open/close all folders
Q-Class
Kyu
Voiced by: Megumi Ogata
Portrayed by: Ryūnosuke Kamiki
The Protagonist of this series. A naive and enthusiastic middle schooler with gifted deductive skills. He decided he wanted to become a detective after a chance encounter during his childhood, thus enrolling to Dan Detective School. Little does he know that fate has greater in store for him that what he expects.
- Book Dumb: Kyu mixes this trope with Genius Ditz as he's both academically inept and childishly naive. This is actually justified because he was so focused on studying a pocket book he received from a detective who saved him during kidnapping when he was a child that he didn't pay attention to normal school subjects much, failing his first middle school entrance exam followed by bad grades in his school days. As an exchange, he has an amazing deductive skill which exceeds even Ryu's.
- Catchphrase:
- His motto is "A detective must never give up or the case will remain unsolvedversion " which is taught by Morihiko Dan and adapted by other members of Q-Class in various degree.
- Case-related catch phrase, there's "There are X hints!" followed by "There's only one answer!"
- Chivalrous Pervert: A pervert he may be, but Kyuu is one of the sweetest characters in the series.
- Disappeared Dad: Kyu never knew his dad. It turns out that Satoru Renjo, the former associate of Morihiko is his father. Kyu's mother kept it a secret as a promise for Satoru. It is also revealed that Satoru used to secretly visit his son occasionally without his wife's knowledge. He couldn't resist teaching some skills to his son and a few weeks before his death, presented his son with his detective guidebook. Kyu grew up idolising Satoru and wanted to become a detective just like him.
- Fanboy: Of detective Satoru Renjo, the man who rescued him from his kidnappers. It turns out that Satoru was formerly Morihiko's right hand man, and Kyu's father.
- Friendly Rivalry: Although Q-Class in general is this with A-Class, he specifically formed one with Yukihira.
- Generation Xerox: He's destined to be one of Dan Morihiko's right hand man and Arch-Enemy of Pluto just like his father. Thankfully he doesn't have to get shot and die.
- The Hero: The main character of the series.
- The Leader: While technically not mentioned, Kyu is considered the leader of Class Q because of compared with anyone else, he seem to be the one taking initiative the most. His antics aside, no one objects to this.
- Like Father, Like Son: It turns out that he gets his detective skills from his father. His optimism and overall cheerful personality are what give Dan nostalgic feelings, further enforcing this trope.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Kyu seems to be a bit obsessed with girl's panties. Especially Megu's or Yukihira's.
- Nice Guy: A sweet and optimistic boy.
- Official Couple: He and Megu start dating at the end of the manga.
- Older Than They Look: He's a middle schooler, but wouldn't look out of place in a grade school, as Kazuma points out.
- The Pollyanna: A downplayed male example to this trope. The reason why he didn't feel sad over Q-Class's loss against Cerberus? 1) They solved the mystery of Takumi Kuzuryu's painting in the case and 2) they get to see Dan Morihiko himself solving the case. All in all, after depressing moments, he will find his way to be optimistic.
- Ship Tease: With Megu. Becomes an Official Couple at the end of the manga and the pair starts dating in the Premium volume.
- Shout-Out: His meeting with the detective that inspires him to be one is similar to Takato's meeting with his mother down to the parental figure giving personal notes to their child and dying by evil people, but Kyu thankfully doesn't copy the part where Takato becomes a criminal.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Once the face of Dan's first apprentice Satoru Renjo is fully shown, his resemblance to Kyuu is apparent, making it an obvious hint that they're father and son.
- Spanner in the Works: His friendship with Ryu is the one thing that saved the latter from the manipulations of Meoisei leader AKA Ryu's grandfather.
Ryu Amakusa
Voiced by: Koichi Tochika
Portrayed by: Ryōsuke Yamada
Ryu is very intelligent and handsome, and his dark background somehow links him to the organization known as Pluto.
- Bearer of Bad News: Averted. After catching the murderer of his tutee's mother, he made the tutee stay over at his uncle's house to prevent him from knowing that his mother had been killed sooner out of pity.
