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''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a beloved Japanese MysteryOfTheWeek series starring Masakazu Tamura as the titular police inspector who is a kind of SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/Columbo''. Furuhata similarly uses [[ObfuscatingStupidity his absent-mindedness, overt friendliness, humbleness, and over-the-top politeness to get close to and unnerve his suspects.]] Unlike Columbo, however, Furuhata is a neat dresser and is not afraid of dropping his mask and openly confronting the murderer when required. His tactics of PerpSweating are also much more ruthless and occasionally border on Psychological ColdBloodedTorture.
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''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a beloved Japanese MysteryOfTheWeek series starring Masakazu Tamura as the titular police inspector who is a kind of SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/Columbo''.''Series/{{Columbo}}''. Furuhata similarly uses [[ObfuscatingStupidity his absent-mindedness, overt friendliness, humbleness, and over-the-top politeness to get close to and unnerve his suspects.]] Unlike Columbo, however, Furuhata is a neat dresser and is not afraid of dropping his mask and openly confronting the murderer when required. His tactics of PerpSweating are also much more ruthless and occasionally border on Psychological ColdBloodedTorture.
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* ButtMonkey: Poor Imaizumi is often teased and insulted by Furuhata. In one episode, Furuhata even shoves an entire pork bun in his own mouth at once rather than give the starving Imaizumi a bite!
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That's... not the correct series. At all.
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** Eric Prince from "Ashes to Ashes" in spite of murdering to cover up his grave robbing in his funeral home. When Columbo figures out he cremated the victim in lieu of a retired war veteran, Eric asks politely if he should ride in the police cruiser, or with Columbo. They both casually walk to Columbo's car; Eric is at ease with his fate.
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** In "The Resurrection of Death" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Otoya is the VillainOfTheWeek. While he does commit the murder, the actual BigBad is his loveable teacher Tenma who manipulated his student to commit the murder]].
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** In "The Resurrection of Death" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Otoya is the VillainOfTheWeek. While he does commit the murder, the actual BigBad is his loveable lovable teacher Tenma who manipulated his student to commit the murder]].
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** The bomber in "Red or Blue" is a member of the bomb squad.
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** The bomber in "Red or Blue" is a member of the an electronics student who gets coincidentally [[ClosestThingWeGot pressed into replacing an injured bomb squad.investigator]]. Unlike the previous examples, this wasn't part of his plan and actually interferes with it, since being in investigation headquarters keeps him from making further threatening phone calls as he'd promised he would, putting Furuhata on is trail.
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* EurekaMoment: Whenever Furuhata figures out the final clue, the lights dim and he [[BreakingTheFourthWall adresses the audience]] telling us he has solved the case.
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* EurekaMoment: Whenever Furuhata figures out the final clue, the lights dim and he [[BreakingTheFourthWall adresses addresses the audience]] telling us he has solved the case.
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** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
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** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's Chinami's basement.]]
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** Happens to an extreme level to Shintaro Imaizumi. In the first season, he is a competent if clumsy and overly enthusiastic detective. He is also a very profficient Go player, even beating Furuhata at the strategy game. From season two onward, he grows stupider and meaner until he pretty much becomes an incompetent cartoon character in the last season and an object of mockery for everyone.
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** Happens to an extreme level to Shintaro Imaizumi. In the first season, he is a competent if clumsy and overly enthusiastic detective. He is also a very profficient proficient Go player, even beating Furuhata at the strategy game. From season two onward, he grows stupider and meaner until he pretty much becomes an incompetent cartoon character in the last season and an object of mockery for everyone.
** Again in "The Dentist Murder", Furuhata once again walks the culprit through a re-enactment, this time of the culprit's disguise. He catches the culprit when she [[spoiler: selects a fake mustache. When Furuhata asks her why she did that, she responds that the culprit was disguised as a man, something Furuhata never told her.]]
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** Dr Kenichiro from ''Master of the Game'' also counts.
** The ProfessionalKIller from ''The Most Dangerous Game'' who works with the eco-terrorists. While the rest of the group care for the environment, he is only in it for the cash and doesn’t care who he has to kill to get it.
** The ProfessionalKIller from ''The Most Dangerous Game'' who works with the eco-terrorists. While the rest of the group care for the environment, he is only in it for the cash and doesn’t care who he has to kill to get it.
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** Dr Kenichiro from ''Master of the Game'' also counts.
counts. Furuhata gives him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech at the end for treating his crimes like fun games.
** TheProfessionalKIller ProfessionalKiller from ''The Most Dangerous Game'' who works with the eco-terrorists. While the rest of the group care for the environment, he is only in it for the cash and doesn’t care who he has to kill to get it.
** The
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* AbsenteeActor:
** Masakazu Tamura does not appear in person in "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" but he does appear in the archive footage during the ClipShow portions of the episode.
** Neither Masahiko Nishimura nor Masanori Ishii appears in "His Excellency Did It". This is the only episode that Shintaro Imaizumi does not appear in.
** Masakazu Tamura does not appear in person in "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" but he does appear in the archive footage during the ClipShow portions of the episode.
** Neither Masahiko Nishimura nor Masanori Ishii appears in "His Excellency Did It". This is the only episode that Shintaro Imaizumi does not appear in.
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* FairPlayWhodunnit: The show is a ReverseWhodunnit except in a few cases:
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end. Even though we know Otoya killed his brother, we don't know the identity of the person who killed his father and eventually Otoya himself.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end. Even though we know Otoya killed his brother, we don't know the identity of the person who killed his father and eventually Otoya himself.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
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* Whodunnit: The show is a ReverseWhodunnit except in a few cases:
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a Whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a Whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a Whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a Whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
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** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Murder".
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** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Murder".Village".
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* Whodunnit: The show is a ReverseWhodunnit except in a few cases:
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a Whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a Whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" plays out like a Whodunnit while everyone tries to figure out the secret behind Furuhata's disappearance.[[spoiler: He's not dead. Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinamo's basement.]]
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" is a Whodunnit for the first third until we find out that [[spoiler: the medical examiner, Dr Kuroiwa, is faking the serial murders]]. Sadly, this is very much a case of a SpoilerTitle.
** [[spoiler: "The Resurrection of Death" is a FairPlayWhodunnit but we don't know that until TheReveal at the very end.]]
** [[spoiler: "Final Dance" is a similar case in that it's also a FairPlayWhodunnit except we think we know who did it. Throughout the episode, we think that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji. We're only told at the very end that it was Momiji who killed Kaede. She's been impersonating her all the time. The clues are all there, however.]]
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* AlwaysMurder: Mostly true, but Subverted a few times.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" has no murder. The mystery revolves around the titular disappearance but despite Shintaro's theories, Furuhata is not dead. [[spoiler: Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinami's basement.]]
** [[spoiler: A very interesting example in "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa". All the serial murders are fake. The medical examiner, Kuroiwa, planted the evidence to make the police think they are real. However, he does commit an actual murder later on.]]
** [[spoiler: The supposed murder Toru is planning in "The Reunion" is actually a suicide. He wants to make it look like murder and frame his wife for it. Furuhata eventually talks him down and there are no deaths in this episode.]]
** There is no murder in "Death in the Clouds", just an accidental death during turbulence in the toilet of an aeroplane which the woman's inept lover tries to cover up so his wife wouldn't find out about the affair. His cover-up is so bad that everyone on board the plane thinks it's actually a murder.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" has no murder. The mystery revolves around the titular disappearance but despite Shintaro's theories, Furuhata is not dead. [[spoiler: Shintaro accidentally locked him in Chinami's basement.]]
** [[spoiler: A very interesting example in "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa". All the serial murders are fake. The medical examiner, Kuroiwa, planted the evidence to make the police think they are real. However, he does commit an actual murder later on.]]
** [[spoiler: The supposed murder Toru is planning in "The Reunion" is actually a suicide. He wants to make it look like murder and frame his wife for it. Furuhata eventually talks him down and there are no deaths in this episode.]]
** There is no murder in "Death in the Clouds", just an accidental death during turbulence in the toilet of an aeroplane which the woman's inept lover tries to cover up so his wife wouldn't find out about the affair. His cover-up is so bad that everyone on board the plane thinks it's actually a murder.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bytgwzmi2ogytmtc1zs00yjcylwewmmitmmvkmjkwnwi4owuyxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymtk0mjq3nzk_v1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Furuhata Ninzaburo (Masakazu Tamura) and just some of the perps he's caught over the years.]]
''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a beloved Japanese MysteryOfTheWeek series starring Masakazu Tamura as the titular police inspector who is a kind of SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/Columbo''. Furuhata similarly uses [[ObfuscatingStupidity his absent-mindedness, overt friendliness, humbleness, and over-the-top politeness to get close to and unnerve his suspects.]] Unlike Columbo, however, Furuhata is a neat dresser and is not afraid of dropping his mask and openly confronting the murderer when required. His tactics of PerpSweating are also much more ruthless and occasionally border on Psychological ColdBloodedTorture.
