, but perhaps when a deduction hits the mark, people feel like the person is a “genius.”

Perman is called to a wealthy man's mansion regarding a case where a diamond worth 10 million yen was stolen. As expected of "Perman," the scale of the case is larger compared to detective stories in other F works. The incident just occurred, and the culprit is still nearby. He should chase them immediately, but Perman in master detective mode tries to solve it thoroughly through deduction.

The mansion's owner starts to get irritated by Perman's shallow-witted deduction, urging him to go catch the culprit quickly because he was a big man with black glasses and a beard. Perman makes a professional-sounding statement: “I wish you had told me that sooner; this is why amateurs are a pain.”

Pako and Booby, who had moved to arrest the culprit first, caught a man with the appearance the owner described, but Perman, with his shallow wit again, lets the man go, saying he is not the culprit and that he wouldn't be escaping in such a conspicuous outfit. ...but, of course, that suspicious man was the culprit.

After that, deciding that “if he sells the diamond, it will be abroad, so if we wait at the international airport, he will surely come,” they decide to stake out in front of the airport. Meanwhile, the culprit tries to sell the diamond at a jewelry store in the city, but he is suspected and cannot do so. Here too, Perman's deduction is off.

The man from earlier appears there, and because he accidentally drops the diamond, he is arrested. When Perman says he appeared there because his deduction was correct, the culprit reveals that it just so happened that his house was in the direction of the airport. Perman's deductions were completely wrong.

By the way, at the beginning of the story, Ganko was making a fuss about a case because she had lost a 10-yen coin, but it turns out the culprit was a copy robot. Perman, thinking he might as well return it, rolls the 10-yen coin under Ganko's bed and makes her look under the bed as if he had deduced its location himself.

When Ganko finds the money, she is overjoyed, saying, "As expected of Perman, I respect you!" Moreover, it was a 100-yen coin, not a 10-yen coin. Perman had mistaken the amount when he placed it under the bed.

"I'm done with deduction. Perman will go with brute force after all! Brute force!"

And so, his New Year's resolution came to an abrupt end.

Next, let's look at "Q-chan is a Master Detective" (published in April 1972) from "New Obake no Q-taro".

This one takes on a false accusation theme. It begins with Sho-chan getting excited while looking at a valuable item, a tiny micro-sticker of "Gultraman" that Kiza-o owns. When Kiza-o leaves his seat, Sho-chan lets out a big sneeze, scattering the sticker along with other stickers from the collection all over the room. He searches in a panic, but the micro-sticker is nowhere to be found. Naturally,
suspicious eyes are turned toward Sho-chan.

Q-taro, hearing about this from Sho-chan when he returns home, is furious. Declaring, "I will clear your name," he brings Kiza-o to the house and has him search Sho-chan's body and room to his heart's content. A reluctant Sho-chan is stripped naked and searched all over the room, but then, the micro-sticker turns up...This turns suspicion into certainty.

Rumors spread throughout the town that Sho-chan stole Kiza-o's sticker. However, Q-taro still defends Sho-chan.

"There's no way Sho-chan would do such a thing. Even if the population of Japan is 100 million, and 99,999,999 people suspect Sho-chan, I am the only one who will believe in him."

It is a very roundabout way of saying it, but it is a moving statement that shows the strong bond between the two.

So, who is the real culprit? Q-taro has no idea, so he decides to borrow the wisdom of Doronpa and O-Jiro. The two of them, saying "I wanted to be a master detective" and "Naruratta," transform into Kogoro Akechi and Zenigata Heiji respectively, and set out to solve the case.

In the "Perman" story introduced earlier, Mitsuo mentioned Holmes, Kogoro Akechi, and Zenigata Heiji when talking about deduction, so it seems these three are the three great detectives even for Sensei F.

The group heads to Kiza-o's house in a procession. Ignoring Kiza-o, who says, "It's fine now, the sticker was found," Akechi and Zenigata immediately begin their deduction.

First, Doronpa, disguised as Kogoro, laughs and says, The mystery is solved. The truth is actually quite simple: if Sho-chan is not the culprit, then the real culprit must have come from outside. However, the room was a locked room. The only things that can enter even when closed are drafts or ghosts... and so, the culprit is Q-taro.

