Recap / The Kindaichi Case Files Opera House The Third Murder

"Opera House: The Third Murder" is the second feature case in the New Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.

Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Kenmochi, along with several others, reach Uta Island, where the opera house hotel they already visited twice in the past is slated to be torn down. The initial plan is for a group of thespians to perform The Phantom of the Opera once more inside the theater in the building as the final tribute to the recently-deceased director Kurosawa, but members within the troupe start dying one by one before the planned performance can premier.

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Tropes include:

• Accidental Murder: Zigzagged. As Eiji detailed in the notebook he left behind, the troupe members were the ones who started the fire at the training camp due to playing with fireworks indoors while drunk that resulted in a fire that raged out of control and claimed three lives and would have killed the culprit as well had Eiji not gone back inside the burning building to look for survivors. While those deaths were accidental, the troupe members begged and pleaded with Eiji to keep quiet about the truth behind the fire, inquiring him to wait until one more performance was done for them to confess each time he brought it up, until they eventually resorted to tricking Eiji into drinking something that was laced with sleeping drug before abandoning him in a thick forest at Mt. Fuji with no way to contact anyone else, intending to leave him to die in the forest to pass his death off as suicide in case anyone found him.
• All Just a Dream: The sequence showing Kenmochi in a body bag turns out to be a nightmare of Kindaichi's.
• Ambiguous Situation: The final fate of the architect behind the construction of the opera house hotel and its adjacent structures, including the theater and the labyrinthine underground passageway, is not entirely clear. While there's no doubt he's a Posthumous Character simply because he lived long before anyone in the present-day murder cases was even born, what happened to him after he finished these constructions has no conclusive evidence beyond his personal diary that is available for all visitors to the place to read detailing his desire to observe others underneath the theater unnoticed as The Hermit. Based on the lack of any traces of a dead body anywhere in these constructions, both well-known and secret, and no sign of him becoming a Death Seeker, Kindaichi surmises that he might have eventually left the island to live out the rest of his time elsewhere.
• An Arm and a Leg: The second victim's severed hand is found inside the tower, shortly before the dead body — sans the severed hand — is discovered on a path between the tower and the hotel.
• Apocalyptic Log: The notebook Eiji left behind in his dying moment details the full truth behind the fire that left him scarred for life and the trick that the troupe members who would become victims in the present-day serial murder case played on him before abandoning him and leaving him to his death. This was part of the motive for the culprit's murders.
• Badass in Distress: Kenmochi, a police officer with Charles Atlas Superpower who's also skilled in martial arts, gets ambushed and knocked out while investigating the tower alone early in the case arc and disappears for some time before Kindaichi explores an underground passageway later on, where he finds Kenmochi, disheveled and hungry but otherwise unharmed.
• Big "SHUT UP!": After the first victim dies from Falling Chandelier of Doom and a member of the troupe's subsequent Faint in Shock, two other members of the troupe argue against each other, with one of them snapping at Kenmochi when he tries to speak, which results in Kenmochi bellowing to get the criminal investigation started.
  Kenmochi: ALL OF YOU, BE QUIET!
• Breaking Old Trends: In the previous two Opera House murders, the culprits were likened to Eric, the titular Phantom of the Opera, having been driven to murder by the loss of their respective 'Christines'. This time around, the culprit is likened to Christine, having committed the murders to avenge the death of Eiji, who is the one in this case likened to the Phantom - right down to letting the culprit go so she could pursue her dreams. Also, unlike the previous two serial murders in Uta Island, no one gets hanged in this case.
• Bus Crash: Director Kurosawa, who was among the participants in the previous two murder mystery cases involving the opera house hotel, is presumed dead by the time this case arc starts, as Kenmochi discloses to Miyuki and Kindaichi.
  Miyuki: It was really shocking to hear that owner Kurosawa passed away and that they're going to demolish the opera house building.
