Fuuto PI

風都探偵 (Fuuto Tantei)

7.3(21,472)

MAL Score

Ranked #2971

Popularity #2826

Action
Mystery
Supernatural
Detective

Episodes: 12
Duration: 25 min per ep
Aired: Aug 8, 2022 to Oct 24, 2022
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

In the windy city of Fuuto, hard-boiled private eye Shoutarou Hidari works out of the Narumi Detective Agency, determined to keep the town’s peace with the help of his sharp, curious partner, Philip. Their routine is shaken when Shoutarou crosses paths with Tokime, a mysterious woman who soon becomes connected to a string of murders and thefts.

Following the trail draws the detectives back to the dangerous legacy of “Gaia Memories”—thumb-drive-like devices packed with data that allow their users to transform into monstrous Dopants. Though many were defeated in the past, enough remain to threaten Fuuto once again. As Shoutarou and Philip take up their own Gaia powers to fight as Kamen Rider W, they pursue the source of the new crimes while digging into Tokime’s identity and a past that refuses to stay buried.

Otaku Consensus

Fuuto PI earns its solid 7.33 MAL and 71/100 AniList standing by treating Kamen Rider spectacle as a detective serial first: Yousuke Kabashima’s direction, Studio KAI’s fluid action cuts, and the case-file pacing make it one of the more approachable tokusatsu-to-anime crossovers. Its biggest liability is the onboarding burden; critics and fans repeatedly note that it can feel uneven when it pauses to accommodate newcomers while still speaking to viewers already fluent in Kamen Rider W.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Fuuto PI if you want detective anime with henshin battles, motorcycles, and adult-case energy without signing up for a massive long-running shounen. It scratches a similar itch to Tiger & Bunny’s civic superhero vibe and Case Closed’s clue-chasing structure, but filters both through tokusatsu grammar: transformations matter, props matter, and fight choreography is part of the investigation’s payoff. The 12-episode length keeps it compact, and Studio KAI gives the action enough snap that the supernatural gimmicks feel tactile rather than abstract. It is especially rewarding for viewers curious about Kamen Rider but intimidated by live-action continuity, because the show explains just enough to function as a gateway while preserving the franchise’s eccentric power-system flavor.

Key Characters

S
Shoutarou Hidari(VA: Yoshimasa Hosoya)
Shoutarou is the show’s hard-boiled emotional anchor, the kind of detective protagonist whose swagger is constantly tested by the strange logic of tokusatsu crime.
P
Philip(VA: Kouki Uchiyama)
Philip stands out as the sharper, more analytical half of the central partnership, giving the mystery scenes a brisk contrast to Shoutarou’s noir affectations.
T
Tokime(VA: Akira Sekine)
Tokime gives Fuuto PI its noir wildcard energy, functioning as both a character mystery and a pressure point for the detectives’ established dynamic.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Studio KAI handles the 12-episode production, and the show’s action reputation rests on fluid henshin combat rather than only on transformation poses; critics singled out the animation as one of its clear strengths.
2
The series is structurally closer to a detective casebook than a standard battle anime, which matches AniList’s unusually high Detective tag rating of 91% alongside Henshin at 92% and Tokusatsu at 88%.
3
Fuuto PI leans into a primarily adult cast, reflected by AniList’s 79% Primarily Adult Cast and 68% Seinen tags, giving its investigations a different texture from school-centered supernatural action shows.
4
Mechanical and prop design are both credited to Hiroyuki Taiga, a notable fit for a story world where devices, vehicles, and transformation gear are central to the franchise identity.
5
The adaptation has a visible newcomer-vs-veteran tension: web criticism praised it as an accessible entry point to Kamen Rider, while fan discussion also called out the way catch-up material can restrict momentum.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Fuuto PI aired as a finished 12-episode TV anime from August 8 to October 24, 2022, placing it in a compact seasonal format rather than the year-long rhythm associated with many tokusatsu properties.
Fun fact 2: The credits preserve a direct franchise lineage: Shoutarou Ishinomori is listed as original creator, Riku Sanjou as original story, and Masaki Satou as original character designer.
Fun fact 3: Its audience footprint is modest but stable: MAL lists a 7.33 score from 21,447 votes, rank #2972, and popularity #2823, while AniList records 426 favourites.
Fun fact 4: The main staff includes Yousuke Kabashima as director, Ayataka Tanemura as assistant director, Tatsuto Higuchi on series composition, Hidekazu Ebina on character design, and Kenta Yokoya as main animator.
Fun fact 5: AniList’s lower secondary tags, including CGI at 30%, Idol at 28%, and Video Games at 26%, indicate side elements rather than the show’s core identity, which remains overwhelmingly detective, motorcycle, henshin, and tokusatsu-driven.