YMMV / Criminologist Himura and Mystery Writer Arisugawa

• Adorkable:
  • Arisugawa, with his energetic gesturing, his light-hearted banter even at crime scenes, and his surprisingly tender way of dealing with suspects.
  • Sakashita is the youngest of the officers and his chipper, occasionally over-the-top attitude makes him quite endearing (especially when Himura messes with him).
• Awesome Music: "Selfy Trick", a catchy J-rock track by Edge of Life that serves as the series' ending theme.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: In "Logical Death Game", Moroboshi has her underlings set up a bomb that explodes in the Kyoto Police Department. No-one is injured, the bomb is never mentioned or investigated after it goes off, and while it was set up to anger Himura, he doesn't actually learn what happened after Moroboshi's vague threat to rile him up. It could've been removed entirely and all that would be lost is a little drama.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tokie is considered a standout amongst the supporting cast. Not only is she a hilarious and sweet Cool Old Lady, but she brings out a softer side of Himura that viewers are appreciative of.
• Evil Is Cool: Moroboshi, given a delightful performance by Kyoko Hasegawa. From the mysterious cult leader manipulating events while imprisoned, to the chaotic Evil Counterpart to Himura, she takes on the role of Moriarty with gusto.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: Given the complexity of the "Study in Vermilion" cases, with three separate crimes spread across six years and Himura being specifically challenged by the culprit, many viewers were disappointed with the main killer's motive being that he was in love with Akemi but was kissed by another woman in an attempt to "claim" him, seeing it as disproportionally petty for the drama that ensued.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Himura receives some Ship Tease with multiple women throughout the show: his student, Akemi, who he helps recover from her deep-seated trauma; his co-worker, Komachi, who initially butts heads with him but eventually concedes that she misunderstood him; and the main villainess, Moroboshi, whose interest in his dark side toes the line of love. They all might as well not exist, however, given how much the pairing of Himura and Arisugawa eclipses them. What with them being longtime friends with a natural rapport, their bickering akin to a married couple, Himura saying he's never wanted anyone but Arisugawa as his partner, Arisugawa telling Himura never to leave him alone, so on and so forth.
• Ho Yay: While some of the homoerotic moments between Himura and Arisugawa are deliberately put in for laughs, the way their first meeting is presented in "Detective, Blue Era" not only seems unintentional but also highly suggestive. Himura immediately takes a liking to Arisugawa's work and grabs him by the hand when he tries to retrieve it, then treats him to dinner and compliments him on his eating habits. Arisugawa says that Himura is unpleasant (which he's used to), but he finds that interesting (which Himura is being told for the first time), which is followed by the two smiling and staring at each other as the title drops. Later, a female classmate says that women are attracted to Himura's mysterious nature — when a male classmate says that men think Himura is weird, Arisugawa sides with the woman and insists that Himura's quirks make him interesting, which is followed by Arisugawa smiling to himself as he continues to think about Himura. The whole thing comes off as a Meet Cute between a perky Love Interest and the quiet, mysterious stranger at their university, rather than a first meeting between friends.
• Iron Woobie: You couldn't tell from looking at him, but Arisugawa's had it pretty rough. His first love in high school attempted to kill herself the same day that he confessed his love to her, and he was so scared of what her reasoning might've been that he never talked to her again. He frequently has nightmares of Himura falling to the dark side as a result of his own failings. In the penultimate episode he's kidnapped by Shangri-La Crusade and forced to watch as his attempted rescuer is poisoned and dies painfully in front of him. Then Himura twice leaves Arisugawa to participate in a Deadly Game against Moroboshi, which causes his assistant no amount of anguish — especially when it seemed, initially, that Himura hadn't survived the second round.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Takumi Saitoh and Masataka Kubota have an excellent chemistry together that's considered the highlight of the show. Though the actual mysteries are seen as rather average, reviews will recommend a watch for the dynamic between Himura and Arisugawa alone.
• Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize: The elaborate "Study in Vermilion" case has three suspects. Two are played by bit actors. The last is played by Yusuke Yamamoto, who portrayed Tamaki Suoh, Ryu Yamada, and a Kamen Rider amongst other roles. Three guesses as to whodunnit.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The Shangri-La Crusade are introduced as a revolutionary cult with the enigmatic and manipulative Sanae Moroboshi as their leader. While Moroboshi becomes the main antagonist, the cult itself ends up almost entirely irrelevant, only existing to operate as loyal Mooks for Moroboshi. Nothing is said as to why and how Moroboshi formed the cult and what their specific ideals are — heck, even the origin of their name is left a mystery. This problem stems in part from the Crusade being upscaled from their minor role in the original novels.
• The Woobie: Akemi's parents died in an accident, her uncle Shuntaro was burned alive in front of her when she was 15 (leaving her with a debilitating phobia of the colour orange), her friend Yuko was murdered four years later, and then two years after that her other uncle Yohei shows up dead. The culprits behind it all? Shuntaro was set on fire by Yohei, who was then killed by the same family friend who killed Yuko. On top of that, his reason for killing Yuko was because he was in love with Akemi and Yuko was making moves on him. Her aunt calls her a cursed child and blames her for everything going wrong, causing Akemi to collapse to the ground and scream in grief. It's a small wonder that unravelling the twisted mystery of her family didn't leave the poor girl more traumatised.

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