Neuro: Supernatural Detective

Synopsis

Neuro Nōgami is a resident from the demon world, also known as ‘ brain eater ‘, his specialty lies in eating delicious mysteries. Despite devouring the best mysteries in the demon world, Neuro sought out even more— something he called ‘ The Ultimate Mystery’ which led him to the human world. In order to lay low, he chose a simple high school girl known as Yako Katsuragi who eventually gained titles such as ‘rising schoolgirl detective’ and ‘gourmand detective’ due to her insatiable appetite.

I’ve yet to read Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro or Demon Detective Nōgami Neuro But—this anime kept my interest until the very end which is pretty rare.

The anime itself is packed with humorous bits, depending on your outlook of comedy. Neuro is often displayed with a ‘dumb clueless’ exaggerated look. Yako is often used as a stopper of criminals— for example: when her body is flung at Aya Asia during the middle of a performance or when put in a trash can to destroy one of the ‘ super computers’.

Each of the adversaries encountered throughout the series take on exaggerated ‘animal like’ features to demonstrate that they’ve ‘crossed’ the line, meaning they’ve committed murder and have lost an integral part of their human selves.

Note: Often times you can tell the culprit from first glance but the point of this anime is to decipher their motive for murder, destroy their alibi and expose their method of killing. Once all three things are in place, Neuro is able to ‘solve/eat’ the mystery.

—— Spoilers beyond this point!

Characters:

Supporting Members/Neuro’s Other Assistants

Shinobu Godai: A low-level thug that did some questionable ‘underground’ work for the higher-ups. Godai’s origin, as to how he came to work with Neuro— is explained on episode 5. Neuro wanted the office space for himself, trading to solve the mystery of their murdered boss for it. Often referred to as ‘ Servant 2’, Godai is often put through some humiliating situations.

Akane: Also known as ‘Akane-chan’ is an unresolved mystery. Due to Neuro’s magic, Akane (which is a piece of braided black hair) is able to come to life (gain movement) despite the host (the corpse trapped inside the wall) being long dead. Akane is able to carry out information-related tasks and simple ‘secretary’ tasks. At a later episode, she is even able to attach herself to Yako, giving her long and luscious blonde hair which effectively attracts the attention of the murderer known as the ‘ Slasher Stylist’.

Officers (Worth Mentioning)

Sasazuka & Ishigaki : These two are often paired up with each other. Sasazuka is a strict and mostly quiet guy while his partner, Ishigaki is a bit loud and childish and at times even irresponsible.
While at first, the two are annoyed or irritated by Neuro and Yako’s uncalled for appearances, they eventually start ‘warming up’ to the pair once their detective-solving abilities surpass even to ‘cases ruled as suicides due to lack of evidence’. Officer Sasazuka takes his job very seriously and is even shown to put his neck on the line in order to solve a case.

Yūya Higuchi: A 19-year old hacker working for the police and one of Digital HAL’s temporary soldiers. Yūya was in control of guarding the second supercomputer and although his plan was very strategical, Yako manages to break through his inner shell. Higuchi was only under 50% of the Digital Drug’s control but it was guilt that drove him to side with Digital HAL. At 11-year’s old, he was responsible for his first hacking, which included the destruction of ten years worth of data for his parents’ favorite virtual world. Due to their incorregible addiction with the online world, instead of uniting them as a family like Yūya hoped, it actually led to the pair’s suicide.

Enemies/Antagonists (Worth Mentioning)

X/Phantom Thief Sai: Sai is an antagonist. A murderer able to manipulate his cells to morph into other people, most notably—cops—to be able to remove all evidence from the crime scene. His first appearance is on episode 07 Hako (Box). Sai’s method of murder is getting people into a red box perfectly, which he demonstrates by getting rid of Horiguchi, his copycat killer. Sai is actually a very lonely individual ‘drenched in sadness’. It is later revealed in the final episode that Sai loses his memory every six months and wanting desperately to know the mystery behind his creation, he bids Neuro enough time to make a full recovery while Yako explains the mystery of his creation.

Digital HAL: An antagonist existing between the world of zero and one. Digital HAL was protected by three support programs, known as ‘ Sphinx’ —located in each of the three super-computers— along with a password-protected screen. Digital HAL needed soldiers to protect the Sphinx in the real world so he created a program known as ‘ Digital Drug’ able to awaken the criminal desires found in an individual’s mind, ridding them of their ‘guilt’ and the shock of ‘pain’. Digital HAL is defeated ultimately by Neuro and Yako. Neuro takes care of the outer shell and Yako investigates professor Harukawa’s life, gaining a vast amount of data from officer Sasazuka. Yako is able to decipher the password screen due to her empathy for human life and is able to reach Digital HAL’s core. As a reward, she is given a vaccine for Digital Drug and the destruction screen. Digital HAL explains that he can not destroy himself but warns Yako that if she doesn’t wipe out his data, he will make full recovery within an hour and destroy her world.

Mythological Creatures:

The doctor’s wife is represented as a ‘kitsune’, bearing nine tails.

Neuro’s final form resembles a Mayan bird god.

David is respresented as a ‘Tengu’ characterized by their long nose.

Akane, the servant, is ‘hair’ which is essentially tied to Japanese folklore.

Favorite episode

Hako (Box) : Not only because it is Sai’s first appearance but it is the first time the series takes on a non-predictable turn.

Least Favorite Episode:

Episode 14: This was my least favorite episode for numerous reasons.

Most interesting character:

X/Phantom Thief Sai

Least favorite character:

Aya Asia: Her motive of murder seemed to be ‘lacking’ and a bit superficial. Killing those that were dear to her in order to remain blissfully alone in order to create ‘music that could touch the soul of others’ seemed a bit— lacking.

Manga is under review!