I’m a really big fan of crime, mystery and Sherlock Holmes and for all the fans of detective novels manga, I have here a list of the best detective manga and anime. From the ’90s to the current this list contains them all.
They may be in the genre of a slice of life, mystery,crime or sci-fi but one then I will say for sure that you all are going to love these best detective anime series if you had a love for Sherlock Holmes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- Master Keaton
- Ghost hunt
- Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
- The Detective Is Already Dead
- Psychic detective Yakumo
- Detective School Q
- Bungou Stray Dogs
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Higurashi When They Cry
- Magic Kaito 1412
- Heavens Memo Pad
- Darker Than Black
- Gosick
- The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited
- Kindaichi case files
- Danganronpa
- UN-GO
- ID: Invaded
- Terror in Resonance
- Hyouka
- Erased
- B: The Beginning
- Psycho pass
- Detective Conan’s case closed
- Death note
- Code Geass
Top Detective Animes
Master Keaton
A 24 episode madhouse work based around Taichi Hiraga-Keaton the son of Japanese zoologist Taihei Hiraga and well-born Englishwoman Patricia Keaton. Keaton’s parents separated when he was five, and young Taichi moved back to England with his mother.
It’s like the Indiana Jones but without the stereotypical charisma of action heroes, his adventures revolve around archaeology and sometimes to make his living with his insurance investigation work.
Total no of chapters: 39 Story Genre: mystery, thriller., adventure
Ghost hunt
Ghost Hunt follows the adventures of Shibuya Psychic Research as they investigate mysterious occurrences all over Japan with a team of other spiritualists and clever assistants.
Ghost Hunt is a supernatural detective anime that also explores the paranormal abilities of the characters, particularly focusing on Mai’s “latent psychic abilities,” demonstrated by her dreaming about information relevant to their cases.
Total no of chapters: 25 Story Genre: mystery, horror, supernatural
Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok
This one you will surely love if you had loved the MCU Loki and if you are a fan of the character Loki itself. The story is as below.
Loki, the Norse god of mischief, has been exiled to the human world by the god Odin for reasons that he doesn’t understand.
Along with being exiled, Loki is forced to take the form of a human child, and the only way he can return to the realm of the gods is by collecting the evil auras which take over human hearts.
To do this, he starts a detective agency which specializes in the paranormal. Loki is assisted by his loyal companion Yamino and the pair are soon joined by a human girl named Mayura Daidouji who is manic for mysteries and often unwittingly assists him in catching the auras.
Total no of chapters: 26 Story Genre: mystery, thriller, supernatural.
The Detective Is Already Dead
Kimihiko Kimizuka is an 18-year-old high school student with a talent to attract criminals that in his past he often witnessed various crimes and was even later questioned by the police as a suspect himself. This talent, which he calls a “trouble magnet”, apparently also led to his encounter with the master detective Siesta, who wanted to recruit him as her assistant.
But the story progresses after his last year of senior high, Kimihiko is once again confronted by the ghosts of the past as he tries to solve new cases that fall into his lap. He is extremely bothered by the fact that he is called a detective; after all, the real master detective Siesta, the detective is already dead.
Total no of chapters: 12 Story Genre: mystery, fantasy
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Psychic detective Yakumo
This one also takes place in the realm of supernatural and paranormal and the protagonist is a supernatural detective.
Here the hero Yakumo Saitou was born with a red left eye that allows him to see ghosts and spirits. He uses it to believe that if he can communicate with them and resolve any issue they may have, then the ghost or spirit can move on to the afterlife.
One day, a fellow student asks him for help to save her friend, who she believes is being possessed by a spirit. He reluctantly accepts and afterwards gets involved in other supernatural related mysteries with her helping him.
Total no of chapters: 13 Story Genre: mystery, thriller, supernatural
Detective School Q
Detective School Q is the story of a group of young students from Class Q of Dan Detective School (DDS), a prestigious and renowned detective academy founded by Morihiko Dan, the most famous detective in Japan, and the adventures and mysteries they unfold and solve together. They eventually work against Pluto (冥王星, Meiosei), a mysterious organization which creates almost fool-proof plans that only a handful of detectives can solve.
Total no of chapters: 45 Story Genre: mystery,
Bungou Stray Dogs
Bungou Stray dogs consist of supernatural, mafia and mystery. The story takes place with our protagonist an orphan Atsushi Nakajima who after being kicked out of the orphanage meets a detective Osamu Dazai who was about to suicide.
During his interactions with Dazai, Atsushi learns he is gifted with a supernatural ability capable of transforming him into a berserker white tiger in the moonlight;
Dazai recruits him into the Agency and there he meets many other ability users as they tackle various cases and events taking place within the city of Yokohama, a place teeming with individuals with Supernatural Abilities.
Total no of chapters: 36+OVA Story Genre: mystery, action, supernatural
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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
This is the anime television version of a very popular anime movie of the same name and you don’t need to watch the movie first before watching the anime. The series took place in Niihama, as opposed to Newport City and consists of 2 seasons.
