Recap / The Kindaichi Case Files Alchemy Murder Case

"Alchemy Murder Case" is the twelfth feature case in the New Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.

Kindachi enters a quiz show, where the winners will be chosen as among the participants for the upcoming treasure-hunting expedition on a deserted island. Kindaichi manages to emerge victorious, Reika is among the celebrity guests who are picked for the treasure-hunting quest, and Miyuki works as a part-time assistant director in said expedition, and so all three of them join the production team members for the show at the island, not realizing a serial murder case is already developing and about to materialize.

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Tropes include:

• A Friend in Need: Part of Kindaichi's motivation for entering the quiz show is to find treasure on a deserted island to help Kenmochi out, as his wife, prior to the start of the case arc, made a badly miscalculated move in stock sales that would threaten to financially endanger herself and Kenmochi.
• Accomplice by Inaction: The murderer in this case arc deems two intended targets as responsible as the ones who actively caused Haruka's framed fall from grace, as indicated near the end of the case arc.
  • Reika's idol-turned-manager is considered an accomplice in the culprit's belief due to not acting to save Haruka even after discovering the truth, and the culprit makes it clear by reacting to her apology with rebuff.
  • The culprit, likewise, has no love for Reika, believing her to have known, but exploited, Haruka's scandal for her own sake, which pushed him into having Reika framed for the murders she didn't commit as his way of getting even with her. In Reika's case, however, she knew nothing of the truth behind Haruka's scandal, which makes his decision of having her framed a case of Misplaced Retribution.
• Adoption Angst: The culprit, like Haruka, was adopted, albeit in different foster homes. He was fine with it for a while, but then his foster parents had a biological child, relegating him to be The Un-Favorite in his own home.
• Aesop Amnesia: Kenmochi is less financially secure at the start of the case arc as the result of his wife making a bad financial move in stock sales for a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, which is part of the reason Kindaichi entered a quiz show. His wife, instead of heeding the lesson, made one such move again, this time with the remaining savings she and her husband had, though thankfully it works out the second time around, as Kenmochi informs Kindaichi and Miyuki toward the end of the case arc, much to their relief.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Part of the director's move to ensure silence about Haruka's framed scandal from Reika's idol-turned-manager is to warn her nothing good would come her way unless she keeps quiet.
• Apocalyptic Log: The final letter Haruka sent to the culprit before she was Driven to Suicide depicted in detail how she was framed into falling under scrutiny for drug use and possession and everyone who was involved. Once the culprit read the content of the letter, the motive for murder was hardened.
  I knew then... that, for Haruka's sake... everyone who drove her to kill herself... I WOULD BURY THEM WITH MY OWN HANDS!
• Armor-Piercing Question: Kindaichi raises one to Reika's idol-turned-manager late in the case arc, after four people have become murder victims.
  Reika's manager: Do you suspect me of being the killer?
  Kindaichi: No. In fact, I think it's the opposite. Rather than being the killer, I think you're actually one of the targets, aren't you?
  [Reika's manager drops the cups she's pouring water into]
  Kindaichi: Well, it seems I hit the bullseye.
• Attack the Mouth: The culprit kills the director by driving the sword into her mouth and out through the back of her head.
• Berserk Button: The game show hostess carries a vase with her everywhere in the treasure-hunting show. Attempting to take or even touch the vase will set her off, as one of the game show contestants inadvertently finds out the hard way when attempting to take the vase when the game show hostess asks for help with carrying her luggage.
  Game Show Hostess: KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!
• Big Brother Instinct: The culprit in this case arc is Haruka's older brother. His motivation for instigating the serial murders in this case is due to Haruka being set up falsely as a druggie and becoming Driven to Suicide following the scandal.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The rival Teen Idol is actually a cruel girl despite her seemingly pure and sweet appearance.
  • The most explicit example comes late in the case arc when it's revealed that she and the director conspire to sabotage Haruka's reputation by making her out to be a junkie for the sake of Removing the Rival for a starring film role she also seeks. The fact that her backer is the leader of a Yakuza helps to empathize her dark association further.
  • She also privately expresses delight in being involved in the serial murder case that's currently ongoing, believing that she can use the case in question to play up the appearance of a tragic heroine to prop up her career further, all the while wishing for the same "incident that happened two years ago" that ruined Haruka's life would happen to Reika because she feels snubbed of the success Reika has garnered.
  • The main assistant manager elicits some Foreshadowing early in the case arc in his private conversation with Miyuki while the two of them are at work together, where he insinuates that she's an example of a Teen Idol who has a starkly different persona in real life from the projected image on stage, though he deflects by saying she's a kind of person who loves to party, possibly to avoid Saying Too Much.
