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In 1923 a Japanese writer named Tarō Hirai published a short story called The Two-Sen Copper Coin under a pen name that sounds like a joke once you say it aloud: Edogawa Ranpo, a Japanese rendering of Edgar Allan Poe. Two years later he introduced Kogoro Akechi, the detective who became Japan's answer to Sherlock Holmes, and in 1936 he gave Akechi a gang of schoolboy assistants, the Boy Detectives Club.
A century on, Japanese detective anime still borrow from Holmes and from Ranpo. The boy in Detective Conan is called Conan Edogawa, after Arthur Conan Doyle and Ranpo at once. The ten below are grouped by that lineage: four shows that put Holmes himself on screen, in a new place or from a new angle, three that come from Ranpo, and three whose detectives owe nothing to either.
I have only seen the first season of Bungo Stray Dogs, so that entry is the one place I say what a show is like to watch. Everywhere else I have kept to what the premise and the credits tell you.
The 10 Picks at a Glance
| Title | Format | Length | MBTI | Whose detective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherlock Hound | Anime series | 26 episodes | ENTP | Holmes as a dog |
| Case File n°221: Kabukicho | Anime series | 24 episodes | ENTP | Holmes in Tokyo's nightlife district |
| Moriarty the Patriot | Anime series | 24 episodes | INTJ | Holmes's rival as the hero |
| Undead Murder Farce | Anime series | 13 episodes | INTP | A detective who is only a head |
| Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace | Anime series | 11 episodes | INTP | Ranpo's own detective, retold |
| Bungo Stray Dogs | Anime series | 60 episodes (5 seasons) | ENFP | Ranpo himself, on an agency payroll |
| Detective Conan | Anime series | Ongoing since 1996 (more than 1,200 episodes) | INTJ | Named after Doyle plus Ranpo |
| The Millionaire Detective Balance: UNLIMITED | Anime series | 11 episodes | INTJ | A detective who pays his way |
| B: The Beginning | Anime series | 18 episodes (2 seasons) | INTP | A Netflix original investigator |
| Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions | Anime series | 26 episodes (2 seasons) | INTP | A detective banned from detecting |
Nine of the ten are on Crunchyroll or Netflix, and Detective Conan is on both. The exception is Sherlock Hound, which streams on Hulu and on the classic-anime service RetroCrush. Click a title to jump to its entry.
1. Sherlock Hound
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Adventure, Mystery | 26 episodes | Lighthearted, Exciting |
Victorian London, with every character drawn as a dog. Sherlock Hound and Dr. Watson take cases from Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade, and most of them end in a chase after Professor Moriarty, a cheerful villain with a habit of building strange machines to steal things.
A Japanese-Italian co-production between Tokyo Movie Shinsha and the Italian broadcaster RAI. It aired in Japan in 1984 and 1985. Hayao Miyazaki directed six episodes before leaving the project. This is the first three episodes, posted by TMS's official channel.
Holmes, Seen Anew
This is the furthest anyone on this list moves Holmes: out of the human race entirely. Every character is a dog, and Moriarty's schemes run on strange machines, so the premise promises chases more than deduction.
Six of the 26 episodes were directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and they were made in the early 1980s, before Nausicaä.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Not available |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Streaming |
| Amazon Prime Video | Not available |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Hulu, and on RetroCrush, a subscription service for older anime.
2. Case File n°221: Kabukicho
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Mystery, Comedy | 24 episodes | Offbeat, Suspenseful |
Kabukicho, Tokyo's red-light and nightlife district in Shinjuku. Sherlock Holmes is one of several eccentric private detectives who rent rooms in the same building as a bar run by Mrs. Hudson. A doctor named John H. Watson arrives and ends up as his partner, while a serial killer called Jack the Ripper is loose in the district.
An original anime by Production I.G, aired in Japan from October 2019 to March 2020. This is the first Japanese promo.
Holmes, Seen Anew
Kabukicho borrows the names Holmes, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Moriarty and Lestrade, and drops them into a neighborhood full of hosts and bars. Holmes explains his solutions as a rakugo performance, the traditional Japanese art of comic storytelling.
The early episodes are standalone cases, while the hunt for Jack the Ripper runs through the first half. A longer story takes over after that.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
3. Moriarty the Patriot
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Crime, Mystery | 24 episodes | Suspenseful, Dark |
Victorian England, as seen by its villain. William James Moriarty is an adopted son of the aristocracy who has decided the class system has to be torn down, and he works as a "crime consultant" for people the law will not protect. Sherlock Holmes enters the story as the one man who might catch him.
