First Impression: Psychic Detective Yakumo

Psychic Detective Yakumo is one of the shows that are in my top priority list this fall season. I expect this to be good because it kinda looks different from any of the show this season. Let see whether or not it is up to my expectation.

This show is about a Yakumo, a university student who has the psychic ability to deal with ghosts and specters. The plot started when Haruka barged in into Yakumo's office and asked him to help her get rid of the bad spirits that possessed her friends. Well, if you know me by now, you would probably guessed that I don't like Haruka right of the bat. She asked for help but acted all snotty and bitchy about it. After she got what she wanted though, she was all slutty and shit. If I was Yakumo I would have slap her and kick her out of the office. And no, I would not be tempted to rape such poor specimen either. One of Yakumo's power is that he can bridge the world of the living and the dead so the spirit and the human can meet and hug. Cliche shit.

The story was supposed to be suspenseful but it was easy to guess who is the bad guy by the way they tell the story. For a detective show, this is definitely a let down. It is one of the strongest beef I have with it because it kills off the mood completely.


Yakumo as a character has no special traits that stands out. That is until his left eye's contact lense gone missing and revealed his red neko-like eyes. I was delighted because it looks as hot as I thought it would be. To me, Yakumo looks like a meshed up of L and Kira and I'm not complaining about it. Haruka is not as bad as I said she was but she isn't any better either. Her back story about losing her sister because of her was cliche as fuck thus I kinda dislike her even more. Her character is that typical weak damsel in distress shit. The kind of character that I have little to no patient at all. Besides Yakumo and Haruka, there is Gotou, the real police detective who kinda help Yakumo out in his cases. Looks like there are more interesting characters to make their debut in the next episode though.

At first I thought the OP sounds kinda gay. After about 20 seconds, I changed my mind. It didn't really wow me with the music but it is decent. The ED has that sad quality to it which I think fits perfectly to the show. But again, nothing special about it. Ono Daisuke is the seiyuu for Yakumo. He have voiced these kind of character with similar traits a lot, or at least a seiyuu for show with similar traits: horror/mystery. As for the other seiyuu, I don't really give a rat ass atm.

In terms of art and animation, the show kinda average at best. It didn't stand out at all. But at least they did try to make Yakumo looks hot and kinda succeed at it. They phailed to adapt Haruka though. She looks so much better in the manga.

Didn't I say that this show is another adaptation of a manga? Psychic Detective Yakumo or Shinrei Tantei Yakumo was released in 2007 and has only 9 chapters (2 volumes). The manga is a collaboration between Kaminaga Manabu (the authors) and Miyako Ritsu who drew it. The manga itself wasn't that big of a success but apparently there was a live action adaptation of it too so they must have did something right there.

I can't say that I enjoyed the show very much. I am still kinda disappointed with the turns of spoiler events. If this continue, I don't think it will be in my top priority list anymore.

art and animation 6/20
story 5/10
character 6/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 6/10

Posted in: bee train, first impression, NHK, psychic detective yakumo, sogo vision