Recap / The Kindaichi Case Files Demon God Ruins Murder Case

"Demon God Ruins Murder Case" is the eighteenth case in the File Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.

After Kindaichi accidentally causes damage to Akechi's Benz, Satsuki Munakata, a pretty and popular cheerleader in Fudou High School, offers Kindaichi a part-time excavation job. Together with Miyuki and Saki, the four of them visit the Majin Village, an remote hamlet located in Izumo, where Munakata was born and raised. As they enter the village for excavation, a murder plot is also about to take place...

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Tropes include:

• Accidental Murder:
  • The wife of Satsuki's father died in the "two people have a fight near stairs and one of them falls to their death" scenario. The person she was fighting at the time was the housemaid — Satsuki's real mother.
  • During the murder case itself, a cave-in triggered by the culprit using dynamite also caused the treasured bell of the village (styled after one of the Demon God's artifacts) to be dislodged from its shrine and fall on an unsuspecting excavation member, decapitating the poor sap.
• Accidental Pervert:
  • Kindaichi is wresting the knife away from Munakata, who is nude at the time after using said knife to cut apart her clothes in an attempt to seduce Kindaichi, when Munakata is Driven to Suicide at one point, just as Miyuki enters the room due to the noises produced from the struggle. Kindaich's attempt to tell Miyuki that it's Not What It Looks Like fails and suffers more than one slap as the result, before Saki manages to prove Kindaichi's innocence by showing Miyuki the footage he got regarding said struggle.
  • While Kindaichi, Miyuki, Saki, and one male excavation participant visit Satsuki's mother in the hospital, she lifts up Satsuki's skirt while talking about the latter's sex appeal at one point, in plain view of everyone.^note  As the result, Miyuki elbows Kindaichi on the head, Saki relishes videotaping the scene, and the other guy privately worries about getting a nosebleed.
• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: If the dialogue between Miyuki and another female student is anything to go by, Satsuki Munakata is definitely getting — and giving — lot of attention from guys, especially since she's dated many guys, all of whom are the athletic type.
• Always Murder: Downplayed. One among the deaths from this case arc is the result of a tragic accident that happens during the case arc.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Satsuki's mother acts this way after receiving some Laser-Guided Amnesia, as evidenced in the hospital after meeting Kindaichi, Miyuki, Saki, and one male excavation participant.
  Satsuki's mother: Which of the three men have you picked?
  Satsuki: Stop it! There's plenty of time for that!
  Satsuki's mother: Oh, come on! If you don't act now, you won't get a boyfriend later on! Besides... (lifts Munakata's skirt) this sex appeal of yours won't stay forever.
  Satsuki: Geez, mom!
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: The culprit is struck by lightning while on the verge of being Driven to Suicide after completing the murderous revenge plot, resulting in the loss of memories of the case, but is left otherwise unharmed. Since the culprit is incurably ill and about to die anyway, Kindaichi and friends allow the culprit to live the remainder of the days reconnecting with Satsuki, and allowing the latter to finally get to know her real mother.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Inverted. One of the surviving participants in the excavation uses the first-person pronoun "we" while talking about two girls playing together during childhood years before revealing that he was Raised as the Opposite Gender.
• Assurance Backfire: During Miyuki's conversation with a fellow female student about Satsuki Munakata, especially about her dating history, Miyuki is initially feeling safe because of the revelation that Munakata has given Valentine's chocolate to many guys (especially the athletic type), before the student's comment about Munakata and Kindaichi leaves Miyuki feeling worried again, which soon drives Miyuki's resolve to join Kindaichi and Munakata for the excavation.
  Miyuki: So she [Munakata] only chooses strong males, huh... Hajime-chan doesn't stand a chance, then!
  Female Student: Ha ha ha, that loser Kindaichi? Pfft, no way! If Senior Munakaka was flirting with him, she must have some ulterior motive... or she's planning to dump his ass soon!^note  She turns out to be right about the "ulterior motive" part, as Munakata confesses to Kindaichi later on about why she invites him for the excavation.
• Bait-and-Switch: The case arc begins with Reika screaming and running away from a shady-looking stranger before hurling herself straight into Kindaichi... only for it to turn out that this was part of the film-shooting production and she was NOT supposed to run into Kindaichi, as he's an extra.
• Blood from the Mouth: The culprit doing this periodically is proof that she won't have long to live.
• Calling the Old Man Out: "Woman" in this case. After learning that the housemaid in her family is her real mother all along, Satsuki reacts by furiously telling her that either of her parents should have told her sooner and spared her the feeling of loneliness in her childhood years. Her mother agrees before saying that she did so in an attempt to spare Satsuki the burden of the truth.
• Creepy Crows: Played with.
  • As Kindaichi and company enter the Majin Village, they see a large number of crows surrounding it, giving a rather unsettling atmosphere to the scene. However, they do no harm to anyone.
  • Being scavengers that are willing to feed on carrion, they flock to any scene where someone dies.
  • The room where the first murder victim is has some crows around the dead human body. It turns out the culprit threw the dead crows inside the room before sealing it shut.
• Dead All Along: The wife of Satsuki's father turns out to have been dead for almost 20 years due to an Accidental Murder, with the person appearing as Satsuki's mother having been the housemaid disguising as her by wearing a dark-colored robe and veil to conceal this fact.
• Dead Person Impersonation: After the tussle between the wife of Satsuki's father and his housemaid ended with the former being dead in an Accidental Murder, Satsuki's father suggested for the housemaid to disguise as the wife of Satsuki's father as well (by donning a black veil and robe to conceal her identity as the disguise).
• Here We Go Again!: This case arc begins with Munakata inviting Kindaichi to her native village for excavation work due to the latter's financial woe after accidentally damaging Akechi's car. The case ends with Kindaichi lamenting that he hasn't been paid a single yen he was promised to for joining in the Devil's Artifacts expedition due to the murder case taking place in the village and himself forgetting to ask for payment, and he's now in a panic for money again.
