Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo. An anime adaptation of my favorite manga series of all time, and certainly a very underrated one. While the sequel, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Returns is being broadcast currently, allow me to convince you why you should watch this well-written mystery anime series.

The original manga series is known in Japan as one of the earliest manga series of the mystery genre. Its more kid-friendly, well-known counterpart Detective Conan (aka Case Closed) only began serialization 2 years after this one. In the early days, Kindaichi was better received in Japan than the latter, as shown by its sales numbers. Much of its ... fans loved it for its whodunit mysteries, which I would explain below. In the late 90s, due to Detective Conan pandering to a wider audience, Kindaichi's popularity slowly plummeted, and now even though it is still considered a classic mystery series, it could no longer regain its former glory.

Onto the anime adaptation, it is definitely a pity that this anime series did not receive any release in the western world by any distributors. Online fansubs are also rumored to be rather terrible, with the first 20 or so episodes being watchable only. I would say that the series deserves a larger audience, because of the reasons that I would explain now.

Story: 9

The anime series of Kindaichi does not have an actual continuous story unlike Detective Conan. Each individual murder case takes up about 3-4 or even 5 episodes to resolve, usually involving a murder of about 3 people, 4 if longer, but rarely does it elevate to 5 or more (though there do exist such cases). One could argue that with the introduction of the criminal mastermind Takato Youichi in the 3rd season of the anime, the story became continuous, but I would argue that one could still watch each case individually or in a non-linear fashion, and would still not be confused.

Dissecting into the structure of each case, a Kindaichi whodunit mystery follows the same formula: Kindaichi goes to a place, meets a few murders, solves them, end of story. However, each case does not simply become boring because of this. Kindaichi's cases are well-known for their unique tricks used by the murderers in each case. The tricks may appear simple, but still have their own elements of surprise.

Furthermore, I would also recommend the murder cases to people who enjoy tragic, sad backstories. The murderers in Kindaichi's cases all usually have a well-justified reason why they want to kill their victims. And while you would probably not agree with their way of resolving things by murder, you would probably feel a sense of sympathy for them after you listen to their backstories.

Art: 6

As a 90's production, the art definitely leaves room to be desired. The animation does not flow well occasionally, and some characters may appear deformed in certain episodes. Nevertheless, the art should not bother you if you watch Kindaichi for the story.

Sound: 9

Kouji Wada does a great job at composing the soundtrack for Kindaichi. Each scene, whether be it conveying sadness, anxiety, happiness, has a well-composed piece to it. The two tracks that are particularly memorable are the one usually played when a body is found called "Jicchan no Nami Kakete!", and the one played during a heart-beating, nervous scene called "Nazo wa Subete Toketa!".

Character: 8

The main character, Kindaichi Hajime, is an IQ 180 genius who acts goofy all the time, but when needed can show a sense of justice. Along with him are his childhood friend Nanase Miyuki and the police officer Kenmochi Keibu. The series, being composed of standalone cases, do not show much character development for its main cast, but the characters interact well with excellent chemistry in each case.

Along with the main cast are a number of characters (the victims, suspects and the murderer) in each case. Like any other whodunit series, the characters need to be unique, well-fleshed out for an audience to truly enjoy the cases. Luckily, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo does that well, providing enough screentime for each character before his/her ultimate fate.

Conclusion: 9

The series is not perfect, but I would still recommend it if you are a hardcore detective fan who loves long, well-planned murder cases with intriguing tricks and sad (sometimes tragic) endings. I would say it certainly deserves a lot more popularity and I wish that a distributor would meet up with this piece of gem and release it.


