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Not quite cops, not quite detectives, but they get the job done.

"The back of the man who solved the case had the sadness of a hunter who couldn't catch the ideal crime."

Criminologist Himura and Mystery Writer Arisugawa (臨床犯罪学者 火村英生の推理, Rinshō Hanzai Gakusha Himura Hideo no Suiri) is a Japanese detective drama series produced by NTV and Hulu Japan. It is an adaptation of the Himura Hideo mystery novels by author Alice Arisugawa, and follows the crime-solving adventures of the eponymous criminologist Hideo Himura (Takumi Saitoh) and his assistant Alice Arisugawa (Masataka Kubota).

Hideo Himura is a modern day Sherlock Holmes: a crime-solving genius hampered by his social ineptitude. Though he's an invaluable asset to the Kyoto Prefectural Police, he hides from them a dark secret — he harbours the desire to commit a "beautiful" crime, and is plagued by nightmares of him doing just that. Fortunately he's kept in check by his longtime friend Alice Arisugawa, a mystery novelist who serves as Himura's assistant when they're called upon to help the police. But with the rise of a cult known as the Shangri-La Crusade, and the appearance of a serial killer who shares Himura's interest in a "beautiful" crime, can the criminologist resist the call of the monster that resides within him?

The first 10-episode season was broadcast from January 17th, 2016 to March 20th, 2016 on NTV. It was followed by a 3-episode special Another Story, which was distributed on Hulu from March to April. The first episode of Another Story is a prequel showing how Himura and Arisugawa first met, while the following two episodes pick up after the end of the first season. In 2019, three years later, a two-part special was broadcast between September and October, showcasing two new cases — "ABC Killer" (bearing a striking similarity to Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders) and "Hunter's Nightmare".


Criminologist Himura and Mystery Writer Arisugawa provides examples of:

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  • Accidental Murder: In "Ransom of Associate Professor", the victim's wife throws a heavy ornament at him after he tells her how much he regrets marrying her. The blow is fatal, and in a panic the wife hides his body in a secret room behind the bookshelf. The case then takes a turn for the weird when his body disappears.
  • Affectionate Gesture to the Head: After rebuffing Akemi's request to be his assistant, Himura lessens the blow by telling her that he was worried about her and gently pats her on the head. It's then revealed that the Shangri-La cult were spying on them, and took the gesture as confirmation that Akemi is a person that Himura cares about — and thus a potential target for them.
  • The Alibi: "An Odd-looking Customer" has the culprit trying to outsmart the police by providing false alibis for both themself and the victim. Aiba, the victim, disguised himself with bandages and signed in to an inn. Hata then killed him, put on the disguise himself, and left. This left everyone with the impression that the bandaged man was always one person, and Hata had an alibi for when the bandaged man (Aiba) first arrived at the inn. On top of that, Hata disguised himself as Aiba and made sure he was seen at Aiba's home shortly before the bandaged man signed in, making it appear as if neither Aiba or Hata were ever the bandaged man.
  • All Part of the Show: The case in "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" starts when an on-set coffin is opened during a gothic-themed idol show, revealing the still body of one of the performers inside. Everyone hesitates, wondering if it's part of the show, until Nabeshima hops up on stage and confirms that the performer is dead.
  • Alone with the Psycho:
    • Akemi happens to strike a conversation with a teenage boy while she's out in public, unaware that he's the serial killer Apollo. His increasingly disturbing behaviour prompts her to check his bag, where she finds a knife. Apollo then sits down next to her, takes the knife, and the two of them have a very tense conversation until the police are able to arrive and rescue her.
    • Himura deliberately puts himself in this position at the end of the season. He isolates himself from his friends so that they won't be targeted by Moroboshi, then deduces that she's waiting for him at his house and goes there alone to confront her. What follows is a Deadly Game where Moroboshi and Himura battle with their wits to see which of them will ingest a deadly poison.
  • Angry Collar Grab: Himura, in an uncharacteristic burst of anger, grabs Apollo by the lapels, looms over him, and gives him a thorough chewing out for romanticising murder.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: The culprit of "Ransom of Associate Professor" goes on a disturbing Motive Rant about the pleasure he gained from controlling both the victim and the police like they were his puppets. His unhinged glee comes to an abrupt stop when Himura asks him a single, simple question:
    Himura: Are you still having fun?
  • Armor-Piercing Response: The climax of "A Study in Vermilion" has the culprit question why they're being suspected again after their innocence was already proven, a question that Himura jumps on to then explain that said clearing was a deliberate part of the culprit's plan.
    Mutobe: Why are you suspecting me after my name was cleared?
    Himura: [points] That's it. That's what you wanted, right? The blackmail and what you did at the apartment following the instructions... they were all lies. You staged it for yourself.
  • Asshole Victim:
    • The victim in "Ransom of Associate Professor" is revealed to have been a colossal jerk to his wife before his death, saying that he wasted his entire life by marrying her. It's not a surprise that she struck him over the head for it, accidentally killing him.
    • It turns out that Akemi's uncle, who went up in flames alongside the family home, was a big asshole towards her and her other uncle for needing to stay with the main family (even though Akemi was a teen staying with them because her parents died). Akemi is disturbed by herself because she doesn't feel sympathy for his death, and even feels like she should thank the killer.
  • Bait-and-Switch Comment: Komachi says she can't understand the mindset of a criminal, to which Himura replies that he can. She then accuses him of sympathising with the murderer, to which Himura elaborates that it's because he understands the desire to kill that makes him even more disgusted with people who actually go through with it.
  • Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: The beginning of "Execution in the Basement" is framed to suggest that Arisugawa is the one executed: a gun is aimed at his head and the scene cuts to black as it fires. It later turns out that the gun wasn't even loaded, and it's a different person that's executed by a different method.
  • Bandaged Face: The main suspect in "An Odd-looking Customer" is an inn guest whose face is entirely hidden under swathes of bandages and a pair of sunglasses. The killer convinced the victim to dress up this way as a plot to steal from the inn. However, the killer's true intention was to then kill the victim and dress himself up as the bandaged man, creating an alibi for himself by fooling the detectives into thinking that the bandaged man was always one person.
  • Be as Unhelpful as Possible: The suspects for the "Study in Vermilion" case end up muddying the investigation by being openly hostile towards the investigators. Having already been suspects for an unsolved case two years ago, they have a less-than-favourable impression of the detective department.
  • Being Evil Sucks: "Smashing a Show Window" is a Reverse Whodunnit that follows the criminal after he commits murder. He learns how much of a mental strain it is to keep something like that a secret, and constantly experiences flashbacks to the victim and visions of her following him around. At the end of it all he's caught and arrested, and Himura lambasts him for his amateur mistakes.
  • Berate and Switch: At the end of "Smashing a Show Window", Arisugawa confronts the culprit about killing his lover. He berates the culprit for taking away her future, throwing her lottery tickets at him as an example of a dream that she'll never see realised. Komachi tells him off for the lottery tickets, but then admits that his speech made her feel good.
  • Blackmail: The "Study in Vermilion" case is revealed to have two culprits, one who was blackmailing the other into committing murder for them. Mutobe finds out that Yohei was responsible for setting fire to his family home, and so forces Yohei to kill Yuko for him so she won't get in the way of his love for Akemi.
