Anti-Mystery

**Anti-Mystery** (アンチ・ミステリー, *Anchi Misuterī*) is a piece of mystery genre jargon originating from Japan. It refers to works of mystery fiction that deny their own genre through the use of subversive metatext and genre deconstruction. This term is chiefly used to refer to the Three Great Mysteries, and may sometimes be used exclusively to refer to these particular novels. When used in a broader sense, an anti-mystery is a piece of fiction that antagonizes the core tropes of mystery fiction (particularly honkaku detective fiction) while still being a coherent example of the genre.

## Three Great Mysteries

*Main article: Three Great Mysteries*
The term anti-mystery was originally coined in order to describe the shared characteristics of the Three Great Mysteries. These three texts are:

* **Dogra Magra** (ドグラ・マグラ, *Dogura Magura*) Kyuusaku Yumeno, 1935
* **Black Death Manor Murder Case** (黒死館殺人事件(こくしかんさつじんじけん), *Kokushikan Satsujin Jiken*) Mushitarou Oguri, 1935
* **Offering to the Void** (虚無(きょむ)への供物(くもつ), *Kyomu e no Kumotsu*) Hideo Nakai, 1964

Common features of these works are ideas such as sections framed as a story within a story, having multiple overlapping genres, narration that blurs the line between fiction and reality, and bizarrely structured text that is challenging to read. Although there is no single list of conventions that qualifies a work to be a Great Mystery or a work of anti-mystery, these works are generally agreed to belong to the same group. Subsequent works have been held up as possible additions to the list, although there is less universal agreement. The most accepted contender is Paradise Lost Inside the Box by Kenji Takemoto.

## Style

Anti-mysteries tend to make use of genre-bending twists and bizarre literary devices into order to interrogate the assumptions of what it means to be a work of mystery fiction. They tend to be deconstructive works that make heavy use of metatext. As previously stated, common conventions of anti-mystery include a story within a story, multiple genres, narration that blurs reality and fiction, and bizarre or difficult to read text. Although, there is no universally accepted definition that separates an anti-mystery work from other kinds of bizarre mysteries.

## Other examples

The following is a list of example works that are commonly called or claim to be anti-mystery beyond the Three Great Mysteries:

* **Paradise Lost Inside the Box** (匣(はこ)の中(なか)の失楽(しつらく), *Hako no Naka no Shitsuraku*) Kenji Takemoto, 1978
* **Odd and Even** (奇偶(きぐう), *Kigū*) Masaya Yamaguchi, 2002
* **Shangdi's Disgraceful Fruit** (天帝(てんてい)のはしたなき果実(かじつ), *Tentei no Hashitanaki Kajitsu*) Mahoro Furuno, 2007
* **Umineko: When They Cry** (うみねこのなく頃(ころ)に, *Umineko no Naku Koro ni*) Ryuukishi07, 2007-2010
* **Disco Detective Wednesday** (ディスコ探偵水曜日(たんていすいようび), *Disuko Tantei Suiyōbi*) Outarou Maijou, 2008
* **The Kisou Palace Murders** (綺想宮殺人事件(きそうみやさつじんじけん), *Kisōmiya Satsujin Jiken*) Taku Ashibe, 2010

## Meta-mystery

**Meta-Mystery** (メタ・ミステリー, *Meta Misuterī*) is another term for subversive mysteries that make heavy use of metatext and the other devices common in anti-mysteries. Unlike the works typically called anti-mystery, a meta-mystery does not carry any connotation of being deconstructive or antagonistic towards its own genre.

Meta-mysteries are generally works that are bizarre, often in ways similar to anti-mysteries, but more positive towards the conventions of mystery novels and proud of their genre status. Additionally, since some critics reserve the term anti-mystery for works recognized as one of the Great Mysteries, the term meta-mystery may sometimes be used to refer to works in the anti-mystery style that do not rise to the level of being a Great Mystery.

Examples of meta-mysteries include:

* **The Labyrinthine House Murders** (迷路館(めいろかん)の殺人(さつじん), *Meirokan no Satsujin*) Yukito Ayatsuji, 1988
* **Apocryphon of Ouroboros** (ウロボロスの偽書(ぎしょ), *Uroborosu no Gisho*) Kenji Takemoto, 1991
* **The World We Broke** (きみとぼくが壊(こわ)した世界(せかい), *Kimi to Boku ga Kowashita Sekai*) Nisio Isin, 2008