I eat mysteries.
Since I recently rewatched UN-GO... (including the prologue movie, which I don't think I've posted about before and which I think proved my original instincts about the backstory/supernatural element more or less correct)... kind of felt like making a list of mystery animanga recs/anti-recs. I'm not gonna include noir/procedurals/police dramas on this list because they fall under a slightly different genre (though for the record my favorite police series is probably Tsutomu Takahashi's Jiraishin, which is gorgeously noir without actually adhering to any noir tropes except maybe "troubled antihero").
1. Mouryou no Hako. Very probably my favorite mystery anime of all time as of current writing. Like I said in my reaction post last year though, the initial setup (dismembered girls in boxes) is VERY offputting at first glance. But it is one of the most intricate, thematically complex mysteries I have ever encountered in any medium. It is NOT a horror series despite appearances and despite genuinely disturbing creepiness. (All the creepiness is thoroughly grounded in reality with perhaps some SF undertones.) And like I said, it may be a difficult watch because it's HEAVILY grounded in obsessive esoteric cultural/linguistic/religious references. But it is so, so worth it. Bonus: the atmospheric post-WWII setting is gorgeously animated and the character designs (by CLAMP) are surprisingly nice. I'm actually interested in digging up the original novels, but of course they aren't translated because they are definitely not translation friendly. o_O (Though the one made into a live-action movie, Summer of the Ubume, WAS translated into English -- by Alexander O. Smith to boot!!! MUST LOOK UP.)
2. UN-GO. Easily the smartest show of 2011, mystery or not, and imo the best of that year. I've watched it about 3-4 times by now (I almost never rewatch series) and it still holds up. I posted somewhat extensively on it when it originally aired (check the tag I linked above). It's a cyberpunk* deconstruction** of the classic Golden Age mystery/whodunnit (to sum up: closed circle of suspects, central detective figure uses a combination of observation and deductive reasoning to pinpoint the truth of the matter) -- the cases themselves are often obvious (which is usually an irredeemable flaw for a whodunnit), but the true strength of the series lies in the tight writing, worldbuilding, amazing thematic arc, and underlying philosophical tension. I think it makes for good paired viewing with Mouryou no Hako (another good series to watch with Mouryou no Hako is Daughter of 20 Faces, but that's not really mystery) -- despite the subtly futuristic setting, the original material was set in the Meiji period (and written post-WWII), and the resulting thematic echoes/parallels are set up very, very well. In some sense I think the series is best appreciated if you have a solid grounding in 20th century Japanese history/literature/politics and Japanese Buddhist philosophy*** (plus some general awareness/understanding of Shinto beliefs), but it's not necessary and the series is FAR more "accessible" to a general audience than Mouryou no Hako.
Note though that the prologue movie (Inga-ron) should be watched LAST imo, as it otherwise spoils the classic Bones troll arc thrown in right before the finale. It explains a lot that can already be more or less inferred from the main series, but also offers the most satisfying conclusion. (Especially if you didn't completely grasp everything during the main series -- for once BONES offers ANSWERS ahahahaha.)
* afaik I'm the only person on the internet who considers the series cyberpunk. I explained my reasoning in previous posts though.
** I've since encountered an alternate argument that traditional Japanese mystery stories were already inherently opposed to the mystery tradition represented by the Golden Age writers (in the sense that the prime concern was not the deductive process/solutions, but rather in the examination of societal mores), but I'm not at all familiar with the "indigenous" Japanese mysteries that predate or weren't influenced by the classic English style or by Edgar Allen Poe (though I'm vaguely aware of their existence). Whether or not the original material falls under this category, I have no idea -- but imo as a 21st century anime adaptation it's impossible that the creators were unaware of the fact that they were deconstructing the genre as popularly understood nowadays.
*** not Zen as most Westerners understand it. The Buddhist principles that show up in the series cleave closer to Mahayana schools of thought. (Zen technically falls under Mahayana, but in Japan the difference between Zen and the other Mahayana traditions are much more pronounced than they are elsewhere. I believe Ango Sakaguchi was heavily influenced by Indian philosophy at one point [according to J-wiki he studied Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan in university], and I think it shows.)