  • Blunt "Yes": In "Apollo's Knife", Komachi expresses her worry that Himura will become a criminal and then asks Arisugawa if he feels the same as her. Arisugawa, who's been trying to keep Himura's murderous urges a secret and generally acts in a goofy way, replies only with a sombre "yes".
  • Bookcase Passage: The house of the kidnapped actor in "Ransom of Associate Professor" has a secret room hidden behind a bookshelf. Himura suspects something related to the bookshelf when he notices that the actor's wife refuses to look at it, and Arisugawa ends up opening it by accident while on an unrelated tangent. Said room is where the wife hid the actor's body after she accidentally killed him, only for it to disappear.
  • Bound and Gagged:
    • After Moroboshi's assertion that she could easily manipulate Nanba, the scene cuts to her followers driving a truck with two handcuffed and gagged women inside — later revealed to be Nanba's wife and daughter, held hostage in exchange for Moroboshi's release from prison.
    • Arisugawa is grabbed off the street and chloroformed in "Execution in the Basement". He wakes up tied to a chair, and is then gagged by his captors when he starts to make a racket.
  • Breaking Out the Boss: The series starts with the main antagonist, Moroboshi, already in jail, with her cult members protesting her imprisonment. About halfway through the show it's revealed that the cult have secretly been more pro-active in getting her released by way of kidnapping the family of her assigned officer to blackmail him into helping her escape. This plan is enacted in "A Study in Vermilion - Part 2" and Moroboshi is delivered back to her followers, immediately taking control of them so that she can hunt down the protagonist.
  • Brick Joke: While at a restaurant, Himura deduces that a nearly couple are recently divorced and about to go through some drama. Arisugawa thinks he's being biased, but then both are distracted with a different couple — a jewellery CEO and a woman who looks like Arisugawa's first love. He's so distracted by her that he doesn't notice the first couple breaking out into an argument behind him.
  • Busman's Holiday: Arisugawa's stay at an inn (ostensibly to research for his novel, but he's clearly treating it like a vacation) is cut short when a body is found in one of the guest rooms, with Arisugawa being one of the potential suspects.
  • Call-Back: In the first episode, Himura performs a Sherlock Scan on Sakashita and deduces based on his appearance that he was called back into work. Later on, in episode 5, Himura learns that Sakashita told Himura's students about his association with the police and confronts Sakashita about it. Sakashita, assuming he's been sherlock scanned again, examines himself hastily for what gave him away.
  • Calling Card: The serial killer in "Screaming Castle Murder Case" always leaves behind a scrap of paper in his victim's mouths. Written on them is the opening title to the video game Night Prowler. This is how the detectives are able to tell that the 4th victim isn't a copycat crime, despite otherwise breaking from the Night Prowler's usual routine.
  • The Cameo:
    • "A Study in Vermilion" has a brief appearance from Katsumura Hideo and Takasugi Mao, characters from the detective show Kaitō Yamaneko that aired at the same time. The two of them have just arrived in Kyoto, with Katsumara saying there's a hidden gem to be found for people in the know.
    • Himura and Arisugawa are briefly seen as hospital visitors in Episode 6 of Higanbana: Keishichô Sôsa 7-ka, a detective show that was also airing concurrently.
  • Cast Herd: The cast is split into three main groups: the central duo of Himura and Arisugawa, plus Himaru's landlady Tokie; Akemi and her two friends, who are Himura's students at Eiko University; and the Kyoto Prefectural Police, who Himura and Arisugawa assist with investigations. Himura's university job doesn't collide with his police work until "A Study in Vermilion", when the group are called in to solve a series of cases that centre around Akemi.
  • Catchphrase Interruptus: Himura's usual "This crime is not beautiful" is cut off in one episode by Sakashita, who figured out the trick at the same time. Himura is humorously off-put by the sudden interruption.
  • Cat Scare: While Himura is recuperating at the hospital, Arisugawa notices a figure in a mask, cap, and dressed in all black approaching his room. The music grows suspenseful as Arisugawa grabs the suspicious man and turns him around... revealing Yasoda, the coroner, who was on his way to see his pregnant wife.
  • Chekhov's Classroom: "Smashing a Show Window" starts off with Himura meeting Moroboshi, with the cult leader offering her observations on the Apollo case. Three episodes later, in a double murder case seemingly caused by Apollo, Himura is able to utilise her deductions to realise that Apollo had nothing to do with the crime.
  • Colour Motif: The "Study in Vermilion" cases have, expectedly, the colour orange connecting them together. The first case, murder by arson, left Akemi with a deep phobia of the colour orange, as she associated it with the fire that killed her uncle. The second case took place at Cape Tasogare, with tasogare being a niche term for dusk — Akemi's phobia is notably triggered by the evening sunset painting the sky orange. And then the final case takes place in an apartment complex called Orange Tachibana. When Arisugawa notices this colour connection and points it out, Himura remarks that it's just like an author to have noticed that thread.
  • Compliment Backfire: Sakashita tries to compliment Komachi's impressive memory by comparing it to Himura's. Komachi snaps back that Himura is a weirdo and she isn't like him at all.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Coincidences are something of a theme for the "ABC Killer" case, and a big one is revealed once the culprit is caught: while it's initially expected that the case is related to the Shangri-La Crusade, since it's the only thing connecting the first three victims, it turns out to be a complete coincidence. The culprit wanted to kill her lover's wife, and had her ex-husband (who happened to be a Shangri-La member) kill two people in order to set up her alibi. The ex-husband naturally picked people that he knew via the Crusade, which gets Himura and the police set on the wrong track.
  • Copycat Mockery: While on the way to the crime scene, Himura teases Arisugawa by mimicking him.
    Himura: So, did you come up with a good idea?
    Arisugawa: [rubbing his hands] Don't ask me that~
    Himura: Oh yeah, one of my students told me about an interesting case earlier.
    Arisugawa: What?!
    Himura: [rubbing his hands] Don't ask me that~
    Arisugawa: What is that! That's nothing like me!
  • Creepy Doll: The mannequin in "Smashing a Show Window" isn't creepy by itself, but the killer of the episode starts to have visions of his victim superimposed over it, making it dip into the uncanny valley.
  • Criminal Mind Games:
    • The culprit behind the three "Study in Vermilion" cases deliberately goes out of his way to get Himura involved, seemingly out of a desire to challenge Himura. This leads into the Orange Tachibana case, where the culprit sets up an elaborate ruse to frame Mutobe and challenge Himura's skills. Of course, it then turns out that Mutobe was the true culprit and framed himself to throw off suspicion. His reason for getting Himura involved was his jealousy at his crush, Akemi, holding Himura in such high regard.
    • The ABC Killer leaves envelopes challenging both the police and Himura to try and catch them before they're able to kill a person for each letter of the alphabet. It's revealed at the end that it wasn't actually the killer leaving the envelopes, but a reporter who wanted to rope Himura into the case.
