Detective anime series are one of the more unusual niches in the anime world. While some focus on the traditional elements of solving crimes, many blend in other genres like science fiction and fantasy to add to their appeal.
Detective and mystery solving themes may not be the most popular genre of anime overall, but there seems to be a growing interest in the niche. Most of all, the stories hinge around an interesting character: The detective who may have their own personal reasons for looking into the truth.
10 Kindaichi Shounen No Jikenbo/The File Of Young Kindaichi (7.99)
Hajime Kindaichi is the grandson of a famous detective, Kosuke Kindaichi. Even though they are still high school students, Hajime and his best friend Miyuki solve serious cases, including hard to solve murders, serial killer sprees, and more.
He seems disorganized and laidback at first, but Hajime’s sharp mind solves every case. Inspector Isamu Kenmochi helps out, along with a few friends from school, as the young detective travels far and wide in search of answers to the mysteries that cross his path.
9 Hyouka (8.15)
A detective/mystery and slice of life anime, Hyouka centers on Houtarou Oreki, an unmotivated high school student who gets a letter from his sister asking him to join the Kamiyama High School Classics Club, which is in danger of folding. He does, and quickly makes friends with a girl named Eru Chitanda.
Other friends join the club, and they set out to solve a mystery that goes back to the club's origins 45 years earlier. Hyouka is the name of the club anthology they look to for clues.
8 Detective Conan/Case Closed (8.17)
Shinichi Kudo is a high school detective tailing two members of the Black Organization. They overpower him and force him to swallow an experimental poison. They leave him for dead, but instead, he's regressed physically to the body of a six-year-old.
Shinichi starts calling himself Conan Edogawa, and resumes his detective work to both hunt down the Black Organization as well as find a cure for the poison they gave him, helping detective Kogoro Mouri— his childhood friend's father— along the way.
7 Bungo Stray Dogs (8.21)
The mysteries encountered in Bungo Stray Dogs are of the supernatural kind, beginning with the mystical tiger who's been wreaking havoc in the orphanage where Atsushi Nakajima lives.
He's blamed for the disturbances and kicked out in the street at the age of 18 since no one else can see the tiger— that is, no one but a strange man by the name of Osamu Dazai. Atsushi becomes part of the team of supernatural investigators who take on the crimes the police can't solve.
6 Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi/Erased (8.39)
Satoru Fujinuma is a nondescript employee of Oasi Pizza, but he has a hidden gift called Revival that lets him go back in time. He can use that power to change events, and even prevent terrible events from happening.
One day he wakes up back in 1988, in time to save his classmates from getting kidnapped, and his mother from being murdered. To do that, he has to solve the crimes as the clock ticks down to X-day, when it all took place.
5 Psycho-Pass (8.39)
Psycho-Pass is detective anime with a cyberpunk aesthetic. It’s 2113, and in Japan, crime detection has become preventive. The Sibyl System calculates a person’s so-called Crime Coefficient, a kind of score based on personality traits and mental state. If it’s high enough, Enforcers track you down and either lock you up or terminate you.
After a death occurs close to him, an Enforcer’s Crime Coefficient hits the roof. Can they still do their job? The blend of psychological and sci-fi drama is what its many fans love.
4 Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex/2nd GIG (8.45/8.55)
Ghost in the Shell: SAC and SAC 2nd Gig are set in 2030, when most people have replaced at least some of their body parts with synthetics. The Japanese government forms a special unit called Section 9 to deal with cyber crime, which can now involve hacking people’s brains.
The team is headed by Major Motoko Kusanagi, the only one so far who has never had a physical human body– her ghost having been implanted directly into a synthetic body. Each season sees them solving crimes committed by master hackers.
3 Death Note (8.63)
Most of the focus in discussions of Death Note goes to the whole Shingami leaves a notebook theme, and the degeneration of Light from a well-meaning student to a person corrupted by the notebook’s power. But, it’s the enigmatic detective L who relies only on their impressive intellect to hunt down the mysterious serial killer of criminals in Tokyo. It’s the cat and mouse game between L and Light that creates a lot of the drama in the story.
2 Gosick (8.74)
Kazuya is an exchange student at the Saint Marguerite Academy. One day she encounters the mysterious Victorique de Blois, a student who doesn’t go to class. Together, they begin both a friendship and a mystery solving partnership.
Victorique can predict the future, and the mysteries they encounter include a ghost ship and an alchemist, making for an unusual twist on the mystery/detective genre. Gradually, it becomes clear that the mysteries they solve link to larger issues in the story.
1 Monster (8.74)
Somewhere in Central Europe in the late 20th century, Dr. Kenzou Tenma is a neurosurgeon on the way up socially and professionally. One day, he's asked to perform surgery on an entertainer instead of a poor immigrant worker.
The worker dies, and the next time he's given the word to save the mayor instead of a young boy, he chooses the boy. His career takes a hit, but mysteriously, his enemies die one by one. Years later, he comes face to face with a monster: The young boy he saved.