Q-taro, who was pointed out as the culprit,

“Oh, is that so? Did everyone hear that? They say I’m the culprit.”
“That’s ridiculous!”

With that, the solo straight-man/funny-man routine that appeared several times in “Doraemon” is perfectly executed here as well.Fujiko-sensei is truly skilled at this kind of comedy routine.

Next,Ojiro, dressed as Zenigata,says he will reenact the sequence of events that led to the incident once more. Ojiro will disguise himself as the sticker used for the experiment. Kiza-o complains that it’s a hassle, but performs his role diligently. Sure enough, Kiza-o enters the room and steps on the sticker. He deduces that he must have carried it into Sho-chan’s room just like that. The evidence is a red thread on the back of the sticker. It was a thread that had unraveled from Kiza-o’s sock.

In the end, Ojiro’s deduction is correct, and Kiza-o ends up having to go around town advertising to restore Sho-chan’s reputation.I feel like he was the most competent amateur detective so far.

Now, finally, let’s look at “Chinpui” and“Eri-chan’s Pacifier Amateur Detective.”This is Fujiko-sensei’s final detective story, and it is a unique work that combines elements of the detective stories he has drawn so far while also featuring some strange depictions.

Eri suddenly asks Chinpui if there are any cases anywhere. It seems she was influenced by a detective novel called“Girl Detective Theresa.”The source material for this book is unclear, but it is presumed to be based on the popular American children’s mystery“Nancy Drew.”

Eri immediately acts like a detective. She starts talking about a theory she heard somewhere.

“When deducing, the first important thing is to collect data. You must never neglect to observe your surroundings on a daily basis.”

It is an extremely sound theory, but in reality, the deduction does not go well. So, Chinpui brings out detective tools instead of using science. These are the “Evidence Magnifying Glass” and the “Deduction Pacifier.”

“Evidence Magnifying Glass”works exactly like the Clue Lens in Doraemon’s “Holmes Set.” It is a magnifying glass that allows you to see only the clues to a case.“Deduction Pacifier”is positioned asa substitute for a pipe,which is an essential item for a detective. When you suck on this pacifier, the clues line up in order, and you can identify the culprit by connecting the first letters of the lined-up clues.

Eri and Chinpui call each other “Sherlock Holmes-kun” and “Watson-kun” as they head out into town. After solving a minor incident involving Sune-mi, the two set out on their next case,the Toy Car Theft Case.

Unagi Nuruo’stoy car collection has gone missing, and Naiki is being suspected as the culprit. The structure of the case is almost identical tothe false accusation case of Sho-chan in “Q-taro is an Amateur Detective.”It is a remake of a plot point after exactly 15 years.

When Naiki and the other four are playing with toy cars, there is a fire nearby, and they leave Naiki behind to go see the commotion. In the meantime, one of the important toy cars goes missing. Naturally, Naiki is the one suspected. It has even become a rumor in town. This flow is also identical to “Q-taro is an Amateur Detective.”

Eri enters Nuruo's room, searches the entire room with a magnifying glass, and discovers the keyword 'Aharuonehanu'. Then, sucking on her pacifier, she deduces that the true culprits are Nuruo, his mother, and his sister, and as a result of her inquiries, the truth of the matter is revealed.

The truth was that on his way to the fire, Nuruo unconsciously put the toy car in his pocket, Mom took it out when she sent his pants to the dry cleaners, and his sister stepped on it, got angry, and threw it out the window.

Naiki's reputation is restored by this. However, in exchange, the rumor that Eri still uses a pacifier ends up spreading.

The setting of using a pacifier instead of a pipe seems somewhat nonsensical when reading it again. It is a strange work.

Over the past three installments, we have looked at the famous detectives who appear in Fujiko F. Fujio's works. From this, we can see that F-sensei likely liked Sherlock Holmes quite a bit, and as an individual, he probably admired famous detectives, and as a creator, he likely wanted to try drawing detective stories himself.

The person being suspected ends up being the culprit is also a very common pattern. Since the real thrill of a mystery is the unexpected, it is speculated that the surprise of 'I never thought I would be the culprit...' was to F-sensei's taste.

Although they are not detective stories, there are still many more incident-based and mystery-genre works, so I would like to take them up again when the opportunity arises.