Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

Haruka Ozawa's sophomore year is getting seriously scary. One of her friends is possessed, another has committed suicide and Haruka could be the next one to flunk the still-breathing test. Her only way out of this potentially lethal dead end? Yakumo Saito, an enigmatic student born with a mysterious red eye that allows him to see and communicate with the dead. But the deceased don't always desist and some killers are more than ready to kill again to keep dead men from telling any more tales. That doesn't stop Haruka's knack for digging up buried secrets, and there's even more evidence of bodies being exhumed by both Yakumo's police contact and an investigative journalist with a newly made corpse in her closet! Can this pair of anything but normal paranormal detectives solve the ultimate dead case files or will they end up in cold storage themselves?

(Source: Sentai Filmworks)

Saitou, Yakumo Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Ozawa, Haruka Main

Fujimura, Ayumi Japanese

Gotou, Kazutoshi Main

Touchi, Hiroki Japanese

Saitou, Nao Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Hijikata, Makoto Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Miyagawa, Eriko Supporting

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Saitou, Isshin Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Saitou, Unkai Supporting

Takase, Akimitsu Japanese

Saitou, Azusa Supporting

Kinoshita, Eiichi Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Muraoka, Hideaki Producer

Kurokawa, Tomoyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Takadera, Takeshi Sound Director

Yamamoto, Hideyo Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 5, 2011

ninjasheep

Recommended

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo revolves around a strange college student with a cursed red left eye. Through his eye, Yakumo is able to see and communicate with spirits of the dead, helping them move on from their earthly dwelling.

The events unfold in an episodic format familiar to detective series fans, giving STY the double effect of being easy to follow while having a tendency to be repetitive. Personally, though, I liked the format. Despite the mini-cases, the plot still followed the main conflict, which is big and complex and absolutely mind-boggling. Technically, the art is so-so, but the sound is fantastic. BGM is perfectly timed ... and gives just the right feeling.

I love this show for its complex plot, and its excellent script. (You know those cheesy lines you only get out of detective stories with psychological drama tendencies?) I hate it for what I feel is its lack of attention on character development, given we only ever hear about Yakumo's life and nobody else's. Oh yes, and the stories aren't scary at all.

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo is recommended for lovers of old-style detective mysteries and ghost stories. Although there's admittedly less of the latter than the title implies. It's really just a police story with a paranormal flavor.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 10, 2012

Cornercircle

Mixed Feelings

I will refer to the series being reviewed as Psychic Detective Yakumo. I watched this to try and alleviate my boredem. The synopsis will not be typed here for obvious reasons. This is just my opinion and attitude towards this series.

This series is suppose to be a horror but I have no recollection of being scared, nervous, alarmed or even startled while watching Psychic Detective Yakumo. The ghosts were more of a joke than terrifying really. They come off as people's shadows . Could you please just for the sake of this review try to scare someone you know by standing still and asking ... them to look at your shadow whenever you have free time. The episodic structure of the show is a chance for this show to tell refreshing stories that improve on the previous episode, but it is the exact same formula over and over and over again. Girl asks psychic for help on a potential case, psychic insults girl, detective that the psychic helps and vice versa becomes involved in the case and the trio set off to solve the mystery. After a few episodes watching became more of a chore. There is no unpredictablity and the writing is just flat. How can I get rid of this ghost? Why don't I try the exact same method I used the previous week.

The characters are complete strangers to the viewer with no real development. The only characters that I really cared for was detective Gotou and Isshhin Saito but they can't really save this series from being the exact oppisite the creators were trying to achieve. You will read about this in a lot of reviews but it's still a complaint from my side: The villian is a complete alien. You get that type of my kids should stay away from that guy whenever possible vibe but he does not live up to his full potetntial. His goals are never stated which means everytime the show cuts him you have to squeeze interest out of yourself to listen to something that may or may not have something to to do with the plot. If you hear what everybody calls him in the series you will realize exactly how uninteresting and stale this weirdo is. The romantic plot that that makes up alot of the show's "story" goes nowhere. I was really expecting something , anything. I have to listen to whining and arguing between two people I dont give a damn for for 13 episodes. Give me something,anything!

