Best Mystery Manga of 2012

Seventeen years ago, mysterious immortal soldiers known as divine warriors appeared on the battlefields of Africa. These life forms later became known as Ajin, or demi-humans, and were considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind. The government declared their existence to be compatible with humans; however, it is rumored that they instead offer bounties for captured Ajin to secretly perform inhumane experiments on these rare beings. Kei Nagai, an apathetic high school student, is studying to become a doctor and only wishes to live a normal life. However, this simple dream is shattered after he suddenly gets into a deadly traffic accident. Revived at the scene, he is immediately labeled as an Ajin by bounty-hungry witnesses. Unable to understand his immortality or prove his innocence, he starts to live his life on the run and fights for survival. He barely escapes the government's reach when a group of anarchistic Ajin contacts Kei, asking him to join their forces to retaliate against the government. But who is Kei's real enemy, and which side will he take when it comes down to humans versus Ajin?

A junior at Suzaku High, Ryuu Yamada is infamous for being a hardliner and a delinquent. One day, after being reprimanded for his poor performance and attitude toward school, he spots Urara Shiraishi, the grade's top student. As Shiraishi is walking up the stairs, Yamada attempts to provoke her, only to trip and fall, taking her down with him. Eventually, he wakes up in the infirmary. To his surprise, he discovers that he is not in his own body. It turns out that he swapped bodies with Shiraishi, and upon confronting her, he finds out that the catalyst for the swap was an accidental kiss during the fall. With the knowledge of this new ability, Yamada's eventful high school life has just begun!

Atsushi Nakajima is on the brink of death after being kicked out of his orphanage. With no food and nowhere to go, all hope seems lost—until he saves a mysterious man called Osamu Dazai from drowning. Much to his partner Doppo Kunikida's irritation, Dazai offers Atsushi a meal and reveals they work for the Armed Detective Agency, an organization of gifted individuals who take care of criminal cases the authorities cannot. The two ask Atsushi for his assistance in tracking down a supernatural tiger that has been wreaking havoc throughout the city, and he reluctantly agrees. After they resolve the case, Dazai offers him a position in the agency. But the job is about to get a lot more dangerous as the Port Mafia, the local crime syndicate, begins to move against them. Caught in the middle of a turf war, Atsushi must master his newfound special ability in order to protect himself, his new friends, and the entire city.

Satoru Fujinuma is a 29-year-old who works part-time as a pizza deliveryman in order to make ends meet due to his unsuccessful career as a mangaka. But there is more to this struggling adult than meets the eye, as he possesses a mysterious ability which takes him back in time right before a life-threatening incident occurs. When "Revival," as he calls it, triggers, it will continue to send him back again and again until he is able to save the lives of the individuals involved. But Satoru's life is about to take a turn for the worse when a loved one is killed by an unknown man and he is framed for the crime. Desperate to get away so that he can assess his situation, he is inexplicably sent 18 years into the past—right before the disappearance and death of his classmate, Kayo Hinazuki, an event that has plagued him since childhood. Satoru, now an elementary school student, must get his wits together and save the young girl from an untimely demise by figuring out the identity of the person responsible. But just how is Kayo's murder connected to the present?

It is no coincidence that Megurigaoka Private High School is a second home for Yuki Takeya and the rest of the School Living Club. The club has only one mission: to spend day and night on campus promoting independence and engaging in a wide variety of school activities. Between Yuuri Wakasa's composure, Kurumi Ebisuzawa's dependability, Yuki Takeya's initiative, and their teacher Megumi Sakura's support, the club should have everything under control—in theory, that is. As it turns out, living at school has its fair share of challenges. In order to make it to graduation and beyond, the members of the School Living Club must overcome their day-to-day troubles while making the most of their school lives.

When high school student Kaname Sudou receives an invitation link from his friend to play a brand-new mobile game called Darwin's Game, he has no idea that it would change his life forever. At first glance, the game looks like a regular fighting game. However, it has a dark truth—the battles are fought one-on-one, and the loser dies in the real world. Not long after joining the game, Kaname is abruptly matched up against his first opponent. The odds are against him, yet he miraculously comes out victorious. Afraid of his new reality, Kaname attempts to find ways to exit the game and return to his daily life. However, the only method seems to be winning all the given battles. Kaname must now figure out how to stay alive and try to find allies he can count on.

It's time once again for the annual family gathering on Rokkenjima! Ange Ushiromiya is just getting over a cold, but that won't dampen her excitement at seeing her cousins again! Granddad couldn't be more thrilled to see his beloved grandchildren and throws a special Halloween party where everyone gets lots of treats! By lunchtime on the first day, the aunts and uncles are chatting up a storm, and the cousins are eagerly planning the afternoon's fun. It's the very picture of a happy family-one that in no way resembles the bickering, bitter Ushiromiya clan! What is going on?!

This is a story. The end to the saga of Koyomi Araragi. This half-human, half-vampire has stood on the line between reality and the supernatural for far too long. The end to his indecision has finally come. Piece by piece, his humanity was falling away, starting with his reflection. He was becoming one of them—a vampire. Now, Araragi must choose which world to live in and which to give up. To remain human, he must abandon the friends he made through encounters with the supernatural. On the other hand, he would have to sacrifice his humanity to stay with those he holds dear. Koyomi Araragi must decide, and his decision will haunt him until the very end. Either way, tragedy seems inevitable, a culmination of every choice made since the very beginning.This entry includes the final season of the Monogatari Series.