- Becoming the Mask: In the anime version, he was supposed to be The Mole of the Meiousei group, as the grandson and spy of the Big Bad. However, his friendship with Class Q made him think twice.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: He briefly took Kyu's after solving the mystery behind Setsugekka paintings.
- Broken Ace: For a middle schooler, he has quite a lot of achievements. Let's see, he's the only one who passes the Q-Class preliminary test with perfect score, has martial arts prowess comparable to (if not greater than) Kinta, calm and composed even when facing a deformed/rotting corpse, finishes a 3-year middle school curriculum in only one year, has the qualification to enter MIT, excels in mathematics as proven by solving Todai-class math problem in less time than needed, has research background with mathematics researchers from MIT (he worked together with them, mind you), speaks fluent English, has the qualification to become a home tutor more than Todai-graduate prospective teachers for a high-schooler taking entrance exam to medical school, quickly adapts to disguise lesson compared with others, as skilled as (if not slightly less than) Kyu in term of solving mysteries, clearly has the looks that can make girls fawn over him...except he can be quite hasty when it involves Takumi Kuzuryuu's works and/or Meiosei as shown when he made a careless and weak deduction in one case after Cerberus made a bet with him whether Ryu could solve the mystery or not with his identity as King Hades' grandson at stake. Also, not having his childhood memories because he was under strong hypnosis and inner conflict for being both a member of Q-Class and the grandson of Meiosei's leader and founder greatly trouble him. Had Kyu not been his best friend, who knows what would've happened to him.
- Catchphrase: "The mystery deepens" and "The fog has been cleared/lifted" when he's the primary detective.
- Chick Magnet: Older women, young girls and little girls blush at the sight of him.
- Child Prodigy: A former one. He has been stated to have a brilliant mind since he was a child. This was proven later in the manga when Megu's unlocked memory revealed that Ryu used to enter Tokyo National Talent Development Research Center along with her, not to mention the feats mentioned above.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He was raised in an criminal organization, which was created by his own grandfather.
- Defrosting Ice King: During the first part of the series, he usually avoids contact with the group and would prefer to solve the case on his own, but as the series progresses, his nonchalant and uncaring attitude towards the group changed. He began to really care a lot about Kyu and Megu, to the point of going as far as taking the knife meant for Kyu.
- Disguised in Drag: One small case requires him to do this. His "female character", Ruka Amakusa, also needs to play a prince role. This fact doesn't escape him and he remarks how confusing the situation becomes.
- Even the Girls Want Her: As Ruka Amakusa, he is instantly popular with students of all-female Himeyuri High. How early? Many look at him in awe as soon as "Ruka" enters the school grounds.
- False Friend: Thankfully averted. This is the most crucial step in turning Ryu evil and the reason why King Hades enrolled him in DDS despite the risk of his identity uncovered in the manga. He wanted other Q-Class members to think of Ryu as this and vice versa in the hope that Ryu will pull a Face–Heel Turn at the end of the story.
- The Lancer: To Kyuu's hero; while they both have amazing deductive skills, Kyuu is open and friendly, while Ryu starts off as a aloof and distant (and still remains so even after his defrosting).
- Not So Above It All: As he spends more time with class Q, he gradually gets ts involved in some of their sillier antics.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: He does this to force a murderer in "Collector's Murder" into confessing.
- Raised by Grandparents: The woman who picked him up after a case in DDS is not his mother; she's a member of Pluto, a criminal organization created by Ryu's grandfather who raised him after his father went missing. Even then, King Hades is not Ryu's biological grandfather, but his granduncle. If we're talking about his real parents, his mother presumably died when he was young. When he was five, his father "committed suicide".
- Shower Shy: In the Hot Springs Episode, Ryu arrives to the male side of the springs with a towel. Kintarou thinks this isn't manly enough and tries to force it off him. Hilarity Ensues.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's very cool-looking and almost inhumanly cold at first, but then he begins to show a much warmer side to him after spending much time with Q-Class.
Kintaro Toyama
Voiced by: Hideo Ishikawa
Portrayed by: Jun Kaname
The strongest member of the class, having had lessons in judo, kendo and karate, as well as having superb senses.
- Badass Normal: Not a genius like the others, but he makes up for it with his Super-Strength, utter loyalty and sharp instinct.