The series centres on the members of an elite law enforcement unit known as Public Security Section 9 as they investigate cybercrime and terrorism cases; the cases in the first season often are connected to their pursuit of an elite “Super Class A” hacker and corporate terrorist knew only as “The Laughing Man”, whose actions end up creating the series’ titular “Stand Alone Complex”.
Total no of chapters: 52 Story Genre: cyberpunk, spy, thriller.
Higurashi When They Cry
Higurashi: When They Cry takes place in the fictional village of Hinamizawa (雛見沢) in June 1983. Shortly before then, the main character, Keiichi Maebara, moves to the village and befriends classmates Mion Sonozaki, her twin sister Shion, Rena Ryūgū, Rika Furude and Satoko Hōjō. Keiichi soon learns of the village’s annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local deity Oyashiro.
Hinamizawa initially seems calm and peaceful, but shortly before the festival, Keiichi learns that from 1979-to 1982, after the festival, one villager would die and another would disappear. This series of mysterious incidents remain unsolved and is named the “Oyashiro Curse” by the superstitious villagers.
Total no of chapters: 26 Story Genre: murder mystery, psychological horror, supernatural
Magic Kaito 1412
Magic Kaito 1412 may seem very similar to detective Conan and that is because the mangaka of both of them is the same as Gosho Aoyama.
In magic Kaito, the father of Kaito Kurobo dies under mysterious circumstances and with the turn of events, he came to know that his father was a very famous international villain by the name of Kaito Kid who was killed by an organisation in search of the Pandora Gem which in 10000 can grant immortality and Kaito will help to prevent this from happening.
Total no of chapters: 24 Story Genre: Mystery, action
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Heavens Memo Pad
Narumi Fujishima is a high-school student who keeps himself uninvolved in school life to the point of not knowing most of his classmates’ names. Because of some circumstances, he must participate in his school’s “Gardening Committee”, with Ayaka Shinozaki. He is also persuaded to join NEET, an amateur detective agency filled with unemployed slackers who take on and solve cases on their own. The NEET agency is led by “Alice”, a childish, anti-social extreme shut-in, who never leaves her room full of computer monitors and stuffed animals. However, Alice has proven herself a resourceful hacker and an astounding detective. Throughout the series, Narumi, accompanied by the other members of NEET, solve crimes, including murders, using their limited resources and Alice’s genius intellect.
Total no of chapters: 12 Story Genre: Mystery,
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Darker Than Black
The starting of the anime is similar to solo levelling in the middle of Tokyo hell gate appears and in the south, America heavens gate appear and with their emergence some people got some supernatural abilities who are named as contractors. This was the similarity but in this world, those contractors are the bad one who works for other to kill and assassinate people.
Darker Than Black follows a Chinese contractor codenamed “Hei” as he undertakes espionage and assassination missions in Tokyo directed by the Syndicate.
Total no of chapters: 24 Story Genre: Mystery, sci-fi, supernatural
Gosick
Gosick takes place in the year 1924 in a fictional European country where our protagonist Kazuya Kujo had to join St. Marguerite Academy son of an imperial officer. In that academy, many mysteries and horror urban stories happen which he has to solve along with Victorique de Blois, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl.
The early episodes mostly focus on Kazuya and Victorique getting involved in different criminal cases and their struggle to solve them, at the same time forming important bonds with different people and each other.
Total no of chapters: 24 Story Genre: Mystery, historical, romance
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The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited
What will happen if a millionaire like Tony stark is placed in the place of an officer in the investigation bureau and was said to investigate it would be a complete blunder.
And that is the story of this anime here the protagonist Daisuke with immense personal wealth is assigned to Modern Crime Prevention and believes to use the money to solve all cases in the form of bribery or use high tech gadgets like our Batman. And his partner Katou is always annoyed by this nature.
Along with the detective element, it has humour which you will love it.
Total no of chapters: 11 Story Genre: comedy, detective mystery,
Kindaichi case files
The grandson of a highly skilled and successful detective Kindaichi is a high school student who has also got his talent from his grandfather to solve crime mysteries.
In Kindaichi case files the thing which is different from many detective mangas is that the culprit behind the murderer doesn’t do it for the motive of money or financial thing they always have a deep-rooted cause.
And in anime, as season 2 starts Kindaichi also founds an arch-enemy whose mind is very similar to his which makes it even more worth watching.
Total no of chapters: 86 Story Genre: Mystery,
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Danganronpa
It first came out as a video game and seeing its popularity it was turned into an anime and manga format.
Danganronpa is a murder horror anime where 16 students with talents are all collected and kept in a facility under the care of a robot Monokuma and from there if they have to leave have to kill all the others and prove their innocence.
This all while Monokuma trapping them into killing games.