Based on the manga written by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and drawn by Hikaru Miyoshi, serialized in Jump SQ. Production I.G made the anime, which aired in two parts from October 2020 to June 2021. This is the first Japanese promo.
Holmes, Seen Anew
Moriarty keeps Holmes in his own century and changes only the point of view. The crimes are planned rather than solved, so the question in each arc is whether the plan runs as drawn and whether Holmes notices.
Holmes is not a sidekick here. He has his own cases and shares the lead.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
4. Undead Murder Farce
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Mystery, Supernatural | 13 episodes | Offbeat, Suspenseful |
Europe, in the late 1890s. Aya Rindo is an immortal whose body has been stolen, leaving only her head, which travels in a birdcage carried at first by her maid. With a half-demon named Tsugaru, she works as a detective for cases involving vampires, werewolves and other monsters, while searching for whoever took the rest of her.
Based on Yugo Aosaki's novels. Lapin Track made the 13-episode series, which aired in Japan from July to September 2023. This is the main Japanese promo.
Holmes, Seen Anew
Undead Murder Farce does not move Holmes; it moves into his world. In the later arcs, Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin turn up as characters, and the period setting is built around them.
The premise is a classic detective story whose victims and suspects happen to be vampires and werewolves, which is the joke in the title.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
5. Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Mystery, Psychological | 11 episodes | Dark, Unsettling |
Present-day Tokyo. Yoshio Kobayashi, a middle-school boy who feels almost nothing, is suspected in a murder at his school and meets the detective Kogoro Akechi, who decides to keep him around. He becomes Akechi's assistant just as a series of grisly killings starts pointing toward a masked figure called Twenty Faces.
Made by Lerche for the 50th anniversary of Edogawa Ranpo's death and aired in Japan from July to September 2015. Each case is loosely based on one of Ranpo's stories. This is the long Japanese promo.
Straight from Ranpo
Kobayashi, Akechi and Twenty Faces are all Ranpo's characters, the same trio from the Boy Detectives Club stories. Rampo Kitan keeps the names and moves them into a modern city.
Ranpo also wrote horror, and the premise, a string of grisly killings, comes from that side of him rather than the Boy Detectives side.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
6. Bungo Stray Dogs
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Action, Mystery | 60 episodes (5 seasons) | Exciting, Offbeat |
Yokohama. Atsushi Nakajima, an orphan thrown out of his orphanage, is taken in by the Armed Detective Agency, a firm of detectives with supernatural abilities who handle cases the police cannot. Its members, and its enemies in the Port Mafia, are named after famous writers: Osamu Dazai, Doppo Kunikida, and a detective called Ranpo Edogawa.
Based on the manga written by Kafka Asagiri and drawn by Sango Harukawa. Bones made five seasons from 2016 to 2023. This is the first Japanese promo.
Straight from Ranpo
In the first season, Ranpo is the agency's star detective, a man who solves murders on sight but does not know how to ride a train. Each character's ability is named after a work by the writer they are named for, and that is part of the fun if you know Japanese literature.
I watched the first season, and the detective work is the smallest part of it. Most episodes are about Atsushi finding a place to belong, with fights against the Port Mafia, so come for the agency rather than the puzzles.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
7. Detective Conan
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Mystery, Crime | Ongoing since 1996 (more than 1,200 episodes) | Suspenseful, Lighthearted |
Shinichi Kudo is a high-school detective who is poisoned by a criminal organization and wakes up shrunk to the size of a child. Hiding his identity, he calls himself Conan Edogawa, moves in with his childhood friend Ran and her father, a hapless private detective, and solves cases while letting the father take the credit.
Based on Gosho Aoyama's manga, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994. TMS Entertainment has made the anime since 1996, and it is still airing. Also known in the US as Case Closed. This is the first episode, posted by the official channel.
Straight from Ranpo
Asked for his name in the first episode, he reads it off two book spines on a shelf: Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Ranpo. That one moment is the whole lineage of this list in a single scene.
Most episodes are one- or two-part cases you can watch out of order. The story about the organization that shrank him runs underneath and comes up only now and then.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Streaming |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Netflix and Crunchyroll each carry a selection of episodes rather than the full run. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
8. The Millionaire Detective Balance: UNLIMITED
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Action, Crime | 11 episodes | Exciting, Lighthearted |
Tokyo. Daisuke Kambe, heir to an enormous fortune, joins the police and is assigned to a small crime-prevention unit, where he solves cases by spending money: buying the building a suspect is hiding in, or wrecking a supercar in a chase. His partner, Haru Kato, is a by-the-book detective who cannot stand him.
