Batman may bill himself as the world’s greatest detective, but the universe of anime throws a virtually infinite number of curveballs into the mix. The greatest detectives of anime have skills that the Caped Crusader has never even had to dream of in his Gotham lair.
These detectives have gifts that go beyond the usual. They solve the most complicated and difficult crimes, sometimes concerning dimensions that go beyond that of the physical world - and none of them has the advantage of billions of dollars in family money to finance their work.
10 Oreki And Chitanda Use Observation And Analysis To Solve Mysteries (Hyouka)
Without the benefit of a big budget or advanced tech, high schoolers Oreki and Chitanda solve many mysteries in Hyouka, including the history of the Classics Club they both belong to. Oreki has what every great detective needs - an in-depth understanding of human nature and how events unfold in often unexpected ways. What he might lack in motivation, Chitanda has more than enough to make up for it, especially when it comes to the stubborn persistence needed to ferret out the clues.
9 Kyu And His Classmates Solve The Toughest Cases Together (Detective School Q)
Renjo Kyu was kidnapped as a child and held hostage by criminals. Ever since his release and rescue by his mentor Satoru Renjo, Kyu has vowed to become a detective just like him. Kyu studies at the Dan Detective School, and his friends include a girl with a photographic memory, a martial arts specialist, and others who become part of his class. He's a talented detective with a logical mind who won't give up until he's solved his case. Together with his friends, he takes the cases no one else can solve.
8 Ryoko Yakushiji Solves Tokyo’s Supernatural Crimes (Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo)
Ryoko Yakushiji is an elite officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. She's a graduate of the Tokyo University's Law Faculty and can speak several languages. She and her subordinate Junichiro Izumida (who she has a crush on) take on investigations that encompass both the natural and supernatural worlds - cases that cannot be dealt with with conventional science. Along with her brilliant mind and detecting abilities, she's got style, and she needs all of that to fend off the competition from rival investigators.
7 Hajime And Miyuke Travel To Find And Solve The World’s Deepest Mysteries (The File of Young Kindaichi)
High school student Hajime is the grandson of Kosuke Kindaichi, the man who was once Japan’s greatest detective. He’s inherited the family’s talent for solving crimes and becomes a detective to honor his grandfather’s memory.
Together with his friend Miyuki and Inspector Isamu Kenmochi, Hajime pursues a mission to uncover the truth behind some of the world's most unfathomable, and often gruesome, mysteries. He travels to remote islands and other ominous locations to find the toughest cases and solve them.
6 Detective Conan And His Friends Investigate Crimes And The Organization That Turned Him Into a Child (Case Closed)
Shinichi Kudo is an unwitting witness to the work of a secretive organization. Two of its black-coated operatives come after him and dose him with an experimental drug that has unexpected results - he turns back into a child. He takes the name Conan Edogawa (for Arthur Conan Doyle and Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo). Together with his new friends from school, he solves crimes, including the most difficult and unusual, and investigates the shadowy organization responsible for his regained status as a kid.
5 Narumi Helps Alice Solve Crimes As Part Of Her NEET Detective Agency (Heaven’s Memo Pad)
Narumi Fujishima is a classic NEET who gets coerced into joining the gardening club at school by a classmate. Through her, he meets Alice, a gifted hacker and genius-level detective. She runs a detective agency that just happens to be staffed by NEETs just like him, and Narumi becomes a part of the team. She’s the brains and he does the heavy lifting when it comes to the groundwork, but eventually, Narumi comes to suspect that she has her own ties to the crime syndicate they keep bumping up against.
4 Yakumo Saitou Uses His Red Eye To Solve Supernatural Mysteries (Psychic Detective Yakumo)
Yakumo Saitou was born with heterochromia - his left eye is red, and it can see ghosts and spirits in the physical world. He believes they only stay here because of unresolved issues, and he tries to help them pass on to the afterlife.
Haruka Ozawa, a friend, asks him to help another friend who has been possessed by a spirit, and it begins a series of supernatural detective adventures. Yakumo has a talent for uncovering secrets, and he and Haruka become entangled in a complex plot involving body exhumations.
3 Shinjuurou And Inga Solve Crimes That Are About To Happen (Un-Go)
Yuuki Shinjuurou and his partner Inga have a unique slant on crime-fighting - they solve the crimes that are inevitably about to happen. The background is a war-torn Tokyo. With most of the military deployed elsewhere as peacekeepers, terrorists have attacked Japan, leaving a half-destroyed dystopian urban landscape.
Inga is actually a demon inhabiting the body of a woman Yuuki once knew. She has the power to exact the truth out of anyone by asking a single question, and their investigations always uncover an unexpected truth inside of the supposed story.
2 L Is The World’s Best Detective Because It’s His Passion (Death Note)
No list of superlative anime detectives would be complete without L Lawliet, known as L, the genius detective who haunts Kira and understands him only too well. “Kira is childish, and he hates losing. You guessed it, I'm also childish and hate losing,” he says. He’s a detective for the sheer joy of flexing his intellect, so naturally, he takes on the infamous case of the mass murderer they call Kira. His suspicions lead him to Light Yagami, and the supernatural mystery at the heart of the killings.
1 Kogoro Akechi Can Pick And Choose His Cases (Rampo Kitan: Game Of Laplace)
Written by renowned Japanese mystery and suspense author Rampo Edogawa, Kogoro Akechi appears in a line of novels as well as the 2015 anime series. He’s stoic by nature, which pairs well with this logical detective’s mind. His renown has earned him a special class of detective’s badge, and it lets him pick and choose his cases. Akechi goes for the complicated and sensitive cases, and he pursues them till he gets an answer. Along with his brilliant mind, he’s more than adept at holding his own in a fistfight.
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