Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo: File Series

This is a story about Kindaichi Jr., the grandson of the renowned fictional detective, Kindaichi.
Story: 8
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about having the grandson of a famous detective also become one. It feels like taking a beloved fictional character that you didn't create and just deciding to give him a son! It doesn't seem like something deeply thought out. However, Kindaichi Jr. is an incredibly likable character, and there's something relatable about his lineage. The storyline itself is quite good. The cases aren't as intricately detailed as those in Detective Conan, and can be a bit hard to follow, but this adds to the emotional intensity or suspense.
Art: 7
The artwork isn't the best I've ever seen, but I do appreciate it. It's not bad by any means; it's just that I've come across some truly remarkable artistic talents that make this seem less impressive by comparison. Don't let the art style deter you though, even if it does have an old-fashioned touch.
Character: 8
I really liked Kindaichi, with his dual nature of being both clueless and intelligent at the same time. He's the only character I genuinely enjoyed. His friend slightly turned me off, and I wasn't fond of how their love/friendship dynamic was developed. Also, I didn't appreciate the introduction of a second romantic interest for him. Please, don't turn this into a harem situation.
Enjoyment: 9
This is what I loved most about the series. You can fully engage with the cases, trying to guess the culprit alongside Kindaichi. Unlike Detective Conan, which sometimes hides clues, this series tells you almost every clue they find. In the early cases, it didn't provide all the clues, but as the series progressed, the cases became more detailed.
Overall, I'll give it an 8 because, regardless, Kindaichi Shounen remains a very good series.

tl;dr: A mystery manga with minimal overarching plot but consistently well-written cases.

This manga is a hardcore mystery series, focusing purely on distinct cases with very little overarching plot. Characters repeat from case to case, but their stories mainly revolve around these cases, forming relationships rather than developing personal arcs. There's slight romantic development between Hajime and Miyuki, but it remains just shy of an actual romantic relationship throughout the manga. Recurring side characters establish connections with Hajime early on, which remain unchanged for the rest of the series.

These characters primarily serve roles necessary for the progression of each case. When a character with an important role was murdered, another quickly replaced them in a somewhat forced manner. The use of characters connected to Hajime adds humor and lightness between serious cases, improving pacing and preventing the manga from becoming too dreary despite its focus on murder. While the comedy isn't outstanding, it does a good job at maintaining balance.

The mysteries themselves are consistently solid. They're meticulously planned and executed, making full use of manga techniques like framing and obscuration. There's a decent variety of cases, mostly closed-room murders but with enough diversity to keep things interesting. Each case often involves more than just the murder trick, incorporating motivations tied to revenge and superstitions that add depth and uniqueness. Culprits' motivations are always thoroughly developed, usually driven by revenge with reasons meant to evoke sympathy, offering varied scenarios and resolutions.

I later learned this manga is the first in a series of three, with the final case here serving as a cliffhanger suggesting an emerging overarching story in the next series. Therefore, this series alone doesn't provide a complete picture. The art is decent and serves its purpose well for conveying necessary details for the cases but isn't particularly remarkable on its own.

“Even if you hit rock bottom and wound up in the darkest place imaginable, I still believe there’s no life that can’t be salvaged.”

The Classic Kindaichi File series is THE definitive murder mystery manga as far as I am concerned. Featuring a deceptively moronic protagonist with an uncanny aptitude for deduction and problem-solving (as well as running into dead bodies...), it's an episodic whodunit consisting of 19 individual cases spread across 27 volumes. Each episode tends to follow more or less the same structure: Kindaichi and his pseudo-girlfriend Miyuki find themselves in a situation where they mingle with a handful of strangers and/or acquaintances, people start dying in seemingly impossible circumstances, Kindaichi eventually unmasks the culprit among the survivors, and a tragic confrontation/resolution wraps up the whole thing. Repetitive, yes, but it’s built on solid and complex plotting with plenty of nods to classic Japanese examples of the genre (e.g., one of the cases borrowed the central trick from a Shozo Shimada novel, and Kindaichi himself is depicted as the grandson of Kosuke Kindaichi, the fictional main detective in Seishi Yokomizo’s works).

The murder mystery construction is the meat and potatoes of the series, and it doesn't disappoint. Yozaburo Kanari (later joined and eventually replaced by Seimaru Amagi) integrated a lot of cunning tricks and puzzles into the proceedings, with effective dashes of supernatural and/or survival horror backdrops. The art by Fumiya Sato is decently complementary, injecting chills into the atmosphere through some unnerving imagery. They’re very good at immersing you in the suspense and investigation, making the whole series a fun guessing game; when Kindaichi eventually explains the solution, you often see how the clues previously planted in certain panels/sequences pay off beautifully (and how the misdirection and red herrings may make you feel like a big fool).

While there are occasional moments of humor and unmistakable shonen-ish flavor—Kindaichi’s status as a high-schooler, and his entire “we’re not dating, we’re just childhood friends who get SO flustered when the other is hanging out with a guy/girl!” dynamic with Miyuki—Kindaichi’s world is a harsh, often heart-breaking one. The murderers’ motives are often elaborate and tragic, frequently leading to powerful emotional moments as things invariably don’t end well for them. Kindaichi, while still condemning their actions, is often shown to have a not insignificant amount of sympathy or care for them, reflecting a key tenet of the series: even a fundamentally good and moral person could be driven by overwhelming despair and grief to commit the act of murder. It’s a pretty sobering theme, and a big part of what makes the Kindaichi File Series distinct and special.

There are many Kindaichi spin-offs in various forms (sequel manga, novels, films, live dramas), but this original manga series clearly represents our pony-tailed investigator at his absolute best. Some cases are naturally going to stand above others (the early cases are remarkably strong before slightly faltering around the halfway point), but as a whole, it’s a great treat for fans of locked-room murder mysteries, and one that I’ll always hold near and dear.