Holiday Review #20: MY DEAR DETECTIVE - MITSUKO'S CASE FILES

When it comes to historical manga from 2023, my personal favorite came from the relatively new digital manga service Azuki.  In recent years they've started licensing manga and even distributing them to other digital storefronts, allowing me to finally partake of this lovely series.

MY DEAR DETECTIVE: MITSUKO'S CASE FILES (Kimi wa Nazotoki no Ma Cherie), by Nozomi Ito.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Mitsuko Hoshino wants to become a great detective, but it's hard for her when she has a quick temper, a lack of connections, and the everyday sexism she endures from her clients and the other detectives at her agency.  Then she meets Saku Yoshida, a wealthy young boy who moonlights as a waiter, who ends up helping her out with a case involving a missing designer shoe.  From that point onward, the two find themselves getting caught up in cases of secret identities, forgery, and missing persons.

STORY:

I'm generally not one for mystery manga, but I loved My Dear Detective right from the get-go.  In a weird way, it reminded me of The Apothecary Diaries, in that both series fuse character-driven drama with interesting mysteries and frame it through the lens of an intelligent, unconventional heroine.

In this case it's the titular Mitsuko, who is brash, stubborn, fiercely independent, a little bit of a mess, and an utter delight.  It's hard not to sympathize with her when she regularly has to deal with men talking down to her, be it her coworkers, prospective clients, or flashbacks of her own policeman father.  Indeed, the way the men of 1930s Tokyo tend to judge and dismiss the women around them tends to be a common theme, coming up not just in Mitsuko's backstory but also as background noise in her cases.  That's likely why most of her clientele are women, something that Natsumi Ito never really calls attention to but that I certainly noticed.  She's taking up the people and the cases that the men around her don't consider important.

That being, Mitsuko is far from perfect.  She's still an amateur who isn't that great at disguise, struggles with suppressing her stronger emotions, and sometimes jumps to the wrong conclusion.  That's why Saku works so well as a partner and foil for Mitsuko.  He's much more of a people person, one who is just as adept at getting people to voluntarily give up information as he is at managing Mitsuko's temper.  His high-brow connections also come in handy more than once, allowing him to identify luxury goods or call up art appraisers like it's no big deal.  There are hints that his placid personality might be a mask for some deeper drama, but at this point the emphasis is more on establishing him and Mitsuko as detectives.

With a pair like this, there is inevitably a question as to whether it will become a romance at some point.  Thus far it feels like it could go either way.  It's clear that Saku clearly admires Mitsuko, but she has no interest in romance.  Hell, by the end of the volume she's only just getting comfortable with the idea of having a work partner.  I don't it's strictly necessary to keep My Dear Detective interesting, as the rest of the story can captivate readers on its own terms.

ART:

Ito's character designs are cute if a little simple, although that simplicity allows her to get a really great range of expressions out of Mitsuko and Saku.  It's a little thing but it goes a long way towards enhancing some of the comedy in the series.  Where it truly shines, though, is in its attention to the historical details of early Showa-era Tokyo.  Mitsuko has fully embraced the moga look, with her stylish bobbed hair and Western fashion.  I cannot lie, I would eagerly wear most of Mitsuko's outfits.  Everyone else around is also suitably dressed, with most people wearing Western-style suits and dresses and only the most traditionalist or stodgy still wearing kimonos.  Ito does tend to forego backgrounds, but when she does bother she puts in the same level of effort and accuracy (especially since the story is so specific about this being set in and around the then-trendy Ginza shopping district.

ART:

Even if you don't subscribe to Azuki or pay much attention to digital-only manga, do not sleep on My Dear Detective: Mitsuko's Case Files.  Its charming leads, attention to historical detail, and engaging mysteries make this a breezy delight to read.  If Azuki ever branches out into publishing physical books, I sincerely hope that this is one of their first picks because it would absolutely be worth a double-dip.

This manga is published digitally by Azuki.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 5 volumes available.  3 volumes have been released and are currently in print at most major digital manga storefronts; it is also serialized weekly via Azuki.

Only 5 days remain in our Holiday Review Giveaway!  Leave a comment here or on our BlueSky about your favorite manga of 2023 to potentially win a $25 Bookshop.org gift certificate!  Contest ends on midnight Christmas Day.