- The Big Guy: He is the only to have any martial arts background.
- Book Dumb: He has the lowest detective skill of his peers, but has amazing instinct.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: He has a great physical strength having mastered judo, kendo, and karate (10 dan each). It proves to be useful as it often helps Class Q to capture or defeat the culprits.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Sumire seems to take a liking to him.
- Childhood Friends: With Ukon and Sumire.
- A Day in the Limelight: He's stuck alone solving a "suicide" case in a construction site where he has a part-time job in the manga. The case was modified into the opening case in the anime.
- Eyes Always Shut: His eyes are always seen close. Ironically, he has superhuman vision.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Kazuma — They share a friendly rivalry due to their different approaches to case investigation. Kazuma and Kinta are often butting against each other's jokes.
- Hot-Blooded: He's the most emotional of his teammates.
- In-Series Nickname: He is often called "Kinta".
- It Runs in the Family: Kintaro is being trained to be a detective and his father is a police officer.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: He really loves the ladies, but is still a decent guy.
- Ninja: He is a descendant of a line of ninjas.
- Super-Senses: He has a very keen sense of vision, hearing, and smell, which are greater than anyone else's.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His father is a high ranked police officer, and Kintarou is rather conflicted about this.
Kazuma Narusawa
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami
Portrayed by: Naruki Matsukawa (live-action special), Katsumi Wakaba (live-action drama)
Kazuma is a rich, well known computer games programmer.
- Adorably Precocious Child: The youngest of the group, and it shows.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: He often use the computer to analyze the group of people he is approaching. Most often than not, he judges them based on the data given to him by his laptop.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of his friends and the most immature of them.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: Lampshaded by himself; he uses Kyu's "There are x hints" when he gives Kinta hints for his homework.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": His t-shirt and hat have the letter "N".
- Child Prodigy: The youngest of his friends (elementary age) and is a famous game programmer.
- A Day in the Limelight: He faced a case in his elementary school that he has to solve by himself in the manga. Although other Q-Class members join in the anime, he ends up the one solving the mystery.
- Dirty Kid: ...Exactly how did he get such an exact hold of Megu's boob size?
- Fiction 500: He built a dog house the size of normal human house and has an entire building for his own recreation room. Also, he had no problem buying a winning lottery ticket for his teacher who tried to do insurance scam since it's only worth the profit of one of his games. Mind you, the lottery ticket's worth 30 million yen and he paid 10 million yen higher than the value.
- Friendly Rivalry: With Kintaro — They share a friendly rivalry due to their different approaches to detective work. Kazuma and Kinta are often butting against each other's jokes.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Mild case. He improves a DDS pocket book to create another one with more features.
- Insufferable Genius: Throughout the series he is shown to be somewhat arrogant to the point that he goes off saying he'll solve the case himself using his technology.
- Most Gamers Are Male: His other occupation besides being a detective is a games programmer.
- Precocious Crush: He's hinted to be attracted to his home economics teacher.
- The Smart Guy: He often helps find information through his laptop computer, which he carries around with him at all times.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: The only one of his friends to wear glasses and is just as good as a detective as them.
Megumi Minami
Voiced by: Houko Kuwashima
Portrayed by: Mirai Shida
The only female of her friends and possesses photographic memory.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her brown eyes in the manga become dark pink in the anime.
- Alliterative Name: Megumi Minami.
- Blessed with Suck: At first, her gift is considered awesome by others. It was until several cases later that she admitted that she couldn't forget any detailed murder events however cruel it is. The most notable was when she was Forced to Watch one of the murder victims' head smashed by a bottle. She gets better though.
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: When she solved case involving UFO and crop circle, she borrowed Kyu's.
- Bound and Gagged: Her kidnapping in "Collector's Murder".
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: In the live action version, she shows up in several different outfits.
- Curtains Match the Windows: In the anime, she has pink hair and dark pink eyes.
- Forced to Watch: She's forced to watch a live murder right in front of her while Bound and Gagged.
- Forgotten First Meeting: She doesn't remember that she had already met Ryu when they were in the Talent Development Research Facility despite having photographic memory. It's later revealed that the reason she forgot this fact is because King Hades put a hypnosis on her.
