Neuro: Supernatural Detective

Neuro: Supernatural Detective, known in Japan as Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロ), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yusei Matsui. The series follows Neuro Nōgami, a demon who depends on mysteries for sustenance. Having consumed all the mysteries in the demon world, Neuro travels to the human world in search of more. There, Neuro recruits high school student Yako Katsuragi as a facade for a detective agency. The supernatural-themed manga was created because Matsui considered himself unable to draw humans.

The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2005 to April 2009, with its chapters collected in 23 (bound volumes). A 25-episode anime television series directed by Hiroshi Kōjina and animated by Madhouse was originally broadcast on Nippon Television from October 2007 to March 2008. In 2011, the anime series was licensed by Viz Media and uploaded to the company's website. Neuro: Supernatural Detective has spawned a light novel, two audio albums, two video games, and other merchandise.

Neuro: Supernatural Detective's manga has been popular in Japan, frequently ranking in the weekly top ten list of best-selling manga. It has sold over four million volumes in Japan. The anime, however, has been criticized by fans because it deviates from Matsui's work, and received a low viewership. Critics of anime and manga often compared it to Case Closed, noting supernatural themes as the only difference between them.

Plot

Production

Before the series' regular serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Yusei Matsui published two one-shots. The first one was published in the summer issue of Akamaru Jump; it won the Jump Jūni Ketsu Shinjin Manga Award in the horror mystery category.[4] After the first was "extremely well received" according to Shueisha, the second one-shot was released on September 6, 2004, in issue 41 of Weekly Shōnen Jump.[5]

Prior to the start of the series, he was not sure whether it would be a detective manga or a romantic one. Although he does not like detective stories, Matsui nevertheless chose to write one because it was a genre that was not covered in the magazine that time. However, Matsui considers Neuro the antithesis to "orthodox detective manga" like Case Closed or Kindaichi Case Files because of Neuro's supernatural powers. Furthermore, he did not want to create a detective's reasoning manga because he does not like to read or draw it. He said that reasoning scenes are superfluous, so he placed some jokes in these scenes.

Matsui was not good at drawing humans or real life things, and he was about to lose his self-confidence when he "threw things in at random" to create the series.[6] Matsui mixed his creation with real things to make his style original. To create the atmosphere of the series, Matsui used as reference paintings by Rei Kamoi, a Japanese artist he saw on television, and Gōjin Ishihara, the illustrator of Edogawa Ranpo's Shōnen Tantei Dan. Matsui's creative process of art is to begin drawing erotic and grotesque images and at the same time humorous and cute scenes. Matsui did not wish to create "terrifying characters" but "funny-terrifying" and "terrifying-cute". He also tried to avoid men's idealized image of heroines and women's idealized images of heroes. Matsui decided to create characters that could exist in the real world and to make their acts and reactions realistic.[6] As such, elaborating on "why people would create such complex tricks in order to murder someone, [he] wanted to convey the extent to which humans will go in pursuit of a goal".[7]

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Yusei Matsui, the manga was originally serialized by Shueisha in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 21, 2005,[8] to April 20, 2009.[9][10] Shueisha compiled the 202 chapters into 23 (collected volumes) released from July 4, 2005, to August 4, 2009.[11][12] It has also been published as part of the Shueisha Jump Remix series of magazine-style books. Five volumes were released between January 7 and March 7, 2011.[13][14][15][16][17] Between October 12 and 16, 2012, the 23 volumes were re-published digitally under the Jump Comics Digital line.[18][19] The series started to be released on format by Shueisha on January 18, 2013, and it lasted twelve volumes, the last of which was published on June 18 of that same year.[20][21] Volumes 11 and 12 of the edition included the two one-shots that preceded its serialization.[21][22]

Outside Japan, it has been licensed in some countries such as in France by Glénat,[23] in Hong Kong by Culturecom,[24] in Italy and Spain by Planeta DeAgostini,[25][26] in South Korea by Seoul Media Group,[27] and in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing.[28]

Anime

The production of an anime series was announced in 33rd issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump released on July 14, 2007.[29] The Neuro: Supernatural Detective anime adaptation was produced by Madhouse, Nippon Television, Shueisha, D.N. Dream Partners and VAP and directed by Hiroshi Kōjina, with Satoshi Suzuki handling series composition, Mika Takahashi designing the characters and Tomoki Hasegawa composing the music.[30] The series, consisting of 25 television episodes, originally aired from October 3, 2007, to March 26, 2008, on Nippon TV;[31][32] it was later broadcast by four of Nippon TV's affiliated stations.[34] VAP distributed the anime in DVD format; nine volumes were released between December 21, 2007, and August 27, 2008,[35]

Two audio dramas were released on November 6, 2006, and April 25, 2007, by Shueisha.[41][42] A light novel titled Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro: Sekai no Hate ni wa Chō ga Mau (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロ世界の果てには蝶が舞う) was written by Akira Higashiyama and published by Shueisha on July 20, 2007.[43] On November 21, 2007, Data House released a book written by the Neuro Study Group titled Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro no Himitsu. (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロの秘密)[44] On March 6, 2008, Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro: Kanzen Shinri Kaiseki-sho (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロ完全心理解析書) written by Kōichi Mizuide was released by Kazan.[45] In Japan, action figures, bags, chawan, T-shirts, mouse pads, fridge magnets, and other products were sold as merchandise for the series.

Video games

A Nintendo DS game titled Majin Tantei Nōgami Neuro: Neuro and Yako no Bishoku Sanmai Suiritsuki Gourmet and Mystery (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロネウロと弥子の美食三昧推理つきグルメ＆ミステリー) was produced by Audio and released by Marvelous Entertainment on June 12, 2008.[46] Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro: Battle Da Yo! Hannin Shūgō!, (魔人探偵脳噛ネウロ　バトルだヨ！犯人集合!) a PlayStation 2 game, was also released on August 28, 2008.[46] Neuro Nōgami appeared in the Nintendo DS game Jump Ultimate Stars as a battle character, using Yako for some of his attacks. Akane, X and Sasazuka appeared as help characters.[47] Neuro appears as a support character in the crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory VS.[48]

Neuro: Supernatural Detective

Plot

Production

Media

Manga

Anime

Video games

Reception

Public response

Critical response

Further reading

External links

References

type	tv series
director	Hiroshi Kōjina
producer	Toshio Nakatani Manabu Tamura
writer	Satoshi Suzuki
music	Tomoki Hasegawa
studio	Madhouse
network	Nippon TV
first	October 3, 2007
last	March 26, 2008
episodes	25
episode list	List of Neuro: Supernatural Detective episodes

Plot

Production

Media

Manga

Anime

Related media

Video games

Reception

Public response

Critical response

Further reading

External links

References