Wanpaku Tantei-dan

Aired: 1968

A TV anime produced by Mushi Production. Based on Edogawa Ranpo's Shonen Tantei-dan (Boy Detectives Club) series, broadcast in 35 episodes on the Fuji TV network from February 1 to September 26, 1968. Members of the Boy Detectives Club, led by Kobayashi-shonen (voiced by Naoyuki Sugano), the young assistant to detective Kogoro Akechi (voiced by Eimei Esumi), confront villains including the Fiend with Twenty Faces (voiced by Genzo Wakayama) in a mystery-adventure series. While retaining the atmosphere of the original detective novels, the anime portrayed the distinctive club members (Otoko, Chibichin, Steyan, Mametan, Debuton) through exaggerated visual expressions unique to the medium. As the first anime adaptation of Ranpo's prewar children's literature, it is also historically significant and influenced later detective and boy-hero anime works. (C)Kobunsha / Mushi Production