The flashback may be over, but Rampo is still center stage as the action of the present day resumes. This is partly because Kunikida, the usual leader, is in jail, unfairly charged with the death of the little girl who blew herself up. He seems to have more or less given up, a totally fair reaction to the trauma he suffered, but Rampo has no intention of letting him wallow in prison and self-loathing. And since he’s already in trouble with Fukuzawa, why not keep pushing the envelope?
This episode, Kunikida aside, is a mystery lover’s fever dream. It stars three of the genre’s luminaries: Edgar Allen Poe (genre creator), Edogawa Rampo (father of Japanese mystery fiction), and Mushitaro Oguri, a Golden Age stalwart. If you are at all familiar with Oguri’s works, you’ll know that one of his books is called Perfect…
