A television anime remake of Edogawa Ranpo's Sh?nen Tantei-dan (The Boy Detectives Club) novels will premiere on the Tokyo MX channel next January. The anime studio DLE ( Eagle Talon ) is collaborating with the publisher Poplar for the Ch? Sh?nen Tantei-dan NEO (The Ultra Boy Detectives Club NEO) anime shorts that tell brand-new original stories.

Sh?nen Tantei-dan ( The Boy Detectives Club ) is the title of both the 1937 novel by renowned Japanese mystery novelist Edogawa Rampo ( Rampo Edogawa ), and the title of a series of Edogawa novels. (The aforementioned titular novel is actually the second in the series; the first was 1936's The Fiend With Twenty Faces .) The character of Yoshio Kobayashi appears in many of the novels as the young leader of the club. Kobayashi is the top apprentice of Kogor? Akechi ? Japan's greatest detective and another character created by Edogawa.

Edogawa's novels have inspired numerous live-action and animated adaptations, and elements and references to his stories appear in even more works. 2015's Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace television anime adapts many of Edogawa's stories, and this fall's Trickster: Edogawa Rampo 'Sh?nen Tantei-dan' Yori anime series also draws inspiration from The Boy Detectives Club novel series.

Poplar began republishing the novel volumes in 1964, and the series has sold 16.6 million copies. Poplar and DLE announced the Ch? Sh?nen Tantei-dan NEO Project this past February. The project's main story moves the setting to the present day with plans for a live-action series, events, books, and more in 2017. Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Time Bokan , Vampire Hunter D ) is drafting the new character designs for the story's iconic nemesis, the Fiend With Twenty Faces, although his new designs have thus far only been seen in silhouette:

The first part of the Ch? Sh?nen Tantei-dan NEO Project is DLE's anime, which is actually set a century later in 2117 in future Tokyo. The battles between the detective Kogor? Akechi and The Fiend With Twenty Faces from the original novels have now lasted through seven generations. Kazuhito ?miya ( O-Niku Daisuki! Zeushi-kun comedy shorts ) is directing the anime and supervising the series scripts.

The cast includes:

Ryohei Kimura as the seventh-generation boy detective Kobayashi

Yoshimasa Hosoya as the seventh-generation Kogor? Akechi

Takuya Eguchi as the seventh-generation Fiend With Twenty Faces

Sumire Uesaka as Mayumi Hanazaki, the only girl in "The Boy Detectives Club"

Source: animeanime.jp