Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture Volume 2 Review

In Volume 1 of Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture, we met protagonist Naoya Fukamachi, a young man with the ability to tell when someone’s lying due to how their speech becomes warped and painful to hear. After attending a lecture on folklore studies by Professor Akira Takatsuki, he catches the professor’s eye and ends up becoming his assistant in solving mysteries related to folklore. With the second volume in hand, let’s see how the pair are getting on!

We start off this volume with a mystery involving a group of elementary school students, who claim to have summoned the spirit of their former classmate through a game of Kokkuri-san. Although it quickly becomes apparent that there may be something much more human behind the mysterious case, Akira still thoroughly enjoys investigating and hosting his own game of Kokkuri-san to help put the children’s concerns to rest. And this serves as a solid starting point for the book, easing us back in, before diving into something deeper.

With three chapters included, each for a different case, it’s the second of these that leaves the biggest impact. With the cold weather that November brings, Naoya finds himself coming down with a cold that quickly develops into an ear infection. Thankfully, Akira comes to the rescue and takes him to a doctor, who quickly treats him, but the aftereffects leave Naoya without the ability to hear lies (temporarily in the end).

Suddenly living an ordinary life, Naoya struggles to come to grips with his new reality. Without his ability, he worries that he’s useless to Akira and those feelings are only made worse when the professor takes a new case investigating a supposedly haunted film studio. Now unable to tell who is telling the truth and who isn’t, Naoya feels like dead weight. But he’s also afraid to open up to Akira about the situation out of fear that he’ll no longer be needed as an assistant, so he remains silent while the guilt and frustration slowly envelop him.

This is the kind of storyline I expected to happen at some point. After all, due to the nature of how Naoya got his powers in the first place, it seemed inevitable that one day they might disappear. And while this is only temporary, it still serves as an important experience for Naoya and his relationship with Akira. Having this happen so early on ends up proving more interesting than if author Mikage Sawamura had waited because of the fact that there isn’t a lot holding together their relationship outside of work.

In fact, alongside exploring Naoya’s fears, this volume is also about reinforcing the fact that Naoya actually doesn’t know a whole lot about Akira. He’s becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the professor has a wall up around him (much like Naoya does!), and our protagonist hasn’t yet been let past it. Anything personal Naoya has learnt has been through Akira’s friends, rather than something the man himself has opened up about. Will he ever become someone Akira feels comfortable confiding in? That remains to be seen.

Although the focus for this instalment has shifted to more character development, the three mysteries we’re presented with are still fascinating. Sawamura continues to balance the mundane and the supernatural, leaving readers (and our duo!) guessing as to whether an incident is truly rooted in the spiritual or not until the end. Certainly, it’s very easy to see how this series has gained such popularity, given the strong combination of the main cast and the mystery element. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story progresses over time, both in terms of the bond between Akira and Naoya and the situations they’ll find themselves in.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press under their Yen On imprint and continues to be translated by Katelyn Smith. As with the first volume, this instalment reads well with no issues. Since the series has no illustrations beyond the cover, there are no extras to speak of here in the form of colour pages, nor anything else.

For those of you looking to get your hands on more of this series, you’ll be pleased to hear that Yen Press has already released six volumes as of this month. However, there are 11 volumes available in Japanese (as well as some EX books), so we still have a way to go before we catch up. There’s currently no #7 in the English schedule either, suggesting we’re in for a more lengthy break now.

Overall, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture’s second volume is another solid entry in a series that’s shaping up to be a must-read for supernatural/mystery fans. Slowly, we’re learning more about Akira and Naoya as they navigate the cases they’re presented with, and it’s rewarding to watch over them.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.