The Case Files of Jeweler Richard
The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is a Japanese mystery light novel series written by Nanako Tsujimura and illustrated by Utako Yukihiro. Shueisha has published eleven main volumes since 2015 under their Shueisha Orange Bunko imprint, as well as two collections of short stories. A manga adaptation with art by Mika Akatsuki has been serialized in Ichijinsha's manga magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum since November 28, 2019. An anime television series adaptation by Shuka aired from January 9 to March 26, 2020.
Plot
Volume One
Seigi Nakata runs across a beautiful foreign man named Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian being attacked by drunkards near Yoyogi Park on his way home late at night from his job as a security guard. He rushes to Richard's rescue and joins him at the police station, where Richard reveals that he is an Englishman working in Japan as a jeweler. Seigi the brings him ring he inherited from his grandmother to Richard in hopes of having the gemstone identified. Richard informs him that the ring was stolen many decades ago. Seigi asks Richard to help him find the owner. By a twist of fate, Richard is already acquainted with the owner and brings Seigi to see her. There, the woman listens to the story of Seigi's poor pickpocket grandmother and returns the ring to him with her blessing.Following this adventure, Richard offers Seigi a job at his jewelry shop and Seigi happily accepts and begins his employment under Richard. The rest of the first volume slowly introduces Seigi to the world of gemology, where he learns about mineral names for gemstones and what customers are looking for in gems, including cases where he's introduced to a lesbian woman using a ruby as a way to decide her future, a bartender trying to protect his hostess girlfriend from alcoholism, and a widower unsure of what to do with his late wife's engagement ring.
The book ends with Seigi turning down an internship at another company, saying he prefers to work with Richard, as he rather likes his boss.
Volume Two
The second volume of the series begins to delve deeper into the darker side of the gemstone industry. It includes an elementary school student hoping a gemstone can protect his family and a woman trying to cope with a breakup by buying herself a garnet ring before delving into more the darker stores.The titular "Emerald" case opens with Richard being asked to solve a possible haunting related to an emerald necklace, and after Seigi ropes him into helping, he instead uncovers a drug trafficking ploy using emeralds as payment and smuggling them across continents via the rental of ballet costumes. Richard ends up having to make multiple statements to the DEA before he and Seigi attend a ballet performance together.
Following that, Seigi meets by chance an old friend and clubmate from his karate days and winds up discovering the friend and protector he admired has wound up taking advantage of a woman with dementia and trying to sell her treasured fire opal. The story ends with Seigi's old friend declaring he never wants to see Seigi again, as someone like Seigi can't understand how someone could fall so far. Seigi then cries in Richard's car while Richard comforts him.
Volume Three
During volume three cases, it becomes quickly apparent Richard is not acting entirely himself. While he manages the first case, Topaz, relatively normally, in the following case, Turquoise, he takes on the alias "Edward Baxter" and barges into a jewelry scam shop to scam them back and terrify them into hiding.While Richard refuses to explain any of these actions, during the auction in the Jade case, he is confronted by a fellow jeweler working on behalf of foreign clients to purchase a particular carved jadeite item. He refers to Richard as "Lord Claremont" and warns Seigi from working with Richard, and that Richard is only using him and Richard's own beauty for his own purposes and does not care about anyone else. Seigi refuses to listen to the man, and Richard only explains that various things happened with his wealthy family back in England.
When Seigi's friend Tanimoto is deciding whether or not to pursue and engagement in the following case, and he is accordingly deciding whether or not to confess his own romantic feelings to her, Richard tells a story about himself as if it's another person, detailing a former engagement broken off for monetary reasons. When he finally convinces Seigi to pursue Tanimoto, he vanishes without a word, leaving only a cryptic note on his shop that it will be closed until further notice.
Once Seigi handles the situation with Tanimoto and they both remain single, he discovers the note and Richard's phone disconnected, where the book ends on a cliffhanger.
Structure
The series is organized into three distinct arcs, each marked by a time skip and with distinct narrative styles. The first arc encompasses the first six volumes. Each are divided into four distinct cases each named after a gemstone and featuring specific customers, with a bonus case matching the format but much shorter at the end. They are told almost exclusively from Seigi's first-person perspective.After a two-year time skip between volumes six and seven, the novel format changes for volumes seven to 10 to add a short prologue from Richard's voice in first person before returning to Seigi, and each book is divided into chapters covering days instead of distinct short stories or novellas involving specific gems and customers. The novels in arc two are much more holistic stories.
After another three year time skip, volume 11 picks up with a short prologue from Seigi and then follows a new narrator named Minoru in third person. The case format is back, but no longer named after gemstones but characters. Seigi also receives a short "half case" to narrate at the end focusing on himself and Richard.
Characters
;Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian;Seigi Nakata
;Shōko Tanimoto
;Haruyoshi Shimomura
;Jeffrey Claremont
;Henry Claremont
;Saul Ranasinghe Ali
Media
Light novel
In the initial Seven Seas Entertainment translation of volume 6, a chapter was omitted. After the issue was brought to the attention of Tsujimura, Seven Seas Entertainment apologized for this error on Twitter and offered a reprinted version with the chapter, pushing back the release of the print version several months.| No. | Japanese title | English title | Release date | English release date |
| 1 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard | December 17, 2015 | October 11, 2022 |
| 2 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 エメラルドは踊る | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: The Dancing Emeralds | May 20, 2016 | December 6, 2022 |
| 3 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 天使のアクアマリン | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: The Angel's Aquamarine | November 18, 2016 | February 28, 2023 |
| 4 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 導きのラピスラズリ | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: The Lapis Lazuli of Guidance | February 17, 2017 | May 9, 2023 |
| 5 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 祝福のペリドット | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard:: The Peridot of Remembrance | August 22, 2017 | August 1, 2023 |
| 6 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 転生のタンザナイト | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: The Tanzanite of Rebirth | January 19, 2018 | January 16, 2024 |
| 7 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 紅宝石（ルビー）の女王と裏切りの海 | June 21, 2018 | March 5, 2024 | |
| 8 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 夏の庭と黄金（ドール）の愛 | December 18, 2018 | July 16, 2024 | |
| 9 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 邂逅の珊瑚（サーンウー） | August 21, 2019 | November 19, 2024 | |
| 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定公式ファンブック エトランジェの宝石箱 | November 26, 2019 | |||
| 10 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 久遠の琥珀 | June 19, 2020 | April 22, 2025 | |
| 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 輝きのかけら | June 18, 2021 | December 30, 2025 | ||
| 11 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定少年と螺鈿箪笥 | June 24, 2022 | ||
| 12 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 ガラスの仮面舞踏会 | October 19, 2023 | July 28, 2026 | |
| 13 | 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定再開のインコンパラブル | September 19, 2024 |
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Mika Akatsuki began serialization in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero Sum magazine on November 26, 2019. The manga is licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on August 7, 2019. The series is animated by Shuka and directed by Tarou Iwasaki, with Mariko Kunisawa handling series composition, Natsuko Kondou designing the characters, and Nobuko Toda composing the series' music. It premiered from January 9 to March 26, 2020, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, BS11, and Wowow. Nagi Yanagi performed the series' opening theme song "Hōseki no Umareru Toki", while Da-ice performed the series' ending theme song "Only for you." It is streamed by Crunchyroll worldwide, excluding Asia. In Southeast Asia, Muse Communication licensed the series and streamed it on Muse Asia YouTube channel. It ran for 12 episodes.In addition, 6 volumes of drama CD, taking place after the final episode, were released between May 27 and July 22, 2020.
| Title | Original air date |