Aside from L and Detective Conan, who are the best detectives and inspectors in anime?

Sakaido from ID:Invaded
https://myanimelist.net/character/172213/Akihito_Narihisago
He was a lot more things than just a detective, but still a great pick.

The best detective of all anime for me is Jun Aikawa from The Kubikiri Cycle.
And aside of being thief, Lupin III is pretty good detective too.
Ginko from Mushishi gets my "Best fantasy medical detective award".


@jacobPOL

Yeah, Conan is not even the best detective in his own show. One can argue that he is not even second best or third best.

Ranpo Edogawa from Bungou Stray Dogs
10+ comments · 1 year ago

I forget his name, but that Sherlock Holmes looking anthropomorphic dog character from back in the day. Somebody help me remember the name. XD

@Retro8bit

"I forget his name, but that Sherlock Holmes looking anthropomorphic dog character from back in the day. Somebody help me remember the name. XD"

https://myanimelist.net/anime/1972/Meitantei_Holmes

It's their posting behavior and their posting patterns. I could literlly go to their profile page and see their posting activity and notice just by seeing their 1st dozen posts on this forum they basically were acting like JoeChip (which made sense because that User hasn't been posting since last month).

The User JoeChip would basically shitpost all the time like it was something they just needed to do (it literally stood out that much). They also would troll just for the sake of trolling which is probably why they suddenly disappeared... not sure if they got reported over it or if some moderator just made a call themself to suspend them. But "JoeChip-ish" posts were clearly gone for almost a full week till this random User popped up out of nowhere acting exactly like JoeChip. lol

Never said they did troll well. lol

The example was just a shitpost which isn't inherently something done to try to screw with others in the community.

Like I said before... likely the reason they suddenly disappeared was due to a pattern of just trying to antagonize other Users. I would try to show you a real example of trolling, but apparently they have all been "moderated". lol

Has anyone said Motoko yet? I don't think they have.

@LifelineByNature I don't see how she fits. She's a special unit agent, not a detective nor a police officer. A major of a part of the army - counterterrorism - more than anything. I've never heard of a policewoman doing infiltration work a là Sam Fisher.

@ProudElitist In the GITS universe she does a bit of both, and more. She was a Major when she worked in the JSDF, but she currently works in Section 9 which is a branch of the 国家公安委員会 (National Public Safety Commission). These are the dudes that administer the police forces in Japan.They have nothing to do with the army.

They're both anti-crime and counter-terror, which is exactly the role of a detective and police force. The military doesn't investigate - they execute specific skirmishes or campaigns based on a predetermined tactical plan (of course they need to be flexible within that plan, but they don't investigate cases is what I'm getting at).

It's not entirely accurate, but a good easy-to-understand western comparison would be the FBI. Which is part of the police force (albeit federal). Special agents are detectives.

@LifelineByNature I don't remember Motoko ever investigating something, except the identity of the Puppet Master that is. When I think of investigating I think of Shotaro Hidari from Kamen Rider W, and she doesn't do the same of what he does.

@ProudElitist I can't remember her ever NOT investigating anything. Both of the movies featured investigating (though Innocence was mostly Batou), as did both seasons of SAC and its movie. She investigated both the Laughing Man and the Individual 11, and even the SSS in the movie.

I've not seen Arise, tbf, so I can't comment on that.

It's a different kind of investigation anime than you're envisioning perhaps, but make no mistake - she's a detective.

@LifelineByNature I wasn't thinking about the animes when I wrote that she's not a detective but a special agent specialized in infiltration and military operations, I was thinking about the manga and the scene where she comes up from the sea in a swimsuit ready to kill some dudes on a boat like a Spetznan or a Mossad would do. But I don't mean to be right, I simply go by memory.