  Kindaichi: M-Miyuki, please, you gotta lend me some money!
  Miyuki: I can't. My allowance isn't here yet.
  Kindaichi: Saki!
  Saki: Hm, you've still got my video, right, Senior?
  Kindaichi: SOMEBODY HELP ME!
• Joke and Receive: The female student Miyuki talks to early in the case arc states that the only reason a popular cheerleader like Munakata would flirt with Kindaichi (whom she calls a "loser") is due to some ulterior motive (either that or she's planning to dump him soon). She turns out to be right when Munakata herself confesses to Kindaichi that the reason she invites him for the excavation or tries to seduce him by showing her naked body is in order for him to become part of the Munakata family in the hope of averting potential misfortune from befalling the village.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: This happens to the culprit, who is in the process of being Driven to Suicide before a lightning strike hits one of the artifacts the culprit is holding, which destroys all artifacts in addition to the one the culprit happens to hold at the moment. Afterwards, the culprit has lost all memories about the excavation, the murders, and the artifacts everyone has been seeking all this time but is otherwise unharmed, and everyone else plays along because no one knows how to broach the subjects (or wants to try) and the culprit is terminally ill anyway.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: The housemaid in the Munakata household turns out to be Satsuki's real mother.
• Not What It Looks Like: During the events of the case arc, Munakata enters the guest bedroom where Kindaichi stays while holding a knife... to slash her clothes open and show her naked body, before asking Kindaichi to have sex with her, due to a rule regarding her native village. When Kindaichi doesn't seem eager to do so, she becomes Driven to Suicide and Kindaichi struggles his way into taking the knife away from her. The noises from the ensuing struggle attracts the attention of Miyuki, who enters the room to find Kindaichi holding a knife on top of a nude Munakata.^note Saki, who happens to have been videotaping the incident all along, proves Kindaichi's innocence by showing the footage to Miyuki after the fact, though Kindaichi, having already received more than one slap from her, angrily confiscates the videotape because he's not inclined to risk letting such a scandalous content be leaked out.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A lighthearted version. After the case arc is wrapped up, Itsuki tries to get answers out of Kindaichi, as all others, civilians and the police alike, remain mum about the case subject, only for Kindaichi to refuse to answer before leaving. Considering that Kindaichi and Itsuki are friendly with each other, Kindaichi's refusal to answer Itsuki's questions strikes the latter as unusual.
  Itsuki: So he left me hanging, too. Just what happened there that he won't say a word about it?
• Pom-Pom Girl: Satsuki Munakata's introduction scene sees her holding pom-poms while talking to Kindaichi, and she's stated to be the popular captain of the cheerleader squad.
• Raised as the Opposite Gender: One of the surviving innocent participants is a "boy raised as girl" example. To elaborate: He was born in one of the households within the village, but since the children born in the village had always been female, his father raised him as a girl out of paranoia for fear that the curse that is the dreaded legend within said village might befall them should the secret be out. He was running away from home when the fire that consumed his house took place and subsequently raised in an institute, marking the time of the case as the very first time he visited the village since then.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: The housemaid of the Munakata household, who is Satsuki's real mother, is portrayed in this fashion, as Satsuki's father was trapped in an Awful Wedded Life by his wife, who sabotaged his research efforts to make him stay with her.
• Take a Third Option: Satsuki confesses to Kindaichi one night that she dated many guys in the hope of finding one who would be integrated into the Munakata household and help the Majin Village avert potential calamity from the deity that's feared and worshiped there, but found no one. She invited Kindaichi to the village for the same purpose, only for that to not pan out, either. After Kindaichi takes the knife she's wielding from her when she feels Driven to Suicide, she later resolves to staying in the village for life, believing the curse for failing to fulfill the rules of the deity will die with her. It all becomes moot in the end, however, when the artifacts of the deity end up destroyed in a lightning strike and everyone takes it as the omen that the deity has left and there's no curse to worry about anymore.
• Tempting Fate:
  • The case arc begins with Reika using Fudou High School as the scene location for film-shooting for the purpose of seeing Kindaichi. As he thinks fondly of Reika while sitting on a giant electrical fan that's used for filming, he accidentally sits on its switch, causing it blow at the female students it's pointing at at the moment. Excited at the resulting Panty Shot, Kindaichi happily says "Today is my lucky day!", but the day stops being lucky for him when he presses a button in the hope of stopping the fan, only for it to turns out to be the one that increases the fan's speed, which causes the fan to propel backwards until it stops moving after hitting a solid object, which is none other than the Benz owned by Akechi, so Kindaichi is saddled with paying him for the damage to his car.
  • En route to Majin Village, Munakata guides the others through a tunnel, which she claims as the only way in or out of the village. Saki panics at once over the possibility of being stuck in the village should the tunnel cave in, prompting Miyuki to tell him to stop lest he jinx it. Sure enough, that's what happens soon after the murder case kicks in.
• Toilet Humour: While Kindaichi is struggling to make sense of the Locked Room Mystery late in the arc, the room suddenly smells like gasoline, only for it to turn out to be the result of Saki farting, requiring Kindaichi and Miyuki and open up the window for fresh air. Amusingly enough, this actually helps Kindaichi solve the mystery.
• Widow's Weeds: Satsuki's mother is always seen wearing a black robe with an equally black veil. It turns out to be a disguise made by the housemaid, who is Satsuki's real mother, to conceal the facts that the wife of Satsuki's father has been Dead All Along and the housemaid has been disguising as her all this time.
• Your Days Are Numbered: The culprit is terminally ill, as evidenced by coughing up Blood from the Mouth every now and then.