Favourite Mystery Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 21
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? There is a question that needs answering and the clues to do so are everywhere if you know what you’re looking for. Sometimes, it’s a little too mysterious though! Much like this intro…
Favourite Mystery Anime (30 Days of Anime – Years 1 to 5) – Day 21
One of my favourite things with stories is trying to work out what is going to happen next. I’m always trying to look for clues and break down the meanings. If I want to be a better storyteller, I feel that I need to work out how great stories are told. I also look for solutions to things that don’t work so well. Basically, I’m always trying to learn more with every story I consume. Mysteries give me lots of chances to do that which is why I find them so engaging. Once I’ve started trying to solve a puzzle, I will not walk away. These were my favourites from the last five years.
Year 1 – Gleipnir (Season One)
Gleipnir is a massive puzzle of an anime. It has such a weird idea where the protagonist, Shuuichi can transform into a mascot suit and another person, usually Clair can climb inside him. Then, they can fight as one, utilising each of their strengths. Of course, Shuuichi has no idea how he developed this power or what it’s for. Mystery!!! As crazy as all of that sounds, this series is excellent. I loved the anime from start to finish, enjoying the tone and mysterious occurrences. I then went on to read and review the entire manga series as the anime barely scratches the surface of the story, leaving so many questions unanswered. It’s still very much worth watching though.
Year 2 – Otherside Picnic (Season One)
Otherside Picnic hooked me instantly with the strange and wonderful world that was connected to our own through weird portals. The use of urban legends and other supernatural stories was a great way to ground the bizarre things that happened there. I loved the main characters, Sorawo and Toriko and enjoyed watching them solve the strange occurrences they were faced with. Similar to Gleipnir, it seems unlikely that there will be a second season and there are a lot of unanswered questions. I have already begun the manga and plan on working my way through that soon. However, it is still ongoing so I think there will be some time before all of the mysteries are solved! This is a brilliantly creepy series.
Year 3 – The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat (Season One)
Hold up! What is an Isekai doing in a mystery category? Well, The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat isn’t just an Isekai. The protagonist, Lugh was reincarnated to this world by a goddess and given the task of killing the hero once they have defeated the demon lord. We don’t know much else and even the goddess comes across as an unreliable source of information. This is one of those series that left me desperate for answers and like the others on this list so far, I don’t think we’ll see a second season, although there are some rumours, but nothing concrete. I hope it does get another season, but I will also look at grabbing the manga at some point. I can get quite impatient with these sorts of things…
Year 4 – Summer Time Rendering (Season One)
I remember the day I first saw the hardback versions of Summer Time Rendering at my local bookstore. They were stunning and the covers were enough for me to jump onto my library’s website and reserve all of them. I got them fairly quickly and then read them all. Soon after that, I discovered that an anime had been made so I watched that too. This story is absolutely captivating and the only reason that it’s not as well known as I think it should be is because the anime aired on Disney+. I’ve reviewed the manga and the anime at a season level, but I’m tempted to go back and do episode reviews just as an excuse to watch it again and then write up twenty-five more posts about it. This is now one of my favourite anime.
Year 5 – Mysterious Disappearances (Season One)
Mysterious Disappearances had a very similar feel to Otherside Picnic. Several of the urban legends were used in both and they both followed a main character that wasn’t in high school. While Sorawo and Toriko were university students, Sumireko Ogawa was a thirty-year-old novelist who hadn’t published a book since she was a child. Interestingly, Gleipnir is the only show on this list that follows high school-aged characters… Anyhow, I loved the mysteries and creepy vibe that Mysterious Disappearances managed to give off. So much so, that I’ve picked up a couple of volumes of the manga. This was a great series which managed to blend creepy supernatural material with some heartwarming moments. I enjoyed it much more than I was expecting to.
Final Thoughts!
Once again, I’ve somehow managed to pull together a list of five anime that I would absolutely watch again and have invested time and/or money into the manga. This challenge is proving to be far more hazardous to my schedule than anything else as I try to work out how I’m going to fit in all these rewatches along with any new shows that grab my attention, and many already have. Anyhow, if I can find another couple of shows with the same mysterious stories as these I’ll be very happy.
Next up in my 30 Days of Anime challenge is the Weirdest Anime from each of the last five years. This should be fun because there’s weird good and weird bad. Which will the list reflect? Come back tomorrow if you want to add some weird to your watch list! Thanks for visiting.
Other Posts in the Series
30 Days of Anime (Years 1 to 5)
Next time I get Disney, I reckon I’ll try “Summer Time…” for sure – it’s been ages since I watched a mystery
Definitely do that. It was a great series, plus it’s a two-cour complete story so no waiting around for a second season.
A complete story is a selling point, perfect!
It shouldn’t be but after the number of times we’ve been burned over the years with season one cliffhangers that never get resolved, it really is!
100% 😀