From April 2003 to March 2004, the TV anime adaptation of Detective School Q (Romaji: Tantei Gakuen Q) aired in Japan on TBS and on Animax.
By: Nicole S. Castro on March 03, 2022 at 14:07 PHT
Throwback time!
From April 2003 to March 2004, the TV anime adaptation of Detective School Q (Romaji: Tantei Gakuen Q) aired in Japan on TBS and on Animax.
Nothing beats immersing yourself in a series full of extremely smart kids (and wishing you were just as smart, dear overly anxious Asian child brought up in a perfectionist household).
But, onto the nostalgia! What made Detective School Q so entertaining to watch?
About and Plot
Detective School Q (Japanese: 探偵学園Q) is a Japanese manga series written by Seimaru Amagi and illustrated by Fumiya Satō (the creators of Kindaichi Case Files). It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine between June 2001 and August 2005, with its chapters collected in 22 tankōbon volumes. A 45-episode anime television series by studio Pierrot was broadcasted on TBS from April 2003 to March 2004.
Detective School Q is the story of a group of young students from Class Q of Dan Detective School (DDS), a prestigious and renowned detective academy founded by Morihiko Dan (CV: Hideyuki Tanaka), the most famous detective in Japan, and the adventures and mysteries they unfold and solve together. They eventually work against Pluto (冥王星, Meiousei), a mysterious organization that creates almost fool-proof plans that only a handful of detectives can solve.
(And because we always love catchy opening themes, here's MeiQ!? by Hayami Kishimoto, the OP theme for episodes 1-21)
The TV anime begins with protagonist Kyū Renjō (CV: Megumi Ogata), a third year middle school student with genius-level observation and deduction skills. In episode 1, he encounters an elderly man named Nakajima who dies under suspicious circumstances, which prompts him to solve the mystery.
Kyū and his newfound friends Megumi Minami (CV: Hōko Kuwashima), the girl with photographic memory, and Kintarō Tōyama (CV: Hideo Ishikawa) who has superb senses and extensive background in various martial arts, work together to find the murderer. Impressed by their skills, Dan's assistant Shino Katagiri (CV: Aya Hisakawa), encourages Kyū, Megumi, and Kintarō to take the high school entrance exam for the prestigious DDS, which they all pass. There, they become classmates with other exemplary students such as genius programmer Kazuma Narusawa (CV: Tomoko Kawakami) and Ryū Amakusa (CV: Kōichi Tōchika).
Throwback
Before My Hero Academia impressed us with their group of cool kids living and breathing adult responsibilities on a daily basis, we had Detective School Q. Let's bring back some of our favorite parts about this series!
1. Kyū Renjō is our lovable genius protagonist with a heart of gold
Even among the genius students of Class Q, Kyū Renjō is at the top for his god-tier observation and deduction skills that can reconstruct crime scenes in seconds with minimal evidence. Most of all, he has a heart of gold and a selfless desire to help those in need. He reminds us of Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia with a dash of Hunter x Hunter pre-Chimera Ant arc Gon Freecss' innocence.
2. The students of Class Q are examples of low-key greatness
While it's a given that anyone who passes the entrance exam for Dan Detective School must be super smart, the students who were assigned to Class Q didn't feel always that way. Class Q was initially perceived to be the lowest-ranking class, much like the students of Class E from Assassination Classroom. But little did the students of Class Q know that Morihiko Dan had set them aside for a secret level of greatness, much like Koro-sensei did for Class E.
The students of Class Q make a great team too with their different sets of skills. Kyū and Ryū are the leaders and brains, Kazuma has the book smarts and computer skills, Kintarō brings in his spontaneity and athleticism, while Megumi is a balance of intelligence and natural-born talent.
3. Having an exciting, out-of-this-world school life just hits different!
While high school slice-of-life anime will always have a special place in our hearts, sometimes, we just need to spice it up with crazy excitement! Student life does tend to feel the same no matter where you go, and for that we need moments when we can feel cool and imagine a world beyond the usual routine of go to class, take exams, and do homework. Imagine addressing a bomb threat on your first day at school! That is exactly what happened in episode 4 of Detective School Q (and you thought your timed exams were stressful...).
Summary
If you need an entertaining escape from the mundaneness of 3D reality, check out Detective School Q! It has the classic charm of a whodunit detective mystery with all the comedy, craziness, and action of shounen anime. Go on. We know you never lost your inner chuunibyou.
Digest by AniradioPlus
NICOLE S. CASTRO
Author
Nicole is based in the Philippines and works as a freelance Japanese Translator/Interpreter and copywriter (English). She is a JLPT N2 passer who watches anime to "study" for N1. She has a long career history on LinkedIn (with primary focus on media and translation), but her anime watchlist is much, much longer.
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