  • Crying Wolf: In "Waiting for Jack the Ripper", an idol is kidnapped and held for ransom. Her producer doesn't believe the video since the idol has made various other outlandish excuses for not being able to perform, and so orders the group's manager to ignore the kidnapping and continue on with the performance.
  • Crystal-Ball Scheduling: The Screaming Castle case involves a serial killer enacting his crimes to mimic the plot of a video game: it's a Game Over if the Night Prowler in the game murders all four player characters, thus the real life Night Prowler tries to kill four random woman. However, the case ends up mimicking the game to a degree that the killer didn't expect. The "good" ending for the game has the final surviving player take on the role of Night Prowler. It's revealed that the fourth victim of the real life Night Prowler was actually a suicide done to cover up the crimes of her brother. In other words, the fourth victim became the Night Prowler herself, just like in the game.
  • Cult: The Shangri-La Crusade, a cult founded around the enigmatic figure of Sanae Moroboshi. As she's imprisoned at the start of the series, the cult are usually found petitioning for her release.
  • Daydream Surprise: The show starts off with Himura murdering someone in cold blood, only revealing after the fact that it's a nightmare Himura regularly experiences.
  • A Deadly Affair: The introductory case came about due to the second man in a relationship killing his lover and then framing the other man for the crime. Himura clues in to the affair (and thus the motive) when he notices that the victim and culprit have matching jewellery.
  • Disappointed by the Motive:
    • After learning the Night Prowler's motive for being a serial killer (he was, essentially, just curious to see what it'd feel like), Arisugawa loses his temper and nearly attacks the culprit, only stopped by Himura holding him back.
    • When it's revealed that the killer of "Smashing a Show Window" didn't have a motive for killing his lover, Arisugawa snaps at him for depriving the victim of her future for no reason.
  • Disney Death: Happens in the finale, with the circumstances stretching into the Another Story episodes. Himura and Moroboshi seemingly shoot each other, fall off a cliff, and perish in the waters below. It's quickly revealed that Himura managed to survive, and then, while later recounting how he survived, it's also revealed that Moroboshi is alive too. The gunshots were Onizuka shooting them both in the leg, which is followed by Shangri-La members carrying Moroboshi off while Onizuka chloroforms Himura and presumably drags him out of sight.
  • Distinguishing Mark: The victim of "Dali's Cocoon" has a comically distinct moustache that's mysteriously shaved off when his body is found. It turns out that he shaved it off himself so that he wouldn't be recognised while buying the murder weapon. His moustache was so distinguishable that people didn't recognise him without it.
  • Double Meaning: Moroboshi tells Nanba that her cult has his wife and daughter hostage, referring to them as "birds in her cage". Later on, when she's being transferred between prisons, Moroboshi sings Kagome, Kagome and appends onto it that the Oriental stork will deliver the child. A van belonging to Kounotori Delivery then drives up next to the transfer vehicle. Nanba realises that Moroboshi was referring to the delivery van (Oriental stork is "Kounotori" in Japanese), and that she was instructing him to take action when the van arrived.
  • Dramatic Drop:
    • After Moroboshi and Himura seem to have fatally shot each other, the scene cuts to Tokie dropping a glass in her home. While she doesn't know what's happened, her expression indicates that she can feel something off.
    • Later, in the same episode, Tokie and Arisugawa are in her home when a surprising guest walks through the door. Tokie is so shocked that she once again drops the bowl that she's holding — this time, however, Arisugawa rushes forward to grab it just before it hits the ground.
  • Dramatic Irony: Tokie is offered a seat on the bus and thanks the young man with a candy, an innocuous sequence made tense for the audience since they know said teen is a Serial Killer.
  • Endangering News Broadcast: Averted, which contributes heavily to the case in "Apollo's Knife". Apollo is a serial killer whose name and mugshot are deliberately concealed on the news since he's a minor. When two high school students are killed, the sole witness believes Apollo is the culprit and that it's irresponsible for the news to protect him in any manner. It then turns out that the witness deliberately tampered with the scene in a bid to frame Apollo and stop the media from protecting his identity. In actuality, the case was a murder-suicide that Apollo had no involvement in.
  • "Eureka!" Moment:
    • While puzzling over a coded poem that his landlady left him, Himura overhears one of his students saying that she has a problem with comparing herself to others and looking for what she doesn't have. This allows him to figure out the solution to the poem, which is to write down the letters that aren't present in it.
    • Tokie inadvertently provides the solution to the "Dali's Cocoon" case when she says how easy it is to notice the absence of something that's usually always present. With this clue, Himura realises that the victim was the would-be killer, who shaved his distinctive moustache so he wouldn't be recognised while buying the murder weapon.
  • Exact Words: To cheer Akemi up, Himura offers to take her to a place where they can pet cats while drinking tea. Arisugawa naturally assumes he's talking about a cat café, but instead Himura takes them to his own home, where they're served tea by his landlord while he pets his cat.
  • Faked Kidnapping: The kidnapping in "Ransom of Associate Professor" turns out to have some complications behind it. Mainly that the victim's wife accidentally killed him before he was apparently kidnapped. The culprit stole his body and then delighted in stringing the wife along with a fake hostage situation.
  • Faking the Dead: In the final episode, Himura seemingly dies alongside Moroboshi when two gunshots go off and their bodies are nowhere to be found. The final shot of the episode is of someone wearing a familiar trenchcoat walking into Himura's home, where Arisugawa and Tokie await.
  • Flashback-Montage Realization: Whenever Himura figures out who the culprit is, the camera will rapidly spin around him while he flashbacks to relevant clues from throughout the episode.
  • Framing the Guilty Party: This turns out to be the twist of "A Study in Vermilion", though it isn't revealed as such until the end of the next related case. Yohei is found dead in an apartment complex, and the most likely culprit is his family friend Mutobe. Himura deduces that Mutobe was framed by the actual culprit... only for it to later be revealed that the actual culprit was Mutobe, who deliberately framed himself knowing that Himura would take the case and absolve him of suspicion.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In the first episode, Yukie's hospitalised brother is dumbfounded to learn that she was killed by the Night Prowler. His reaction takes on a new meaning when it's revealed that he is supposed to be the Night Prowler.
    • At the start of "An Odd-looking Customer", Arisugawa is staying at an inn and checks himself out in the main area's mirror. As it turns out, one of the case's biggest clues is that the victim has a fear of mirrors, and his pointed avoidance of the mirror that Arisugawa uses is what clues Himura in to his fear.
    • "Ransom of Associate Professor" has an actor being kidnapped with his wife forced to pay ransom. When she demands to hear him over the phone, he sounds eerily calm about his situation. The voice she hears turns out to be a recording, as her husband is already dead at that point.
    • Nanba mentions that he has a teenage daughter when Himura and Moroboshi first meet. Moroboshi would later make use of this information by holding his daughter hostage in exchange for her escape from prison.
    • The victim of "Dali's Cocoon" has a float capsule that he says is like being in a mother's womb. The end of the episode would reveal that his motivation for trying to kill the culprit was because of jealousy over Sagio, who reminded him of his mother.
    • When describing his relationship to Akemi, Mutobe says he doesn't have the courage or the right to confess his feelings to her. While he explains that it's because he's unreliable, his words take on a new meaning when it's revealed that he's the one who killed both Akemi's friend and her uncle.
