SPOILER-FREE!
Trying to come up with something creative for a genre can be a real challenge. As more and more stories are written and told, one can only imagine the desire to make your own story stand out against the endless expanse of others. The problem only gets compounded further when you keep in mind that every anime season contains about forty new shows or continuations from previous seasons. Cast the line into the lake and hope that someone bites.

The Detective is Already Dead, on the immediate surface anyway, sounds like an interesting idea from the title alone. There are about three mysteries that are already up in the air – when did the detective die, how did the detective die, and what are the ramifications of that event? It manages to captivate the imagination almost right away, as though the title is insinuating that this story has to be unique. Uniqueness, of course, does not automatically translate to entertaining or good, and it’s only when the episodes get rolling that we see what’s behind the curtain.
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Kimizuka Kimihiko is a junior high student with a condition that makes him find his way into various unsavory or worrying conditions. One day after being forced to take a piece of luggage at an airport, the plane he’s traveling on gets hijacked. The girl sitting next to him, named Siesta, claims to be a “legendary detective,” and ropes in Kimihiko to stop the hijacking and expose an underground organization. Visited by Siesta at his place and pestered, Kimihiko agrees to be her sidekick and they solve various mysteries together. Jumping ahead a few years, we learn that Kimihiko has entered his final year of high school, but that Siesta had died one year prior. Kimihiko is approached by a girl named Natsunagi Nagisa who requests his help in order to find someone that she doesn’t know.

With such a crazy premise, the first episode manages to leave a strong initial impression. Siesta’s interjection into the hijacking scenario already paints a mysterious picture as we’re not quite sure what to make of her, both in terms of her intellect and physical capabilities, leading to an action sequence. The battle on the plane was not only well-animated, but also informs the audience that the show will feature seemingly-supernatural elements at play. Although the idea of a character with a giant stinger sticking out of his head might seem silly, care and attention was clearly taken to make the first scenario land with an action-packed, energized punch.

The energy gets stopped however when that sequence is finished, and even more shortly after that with Nagisa’s introduction proper. Since the end of episode one reveals that Siesta has since died, The Detective is Already Dead needs to have a new character act as a vehicle for getting the drama going, and Nagisa fits the bill, albeit poorly. Her “finding someone” mystery not only gets solved quickly, but also could be seen coming from a mile away such that there is no surprise at the big reveal. Because Nagisa comes into the picture so soon, it also means that Kimihiko is not given enough time in the show to properly grieve the loss of Siesta, who he worked with for three years.

So Nagisa is here to stay, but her involvement in the next mystery involving a teen idol is so minimal that it makes me question why she’s even there. She has the drive to be a detective, but lacks any of the finesse or refined critical thinking needed for the job. If this was supposed to be a kind of role-reversal, to have Kimihiko now assume the role of detective for a sidekick who doesn’t know what it takes, it didn’t succeed, in part because the mystery surrounding the teen idol wasn’t compelling. Even beyond the idol mystery, the writing appears that it’s forcing her into the material rather than naturally.

Nagisa’s presence also points to a problem with the show’s structure. The episodes are presented out of their events’ chronological order, meaning that the show switches between Siesta being alive or dead. Telling a story out of order is nothing new, but there needs to be some overarching reason for it or, failing that, a compulsion to make the viewer not care about the episodes not being in order. Because the overall sense of mystery and character is so weak, it comes across more as a gimmick despite the telegraphed hints during the past segments. It also seems like the show is acknowledging that Nagisa is not interesting enough because of her background and little screen-time, so the show abandons her in exchange for going back to the past and showing more of Siesta and Kimihiko’s dynamic.

But I didn’t feel compelled to watch that, either. Siesta and Kimihiko do not work as intriguing characters, either individually or together as a duo. Their dialogues and conversations don’t come across as two characters who are close or have a particularly special bond, as their dynamic is too dependent on both of them being so sarcastic or antagonistic with one another, playful or otherwise. It struck me less as funny and earnest and more that the writing was trying to demonstrate how witty it wanted to be, but couldn’t be. Sarcasm is fine in moderation, and having a genre-savvy witty remark every once in a while is okay, but to rely on those so heavily is not a substitute for depth. Even though The Detective is Already Dead drops numerous hints that Siesta and Kimihiko are developing romantic feelings for one another, this implies that the characters are well-constructed enough to create such a development.

Not to mention that as a character, Siesta is too overpowered and skilled at solving crimes. One of the traits that is established early on is that Siesta does not like to act until everything is understood. Taking part in a mystery where the detective has already solved everything before the viewer even gets a single clue doesn’t make me feel like a participant. Having everything solved or with a character who seemingly cannot get outfoxed also means that story events that are supposed to carry a lot of tension don’t carry any. The natural problem that arises from this is why should I be invested in something when I know that everything has already been taken care of long in advance? The draw to writing like this is that it attempts to leave the viewer with a sense of awe at Siesta’s intellect, that she was able to figure everything out and wow with the explanation at the end. For The Detective is Already Dead, it simply doesn’t work. Siesta’s conclusions always seem to be based on information that we either were not privy to, or were seemingly pulled out of thin air to justify her conclusions. So even when we learn about what happened to Siesta, and in the ensuing aftermath of the final arc, I just didn’t feel anything.

And I felt perhaps even less for Kimihiko. Truthfully, I’m not even sure I can say that he HAS a character, since nothing he does or says inspires me to want to follow him or care about him. Some of the actions and behaviors he adopts seem so nonsensical, even from a dramatic standpoint. One particular arc halfway through the show involves him developing a weird relationship with another character so quickly that it rang completely hollow. And “hollow” could be said of the side characters and antagonists, most of whom brought no fascination or intriguing mysteries of their own.

Where the show perhaps fails the most is that it cannot be consistent, either in regards to its tone within episodes or with its own plot threads. There’s a scene where a crime scene is found and an ambulance is called, only to cut away a minute later to apples being fed to one of the characters. The first episode decides to try having a romcom sequence in the middle of the second half’s mystery, which felt more like an excuse to put Siesta in a schoolgirl outfit and the duo to dress in wedding garments. Even after the time jump with their first meeting, Kimihiko doesn’t look like he’s aged at all. Him being a bad-luck magnet is, essentially, never referenced or alluded to again beyond the first episode. Worst of all is that Siesta, despite supposedly being dead, is seen quite alive through all of the various flashbacks, as I had already mentioned. Either have your character be dead, or don’t devote more than half of your series showing the period of time when she was alive. It’s almost as though the show is so unsure of itself that it has to somewhat undo its own premise to hold interest, or that it’s hedging all of its bets on the viewer fawning over Siesta at the cost of story. If you’re going to flashback to her being alive, make it brief, but make it count.
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The Detective is Already Dead was a failed attempt to inject variety into the mystery genre by emphasizing its attempts at drama. With two leads who are not interesting enough to carry the story, a mystery narrative that pulls too many out-of-thin-air maneuvers or blatantly-obvious payoffs, lackluster animation aside from the first episode, terrible pacing, unamusing comedy, and side characters who are too underdeveloped to matter, this was one of the more-frustrating and uniquely-disappointing anime viewing experiences I’ve had in 2021. It ultimately didn’t matter what the show threw at me, be it mechs, an idol character, or a guy with a giant stinger sticking out of his head – I was so uninterested in the story the further it went along. From what I’ve been told, the original source material is better than what the anime gave. I certainly hope, pardon the pun, that’s the case. I have nothing else to say aside from…I just don’t like this.