Kogoro Akechi Series

The Kogoro Akechi (明智 小五郎) series refer to an anthology of stories written by Edogawa Ranpo about the legendary detective Kogoro Akechi. The series is considered a modern classic in Japan today, though it is not as well known in other countries. Ranpo was inspired to write the series by the many Western novels that were popular in Japan at a time, most notably Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Additionally, the stories were not published as novels, but serialized chapter by chapter in magazines, as was the norm for budding authors at the time.

Our first ever story with Kogoro Akechi is The Case of the Murder on D. Hill that was written in 1925. Kogoro Akechi is a shabby, borderline-homeless vagrant who rents a room in a tobacco shop, and lives unbothered by his circumstances. One day, he finds at the center of a serious investigation - he has uncanny similarities to the description of the culprit, and his lack of alibi doesn't help matters. Akechi, who has always loved detective novels (to the point he hoards them in his small room) is alight with joy at being involved in such a case and sets out to prove his innocence.

After solving the mystery in the first installment, Akechi returns again and again in new stories, being recalled by the police for his unmatched genius. He becomes more sophisticated in the next installments, losing his uncouth ways and carrying himself more politely, being described as a proper gentleman by those around him. A few allies Akechi makes in some stories return in later episodes, effectively becoming canon characters, most notably Kobayashi Yoshio (his roommate/apprentice), Fumio Tamamura (his wife) and Inspector Nagoshi (colleague). However, the most iconic of the series (apart from Akechi himself) is The Fiend With Twenty Faces, the first villain in a long time who's posed an actual threat to Akechi, and the two frequently try to outwit one another constantly.

See also The Boy Detectives Club, which is a spin-off of this one.

List of stories 

Tropes:

• Breakout Character: Akechi himself. Ranpo initially planned to only use him for one story, but he got such a positive reception from The Case of the Murder on D. Hill that he had to bring him back again and again.
• Company Cross-References: In The Black Lizard, the story The Human Chair is mentioned with the author being referred to as "a random novelist."
• Creepy Crossdresser: Goda Saburo finds crossdressing as a woman, as he stalks and harasses people, amusing.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Fumio is the daughter of a bandit Akechi is pursuing...and it doesn't stop her from having a crush on him. They're an Official Couple.
• Dead Guy on Display: Tokujiro Fukuda is murdered, his severed head is placed on a boat the next day. This was to send a message to the rest of his family, as later they all fall victim to different gnarly fates involving stabbing and attempted murder.
• Famed in Story: Kogoro Akechi quickly makes a name for himself after solving several mysteries, to the point he's invited to Korea and India to solve their crimes too.
• Fantasy Creep: While the first few stories have no supernatural elements, later installments have ominous museums appear in skies, half-human beasts, dwarves, and vampires.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: Akechi is described as looking like he's let himself go in the first novel, but later ones play up his attractiveness and
• Malevolent Masked Man: Gold Mask is about a man who dons a gold mask while stealing, his latest fixation being Buddhist temples.
• Official Couple: Kogoro Akechi and Fumio Tamamura are an item through and through. She was initially the daughter of one of the men he was hunting, but betrayed her father to be with him, and became his assistant, before eventually becoming his love interest.
• Ominous Floating Castle: A variant. Just as it looks like the case of Inagaki Heizo is about to wrap, 49 young women go missing - and a wide, massive museum manifests in the sky.
• Revenge: Zentaro Tamamura's father killed his wife, because of her infidelity, along with her new paramour. The child of said wife and paramour, Genzo Okumura a.k.a. Kozo Ushihara, was bitter over this, so he attempted to execute the remaining Tamamura family members in retaliation, luring them in his home and showing them a disturbing snuff movie before attempting to finish them off. Luckily, Akechi finds out where he is and saves them.
• Running Gag: Often, Akechi will be attacked and newspapers will report that he died....only for someone who was assumed to be a background character to take off their disguise and reveal that they, all along, were Akechi.
• Sherlock Homage: Kogoro Akechi is obviously inspired by Sherlock, with his eye for detail and ability to analyze things. This was even confirmed by Word of God.
• Shout-Out:
  • In The Case of the Murder on D. Hill, Akechi references "Originality in Murder" by George Robert Sims with the line "You must be familiar with the Rose Delacourt murder in Paris, which inspired Poe's Le Morgue and Leroux's The Yellow Room".
  • In the final act Gold Mask, the cast meets an aviator who's trying to travel around the world.
• Taxidermy Is Creepy: The main villain of The Black Lizard is a Phantom Thief who kidnaps humans and kills them, before repurposing their corpses for taxidermy and hanging them on display because she finds them "beautiful". Her collection involves humans of different races and genders.
• Too Kinky to Torture: In The Case of the Murder on D. Hill, a notable part of the murder investigation is that the bookstore owner's wife is covered in scars. However, Akechi is able to deduce that they have nothing to do with the murder, and the scars were given by an intimate partner - turns out the wife is into some freaky stuff, being a masochist.
• Tyop on the Cover: Many English translations of the books spell Edogawa Ranpo's name as Edogawa Rampo, even though his name is meant to be a pun on Edgar Allan Poe, therefore necessitating the "n". Some examples.