  • Frame-Up: One of the suspects in "Dali's Cocoon", a college acquaintance of Himura and Arisugawa, insists that he's innocent of the crime even though all of the evidence points to him. Arisugawa is right to believe him, as it's revealed that the culprit set him up as a fall guy after the victim, who had intended to kill the culprit, tried to use the suspect to set up his alibi.
  • Friendly Scheming: At the start of "An Odd-looking Customer", Himura is tasked with solving a coded poem for Tokie so that she can open her safe. At the end of the episode, Himura realises that she knew the safe combination all along and wanted to have some fun with him. She coyly denies it when he brings it up.
  • Gilligan Cut: Arisugawa asks Himura if he can sit in on a lecture, with Himura replying that he should never do that. Cut to Arisugawa looking pleased with himself as he's sitting in Himura's lecture hall.
  • A Glass in the Hand: After the Night Prowler claims a 4th victim, Nabeshima snaps a pencil in half while ordering the detectives to continue investigating as hard as they can.
  • Gratuitous English:
    • In their first meeting, Himura tells Arisugawa that his novel is interesting. Arisugawa is surprised and asks "Really?", to which Himura responds with an English "Absolutely," seemingly to show how serious he is.
    • While checking out the social media of one of his fans, Arisugawa lets out a hilarious "Oh my god!" in English when he realises how cute she is.
  • Happy Flashback: When visiting her family's vacation home, Akemi flashes back to two years ago when her family (including her now-dead friend and uncle) welcomed her into the house, with the colours being much brighter and more saturated to contrast her gloomy present.
  • Hide the Evidence: Himura solves the case in "Apollo's Knife" and deduces that the sole witness was responsible for hiding a key piece of evidence. The question then becomes where they hid it: they were given a body search at the scene, and couldn't have walked far due to their body. The answer is revealed to be that the witness hid it inside his dog's nifty little sweater.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The end of Another Story features a few bloopers during the credits, mostly of the actors flubbing their lines.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: Himura and Arisugawa are very close, and the show has fun teasing the two of them about it. Arisugawa's neighbour mistakes them for a couple when she spots Himura entering Arisugawa's apartment. When Himura serves Arisugawa breakfast during a tough case, Arisugawa quips that he feels like a newlywed. In the "Study in Vermilion" case, Mutobe confesses to Arisugawa that he harbours unrequited love for Akemi, which Arisugawa compares to his own feelings towards Himura. The final episode has the duo attempting to categorise their relationship, settling eventually on an inseparable bond that's stronger than friendship. Nothing explicit ever comes from the teasing, however.
  • Howl of Sorrow: Being blamed for the "Study in Vermilion" cases, on top of being bathed in the orange sunlight that triggers her phobia, causes Akemi to collapse and scream in a loud, primal way.
  • I Am Not Pretty: Played for Drama with the victim in "An Odd-Looking Customer". He suffered from body dysmorphic disorder, making him believe that he was hideous even though his appearance was perfectly fine. This becomes relevant to the case when considering his fear of mirrors, which the bandaged man (who was the main suspect) also exhibited.
  • If I Can't Have You…: The conclusion of "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" reveals that Mary was killed by her producer, who had come to see Mary as her "perfect creation" and would rather kill her than see her quit the group and become mainstream.
  • I Have Your Wife:
    • "Ransom of Associate Professor" deals with an actor being kidnapped and held for ransom. Things are more complicated than they seem, however. The actor's wife accidentally killed him before he was "kidnapped"; the culprit's reasoning for stringing her along with a hostage situation is because he's a control freak who loved having her under his spell.
    • Moroboshi is able to escape from prison by having her underlings kidnap her captor's wife and child, forcing him to disrupt her prison transfer so that they'll be returned safe and sound.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: The culprit of "Dali's Cocoon" exposes themself when they mention the victim's criticism of a poster design, something that could only be known by people who were at the crime scene when the murder occurred.
  • In Medias Res:
    • "Ransom of Associate Professor" deals with a hostage situation. The episode starts with the hostage's wife and the detectives following the culprit's instructions, then flashes back to the events that led up to that point.
    • Arisugawa is kidnapped by the Shangri-La Crusade in "Execution in the Basement". The episode starts with flashes of him being accosted by his kidnappers, then flashes back to five hours ago when they first grabbed him.
  • Insistent Terminology: The witness of the first case insists that he isn't a "magician", but a "spiritual artist". Not that anyone takes him seriously.
  • Ironic Nursery Tune: While in prison, Moroboshi sings the Japanese children's rhyme "Kagome, Kagome" in a calm manner that thoroughly disturbs Nanba. The "caged bird" in the rhyme refers to two different things — Moroboshi herself, who is imprisoned, and Nanba's wife and child, who have been kidnapped by Moroboshi's cult in a bid to trade for Moroboshi's release. Later on she repeats the rhyme after kidnapping Arisugawa, giving Himura a nasty surprise when he tries to call his partner.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Moroboshi kidnaps Arisugawa to try and provoke Himura, and then targets three women that are close to him. Realising that she won't stop, and that he will give into his dark urges if any of them are hurt, Himura slips away from them and confronts Moroboshi by himself. Arisugawa is very displeased about his decision and lets him know it when they're able to track him down again.
  • It's Personal:
    • The murder of an idol in "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" is personal for both Nabeshima and Yasoda, who were big fans of the group and are heartbroken to learn of the girl's death.
    • Being specifically called out by the killer isn't what makes the ABC case personal for Himura, but rather when he finds out that the victims are related to the Shangri-La Crusade, led by his arch-nemesis Moroboshi.
  • Jurisdiction Friction: After Arisugawa is kidnapped by the Shangri-La Crusade, the Public Security Department attempt to take the case from the Kyoto Police. Nabeshima refutes it since Arisugawa was taken in Kyoto, but is told that the opportunity to take down the Crusade is too important to leave out of the department's hands. He is, however, able to negotiate a joint investigation so that he and Himura can still be involved in Arisugawa's rescue.
  • Killing in Self-Defense: In "Dali's Cocoon" the victim intended to kill the culprit out of jealousy for his relationship with the victim's assistant. The culprit was able to fight back and ended up killing the victim, though it's noted that he hit the victim enough times to go past the point of self-defence.
  • Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Played for Laughs after Himura is hospitalised. After a comedic moment together, Tokie suggests that the group leave the two "young'uns" alone. The two women that Himura has had Ship Tease with — Akemi and Komachi — respond to her, only for Tokie to clarify that she was talking about Himura and Arisugawa (who reacts with bafflement).
  • Letter Motif: Himura figures out that the death of an idol on-stage was deliberately foreshadowed by the lyrics of the group's song. One of those lyrics points to the initials J&M, initially referring to Jack the Ripper and the prostitute Marie. Himura points out that M could also refer to Mary, the idol, leading all present to assume the J then refers to Juliana Narumi, one of the suspects.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: Himura and Arisugawa, fittingly for being expies of Sherlock and Watson. Himura generally treats people with a cool indifference, but with Arisugawa he's openly friendly and banters with him often.
    Arisugawa: This breakfast makes me feel like we're newlyweds.
