Ranked #958

Gyakuten Saiban (Manga)

Admittedly I go into this review with a huge bias. I LOVE the original "Gyakuten Saiban" games with a frightening, obsessive passion.

I've admittedly only read a few chapters of the manga adaptation, and thus far, it seems to be pretty good. The characters seem pretty true to their game counterparts, and it's interesting to see the case investigation in the third person as opposed to first-person playing as Naruhodou/Phoenix.

That being said, a few things already caught my attention. The cases are too short and simple for my taste. The cases in the game are complex, twisting puzzles that can take quite a long time to figure out, but a blast nonetheless. The manga limits the duration of each case to a few chapters, tops, and only so much can be crammed into one manga chapter. In that sense, this may be likened to "Great Detective Conan" ("Case Closed"), but "Conan" pulls off the one-chapter case with better pacing and depth.

That aside, the manga is still great fun to read, good detective-mystery pulp with characters who (if they stay true to their game counterparts) are all batshit insane. This can be a good starting-ground for those not familiar with the games, but in my opinion, the stories and cases in the games are far, far better. I hope the quality of the manga improves with each installment. read more