[LyricalAura]

I'll respond to other stuff later, but I want to correct this bit:

The part of the interview haguruma brought up is actually referring to what Ôta believes to be the size of the anti-mystery fanbase in Japan, based on his publishing knowledge. Namely, the people who would be likely to be happy with an ending that didn't give an explicit answer. It didn't have anything to do with Ryuukishi claiming his tricks were too "novel" -- actually, Ryuukishi himself says that he deliberately used mostly reflavorings of classic tricks.