    Himura: I feel like I'm a bride.
    [They stare at each other]
    Himura: What? Don't stare at me so intensely. We aren't newlyweds.
    Arisugawa: Idiot.
  • Locked Room Mystery: In the first case, a victim appears in a locked room while the witness was sleeping inside. Turns out that she had been killed beforehand and had her body rigged up with wire so that her killer could make her appear while the witness was alone in the room, implicating him of the crime.
  • Love Hurts: This is the motive behind the two dead high school students in "Apollo's Knife". Initially thought to be a double murder, it's instead revealed to be murder-suicide; the boy was so torn up after breaking up with the girl that he killed her and then himself. Arisugawa is crushed upon realising this, as he'd initially thought the two victims shared a sweet love story.
  • Love Triangle: The "Study in Vermilion" case has Masaaki with a crush on Yuko, Yuko gunning for Mutobe, Mutobe in love with Akemi, and Akemi not reciprocating that feeling but having some Ship Tease with Himura. This proves to be vital for solving the case of Yuko's murder, as Mutobe killed her after she made claim to him.
  • Luck-Based Search Technique: Himura figures out that there's something off with the bookcase in "Ransom of Associate Professor". It's not Arisugawa thoroughly searching it that provides the answer, however, but his leaning on the shelf afterwards that causes the bookcase to open up into a secret room.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: The killer in "Smashing a Show Window" was the victim's lover. In order to throw suspicion off himself, he rids her apartment of valuables and stages the murder as a botched robbery attempt. Himura is able to see through the ruse because the killer left a pile of lottery tickets behind that a robber wouldn't have overlooked.
  • Meaningful Echo: When Arisugawa first questions Sagio, he reveals his past to her and admits that he still doesn't know what to say to his First Love that attempted suicide. When the case is solved, and Sagio calls out Himura for disrupting their lives, Arisugawa tells her that he can't find the words to comfort her, but will continue searching for them.
  • Mexican Standoff: The climax of "Logical Death Game" sees Moroboshi aiming a gun at Himura. She then throws it over to him, eager to see if she can eke out his murderous desire. When he hesitates, she pulls out another firearm, trapping them both in a standoff.
  • Monty Hall Problem: The Deadly Game that Moroboshi and Himura engage in is based on the Monty Hall problem. Moroboshi sets out three glasses of wine, one of which is poisoned. She lets Himura pick one, drinks one of the remaining glasses that isn't poisoned, and then offers him the chance to switch his choice. Himura's solution is to bypass the problem entirely: he waits until Moroboshi isn't looking, pours all the wine into one glass, then re-distributes it into the three glasses. That way both Himura and Moroboshi take a diluted amount of the poison, which knocks them both out until the ambulance arrives to save them.
  • Mood Whiplash: A light-hearted scene of the cast welcoming back Himura with an impromptu performance of an idol song is immediately followed by said idol tearfully being forced at knifepoint to record a ransom video.
  • Murder Simulators: The Screaming Castle case involves a serial killer that was apparently inspired by the events of the horror game Night Prowler. When the game's developers are approached about the manner, they're quick to refute the idea that a violent video game leads to violence in real life. In the end, it's revealed that the killer had heard of people mistaking fiction for reality and wanted to experience for himself what it was like.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: In "A Study in Vermilion - Part 2" it's revealed that Yuko's murderer was Mutobe, who killed her because he was in love with Akemi but Yuko tried to "claim" him as her boyfriend.
  • My God, You Are Serious!: When questioning Himura on how he managed to survive falling into a dam:
    Himura: A good diver is a great blessing.
    Sakashita: Himura-san, could it be that you had divers on stand-by beforehand?
    Nabeshima: That's impossible! Himura-sensei is joking, right?
    Himura: I'm not good at making jokes.
    [Sakashita looks amazed, Nabeshima looks shocked]

    N-Z 
  • Never the Obvious Suspect: One of the potential suspects for the Screaming Castle case is a developer for the game that the murders are based on. He acts shifty when interrogated by the police and goes on a rant about them judging the game for depicting murder. Later on he runs into Akemi, who fits the profile for the Night Prowler's victims. When the next victim shows up, her dying description of the killer is a male with brown hair, and the developer (who fits the description) is loitering about the scene. Of course, he doesn't turn out to be the killer, and the description that the last victim gave is revealed to be a Red Herring to obscure that she actually committed suicide.
  • Nightmare Sequence:
    • Himura suffers from recurrent nightmares where he commits the "beautiful" murder that he's often fantasised of. The sensation of his victim's blood on his hands is so intense that he can still feel it after he's forced himself awake.
    • Himura's partner, Arisugawa, has nightmares where he fails to stop Himura from falling to the dark side and committing murder, symbolised by Himura falling off a cliff while Arisugawa fails to grab him in time.
    • Akemi suffers from Past Experience Nightmares of when her uncle Shuntaro's home was set on fire and she had to watch as her uncle was burned to death. What particularly disturbs her is the image of her other uncle, Yohei, throwing gasoline over Shuntaro while laughing maniacally; though it isn't completely true to what happened, it does come to light that she actually witnessed the culprit, rather than manifesting the nightmarish image like she'd forced herself to believe.
  • Noisy Shut-Up: Himura enters his classroom in "Apollo's Knife" to find all the students gossiping about the serial killer Apollo. He slams his book against his desk to shut them all up, then calmly criticises them for giving in to baseless rumours.
  • Notable Non Sequitur: One of Himura's specialties is asking seemingly off-the-cuff questions that have nothing to do with the crime, only to later reveal their importance in finding the murderer. For example, in "Smashing a Show Window" he asks the witness about what they had for lunch and what mode of transport they use. Using these facts, he figures out that the witness is still in possession of the money he stole off the victim in order to frame her murder as a botched robbery.
  • Not My Driver: In "Logical Death Game", Moroboshi has to be taken to the hospital, with a policeman escorting her in the ambulance. However, it's revealed that said policeman is secretly her accomplice, who attempts to hijack the vehicle at gunpoint. This is followed by another reveal that the paramedic in the front seat is actually Nabeshima, who clocked the accomplice and followed along in disguise.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Both Arisugawa and Tokie comment on how Apollo reminds them of Himura when they first met him, with Himura and Apollo sharing the same murderous intent. Arisugawa goes on to wonder what would happen if the two of them were to meet. This happens in the next episode, and Himura chews out Apollo for giving in to his murderious urges where Himura did not.
  • Oblivious Mockery: In "Smashing a Show Window", the killer tries to hide his murder by framing it as a botched robbery. However, he accidentally leaves behind a pile of lottery tickets in the victim's apartment. Yasoda mocks the killer, saying that he'd be a failure of a businessman, unaware that said killer-slash-businessman is standing right next to him.
  • Oh, Crap!: Played for Laughs when Himura tells Arisugawa that his neighbour had a "dubious" expression on her face when watching Himura enter his apartment. When Arisugawa asks him to clarify, Himura's eyes go wide as he realises why she was so shocked at seeing a man enter Arisugawa's home.
  • One-Hour Work Week: Himura works as a university professor but is seemingly free to cancel his classes anytime that the police need him for consultation. Eventually gets lampshaded when one of his students complains that he has more cancelled classes than actual ones.
