Login
 
Not a member? Register now!
Announcements
Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter! Check out our new tumblr page. :)
Manga News: Toriko has come to an end; but be sure to swing by and share your favourite moments from the series!
Manhwa & Manhua News: Check out the new Manhwa and Manhua shout-out (March 2016).
Event News: One Piece Awardshas concluded. Check the results Here!

New Series Introduction and Review - Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku

+ posted by ProGoddess in Site News on Oct 27, 2016 03:05
New Series Introduction and Review - Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku - written by ProGoddess


Japanese Title: Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku 掟上今日子の備忘録

English Title: The Memorandum of Kyouko Okitegami

Author: Nishio Ishin (西尾維新)

Artist: Asami You (浅見よう)


New Series Introduction

Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku is a recent manga released in 2015, published by Kodansha in Gekkan Shounen Magazine. The series is written by Nishio Ishin and illustrated by Asami You. It was originally written by Nishio Shin as a mystery light novel in 2014 and was subsequently adapted to a manga series in August 2015 and a live-action TV series in October 2015.


Synopsis

Okitegami Kyouko (掟上今日子), also known as “Detective-Forget” (or “Forgetful Detective”), is a famous detective where her memories will get reset when she sleeps. When she wakes up, she will forget whatever that has happened the previous day, including the people she has met and events that have happened before. Due to her memory lost, being a detective, she has to solve her cases within a single day before her bedtime which she adheres to at 9pm everyday.

In view of the unusual phenomenon with her memory lost issue, she becomes someone who can and will keep secrets of her clients in the cases she is involved in. However she does write messages for important things on her body with a special pen. One of the things she has written is her personal details like her name, age, occupation and the agency she works in. She also writes the cases she is currently involved in or hired to solve. One of her regular clients is Kakushidate Yakusuke, a man who is often wrongly suspected of committing crimes by people around him. Kyouko and Yakusuke appear to have an unusual relationship as Kyouko is often hired by Yakusuke whom she has no memory of every time they meet. To Kyouko who loses her memories everyday after she wakes up, Yakusuke is always someone she has met the first time. But to Yakusuke, he feels very strange whenever that happens. As their paths cross frequently, what will happen to them? What is Kyouko’s past and her memory lost problem? How will the story of two people develops as they work together to clear Yakusuke’s wrongly accusation of crimes?


Characters of the Series

Okitegami Kyouko (掟上今日子)

Okitegami Kyouko is the main female character. She is 25 years old, has a petite body build with a whole head of natural white hair and wears black glasses. She owns Okitegami Detective Agency and is a detective-on-hire.

Kyouko has an unusual bodily phenomenon where she loses her memories whenever she falls asleep. Her loss of memories is termed as a “reset.” However she has the habit of writing down important data on her body – hands, legs and stomach – with a special black pen to help her to ‘remember” who she is and what cases she is solving or new cases that she has accepted.

Kyouko is also a good negotiator when it comes to a deal to discuss the payment of a case with her clients. She often accepts cases which are highly private and confidential where she becomes the best person to keep her clients’ secret due to her memory-lost phenomenon. Her clients usually expect her to solve the cases within a single day. She will then demand for payment which she thinks that is equivalent to her deduction ability in return in solving the cases. Her clients often accept the deal.

Despite her amnesia problem, Kyouko maintains her memories of past things. Thus she is familiar with those things prior to the time she becomes a detective. However she is not familiar with the latest advanced technologies and is often fascinated over them.

Her current identity appears to be “granted” by someone whom she is unknown of. In her home, she has a message written by a ‘someone” on the ceiling that says, “You are Okitegami Kyouko from today onward and you will be a detective and live on.”


Kakushidate Yakusuke (隱館厄介)

Kakushidate Yakusuke is the series’ main male character. He is 25 years old with a height of 190cm. He is a lot taller than Kyouko who is very petite. He is often accused of wrong-doings when he was young. As a result, he often has to seek various assistance in helping to clear his name and Kyouko is one of them.

Due to his unfortunate encounter which he is often the target of crimes that he did not commit, he could not stay on a job permanently but has to change jobs all the time. Whenever he is entangled with a case, he often hires Kyouko to solve the crime for him which she always succeeds in clearing his name. Their client-detective relationship gradually becomes more frequent as Yakusuke takes a liking of Kyouko and hires her frequently. But the latter does not remember him since she loses her memories whenever she falls asleep and when she wakes up again, she has already forgotten who Yakusuke is.

