Reviews

宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 by Nanako Tsujimura, 辻村七子

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jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition

3.0

Richard is a fairly young British man who lives in Japan, speaks perfect Japanese and various other languages, and has a shop selling gemstones and jewellery; which seems to be his hobby and passion as well as his business. He employs Seigi, a younger Japanese man, to make tea and do other odd jobs around the shop.

The novel is the story of their odd relationship and of their encounters with various different customers.

Seigi seems a nice lad, well-meaning, keen to help everyone, but he tends to say what’s on his mind when it might be better to keep silent. He thinks he’s heterosexual and is fascinated by a particular girl, but doesn’t seem sure what he wants to do with her. He’s also fascinated by his boss Richard, an unusually attractive man (other people think so too), although he doesn’t think there's any sexual aspect to this fascination. He seems either asexual or sexually confused.

Richard is a very enigmatic man, and in this novel we don’t learn much about what goes on in his head. His attractiveness seems an embarrassment to him, and he tends to avoid women; if he prefers men, that hasn’t yet become clear. Like Seigi, he doesn’t seem to have any sexual relationship with anyone.

The book seems quite well translated from Japanese, including some quite technical paragraphs about gemstones (presumably the author makes a hobby of them too). It’s a readable and congenial story, although I find the main characters rather improbable and the plot relatively uneventful: I normally read sf and fantasy, in which more tends to happen.

I’ll probably read the next book in the series, hoping that it reveals more about the main characters.

piendorabox's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I watched the first few episodes of the anime when it was still airing but never finished it (just because I'm never good at slow-paced, slice of life anime). The novel provides more insight to what Seigi's thinking when he's going about his days working part time as Richard's assistant, which is mostly admiring Richard's beauty if we've got to be honest.

The translation is... fine, coming from a first time reader, but when I checked reviews from old readers who'd read the fan translation version before the Seven Seas translation I realized the official translation definitely COULD'VE been much better, so I felt a bit sad... that version is a lost treasure I will never have the access to, now.

chloe_reyes's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

I enjoyed this a lot! It's very light and relaxing, with lots of funny moments sprinkled throughout. Seigi and Richard's dynamic got me hook, line, and sinker. Richard was "icier" than his introduction led me to think, but this only makes his conversations with Seigi all the more interesting. I laughed at all the instances Seigi ran his mouth off to Richard's embarrassment. Their differences in jewelry experience sell the whole concept, with Richard teaching us new information about gems and Seigi learning alongside us. I look forward to reading the rest of the novels and seeing how their relationship will progress.

rhiannon_burden's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I would class this book less of a mystery and more of a look into sociology as while yes there is elements of mystery it is not to the same degree as a detective novel which I also enjoy and was probably my motivation when buying the book. The book in mainly focuses on the people and their intentions as well as the way they use language (which from a language student point of view I thought was interesting). I think it was overall an interesting and easy read and started the year on a good foot in my opinion.

Content Warnings

books_and_cha's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars

I mean, just looking at something pretty makes you feel happy, right? It can touch your heart, fill you with energy, give you courage. I think the real reason people continue to desire beautiful things—the real ‘demand’—comes from a desire to give those feelings to the people we love. Rubies and sapphires were beloved by the kings and queens of the past, and wine-colored amethyst was treasured for its supposed protection against the intoxicating effects of alcohol. And with a little polish and a little marketing, diamonds became popular. I guess some people might say that cutting stones is a history of humanity’s technological progress, but this is how I feel about it.”

Having watched the anime adaptation, I was looking forward to reading The Case Files of Jeweler Richard. The anime had been heartwarming, cozy, and lovely. The first installment of the light novel series did not disappoint.

While I was familiar with all the cases in this volume, the novel offers a more detailed and nuanced perspective that the anime (with it's understandably limited episode time) couldn't capture. The story follows Seigi Nakata, a college student who rescues Richard from a bunch of drunken men in an abandoned park one fateful night, and soon is offered a job at Richard's café-esque jewellery store.

Each case follows a customer who comes to the store, and their individual story. As the story progresses, you get insights into Seigi and Richard's characters, as well as their developing relationship. Seigi is guileless, with a slight foot-in-mouth disease who always tries to do the right thing. He's sweet and endearing. Richard, on the other hand, remains shrouded in mystery. All we know about him - aside from his partiality for sweets and particularity about royal milk tea (which he makes the same way I do!) - is that he's from England, is fluent in a number of languages (quite insufferable of him, in my opinion), and has strong values surrounding diversity.

I have some opinions about how didactic Richard's anti-discriminatory stances are. Seigi learns a lot from Richard, given that he's a newbie in the gemstone trade, but Richard telling Seigi to respect of people of all backgrounds felt unnecessary and a little too on the nose. I agree with what Richard says, it's just that I don't want it to translate into 'the West is a tolerant and wonderful about diversity and inclusion' because the reality is more nuanced than that. I'm going to get off my soapbox now and return to this review.

The relationship between Seigi and Richard is ~~very gay~~ suspiciously queer. Richard, soon after meeting Seigi, dubs him his knight in shining armor . He also makes it clear that he finds Seigi's honesty and trustworthiness endearing and charming. There are moments throughout the book when Seigi compliments Richard in his usual earnest way and makes the other flustered. Seigi also waxes poetic about Richard's beauty every two pages, and this is excluding the casual mentions of how attractive Richard is. He also gets annoyed when other people look at Richard, but both stares at and admires Richard himself.

Seigi does confess to being in love with a girl from one of his classes, Tanimoto, who seems to treat him as only a friend. Despite Seigi's raptures about how cute and angelic she is, his feelings pale next to what may be a budding romance between him and Richard. The latter seems very much plausible, since the series does feature queer characters (not queer-coded characters, we're talking straight up queer, which I love). If there is a romance, it's going to be a slow-burn, though, given Seigi's complete lack of awareness to how he doesn't seem to be straight (he literally says that meeting Richard would have been a meet-cute, if Richard had been a woman, which sounds like a heteronormative mindset rather than heterosexuality talking. This is right after he talks about Richard's beauty taking his breath away, mind you. God. Seigi is a lot of things, but straight ain't one of them.)

There's a lot I liked about this book. It has a cozy feel, with our characters drinking tea and talking about life. Each case is interesting, with unexpected developments that leave you thinking. I liked how you had bits of history and gemstone lore intertwined with the main narrative. There were moments of humor, and the writing is light and simple. I did have an issue where it was hard to figure out who was saying what during dialogues, but I worked through it with context clues.

A warm, cozy, heartwarming read overall. <3

Listening to someone’s story was to take in a little piece of their past. It may not always lighten their load, but it could help bring the formless feelings swirling about in one’s mind to light and help give them shape. Once you knew their shape, you could understand how much they weighed and maybe find a way to make that load a little lighter.