- Girlish Pigtails: Her main hairstyle.
- In-Series Nickname: Called "Megu" by her friends.
- Nice Girl: She's a very sweet person.
- Only Sane Man: A strange sequence of events in Hokkaido led the boys of class Q into believing in UFOs, so Megu had to solve the mystery on her own.
- Official Couple: She and Kyu start dating at the end of the manga.
- Photographic Memory: Her biggest "gift". See Blessed with Suck above.
- Plucky Girl: Very strong-willed and always ready to help.
- Ship Tease: With Kyu. Becomes an Official Couple at the end of manga and starts dating in the Premium volume.
- The Smurfette Principle: The sole girl of Class Q.
- Tsundere: Type B. She's a fairly sweet girl until Kyuu comments on her panties or flirts with other girls.
Dan Detective School (DDS)
Morihiko Dan
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka
Portrayed by: Takanori Jinnai
Morihiko Dan is the founder and principal of Dan Detective School, and a famous detective who has solved many cases, and is the only private detective in Japan who is licensed to hold a gun.
- Badass Teacher: A famous and brilliant detective and now a teacher to future detectives.
- Big Good: The principal of the main characters' school and the one they turn to in times of crisis.
- Go Out with a Smile: The manga hinted with flashbacks to the first day he started Dan Detective Agency with Satoru that he died at the very end (with further confirmation in Tantei Gakuen Q Premium). After he officially appointed Q-Class as his successors, he died alone in the classroom, happy that he could finally finish his duty.
- Handicapped Badass: Is still a deadly shot, despite being in a wheelchair.
- The Mentor: Dan had personally mentored Satoru and later Shino, Hongo, and Nanami, who currently serve as faculty at his school. Dan created the Q-Class where he handpicked five apprentices and also teaches for other classes at his school.
- Not So Above It All: Kyuu's and Kinta's unfortunate fates after being mistaken for perverts at a girls school left even the great Morihiko Dan in hysterics.
- Old Master: He's old and this shows in both his deductive ability and the many cases he has solved over time. He managed to see through Cerberus' deception in a murder plan only based on information given in Kazuma's report, something that Q-Class failed to do.
- Passing the Torch: Dan had originally intended to appoint Satoru Renjo as his successor, but was saddened after the latter's sudden death. In the end, he appoints all of his five apprentices, including Renjo's son Kyu as his successors shortly before his death.
- Team Dad: Acts as a surrogate, strict father to his students.
- We Used to Be Friends: Dan Morihiko was best friends with Hoshihiko Kokuo a.k.a the future King Hades during high school.
Kotaro Nanami
Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki
Portrayed by: Taro Yamamoto
A self-proclaimed right-hand man of Dan Morihiko. One of Dan's first student along with Hongo and Katagiri. Succeeds Dan as headmaster of DDS after the latter's passing.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Nanami is very carefree and often acts in a childish manner (such as wearing cactus hats and other outrageous outfits when teaching), but being Dan's right-hand-man, he's a very competent detective who is extremely skilled in disguises and combat.
- Big Damn Heroes: In one case, he helps Kyuu and Yukihira break down a door to rescue a would-be murder victim. Somehow the two failed to know of the presence of their helper even though he was right next to them for a split second and is in a Godzilla-esque costume.
- Master of Disguise: This is the ability he shows often during the course of all adaptations usually with various range of role from old woman, a young male reporter and young lady. He is also the one who teaches Q-Class art of disguise.
- Mysterious Protector: Dan Morihiko gives him task to supervise and protect Q-Class whenever they are sent on cases. He never helps when it comes to crime-solving since Q-Class is capable enough, but when in comes to dire situation like saving someone's life from danger, he'll help. To help him in the task, he disguises himself as one of the suspects or cactus.
- Papa Wolf: He would go to great lengths to protect the Class Q students.
- The Rival: Seems to be developing a rivalry with Cerberus.
- Running Gag: His ridiculous-looking (but effective) disguise. Bonus points if they involve cactuses.
Meiosei/Pluto
King Hades
Meiosei's leader and Ryu's grandfather. His real name is Hoshihiko Kokuo.