3. Detective Conan (localized as Case Closed). So the premise may seem childish/overly fantastic (teen detective is shrunken to age 7 or so and proceeds to solve cases by drugging his childhood sweetheart's incompetent dad), but once you get over the gimmicks the cases themselves are very well crafted/tightly characterized and the main plot arcs are particularly twisty and fun. These are all mostly very classic whodunnits (with an occasional "howdunnit" to spice things up) and so carefully written/foreshadowed that it's very much possible to "solve" the cases alongside the main characters without the solutions ever being overly obvious. One of the classics, and frankly one of the best long-term series that has ever existed. (how long has it been now, like 15 years?) Obviously, no mature themes due to target audience, but otherwise definitely not dumbed down at all. Murders may be (fairly realistically) gruesome but are tastefully depicted. Manga is much better than anime (animators sometimes did not realize certain things were clues/pieces of foreshadowing for stuff that wouldn't come into play until much later on), but there are a handful of anime-only cases that stand out too. Don't bother with the movies unless you're a hardcore fan -- those truly are dumbed down fanservicey CG action vehicles.
4. Kindaichi. a.k.a. the other classic high school detective. The various series seem a little more mature than Conan in general, and the cases are equally well crafted (in some cases even more complex and more novel-esque if that makes any sense). But... I despise the treatment of female characters in Kindaichi (of whom there are two basic types -- frail ojousan and older sexy lady, either of whom may be secretly evil and/or tragic and/or intelligent but ultimately helpless/incompetent). And I dislike Kindaichi himself. (Conan/Shinichi may be obnoxious and arrogant, but he is still somehow likeable despite that.) Still, the writing in Kindaichi is generally pretty strong. I enjoy the cases quite a bit even when I'm rolling my eyes at the people involved. Atmospheric closed setting cases galore.
5. Detective Academy Q. Written by one of the dudes who did Kindaichi (he's a prolific writer with a gazillion pen names -- but his output is also really uneven). Take all the issues I have with Kindaichi. Multiply them. Add the fact that all the characters are annoying as fuck. And that photographic memory Doesn't Work That Way. The result is one hot mess. (Some of the cases are admittedly good despite everything. But I still find the series incredibly dumb on the whole.) Having inadvertently read a great deal of his output, dude just fails at writing women in general... this one is just particularly irritating.
6. Remote. By the same dude again. Honestly, I'm not sure whether this one is worse than Detective Academy Q or better -- the cast is marginally less annoying, but the cases are very subpar (I don't remember any of them at all, and I read this series fairly recently. Even Detective Academy had some fairly memorable cases despite the overall stupidity).
I've read some of his other work under other names, but the only one I genuinely like without reservation is Kami no Shizuku, which is a wine manga (and cowritten with his sister). :P
(I haven't bothered checking out Psychometer Eiji because every time I look at it, I remember his crappy women and failtastic gimmicks [Kindaichi really only works because it is very much in the tradition of Golden Age mysteries with locked room tricks and falsified alibis serving as the only contrivances, i.e. no extraneous crap at all] and go, "Meh.")
7. Q.E.D.. Finally moving on to other writers... this series features a pretty likeable main duo. But as someone who actually studied math, the math references are ridiculously BAD (not to mention way too many other instances of RESEARCH FAIL) and in general the cases are boring and mediocre.
8. Kaminaga Manabu's stuff (Conductor, Kakuritsu Sousakan Mikoshiba Gakuto, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo). I'm lumping them all together because I've only read Conductor in its entirety in Chinese, not enough of Probability Investigator Mikoshiba is out yet for me to tell whether the math/statistics is dumb, and Yakumo is supernaturally-flavored mystery, which is a subgenre I'm biased against. Still, pretty strong writing... just really hard for me to judge. (Conductor is weird.) Arguably better with psychology and character drama than with actual mystery. Anyway, the Oda Suzuka version of Yakumo is by far the best of the non-novel versions. Speaking of which, I'm interested in Kaminaga's novels in general, but not nearly as much as I want the Mouryou no Hako series mentioned above.