Yakusuke often has a strange feeling whenever Kyouko greets him as if it is their first time meeting each other. He usually goes along with her without saying anything about their past.


My Afterthoughts on Debut Chapter

After reading the first chapter, I was so amazed with the story. It is a mystery story which revolves an unusual “client-detective” relationship of a regular client, Yakusuke, who always hires Kyouko to solve the crimes he often being wrongly accused.

In the beginning chapter, the story starts with a case where Yakusuke was accused of stealing important data of his company he works in. He then hires Kyouko to help to clear his name.

I find the story very unusual and unique in the sense that the two main characters who know and yet not know each other, and their relationship starts to form from one who hires and the other being hired to solve crimes. The series appears to have a lot of potential to develop into a good story. Since the manga is adapted from the light novel, it ultimately follows the plot taken from the novel. The author, Nishio Shin, who writes the story is also the writer for another light novel - Death Note Another One: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, which is a prequel to the manga, Death Note.

For those who enjoy detective and mystery stories, you probably may find this series interesting. Besides the serious connotation of solving crimes, the story also includes a mysterious relationship between the two main characters – one being the detective who cannot remember her client, while the other frequently seeks help from the detective to solve the crime he does not commit, and his feelings for her starts to grow over time and yet feels the sense of helplessness when the detective cannot recall who he is.

The debut chapter has an overview of the client-detective relationship and how the crime is being solved. As the story is so intriguing to me, that I have decided to write the entire introduction and a review to present to you.

I hope you will like it and perhaps you may like to pick up this series and enjoy it together with me. There are a total of six chapters released thus far and it's an on-going series. Chapters are also translated in English. Please do share your comments and thoughts in the "series thread" after reading – I’d love to know how you feel about the story and all of us can discuss about it.


Review

Okitegami Kyouko no Bibouroku – Case #1

“Case: Kakushidate Yakusuke”


Kakushidate Yakusuke has always been a target for accusation for any crimes that happen around him. When he was in school, someone reported that he lost his lunch money and immediately the entire classmates and teacher looked at him. Poor Yakusuke! Every time something was missing in school, everyone would suspect him though he was innocent. He did not receive any support and was always blamed for all the wrong doings. Even after he has grown up, the same thing continues to happen to him.

He is currently working in Emii Kouro’s Laboratory and in order to protect himself from being blamed of stealing important data from the company, he has decided to hire Okitegami Kyouko, a detective who heads the Okitegami* Detective Agency.


* Okitegami – the name of the agency is wtitten as 置手纸, which is a note or letter used to leave messages to someone when you are going away or bidding farewell.


Kyouko is a young detective of 25 years of age. She has natural white hair and wears black glasses. She is very petite in height and has an innocent and simple look. She is also known as “Forgetful Detective” due to her unusual phenomenon of memories loss whenever she falls asleep. Due to this reason, her memories are always reset after her sleep and she wakes up without remembering what has happened prior to her sleep.

Kyouko and Yakusuke have met each other two years ago and at that time, Kyouko has already lost her ability to keep her memory. Upon seeing Kyouko again, Yakusuke gets overly excited in their meeting as he has always hired her to solve cases for him. However the detective, due to her amnesia problem, is unable to recall who he is and will treat him as if they have just met. It is quite ironic and painful for him whenever she greets him.

The job for the detective in this case involving Kyouko finding the SD card which contains important data of Emii Laboratory. At the same time, the chief of the company, Emii Kouro, wants to catch the culprit who steals it so as to avoid the data from leaking outside, especially to the competitors. He also doesn’t want the traitor to be working in their midst.

The team of research besides Emii Kouro being the Laboratory Chief, it has Yurine, the Vice Chief, Honda and Gifube, the two Research Assistants and Yakusuke, the Assistant.

