Mystery anime are always fun to watch if you like to wander and anticipate what is about to happen next. Below are 10 of the best mystery animes that I highly recommend that you watch. This list is compiled by me over the years of watching this genre. Enjoy!
Anime "Best of" Genre List
Harem/Ecchi
Reverse Harem
Samurai
Comedy
Slice of Life
Horror
Action
Sports
School Life
Gundam
Romance
Couples
Shoujo
Magical Girl
Seinen
Mecha
Gore
Josei
Vampire
Tsundere
Psychological
Sci-fi
Gun Action
Ninja
Adventure
Assassin
Demon/Devil
Mystery
Death Note
What if the Sherlock Holmes books were written from the viewpoint of Moriarty? Death Note tells the story of a high school senior, Light Yagami, and the events following his discovery of the Death Note. A seemingly simple notebook, the Death Note can be used to kill anyone as long as you know their name and face. Using it to enforce his own brand of justice, Light finds himself playing cat and mouse with the Great Detective L – with deadly results.
Psycho-Pass
If “Minority Report” were an anime it’d be Psycho Pass. Set in the near future this story looks at a society where the term “thought crime” is a real phenomenon. The psychological profile or “psycho pass” of an individual is monitored at all times – anyone who’s pass exceeds the normal limits is a “latent criminal”. That’s where the joint forces of the Inspectors and the Enforcers come in. Using a device called a “dominator” they’re are tasked with preventing crime before it happens. But what can they do when a criminal with a perfect psycho-pass score tries to overthrow the system?
Monster
“No good deed goes unpunished.” A decade ago a young, brilliant doctor named Kenzo Tenma chose to save the life of a child over that of an adult – because he wanted to prove a point. Not only did this effectively end his rising career and potential marriage, but years later he finds out he may have saved a serial killer. Now he’s on the run trying to find out who is leaving a trail of bodies that point to him. Can he find the monster, before Detective Liebert slaps the irons on him?
Higurashi When They Cry
It’s hard being the new kid in a small town, but Maebara Keiichi seems to be figuring it out. Right up until a horrific murder occurs and things take a decided spiral downwards. Now Keiichi isn’t sure which of his friends he can actually trust. Anyone of them might be the killer looking to put a permanent end to his amateur investigations.
Gosick
If you like “Numb3rs”, “Bones”, “Sherlock Holmes”, and/or “House” – Gosick is probably the anime for you. It involves two youths – the brilliant if caustic Victorique and the somewhat dense but kind Kazuya. The only real overarching plot is the romance growing between the two, otherwise it’s episodic with Victorique’s brother needing her to solve impossible cases with her genius and her needing Kazuya to act as her Watson.
Baccano!
Baccano is the Italian word for “ruckus” – and things are certainly rocking. There’s a gang war in NYC where bodies hit the ground only to get back up. And a century or so ago there’s a group of alchemists violating the laws of nature. And there’s a train where people are disappearing into the guts of a monster. And a mad scientist is missing his goods – and somehow it all goes together. But how? Well that’s the mystery of it – and the fun.
Ergo Proxy
Somewhere between Ghost In the Shell, Aeon Flux, and Big O – Ergo Proxy is a hard show to digest. After a massive ecological disaster thousands of years ago humanity has been reduced to living in domes. Life is peaceful – people are grown to order so as to fill a specific slot in society. And artificial entities called AutoReiv exist to pick up the slack – right up until they start murdering people. The so-called “cogito” virus is behind their odd behavior, but what’s odder still is where it comes from: almighty beings known as Proxies. Ree’el must figuring out ties between proxies, humanities future, and a certain Vincent before society collapses.
Hyouka
If the recent Scooby-doo remake, “Mystery Inc” were an anime it’d be close to Hyouka. Oreki Houtarou is president for life of the “go home early club”, but his sister is tired of his slacker ways. To get her off his back he signs up for “Classic Club” where he meets three oddballs: the ever curious Chitanda Eru, Fukube “Database” Satoshi, and taskmaster Ibara Mayaka. Now it’s up to them to solve a 45 year old case with the help of the previous Classic Club’s note collection – Hyouka.
Detective Conan
It’s like Encyclopedia Brown – if Brown were a teenager trapped in a child’s body due to an experimental poison. After running a foul on the omniously titled Black Organization, teen detective Jimmy Kudo finds himself looking a lot younger. Unfortunately, nobody is going to take a kid seriously – so Jimmy finds himself solving cases with the help of his elementary school friends while giving all the credit to his friend’s detective father. At the same time he tries to learn more about the secretive Black Organization in hopes of finding a possible cure – or at least getting it’s ringleaders arrested.
Eden of the East
Games are supposed to be fun – but “Akira Takizawa” is not enjoying the confusion he finds himself involved in. He doesn’t know how he got involved, but he has 8.2 million yen and the task of “saving Japan” – the only rules are not to waste their money or use it up. Breaking those rules will result in being killed by a mysterious man. So now Akira and his new friend are seeking answers while bringing them in conflict with other “gamers” and the folks behind Japan’s recent terrorist attacks.
References: MyAnimeList