9. Coelacanth. Single 2-volume mystery rather than a series of standalones. Not so much an intellectual puzzle as it is a lovely, delicate psychological character exploration. Quietly moving, with a powerful central image.
10. Ai no Joou. Another short, self-contained mystery. Nothing stand-out in particular, but it hits all the right notes for the sort of "family secrets" mystery it is, and isn't dumb/overly obvious. Very good for a quick read. Almost wish it could be expanded into a series.
11. Ghost Hunt. Like I say a lot, I'm way biased against supernatural mystery, but Ghost Hunt is one of the exceptions because it approaches magic and the supernatural "scientifically" and the solutions don't rely on gimmicks. Functionally the series is actually probably closer to a procedural than a classic mystery, but given the closed settings for each case I'm gonna include it here anyway. Besides, the strength of the series is easily in its cast. (And the subtle relationship trolling. XD)
(I <3 Ono Fuyumi. SHe's actually married to another mystery writer too, but I don't think I've encountered his work yet.)
12. Gosick. It's... cracky, in case you can't tell from the title -- almost a parody of the genre the way UN-GO is a deconstruction. :P Can otherwise sum it up as: "All atmosphere, no substance." Funny enough though, and entertaining -- it's tough to pull off a good parody! I think this series works because it takes the cases seriously even though the underlying characterization/worldbuilding/structure is all wink-wink-nudge-nudge.
13. The Mystic Archives of Dantalian. Along with Gosick, the second of what I think of as the "gothloli detective series". Man, I like magical libraries and magical books in theory, but have yet to read a series that really does something interesting with the concept. Anyway, this series, unlike Gosick, is more fantasy than mystery. I didn't get very far with it, and it's possible it gets better... but I'm sorry I can't take lolis seriously.
14. Himitsu (by Shimizu Reiko). An objectively good, even great series that I have just never been able to get into due to my personal biases against supernatural/overly gimmicky elements in my mystery. I've got nothing against mystery that is more psychological than "puzzle", but combining both an SFish psychological gimmick AND supernatural stuff? Dunno. This series just never clicked with me because of that. But hey, pretty angsty boys galore...
It's also a gory series, but that's not (usually) an issue with me, especially considering the clinical beauty with which the gore is depicted. I guess something about my own mentality and the way my brain works ironically inures me to the story? i.e. the ethical/psychological concerns the story revolves around don't really work for me even though intellectually I totally get them...
On second thought though, this probably is closer to a procedural/police drama than a mystery series anyway.
15. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. Fun cast/set up. Cases were decent. I followed this right from its initial manga serialization but don't think I ever actually finished reading it and never watched the anime.
16. Matantei Loki. Forgettable. I remember the leads had a nice dynamic (Neuro's lead dynamic is much more unique/entertaining though), but obviously I didn't care enough to finish reading the series. :P Plus I seem to remember that the fantasy part of the plot was just dumb alongside otherwise decent cases.
17. Psychic Odagiri Kyouko's Lies. "Fake psychic solves cases using psychological manipulation (and very well-disguised intelligence ahahaha)." By Kaitani Shinobu!! Love Liar Game and One Outs, both of which feature very smart writing (Liar Game in particular) with mediocre art alas, though neither of them are mystery series but con man series. Kyouko is more of a classic mystery series (with a twist or two or three), but... I think the live action drama is better, oddly enough, though admittedly there's not nearly enough of the manga out in English to judge. (I skimmed ahead in Chinese and didn't like it much.) Still a hilariously clever little gem of a series though.
18. Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning. Loved this when I first read it years ago (didn't watch the anime), but never finished it until Zetsuen no Tempest anime was announced and I realized the writer was the same. Surprisingly, it still holds up, though it's not really "classic" mystery except for like the very beginning (the structure lasts maybe two cases before disintegrating into something else entirely). It's... well, its own unique mashup of various genre elements, with some very smart plot twists engineered by very smart characters. Not entirely sure the true story arc pulls together entirely (Tempest is a much more matured narrative), but it's still a damn good read, and one of the few entries on this list where the female characters are allowed agency and to be just as clever and cunning as the male characters rather than being relegated to "Watson" or tragic villain/victim status.
