January 7, 2022

This is an abridged adaptation of Ranpo Edogawa's juvenile novels 怪人二十面相 (The Fiend with Twenty Faces) and 少年探偵団 (The Boys Detective Club). I have not yet read the original works (which are free on Aozora Bunko) but suspect this adaptation, like others in the series, pares the stories down to just the main plot points to keep it short and simple enough for young children to grasp.

The concessions made for young readers make this book pretty readable for foreign language learners: the gigantic font, the furigana, the modernized vocabulary, the frequent footnotes to explain old-fashioned terms, and illustrations and diagrams of key plot points. Sentences are occasionally a bit long, but with patience can be pulled apart and made sense of.

Despite the heavy abridgement, I enjoyed the stories a great deal — it has exciting scenes, likable characters, and a memorable villain. I'd recommend this to anyone at upper N4 level with an interest in detective stories.

Gradings:23
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easier than星の王子さまL26
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harder than猫暮らしのゲーマーさん 1L20
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on January 7, 2022
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