- Big Bad Friend: He used to be Dan Morihiko's friend in school.
- Broken Ace: Shown in a flashback that he's a good-looking student with good grades and prowess in kendo, constantly in challenge with Dan to see who comes on top. He tried to hide his lineage as son of a criminal by acting calm, but when it was found out and he was tormented by a group of bullies, he "accidentally" set some of them on fire, leaving unburned bullies traumatized and burned bullies crippled presumably for life. It showed that beneath the surface he had evil thoughts.
- Broken Pedestal: Ryu looked up to him a lot when he was a child without really knowing King Hades and the organization's involvement in criminal world. After knowing what kind of organization Pluto was, Ryu's belief in him wavered.
- The Chessmaster: VERY. He created an overly-convoluted-but-miraculously-working plan to make Ryu his successor since Ryu's childhood. To elaborate, he "killed" Ryu's fathernote , took Ryu under his care in a pretense that Ryu's parents died in accident to give him all he knowledge, gave Kyu's mother a job with Takumi Kuzuryu's script to give Q-Class easy access to decipher it, locked Megu's memories of being in the same institute as Ryu with easy-to-unlock hypnosis so that Ryu's identity could be revealed easier to his friends and Dan Morihiko, giving four servants of Amakusa households motive to kill each other so that their separate murders looked like a serial murder committed by Ryu based on his lineage, his motive and what was written on Takumi Kuzuryu's book... All for showing Ryu despair from being abandoned by friends. This nine-year plan's only foil is Kyu's friendship with Ryu.
- Code Name: It's obvious since everyone in Pluto's rank has a code name. His birthname is Hoshihiko Kokuo.
- Every Scar Has a Story: He got the two scars on his face from writing a diary with his blood after his father locked him in a basement. Said basement is under the building where Kyu and others have their lessons now, inside DDS grounds.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has two long scars on his left cheek.
- Freudian Excuse: Hoshihiko originally was uninterested in crime and wanted to enjoy a normal life without having anything to do with his criminal mother. However, some scoundrels discovered his heritage and began to bully him. Due to a misunderstanding, his friendship with Morihiko soured. Unable to take it, Hoshihiko tricked his bullies into being immolated. Afterwards, his father Kuzuryuu mistook him for attempting to murder his half-sister and had him imprisoned in a dungeon. Although Kuzuryuu regretted it, he was murdered by Hoshihiko. Hoshihiko never learnt that Kuzuryuu tried to apologize to him.
- Locked Room Mystery: His speciality. Hades provides services for planning impossible murders for an expensive fee. He also has the policy of never interfering with the plan once it is set in motion, so he has never outright murdered anyone... except maybe his father.
- Master of Disguise: Being leader of Pluto, it's a must. As a proof, he's able to disguise himself as a person much younger than him, despite needing a crutch to hide his gait.
- Manipulative Bastard: Hoshihiko is an expert at hypnosis which he uses extensively. Even without that he manipulated circumstances to push Ryu into despair so that he would inherit the leadership of Pluto and he nearly succeeded.
- Not Afraid to Die: Hoshihiko does not fear death and willingly dies in the conflagration of his house.
- Patricide: It is hinted throughout the story that he is the one locked in DDS old building's basement by his father Takumi Kuzuryu. After he managed to fool his father into thinking he had died down there, King Hades killed his father. This event officially marks the birth of King Hades the genius criminal.
- Scars Are Forever: The scars he got from the past doesn't seem to heal very well.
- Villlainous Lineage: His idea to create an organization revolving around creating perfect murder plan is inspired by his mother, Yurika Kokuo, a notorious criminal who used the same methods on a smaller scale. He also becomes a criminal genius like his mother.
Sir Charon
King Hades's direct subordinate and the most loyal right-hand man. He also seemingly supervises other members including Cerberus.
- Adapted Out: One of characters not appearing in anime.
- Man on Fire: He dies from a fire set by King Hades through activating Seiryukan Hotel's deadly fire trap.
- Master of Disguise: Again, this is a must for Pluto members. One unique thing about his disquise that he keeps his mask on beneath the disguse.