Every episode of the series and both of the [[SpinOff spin-offs]] were written by Japanese playwright Koki Mitani who is best known as the founder of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys, a theatre troupe whose members frequently appeared on the show in minor roles.
Another difference between the two shows is that Furuhata does not work alone. He is assisted by his dimwitted partner (or more accurately an unwanted hanger-on) Shintaro Imaizumi. In the second season, they are joined by the HyperCompetentSidekick Haga who is then replaced for the final two seasons by the SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Mamoru Saionji. Another regular is Officer Mukojima, a uniformed police officer whose [[RunningGag name Furuhata can never remember.]]
Just like the US show, ''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a ReverseWhodunnit (better known as the "open mystery"): For as much as the first third of each episode (or in one extreme case, the first hour of the episode), the audience sees the motive set up and then actually watches as each guest villain tries to execute the perfect murder. Furuhata and his partner(s) then appear in the second act... And (with very rare exceptions) the audience is left wondering not "whodunnit" but "how is he going to catch them".
One major innovation over Columbo is that twice ''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' featured [[AsHimself real-life celebrities as the killers]]. Boy band SMAP and baseball player Ichiro Suzuki.
Furuhata’s mannerisms include distinctive hand gestures and a stooped posture which is meant to be a display of fake submissiveness. He shares a particular verbal tic with Columbo – the use of the legendary phrase “just one more thing” which occurs almost OncePerEpisode. He is a snappy dresser who almost always wears black and has perfectly quaffed shoulder-length hair. He also [[BreakingTheFourthWall addresses the audience]] twice an episode. Once at the beginning giving a brief prologue and once at the end of the second act where he sums up the clues so far and issues a challenge to the viewer inspired by ''Series/ElleryQueen''.
The series aired between 1994 and 2006 and produced four seasons and 42 episodes (thirty-two 45-minute episodes and 10 feature-length ones). There are also two [[SpinOff spin-offs]]: ''Shintaro Imaizumi'', a 1996 series of 10-minute sketches focusing on the comedic antics of Furuhata’s bumbling sidekick when he’s off work and a 2008 MadeForTVMovie ''Junior High School Student Furuhata'' which focused on Furuhata Ninzaburo’s childhood as a KidDetective.
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* AbsenteeActor:
** Masakazu Tamura does not appear in person in "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" but he does appear in the archive footage during the ClipShow portions of the episode.
** Neither Masahiko Nishimura nor Masanori Ishii appears in "His Excellency Did It". This is the only episode that Shintaro Imaizumi does not appear in.
* AccidentalMurder:
** In "The Moving Corpse", the killer pushes the victim in a fit of rage. Unfortunately, the victim slams his head on a table and promptly dies.
** "Broadcast Murder" is a borderline case. The murder occurs in the heat of the moment when the victim catches the killer, a PhonyPsychic, setting up a trick.
** One of the two murders in "The Contradictory Corpse".
** "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. The Quiz King" features a similar case as "The Moving Corpse".
** "Death in the Clouds" is not even a murder. The victim bangs her head during turbulence and the VillainOfTheWeek hides her body so their affair is not discovered.
* AccidentalPervert: In "This Man Is Too Busy", while [[ItMakesSenseInContext Shintaro is dressed as a woman making out with Saionji in an office]] they are seen by the pair of lovers they are impersonating. The lovers are shocked and leave before the detectives can explain themselves.
* ActionGirl: A few of the murderers qualify, especially the titular DJ from "Sayonara DJ" who is a former track and field runner.
* ActorAllusion:
** The VillainOfTheWeek in "Rehearsal for Murder" notes that Furuhata Ninzaburo could star in historical movies. Tamura Masakazu made his name starring in historical movies.
** One of the guest stars in "The Resurrection of Death" is Koji Ishizaka who is best known for playing Kosuke Kindaichi, one of Japan’s most famous detectives and a big influence on Furuhata Ninzaburo. [[spoiler:In a very rare twist of this kind on the show, he turns out to be the true BigBad of the episode. Furuhata refers to him as the most ingenious killer he’s ever met and shows him a surprising amount of reverence and respect.]].
* AdamWesting:
** Masaaki Sakai, a well-known kabuki actor plays a well-known kabuki actor in "The Moving Corpse".
** Shingo Yamashiro, a controversial, womanizing magician/actor plays a controversial, womanizing magician in "Magician’s Choice".
** Takeshi Kaga plays the same role in "Murder Express" as he played in a highly popular medical drama called "He Is Always There". Both were written by Koki Mitani.
** J-Pop boy band SMAP appear as themselves in "Furuhata Ninzaburo Vs. SMAP".
** Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki appears AsHimself in "A Fair Murderer".
* AffablyEvil: Pretty much all of the killers are this. The most explicit examples include:
** Chinami Koishikawa in "Message from the Dead" is the mother of all examples. Not only do Furuhata and her develop a friendship that borders on romance during the episode, but he also continues mentioning and visiting her all the way throughout the series. He travels to America to attend her wedding and even brings her up in his final monologue in the very last episode.
** Furuhata definitely feels sorry for Hikaru Noda in "The Laughing Kangaroo". He has a similar relationship with Sakura Odajima in "The Sad Perfect Crime".
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" definitely qualifies [[spoiler: as she is one of the few killers Furuhata lets go]].
** Eric Prince from "Ashes to Ashes" in spite of murdering to cover up his grave robbing in his funeral home. When Columbo figures out he cremated the victim in lieu of a retired war veteran, Eric asks politely if he should ride in the police cruiser, or with Columbo. They both casually walk to Columbo's car; Eric is at ease with his fate.
** Toru Anzai in "The Reunion" is a very unusual example. He is an old friend of Furuhata’s but acts rather coldly towards him. [[spoiler: This all turns out to be part of a very elaborate suicide plot. The episode ends with Furuhata and him playing a childhood game while laughing.]]
** [[spoiler: Momiji]] in "Final Dance" ends the episode dancing with Furuhata.
** [[spoiler: Nonoyama]] in "Junior High School Student Furuhata" is very charming and nice when he’s not trying to kill 13-year-olds.
* AllForNothing:
** The killer in "The Laughing Kangaroo" kills his research partner in order to steal a formula he devised. It turns out that [[spoiler: the formula his research partner came up with had already been discovered in America but the news just hadn’t reached the killer in time]].
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" [[spoiler: gets away with the murder of her husband except that everyone knows she did it and no one wants to have anything to do with her. She is thus forced to live a lonely life suffering with guilt]].
** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Village" kills a con woman for stealing the villagers’ money and ruining their chances to get a huge distribution deal for their homemade wine. [[spoiler: In the end, the villagers get the distribution deal anyway and the harm the con woman did is far less than the harm the murder did to the community]].
** In "Final Dance" [[spoiler: Momiji, a timid writer, kills her outgoing twin because she wants to take her place as the beloved soul of the party. In the end, she realizes that she is bad at pretending to be her and does not enjoy her extrovert lifestyle after all]].
* AndAnotherThing: In a direct quote from Columbo, Furuhata says the phrase at least OncePerEpisode.
* AndStarring: From season three onward, the guest stars are featured in the opening title credits alongside Masakazu Tamura. In the fourth season, their pictures are also shown. Very special guests (such as Koshiro Matsumoto and Koji Ishizaka) are sometimes credited at the very end of the closing credits this way.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: This is Furuhata’s speciality. Most episodes end with Furuhata wearing the killer down with a series of these until they confess.
* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Whenever the regulars travel to English-speaking countries their English is noticeably this.
* AssholeVictim: Pretty much every time. The victims are typically blackmailers or cheating spouses but also include:
** A corrupt studio executive in "Rehearsal for Murder".
** A murderous, philandering politician in "The Contradictory Corpse".
** A child killer in "The Final Greeting".
** A nagging teacher in "Goodbye for a While".
** A con artist in "The Murder in a Small Village".
** An abusive husband in "The Sad Perfect Crime".
** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Murder".
* BaitAndSwitch: Furuhata frequently uses this method to catch his killers.
** Involving pianos in "The Piano Lesson".
** Furuhata keeps pulling a particularly brutal one in "The Contradictory Corpse". The victim survives the attempted murder and Furuhata and the killer wait in the hospital for him to wake from his coma. Several times in the episode, Furuhata makes the killer believe the victim has awoken only to then reveal that he is talking about Shintaro who is also in the same hospital undergoing a haemorrhoid surgery. The killer gets so stressed out he almost has a stroke.
** Furuhata does this with audio tapes in "Sayonara DJ".
** He makes the killer in "The Laughing Kangaroo" reveal knowledge only the killer could know by making him think they are standing in his hotel room when, in fact, they’re on an entirely different floor.