The sound is run-of-the-mill voice acting with the exception of the most intersting characters Gotou and Isshhin. My cousin told me he realized that a lot of voice actors speak with a mono tones when they have to dub anime to english. This is the exact case with Yakumo. When he is supposedly shocked or sad yo just hear that mono tone (a lot like Edward's tone of voice from Twilight). The OP is terrible. If you can classify under what type of music this falls under please let me know (I only listened to it for about 10 seconds).The ending theme was actually beautiful,it is that type of song you can understand without speaking the language it is performed in.

The art was alright. It's not like Dragonball where everyone is drawn according to Asian sterotyping,you know that saying . These characters have looks that fit what liitle personality they have perfectly. The backgrounds are okay and the ghost are just "meh".

The show was alright at the beginning but went to make my weekend feel a lot longer and declined after just 2 episodes. I have to admit I liked the ending, I'm a sucker for stuff like that and because the experience was over. Here's what I thought about the show:

Pros:
-Gotou and Isshhin
-Ending theme
-Ending
-Art was alright

Cons:
- Everything else

Story - 5/10
Art 7/10
Sound 6/10
Character 5/10
Enjoyment 5/10
Overall 6/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 28, 2010

8thSin

Not Recommended

'Shinrei Tantei Yakumo' ('Psychic Detective Yakumo') is about Yakumo, an university student and private detective, who has a red left eye that lets him see ghosts and spirits.


The premise and atmosphere of this show is very similar to 'Ghost Hunt', just that the good guys have no offensive super powers, and the ghosts and spirits are directly harmless. The basic format of the show begins with Haruka asking Yakumo to investigate on a case, he takes a look at the scene, ask for help from allies (police detectives, journalist, priest etc), and puts the spirits at ease after a showdown. At the same time, there ... is another parallel story of a group of villains watching Yakumo's move and plotting a evil scheme.

The introduction was done very well, the characters seemed very interesting, but it seemed to be downhill from there instead of picking up in pace and intensity.

One thing I liked about the story was that it focuses on human beings despite being a show about ghosts. Instead of senseless showcase of super powers, Yakumo and company actually trace back the problems like a real detective, and also focuses on the issue of discrimination he faces for being different. The problem was that none of the cases were particularly interesting nor memorable, and the showdowns are rather anticlimatic. Even the main and final case was severely underdeveloped, as we still don't know the reason "red eyed man" became a spirit, why he had the ghost-seeing red eyes, or his relationship with Yakumo and his mother other than the obvious. Painfully slow pacing certainly did not help.
Of course, we're left with an open ending that explains nothing, and starved for another season.

Yakumo was an interesting character though, with a complex and painful past that's gradually revealed to us as we follow the cases he was assigned by Haruka. I particularly liked how his antisocial personality was explained by his past and ghost-seeing eye that enabled him to see things others can't. Unfortunately, Haruka existed mostly to set up the case and an attempt to add a little romance to the story. Their chemistry was rather poor, and she rarely play any significant role in solving the cases or development of the protagonist. She was also portrayed as an extremely dumb girl just to demonstrate how smart Yakumo is compared to an ordinary person.


Art style was very generic, but the backgrounds had a nice atmosphere. The characters seemed disturbingly flat though. I can't quite put my finger to why it is so, but if I had to guess, it was either awkward shading or lack of detail despite realistic design.
The presentation was also very boring, standard still camera or slowly moving screens.


BGM was rather good for this series. Sets the creepy mood well, and some sound really touching or melancholic. Unfortunately, the story was nowhere near engaging, and could not take advantage of the music. It also lacked variety, as if every scary scenes had the same song, one for touching scenes, and another mysterious theme.
No complaints for voicing, everyone sound they should and performed average or better in my opinion.
OP is rather original with the song that sets the mysterious mood for the show, ED was rather ordinary.


I hate to use this word to describe a series, but there's no other way... dull. 'Shinrei Tantei Yakumo' had a strong introduction and all the ingredients to make it a great show, but it just didn't live up to its potential. There's no eye candy since action was very limited, the story lacked suspense despite being a mystery, and the presentation was boring.

It turned out to be yet another bland forgettable mystery anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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