Hello!
I just need to get this post out of my head, so here it is! I freaking love underrated animes and mangas, and that’s why I decided to talk about a title that is unfamiliar to many; Psychic Detective Yakumo! Here goes ^_^ I’ll try to not spoil a thing… but this may be a bit biased so I’m sorry for that!
But first of all, Psychic Detective Yakumo actually has two different manga works, an anime, a live-action series and a stage play which was adapted from the original light novel, which was being translated by a kind soul, Laute. And I decided to take the summary from the wiki, because every works have different summary for this series… it seems.
Summary: Yakumo Saitou, a reserved College student, was born with a red left eye. This eye, which he usually hides behind a contact lens, gives him the ability to see ghosts and spirits and has brought him many hardships throughout his life. Even though this special vision could easily scare anyone, it doesn’t scare Yakumo. He strongly believes ghosts and spirits have feelings left behind, bound to earth because of a certain ’cause’. It is his opinion that by talking with them, he can eliminate that ’cause’ and release them, allowing them to rest in peace. One day, a fellow College student named Haruka Ozawa knocks on his door, asking for help to save her friend, who she believes to be possessed. Reluctantly, he accepts, and thus begins a story full of unsolved supernatural events, bound to be deciphered by the two, and Yakumo’s journey to release his heart from his painful past.
Genres: Mystery, Horror, Psychological, Detective fiction, Drama (and a lil bit of romance :3)
Out of all the works, I picked up the anime first and foremost and I didn’t remember why…. Because Yakumo is hawt, that’s why!! I thought that an anime like this is new to me, and I didn’t expect that I’ll fall in love with the anime. Ever. The anime, manga and novel were told in a third-person’s point of view so you’ll pretty much see everything except for Yakumo’s feelings. Personally, you can just start of from the anime and not the novel, like everyone recommends.
It’s about Yakumo who can see ghosts, Haruka who seeks his help at first and then became his companion, and some police inspectors, and how they stumbled upon cases one after another anddd everything was actually fate! Like, it was supposed to be like that. This series is just brilliant. It’s not really much of a horror though, it’s more to psychological and feelings and stuff. They were like just, bound together sobs omg. Simply put, I always recommend to people by saying “it’s about this guy that can see ghosts with his red eye!”.
The story flow, and the plot, is really interesting. And what amuses me that, how the characters who were all unfriendly at first began to open-up and even develop feelings for one another… though it is not obvious. I mean, I never actually got stuck to an anime and observed the progress of the characters’ relationships but this anime opened my eyes.
Yakumo is the cold, brilliant type that does things his own way and has a sharp tongue. Kinda. Most of the time he doesn’t speak and very, very calm. While Haruka, this adorable female character is really nicely-written because you can see how she evolves from someone who is weak to someone who’s strong and definitely deserves her spot to be Yakumo’s right-hand lady :3
And there is drama. You could literally feel the feelings in your chest, despite Yakumo being an expressionless freak. There’s some twist and turns, and in the end, the expected was actually unexpected after all! (Gosh, I wish I could ask people to squeal about Yakumo and Haruka with me ;;;) And the characters are very well written!!
Some things in the anime are not in the manga, and vice versa. And with the fact that there’s two versions of the manga…
The above is the cover of the first manga, and the art is very different from the anime and the ongoing manga. When I say very, I mean very. The title is Shinrei Tantei Yakumo – Akai Hitomi wa Shitteiru. This series tells pretty much the first part of the story, and some things in this manga are not in the ongoing version, so read this one if you’re interested. Otherwise, you can do whatever you like haha.
And yes, the above one is the upgraded version of the manga, with the title being Shinrei Tantei Yakumo. As you can see, there are two mangaka working on the series, and actually, both works are pretty fine. But I guess this version is funnier, prettier and Yakumo is shekshier in a lot of ways. And actually… nicer? I mean, look!
(((excuse me while I drown in ocean of feels)))
So how about reading the novel next? Laute translated the novel up to Volume 8 here! She’s working on Volume 9, and I’m really thankful for that ;;; Read the first volume here~ When you read it, it’ll all start making sense in your head… like it did to me. //orz facepalm//
All in all, I may sound biased but if you’re ready to get hooked onto something, and feel quite attached and want the feeling of not being able to move on from such a great title, then this is for you! If you want some not obvious romance, this is for you as well. And if you want something just to pass time, then feel free to do whatever you want with the series HA. The horror is not particularly scary at all tbh and it’s really enjoyable in a lot of ways~
For ratings….
Plot: 10/10 (I’ve never knew such a plot could exist T_T)
Characters: 9/10
Art: 9/10 for the manga, 7.67/10 for the anime.
I guess that’s all…. Thanks for reading, bye~
Little Mochii 