• Camping a Crapper: The director is ambushed and murdered in the women's washroom. Given the nasty method being employed in the murder, it also counts as Toilet Horror.
• Camera Fiend: The camera operator for the show takes his work camera with him nearly everywhere he goes, almost to the point to seeming to stalk others, especially in some occasions when he's right around an almost-inconspicuous corner witnessing and recording what he sees.
• Chekhov's Gun: The confetti ball that the main assistant director and Miyuki are tasked in making for the end of the show serves to help Kindaichi in solving the murder case.^note  To elaborate: The main assistant director tears up a sheet of paper into pieces and writes room numbers on said pieces, which are then stored inside the confetti ball after the lot-drawing process is done. Though it was originally intended for the program, Kindaichi collects those pieces of paper late in the case arc, with said pieces of paper serving as evidence that the room assignment lot drawing process was tampered with when it was time for the rival Teen Idol to draw her piece.
• Clear Their Name:
  • Reika is framed as the culprit in this case arc, and so one of Kindaichi's goals in his investigation is to prove her innocence and find out who really is the culprit.
  • This case may also serve to clear Haruka's reputation, if posthumously, as Kindaichi and Miyuki's conversation after the murder case concludes indicates. When Miyuki is worried that Haruka would remain remembered as a drug-addled idol, Kindaichi voices confidence that, at the very least, the actions of those who were responsible for actively sabotaging her reputation will be disclosed due to the murder case, which will likely restore her sullied reputation in turn.
• Continuity Nod: After the murder case concludes, Reika suggests for herself and Kindaichi to go someplace after she weathers all possible media scrutiny that would emerge due to the case in question, bringing up an amusement park the two of them attended before. While Reika isn't specific about when such an experience happened, the two of them did share an amusement park ride after the Tarot Mountain Hut Murder Case ended (with Miyuki's approval, at that).
• Crossover Cameo: Saburoumaru appears as one of final contestant in a quiz Kindaichi attends in order to meet Reika. Q-class members also appear in one panel watching the show on TV.
• Dark Horse Victory: Kindaichi manages to pull off an upset and emerges victorious in the game show.^note  To elaborate: Four contestants, scoring 122, 120, 101, and 93 points, respectively, with Kindaichi being in the last place at the moment, face off for the final question, which is worth 30 points. Kindaichi manages to be the first contestant to answer the final question correctly, with valid explanation provided, which results in his final score being 123, bumping his rank from the last place to the first and securing himself a spot as a treasure-hunting participant.
• Dead All Along: The physicist who built a mansion on the island which houses the murder case arc and became obsessed with alchemy before disappearing turns out to have been already dead for some time. This is confirmed near the end of the case arc, for Kindaichi discovers his deceased body that has been preserved due to the right combination of temperature and humidity in an isolated underground room.
• Death from Above: Upon reaching the toilet, the director hears some noise above her, which causes her to look up... just in time to see the culprit, revealing himself from the ceiling space, piercing through her mouth and out the back with his sword.
• Dragon Lady: The director of the treasure-hunting show in this case arc is a Japanese woman with a cold and domineering demeanor, such that she has garnered a nickname "demon dragon", as Reika informs Kindaichi early in the case arc. It gets even worse once it's revealed that she was responsible as one of the masterminds for setting Haruka up with fake evidence and have her made out to be a junkie that caused her to be Driven to Suicide for more money for herself and shows no remorse for it whatsoever.
• Facepalm: Miyuki and Kenmochi do this in unison due to Kindaichi saying something idiotic regarding the explanation for the correct answer to the second-to-last question, which includes mathematics ("root of two", to be precise), on live TV.
  Kindaichi: "Root of two"? What's that? Some kind of plant?
  Kenmochi: Ugh...
  Miyuki: This is so embarrassing.
• Frame-Up:
  • Reika is set up as the culprit, but Kindaichi manages to prove her innocence via his investigation.
  • The backstory reveals that Haruka was made out to be a junkie due to fake evidence the director had set up to have her discredited in order to pocket more money for promoting the rival Teen Idol.
• Greed: The director's motive for sabotaging Haruka's reputation in a nutshell, due to the "guardian" of her rival Teen Idol being the leader of a Yakuza who paid the director to promote said Teen Idol.
• He Knows Too Much:
  • The main assistant director is the first person to be murdered in this case. As Kindaichi reveals in The Summation, the killer had requested help from the main assistant director to ensure that one particular Teen Idol would stay in a specific room, which turns out to have been tampered by the culprit to exact murder and manufacture a Locked Room Mystery when the right circumstance arrives. That being said, the main assistant director is on the murderer's hit-list from the beginning anyway, and the potentially incriminating knowledge simply made the main assistant director the first target of choice.
