(Currently, on Chapter 75. My overall thoughts have not changed, only reworded some parts, added more context, and made it more readable.)
I have read Katekyo Hitman Reborn! the anime at least 4 times in my childhood, the manga I've finished 5 times, having re-read it almost yearly. I've read and watched elDLIVE, and re-read it once since I took a break in the middle. Started watching Psycho-Pass (yes, I know, she only did the art), and I can confidently say, that this manga...
...It's meh.
Story: 5/10
If you're looking for an actual detective story, this isn't it, nor if you're hoping for a different type of
...
story or premise from the more modern detective craze. Deranged Detective follows the same formula the author has used multiple times. It's been done, just with a different color of paint.
An example of how the story usually goes, the detective figures out our main character wanted to go to a shrine. By hearing the coins in someone's clothes (even though we can't hear it as a reader nor was it shown/hinted anywhere, so this could've literally not mattered and was only added to make the detective smarter), pine pollen on their shoulders (which does not show in ANY of the other panels), and the unopened can of coffee inside the character's pocket (which had the same existence as the pine pollen.)
What I'm trying to say from this example, as a reader you know it's a shallow and cheap way of showing how smart and observant the detective is. A better way would be that within the manga panels themselves, we get a glimpse/few glimpses of the "evidence", either visually or mentioned in some other way.
But luckily, it doesn't really lean too far into that so often, and does make us, the readers at times try to solve the case before the characters. Nevertheless, they do still lean towards it and are very repetitive, especially at the start. It gets boring and predictable. You also get infuriated with it, since the answer is either so obvious that you don't get why the characters just don't get it, or confused about how they pulled an answer that is completely out of nowhere as if the author handed them the answer. Fortunately, the latter rarely happens and is only there to establish how good of a detective they are.
I'll give the merit that the author did try and stray away from her comfort zone and dabbling into the detective subgenre - the manga does follow a certain pattern that the author tends to lean into. It's not a complete downfall of the manga and could be improved as the chapters go on, but is definitely a crux for any hope for it.
As an example, the author follows a certain formula that she's done in her past work, redone with a detective story. They start off with a mix of comedy and seriousness, before introducing some kind of "evil group" that has a certain amount of powers. I'm certain that afterward, the last few arcs will be some kind of world-ending situation, similar to even her more recent work, ēlDLIVE. Being a big fan of Reborn!, realizing this kind of hurts, because having read Deranged Detective, at least ēlDLIVE was more of an improvement in character development and variety. The author actually has gotten worse at writing, even by looking past the generic tropes she decided to add, which we will go onto next.
Characters: 4/10
You want a protagonist that follows around the actual detective that's constantly surprised, basically exactly the Watson for Sherlock Holmes, there you go.
Do you like the typical detective "mystery cases" that are repeated to be unsolvable, but also have people saying it's a curse, ghost, magic or similar? Along with a group of people that has the obvious person to be the culprit, but was actually a subversion and was the least suspicious one to be the culprit?
Yep, that sounds familiar.
Do you want a detective that's quirky but solves cases easily by just "observation", as in the detective rambling? Luckily does have logic at times, but an outplayed trope nonetheless.
But an outplayed trope can be done well, right? Of course, it can, a trope only means that it's been done many times. A vanilla ice cream can be boring if you eat it every day, but it's still gonna be good.
The issue is that they're not anything special. This story, these characters - they add nothing new to a detective world. Not just adding a new flavor, the characters don't improve from her past work. Of course, the characters get better with each chapter, but it's so incredibly slow and really, the characters don't change much. It's up to the story beats that change them. The characters themselves are the same through and through, with the only exception being the detective slowly evolving.
If you like these kinds of tropes, good for you, but I just don't understand why if at least the author was willing to write the same type of characters as her past work, why she doesn't even try and fix the mistakes.
I can describe the characters as a whole in one sentence, and not even a long one.
* Our protagonist is Tsuna but investigates, and is less badass.
* Our detective is Sherlock Holmes but anime.
There, those are the main characters. The others are usually irrelevant that only come when the story demands it. Luckily since it's a detective manga, they introduce a variety of side characters for every mystery but don't expect most or any of them to stay. If you don't like at least 2 characters in this manga, you're screwed.
Art: 7.5/10
The only real compliment I can give is that the art still looks good, especially with character designs that have obviously been trained since KHR, and the absurd comedy which is fine for me; but that's subjective as I know it might be annoying for others. The serious tone that usually appears later on, which I personally have enjoyed from her past work exists as well. The author does well to try and mix the detective theme within their own style of writing and art, meaning if you enjoyed the absurdity that KHR had, you'll probably enjoy this.
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Overall: 5/10
All in all, I'll probably still continue reading this as a guilty pleasure, since my childhood author made it and I can't just not read it.
Even so, the author clearly with their writing has not, and probably won't do anything as grand as KHR ever again. What's worse are the very few improvements shown from her past work to now. It feels like the author has found her style of story beats, favorite type of characters, and decided to use the same bucket of paint.
Deranged Detective is an incredibly bland and mediocre manga. It's not bad or garbage, but not something I can confidently recommend to everyone. Yes, similar could be said in her past work, if we can bring Katekyo Hitman Reborn back into the example, the start of it was horrifically boring and repetitive; even Deranged Detective did better. Nevertheless, for Reborn!, I can say "But, when the story kicks in, wow is it amazing with abilities and cast of characters", whereas for Deranged Detective, I can't give a "but..."
It does get somewhat better later on, but is a slog to get through for most, I'd imagine.
I'd suggest reading any of her past work if you have an itch for her kind of writing. Otherwise, find better entertainment out there that has done these types of stories, done by a better writer. Heck, re-watch Psycho-Pass. As someone that has only recently picked it up, it's somewhat the same but is practically better in every way.
 Alternative TitlesJapanese: 鴨乃橋ロンの禁断推理 More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: Unknown
Chapters: Unknown
Status: Publishing
Published: Oct 11, 2020 to ?
Theme:
Detective
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Shounen Jump+ Authors:
Amano, Akira (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #27852 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #1392
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Feb 12, 2022 Mixed Feelings Well-written  Preliminary
(21/? chp)
(Currently, on Chapter 75. My overall thoughts have not changed, only reworded some parts, added more context, and made it more readable.)
I have read Katekyo Hitman Reborn! the anime at least 4 times in my childhood, the manga I've finished 5 times, having re-read it almost yearly. I've read and watched elDLIVE, and re-read it once since I took a break in the middle. Started watching Psycho-Pass (yes, I know, she only did the art), and I can confidently say, that this manga... ...It's meh. Story: 5/10 If you're looking for an actual detective story, this isn't it, nor if you're hoping for a different type of ... |
