Zaregoto Series

An earnestly honest guy who doesn’t even grant pipe dreams to himself, physiologically incapable of letting a single contradiction go, in other words me, got dragged this June to a renowned academy for rich girls, no questions allowed, by the world’s strongest contractor. No matter how you put it, no matter how you spin it, there was probably no point to it. Because the case that arose there was, in and of itself, a bit of nonsense.

When NISIOISIN, Japan’s bestselling novelist, writes a murder mystery, it won’t be like anything you’ve ever read before. Now in a new English translation!

Whether you’re already a fan of Japanese phenom NISIOISIN, or a mystery reader looking for something unusual and compelling, don’t wait to get your hands around STRANGULATION: Kubishime Romanticist. This follow-up to Decapitation, and the second part of NISIOISIN’s debut Zaregoto series, presents a puzzling murder mystery that tells the story in the voice of a narrator who’s trying his hardest to stay out of the action.

Now that he’s a cool college student, our anti-hero Iichan thinks his crime-solving days are behind him. Cynical, sarcastic and minimally engaged in his studies, Iichan is much more interested in his own feelings of disaffection and isolation. But despite his resolve to remain aloof, he’s pulled into the narrative when he encounters and bonds with a serial killer named Hitoshi Zerozaki – a homicidal maniac with the soul of an artist whose talent is on display at the grisly scenes of his crimes.

Written by Japan’s prolific and top-selling author NISIOISIN, STRANGULATION: Kubishime Romanticist blends a tale of suspense and detection with an edgy eploration of the nature of talent, violence, and ego. This Vertical edition features a revised translation and new art by acclaimed illustrator take.

A dropout from an elite Houston-based program for teens is on a visit to a private island. Its mistress, virtually marooned there, surrounds herself with geniuses, especially of the young and female kind—one of whom ends up headless one fine morning.

The top-selling novelist year by year in his native Japan, prolific palindromic phenomenon NISIOISIN made his debut when he was only twenty with this Mephisto Award winner, a whoduni and locked-room mystery at once old-school and eye-opening. Previously published stateside by Del Rey, the translation has been retitled and revised just in time for the long-requested animated series based on illustrator take’s character concepts.