** The killer does this in "The Magician’s Choice" using the titular trick.
** This trick is pulled in "The Reunion" [[spoiler: on the audience. Throughout the episode, we are made to think that Toru is trying to kill his wife. He is actually trying to commit suicide and make it look like his wife has killed him.]]
** In "The Resurrection of Death" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Otoya is the VillainOfTheWeek. While he does commit the murder, the actual BigBad is his loveable teacher Tenma who manipulated his student to commit the murder]].
** In "Final Dance" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji because she wanted to leave their partnership. Actually, it was Momiji who killed Kaede and is now impersonating her]].
* BatmanGambit: Furuhata is fond of these.
** In "The Killing Fax" [[spoiler: he dresses Shintaro in all white knowing that the killer won’t be there to see him. When the killer claims falsely that he did see Shintaro, Furuhata asks him what he was wearing]].
** A ridiculously dangerous one in "Red or Blue" in which the VillainOfTheWeek places a bomb in a crowded theme park. [[spoiler: After arresting the terrorist, Furuhata asks him which line to cut in order to deactivate the bomb. The killer says red. Furuhata instructs Shintaro to cut the blue. Furuhata is right]].
** The entirety of the second part of "The Most Dangerous Game" is this as Furuhata calls the bluff of a terrorist group masquerading as cops and accompanies them, completely alone, to an imaginary drop-off point where they are supposedly meeting themselves.
* BilingualBonus: None of the English dialogue in "The Laughing Kangaroo" or "What Happened in New York" is subtitled.
* BilledAboveTheTitle: Tamura Masakazu is always this. From season three onwards, so are the guest stars.
* BlackmailBackfire: Most of the victims in this show are failed blackmailers.
* BloodlessCarnage: Averted in several episodes, most prominently in "The Woman Who Never Smiled" in which the titular killer bludgeons her victim to death as blood spurts all over her face in close-up.
* BluffingTheMurderer: Most episodes feature an example of this.
* BritishBrevity: The final season has only three episodes.
* CallBack: Furuhata occasionally mentions his cases. Most frequently he talks about his friendship with Chinami, the killer from "Message from the Dead". He is also inordinately fond of telling (usually horrified) people about how the serial killer from "Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" inserted notes into his victims’ anuses.
* CatchPhrase: "Just one more thing...".
** Whenever Furuhata meets the killer he says "I am Furuhata Ninzaburo".
** Also: "sodeska" (Japanese for "I see") spoken with a very long o sound by Furuhata while scratching his forehead.
* CharacterTics: Furuhata makes some highly imitable hand gestures.
* ClockKing: The murderer in "The Killing Fax" fakes a kidnapping and plans the entire night’s events, down to the movements of the detectives investigating the case, down to the last second. He spends the entire episode running around with a stopwatch in his hand.
* CluelessDetective: Shintaro Imaizumi to a ridiculous extent. He finally gets to lead his own investigation in "Furuhata Goes to the Dentist" but botches it so badly that Furuhata has to abandon his sick leave to take over.
* ConvictionByContradiction: Fairly frequently.
* CoolOldGuy: The murderous katana-wielding village elder in "The Murder in a Small Village". The villagers have a fanatical respect for him and even Furuhata grows to like him.
* CorrectionBait: InUniverse example: in "Murder Express", this is how Furuhata tricks the killer into revealing themselves.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The studio boss in "Rehearsal for Murder" who gets killed by an actor/director for ExecutiveMeddling.
* CorruptPolitician:
** Uno Tadakuni in "The Contradictory Corpse" who tries to pay off his much, much younger mistress not to reveal their affair. When she refuses, he has his assistant kill her.
** Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Takechi Mayuzumi in "His Excellency Did It" is a surprisingly likeable example of this trope.
* DeadpanSnarker: Furuhata definitely qualifies, especially towards Shintaro. Shintaro himself becomes this in the later season but usually in a way that backfires.
* DeathByFallingOver: Happens in "The Moving Corpse" and "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. The Quiz King".
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit:
** The killer in "The Contradictory Corpse" tries this but his fall guy survives.
** One of the killers in "Appraisal: Murder" does this to the other killer. It backfires horribly.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Furuhata arrests his own superior at the end of "The Final Greeting". He also goes up against the Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in "His Excellency Did It". [[spoiler: Sadly, he kills himself before Furuhata can arrest him]].
* DetectiveDrama: Although typically the drama is on the ''perp's'' side.
* DetectiveMole:
** Furuhata makes his superior in "The Final Greeting" believe he is this. In fact, Furuhata knew he was the killer from the beginning.
** The terrorists in "The Most Dangerous Game" pretend to be detectives trying to catch the terrorists.
** The bomber in "Red or Blue" is a member of the bomb squad.
* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Several times. Most spectacularly in "The Wrong Man" in which a man commits the perfect murder and gets clean away with it to the point that Furuhata doesn’t find out it even happened until the very last minute of the episode. However, he gets caught for getting nervous and murdering an acquaintance who just happens to see him in the vicinity of the crime scene.
* DirtyCop: Averted. The superintendent killer in "The Final Greeting" is not corrupt. He killed a gangster in order to avenge the murder of his daughter.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Furuhata is usually completely immune to feminine charms but he falls for the killer in "Final Dance" so badly, he refuses to see the obvious until the end of the episode.
* DoesntLikeGuns: Furuhata never carries a gun and speaks against carrying a gun in "The Final Greeting".
* DownerEnding:
** Once the extremely likeable Chinako gets caught in "Message from the Dead", she asks Furuhata if she can go have a cry for a few minutes before he arrests her. Furuhata agrees.
** "Final Dance" is a bonafide TearJerker. [[spoiler: It turns out that Furuhata’s love interest has been murdered by her twin sister. Furuhata confronts the sister and finds her to be a depressed, lonely woman who simply longed to be like her extroverted, outgoing sister. The episode ends with them dancing in an empty club where Furuhata and the victim went the night before she was killed.]]
** "Junior High School Student Furuhata" ends with Furuhata moving away and his best friend Mukojima waving to him as he leaves and saying he hopes they meet again.
* DyingClue: "Message from the Dead" replicates, in part, the one from the Series/Columbo episode "Try and Catch Me".
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Remarkably, the show stayed very consistent throughout the episodes. However, there are a few examples of this in season one.
** Most obviously, the fact that Furuhata wears a different coloured shirt every episode. In later seasons, he would only wear black shirts.
** There is a RunningGag in which Furuhata keeps running into broken vending machines.
** Furuhata arrives by car rather than by his trademark bicycle he would begin using in the second season.
** The character of Furuhata is occasionally portrayed in a more comical light. In several episodes, he is portrayed as TheKlutz, something that he would never be in the later seasons.
** The first season also has several examples of the BottleEpisode in which the only characters are Furuhata, Shintaro, the killer, and the victim.
* EpisodeOnAPlane: "Death in the Clouds".
* EurekaMoment: Whenever Furuhata figures out the final clue, the lights dim and he [[BreakingTheFourthWall adresses the audience]] telling us he has solved the case.
* ExasperatedPerp: The cool and polite Japanese exterior is frequently broken by Furuhata’s indefatigable questioning. The most extreme example occurs in "The Contradictory Corpse" in which he makes the killer physically sweat and hyperventilate throughout the episode. The killer is actually relieved once he is arrested that the psychological torture is over.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The victim in "Rehearsal for Murder" gets killed for this.
* FakeGunshot: The murderer in "Final Dance" uses a firecracker to create her alibi.
* FictionalCountry: The unnamed South American country in "His Excellency Did It".
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Happens to an extreme level to Shintaro Imaizumi. In the first season, he is a competent if clumsy and overly enthusiastic detective. He is also a very profficient Go player, even beating Furuhata at the strategy game. From season two onward, he grows stupider and meaner until he pretty much becomes an incompetent cartoon character in the last season and an object of mockery for everyone.
** A very unusual example happens to Furuhata himself. He gets flanderized in several episodes of season one, most notably "The Dirty King" where he seems to be a Charlie Chaplin-like figure. In most episodes, however, he is his normal polite and serious self.
* FoodPorn: Furuhata loves his food, especially sweets and cannot resist ice cream.
* FriendlyEnemy: Most killers are quite friendly to Furuhata. PlayedStraight in the case of Chinami in "Message from the Dead" who becomes a true friend of Furuhata’s and even invites him to her wedding in New York.
* GeniusSlob: The victim in "The Laughing Kangaroo" is an extreme example of this.
* TheGhost:
** Shintaro’s grandmother.
** Mukojima’s wife.
** Furuhata’s brother.
** Chinami becomes this. She is mentioned very frequently but never appears after "Message from the Dead" except for a brief cameo in the ClipShow episode.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Almost literally in "The Resurrection of Death". Furuhata races toy cars with the killer.
* GPSEvidence: There are quite a number of cases of this.