As Kyouko is hired by Yakusuke, if he is the criminal, the detective may not get paid since she is hired to clear his name. However in order to receive payment for her service, she re-proposes that since the loss of SD card - which is also the loss of important data - is deliberately committed by one of the staff, then the company should be responsible for the service fee paid to her to find the lost information irregardless of who the culprit is. While finding the card, she will also be able find the criminal. Obviously it does seem logical in her theory and the Chief accepts the deal. The only issue is that the information is highly confidential and the company is afraid of it being leaked out to outsiders, including the detective who is hired. However Kyouko reassures them that she does not bring along a smartphone or camera, and neither can she remember anything that is seen and said on this day which by tomorrow, they will all be forgotten. Furthermore, she will not even remember any one of the staff whom she has met by the next day.

Kyouko’s unique physical phenomenon appears to be an advantage to her when it comes to anything that is private and confidential, in which any information will not be retained and no possible of leakage. Therefore there is no risk to her clients who hire her. However she will need to solve the case within a day before she turns in for the night. With the same token, she is unable to take in long-term cases. But as long as she solves the case within a single day, she can take on any cases including those which are highly confidential. Though it may be beneficial to her clients, however on the other hand, it puts her in a vulnerable state of scandal attack.

Kyouko seems to have a unique way of persuading her clients to agree with her. Due to the sensitivity nature of the case, the Chief does not want to risk letting the culprit out of the premises and as such, Kyouko suggests that she can conduct a body check to make sure that the staff aren’t hiding any information on them. The suggestion probably fits into the Chief’s motive to check his staff and he accepts Kyouko’s proposal.

Yakusuke has been working for the company for about two month and his job involves data organising, tea making, clearing of trash and other menial chores. Emii Laboratory is a company that involves the study of motion pictures and visual effects. The chief, Emii’s main interest is in the study of stereopsis and aims to invent a way to view 3D pictures without wearing glasses. If the research data is leaked, their competitors may grab hold of opportunity to release it first and the company’s loss can result in several hundred million yen. Moreover the hard work that every staff put into will go to waste.

Kyouko adopts a unique way of interrogation. When she reaches the last person to interview, she asks Yakusuke who is the least suspicious person that subsequently places him in a difficult position in deciding who to point to since if he rules out the least suspicious people, he will eventually get the conclusion of who the culprit is. In that aspect, he struggles with his decision as he feels bad in hurting any of his colleagues.

Internally, the company’s two Research Assistants, Honda and Gifube, are rivals. Though Honda has been working longer than Gifube, their Vice-Chief , Yurine, appreciates Gifube more than Honda. Furthermore, Honda and Gifube are always having varying opinion which results in arguments all the time.

After a thorough search, the SD card is still not found. People may tend to hide things that they can be easily found by themselves, or mix them with other things. This is like hiding a tree in a forest. But at the end, it appears that the effort of searching is in vain. However Kyouko seems to know where the card is, but she does not know who the culprit is and she intends to unveil the criminal so as to clear Yakusuke’s name.

Kyouko is quite a good observer, in which she can tell what kind of character her client is. She finds him to be kind and trustworthy, and decides to trust him. Since almost all clients lie, in her pre-assumption, she has determined that Yakusuke is honest and sincere, and will not lie to her. Her kind words and understanding in turn, makes Yakusuke feels happy as he has never experience such joy of being trusted by someone – not the people around him, nor his parents.

“Never mess with a pro!” Kyouko’s coffee was tampered – someone drugs her and she falls asleep during the investigation! Interestingly, she has all sort of writings on her body – arms, legs and stomach – to tell her who she is, what she is working on and she has even written details of her client and if she can trust him. Wow! That is quite a surprise. I didn’t see this part coming. When did she write about Yakusuke? Surely, anyone can see that she is very well-prepared and her body is the best place to store her data like how we work with our computers to back-up data that are important to us.

Going back to the root of someone tampering the investigation, the culprit obviously knows how Kyouko’s memories work and secretly sneaks in sedative in her coffee. However, the saying that “when you mess with a pro, you will get ten-folds retribution back” in which it will turn around and return the favour – punishment. It’s definitely an unspoken rule in any mystery case: Never lay hands on the detective. Therefore, the execution begins!

Kyouko resumes the investigation with the help of Yakusuke. Though she has forgotten who the staff are and where the SD card is, no one seems to notice it except Yakusuke, of course. Despite a company doing research on stereopsis, human beings seem to merely see things according to what they wish to see, through rose-coloured glasses which they usually maintain an optimistic view or perception.