  • Paranoia Gambit: How Himura catches out the culprit in "Ransom of Associate Professor". While talking to him, Himura takes a phone call from the police and tells Arisugawa (in earshot of the culprit) that the case has taken a sudden turn and they'll be meeting at the victim's house. The culprit has the victim's house wiretapped, and turns it on at the appointed time — which is what Himura was waiting for, having faked the phone call and then done nothing but wait for the culprit to expose himself.
  • Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Death: "Apollo's Knife" starts with serial killer Apollo strolling through the rain, then cuts to the body of a high-school girl left out in the downpour.
  • The Patient Has Left the Building: The finale sees Himura in the hospital after a face-off with Moroboshi. She gets in contact with him again, and Arisugawa rushes to Himura's room to discover too late that he's hopped out of the window, leaving only a written apology for Arisugawa.
  • Peerless Love Interest: Yuko Sagio, the demure, beautiful, and kind assistant to the victim of "Dali's Cocoon". She's in a relationship but also catches the eye of the victim and Arisugawa, and Komachi admits that she's the type of nice girl that men always fall for. In her case it leads to tragedy, however; her boss' jealousy led him to try and kill her boyfriend, who killed him in retaliation. The poor woman is left distraught through no fault of her own.
  • Perfect Poison: "Execution in the Basement" has "Angel", a black-market drug that will cause instant, painless death. Though intended to be used for euthanasia, the culprit of the episode sneaks it into a person's drink, and they die immediately upon taking a sip. It then turns out that the culprit was scammed, and their miracle drug was actually just potassium cyanide — it still kills the victim immediately, but their death is painful and the poison is detected quickly due to the almond scent left behind.
  • Pensieve Flashback: This is how some testimonies are shown, with the witness explaining events while the flashback version of them moves around the scene. Gets particularly creative in "A Study in Vermilion", when Mutobe recounts climbing the stairs of an apartment — still images of his past self are placed along the stairway for him to "step" into as he retraces his movements exactly.
  • Pheromones: Something of a recurring theme. When meeting Arisugawa for the first time, Akemi comments that he and Himura have the same scent. Then, when Himura first meets Moroboshi, she gets up close and personal and remarks that they have the same scent, then asks him why he hasn't joined "her side" yet. "You have the same scent as me" then becomes a phrase that Himura uses to identify Moroboshi as Arisugawa's kidnapper.
  • Police Are Useless: The police characters are unavoidably dumbed down to necessitate Himura's inclusion in their cases. While sometimes this is acceptable, particularly in the stranger cases, there are times where it stretches the suspension of disbelief. For example, in "Apollo's Knife", Himura deduces that two murders were committed by different killers because the size, depth, placement, and number of the knife wounds in the bodies are all different. This would be a fairly standard deduction in a different show, but here the police are bamboozled and Himura's assessment is taken as evidence that he can empathise with a killer's mindset.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Quite literally in "Execution in the Basement". The killer of the episode is a member of the Shangri-La Crusade, who seemed like they were going to shoot a journalist who infiltrated their ranks. Seeing this as an opportunity to test his euthanasia drug on a person who was going to die anyway, the killer spiked the journalist's final drink. However, it turns out that the Crusade were only planning to test the journalist, and aimed an empty gun at him to see if he could be converted to their cause in his "final" moments. As a result, the episode's killer fatally drugs a man who would've otherwise survived, all because the Crusade's leader doesn't care enough about her underlings to explain her machinations to them.
  • Psycho Lesbian: "Waiting for Jack the Ripper" has Narumi, the producer for an underground idol group who becomes obsessed with Mary, the star of the group. When Mary tries to leave the group, Narumi can't take it and murders Mary so that no-one else can have her. This is notably contrasted by fellow group member Rei, a shy, kind-hearted girl who also had a crush on Mary.
  • Punch a Wall: Himura smacks the wall multiple times with his fist after Arisugawa is kidnapped in "Execution in the Basement". Given how composed he usually is, it's a very good indicator of how scared he is for his friend's well-being.
  • Rage Against the Reflection: The victim of "An Odd-Looking Customer" is shown to have a broken mirror in his apartment, which is one of the final puzzle pieces that Himura needs to solve the case. The victim suffered from dysmorphophobia, which caused him to avoid mirrors so he wouldn't have to see his (imagined) ugly face. Because of this, Himura realises that the victim and the bandaged man who avoided looking into mirrors are one and the same.
  • Ransom Drop: "Ransom of Associate Professor" begins In Medias Res with the detectives accompanying a kidnapped actor's wife as she's told to get on a train and drop the ransom for her husband out of the window. The ambiguity of the instructions is a clue that the kidnapping isn't actually real. Himura comments that it's ridiculous for the kidnapper to make a ransom, as there's never been a recorded case of criminals actually getting away with the money.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
    • Himura gives a brief one to the culprit of "Smashing a Show Window". In a dark twist, he chastises the culprit for his failure to commit the crime, and offers his own opinion on how the crime would've been ideal. The culprit is disturbed.
      Masahiko: Do you have anything else to say?
      Himura: You're stupid. You should have killed her on the day she thought she lost her keys. You were a day late. [...] This crime is not beautiful.
    • To show Himura's development, he gives a more standard speech to Apollo when the two meet, lambasting him for romanticising the murders that he's committed.
      Himura: Listen to me closely. Beautiful crimes don't exist in this world. What exists are crimes like yours: ugly crimes of brutality that hold no value. That's why I would never forgive criminals that have a hand in that. That's why I'm going to continue proving there's no such thing as a beautiful crime to my old self and to people like you. That is my fieldwork.
  • Red Herring:
    • The opening of "An Odd-looking Customer" is framed such that it points to Aiba being the culprit of the street stabbing (it shows a hooded figure committing the crime, and then the hooded Aiba hurrying into his apartment and falling to the ground in shock). As it turns out, he was a witness to the crime, and it was Hata (who was shown at the time calmly getting on his motorcycle) who was the culprit.
    • Another one from "An Odd-looking Customer" is the Shangri-La Crusade. It's repeatedly suspected that the episode's murderer, a man wrapped entirely in bandages, is a member of the cult. A plastic surgeon is one of the suspects, leading Arisugawa to speculate that the bandaged man might have gotten facial surgery because he was wanted by the police. One of the other suspects also turns out to be a defector from the Crusade. She's innocent, and the motivation for the crime has nothing to do with the cult.
    • Nanba reveals in "Apollo's Knife" that Moroboshi has an informant within the police department. Whenever this information comes up, the camera deliberately rests on Nabeshima in an incriminating fashion. However, they turn out to be innocent, and in fact track down and confront the real informant.
  • Revealing Reflection: One of the Shangri-La members that kidnap Arisugawa reveals to him that they're secretly a journalist who plans to help him if things get too dangerous. However, he's found out by the other members when one of them spies him using his dictaphone in a mirror's reflection, and he ends up getting killed as a result.
  • Reverse Whodunnit: Though most of the series operates on Fair-Play Whodunnit, "Smashing a Show Window" instead shows things from the criminal's point of view, with Himura picking out the flaws in what the criminal had assumed was a perfect crime.