The world of Kamiyama High School is full of colorful and mysterious events, but 15-year-old Houtarou Oreki cannot be bothered to pay much attention to it. Choosing to live his life by conserving energy whenever possible, he is content with acknowledging the bare minimum to get him through each day. However, he finds his lifestyle threatened by his sister's request for him to join the Classics Club. Wishing to avoid any repercussions, Houtarou reluctantly agrees and visits the club room, where he meets the ladylike yet passionate Eru Chitanda. Joined by cheerful longtime friend Satoshi Fukube and former classmate Mayaka Ibara, the four members of the illustrious Classics Club delve into the enigmas of ordinary life on an idyllic journey of exploration.

In futuristic Japan, the human soul is analyzed and digitized. A flawless structure called the Sibyl System assesses this data and creates a perfect life for each citizen while also evaluating their potential for crime—otherwise known as one's "Psycho-Pass." Even so, incidents still occur, requiring the existence of the Ministry of Welfare's Public Safety Bureau (MWPSB). Short on personnel, MWPSB employs latent criminals as Enforcers—morally corrupt individuals whose Psycho-Pass surpasses the allowed threshold—in service of the capable Inspectors. They make use of Dominators, special guns designed to read one's Psycho-Pass, and work together to apprehend wrongdoers. Being one of the few people the System considers adequate for MWPSB, Akane Tsunemori is assigned as Criminal Investigation Division's new Inspector of Division 01. Secured by her strong sense of justice, Tsunemori's Psycho-Pass is unwavering in the face of incurable fugitives on both the just and rotten sides of the system. But early into her career, Tsunemori encounters a person thought impossible: a criminal with the Psycho-Pass of a righteous man.

It is the late 1980s. Rumors of a witch living inside an old mansion circulate in the city. Unbeknownst to observers, living inside the mansion is an actual witch, Alice Kuonji, a stoic woman and a magus hiding in the present day. Under her tutelage studies Aoko Aozaki, a high school student studying magecraft as the head of the Aozaki family. As magi, the two of them secretly fight any threat that enters their town. Things start to change when a young man unfamiliar with city life, Soujuurou Shizuki, enters their lives. Slowly, he affects the lives of these two magi. And so their story begins...

"You're lying." Sixteen-year-old Kanoko Urabe knows that someone is lying if she can hear the strange, echoing sound of clanging metal in their voice. As a young and overly honest child, she would point out the lies of other villagers, and was ostracized as a result. She is eventually forced to leave her hometown and tries to find a place for herself in the city of Tsukumoya in 1920s Japan. In a chance encounter, Kanoko meets Souma Iwai, a gifted but penniless detective. After she is forced to demonstrate her ability, he expresses appreciation for what she can do and agrees to take her in, asking the girl to be his assistant. The Iwai investigation firm soon makes a name for itself helping clients by solving cases with Souma's sharp wits and Kanoko's power. In the process, Kanoko's life is enriched by the various people she encounters in her investigations.

Manga adaptation of BBC's Sherlock television series.

This time, subsequent to the story that wrapped up in Volume 9, is the release of a wondrous "side story"! In response to the many sorrowed voices, the author Asano Atsuko proclaimed, "Then I'll write a supplementary story!" The author herself, recalling her love for the characters, is blazing with ambition at being able to give further life to Shion and Nezumi, who hold such complexity and unfathomable fascination. Cutting out moments from the lives of Nezumi and Shion that she hadn't been able to touch on before, she starts to unravel their secrets...

Midori's mother has finally acquired her dream home, but it isn't long before supernatural phenomena disrupt the peace of the family. And if unexplained electricity failures, strange phone calls, and the eerie presence of spirits weren't enough, finding unexplainable blood in the bathroom becomes the last straw. Mai and Shibuya Psychic Research are brought in to investigate, but what horrors will they find in the 'dream' home that turns out to be nothing but a nightmare?

Lambdadelta takes over as Game Master following Beatrice's defeat at the end of the previous arc while Bernkastel takes primary control of the human side in the game. Battler meanwhile tries to understand the truth behind Beato's games and comes into conflict with Erika Furudo, a detective character created by Bern who approaches the island murders from a "mystery" perspective, in contrast to Battler's "anti-fantasy" stance. The chapter also has a focus on Natsuhi, who receives threatening phone calls from a "Man from 19 Years Ago".

There's been a string of mysterious deaths, where the victims are torn up for no discernible reason. One day, the situation escalates and Homura Kei's computer class of 36 people is slaughtered. Due to Kei's delinquent behavior in skipping class, she ends up as the sole survivor of the massacre. When she goes home that night, a hacker called Yuon comes to her door. He claims to have also lost someone to the mysterious murderer, and he has information that Kei does not. Apparently, someone has created a program that can affect humans through the image of a blue butterfly on a computer screen, and that someone is using the program to murder people. Kei and Yuon will have to track down the murderer, before whoever it is decides to finish them off!

Aoki Juurou finds murder victims a little too often, causing some cops to suspect him of being involved. At the opening of this story, he discovers the body of the idol Komori Erie by following the strong scent of her blood. After dealing with the police, Aoki takes the details of the case to the mysterious shut-in Hisato. If Hisato can solve the case, he can take justice into his own hands...

In the *Mikaiketsu Jiken* series: • *Guriko Morinaga Jiken* • *Oumu Shinrikyou*