* GracefulLoser: With only a few exceptions, all the killers gracefully confess once Furuhata presents them with his evidence.
* HiddenDepths:
** Furuhata is an excellent cook although only of a single meal as can be seen in "The Laughing Corpse".
** Shintaro Imaizumi is a very good Go player as can be seen in "The Dirty King".
** Subverted in "Sayonara DJ" where it is conclusively proven that Furuhata cannot sing.
** In "The Master of Games", Furuhata proves he is pretty good at pool.
** In "Goodbye for a While", we learn that Shintaro goes to flower arranging classes. He is terrible at it.
** In "The Young Master’s Crime" it is revealed that forensics technician Kuwabara is a good rakugo performer.
** Shintaro loves to play his clarinet and demonstrates his talent in "The Perfect Pitch Murder". It turns out he has none.
** Mukojima is shown to be a terrific baseball player in "A Fair Murderer".
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Happens occasionally. The most extreme example occurs in "The Wrong Man" which consists entirely of a series of own petards exploding in the killer’s face.
** "Death in the Clouds" is a similar example since there was no crime until the killer tried to hide the body.
* HyperAwareness: Furuhata, especially in "Junior High School Student Furuhata" where he effortlessly performs the SherlockScan.
* IdiotBall: "Death in the Clouds" is IdiotBall : The Movie as the inept VillainOfTheWeek keeps getting himself deeper and deeper into trouble for no reason at all.
* InconsistentEpisodeLengths: Most of the episodes are 45 minutes long but some of the episodes have an extended runtime and can run anywhere from 75 minutes to a whopping 135.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In "Murder Express", Furuhata makes the killer help him re-enact the murder making him reveal something only the killer would know.
* InspectorLestrade: Saionji and Haga are competent policemen but lack Furuhata’s HyperAwareness.
* IrregularSeries: Four seasons across 12 years.
* ItaliansTalkWithHands: Furuhata is Japanese but he definitely talks with his hands.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Shintaro has very little screen time in the fourth season and is shown as having become a fairly bitter and mean person taking snipes even at Furuhata whom he once idolized.
* LimitedWardrobe: Besides wearing different coloured shirts in season one, Furuhata’s costume never changes.
* LifesWorkRuined:
** The authoritarian headmistress in "The Woman Who Never Laughs" cannot stand to see a beloved teacher introduce more liberal attitudes to her rule-oriented school. So she kills him.
** The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in "His Excellency Did It" is a dedicated career politician but when his advisor threatens to reveal some of his dirty dealings which would surely ruin his career he kills him.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Very, very often.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Not when Furuhata Ninzaburo is the investigative officer.
* MysteryOfTheWeek
* NeverSuicide: Subverted in [[spoiler: "The Reunion" in which, even though it seems obvious Toru is planning to kill his wife, he is actually planning to commit suicide, make it appear like murder, and frame his wife.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Gloriously Averted in "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" and "A Fair Murderer" where the VillainOfTheWeek appears AsHimself.
* NoFullNameGiven:
** Detective Haga.
** The killer in "Motive: Appraisal" is only ever referred to as the owner of the Shunpo-do, an antique shop.
* NonActionGuy: Furuhata. If there’s any running or fighting to be done, he makes Shintaro do it.
* NotAMorningPerson: Furuhata whines if he’s called out to a crime scene before 9.
* NotSoStoic: Furuhata himself in "Red or Blue". While he is normally amiable with the VillainOfTheWeek during the arrest scene, in this episode he begins to laugh at the bomber’s joke before smacking him right across the face. The bomber is as shocked as we are.
* NoWarrantNoProblem: Like Columbo, Furuhata just shows up wherever his suspect goes.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Furuhata sort of plays with this even though he never goes to the lengths of appearing genuinely stupid. His MO is to appear friendly and agreeable to the point where the suspect won’t consider him a serious threat. The sole exception is probably "The Dirty King" where he turns into TheKlutz in what is also an example of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.
* OddballInTheSeries:
** The very first episode aired, "Message from the Dead", is this as it only features four characters and most of it is a two-hander between Furuhata and the killer.
** "Broadcast Murder" is this as Furuhata and the killer don’t meet until the last five minutes.
** "The Wrong Man" and "Death in the Air" play out like farces in which everything that can go wrong for the killer goes wrong while Furuhata merely observes the mayhem.
** "What Happened in New York" in spades. Not only is the whole episode set on a bus, but it is also the only episode in which the murder happened many years ago and the killer has already been acquitted. The entire episode, instead, plays out in dialogue between Furuhata and the killer as she challenges the great detective to question her and prove she did it.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo". Not only is it a ClipShow, not only is it the only episode in which Furuhata Ninzaburo does not appear, not only is there no murder, but it is also a Mockumentary.
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" in which Furuhata Ninzaburo pursues a serial killer.
** "The Reunion" in which we follow the VillainOfTheWeek go through his plan in the presence of Furuhata throughout the entire episode.
** "The Most Dangerous Game" which is a remake of Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree.
* OrgyOfEvidence: A major weakness in "The Laughing Corpse" is that Furuhata has more than enough evidence to convict the killer in the first 20 minutes.
* OutGambitted: Eventually all of the culprits' plots turn out to be this.
* OutOfGenreExperience:
** "Red or Blue" and "The Most Dangerous Game" are terrorist action thrillers.
** "The Wrong Man" and "Death in the Clouds" are out-and-out comedies.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" is a comedic Mockumentary ClipShow that has no murders.
** In a minor example, parts of "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" are a straight ConcertFilm probably due to Padding.
* OutOfOrder: The first three seasons suffer extremely badly from this. Here are a few examples:
** Furuhata and Shintaro first meet in the second episode "The Moving Corpse" even though they worked together in the previous episode.
** Furuhata and Shintaro are on a business trip in episode five of the first season. Episode seven shows their return trip to Tokyo even though they were back in episode six.
** Season three suffers the worst of all. For example, the first 10 minutes of "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" are an elaborate introduction of Saionji even though he appeared in the previous episode.
** An even more egregious example is that Furuhata, Saionji and Shintaro are shown in episode four to be returning from a trip. But they don’t actually go on the trip until episode six!
* ThePerfectCrime:
** The killer in "The Wrong Man" actually pulls one off. His second one, however, is a complete disaster.
** Furuhata himself agrees that [[spoiler: Tenma in "The Resurrection of Death" cannot be prosecuted for the murders of the Horibe brothers. However, he committed those murders to cover up the murder of their father which happened more than a decade ago and which Furuhata manages to arrest him for.]]
* PerpSweating: To an extreme and literal degree in "The Contradictory Corpse".
* PhoneyCall:
** The killer does this unsuccessfully in "The Contradictory Corpse". Furuhata easily proves the victim couldn’t have called him by the simple use of the redial button.
** The killer in "Final Dance" does it successfully, however, by stealing the victim’s mobile phone and then returning it upon discovering the body.
* PoliceProcedural
* PsychopathicManchild:
** The killer in "Red or Blue" is a young man who decides to place a bomb on a Ferris wheel because [[spoiler: it blocks the view of the sea from his apartment.]]
** Otoya from "The Resurrection of Death" also qualifies. He kills his older brother for being overbearing using a plan for a perfect murder he wrote when he was in fifth grade.
* RealMenCook: Furuhata is a pretty good cook.
* ReverseWhodunnit
* RunningGag:
** OncePerEpisode, Furuhata (and occasionally other people) will slap Shintaro’s forehead for saying or doing something incredibly dumb. It makes a cool slapping sound.
** Furuhata’s inability to remember Mukojima’s name.
** There’s one in the first season which revolves around Furuhata’s inability to operate vending machines.
* SeriesContinuityError: Furuhata and Mukojima first meet in the second episode of the show, "The Moving Corpse". However, the prequel MadeForTVMovie "Junior High School Student Furuhata" reveals they were childhood friends.
* SmugSnake: Some of the killers, though nowhere near as much as in Series/Columbo.
* TheSociopath: Quite a few of the killers over the years.
** The bomber in ''Red or Blue'' is easily the number one example. Not only does he not care about killing large amounts of people (including many children), he does it for a completely banal reason. Furuhata is so shocked by his callousness that he slaps him.
** Dr Kenichiro from ''Master of the Game'' also counts.
** The ProfessionalKIller from ''The Most Dangerous Game'' who works with the eco-terrorists. While the rest of the group care for the environment, he is only in it for the cash and doesn’t care who he has to kill to get it.
** [[spoiler: Tenma in "The Resurrection of Death" who manipulates his favourite student to kill his brother. He then kills the student and all of that in order to cover up the fact that he killed their father more than a decade ago. None of this murdering disturbs him in the slightest and he easily keeps up his jovial facade]].
* SoreLoser: Kusaka from "The Most Dangerous Game" is probably the only killer not to go quietly. [[spoiler: He kidnaps a nurse at knife-point in order to escape.]]