  • Right Behind Me: Invoked when Himura confronts the kidnapper in "Ransom of Associate Professor". Knowing that the man is guilty, but not having yet accused him, Himura riles him up by ranting that only an unintelligent, rough, and greedy person would do something as unrealistic and cruel as kidnapping.
  • Rule of Three: Nabeshima's description of the case in "A Study in Vermilion": "A mysterious call before dawn. A mysterious body with no identity. And, a mysterious man wearing cologne who was likely here." All three statements are accompanied by floating text that emphasises the repetition.
  • Running Gag: "A Study in Vermilion" has multiple characters figuring out answers before Komachi is able to, much to her increasing annoyance (and Arisugawa's amusement).
  • Rustproof Blood: An idol's body shows up on stage covered in bright red blood, despite being murdered and put on ice days ago. The coroner's examination reveals that prop blood was mixed in to retain the red colour, which clues Himura in on how much emphasis the killer wanted to put on the body's display.
  • Say My Name: Thinking that Himura has fallen off a cliff to his death, Arisugawa collapses to his knees and screams his partner's name in anguish. In "Detective, Blue Era" it's shown that Himura survives, and Arisugawa is no less enthusiastic in screaming his name as he walks through the door.
  • Self-Deprecation: The victim of "Ransom of Associate Professor" is an actor famous for playing an associate professor in a drama. Himura, a university professor, thinks it's silly that a drama would have a professor as the main character. He continues on to say it's unrealistic for the professor to be a stud when Himura himself gets Ship Tease with various women.
  • Sequel Hook: It's revealed at the end of the Another Story episodes that Moroboshi survived her stand-off with Himura, and the Shangri-La Crusade still plan to go forth with their revolution.
  • Sherlock Can Read: Arisugawa takes care of his neighbour's pet bird while she's away for the week. Himura takes one look at the bird and states its owner's gender, age, and height. When Arisugawa asks how he can possibly deduce all of that, Himura reveals that he's screwing with him and met the neighbour a few days beforehand.
  • Shout-Out: The series is chock full of references to other media, particularly other works in the mystery genre:
    • Himura, Arisugawa, and Moroboshi are homages to Sherlock, Watson, and Moriarty respectively. The complicated, two-episode case "A Study in Vermilion" is also a reference to A Study in Scarlet.
    • In the first episode, Takako claims that a café by the station has a handsome barista that resembles Lupin.
    • When the Night Prowler seems to have disappeard entirely from the scene of the crime, Komachi suggests that he escaped through the sewers. Nabeshima responds that they can't do anything if he "pulled a Harrison Ford", because he's "not that detective Tommy Lee Jones", both in reference to The Fugitive.
    • In "An Odd-looking Customer", Arisugawa gets to stay at an inn while collecting research for his novel. He happily proclaims that he's in the world of Seishi Yokomizo, creator of the famous detective Kosuke Kindaichi. When Himura enters the inn later, Arisugawa comments that his entrance is reminiscent of Kindaichi.
    • The main suspect of "An Odd-looking Customer" is a man who conceals his face with bandages. Arisugawa jokes that, if he took the bandages off, he might be The Invisible Man.
    • Arisugawa gives Detective Ono the nickname "Komachi" in reference to Ono no Komachi, a historical poet renowned for her beauty.
    • One of the suspects in "Ransom of Associate Professor" compares the kidnapping situation to High and Low (1963).
    • When Komachi successfully answers one of Himura's questions, he congratulates her and gives "10 points to Gryffindor."
    • Nabeshima and Komachi try to play it cool when hiding a secret from Himura, but end up fumbling awkwardly. Nabeshima complains about Komachi's performance by saying she's not like "Ken-san", referring to Ken Takakura and his penchant for playing brooding, stoic characters.
  • Solve the Soup Cans: The B-plot of "An Odd-looking Customer" features a poem that Tokie made to hide the code to her safe. She forgets the solution to solve it, however, and it even stumps Himura. He's eventually able to figure it out thanks to his student inspiring a "Eureka!" Momentpicking out the letters that Tokie didn't include and re-arranging them gives the location of where she put the safe's code.
  • Somebody Set Us Up The Bomb: The finale has Onizuka, right-hand man of the Shangri-La Crusade, disguising himself as a cleaner so he can sneak into the Kyoto Police Department and set up a bomb. Though Arisugawa realises this too late, no-one is injured in the ensuing explosion.
  • Sound-Only Death: Moroboshi and Himura end up in a Mexican Standoff next to a dam, each pointing a gun at the other. The camera cuts to Himura's friends rushing to his location, only to stop dead in their tracks when they hear two gunshots. By the time they reach the spot, both bodies are gone, seemingly thrown over the edge to the waters below.
  • Stylistic Suck: When explaining how he was able to survive his standoff with Moroboshi at the dam, Himura claims that a giant bird came out of nowhere and swooped him away in its claws. This is accompanied by a detailed drawing of the supposed bird, and then a comically amateur sketch of it grabbing Himura and hoisting him off.
  • Subverted Catchphrase: Himura usually says "This crime is not beautiful" when he's solved the case. However, in "ABC Killer", where he's taken a personal investment in the case, he's even more scathing when he figures out the criminal.
    Himura: This crime... is ugly.
  • Sudden Soundtrack Stop:
    • Arisugawa makes a big show of pointing out what he thinks is wrong with a bookshelf — one of the shelves is empty, despite the rest being filled with collectibles. One of the witnesses replies that the shelf has always been empty, causing the escalating soundtrack to come to a comedically sudden halt.
    • A dramatic version occurs when Himura meets with Moroboshi for the first time. Nanba demands that Moroboshi disbands her cult, only for him and the background music to be suddenly interrupted by Moroboshi leaping out of her seat until she's nose-to-nose to Himura.
    • When Himura confronts Moroboshi in "Logical Death Game", the strings BGM comes to a jarring halt (about 3/4 of the way through a note) when she reveals her intention with him.
      Moroboshi: The person you're going to kill, [music halts] is me.
  • Suicide, Not Murder:
    • This is revealed to be the case with one of the supposed Night Prowler victims. The final "victim", Yukie Owada, was the sister to the actual Night Prowler. Upon discovering that her brother is a murderer, she stabs herself and frames the Night Prowler for it. As her brother was hospitalised at the time of her death, this serves a dual purpose of lifting suspicion from him and freeing herself from the dark secret of her brother's identity.
    • A case of suicide mistaken as murder plays into the killing of two Kyoto students in "Apollo's Knife". While the death of the two students is initially attributed to Apollo, Himura's investigation reveals that it was actually a case of murder-suicide: the male student killed his female ex-girlfriend, and then was overcome with grief and took his own life.
  • The Summation: Once an Episode, after Himura has put all the pieces together and had his Flashback-Montage Realization, he'll meet with the culprit (sometimes gathering the rest of the detectives too) and lay out the details of their crime. This usually follows with the criminal explaining their motivation, that being the only piece still missing from the full picture.