.....
I wasn't kidding about my subject line.
comments at the original Dreamwidth post
1. Mouryou no Hako. Very probably my favorite mystery anime of all time as of current writing. Like I said in my reaction post last year though, the initial setup (dismembered girls in boxes) is VERY offputting at first glance. But it is one of the most intricate, thematically complex mysteries I have ever encountered in any medium. It is NOT a horror series despite appearances and despite genuinely disturbing creepiness. (All the creepiness is thoroughly grounded in reality with perhaps some SF undertones.) And like I said, it may be a difficult watch because it's HEAVILY grounded in obsessive esoteric cultural/linguistic/religious references. But it is so, so worth it. Bonus: the atmospheric post-WWII setting is gorgeously animated and the character designs (by CLAMP) are surprisingly nice. I'm actually interested in digging up the original novels, but of course they aren't translated because they are definitely not translation friendly. o_O (Though the one made into a live-action movie, Summer of the Ubume, WAS translated into English -- by Alexander O. Smith to boot!!! MUST LOOK UP.)
2. UN-GO. Easily the smartest show of 2011, mystery or not, and imo the best of that year. I've watched it about 3-4 times by now (I almost never rewatch series) and it still holds up. I posted somewhat extensively on it when it originally aired (check the tag I linked above). It's a cyberpunk* deconstruction** of the classic Golden Age mystery/whodunnit (to sum up: closed circle of suspects, central detective figure uses a combination of observation and deductive reasoning to pinpoint the truth of the matter) -- the cases themselves are often obvious (which is usually an irredeemable flaw for a whodunnit), but the true strength of the series lies in the tight writing, worldbuilding, amazing thematic arc, and underlying philosophical tension. I think it makes for good paired viewing with Mouryou no Hako (another good series to watch with Mouryou no Hako is Daughter of 20 Faces, but that's not really mystery) -- despite the subtly futuristic setting, the original material was set in the Meiji period (and written post-WWII), and the resulting thematic echoes/parallels are set up very, very well. In some sense I think the series is best appreciated if you have a solid grounding in 20th century Japanese history/literature/politics and Japanese Buddhist philosophy*** (plus some general awareness/understanding of Shinto beliefs), but it's not necessary and the series is FAR more "accessible" to a general audience than Mouryou no Hako.
Note though that the prologue movie (Inga-ron) should be watched LAST imo, as it otherwise spoils the classic Bones troll arc thrown in right before the finale. It explains a lot that can already be more or less inferred from the main series, but also offers the most satisfying conclusion. (Especially if you didn't completely grasp everything during the main series -- for once BONES offers ANSWERS ahahahaha.)
* afaik I'm the only person on the internet who considers the series cyberpunk. I explained my reasoning in previous posts though.
** I've since encountered an alternate argument that traditional Japanese mystery stories were already inherently opposed to the mystery tradition represented by the Golden Age writers (in the sense that the prime concern was not the deductive process/solutions, but rather in the examination of societal mores), but I'm not at all familiar with the "indigenous" Japanese mysteries that predate or weren't influenced by the classic English style or by Edgar Allen Poe (though I'm vaguely aware of their existence). Whether or not the original material falls under this category, I have no idea -- but imo as a 21st century anime adaptation it's impossible that the creators were unaware of the fact that they were deconstructing the genre as popularly understood nowadays.
*** not Zen as most Westerners understand it. The Buddhist principles that show up in the series cleave closer to Mahayana schools of thought. (Zen technically falls under Mahayana, but in Japan the difference between Zen and the other Mahayana traditions are much more pronounced than they are elsewhere. I believe Ango Sakaguchi was heavily influenced by Indian philosophy at one point [according to J-wiki he studied Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan in university], and I think it shows.)
