There are all sorts of different genres of anime that grab the audience’s attention, but there’s a real level of artistry and care applied to mystery anime that helps the genre stand out. There’s something inherently interesting about an engrossing mystery and it’s amazing to see how the limitless restrictions of anime can contribute to the genre.
Mystery anime have been around for decades and there are a number of approaches that can be taken with the form, whether they're more episodic and procedural or one big mystery that plays out over a season. Accordingly, here are 10 awesome anime all mystery fans need to see.
10 Detective Conan
Detective Conan (or Case Closed, as it’s also known as) doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, but it’s pure comfort food as far as mystery junkies are concerned. The premise involves a brilliant teenage detective named Shinichi Kudo who gets aged back to being a child.
Despite his younger body, he retains his intelligence and continues to solve crimes, albeit under the new secret identity of Conan Edogawa. Detective Conan is mostly of the procedural nature, but its light atmosphere, fun characters, and engaging mysteries have helped it go on for nearly 1,000 episodes at this point.
9 Paranoia Agent
Anime doesn’t get more brilliant or powerful than Paranoia Agent. In a nutshell, the series looks at the violent outbreak of attacks caused by the juvenile Lil' Slugger, but the deeper that Paranoia Agent digs, it becomes clear that this is a much less literal story.
The series tells a gripping and disturbing mystery that all comes down to social anxiety and mob mentality. It's a brilliant series that keeps viewers guessing until the end and it's some of the legendary Satoshi Kon's best work.
8 Death Parade
Death Parade is sublime storytelling that feels akin to the probing character studies that are delivered on The Twilight Zone. Each episode pairs two strangers together in some kind of mundane recreational game, whether it’s billiards, bowling, or darts. However, these games are over the fate of these individuals’ souls. In a way it’s the most insane take on a sports anime, but every episode illustrates that human beings are the biggest mystery of all. Death Parade has a larger narrative in the end, but it’s these intimate looks into human nature where it really finds its niche.
7 Another
Another is an expert in atmosphere in tension as it tells a powerful and disturbing story in a tight 12 episodes. Another looks at Kouichi Sakakibara, a boy who transfers to a new middle school only to learn that there's a mysterious problem where people in his new class are repeatedly killed in gruesome ways. Kouichi works together with a strange girl, Mei Misaki, to try to understand what's causing these deaths and if they might be next. Another doesn't hold back and it builds to a highly emotional finish.
6 The Future Diary
The Future Diary is like if Death Note and a high school slice of life anime series had a baby. 12 students are bestowed the powerful "Future Diaries," which allow them to see into the future. They all strive to be the last survivor, which will reward them with the right to become the God of Time and Space's successor. The Future Diary keeps its audience guessing over who is really pulling the strings and who the victor will be at the end of all of this. Big stakes and surprising deaths make The Future Diary a constantly entertaining mystery.
5 91 Days
91 Days tells such a satisfying and hard-boiled story that it's surprising it hasn't already been adapted into an American TV series. 91 Days makes a distinct impression with its Prohibition era setting and how it tells a destructive story about the mafia and the families that run it. Angelo Lagusa, desperate for revenge against the Vanetti Family, infiltrates the mob and dedicates his life to taking them down within a tight 91-day timeframe. Angelo is an amazing character and it's so much fun to see him lose sight of himself the deeper he gets into his revenge mission.
4 Death Note
Death Note is one of the most popular anime to come out of the 21st century. It’s been able to make such an impression because of how it’s such an unusual mash-up of different genres. Death Note is a haunting morality tale that explores how power can corrupt and the fluidity between hero and villain. Death Note verges into the action and horror genres with its sprawling set pieces and the monstrous Ryuk, but at its core it’s a mystery about how far Light will go and who will be left standing once this game of cat-and-mouse is over.
3 Higurashi When They Cry
Higurashi When They Cry is the kind of anime series that David Lynch would make. It's an extremely trippy murder mystery that's set within an unassuming school and full of juvenile stereotypes. What's so powerful about When They Cry is how it dresses itself up as a cutesy slice of life anime, only for the devastating murders to hit that much harder and really come as a surprise. A very confusing storyline that doesn't care about conventional chronology makes When They Cry one of the more challenging mysteries to unpack.
2 Id: Invaded
Id: Invaded is a new anime series from this year that approaches the mystery genre in a refreshing way. Narihisago is a disgraced detective who's currently in prison after his emotions got the better of him and he kills a serial killer that destroyed his family. Still an expert in his field, the police introduce Narihisago to a new kind of technology that allows him to enter the id of serial killers, study their crimes, and figure out why they acted. It's a smart mix of sci-fi and mystery that showcases both episodic mysteries and a more serialized story, too.
1 Erased
Erased is an absolute juggernaut of a mystery anime that condenses an amazing story down into 12 addictive episodes. Satoru is an individual with a supernatural power called "Revival" that allows him to go back several minutes in time to help save people's lives in incidental ways. However, one of his Revivals sends him decades into the past and he's pushed into a position to solve a long-brewing mystery over a child kidnapper who is still causing damage in the present. Erased has a tight ticking clock timeline and it truly creates empathy for the characters.