Fantastic Detective Labyrinth

素敵探偵☆ラビリンス (Suteki Tantei Labyrinth)

6.7(2,838)

MAL Score

Ranked #6484

Popularity #6837

Mystery
Sci-Fi
Detective

Episodes: 25
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Oct 3, 2007 to Mar 26, 2008
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

In the shadows of a forgotten town that once thrived as the old capital of Tokyo, a series of bizarre and unsettling crimes begin to unfold, casting a pall of fear over its residents. These supernatural events defy logic and comprehension, leaving the community in a state of unease. However, one individual stands undaunted in the face of this growing malevolence: Hyuga Mayuki, a young detective gifted with a unique ability that enables him to see beyond the surface and grasp the hidden truths lurking within.

As Hyuga delves deeper into the labyrinth of mysteries surrounding him, he embarks on a journey filled with intrigue and danger. With each case he encounters, he must confront not only the enigmatic forces at play but also the haunting past of the town itself. With his sharp intellect and unwavering resolve, he seeks to unravel the threads of the supernatural, determined to bring clarity to the chaos enveloping the old capital.

Otaku Consensus

Fantastic Detective Labyrinth has the reputation of a deep-cut Studio Deen occult detective title whose best assets are Hiroshi Watanabe's moody direction, the old-capital background work, and the Seiji Wakayama/Yukiko Akiyama character-design pipeline. Its weakest point is the one repeated by the sparse viewer response: across 25 episodes, the cast can feel underwritten and the mystery momentum too thin to justify the full two-cour runtime.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Fantastic Detective Labyrinth if you want a 2000s detective anime that leans into eerie case atmosphere without becoming a high-body-count thriller or a battle-shounen power showcase. It sits closer to the occult casefile mood of Ghost Hunt than the puzzle-box precision of Detective Conan, with Studio Deen emphasizing dim locations, peculiar incidents, and a young sleuth performance from Miyuki Sawashiro. The appeal is not in blockbuster animation or airtight deduction mechanics; it is in the texture of a forgotten urban space, the oddness of its crimes, and the novelty of a full-length shounen detective series that has remained genuinely obscure. Viewers who enjoy overlooked TV anime with period-specific production quirks will get the most out of it.

Key Characters

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Mayuki Hyuga(VA: Miyuki Sawashiro)
Mayuki stands out less as a conventional hardboiled detective and more as an unusually soft-spoken child sleuth anchored by Miyuki Sawashiro's precise early-career lead performance.
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Minori Izumi(VA: Nana Inoue)
Minori is part of the show's core support structure, giving the detective material a steadier everyday counterweight to its occult leanings.
S
Sanae Izumi(VA: Ryouka Yuzuki)
Sanae brings a warmer main-cast presence, and Ryouka Yuzuki's casting helps distinguish the Izumi side of the ensemble from the younger shounen energy around Mayuki.
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Kouta Koga(VA: Romi Park)
Kouta benefits from Romi Park's instantly recognizable talent for sharp, youthful roles, adding a more forceful vocal texture to the main group.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
It is a full 25-episode, two-cour TV run that aired from October 3, 2007 to March 26, 2008, which gives it far more room than the 12-episode occult detective shows it is often grouped beside.
2
Studio Deen handled the animation, with Hiroshi Watanabe directing and Natsuko Takahashi on series composition; the result is structured around sustained atmosphere and episodic mystery texture rather than action spectacle.
3
The visual design credits are unusually layered: Seiji Wakayama is credited for original character design, Yukiko Akiyama for animation character design, Yukiko Ban for prop design, and Youichi Ishikawa for mechanical design.
4
Its database footprint is small for a completed TV anime: MyAnimeList lists a 6.65 score from 2,838 votes, while AniList records a 61/100 score and only 10 favourites, placing it firmly in cult-obscurity territory.
5
AniList's tag distribution frames the show very specifically: Detective at 79%, Shounen at 60%, and Super Power at only 20%, meaning viewers catalog it primarily as a detective-shounen hybrid rather than a powers-first supernatural series.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The anime is cataloged under several English titles across streaming and database pages, including Fantastic Detective Labyrinth, Lovely Detective Labyrinth, and Great Detective Labyrinth, alongside the Japanese title Suteki Tantei Labyrinth.
Fun fact 2: There is an episode-count discrepancy in online summaries: the supplied database record lists 25 episodes, while one web summary describes it as 24 episodes.
Fun fact 3: The main cast is packed with recognizable Japanese voice talent: Miyuki Sawashiro plays Mayuki Hyuga, Romi Park plays Kouta Koga, Marina Inoue plays Rakuta Koga, Nana Inoue plays Minori Izumi, and Ryouka Yuzuki plays Sanae Izumi.
Fun fact 4: The production credits separate art direction, color, photography, and editing across Kouki Nagayoshi, Shinji Matsumoto, Akira Shimozaki, and Masahiro Matsumura, reflecting the specialized TV-anime pipeline behind its gloomy visual identity.
Fun fact 5: Despite being a mystery and sci-fi title, its fan-facing tags emphasize detective material much more strongly than superpowers, which helps explain why viewers expecting a more explosive supernatural series often come away cold.