* SpecialGuest: At least OncePerEpisode.
* SpottingTheThread
* SuddenlyShouting: Several of the authority figures do this.
* SuspectExistenceFailure: [[spoiler: Otoya Horibe is killed in what appears to be an accident in "The Resurrection of Death". It wasn’t an accident and the episode from there plays out as a FairPlayWhodunnit]].
* SympatheticMurderer: Most of the killers are at least likeable and most of the victims are AssholeVictim. The best examples include:
** Chinami in "Message from the Dead" is the most obvious example. Furuhata likes her so much they become good friends after the episode.
** The wise and cool Jushiro Omiya in "Rehearsal for Murder".
** Hikaru Noda in "The Laughing Kangaroo". [[spoiler: Subverted in that she’s not actually the killer, she only thinks she is]].
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" who ruined her own life by killing her cheating husband is at least pitiable.
** The SMAP members from "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs SMAP" who kill a particularly nasty man who was blackmailing one of the members in a one for all, all for one plot.
** Despite using Furuhata as an alibi, Haruko Kanamori from "Furuhata Goes to the Dentist" qualifies for being a generally kind, sweet, and bubbly dentist.
** Toru Anzai from "The Reunion" though this one is a major case of RewatchBonus.
** Sakura Odajima from "The Sad Perfect Murder". She is an abused wife who kills her awful husband. You really want her to get away with it.
** Tai Shuzo in "Death in the Clouds" is sympathetic simply for being a completely inept criminal and a henpecked husband.
** Ichiro Suzuki, the titular "Fair Murderer" who kills his brother’s blackmailer and then leaves clues that lead Furuhata directly to him. It also helps that his brother is none other than Officer Mukojima himself.
** [[spoiler: Momiji from "Final Dance" even though she kills probably the most likeable victim of the entire show, Furuhata’s love interest. She qualifies on the pitiable scale as she’s clearly a very depressed and deeply disturbed individual and not evil]].
** A very entertaining subversion occurs in "Reward for Hypocrisy" when the killer is Furuhata’s favourite TV writer. At first, she seems like a charming and erudite old lady but, by the end, everyone’s sick of her overbearing, manipulative nature.
* ThrillerOnTheExpress: "Murder Express".
* TitleDrop:
** "Which wire do we cut? '''Red or blue'''?"
** Furuhata keeps trying to figure out how to pull off a trick called '''Magician’s Choice'''.
**"This is a programme about the mysterious '''disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo'''."
**"I think '''His Excellency did it'''."
**"I would like the honour of the'''final dance'''."
** Pretty close in "The Laughing Kangaroo". Hikaru says: "They say that when you're unlucky in love, the kangaroos laugh at you".
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Otoya Horibe in "The Resurrection of Death"]].
* VacationEpisode: Several:
** "The Laughing Kangaroo" in which Furuhata and Shintaro win a trip to Australia.
** "The Dirty King" in which Furuhata and Shintaro go on a business trip. They are then shown returning from the business trip in "Murder Express".
** "What Happened in New York" in which Furuhata goes to New York to attend Chinami’s wedding. Shintaro tags along even though he’s not invited.
** "Death in the Clouds" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji investigate a death on a plane.
** "The Reunion" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji go to visit Furuhata’s old friend at his picturesque cabin in the forest. On the way back, they stop at a spa in"The Murder in a Small Village".
** "His Excellency Did It" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji go on a holiday to an unnamed South American country. On the day of the return, Furuhata loses his passport and is left alone at the Japanese embassy.
* VillainOpeningScene: Almost every episode begins with a meticulous sequence showing the killer executing his plan. In "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" this lasts for 56 minutes.
* WhatTheHellHero: Furuhata often gets called out for being very mean to Shintaro and Saionji. He doesn’t care.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Furuhata himself refers to [[spoiler: Tenma from "The Resurrection of Death"]] as this.
--->'''Furuhata:''' This killer is the most ingenious I've ever met.
[[caption-width-right:350:Furuhata Ninzaburo (Masakazu Tamura) and just some of the perps he's caught over the years.]]
''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a beloved Japanese MysteryOfTheWeek series starring Masakazu Tamura as the titular police inspector who is a kind of SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/Columbo''. Furuhata similarly uses [[ObfuscatingStupidity his absent-mindedness, overt friendliness, humbleness, and over-the-top politeness to get close to and unnerve his suspects.]] Unlike Columbo, however, Furuhata is a neat dresser and is not afraid of dropping his mask and openly confronting the murderer when required. His tactics of PerpSweating are also much more ruthless and occasionally border on Psychological ColdBloodedTorture.
Every episode of the series and both of the [[SpinOff spin-offs]] were written by Japanese playwright Koki Mitani who is best known as the founder of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys, a theatre troupe whose members frequently appeared on the show in minor roles.
Another difference between the two shows is that Furuhata does not work alone. He is assisted by his dimwitted partner (or more accurately an unwanted hanger-on) Shintaro Imaizumi. In the second season, they are joined by the HyperCompetentSidekick Haga who is then replaced for the final two seasons by the SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Mamoru Saionji. Another regular is Officer Mukojima, a uniformed police officer whose [[RunningGag name Furuhata can never remember.]]
Just like the US show, ''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' is a ReverseWhodunnit (better known as the "open mystery"): For as much as the first third of each episode (or in one extreme case, the first hour of the episode), the audience sees the motive set up and then actually watches as each guest villain tries to execute the perfect murder. Furuhata and his partner(s) then appear in the second act... And (with very rare exceptions) the audience is left wondering not "whodunnit" but "how is he going to catch them".
One major innovation over Columbo is that twice ''Furuhata Ninzaburo'' featured [[AsHimself real-life celebrities as the killers]]. Boy band SMAP and baseball player Ichiro Suzuki.
Furuhata’s mannerisms include distinctive hand gestures and a stooped posture which is meant to be a display of fake submissiveness. He shares a particular verbal tic with Columbo – the use of the legendary phrase “just one more thing” which occurs almost OncePerEpisode. He is a snappy dresser who almost always wears black and has perfectly quaffed shoulder-length hair. He also [[BreakingTheFourthWall addresses the audience]] twice an episode. Once at the beginning giving a brief prologue and once at the end of the second act where he sums up the clues so far and issues a challenge to the viewer inspired by ''Series/ElleryQueen''.
The series aired between 1994 and 2006 and produced four seasons and 42 episodes (thirty-two 45-minute episodes and 10 feature-length ones). There are also two [[SpinOff spin-offs]]: ''Shintaro Imaizumi'', a 1996 series of 10-minute sketches focusing on the comedic antics of Furuhata’s bumbling sidekick when he’s off work and a 2008 MadeForTVMovie ''Junior High School Student Furuhata'' which focused on Furuhata Ninzaburo’s childhood as a KidDetective.
----
* AbsenteeActor:
** Masakazu Tamura does not appear in person in "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" but he does appear in the archive footage during the ClipShow portions of the episode.
** Neither Masahiko Nishimura nor Masanori Ishii appears in "His Excellency Did It". This is the only episode that Shintaro Imaizumi does not appear in.
* AccidentalMurder:
** In "The Moving Corpse", the killer pushes the victim in a fit of rage. Unfortunately, the victim slams his head on a table and promptly dies.
** "Broadcast Murder" is a borderline case. The murder occurs in the heat of the moment when the victim catches the killer, a PhonyPsychic, setting up a trick.
** One of the two murders in "The Contradictory Corpse".
** "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. The Quiz King" features a similar case as "The Moving Corpse".
** "Death in the Clouds" is not even a murder. The victim bangs her head during turbulence and the VillainOfTheWeek hides her body so their affair is not discovered.
* AccidentalPervert: In "This Man Is Too Busy", while [[ItMakesSenseInContext Shintaro is dressed as a woman making out with Saionji in an office]] they are seen by the pair of lovers they are impersonating. The lovers are shocked and leave before the detectives can explain themselves.
* ActionGirl: A few of the murderers qualify, especially the titular DJ from "Sayonara DJ" who is a former track and field runner.
* ActorAllusion:
** The VillainOfTheWeek in "Rehearsal for Murder" notes that Furuhata Ninzaburo could star in historical movies. Tamura Masakazu made his name starring in historical movies.
** One of the guest stars in "The Resurrection of Death" is Koji Ishizaka who is best known for playing Kosuke Kindaichi, one of Japan’s most famous detectives and a big influence on Furuhata Ninzaburo. [[spoiler:In a very rare twist of this kind on the show, he turns out to be the true BigBad of the episode. Furuhata refers to him as the most ingenious killer he’s ever met and shows him a surprising amount of reverence and respect.]].
