The premise and atmosphere of this show is very similar to 'Ghost Hunt', just that the good guys have no offensive super powers, and the ghosts and spirits are directly harmless. The basic format of the show begins with Haruka asking Yakumo to investigate on a case, he takes a look at the scene, ask for help from allies (police detectives, journalist, priest etc), and puts the spirits at ease after a showdown. At the same time, there is another parallel story of a group of villains watching Yakumo's move and plotting a evil scheme.
The introduction was done very well, the characters seemed very interesting, but it seemed to be downhill from there instead of picking up in pace and intensity.
One thing I liked about the story was that it focuses on human beings despite being a show about ghosts. Instead of senseless showcase of super powers, Yakumo and company actually trace back the problems like a real detective, and also focuses on the issue of discrimination he faces for being different. The problem was that none of the cases were particularly interesting nor memorable, and the showdowns are rather anticlimatic. Even the main and final case was severely underdeveloped, as we still don't know the reason "red eyed man" became a spirit, why he had the ghost-seeing red eyes, or his relationship with Yakumo and his mother other than the obvious. Painfully slow pacing certainly did not help.
Of course, we're left with an open ending that explains nothing, and starved for another season.
Yakumo was an interesting character though, with a complex and painful past that's gradually revealed to us as we follow the cases he was assigned by Haruka. I particularly liked how his antisocial personality was explained by his past and ghost-seeing eye that enabled him to see things others can't. Unfortunately, Haruka existed mostly to set up the case and an attempt to add a little romance to the story. Their chemistry was rather poor, and she rarely play any significant role in solving the cases or development of the protagonist. She was also portrayed as an extremely dumb girl just to demonstrate how smart Yakumo is compared to an ordinary person.
Art style was very generic, but the backgrounds had a nice atmosphere. The characters seemed disturbingly flat though. I can't quite put my finger to why it is so, but if I had to guess, it was either awkward shading or lack of detail despite realistic design.
The presentation was also very boring, standard still camera or slowly moving screens.
BGM was rather good for this series. Sets the creepy mood well, and some sound really touching or melancholic. Unfortunately, the story was nowhere near engaging, and could not take advantage of the music. It also lacked variety, as if every scary scenes had the same song, one for touching scenes, and another mysterious theme.
No complaints for voicing, everyone sound they should and performed average or better in my opinion.
OP is rather original with the song that sets the mysterious mood for the show, ED was rather ordinary.
I hate to use this word to describe a series, but there's no other way... dull. 'Shinrei Tantei Yakumo' had a strong introduction and all the ingredients to make it a great show, but it just didn't live up to its potential. There's no eye candy since action was very limited, the story lacked suspense despite being a mystery, and the presentation was boring.
It turned out to be yet another bland forgettable mystery anime.
