Shinichi Kudo is a high school student and already displaying an astounding talent for detective work. Unfortunately, he becomes witness to illegal activity and suspicious men give him a drug that turns him into a little kid. With his intelligence perfectly preserved, he takes up with his childhood friend Ran and her middling detective father to help solve both his own mystery and others he happens across.
Usually I split my recommendations into three categories that basically sum up the themes of a series. However, as Detective Conan, or Case Closed as we know it in the west, is such a long-running series, it can fit so many criteria. Instead, we are just going to recommend a few series that will sate the mystery lust you undoubtedly have after consuming enough episodes.
Anime Recommendations For Detective Conan / Case Closed
Erased
Recently, the detached, struggling manga artist Satoru Fujinuma finds himself going back in time to just minutes before tragedy strikes around him. He has saved many lives with this power of “Revival,” but when he is wrongly accused of murdering someone close to him, Fujinuma finds himself sent back to his childhood. As he discovers, the recent death in his life is somehow connected the kidnap-murder of three children in the area that is about to happen, this time he may be able to use his power to save more than just one life, easing his past regrets in the process.
While not about the same type of traditional mysteries as Case Closed, Erased has that way that some of the Detective Conan mysteries have of just drawing you so deeply in and keep you intrigued to the end. Except that is drawn out into twelve episodes instead of one, twenty-minute episode.
Death Note
Light Yagami is a high school prodigy and genius. However, he has an ever-increasing boredom and disdain for the rotten violent world. One day, he happens upon a notebook, called a Death Note, which states that if you write a name in it, the person will die. To his surprise, the notebook’s claims turn out to be true. This Death Note, the property of the Shinigami gods of death, gives Light the power to change this world and he decides to become its new God by executing all criminals.
Death Note is not always about the mystery, but it is an absolutely epic game of cat and mouse. That is often what can be so thrilling about mystery series, but you don’t get that very often with Case Closed because it is a mystery of the week-type affair. The closest you get is that whole rivalry with Kaito.
Demon Detective Nougami Neuro
Neuro Nougami is a demon that feeds on mysteries and puzzles. However, as a demon who must remain unnoticed by humans, he pairs up with a human girl in order to solve mysteries, a job she hopes will help her solve her own personal mystery.
This is a mystery solving series that they felt needed a twist. So they added a demon that feeds on mysteries. It allows for some absolutely amazing visuals and the whole demon bit also allows for the mysteries to be a little bit darker and sometimes less intelligent.
Kindaichi Case Files
Hajime Kindaichi has the disheveled looks and laid-back attitude of your average high schooler, but he is actually not only the grandson of Japan’s greatest detective, but a great detective himself. With the help of a few friends he manages to crack even the most difficult of cases.
The similarities here are myriad. Essentially, Kindaichi is Shinichi if he didn’t get turned into a kid. Both follow young men with great mystery-solving ability and work often with less talented detectives.
Monster
Dr. Kenzou Tenma is a renowned brain surgeon with a perfect life, at least until one night when he is faced with a difficult decision. Both a small boy and the mayor are brought in with mortal injuries, and he can only save one. Naturally, he saves the boy, but when a series of murders begins to happen around him, all evidence points to the boy he saved.
I like to think of Monster as often one episode of Case Closed crafted into an entire series. It has all the same elements of one mystery, but because it is only one mystery and not one mystery per week, it allows it to fully flourish. There are twists to it that keep things interesting and characters that are excellently crafted.
Danganronpa
Hope’s Peak Academy is an elite high school where those accepted are given special titles that showcase their skills. This year, only fifteen were accepted, and one of them was the completely normal Makoto Naegi who got in on sheer luck. The students are thrilled to be in such a prestigious school. That is, until they are trapped inside the school by principal and bear Monokuma who tasks them with killing one of their peers and not getting caught by the others in order to escape. However, if they are caught and found guilty in a trial, they will be executed instead.
While Danganronpa is about a killing game, much of the series is about solving mysteries of various kinds. It packs in all those interesting quandaries, like a locked room murder, but in a small package with insanely designed characters.
Phi Brain
Kaito Daimon is an exceptionally average student, except for his demonic ability to solve puzzles. He is so good that when asked to take a special test of his ability, he suspects that the test is a different sort of test. Suddenly, he finds himself caught up in the lethal Philosopher’s Puzzle, a murderous maze of traps where one failed puzzle means a horrible death.
This is obviously much darker and less of a traditional mystery show. However, if you like Case Closed because it made you think, then this show can provide the same with its puzzles.
Psychic Detective Yakumo
After one of her friends committed suicide and another ends up possessed, high school sophomore Haruka Ozawa is in fear for her life. Her only hope is her mysterious classmate and paranormal investigator Yakumo Sato whose red eye allows him to communicate with the dead.
While the difference is a distinctly supernatural bint to all the mysteries, the mysteries of the dead are still mysteries. While Case Closed dabbles in a lot of dark areas, as this concerns spirits, this show is all darkness.
Heaven’s Memo Pad
Narumi Fujishima doesn’t really fit in at school, but still craves friends. When another misfit introduces him to a strange NEET girl that lives above a ramen shop, he is drafted into her ultra elite private detective agency.
While Heaven’s Memo Pad does tend to have a bit more stylistic flare with its characters, in essence it does tell a similar detective tale. Both series are about detectives that, despite limited physical capabilities, manage to solve a variety of mysteries. Of course, not quite the variety in the mystery department as Case Closed because it is both shorter in length and does focus more on character work.
Detective School Q
Kyuu is a boy with a knack for logic and reasoning. In his desire to become a detective, he enrolls in the Dan Detective School where together with a programmer, a girl with a photographic memory, and a martial arts master, they solve crimes.
Unlike some of the other recommendations, Detective School Q is a more traditional mystery solving series, but of a manageable length and a mystery-solving team that each excels in various aspects instead of one super talented individual.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Case Closed? Let fans know in the comments section below.