* AdamWesting:
** Masaaki Sakai, a well-known kabuki actor plays a well-known kabuki actor in "The Moving Corpse".
** Shingo Yamashiro, a controversial, womanizing magician/actor plays a controversial, womanizing magician in "Magician’s Choice".
** Takeshi Kaga plays the same role in "Murder Express" as he played in a highly popular medical drama called "He Is Always There". Both were written by Koki Mitani.
** J-Pop boy band SMAP appear as themselves in "Furuhata Ninzaburo Vs. SMAP".
** Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki appears AsHimself in "A Fair Murderer".
* AffablyEvil: Pretty much all of the killers are this. The most explicit examples include:
** Chinami Koishikawa in "Message from the Dead" is the mother of all examples. Not only do Furuhata and her develop a friendship that borders on romance during the episode, but he also continues mentioning and visiting her all the way throughout the series. He travels to America to attend her wedding and even brings her up in his final monologue in the very last episode.
** Furuhata definitely feels sorry for Hikaru Noda in "The Laughing Kangaroo". He has a similar relationship with Sakura Odajima in "The Sad Perfect Crime".
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" definitely qualifies [[spoiler: as she is one of the few killers Furuhata lets go]].
** Eric Prince from "Ashes to Ashes" in spite of murdering to cover up his grave robbing in his funeral home. When Columbo figures out he cremated the victim in lieu of a retired war veteran, Eric asks politely if he should ride in the police cruiser, or with Columbo. They both casually walk to Columbo's car; Eric is at ease with his fate.
** Toru Anzai in "The Reunion" is a very unusual example. He is an old friend of Furuhata’s but acts rather coldly towards him. [[spoiler: This all turns out to be part of a very elaborate suicide plot. The episode ends with Furuhata and him playing a childhood game while laughing.]]
** [[spoiler: Momiji]] in "Final Dance" ends the episode dancing with Furuhata.
** [[spoiler: Nonoyama]] in "Junior High School Student Furuhata" is very charming and nice when he’s not trying to kill 13-year-olds.
* AllForNothing:
** The killer in "The Laughing Kangaroo" kills his research partner in order to steal a formula he devised. It turns out that [[spoiler: the formula his research partner came up with had already been discovered in America but the news just hadn’t reached the killer in time]].
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" [[spoiler: gets away with the murder of her husband except that everyone knows she did it and no one wants to have anything to do with her. She is thus forced to live a lonely life suffering with guilt]].
** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Village" kills a con woman for stealing the villagers’ money and ruining their chances to get a huge distribution deal for their homemade wine. [[spoiler: In the end, the villagers get the distribution deal anyway and the harm the con woman did is far less than the harm the murder did to the community]].
** In "Final Dance" [[spoiler: Momiji, a timid writer, kills her outgoing twin because she wants to take her place as the beloved soul of the party. In the end, she realizes that she is bad at pretending to be her and does not enjoy her extrovert lifestyle after all]].
* AndAnotherThing: In a direct quote from Columbo, Furuhata says the phrase at least OncePerEpisode.
* AndStarring: From season three onward, the guest stars are featured in the opening title credits alongside Masakazu Tamura. In the fourth season, their pictures are also shown. Very special guests (such as Koshiro Matsumoto and Koji Ishizaka) are sometimes credited at the very end of the closing credits this way.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: This is Furuhata’s speciality. Most episodes end with Furuhata wearing the killer down with a series of these until they confess.
* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Whenever the regulars travel to English-speaking countries their English is noticeably this.
* AssholeVictim: Pretty much every time. The victims are typically blackmailers or cheating spouses but also include:
** A corrupt studio executive in "Rehearsal for Murder".
** A murderous, philandering politician in "The Contradictory Corpse".
** A child killer in "The Final Greeting".
** A nagging teacher in "Goodbye for a While".
** A con artist in "The Murder in a Small Village".
** An abusive husband in "The Sad Perfect Crime".
** The killer in "The Murder in a Small Murder".
* BaitAndSwitch: Furuhata frequently uses this method to catch his killers.
** Involving pianos in "The Piano Lesson".
** Furuhata keeps pulling a particularly brutal one in "The Contradictory Corpse". The victim survives the attempted murder and Furuhata and the killer wait in the hospital for him to wake from his coma. Several times in the episode, Furuhata makes the killer believe the victim has awoken only to then reveal that he is talking about Shintaro who is also in the same hospital undergoing a haemorrhoid surgery. The killer gets so stressed out he almost has a stroke.
** Furuhata does this with audio tapes in "Sayonara DJ".
** He makes the killer in "The Laughing Kangaroo" reveal knowledge only the killer could know by making him think they are standing in his hotel room when, in fact, they’re on an entirely different floor.
** The killer does this in "The Magician’s Choice" using the titular trick.
** This trick is pulled in "The Reunion" [[spoiler: on the audience. Throughout the episode, we are made to think that Toru is trying to kill his wife. He is actually trying to commit suicide and make it look like his wife has killed him.]]
** In "The Resurrection of Death" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Otoya is the VillainOfTheWeek. While he does commit the murder, the actual BigBad is his loveable teacher Tenma who manipulated his student to commit the murder]].
** In "Final Dance" [[spoiler: we are led to believe that Kaede killed her twin sister Momiji because she wanted to leave their partnership. Actually, it was Momiji who killed Kaede and is now impersonating her]].
* BatmanGambit: Furuhata is fond of these.
** In "The Killing Fax" [[spoiler: he dresses Shintaro in all white knowing that the killer won’t be there to see him. When the killer claims falsely that he did see Shintaro, Furuhata asks him what he was wearing]].
** A ridiculously dangerous one in "Red or Blue" in which the VillainOfTheWeek places a bomb in a crowded theme park. [[spoiler: After arresting the terrorist, Furuhata asks him which line to cut in order to deactivate the bomb. The killer says red. Furuhata instructs Shintaro to cut the blue. Furuhata is right]].
** The entirety of the second part of "The Most Dangerous Game" is this as Furuhata calls the bluff of a terrorist group masquerading as cops and accompanies them, completely alone, to an imaginary drop-off point where they are supposedly meeting themselves.
* BilingualBonus: None of the English dialogue in "The Laughing Kangaroo" or "What Happened in New York" is subtitled.
* BilledAboveTheTitle: Tamura Masakazu is always this. From season three onwards, so are the guest stars.
* BlackmailBackfire: Most of the victims in this show are failed blackmailers.
* BloodlessCarnage: Averted in several episodes, most prominently in "The Woman Who Never Smiled" in which the titular killer bludgeons her victim to death as blood spurts all over her face in close-up.
* BluffingTheMurderer: Most episodes feature an example of this.
* BritishBrevity: The final season has only three episodes.
* CallBack: Furuhata occasionally mentions his cases. Most frequently he talks about his friendship with Chinami, the killer from "Message from the Dead". He is also inordinately fond of telling (usually horrified) people about how the serial killer from "Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" inserted notes into his victims’ anuses.
* CatchPhrase: "Just one more thing...".
** Whenever Furuhata meets the killer he says "I am Furuhata Ninzaburo".
** Also: "sodeska" (Japanese for "I see") spoken with a very long o sound by Furuhata while scratching his forehead.
* CharacterTics: Furuhata makes some highly imitable hand gestures.
* ClockKing: The murderer in "The Killing Fax" fakes a kidnapping and plans the entire night’s events, down to the movements of the detectives investigating the case, down to the last second. He spends the entire episode running around with a stopwatch in his hand.
* CluelessDetective: Shintaro Imaizumi to a ridiculous extent. He finally gets to lead his own investigation in "Furuhata Goes to the Dentist" but botches it so badly that Furuhata has to abandon his sick leave to take over.
* ConvictionByContradiction: Fairly frequently.
* CoolOldGuy: The murderous katana-wielding village elder in "The Murder in a Small Village". The villagers have a fanatical respect for him and even Furuhata grows to like him.
* CorrectionBait: InUniverse example: in "Murder Express", this is how Furuhata tricks the killer into revealing themselves.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The studio boss in "Rehearsal for Murder" who gets killed by an actor/director for ExecutiveMeddling.
* CorruptPolitician:
** Uno Tadakuni in "The Contradictory Corpse" who tries to pay off his much, much younger mistress not to reveal their affair. When she refuses, he has his assistant kill her.
** Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Takechi Mayuzumi in "His Excellency Did It" is a surprisingly likeable example of this trope.
* DeadpanSnarker: Furuhata definitely qualifies, especially towards Shintaro. Shintaro himself becomes this in the later season but usually in a way that backfires.
* DeathByFallingOver: Happens in "The Moving Corpse" and "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. The Quiz King".
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit:
** The killer in "The Contradictory Corpse" tries this but his fall guy survives.
** One of the killers in "Appraisal: Murder" does this to the other killer. It backfires horribly.
* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Furuhata arrests his own superior at the end of "The Final Greeting". He also goes up against the Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in "His Excellency Did It". [[spoiler: Sadly, he kills himself before Furuhata can arrest him]].