Based on Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1978 novel. CloverWorks made the 11-episode series, which aired in Japan in 2020. This is the US trailer from Aniplex of America.
Neither Holmes nor Ranpo
Kambe is a police detective rather than a private one, and his method is money, where Holmes's was observation.
The setup is a buddy-cop pairing: a rich heir and the by-the-book partner who cannot stand him.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
9. B: The Beginning
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Crime, Thriller | 18 episodes (2 seasons) | Suspenseful, Dark |
Cremona, a fictional island nation. Keith Flick, a brilliant and eccentric investigator, returns to the Royal Investigation Service just as a serial killer known as "B" begins targeting criminals. Running alongside his investigation is the story of a young man with his own connection to the killings.
A Netflix original made by Production I.G. The first season (12 episodes) came out in 2018 and the second, B: The Beginning Succession (6 episodes), in 2021. This is the Japanese trailer from Netflix Japan.
Neither Holmes nor Ranpo
Keith works for a state agency and cracks cases with the help of a team, so the setup is closer to a police procedural than to a Victorian private eye. The country is invented, which leaves the show free to make its own rules.
The story is told from the killer's side as well as the investigation's.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Not available |
| Netflix | Streaming |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Not available |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
A Netflix original, streaming only on Netflix.
10. Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions
| Format | Genre | Length | Emotional tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anime series | Mystery, Comedy | 26 episodes (2 seasons) | Offbeat, Suspenseful |
Ron Kamonohashi was the top student at BLUE, an academy that trains detectives, until an incident got him expelled and barred from working as a detective. Now he lives in a messy apartment and solves cases in secret, with Totomaru Isshiki, a well-meaning but hopeless young police detective, taking the credit.
Based on Akira Amano's manga, the follow-up to her series Reborn!. Diomedéa made two seasons, aired in Japan in fall 2023 and fall 2024. This is the first Japanese promo.
Neither Holmes nor Ranpo
The rule Ron lives under is the hook of the show: he cannot help solving a case once he sees it, and the reason he was banned is tied to what happens when he does.
The cases are self-contained comedy-mysteries at first. The reason he was banned is the longer thread, and the second season carries it.
| Service (US) | Status |
|---|---|
| Crunchyroll | Streaming |
| Netflix | Not available |
| Hulu | Not available |
| Amazon Prime Video | Add-on |
| HBO Max | Not available |
| Disney+ | Not available |
| Apple TV+ | Not available |
Streaming on Crunchyroll. Prime Video carries it only through the Crunchyroll add-on channel.
US Streaming Comparison at a Glance
| Title | Crunchyroll | Netflix | Hulu | Amazon Prime Video | HBO Max | Disney+ | Apple TV+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherlock Hound | ✕ | ✕ | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Case File n°221: Kabukicho | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Moriarty the Patriot | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Undead Murder Farce | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Bungo Stray Dogs | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Detective Conan | ◎ | ◎ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| The Millionaire Detective Balance: UNLIMITED | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| B: The Beginning | ✕ | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions | ◎ | ✕ | ✕ | △ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
All ten were checked in the US region on October 20, 2026. ◎ means included with the base subscription, △ means a paid add-on channel or a rental, and ✕ means that service does not carry it. The △ marks on Prime Video are the Crunchyroll channel sold inside Amazon, which costs extra on top of Prime.
Where to Begin, by Lineage
If you want the Holmes line, the oldest is the easiest to start: Sherlock Hound runs 26 episodes on Hulu, and six of them were directed by Hayao Miyazaki. From there, Moriarty the Patriot on Crunchyroll looks at the same London from the other side of the law.
If you want the Ranpo line, Rampo Kitan is 11 episodes and adapts Ranpo's own stories, which makes it the shortest way to meet Akechi. Bungo Stray Dogs puts Ranpo Edogawa himself on the payroll of a detective agency; its first season is more action than puzzle.
If you want a detective who owes nothing to Holmes or Ranpo, The Millionaire Detective is 11 episodes on Crunchyroll and B: The Beginning is a Netflix original. For mysteries where the detective is not the point, see my mystery anime list, which shares only Detective Conan with this one.
Streaming information was verified in the US region on October 20, 2026 and can change without notice.