Total no of chapters: 13 Story Genre: murder mystery,
UN-GO
UN-GO takes place in a future where war has destroyed nearly half of the world. And in that world, we are in Japan where the government has taken over the privacy of people in name of security under the act “Information Privacy and Protection Act”.
Here our detective is known as the “The Defeated Detective,” and is known for always coming to the wrong conclusions all is not as it seems our detective in actuality is a genius who always comes to the end of mystery and always riddles up the things to make it acceptable for the war-devastated public.
Total no of chapters: 12 Story Genre: Mystery, sci-fi, supernatural
ID: Invaded
What makes it different from any other detective manga is its story and the introduction of I’d well or the ability to see in the mind of the culprit.
The anime takes place in a world where investigators have the power to tap into a killer’s unconscious and see fragmented parts of their psyche. This is referred to as an “id well”, a mental plane that can be digitally entered to collect clues regarding a killer’s victims, crime scenes, and motives. As one traverses through an id well, their sights and actions appear as digital projections in the real world for investigators to analyze in real-time.
Total no of chapters: 13 Story Genre: Murder Mystery, sci-fi.
Terror in Resonance
Terror in resonance or terror in Tokyo takes place in an alternate earth where you will come to see the mentality of terrorists in the world.
It takes place in Japan where two boys by the name of Nine and twelve want to blast Japan with a prototype nuclear bomb they stole unless someone solves a cryptic riddle. What could be the motive behind them and what could make two boys do this crime you will get to know from watching the anime.
Total no of chapters: 11 Story Genre: Psychological thriller
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Hyouka
Out of all the anime in this Hyouka is the one most suitable for light-hearted fans of mystery who can’t see murder and who loves a slice of life.
It takes place in the classic literature club of a high school which was about to be disbanded for being empty but to save its disbandment Houtarou Oreki joins it what he thought was just going to be a boring club turns out to be attractive toward mystery.
Like 45 years ago what was the mystery whose secrets are hidden in Hints of the mystery are buried in an old issue of an anthology called Hyouka published by the Classic Lit Club in the 1960s.
Total no of chapters: 22 Story Genre: mystery, school, a slice of life.
Erased
Our main character Satoru had to ability to go back in time and when he saw his mother being killed in front of him he goes back in time to make things right.
He also uses this ability to protect the kidnapping who seem to feel responsible, to relieve the pain inside a girl and all of this while being in the body of a 10-year-old boy with the mind of an adult.
ERASED in the end proves to be a gripping thriller filled with many emotional twists and turns and will leave you consistently on the edge of your seat.
Total no of chapters: 12 Story Genre: mystery, science fiction, thriller: The Beginning
B: The Beginning
B the beginning has been premiered on Netflix along with its next part b the succession and to say the least it’s a master in a thriller. It all starts very simple but each episode keeps on getting complex.
In one episode you will think you know the identity of the murderer and his motive but after each episode and as the show approach finale all your assumption are wrong. But the good thing is it resolves most of the mystery in the finale.
Total no of chapters: 12 Story Genre: Psychological thriller
Psycho pass
The psycho pass takes place in a futuristic Japan which is governed by the sibyl system which is a computer network which measures the wavelength of all the civilians of the country using a “cymatic scan ” and can give if this person is going to commit any crime based on which police arrests or kill that person.
It questions a society where what would happen if we were to arrest or punish someone on basis of the price they haven’t committed and in a world where criminals don’t happen what would the world be like the anime questions that.
Total no of chapters: 22 Story Genre: Psychological thriller, cyberpunk, crime
Detective Conan’s case closed
Case closed popularly known as detective Conan been a very popular detective anime for many decades it has many mysteries thrillers and murders all around the series.
In detective Conan, The story follows the high school detective Shinichi Kudo who was transformed into a child while investigating a mysterious organization Black Organization and generally solved a multitude of cases by impersonating his childhood best friend’s father and various other characters.
Total no of chapters: 1041 Story Genre: mystery, thriller.
Death note
One of the most legendary anime and manga whose name will never be forgotten by anyone is death note. Even though rather than a detective anime it is more of a psychological thriller but the game of Tom and Jerry between L and Light Yagami is one of the best mysteries in anime. Both L and light are genius masterminds whose way of interpreting is even above Sherlock’s holmes.
It also shows how power can corrupt a person no matter how good his motive is.
Total no of chapters: 37 Story Genre: mystery, psychological thriller, supernatural
Code Geass
Code grass took place in an alternate timeline where the world has been divided into 3 kingdoms in today’s world are Europe, America and Asia.
Lamperouge Geass is the son of one emperor Charles Brittania who was exiled after losing the war against the Brittanian Army in it his mother died and his sister lost the ability to see and walk.
And in turn of events Lamperouge meets a witch name CC gave him the power of Geass which allows him to control a person entirely by making eye contact with him and in the show we see how he uses his power in order to take revenge for his mother’s death and, to take back his country with his brain.
Total no of chapters: 50 Story Genre: alternate history, mecha, supernatural
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