* DetectiveDrama: Although typically the drama is on the ''perp's'' side.
* DetectiveMole:
** Furuhata makes his superior in "The Final Greeting" believe he is this. In fact, Furuhata knew he was the killer from the beginning.
** The terrorists in "The Most Dangerous Game" pretend to be detectives trying to catch the terrorists.
** The bomber in "Red or Blue" is a member of the bomb squad.
* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Several times. Most spectacularly in "The Wrong Man" in which a man commits the perfect murder and gets clean away with it to the point that Furuhata doesn’t find out it even happened until the very last minute of the episode. However, he gets caught for getting nervous and murdering an acquaintance who just happens to see him in the vicinity of the crime scene.
* DirtyCop: Averted. The superintendent killer in "The Final Greeting" is not corrupt. He killed a gangster in order to avenge the murder of his daughter.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Furuhata is usually completely immune to feminine charms but he falls for the killer in "Final Dance" so badly, he refuses to see the obvious until the end of the episode.
* DoesntLikeGuns: Furuhata never carries a gun and speaks against carrying a gun in "The Final Greeting".
* DownerEnding:
** Once the extremely likeable Chinako gets caught in "Message from the Dead", she asks Furuhata if she can go have a cry for a few minutes before he arrests her. Furuhata agrees.
** "Final Dance" is a bonafide TearJerker. [[spoiler: It turns out that Furuhata’s love interest has been murdered by her twin sister. Furuhata confronts the sister and finds her to be a depressed, lonely woman who simply longed to be like her extroverted, outgoing sister. The episode ends with them dancing in an empty club where Furuhata and the victim went the night before she was killed.]]
** "Junior High School Student Furuhata" ends with Furuhata moving away and his best friend Mukojima waving to him as he leaves and saying he hopes they meet again.
* DyingClue: "Message from the Dead" replicates, in part, the one from the Series/Columbo episode "Try and Catch Me".
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Remarkably, the show stayed very consistent throughout the episodes. However, there are a few examples of this in season one.
** Most obviously, the fact that Furuhata wears a different coloured shirt every episode. In later seasons, he would only wear black shirts.
** There is a RunningGag in which Furuhata keeps running into broken vending machines.
** Furuhata arrives by car rather than by his trademark bicycle he would begin using in the second season.
** The character of Furuhata is occasionally portrayed in a more comical light. In several episodes, he is portrayed as TheKlutz, something that he would never be in the later seasons.
** The first season also has several examples of the BottleEpisode in which the only characters are Furuhata, Shintaro, the killer, and the victim.
* EpisodeOnAPlane: "Death in the Clouds".
* EurekaMoment: Whenever Furuhata figures out the final clue, the lights dim and he [[BreakingTheFourthWall adresses the audience]] telling us he has solved the case.
* ExasperatedPerp: The cool and polite Japanese exterior is frequently broken by Furuhata’s indefatigable questioning. The most extreme example occurs in "The Contradictory Corpse" in which he makes the killer physically sweat and hyperventilate throughout the episode. The killer is actually relieved once he is arrested that the psychological torture is over.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The victim in "Rehearsal for Murder" gets killed for this.
* FakeGunshot: The murderer in "Final Dance" uses a firecracker to create her alibi.
* FictionalCountry: The unnamed South American country in "His Excellency Did It".
* {{Flanderization}}:
** Happens to an extreme level to Shintaro Imaizumi. In the first season, he is a competent if clumsy and overly enthusiastic detective. He is also a very profficient Go player, even beating Furuhata at the strategy game. From season two onward, he grows stupider and meaner until he pretty much becomes an incompetent cartoon character in the last season and an object of mockery for everyone.
** A very unusual example happens to Furuhata himself. He gets flanderized in several episodes of season one, most notably "The Dirty King" where he seems to be a Charlie Chaplin-like figure. In most episodes, however, he is his normal polite and serious self.
* FoodPorn: Furuhata loves his food, especially sweets and cannot resist ice cream.
* FriendlyEnemy: Most killers are quite friendly to Furuhata. PlayedStraight in the case of Chinami in "Message from the Dead" who becomes a true friend of Furuhata’s and even invites him to her wedding in New York.
* GeniusSlob: The victim in "The Laughing Kangaroo" is an extreme example of this.
* TheGhost:
** Shintaro’s grandmother.
** Mukojima’s wife.
** Furuhata’s brother.
** Chinami becomes this. She is mentioned very frequently but never appears after "Message from the Dead" except for a brief cameo in the ClipShow episode.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Almost literally in "The Resurrection of Death". Furuhata races toy cars with the killer.
* GPSEvidence: There are quite a number of cases of this.
* GracefulLoser: With only a few exceptions, all the killers gracefully confess once Furuhata presents them with his evidence.
* HiddenDepths:
** Furuhata is an excellent cook although only of a single meal as can be seen in "The Laughing Corpse".
** Shintaro Imaizumi is a very good Go player as can be seen in "The Dirty King".
** Subverted in "Sayonara DJ" where it is conclusively proven that Furuhata cannot sing.
** In "The Master of Games", Furuhata proves he is pretty good at pool.
** In "Goodbye for a While", we learn that Shintaro goes to flower arranging classes. He is terrible at it.
** In "The Young Master’s Crime" it is revealed that forensics technician Kuwabara is a good rakugo performer.
** Shintaro loves to play his clarinet and demonstrates his talent in "The Perfect Pitch Murder". It turns out he has none.
** Mukojima is shown to be a terrific baseball player in "A Fair Murderer".
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Happens occasionally. The most extreme example occurs in "The Wrong Man" which consists entirely of a series of own petards exploding in the killer’s face.
** "Death in the Clouds" is a similar example since there was no crime until the killer tried to hide the body.
* HyperAwareness: Furuhata, especially in "Junior High School Student Furuhata" where he effortlessly performs the SherlockScan.
* IdiotBall: "Death in the Clouds" is IdiotBall : The Movie as the inept VillainOfTheWeek keeps getting himself deeper and deeper into trouble for no reason at all.
* InconsistentEpisodeLengths: Most of the episodes are 45 minutes long but some of the episodes have an extended runtime and can run anywhere from 75 minutes to a whopping 135.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In "Murder Express", Furuhata makes the killer help him re-enact the murder making him reveal something only the killer would know.
* InspectorLestrade: Saionji and Haga are competent policemen but lack Furuhata’s HyperAwareness.
* IrregularSeries: Four seasons across 12 years.
* ItaliansTalkWithHands: Furuhata is Japanese but he definitely talks with his hands.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: Shintaro has very little screen time in the fourth season and is shown as having become a fairly bitter and mean person taking snipes even at Furuhata whom he once idolized.
* LimitedWardrobe: Besides wearing different coloured shirts in season one, Furuhata’s costume never changes.
* LifesWorkRuined:
** The authoritarian headmistress in "The Woman Who Never Laughs" cannot stand to see a beloved teacher introduce more liberal attitudes to her rule-oriented school. So she kills him.
** The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in "His Excellency Did It" is a dedicated career politician but when his advisor threatens to reveal some of his dirty dealings which would surely ruin his career he kills him.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Very, very often.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Not when Furuhata Ninzaburo is the investigative officer.
* MysteryOfTheWeek
* NeverSuicide: Subverted in [[spoiler: "The Reunion" in which, even though it seems obvious Toru is planning to kill his wife, he is actually planning to commit suicide, make it appear like murder, and frame his wife.]]
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Gloriously Averted in "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" and "A Fair Murderer" where the VillainOfTheWeek appears AsHimself.
* NoFullNameGiven:
** Detective Haga.
** The killer in "Motive: Appraisal" is only ever referred to as the owner of the Shunpo-do, an antique shop.
* NonActionGuy: Furuhata. If there’s any running or fighting to be done, he makes Shintaro do it.
* NotAMorningPerson: Furuhata whines if he’s called out to a crime scene before 9.
* NotSoStoic: Furuhata himself in "Red or Blue". While he is normally amiable with the VillainOfTheWeek during the arrest scene, in this episode he begins to laugh at the bomber’s joke before smacking him right across the face. The bomber is as shocked as we are.
* NoWarrantNoProblem: Like Columbo, Furuhata just shows up wherever his suspect goes.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Furuhata sort of plays with this even though he never goes to the lengths of appearing genuinely stupid. His MO is to appear friendly and agreeable to the point where the suspect won’t consider him a serious threat. The sole exception is probably "The Dirty King" where he turns into TheKlutz in what is also an example of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.
* OddballInTheSeries:
** The very first episode aired, "Message from the Dead", is this as it only features four characters and most of it is a two-hander between Furuhata and the killer.
** "Broadcast Murder" is this as Furuhata and the killer don’t meet until the last five minutes.
** "The Wrong Man" and "Death in the Air" play out like farces in which everything that can go wrong for the killer goes wrong while Furuhata merely observes the mayhem.
