For some reason Kadokawa is not very good at promoting their new shows, at least in Western countries they often fall under the radar, but luckily i sometimes see promotions for new episodes on their YouTube channel, as like "posts", fully in japanese, so I happened to watch one featuring a guy with bangs covering his eyes and the only text i could read was a magnifying glass emoji. Was it enough? Yes. At this point, i am starting to realize that my love for detective stories is also driving me to its anime adaptation of the genre, and i'm not disappointed so far.
Apparently, they like to use Sherlock Holmes, as i sense the authors might have been inspired by Conan Doyle's books, and so this is the third time i see him as "part" of the show (in this case not in the flesh, but you'll see why). The interesting twist is this "Deranged" detective who is the best but was cursed with eyes that force the culprits to kill themselves. He was therefore banned from the greatest detective school and forbid to solve any kind of crimes. But luckily, coming in clutch is Detective Isshiki, or simply Toto, or even Tototo, a not-so-deductive agent, but brave and pure-hearted, willing to help the others, let's say he's "the arm" of the team.
The duo carries the show: some cases are interesting, especially the long ones, and this little additions of elements such as Ron's weird way of analyzing the victims, or his general "deranged" behavior, as well as the need to save those that committed the crimes from committing not-alive, are all well thought. Some cases are a bit rushed, even a little weird a few times, but, hey, you get the "light" cases and then the more important ones, you don't really think about them too much, they are never boring and the pacing works, as you get a 3-episodes Case kinda in-between the season, making it the climax of the whole story so far, and you just forget about the rest, if not for some reminders every now and then. As for The supporting characters, they are not just there: they have been developed, we saw both their strength and weaknesses, they add value, which is not always the case for crime stories. I'm referring to Spitz, Amamiya and the super brilliant detective that uses tweezers.
After this first season I hope good things are coming. The rhythm worked, there are silly moments and more serious ones, i rarely found them out of place. These first episodes introduced a sort of main antagonist, something that can connect all the dots, and there will be a lot to unpack. Second season could work like Link Click, a main story after a season of stand-alone episodes that helped set up the world and the characters.
Lastly, kinda biased, but coming from the jjk depression arc, i enjoyed listening to both Yuuji and Utahime VAs playing different characters, in a much happier and funnier environment this time.