Magic Review - The Secrets of So Sato
Title: The Secrets of So Sato Format: Book with Demonstration DVD Creator: So Sato & Richard Kaufman Cost: $60.00 Skill Level: Intermediate - Advanced Page Count: 191 Available from: http://kaufman.geniimagazine.com/ or your favorite magic dealer Magicians Choice Rating: 4
This hardback book is high quality, and well made. The book comes with an obi strip instead of a dust jacket, and has an accompanying DVD full of performances of the effects in the book. The performances are in Japanese and do not contain subtitles, but they are not necessary. The DVD is a nice addition to the book. It was helpful to have a visual component to go along with the excellent descriptions in the book.
The paper stock is high quality, and the illustrations are excellent, and are on the same spread as the text that references them, which makes everything much easier to learn since you do not have to flip back and forth to see the illustrations.
All the effects are with cards, and for the most part are done either standing or sitting at a table. Some of the effects can be modified to be done strolling, but for the most part these are table effects.
Some of the routines that stand out to me are:
Lateral thinking assembly (a.k.a. Cross Assembler)
Love A Dove Dove
Warp Wrap
Bushfire Triumph
Bushfire Triumph 1.5
Zen Derby
Amnesia
Acrobat Leader
I like the section on Mass Destruction Stacking, but I personally think I gained more from the section entitled Mimic Show. Although I have learned a lot from this book I feel like this section has the most value to me and where I am at with my magic right now.
The tricks are not knuckle busting but this is also not for the beginner. The difficulty level is a strong intermediate to advanced. The angles for everything in the book are good. Only a few effects require much attention angle wise.
I should point out that many of the routines do require setting up the deck, but there are some impromptu things as well.
Overall I enjoyed this book and I think this is something that card folks will enjoy.
Contents:
Magic Slap - In this effect a freely selected card is noted and returned to the deck. After briefly showing the hands empty the magician claps his hands and the chosen card appears between them. You should watch the angles on this, but if you do this is a startling appearance of the card.
Shrink Vanish – A card is shown to shrink and then is vanished, only to reproduced from the inside of your jacket.
Reverse Highlight – A card is selected and returned to the deck. The magician demonstrates that to find it all he has to do is turn the deck face up and look for the card that is unusual. The selected card is found face down in a face up deck.
Another “All Backs” - A regular deck of cards is broken, and is shown to have no faces, the deck is fixed to show the faces return. There is an interesting half pass in this effect.
Bath Towel Mentalism – 2 spectators select cards under a bath towel, and the 2 spectators switch cards. The performer divines the cards despite everything being done under the cover of the towel.
Lucky Number Poker – 2 spectators trade cards from their hand based on a selected number and the magician has predicted the outcome.
Lateral Thinking Assembly (a.k.a. Cross Assembler) – This routine is like a matrix effect with cards. Four packets laid out in a square have a King placed on each. The Kings are picked up and switched with the king on the opposite packet. In the end the kings are assembled onto 1 packet. I really like this effect and I can see spending some time on this.
Mote-Monte – Under the guise of a compatibility test the spectator find the only queen in a group of kings. This could also end with finding the only king in a group of queens.
Three to One – The spectator selects the only purse with a coin inside/or the spectator finds the only purse without a coin inside, depending on the choice freely made by the spectator.
So-lution 1 – In this version of ACAAN a deck of cards halfway inside the card case sits on the table. A spectator selects a number, another spectator names a card. Pulling one card out of the deck at a time the magician counts down to the number and reveals the named card. There is an interesting little “pass” in this effect that done well I think will fly right by.
So-lution 2 – This is another solution to the ACAAN and So Sato says he has never performed it.
The Professor Still Fools Us – A prediction from the professor matches the spectators chosen card. This effect uses many different outs.
You Can Count on Dr. Daley – Daley’s last trick done at the table.
Love A Dove Dove – 1 of a four of a kind vanishes from under the magician’s hand and appears on/under the card box.
Ying Yang Divide – 6 cards are dealt and the spectator can place the cards on either side of a yin yang symbol. The yin yang has controlled the actions of the spectator and the magician shows that the results had been predicted. This has the possibility of ending with a color separation, but that is only one of the possible outcomes.
Warp Wrap – A selected card is noted and returned face up into the pack. To prevent anything fishy the deck is wrapped in a rubber band. The card penetrates the deck and the rubber band and lands on the table. The performer takes the card and slaps it back into the deck. It has penetrated the rubber band again. It is reveals face up in the center of the deck. This is one of my favorite routines from this book. This is very visual and this is the only effect that uses a gimmick. I’ll be working this up and trying it out.
Bushfire Triumph – a triumph style routine where 2 cards are located. This has a very clean and fair looking mix of the face up and face down cards that occurs on the table.
Mass Destruction Stacking – This strategy allows for a preset deck stack to survive some controlled mixed by the spectator.
Poker Demon-stration – Using Mass Destruction Stacking the performer produces a strong poker hand from a well-mixed deck.
Poker Demon-stration Plus – After a good mix the performer deals a strong hand to himself. Cutting the packets reveals a stronger hand to the spectator.
Quartet Shuffle – A lesson in shuffling, cutting and dealing reveals 4 of a kind.
Destroy and Search – A card is selected and found in a well-mixed pack. There is a huge setup here.
Kyoto “Okiniiri” Prediction – The performer predicts a favorite location picked from a group of post cards.
Blue Print – The performer predicts the order of value of a suit of cards in a shuffled deck.
Zen Derby – In this effect each suit represents a horse in a race. The spectator deals the cards, that make the cards move ahead in the race, but the performers horse is going to win.
Mimic Show – This is a great little display that looks like the four aces, but not everything is what it appears to be.
Amnesia – Using the Mimic Show 4 aces are alternated with indifferent cards. In the end, all the aces end up on top.
Amnesia Lite – 3 Aces are alternating with 2 indifferent cards and in the end the aces end up on top. This uses the Mimic Show display and removes a move from the Amnesia handling.
Elevator Action – Three aces that are randomly placed into the deck assemble with the ace of spades that the spectator placed into a random location. Uses the Mimic Show Display.
Pick Pocket Lesson – The four aces are randomly placed in half of the deck and that half is held tightly by the spectator. A card is selected from the other half and based on the card selected, the performer steals the ace that matches the suit of the selected card from the spectator’s half of the deck. This is a casual and fun routine and I think it stands out in this book.
Worker Bee “Collectors” – Three aces trap 2 selections on the table in this difficult collector’s routine.
Love A Dove Dove Plus – This version of uses The Mimic Show Display.
Outsourcing Sandwich – A standard sandwich effect but using The Mimic Show.
Bushfire Triumph Ver.1.5 -This version find one selection rather than two, and the visual mix of face up and face down cards on the table looks a little more random.
Acrobat Leader – Using a method explored in Lateral Thinking Assembly this is an excellent follow the leader effect.
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Acrobat Leader – Using a method explore iLate Thinking Assembly this is an excellent follow the leader effect.