Welcome to the Hifuu Detective AgencyCase 10: Hisoutensoku Preface/Prologue: Hisoutensoku
所属カテゴリー： Welcome to the Hifuu Detective AgencyCase 10: Hisoutensoku
公開日：2025年05月30日 / 最終更新日：2025年05月30日
Hello again readers, and welcome back. Today I will begin publishing my translation of the tenth volume of Asagihara Shinobu's こちら秘封探偵事務所 or 'Welcome to the Hifuu Detective Agency.'
This volume is a lightweight, silly little story, without any of the heavy themes or complexity of some of the other works, though it does still of course include a mystery for Renko to solve as only she could. There's no objectionable material to speak of here, but there are a lot of references to various mecha anime that were released between 1980-2010. Most of it is just name-dropping, but you will see a lot of references to 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝑂 in particular. Having seen that series (or any mecha anime) is not necessary to appreciate this story, but you'll get more out of it if you have.
There are a few details in this story that might be a little questionable as far as timelines and canon compliance, but if you've been reading the previous casefiles, then it's already been established that the Gensokyo seen in this series is just a little bit different than the one you may be familiar with. You won't find anything here that's a glaring contradiction of canon, just a few nitpicks here and there along with typical fanon interpretations of how things might work.
With those comments out of the way, I will now step back and leave the rest of the storytelling up to our narrator. I hope that you enjoy the tale to come.
—Prologue—
Why do the hearts of the Japanese people yearn for giant humanoid robots?
Depictions of such robots have more or less become a traditional Japanese art form, having been passed down from generation to generation since the Showa era. Even in the Scientific Century, when Renko and I had lived in Kyoto, anime and tokusatsu dramas featuring giant robots were still being created.
This is probably because even in the Scientific Century, bipedal robots had never materialized as a practical technology. Giant robots had never become part of any military nor had they become essential to heavy industry. In all they had remained strictly in the realm of fantasy. Sentient robots have yet to become a reality as well and even more than 80 years after 𝐴𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜 𝐵𝑜𝑦’s supposed birthday an AI singularity has failed to emerge. Even Doraemon, who remained popular even in our time, had had his birthday retconned to be in the 23rd century.
Being as they have never existed in the Outside World, perhaps someday soon we might see something like a humanoid robot strolling through the streets outside our window here in Gensokyo, a dream born of Science but eventually relegated to this land of fantasy.
When I try to imagine it, it strikes me as a vaguely sad scene. In a way, that seems lonelier to me than the common sci-fi trope of robots surviving longer than their creators and persisting in the wreckage of a post-human world.
—
Why would I bring this up, you might ask? Well the answer is simple. This book that you are now reading is a bit different than the casefiles that have preceded it. It is not the story of an incident that is recorded in the annals of Gensokyo's history, nor is it the story of a crisis that had to be resolved by the Hakurei shrine maiden. Rather, it's a collection of several short stories collected around a theme. One you might listen to as a number of anecdotes told by a friend at the bar. At least, that's how they appear on the surface.
It is difficult for me to summarize these disparate stories into a unified whole. To readers, this may well seem like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what it's supposed to be a picture of.
But of course these pieces will all be connected, if only by the concerted efforts of Gensokyo's most delusional detective, my partner the great Usami Renko. In this volume Renko's delusions will connect:
• A demon that towers in the fog!
• A giant terrorizing the forest!
• A burning geyser, erupting straight from the heart of a blazing hell!
• The shadow of a terrifying and foreign youkai!
• The greatest threat Gensokyo has ever known!
This is the story of the ultimate trump card, the force for justice that declared boldly to the world 'CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY.' Our story will begin with a cry of '[Hisoutensoku! Action!]'
So rise up, readers, and join with me, the assistant to our rather unconventional detective, as I tell you the story of the supreme, ultra-dreadnaught grand guignol!
This volume is a lightweight, silly little story, without any of the heavy themes or complexity of some of the other works, though it does still of course include a mystery for Renko to solve as only she could. There's no objectionable material to speak of here, but there are a lot of references to various mecha anime that were released between 1980-2010. Most of it is just name-dropping, but you will see a lot of references to 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝑂 in particular. Having seen that series (or any mecha anime) is not necessary to appreciate this story, but you'll get more out of it if you have.
There are a few details in this story that might be a little questionable as far as timelines and canon compliance, but if you've been reading the previous casefiles, then it's already been established that the Gensokyo seen in this series is just a little bit different than the one you may be familiar with. You won't find anything here that's a glaring contradiction of canon, just a few nitpicks here and there along with typical fanon interpretations of how things might work.
With those comments out of the way, I will now step back and leave the rest of the storytelling up to our narrator. I hope that you enjoy the tale to come.
—Prologue—
Why do the hearts of the Japanese people yearn for giant humanoid robots?
Depictions of such robots have more or less become a traditional Japanese art form, having been passed down from generation to generation since the Showa era. Even in the Scientific Century, when Renko and I had lived in Kyoto, anime and tokusatsu dramas featuring giant robots were still being created.
This is probably because even in the Scientific Century, bipedal robots had never materialized as a practical technology. Giant robots had never become part of any military nor had they become essential to heavy industry. In all they had remained strictly in the realm of fantasy. Sentient robots have yet to become a reality as well and even more than 80 years after 𝐴𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜 𝐵𝑜𝑦’s supposed birthday an AI singularity has failed to emerge. Even Doraemon, who remained popular even in our time, had had his birthday retconned to be in the 23rd century.
Being as they have never existed in the Outside World, perhaps someday soon we might see something like a humanoid robot strolling through the streets outside our window here in Gensokyo, a dream born of Science but eventually relegated to this land of fantasy.
When I try to imagine it, it strikes me as a vaguely sad scene. In a way, that seems lonelier to me than the common sci-fi trope of robots surviving longer than their creators and persisting in the wreckage of a post-human world.
—
Why would I bring this up, you might ask? Well the answer is simple. This book that you are now reading is a bit different than the casefiles that have preceded it. It is not the story of an incident that is recorded in the annals of Gensokyo's history, nor is it the story of a crisis that had to be resolved by the Hakurei shrine maiden. Rather, it's a collection of several short stories collected around a theme. One you might listen to as a number of anecdotes told by a friend at the bar. At least, that's how they appear on the surface.
It is difficult for me to summarize these disparate stories into a unified whole. To readers, this may well seem like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle without knowing what it's supposed to be a picture of.
But of course these pieces will all be connected, if only by the concerted efforts of Gensokyo's most delusional detective, my partner the great Usami Renko. In this volume Renko's delusions will connect:
• A demon that towers in the fog!
• A giant terrorizing the forest!
• A burning geyser, erupting straight from the heart of a blazing hell!
• The shadow of a terrifying and foreign youkai!
• The greatest threat Gensokyo has ever known!
This is the story of the ultimate trump card, the force for justice that declared boldly to the world 'CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD, YE NOT GUILTY.' Our story will begin with a cry of '[Hisoutensoku! Action!]'
So rise up, readers, and join with me, the assistant to our rather unconventional detective, as I tell you the story of the supreme, ultra-dreadnaught grand guignol!
Case 10: Hisoutensoku 一覧
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