Cerberus
A manga-and-drama-only Pluto member. Depending on the adaptation, he's young (manga) or look like a middle-aged man (drama). A genius member among his ranks.
- Adapted Out: Never appears in the anime.
- Baddie Flattery: He gives a compliment to his client in Setsugekka Murder Case before hypnotizing them, saying that they were his best client yet.
- Batman Gambit: His bread and butter, as seen in the Setsugekka Murder Case (wherein he has his client manipulate one of the targets to think they were the client and had said target be framed in a specific manner accordingly to the point that Q-Class were completely fooled), his plan to escape from prison, and his way of extracting Thanatos from the police mainly to dispose of him first.
- Breakout Character: Due to his popularity, he even has his own special chapter, Kerberos: The Detective From Hell.
- Code Name: Cerberus itself. His real name is, well, Ken L. Bellrose.
- Catchphrase: "See you next case!"
- A Day in the Limelight: There are three chapters telling a story when he was still a new member of Pluto. Interestingly, said appearance is about how he solved a murder of his client.
- Dragon Ascendant : At the end of the sequel, he is shown leading a reformed Pluto.
- Evil Genius: He works for a criminal organization and has a gifted intellect.
- Great Escape: He got caught once, and managed to break out of a highly-guarded prison.
- Master of Disguise: It's a given for Pluto member. He's become an example during Nanami's class of a high-level disguise when he disguised himself as a woman in his debut case.
- Pet the Dog: In his spotlight chapter, his client is murdered by another person before he could put his plans in motion, and Cerberus vows to catch the killer to avenge his honor. He manages to the victim's twin sister as the murderer. However, instead of killing her, or handing her to the police, he hypnotized her to make her forget about her Dark and Troubled Past that drove her to the murder, to allow her to live a happy life.
- Photographic Memory: Implied. It is hinted that he has this since he once said he can remember any book he already read.
- Super-Intelligence: He has few demonstrating traits.
- He stated that once he read a book, he could remember the entirety of the contents without fail, to the point of reciting quotes in one book word by word. It hasn't been stated further if he has Photographic Memory like Meg or not.
- He can quickly devise a plan to cripple both Ryu and Kyu's deductive ability in one smooth psychological move. Even when both of them managed to get out of the psychological trap, they along with the remaining members of Q-Class still lost because that's exactly what he had calculated.
- He was also in an institute Meg was in.
- Teen Genius: He was considered a genius when he was 13-14 years old, as evidenced by him being in Talent Development Research Institute.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He attempted this on his client. Good thing it can be prevented. He also acts this in behalf of his superiors to anyone who is unworthy of being in Pluto such as Miss Kaori who breaks the rule of not flashing weapons during duty and then finally caught and Thanatos after said person's murder plan utterly failed and was almost caught by DDS.
Thanatos
Pluto member who infiltrates DDS by disguising as one of the instructors. He is also responsible for locking Kyu and Megu in DDS old school building's basement with a venomous snake.
- Adapted Out: He doesn't exist in anime.
- Big Bad Wannabe : He wishes to usurp his superiors and become the leader of Pluto. However, it turns out he is nowhere near their level as he botches the execution of Cerberus's plan with four accomplices while Cerberus executed it far better without help. He then get tricked into revealing the location where the kidnapped Maki is being held.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Him disguising as Shintaro Maki after arriving from his overseas duty is to create suspicion on Hongo. To do this, he even went so far as appearing on a secret surveillance camera in Hongo disguise complete with an identical wristwatch complete to the tiniest scratch during Kyu and Megu's incident. However, it ends up making his Maki disguise suspicious because 1) Pluto will not foolishly show themselves on surveillance camera and 2) The only one who can create identical scratches on said watch is Maki, DDS's physician who can order Hongo to take it off under pretext of physical examination.
- Humiliation Conga: He gets mercilessly mocked by Kyu, Megu, and Ryu for his incompetence at replicating Cerberus' case in Talent Development Research Institute. Even better, the three of them are already aware that he's disguised as Maki, and they don't pull their punches.
- Smug Snake: While he is a dangerous villain for trying to kill Kyu and Megu, he is not good at creating murder plans, Pluto's modus operandi.