  Kenmochi: They said he had an accident and fell with his car into the sea. Even though they found his car, his body has yet to resurface from the sea. He's presumed to be dead, and the case was treated as an accident.
  Kindaichi: Was there any reason for it, Uncle?
  Kenmochi: [shakes his head] Some people said that it was a suicide, but we found no notes or anything along those lines.
• Career-Ending Injury: Eiji Kiryu was a promising actor due to his spectacular acting prowess and his Tall, Dark, and Handsome physique, but the fire at the training camp for thespians caused his face to be badly burned, leaving behind scars that lasted through the rest of his life and ended any hope for future acting gigs.
• Catapult Nightmare: Miyuki comes to Kindaichi at one point mentioning Kenmochi's name with a distressed expression, and Kindaichi runs to the theater, discovering Kenmochi in a body bag with his face covered. Kindaichi frantically checks his body for any sign of vitality, and the body suddenly reaches out a hand that grabs Kindaichi by the throat and rises, with the face cover falling off and revealing a masked face like that of the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. Then Kindaichi wakes up screaming, realizing the whole incident was All Just a Dream after all.
• Continuity Nod: The previous two visits to the opera house hotel and their respective murder mystery cases are mentioned in this case arc. Even the title includes "the third murder" to allude to this fact.
• Death by Looking Up: Zigzagged. The first victim looks up to the ceiling inside the theater in a rehearsal for The Phantom of the Opera, just in time to see the Falling Chandelier of Doom coming down to kill on impact. When Kindaichi demonstrates the trick for said Falling Chandelier of Doom during Summation Gathering, he has the mystery story reporter stand where the first victim stood, and the reporter looks up to find... the Phantom's mask falling into his hands.
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: The culprit confesses to have overheard the troupe members mocking Eiji for his face burns and saying he had started the fire in the training camp during their interview with journalists shortly after reading the contents of the notebook Eiji wrote in his final moments and left behind, after which the script of the serial murder plot was written in the culprit's mind.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: The culprit kills the first target by manipulating the wiring that holds the chandelier weighing 200 kg^note (about 450 lbs) in the theater to make it fall onto the victim while said victim is on the stage.
• Graceful Loser: The mystery story reporter concedes defeat to Kindaichi regarding their investigative deduction competition as the case arc is ending, understandably disgruntled though he is, especially since the culprit had designated him as an Unwitting Pawn to help plant the illusion of an outsider being possibly the killer.
  I suppose it's your victory, Kindaichi. In the end, I was invited here as just a side character for the Phantom... and I played my part to perfection! I really am such a clown!
• Growling Gut: Kenmochi's stomach growls due to hunger soon after Kindaichi finds him. It's not surprising, since Kenmochi had no food for an entire day after being knocked out and locked up at the time of Kindaichi's discovery.
• He Knows Too Much: Implied. Based on the contents in Eiji's notebook, they resorted to tricking him into drinking something that was laced with sleeping drug before leaving him to die alone in a thick forest after he insisted that they confessed to the truth about the fire they started before he would agree to their request of leaving the culprit so that they could ride on the culprit's success.
• The Hermit: As the mystery story reporter, whose grandfather was the previous owner of the opera house hotel, discloses, the man who built the hotel and sold it to the reporter's grandfather later on was very reclusive and always wore a mask over his face. It turns out he also built an underground passageway leading to a hidden room below the theater where he could observe the people above without being noticed.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The culprit confesses to have been saved by Eiji in the fire that resulted in his scars that all but ended his acting career, his One Last Job as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera notwithstanding.
• Homage Derailment: This case arc has a lot of borrowed elements from The Phantom of the Opera, though some are played with in making the plot-line a Fair-Play Whodunnit that this case arc is.
• It's Probably Nothing: While everyone is inside the theater for rehearsal, Kenmochi tries to reassure Kindaichi this way while Kindaichi is still stewing over the candles that go out in an untimely fashion by saying "it was probably just the wind".