An unusual conclusion of the location of the SD card, it surprises everyone even Yakusuke as he knows that Kyouko is lying when she says she knows where the SD card is. She even top up her lie with another lie by saying that she lied about knowing where the SD was earlier and had confirmed where it was. That’s kinda a brilliant white lie I must say.

With the declaration of the SD card location, the Chief being the most concerned person in the company starts to query if the card is safe. Kyouko gives a very intelligent answer. If by safe means that the data is not leaked, then it is indeed safe. However, the data itself is not safe at all. It is in the hot-water pot and is continuously boiling inside it. That answer gives everyone a shocking surprise and immediately Kyouko commands everyone to freeze and she points out the culprit.

What a brilliant idea! Gifube is found to be the one who steal the SD card. Kyouko seems to be a honest detective, however in view of the exceptional circumstances – where the culprit attacked the detective - that she has to resort to traps and tactic to catch him/her.

When Kyouko faultily declares that the SD card is in the water pot, the culprit gets panic and starts to check if the one she is hiding is safe. For this reason, Kyouko is able to pinpoint it on Gifube since she is checking her drawers while everyone else is looking at the pot with shock.

“The best place to hide a tree is the forest” - this saying is as good as it seems. Kyouko is clever enough to deduce that back up data can be deleted and be placed with other data in order to keep the original data undiscovered as a form of disguise. However if it is reversed, that is to add other data first and then delete the back up data, the deleted data can be retrieved back using “data recovery software.” Even if the SD card may look empty, but there will still be remnants of data that is left behind. As long as no other data is stored to overwrite it, the existing data will remain inside the card.

Kyouko seems to feel upset when people try to manipulate her memories. It’s true that if her memory is lost, it can never be able to retrieve back. Truly, what kind of life would that be without memories of everyday life? How did she survive till now, without remembering anyone? The good thing for her is that her client, Yakusuke, is a honest person, who also admires her. Therefore, he keeps hiring her to help him solve cases. It is like a fortunate thing that he is always accused for committing crime and for him to meet Kyouko often. However it is also unfortunate of him to be accused every time when things go wrong. So, which is which for him? :eyeroll

As much as Gifube has a pure motive of wishing her mother who is losing her eye sight to be able to view 3D images, she has attempted to steal an important data of the company she works in to give to a larger research company. She also wants her mother who is important to her to be able to see the fruit of her research before she can’t do so anymore. It is clear that larger company will have much more resources such as funding to support the research and it may eventually expedite the research process to its completion. However it is still considered a wrong-doing by stealing and giving away confidential data to its company's competitor despite it being a kind intention.

With Kyouko bidding farewell to Yakusuke, the strange and “mystical” investigation comes to a conclusion. The couple’s encounter will continue in another time – at least Kyouko is able to predict it. Moreover the writings of Yakusuke is still in her stomach.


A great series that keeps my eyes open for hours writing pages after pages of review cum intro. I would rate it as 8/10 for such a wonderful story and the great illustration. I’m beginning to admire the authors for their excellent writing skill, and nice and simple artwork.


I hereby present to you the first chapter with introduction and review for your reading pleasure. :^_^

Hope you will enjoy!

Have you shown your appreciation today? Click the thanks button or write your appreciation below!

0 members and 5 guests have thanked ProGoddess for this news
Comments
No comments have been made yet!

About the Author:

Alias: ProGoddess
Rank:
Registered: Aug 16, 2010
Message: PM |

Author's Contributions

Forum Posts: 2648

Latest Translations

Date Manga Ch Lang Translator
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 130 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 129 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 128 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 127 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 126 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 125 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 124 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 123 tr McMaster68
Dec 8, 2023 Hitoribocchi no... 122 tr McMaster68
Dec 3, 2023 D.Gray-Man 249 fr Erinyes

Latest Releases

Date Manga Ch Lang Uploader
Apr 14 MH Yearbook 2019 Mangahe...
Feb 15 MH Yearbook 2018 Mangahe...
Mar 1 MH Yearbook 2013 Mangahe...
Jan 19 MH Yearbook 2012 Mangahe...
Nov 14 Houkago 1 Osso
Nov 14 Oragamura 1 Osso
Nov 14 Kenka 1 Osso
Nov 14 101Kg 1 Osso
Nov 14 Murder 1 Osso
Nov 14 Doubles 1 Osso