Top 16 Mystery Anime to watch

Focuses on unresolved questions, and the efforts of characters to discover the answers to them. Whether curious and deadly events are afoot, or some part of the world itself is strange or inexplicable, or someone's past or identity seems strangely shrouded, these characters are set on learning the truth.

1. Death Note

A shinigami, as a god of death, can kill any person—provided they see their victim's face and write their victim's name in a notebook called a Death Note. One day, Ryuk, bored by the shinigami lifestyle and interested in seeing how a human would use a Death Note, drops one into the human realm.

High school student and prodigy Light Yagami stumbles upon the Death Note and—since he deplores the state of the world—tests the deadly notebook by writing a criminal's name in it. When the criminal dies immediately following his experiment with the Death Note, Light is greatly surprised and quickly recognizes how devastating the power that has fallen into his hands could be.

With this divine capability, Light decides to extinguish all criminals in order to build a new world where crime does not exist and people worship him as a god. Police, however, quickly discover that a serial killer is targeting criminals and, consequently, try to apprehend the culprit. To do this, the Japanese investigators count on the assistance of the best detective in the world: a young and eccentric man known only by the name of L.

Death Note is finished and has 37 Episodes. It is also Known as: デスノート, DN

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2. Dandadan

This is a story about Momo, a high school girl who comes from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult fanatic. After Momo rescues Okarun from being bullied, they begin talking. However, an argument ensues between them since Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens exist, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts exist.

To prove to each other what they believe in is real, Momo goes to an abandoned hospital where a UFO has been spotted and Okarun goes to a tunnel rumored to be haunted. To their surprise, they each encounter overwhelming paranormal activities that transcend comprehension. Amid these predicaments, Momo awakens her hidden power and Okarun gains the power of a curse to overcome these new dangers! Their fateful love begins as well!?

The story of the occult battle and adolescence starts!

Notes:

- Worldwide premiere of Episode 1 before the Japanese television premiere occurred at Anime Expo July 6, 2024.

- Episodes 1-3 titled as DAN DA DAN: FIRST ENCOUNTER was pre-screened in advance in theaters on September 13, 2024. The regular TV broadcast begins October 2024.

DAN DA DAN is finished and has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: ダンダダン, ดันดาดัน, 膽大黨, DAN DA DAN: FIRST ENCOUNTER, Dan Da Dan

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3. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

The Apothecary Diaries is finished and has 24 Episodes. It is also Known as: 薬屋のひとりごと, Drugstore Soliloquy

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4. Detective Conan

Shinichi Kudou, a great mystery expert at only seventeen, is already well known for having solved several challenging cases. One day, when Shinichi sees two suspicious men and decides to follow them, he inadvertently becomes witness to a disturbing illegal activity. When the men catch Shinichi, they dose him with an experimental drug formulated by their criminal organization and abandon him to die. However, to his own astonishment, Shinichi is still alive and soon wakes up, but now, he has the body of a seven-year-old, perfectly preserving his original intelligence. He hides his real identity from everyone, including his childhood friend Ran Mouri and her father, private detective Kogorou Mouri, and takes on the alias of Conan Edogawa . Animated by TMS and adapted from the manga by Gosho Aoyama, Detective Conan follows Shinichi who, as Conan, starts secretly solving the senior Mouri's cases from behind the scenes with his still exceptional sleuthing skills, while covertly investigating the organization responsible for his current state, hoping to reverse the drug's effects someday.

Detective Conan is currently airing . It is also Known as: Meitantei Conan, 名探偵コナン, Case Closed: One Truth Prevails

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5. Tokyo Ghoul

The suspense horror/dark fantasy story is set in Tokyo, which is haunted by mysterious "ghouls" who are devouring humans. People are gripped by the fear of these ghouls whose identities are masked in mystery. An ordinary college student named Kaneki encounters Rize, a girl who is an avid reader like him, at the café he frequents. Little does he realize that his fate will change overnight.

Tokyo Ghoul is finished and has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 東京喰種-トーキョーグール-, Tokyo Kushu, Toukyou Kushu, Toukyou Ghoul

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6. Boku dake ga Inai Machi

When tragedy is about to strike, Satoru Fujinuma finds himself sent back several minutes before the accident occurs. The detached, 29-year-old manga artist has taken advantage of this powerful yet mysterious phenomenon, which he calls "Revival," to save many lives.