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After Kindaichi saves the culprit from the latter's suicide attempt, Kindaichi argues that Eiji might have left even without the troupe members' interference in order to allow the culprit to continue to fulfill their dream while he remained on the sideline as the culprit's own "Phantom"/"invisible audience".
• The Lost Lenore: Eiji was the culprit's beloved, and the discovery of the truth behind the fire that gave him his career-ending scars and his subsequent disappearance and presumed death, both of which were the troupe members' doing (accidentally in the former and deliberately in the latter) is a major factor in the culprit resorting to murder.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Eiji was actually the son of both director Kurosawa and the proprietress of the opera house hotel back when they were together, though the proprietress never revealed it until near the end of the case arc, long after Eiji had already passed away.
• Man on Fire: As revealed in the culprit's own confession, the culprit saw a dying fellow aspiring actor being thoroughly immolated before collapsing while they were trapped in the fire engulfing the actors' training camp building, which served to illustrate just how badly the fire had spread by that point.
• My Card: The mystery story reporter's introductory scene includes him handing out his business card to Kindaichi.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: As the notebook contents written by Eiji detail, he wanted the troupe members to confess to the police about the Accidental Murder they caused for starting the training camp fire in their drunken stupor, but always backed down when they pleaded to him for wait until the upcoming acting gig concluded. The tipping point came when they wanted him to leave the culprit behind so the culprit could continue acting work with them piggy-backing on the culprit's success, as they had been getting more semi-prominent roles themselves after teaming up with the culprit. Eiji agreed to leave on condition that they fessed up to the police and left a note of farewell to the culprit urging the latter to go back to theatrical work... only to get tricked into being abandoned in a thick forest with no way to contact anyone else before dying of exhaustion due to starvation and dehydration.
• One Last Job: The director among the participants in this case arc discloses that he had contacted Eiji after he was defaced from the fire-induced burns for one more acting gig: as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. It was the last time he would get to act, and both of them knew it.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During dinnertime on the first night of arrival, Kindaichi and Miyuki join the director to view the nearby tower that has candles being lit inside, before the candles suddenly go out one by one, which the director notes as odd, as they usually stay lit until 2 to 3 A.M. As Kindaichi reveals in The Summation late in the case arc, the culprit employed a trick to make them go off remotely to facilitate the illusion of "the Phantom" stalking about.
• Posthumous Character: Three in this case arc, and they're all relevant. None of them has ever been found dead, though it's established that they couldn't have survived their respective circumstances.
  • Director Kurosawa overlaps this trope with Bus Crash, as his disappearance and presumed death happened after the second opera house murder case, at which time he was still alive and well. The scheduled performance of The Phantom of the Opera was intended to be the final tribute to him before it got derailed into a serial murder case.
  • Eiji Kiryu combines this trope with The Lost Lenore, as the truth of the events leading to his disappearance and presumed death helps to push the culprit into murdering those who were responsible for his demise.
  • The architect who built the opera house hotel lived long before any of the participants in the present-day murder case even existed, so no one doubts he has since deceased in the present time. While his structures have contributed to the murder cases occurring on the island housing said structures, there's no trace of his body being discovered anywhere within, including the labyrinthine secret passageway. As the result, Kindaichi chalks the builder's final fate up to Ambiguous Situation, believing that he eventually left the island in secret to live out the rest of his life elsewhere.
• Pyromaniac: One member among the troupe claims to Kindaichi and Miyuki in their brief conversation that he finds comfort in seeing something burning while placing wood into the fireplace.
• Sequel Hook: This case arc concludes with Akechi informing Kenmochi — and Kindaichi by extension as well since he's with Kenmochi — that Takato had recently managed to escape from prison.
  Kenmochi: Kindaichi, I don't want to think about it, but maybe you'll have to fight him in another case.