*Side-note: A list of my personal recommendations if you are too lazy to watch through all of the 148 episodes:

The Murders of the Fudou High School Seven Mysteries (Episode 1-3)
The Murders of the Gentleman Thief (Episode 10-12)
The Murders of the Trickery House (Episode 18-20)
Kindaichi the Murderer (Episode 24-27)
The Murders of the Magical Express (Episode 33-36)
The Murders of the Snow Demon (Episode 37-39)
The Murders of Reika's Kidnapping (Episode 47-50)
The Murders of the Computer Lodge (Episode 74-77)
The Murders at Snow Village (Episode 111-114)
The Murders of the Russian Dolls (Episode 139-143)

Typically in most reviews I've seen not only in this site but in general when one loves something they either turn a blind eye to all of it's faults or damage control them to high heaven using fancy words in order to gaslight the reader into believing what they're saying

I'll tell you straight up that I LOVE Kindachi Shounen no Jikenbo . Everything and I mean EVERYTHING that I look for in anime or Asian drama's in general this anime does it . Despite the innocent enough artstyle don't get it twisted this anime deals with some heavy taboo subjects and the good guy doesn't ... win the day often even if Kindaichi manages to solve the riddle

What I adore about this anime though is that it isn't cynical or nihilistic . It's endings sad as they may be are always bitter-sweet with a glimmer of hope . The crimes themselves are for the most part well put together even if at times you'll have to suspend your disbelief a bit

Animation wise it's nothing exceptional but it's rare for me to care about that unless it's an action anime but the voice acting and music especially kick ass

Despite all of this this anime suffers from a few things that might annoy you the point of dropping it entirely and they are all valid points

For starters some crimes are extremely reliant on luck to be pulled off and largely because of that Kindaichi sometimes is written into a corner where he has to have some nonsensical epiphany of what happened usually by seeing something completely random like a half eaten cake that resembles the number 8 or something dumb like that

In addition too much of something is never good . Filler episodes hurt this anime A LOT not only because of the repeating premise (How many times can Kindaichi AND Miyuki stumble upon a crime scene?) but also because they try to pull at your heartstrings too and you start noticing a certain pattern

Way too many times someone was killed because of a misunderstanding and the 10th time you see it you won't be able to bring yourself to care about the victim or the culprit as you get desensitized to it

So yeah it's far from perfect but like I mentioned in the beginning it had everything I personally look for in an anime and I'll 100% rewatch it at some point in the future

10/10 . Thank you for reading :)

Do you like Detective stories with good characters and really good storylines, also a Teen Detective in the making??
Well this is most definitely one you will like.
I could compare this to Detective Conan but this actually pre-dates that ( in the Manga ) by a few Years.
Kindaichi wants to follow in his Grandfathers footsteps by also becoming Japan's greatest Detective.
The best thing about Kindaichi is that it is more Adult themed as against DC's 6-7 Year Old's solving cases.
The characters are ( The best part ) very similar in both cases.
Miyuki is Kindaichi's best friend and potential Love interest ( Not yet though ) she ... accompanies Kindaichi in most of the crimes he solves, she is a really good sidekick.
Kenmochi is the Police Inspector who calls on Kindaichi quite a lot seeing as he knew his Grandfather and has seen first hand how good Kindaichi is.
There are many others including, Superintendent Akechi who is as good if not better than Kindaichi, they do help each other out at times.
Saki Ryuuji is Kindaichi's School friend who when called on follows him with his camera filming the crime scenes.
Kindaichi Fumi is Knidaichi' niece who sometimes finds herself being in on a investigation, she is the comedic type.
Then we have one who has a recurring role....
The Puppeteer From Hell who is actually a Murderer who Kindaichi promises he will put behind bars one day, he pops up regularly throughout the series as am Antagonist.
One of the best parts about Kindaichi are the longer episode arc's, some are 4-5 + which makes the cases more fleshed out.
Take the last 10 Episodes, we have a 5 and a 4 length cases.
The Russian Dolls is 5 Episodes which keeps you wondering all the way through, before the reveal.
Monster is 4 Episodes set in a Circus, again it will keep you guessing.
I only mentioned the last episodes as they were the last to be Subbed and were fresh in my mind.
The Subs by KL were fantastic all the way through, so thanks to them for taking the time to complete this Great series.
Overall in my opinion i find this just a bit better than DC as that we all know suffers from too much filler.
Less filler more thriller is what this offers to anyone willing to give this a chance.
I will finish off by saying Kindaichi is a bit of Pervert, always looking for a peak but not in a nasty way.
Miyuki keeps him under control when she sees this happening.
In Kindaichi' words....
"In the name of my Grandfather i will solve this Case"
After this watch "Kindaichi returns" which has better animation being quite recent.