MANGA REVIEW | "Detectives These Days Are Crazy!" - Vol. 1
From Sherlock Holmes to Conan Edogawa, detectives are always showcased as the coolest sleuths in the world. But what happens when a detective peaks at a young age and is now a washed-up has-been in his mid-30s? As Detectives These Days Are Crazy! shows, it takes a lot to put an old gumshoe back on his feet and push him back onto the streets. Or, if you’re Keiichiro Nagumo, it merely takes a spunky high school girl with a knack for solving cases!
That high schooler is Mashiro Nakanishi, who makes a grand entrance that’d knock the teeth out of the average man. She answers a wanted ad Nagumo placed, one that he sort of regrets putting out. At first, it’s no deal for the job until Nagumo finds himself struggling to follow a client’s wife to a cutesy restaurant. Fortunately, Mashiro comes in for the save and winds up being the perfect help for this sort of case. Realizing he can use the help, Mashiro becomes Nagumo’s (self-declared) assistant.
What makes Detectives These Days Are Crazy! work so well is the chemistry between Nagumo and Mashiro. Both are different types of cuckoos, with one saying dumb shit with the coolest face imaginable and the other straight-up using flamethrowers and jumping out of five-story buildings. Needless to say, they are the perfect detecting pair, with their styles complementing one another in the right ways. And in this premiere volume, you see just how well they work together.
Of course, the main thing that makes detective tales a joy to read is the cases themselves. On paper, what Nagumo and Mashiro are offered for jobs sounds pretty petty. But then, you see it in action. A missing cat turns into a wild Looney Tunes-styled chase that’d make Chuck Jones grin ear-to-ear. Infiltrating a college club to find an email harasser has our grouchy old detective struggling to fit in with the younger generation. We also already get a rival detective coming in to try and take Mashiro’s place, only for the JK assistant to show him who’s boss.
However, out of all of the stories in this first volume, nothing both wowed and made me laugh my ass off in Detectives These Days Are Crazy! than the wasp chapter. What begins as an odd jobs task to remove a wasp’s nest transformed into a scene straight out of Atomic Blonde! Mashiro shows that she’s not just some average scrawny high schooler with a can-do attitude. She makes the bad guys bleed in the most unique and wild ways, to the point where you’ll want to stand up, laugh, and cheer for Mashiro with all of your heart! (Here’s hoping the anime adaptation coming out this year captures this story well!)
Visually, this manga looks fantastic. Not only does author Masakuni Igarashi (Senryu Girl) write great characters; he draws them, too! When he wants to pay homage to gritty noir tales, Igarashi can make Nagumo look exactly like that. But when it’s time to go bonkers, the panels bring about some of the craziest, funniest, and — above all — most stunning facial expressions, body movement, and even surrounding chaos you can imagine!
I cannot express this enough: read the first volume of Detectives These Days Are Crazy! It’s funny as hell, wildly entertaining, and brings a shot of originality into the sleuth genre. Nagumo & Mashiro may never be Holmes & Watson, nor will they ever be Thomson & Thompson. However, if Detectives These Days Are Crazy! keeps elevating the zaniness, then readers will no doubt want to hire this duo in the future if they have a real case on their hands. Or, you know, if they have a cute fuzzy animal that needs to be found.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided Robert McGuire of One Peace Books. In stores April 28th!