• Smoking Is Cool: The mystery story reporter is a handsome twenty-eight-year-old man who smokes cigarettes.
• Spanner in the Works: Kindaichi reveals in The Summation that he stumbles upon a battery (literally, as he trips and falls over it) before the culprit, who dropped it not long ago, could retake it. Said battery ends up providing the decisive physical evidence to back up Kindaichi's claim about who the real culprit in this case arc is, which means Kindaichi himself unwittingly derailed the culprit's claim of innocence.
• Spiders Are Scary: When one person opens the drawer where the keys to various rooms after two people are murdered, including the theater, are stored, some tarantulas are found within the drawer, causing everyone there to react in panic before Kindaichi tosses the pouch with the keys and a tarantula inside the burning fireplace via a tong. After three people have fallen victim to murder, the hotel owner's daughter finds a different spider on a chair, resulting in her, Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Kenmochi all freaking out as a result before another participant arrives and tells them that the spider this time is non-venomous. This ends up being plot-relevant, because Kindaichi mentions during Summation Gathering that the culprit utilized the tarantulas in a psychological trick to induce a Locked Room Mystery, turning Kindaichi into an Unwitting Pawn in the process.
• Stalker with a Crush: After two troupe members have fallen victim to murder, an actor who used to belong in the same troupe but has since left discloses to Kindaichi when he inquires that Eiji used to show up as an audience member in every stage performance the culprit would star in, always donning a masked disguise, much the same way the Phantom follows Christine in her performances in The Phantom of the Opera. Then this gets played with near the end when the culprit confesses to have always sent a ticket to each and every theatrical performance the culprit would star in in the hope that Eiji would show up to watch the show, which he always did.
  Kindaichi: So, then, the one who would always invite Eiji Kiryu to your plays...
  Culprit: Yes, that was me.
• Stepford Smiler: The culprit puts on the pretense of happiness at a scheduled press conference after reading through Eiji's notebook, keeping up a sweet and wholesome appearance while harboring thoughts of making those who are responsible for his presumed death pay with their own lives.
• Suspect Existence Failure: As the murder case is still ongoing, all evidence points at one particular person, and thus that person is locked inside the opera house with the key on constant watch, only to be found murdered the next day. It turns out to be a trap deliberately set up by the real killer to create this locked-room situation.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Eiji is — or, rather, was — a Japanese example, being a tall Japanese guy with dark hair and a good-looking face, until he was no longer handsome after he suffered the severe burns to his face that left scars lasting through the rest of his life.
• Trail of Blood: There is one that ends at a secret door that leads to the hidden floor beneath the audience seats and the underground passageway, the latter of which Kindaichi finds Kenmochi within. As Kindaichi reveals in The Summation, the culprit left the blood trail on purpose after murdering the third victim.
• Unwitting Pawn: During Summation Gathering, Kindaichi reveals that the culprit had manipulated two people into advancing the murder plot.
  • The mystery story reporter, having been given a fake invitation form, is one, as the culprit needed someone with some inside knowledge with the builder of the opera house hotel and the theater to divulge such information in order to get others conditioned into believing that the murderer is someone else hiding within the buildings instead of among those who have just arrived.
  • While the murders were ongoing, the sight of tarantulas in the drawer where the keys to the rooms were stored caused everyone present to freak out since Spiders Are Scary before Kindaichi tossed the pouch with the keys and a tarantula inside the burning fireplace via a tong. Kindaichi reveals in The Summation that he was fooled into doing the culprit's bidding without realizing it until well after the fact.
• What Does She See in Him?: As the culprit confesses, Eiji didn't believe an ugly guy like him should be with the culprit at one point when they were together. The culprit, having been saved by Eiji, begged to differ.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: One of the troupe members is highly afraid of fire due to having survived a fire some years ago.
• You Got Guts: Kindaichi outright says this to the culprit after saving the latter from a suicide attempt by starting a fire that would burn down the theater despite being terrified of fire.