Tsukumodo Antique Shop

Menma85

Name: Tsukumodou Kottouten - "Fushigi" Toriatsukaimasu

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English title: Tsukumodo Antique Shop - We Handle "Mysteriosities"

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Dengeki Bunko (ASCII Media Works)

Volume: 7 (Complete)

Author: Akihiko Odou

Illustrators: Satoshi Takeshima

Synopsis: In our world there are objects that go by the name of "Relics". Not antiques or items of classical art, but mysterious things like a stone that brings luck, a doll whose hair grows night after night, or a mirror that shows your future appearance.
The world is big and so there happens to be a shop that offers such suspicious items — the Tsukumodo Antique Shop (FAKE). But as the name suggests, only fakes can be found there. To make matters worse, the shop assistant is a girl whose attendance couldn't be blunter, so the store hardly has any customers at all. However, from time to time a real Relic appears and makes things interesting.
Tokiya Kurusu and Saki Maino, two part-time employees at the Tsukumodo Antique Shop, find themselves in difficult situations whenever they help their boss, Towako Settsu, take custody of the Relics.
Why do they seem persecuted by these accidents? And what fate awaits the girl who never smiles and the corpse-looking boy ?

I think it's a wonderful series, which deserves an official english publication.
The relationship between the protagonists, Tokiya and Saki, is one of the best I've ever read; moreover the author has a unique style, an ability to maintain the suspense and have everything uncovered only at the end, as few others can do.
Also, it's quite short, only seven volumes, and it's already finished. And there aren't many mystery LN series published in English.

Jaquobus

And there aren't many mystery LN series published in English.

Truly a lamentable fact

Maybe add Genre: Mystery to the description, and tag the post with "mystery" and "complete"

Menma85

@Jaquobus said in Tsukumodo Antique Shop:

And there aren't many mystery LN series published in English.

Truly a lamentable fact

Maybe add Genre: Mystery to the description, and tag the post with "mystery" and "complete"

Thanks for the suggestion, I didn't know how to use tags, I learned it now!

Yeah, they aren't many, but I always think there is a not so small part of the audience who are interested in this genre. And this series, in my opinion, is a great example of it.

Mayora

I've heard this be compared to 'The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria' a couple times, a work that was hardly known in Japan but beloved and hailed as hidden gem by its English readers, and from what little I've read, it does seem very charming... even if that tragedy tag scares me a bit lmao. Still, I'd welcome any good mystery, especially if it is one with a strong central character dynamic.

Sanctuario

Tsukumodo Antique Shop's first few volumes was a novel I read alongside Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, back when I still new to light novels.

So, imagine this scenario: there's someone new to light novels, and those two novels were the very first ones he read. At the time (and to this point), he likes one as much as the other. Years later, I still have difficulty finding novels that can rival the writings of those novels. From the top of my head, I can only name probably novels like Biblia Koshodou or works by Sugaru Miaki that can rival them.

Now of course, as a random anonymous person, my opinions hold little to no importance. But I do hope my point comes across, point beingTsukumodo Kottouten is an excellent novel.