  • Suspiciously Apropos Music: In "Waiting for Jack the Ripper", an idol group is performing one of their hits when their missing member suddenly shows up dead on-stage. The lyrics to the song they were performing foreshadow this appearance, such as mentioning the black coffin that she appears in, which Himura uses to deduce that the killer was a member of the group's production team.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Kyoto Police Department don't return for the 2019 specials (except for Yasoda), and instead the crimes takes place in Osaka where a trio of new detectives fill in the same roles as the old ones: Unabara replacing Komachi as the stern female detective; Shikata replacing Nabeshima as the more accepting senior detective; and Sokabe replacing Sakashita as the perky younger detective.
  • Take a Third Option: In "Logical Death Game", Moroboshi forces Himura to play a Deadly Game with her. She sets out glasses of wine, blindfolds Himura, and then deposits a lethal dose of aconite into one of the glasses. Either Himura takes a poisoned glass, killing himself, or he takes a non-poisoned glass and Moroboshi takes the other, killing her. Not wanting to die or to give in to his murderous impulses, Himura finds a third way out: when Moroboshi isn't looking he pours all of the wine together and then redistributes it. That way, they both take a non-lethal dose, and Himura has enough time to call for an ambulance before they both lose consciousness.
  • Talking in Your Sleep: Himura's nightmares cause him to call out in his sleep, leading to a tender moment where Arisugawa offers to wake him up the next time that it happens.
  • Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Moroboshi escapes from prison in the latter half of the season and goes about trying to instigate Himura's murderous side. She does this by first kidnapping his best friend Arisugawa, and then targeting the three women closest to him (his student, his landlord, and his coworker).
  • Theme Serial Killer: "ABC Killer", as an homage to The ABC Murders, features a serial killer targeting people based on the letters of the alphabet. Their first victim is Kazuki Asakura in Andoucho, then Romi Bando in Bitoucho, and so on. This is revealed to be a cover-up, as the killer only actually wanted to kill the fourth "D" victim, and killed the rest to obfuscate their intent.
  • They Fight Crime!: Himura is a university criminologist. Arisugawa is a mystery novelist. Together, they use their understanding of criminals and their conventions to aid the police in solving mysterious crimes.
  • Tick Tock Terror: "An Odd-looking Customer" features a clock going off while it switches between multiple scenes that set up the episode's suspects: a woman frantically cutting her hair, a man peeking out from behind a newspaper, etc. The bonging then fades out into a repetitive ticking as an eerily bandaged man walks into the scene.
  • Torment by Annoyance: In "Smashing a Show Window", Himura and Arisugawa get the killer to give them a piece of important evidence just by annoying him to the point that he hands it over without thinking of its significance.
  • Two Dun It:
    • The victim of "A Study in Vermilion - Part 2" was bludgeoned over the head and then, a little later, had a rock dropped on her from a high place. Initially thought to be a single suspect making sure she was dead, it soon becomes clear that two people are involved.
    • In "ABC Killer", the four murders are revealed to have been committed by two different people. The first two victims were killed by the third victim. The third and fourth victim were then killed by the main suspect of the case, leaving her with an alibi for two of the supposed serial killer victims.
  • Unreliable Narrator: A minor case with Akemi's memory of who set her uncle on fire. She initially recalls Yohei laughing wickedly after committing the crime; however, when she finally confronts the memory, it instead shows that the culprit was shocked after what he had done, painting him in a more sympathetic light.
  • Vehicular Kidnapping: This is how the cult whisk away Arisugawa in "Execution in the Basement". Their van abruptly pulls up in front of him and he's yanked inside while being chloroformed. His neighbour witnessed the van's arrival, but the perspective and the van's quick escape left her in the dark about what happened.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Though there are multiple killers with good social standing, special mention goes to the killer of "Smashing a Show Window". The episode follows his POV after the murder, and shows that he's regarded as kind and generous by the people who know him. Even the victim loved him deeply before he revealed himself to be a psychopath who murdered her just because he felt like it.
  • Vorpal Pillow: The killer of "Smashing a Show Window" deals with his victim by suffocating her with a cushion while she's watching a horror film. After the deed is done, her hand keeps the pillow in place until the last bit of life leaves her and it falls from her limp body.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The witness of "Apollo's Knife" is staunchly against the forced anonymity of minors who commit crimes, due to a prior incident where his son was bullied in school and the perpetrators weren't named. Though his view is understandable, tampering with a crime scene in order to frame an unrelated high-schooler takes it too far, and he's arrested at the end of the episode while the detectives mull over his viewpoint.
  • We Need a Distraction: Part of the culprit's elaborate deception in "A Study in Vermilion". They hang up an eye-catching poster about a missing owl in the apartment complex's elevator. When the detectives enter the elevator, they're distracted by the poster and thus don't notice the culprit's trick with mixing up which floor the elevator arrives at.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Sagio calls out Himura for the cavalier way that he treats investigations:
    Sagio: Is this fun to you? Because of your profiling, our lives have changed drastically. Is it fun to ruin people's lives?
    Himura: I have to do this.
    Sagio: What a miserable way to live.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: "Detective, Blue Era" shows how Himura and Arisugawa first met, years before the start of the series. At the end it's revealed to be a story told by Arisugawa to Tokie, chronologically set just before the end of the series finale.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: "ABC Killer" is, as one might guess, a big reference to Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders. Arisugawa specifically brings up in-universe that a serial killer targeting people based on the alphabet was likely inspired by the novel. It also has a similar twist to the novel: there was only one targeted victim, with the rest killed to send the police on a false trail.
  • Working the Same Case: Akemi approaches Himura and requests that he handles a two-year-old case where her friend was bludgeoned to death. The next morning, Himura receives an anonymous call telling him to visit an apartment where a dead body awaits. Himura is quick to piece together that the two incidents might be connected, and pulls in Akemi to confirm it. By doing so, it's revealed that the two cases are also connected to an arson that happened at Akemi's house six years ago.
  • Worthy Opponent: The culprit of the "Study in Vermilion" cases receives congratulations and even applause from Himura after he almost tricks the criminologist with an elaborate plan to frame himself so he can be cleared of wrongdoing.
  • Wrong Assumption:
    • The bandaged man at the start of "An Odd-looking Customer" stares directly at Arisugawa while retreating to his room at the inn. The detectives try to figure out why, only for Himura to realise that they're looking at it from the wrong perspective — the bandaged man wasn't looking at Arisugawa, but looking away from the mirror on the opposite wall. With this clue he realises that the bandaged man and the victim of the case are one and the same, since the victim had a phobia of mirrors.
    • One of the suspects in "Ransom of Associate Professor" mixes up Himura and Arisugawa when they first meet, with Arisugawa surprised that he could be mistaken for a professor. Said suspect is the culprit and wiretapped the victim's house, thus overhearing some dialogue between Arisugawa and Himura which could be misinterpreted as Arisugawa being the professor while Himura was the writer.
    • "Apollo's Knife" has the murder of two high school students. The boy sent the girl a text, saying "Sorry, I'm on my way now." The detectives naturally assume that he was planning to meet up with her but then both of them were killed by a third party. However, their investigation reveals that the boy killed the girl; his apology was for killing her, and "I'm on my way" was referring to him killing himself so he could join her in the afterlife.

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