  • The camera operator is not among the culprit's intended targets at all and is killed only due to stumbling upon some incriminating evidence before the murderer could complete the serial murder spree.
  • Downplayed with Reika's idol-turned-manager, who found out about the director's plot of having Haruka's reputation ruined to prop up her preferred rival Teen Idol for Greed, for the director told her there was no evidence for the truth to the plot while giving her An Offer You Can't Refuse.
    If you say too much, nothing good will happen to you, okay?
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The director is explicitly shown being murdered this way, as the killer drives the sword that penetrates through her mouth and goes out of the back of her head.
• Laxative Prank: As Kindaichi reveals during Summation Gathering, the director's water bottles were likely spiked with some laxative to make her reach the toilet in a hurry, allowing the murderer waiting in the ceiling to kill her with the sword that penetrates through her mouth and out the back once she's in range.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: When the director and the camera operator both fail to show up after everyone gathers outside the room Reika and Miyuki are both in at the time, Kindaichi suggests for everyone to split up to look for them two, as the memory of two other people having already been killed in the still-ongoing serial murder case is fresh on his mind. Tension increases further still once both the director and the camera operator are found murdered, which only serves to get Reika cast in a more suspicious light, especially since she's the one finding the director's corpse in the women's restroom — Miyuki waits outside while Reika has a Potty Emergency.
• Long-Lost Relative: The culprit and Haruka were separated as children due to being adopted by different foster families, and it was only some years later that he managed to contact her after seeing her rising status as a Teen Idol. Tragically, they could never meet in person, as Haruka's reputation would be at stake should the media find out more about her past, before a manufactured scandal caused her to become Driven to Suicide.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Or, rather, "man". The culprit of this serial murder case, nicknamed "the alchemist" due to the setting being inside a mansion built by a physicist who was obsessed with alchemy, wears a metallic mask that helps to conceal the true identity and wields a sword that is used to commit murders, as shown in a recorded footage captured by a security camera the camera operator set up early in the case arc.
• Not-So-Innocent Whistle: After Kindaichi wins the quiz show and the hostess announces that a celebrity guest, who is among the chosen participants for the treasure-hunting quest, will appear to hand out the trophy to the grand winner of the show (i.e. Kindaichi), Miyuki asks him who the celebrity guest is, with Kindaichi replying "no clue" while whistling to himself without looking at her. The celebrity guest turns out to be none other than Reika.
  Miyuki: So that's why he wanted to join so badly. Why am I not surprised?
• Parental Abandonment: The culprit and Haruka lost both of their biological parents in a car accident.
• Player Elimination: The quiz show that takes place at the start of the case arc works this way. Among the four contestants, the one who scores the lowest at the end of the show gets booted off while the other three get to become participants in the upcoming treasure-hunting expedition program.
• Rain of Blood: In this case, it's "finding dripping drops of blood". After the main assistant director is noted to be absent and everyone looks for him without success, Reika senses liquid dropping on her. Once the liquid is confirmed to be blood, everybody looks up to find the cadaver of the missing assistant director, who Dies Wide Open, on the glass roof.
• Reactive Continuous Scream: At one point while Kindaichi tries to remember more significant relevance regarding the layout of the room map within the building where they stay after the serial murder case starts unfolding, a hand is suddenly placed on his shoulder and causes him to scream, which shocks the person behind him into screaming in return. Kindaichi turns around and sees Miyuki, who's bringing some tea to him at the moment.
  Kindaichi: Oh, Miyuki, it's you! Don't just sneak up on me like that!
  Miyuki: Ah, I'm sorry! Anyway, I brought some tea for you.
• Rejected Apology: Reika's manager apologizes after the culprit reveals his motive for the serial murders in his Motive Rant for not acting to save Haruka before she became Driven to Suicide, but the culprit gives No Sympathy in return.
  No matter how many times you apologize, it's not like Haruka will ever come back!
• Removing the Rival: The manufactured drug use and possession scandal that drove Haruka to suicide originated from the rival Teen Idol and the director wishing to push Haruka out of competition for the starring role in a film said rival Teen Idol also wanted.
• Right Behind Me: While a comedian and the quiz show hostess talk about the ongoing serial murder case after two people have fallen victim to murder, they quickly turn their attention to Reika before talking about her manager, who was once a Teen Idol like Reika is, shortly before Reika's idol-turned-manager turns up and makes her presence known.
  You know I can hear everything, right?
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: In-Universe. Haruka's chance for starring in a movie, and her career as a Teen Idol in general, ended up ruined due to a drug use and possession allegation, which drove her to suicide. It gets worse when it turns out that she was framed for the allegation.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • The reason for everyone being on the island is to record and then air the treasure-hunting program, but the serial murder case ensures the show ends up getting canceled.