However, when he is wrongfully accused of murdering someone close to him, Satoru is sent back to the past once again, but this time to 1988, 18 years in the past. Soon, he realizes that the murder may be connected to the abduction and killing of one of his classmates, the solitary and mysterious Kayo Hinazuki, that took place when he was a child. This is his chance to make things right.Boku dake ga Inai Machi follows Satoru in his mission to uncover what truly transpired 18 years ago and prevent the death of his classmate while protecting those he cares about in the present.

ERASED is finished and has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 僕だけがいない街, The Town Where Only I am Missing, BokuMachi

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7. Monster

Dr. Kenzou Tenma is a renowned brain surgeon of Japanese descent working in Europe. Highly lauded by his peers as one of the great young minds that will revolutionize the field, he is blessed with a beautiful fiancée and is on the cusp of a big promotion in the hospital he works at. But all of that is about to change with a grave dilemma that Kenzou faces one night—whether to save the life of a small boy or that of the town's mayor. Despite being pressured by his superiors to perform surgery on the mayor, his morals force him to perform the surgery on the other critical patient, saving his life and forfeiting the mayor's. A doctor is taught to believe that all life is equal; however, when a series of murders occur in the surgeon's vicinity, all of the evidence pointing to the boy he saved, Kenzou's beliefs are shaken. Along his journey to unravel the true identity of his little patient, Kenzou discovers that the fate of the world may be intertwined with the mysterious child.

Monster is finished and has 74 Episodes. It is also Known as: モンスター, Monster

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8. Summer Time Rendering

A sci-fi, summer story filled with suspense set on a small island with Shinpei Aijiro, whose childhood friend Ushio Kofune died. He returns to his hometown for the first time in two years for the funeral. Sou Hishigata, his best friend, suspects something's off with Ushio's death, and that someone can die next.

A sinister omen is heard as an entire family next door suddenly disappears the following day. Furthermore, Mio implicates a "shadow" three days before Ushio's death.

Summer Time Rendering is finished and has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: Summer Time Render, サマータイムレンダ, Summertime Render, ปริศนาบ้านเก่า เงามรณะ, A Ilha das Sombras, 夏日重现

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9. Tengoku Daimakyou

In the year 2024, grotesque monsters lurk amongst the ruins of Japan, while the remaining people scrape together what they can to survive. Kiruko accepts a mysterious woman's dying wish to take a boy named Maru to a place called Heaven.

Tengoku Daimakyo is finished and has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: 天国大魔境, Heavenly Delusion, Tengoku-Daimakyo: Ilusão Celestial

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10. Bakemonogatari

Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student, manages to survive a vampire attack with the help of Meme Oshino, a strange man residing in an abandoned building. Though being saved from vampirism and now a human again, several side effects such as superhuman healing abilities and enhanced vision still remain. Regardless, Araragi tries to live the life of a normal student, with the help of his friend and the class president, Tsubasa Hanekawa.

When fellow classmate Hitagi Senjougahara falls down the stairs and is caught by Araragi, the boy realizes that the girl is unnaturally weightless. Despite Senjougahara's protests, Araragi insists he help her, deciding to enlist the aid of Oshino, the very man who had once helped him with his own predicament.

Through several tales involving demons and gods, Bakemonogatari follows Araragi as he attempts to help those who suffer from supernatural maladies.

Bakemonogatari is finished and has 15 Episodes. It is also Known as: 化物語, Ghostory

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11. Tokyo Ghoul √A

The second season of Tokyo Ghoul.

The ghouls of Anteiku invaded the Aogiri's site in order to rescue Ken Kaneki who is being tortured. Due to provocation, he unleashed greater power enough to defeat Yamori. To become stronger, he decided to join Aogiri and left Anteiku. Ghoul investigators also making their moves by collecting information about the eye-patched ghoul - Ken Kaneki.

Tokyo Ghoul √A is finished and has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 東京喰種√A, Tokyo Ghoul Root A, Tokyo Ghoul 2nd Season, Tokyo Ghoul Second Season

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12. [Oshi no Ko]

When a pregnant young starlet appears in Gorou Amemiya’s countryside medical clinic, the doctor takes it upon himself to safely deliver Ai Hoshino’s child so she can make a scandal-free return to the stage. But no good deed goes unpunished, and on the eve of her delivery, he finds himself slain at the hands of Ai’s deluded stalker — and subsequently reborn as Ai’s child, Aquamarine Hoshino! The glitz and glamor of showbiz hide the dark underbelly of the entertainment industry, threatening to dull the shine of his favorite star. Can he help his new mother rise to the top of the charts? And what will he do when unthinkable disaster strikes?