3. Detective Conan (localized as Case Closed). So the premise may seem childish/overly fantastic (teen detective is shrunken to age 7 or so and proceeds to solve cases by drugging his childhood sweetheart's incompetent dad), but once you get over the gimmicks the cases themselves are very well crafted/tightly characterized and the main plot arcs are particularly twisty and fun. These are all mostly very classic whodunnits (with an occasional "howdunnit" to spice things up) and so carefully written/foreshadowed that it's very much possible to "solve" the cases alongside the main characters without the solutions ever being overly obvious. One of the classics, and frankly one of the best long-term series that has ever existed. (how long has it been now, like 15 years?) Obviously, no mature themes due to target audience, but otherwise definitely not dumbed down at all. Murders may be (fairly realistically) gruesome but are tastefully depicted. Manga is much better than anime (animators sometimes did not realize certain things were clues/pieces of foreshadowing for stuff that wouldn't come into play until much later on), but there are a handful of anime-only cases that stand out too. Don't bother with the movies unless you're a hardcore fan -- those truly are dumbed down fanservicey CG action vehicles.
4. Kindaichi. a.k.a. the other classic high school detective. The various series seem a little more mature than Conan in general, and the cases are equally well crafted (in some cases even more complex and more novel-esque if that makes any sense). But... I despise the treatment of female characters in Kindaichi (of whom there are two basic types -- frail ojousan and older sexy lady, either of whom may be secretly evil and/or tragic and/or intelligent but ultimately helpless/incompetent). And I dislike Kindaichi himself. (Conan/Shinichi may be obnoxious and arrogant, but he is still somehow likeable despite that.) Still, the writing in Kindaichi is generally pretty strong. I enjoy the cases quite a bit even when I'm rolling my eyes at the people involved. Atmospheric closed setting cases galore.
5. Detective Academy Q. Written by one of the dudes who did Kindaichi (he's a prolific writer with a gazillion pen names -- but his output is also really uneven). Take all the issues I have with Kindaichi. Multiply them. Add the fact that all the characters are annoying as fuck. And that photographic memory Doesn't Work That Way. The result is one hot mess. (Some of the cases are admittedly good despite everything. But I still find the series incredibly dumb on the whole.) Having inadvertently read a great deal of his output, dude just fails at writing women in general... this one is just particularly irritating.
6. Remote. By the same dude again. Honestly, I'm not sure whether this one is worse than Detective Academy Q or better -- the cast is marginally less annoying, but the cases are very subpar (I don't remember any of them at all, and I read this series fairly recently. Even Detective Academy had some fairly memorable cases despite the overall stupidity).
I've read some of his other work under other names, but the only one I genuinely like without reservation is Kami no Shizuku, which is a wine manga (and cowritten with his sister). :P
(I haven't bothered checking out Psychometer Eiji because every time I look at it, I remember his crappy women and failtastic gimmicks [Kindaichi really only works because it is very much in the tradition of Golden Age mysteries with locked room tricks and falsified alibis serving as the only contrivances, i.e. no extraneous crap at all] and go, "Meh.")
7. Q.E.D.. Finally moving on to other writers... this series features a pretty likeable main duo. But as someone who actually studied math, the math references are ridiculously BAD (not to mention way too many other instances of RESEARCH FAIL) and in general the cases are boring and mediocre.
8. Kaminaga Manabu's stuff (Conductor, Kakuritsu Sousakan Mikoshiba Gakuto, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo). I'm lumping them all together because I've only read Conductor in its entirety in Chinese, not enough of Probability Investigator Mikoshiba is out yet for me to tell whether the math/statistics is dumb, and Yakumo is supernaturally-flavored mystery, which is a subgenre I'm biased against. Still, pretty strong writing... just really hard for me to judge. (Conductor is weird.) Arguably better with psychology and character drama than with actual mystery. Anyway, the Oda Suzuka version of Yakumo is by far the best of the non-novel versions. Speaking of which, I'm interested in Kaminaga's novels in general, but not nearly as much as I want the Mouryou no Hako series mentioned above.
9. Coelacanth. Single 2-volume mystery rather than a series of standalones. Not so much an intellectual puzzle as it is a lovely, delicate psychological character exploration. Quietly moving, with a powerful central image.