  • Part of the reason Kindaichi entered the quiz show was to get the treasure to help Kenmochi out financially after his wife made a bad move in stock sales. Then Kenmochi, upon joining Kindaichi and Miyuki towards the end of the case arc, informs them that his wife, without learning her lesson in buying stocks for a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, used the rest of their savings to buy stocks... but this time her stocks went up in value by the time she sells them, alleviating herself and Kenmochi out of financial woe, even if barely, without Kindaichi's help.
  • Despite the serial murder case, Kindaichi actually manages to find the treasure, but it ends up being swiped ^note by the Gentlemen Thief before he can claim any.
• Shout-Out: A reference to Sherlock Holmes takes place late in the case arc when Kindaichi, with Miyuki's help, reaches the "Eureka!" Moment in his investigation.
  Kindaichi: You're really impressive, Miyuki! You're just like Dr. Watson!
  Miyuki: Does that make you Sherlock Holmes?
• Slipping a Mickey: Twice in this case arc. As Kindaichi reveals to all, the water bottles being given to the intended targets after one of them has fallen victim to murder have been spiked with sleeping drugs.
  • The rival Teen Idol falls asleep after drinking her given bottled water, not knowing it has sleeping drugs mixed with it. This, in conjunction with the door for her room that no one but the culprit knows has been tampered with, allows the murderer to enter her room, kill her, and facilitate a Locked Room Mystery while framing Reika for it.
  • Miyuki and Reika both fall victim to this after consuming bottled water while they share a locked room. The fact that the bottles are already in the room when they both stay within it, as Miyuki informs Kindaichi, helps to confirm Kindaichi's suspicion (that, and they fell asleep while talking to each other despite not feeling tired at the time).
• Spanner in the Works: The main assistant director unwittingly serves this role by keeping the pieces of paper with numbers written on them that are used for lot-drawing and storing them in the confetti ball instead of throwing them away, providing a Chekhov's Gun late in the case arc.
• Staircase Tumble: This happens to Reika when she runs off in panic and missteps on a stairway when the pressure of being accused of murders she didn't commit gets the better of her, though she recovers soon with no worse for wear after briefly blacking out from the tumbling.
• Tears of Remorse: The culprit apologizes in tear to Reika after realizing his decision to have Reika framed for murders she didn't commit has been a case of Misplaced Retribution all along.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Saburoumaru fully expects to be chosen as a winner of the quiz show due to his score being the second lowest in the setting that eliminates only the contestant with the lowest score and Kindaichi not appearing to be bright. Unfortunately for him, Kindaichi is a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass and manages to pull off a Dark Horse Victory, which secures himself as the grand winner of the contest itself while getting Saburoumaru eliminated from the quiz show withal as the result.
  • The rival Teen Idol privately expresses delight in being involved in the serial murder case while it's currently ongoing, believing that she can use the case in question to play up the appearance of a tragic heroine to prop up her career further. It's too bad for her that the culprit manages to murder her soon after she makes such a remark in yet another step to have her part of the Dark Secret relating to Haruka exposed.
  • In the backstory, when Haruka found out that the culprit was struggling to pay off college tuition fees due to being The Un-Favorite in his financially-declining foster family, she stepped up to cover the costs at once, saying that she could afford the cost due to being a rising Teen Idol. The culprit, filled with gratitude, promised to repay the money after finishing school. Sadly, the promise would remain unfulfilled forever after Haruka was Driven to Suicide.
• Tragic Dream: The final email message Haruka sent to Reika, which Reika shows near the end of the case arc, detailed entirely of her strong desire for the starring movie role from which she was removed and lamentation that she would never get to costar with Reika.
  In the end, I thought that you, miss Reika, were the only one who was fit to be my costar. I have always wanted you to play that role, but I guess that it's now just an unattainable dream.
• Unwitting Pawn: Zigzagged. Reika's idol-turned-manager was actually unaware of the plot to have Haruka framed as a junkie until she asks the director, well after the fact. That being said, the fact that she did nothing to help Haruka until she became Driven to Suicide and has kept quiet about the truth right up to the present day earns her No Sympathy from the culprit.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The culprit, after being unable to reconnect with Haruka for years due to being adopted in two different foster homes, managed to reestablish contact after writing a letter to her, which she replied. Due to her Teen Idol status, meeting in person was impossible, lest some potential scandal broke out, but they're both happy just to be able to correspond with each other again. Tragically, even this level of communication wouldn't last once Haruka was framed for a planted drug use and possession allegation, for which she was Driven to Suicide shortly thereafter.