Note: Episode 1【推しの子】Mother and Children was pre-screened in advance in Japanese theaters on March 17, 2023. The regular TV broadcast begins on April 12, 2023. The first episode has an extended runtime of ~90 minutes.

Oshi no Ko is finished and has 11 Episodes. It is also Known as: 【推しの子】, 【OSHI NO KO】, [Mein*Star], Favorite Girl, My Idol's Child, เกิดใหม่เป็นลูกโอชิ, Anak Idola, 【推しの子】Mother and Children, [Oshi no Ko] Mother and Children, 【MOJA GWIAZDA】, 我推的孩子

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13. Serial Experiments Lain

Lain Iwakura, an awkward and introverted fourteen-year-old, is one of the many girls from her school to receive a disturbing email from her classmate Chisa Yomoda—the very same Chisa who recently committed suicide. Lain has neither the desire nor the experience to handle even basic technology; yet, when the technophobe opens the email, it leads her straight into the Wired, a virtual world of communication networks similar to what we know as the internet. Lain's life is turned upside down as she begins to encounter cryptic mysteries one after another. Strange men called the Men in Black begin to appear wherever she goes, asking her questions and somehow knowing more about her than even she herself knows. With the boundaries between reality and cyberspace rapidly blurring, Lain is plunged into more surreal and bizarre events where identity, consciousness, and perception are concepts that take on new meanings.

Written by Chiaki J. Konaka, whose other works include Texhnolyze, Serial Experiments Lain is a psychological avant-garde mystery series that follows Lain as she makes crucial choices that will affect both the real world and the Wired. In closing one world and opening another, only Lain will realize the significance of their presence.

Serial Experiments Lain is finished and has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: シリアルエクスペリメンツレイン, Serial Experiments Lain

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14. Hyouka

Energy-conservative high school student Houtarou Oreki ends up with more than he bargained for when he signs up for the Classics Club at his sister's behest—especially when he realizes how deep-rooted the club's history really is. Begrudgingly, Oreki is dragged into an investigation concerning the 45-year-old mystery that surrounds the club room.

Accompanied by his fellow club members, the knowledgeable Satoshi Fukube, the stern but benign Mayaka Ibara, and the ever-curious Eru Chitanda, Oreki must combat deadlines and lack of information with resourcefulness and hidden talent, in order to not only find the truth buried beneath the dust of works created years before them, but of other small side cases as well.

Based on the award-winning Koten-bu light novel series, and directed by Yasuhiro Takemoto of Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu, Hyouka shows that normal life can be full of small mysteries, be it family history, a student film, or even the withered flowers that make up a ghost story.

Hyouka is finished and has 22 Episodes. It is also Known as: 氷菓, Hyou-ka, Hyouka: You can't escape, Hyou-ka: You can't escape, Hyoka

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15. Kami no Tou: Koubou-sen

Second part of Tower of God Season 2.

Tower of God Season 2: Workshop Battle is finished and has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: 神之塔 -Tower of God- 工房戦, Sin-ui Tap, 신의 탑, Kami no Tou 2nd Season, Tower of God: Workshop Battle

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16. Tougen Anki

The bloodlines of “Oni” and “Momotarou” have been passed down among certain humans for generations.

Long ago, the Oni, aware of their own ferocity, lived in seclusion. However, their peace was shattered by an invasion led by Momotarou. Over thousands of years, these two factions formed the “Momotarou Agency” and the “Oni Agency,” respectively, and have been locked in conflict ever since.

The protagonist, Shiki Ichinose, suddenly learns of his Oni lineage following an unexpected attack by Momotarou. This revelation sets Shiki on a path to discover the destiny that lies within his blood — a meeting with the Oni dwelling within him.

—A new generation of dark heroics begins here in this tale of demons!

Tougen Anki: Legend of the Cursed Blood is currently airing and it will have 24 Episodes. It is also Known as: 桃源暗鬼, Tougen Anki: Dark Demon of Paradise

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