10. Ai no Joou. Another short, self-contained mystery. Nothing stand-out in particular, but it hits all the right notes for the sort of "family secrets" mystery it is, and isn't dumb/overly obvious. Very good for a quick read. Almost wish it could be expanded into a series.
11. Ghost Hunt. Like I say a lot, I'm way biased against supernatural mystery, but Ghost Hunt is one of the exceptions because it approaches magic and the supernatural "scientifically" and the solutions don't rely on gimmicks. Functionally the series is actually probably closer to a procedural than a classic mystery, but given the closed settings for each case I'm gonna include it here anyway. Besides, the strength of the series is easily in its cast. (And the subtle relationship trolling. XD)
(I <3 Ono Fuyumi. SHe's actually married to another mystery writer too, but I don't think I've encountered his work yet.)
12. Gosick. It's... cracky, in case you can't tell from the title -- almost a parody of the genre the way UN-GO is a deconstruction. :P Can otherwise sum it up as: "All atmosphere, no substance." Funny enough though, and entertaining -- it's tough to pull off a good parody! I think this series works because it takes the cases seriously even though the underlying characterization/worldbuilding/structure is all wink-wink-nudge-nudge.
13. The Mystic Archives of Dantalian. Along with Gosick, the second of what I think of as the "gothloli detective series". Man, I like magical libraries and magical books in theory, but have yet to read a series that really does something interesting with the concept. Anyway, this series, unlike Gosick, is more fantasy than mystery. I didn't get very far with it, and it's possible it gets better... but I'm sorry I can't take lolis seriously.
14. Himitsu (by Shimizu Reiko). An objectively good, even great series that I have just never been able to get into due to my personal biases against supernatural/overly gimmicky elements in my mystery. I've got nothing against mystery that is more psychological than "puzzle", but combining both an SFish psychological gimmick AND supernatural stuff? Dunno. This series just never clicked with me because of that. But hey, pretty angsty boys galore...
It's also a gory series, but that's not (usually) an issue with me, especially considering the clinical beauty with which the gore is depicted. I guess something about my own mentality and the way my brain works ironically inures me to the story? i.e. the ethical/psychological concerns the story revolves around don't really work for me even though intellectually I totally get them...
On second thought though, this probably is closer to a procedural/police drama than a mystery series anyway.
15. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. Fun cast/set up. Cases were decent. I followed this right from its initial manga serialization but don't think I ever actually finished reading it and never watched the anime.
16. Matantei Loki. Forgettable. I remember the leads had a nice dynamic (Neuro's lead dynamic is much more unique/entertaining though), but obviously I didn't care enough to finish reading the series. :P Plus I seem to remember that the fantasy part of the plot was just dumb alongside otherwise decent cases.
17. Psychic Odagiri Kyouko's Lies. "Fake psychic solves cases using psychological manipulation (and very well-disguised intelligence ahahaha)." By Kaitani Shinobu!! Love Liar Game and One Outs, both of which feature very smart writing (Liar Game in particular) with mediocre art alas, though neither of them are mystery series but con man series. Kyouko is more of a classic mystery series (with a twist or two or three), but... I think the live action drama is better, oddly enough, though admittedly there's not nearly enough of the manga out in English to judge. (I skimmed ahead in Chinese and didn't like it much.) Still a hilariously clever little gem of a series though.
18. Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning. Loved this when I first read it years ago (didn't watch the anime), but never finished it until Zetsuen no Tempest anime was announced and I realized the writer was the same. Surprisingly, it still holds up, though it's not really "classic" mystery except for like the very beginning (the structure lasts maybe two cases before disintegrating into something else entirely). It's... well, its own unique mashup of various genre elements, with some very smart plot twists engineered by very smart characters. Not entirely sure the true story arc pulls together entirely (Tempest is a much more matured narrative), but it's still a damn good read, and one of the few entries on this list where the female characters are allowed agency and to be just as clever and cunning as the male characters rather than being relegated to "Watson" or tragic villain/victim status.
.....
I wasn't kidding about my subject line.
comments at the original Dreamwidth post