** "What Happened in New York" in spades. Not only is the whole episode set on a bus, but it is also the only episode in which the murder happened many years ago and the killer has already been acquitted. The entire episode, instead, plays out in dialogue between Furuhata and the killer as she challenges the great detective to question her and prove she did it.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo". Not only is it a ClipShow, not only is it the only episode in which Furuhata Ninzaburo does not appear, not only is there no murder, but it is also a Mockumentary.
** "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" in which Furuhata Ninzaburo pursues a serial killer.
** "The Reunion" in which we follow the VillainOfTheWeek go through his plan in the presence of Furuhata throughout the entire episode.
** "The Most Dangerous Game" which is a remake of Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree.
* OrgyOfEvidence: A major weakness in "The Laughing Corpse" is that Furuhata has more than enough evidence to convict the killer in the first 20 minutes.
* OutGambitted: Eventually all of the culprits' plots turn out to be this.
* OutOfGenreExperience:
** "Red or Blue" and "The Most Dangerous Game" are terrorist action thrillers.
** "The Wrong Man" and "Death in the Clouds" are out-and-out comedies.
** "The Disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo" is a comedic Mockumentary ClipShow that has no murders.
** In a minor example, parts of "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" are a straight ConcertFilm probably due to Padding.
* OutOfOrder: The first three seasons suffer extremely badly from this. Here are a few examples:
** Furuhata and Shintaro first meet in the second episode "The Moving Corpse" even though they worked together in the previous episode.
** Furuhata and Shintaro are on a business trip in episode five of the first season. Episode seven shows their return trip to Tokyo even though they were back in episode six.
** Season three suffers the worst of all. For example, the first 10 minutes of "The Terror of Dr Kuroiwa" are an elaborate introduction of Saionji even though he appeared in the previous episode.
** An even more egregious example is that Furuhata, Saionji and Shintaro are shown in episode four to be returning from a trip. But they don’t actually go on the trip until episode six!
* ThePerfectCrime:
** The killer in "The Wrong Man" actually pulls one off. His second one, however, is a complete disaster.
** Furuhata himself agrees that [[spoiler: Tenma in "The Resurrection of Death" cannot be prosecuted for the murders of the Horibe brothers. However, he committed those murders to cover up the murder of their father which happened more than a decade ago and which Furuhata manages to arrest him for.]]
* PerpSweating: To an extreme and literal degree in "The Contradictory Corpse".
* PhoneyCall:
** The killer does this unsuccessfully in "The Contradictory Corpse". Furuhata easily proves the victim couldn’t have called him by the simple use of the redial button.
** The killer in "Final Dance" does it successfully, however, by stealing the victim’s mobile phone and then returning it upon discovering the body.
* PoliceProcedural
* PsychopathicManchild:
** The killer in "Red or Blue" is a young man who decides to place a bomb on a Ferris wheel because [[spoiler: it blocks the view of the sea from his apartment.]]
** Otoya from "The Resurrection of Death" also qualifies. He kills his older brother for being overbearing using a plan for a perfect murder he wrote when he was in fifth grade.
* RealMenCook: Furuhata is a pretty good cook.
* ReverseWhodunnit
* RunningGag:
** OncePerEpisode, Furuhata (and occasionally other people) will slap Shintaro’s forehead for saying or doing something incredibly dumb. It makes a cool slapping sound.
** Furuhata’s inability to remember Mukojima’s name.
** There’s one in the first season which revolves around Furuhata’s inability to operate vending machines.
* SeriesContinuityError: Furuhata and Mukojima first meet in the second episode of the show, "The Moving Corpse". However, the prequel MadeForTVMovie "Junior High School Student Furuhata" reveals they were childhood friends.
* SmugSnake: Some of the killers, though nowhere near as much as in Series/Columbo.
* TheSociopath: Quite a few of the killers over the years.
** The bomber in ''Red or Blue'' is easily the number one example. Not only does he not care about killing large amounts of people (including many children), he does it for a completely banal reason. Furuhata is so shocked by his callousness that he slaps him.
** Dr Kenichiro from ''Master of the Game'' also counts.
** The ProfessionalKIller from ''The Most Dangerous Game'' who works with the eco-terrorists. While the rest of the group care for the environment, he is only in it for the cash and doesn’t care who he has to kill to get it.
** [[spoiler: Tenma in "The Resurrection of Death" who manipulates his favourite student to kill his brother. He then kills the student and all of that in order to cover up the fact that he killed their father more than a decade ago. None of this murdering disturbs him in the slightest and he easily keeps up his jovial facade]].
* SoreLoser: Kusaka from "The Most Dangerous Game" is probably the only killer not to go quietly. [[spoiler: He kidnaps a nurse at knife-point in order to escape.]]
* SpecialGuest: At least OncePerEpisode.
* SpottingTheThread
* SuddenlyShouting: Several of the authority figures do this.
* SuspectExistenceFailure: [[spoiler: Otoya Horibe is killed in what appears to be an accident in "The Resurrection of Death". It wasn’t an accident and the episode from there plays out as a FairPlayWhodunnit]].
* SympatheticMurderer: Most of the killers are at least likeable and most of the victims are AssholeVictim. The best examples include:
** Chinami in "Message from the Dead" is the most obvious example. Furuhata likes her so much they become good friends after the episode.
** The wise and cool Jushiro Omiya in "Rehearsal for Murder".
** Hikaru Noda in "The Laughing Kangaroo". [[spoiler: Subverted in that she’s not actually the killer, she only thinks she is]].
** Noriko Kendall in "What Happened in New York" who ruined her own life by killing her cheating husband is at least pitiable.
** The SMAP members from "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs SMAP" who kill a particularly nasty man who was blackmailing one of the members in a one for all, all for one plot.
** Despite using Furuhata as an alibi, Haruko Kanamori from "Furuhata Goes to the Dentist" qualifies for being a generally kind, sweet, and bubbly dentist.
** Toru Anzai from "The Reunion" though this one is a major case of RewatchBonus.
** Sakura Odajima from "The Sad Perfect Murder". She is an abused wife who kills her awful husband. You really want her to get away with it.
** Tai Shuzo in "Death in the Clouds" is sympathetic simply for being a completely inept criminal and a henpecked husband.
** Ichiro Suzuki, the titular "Fair Murderer" who kills his brother’s blackmailer and then leaves clues that lead Furuhata directly to him. It also helps that his brother is none other than Officer Mukojima himself.
** [[spoiler: Momiji from "Final Dance" even though she kills probably the most likeable victim of the entire show, Furuhata’s love interest. She qualifies on the pitiable scale as she’s clearly a very depressed and deeply disturbed individual and not evil]].
** A very entertaining subversion occurs in "Reward for Hypocrisy" when the killer is Furuhata’s favourite TV writer. At first, she seems like a charming and erudite old lady but, by the end, everyone’s sick of her overbearing, manipulative nature.
* ThrillerOnTheExpress: "Murder Express".
* TitleDrop:
** "Which wire do we cut? '''Red or blue'''?"
** Furuhata keeps trying to figure out how to pull off a trick called '''Magician’s Choice'''.
**"This is a programme about the mysterious '''disappearance of Furuhata Ninzaburo'''."
**"I think '''His Excellency did it'''."
**"I would like the honour of the'''final dance'''."
** Pretty close in "The Laughing Kangaroo". Hikaru says: "They say that when you're unlucky in love, the kangaroos laugh at you".
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler: Otoya Horibe in "The Resurrection of Death"]].
* VacationEpisode: Several:
** "The Laughing Kangaroo" in which Furuhata and Shintaro win a trip to Australia.
** "The Dirty King" in which Furuhata and Shintaro go on a business trip. They are then shown returning from the business trip in "Murder Express".
** "What Happened in New York" in which Furuhata goes to New York to attend Chinami’s wedding. Shintaro tags along even though he’s not invited.
** "Death in the Clouds" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji investigate a death on a plane.
** "The Reunion" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji go to visit Furuhata’s old friend at his picturesque cabin in the forest. On the way back, they stop at a spa in"The Murder in a Small Village".
** "His Excellency Did It" in which Furuhata, Shintaro, and Saionji go on a holiday to an unnamed South American country. On the day of the return, Furuhata loses his passport and is left alone at the Japanese embassy.
* VillainOpeningScene: Almost every episode begins with a meticulous sequence showing the killer executing his plan. In "Furuhata Ninzaburo vs. SMAP" this lasts for 56 minutes.
* WhatTheHellHero: Furuhata often gets called out for being very mean to Shintaro and Saionji. He doesn’t care.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Furuhata himself refers to [[spoiler: Tenma from "The Resurrection of Death"]] as this.
--->'''Furuhata:''' This killer is the most ingenious I've ever met.
