The detective may be already dead but this entire show was already dead from the beginning. Tanmoshi was one of the most highly anticipated anime series from the year 2021 but ultimately ended up as one of the most disappointing and underwhelming shows instead. With how the anime industrys priorities are it was doomed to be a failure from the start and this isnt anything new at all especially with most light novel adaptations. However Tanmoshi also known as Tantei Wa Mou Shindeiru / The Detective Is Already Dead has more inherent problems aside from the typical issues with adapting light novels. Keep in mind that Im judging this series based more so on what I received in anime form not the source material. The introduction of the story is just odd especially with the very title of the show and how it doesnt seem to fit with the key visuals. The title literally indicates the detective is already dead and advocates mystery drama but the art covers looks like something out of a vanilla harem romance series. I understand the series likely intended to throw people off on purpose to give the sense of suspense and speculation but such an initial presentation risks giving the viewers a unfavorably warped vision of what to expect. The series starts off by introducing a young man named Kimizuka Kimihiko. He is presented as an individual who keeps getting into trouble due to apparently being born unlucky. Hes conveniently made into the doom magnet loner protagonist rigged for the inevitable faithful encounter. May I also mention that Im forced to accept hes actually of middle to high school age despite looking straight up like a 20yearold businessman? Im not new at all to this in fiction or reality but this case is just odd cause his personality doesnt seem to add up with how his maturity of his mindset may be in accordance to his age. Upon getting caught up in an airplane hijacking Kimihiko unsurprisingly gets that faithful encounter of his upon meeting Siesta a woman who calls herself the legendary detective. She is smoothtalking whitehaired and very witty a perfect character to be subjected to simping by the fans as she becomes easily the most interesting thing from the show for better or worse. After being constantly pestered by Siesta Kimihiko finally agrees to be her sidekick and that wheres the story begins...except not really. The premiere episode is rather long...too long in all honesty. Doublelength episodes arent necessarily a good choice as they tend to test the viewers ability to stay interested throughout the entire length of the broadcast it can make people lost interest to continue as a result. Shorter normallength episodes are more favorable to allow for one to refresh and keep track of everything presented so far. Tanmoshis doublelength premiere was half interesting half tiresome. The first half wasnt that a good a presentation but it was somewhat decent enough introducing us to the main protagonists and giving us a taste of what to expect. The best ever part was presented here: an array of impressively fluid animated cuts of Siesta fighting a random bad guy who looks like he belonged in Tokyo Ghoul. For at least a span of around a minute it was quite a decent visual spectacle but it merely serves to hide the dismal state of the series overall production quality. Nearly everything else afterwards feels so lackadaisical. The dialogue between the characters honestly feels so lethargic flat and suffocating like it was practically ripped directly from the source material without anything trimmed or changed up. The second half of the premiere follows with a jarring change of pace dropping us into a school festival segment. From what I was told it was supposed to get us invested into Siesta as a character but it felt more like a messy rearranging of the chronology of events in the story. By the time the episode is over we are given that plot twist that the detective Siesta is already dead. This just feels untimely. The series introduces us to the main female protagonist only just to take her out of the picture entirely by the end of the very same episode even if it may be temporary. After that long premiere the rest of the story feels more like your typical romance haremesque series with convoluted and contrived supernatural and mystery elements. More characters are randomly introduced for the sake of complicating the plot while lacking notable development or established dynamics on their end. The second female character Nagisa is introduced and established as being connected to Siesta. She is ultimately a pivotal point to initiate what was supposed to be...an emotional segment with Kimihiko and Nagisa regarding the fate of Siesta herself? The reveal itself was nothing commendable as the direction was stale and lacked a sense of impact with very little buildup prior. When the third female character Yui Saikawa is introduced she is presented with barely much importance to the story. Her supposedly rough backstory related to her idol career lacks weight and doesnt justify her twisted character motives. I sure as hell didnt like how she easily gets all friendly in the end despite all that previous intent to kill the main protagonist for the silliest reasons. The shows illogical attempts to elicit emotions and expect the audience to feel for it is laughable. Theres next to nothing there to get invested in whatever backstory or background the characters get. It also really doesnt help that the tonedeaf dialogue that I mentioned before is ever so present. Theres next to no sense of good chemistry between the characters either everyone seems too reclusive and obliged to initiate a freeflowing conversation. The show tries to sound witty and use humor and fanservice every now and then to try to change up the tone only just to fall on deaf ears. The mystery elements themselves turn out to be extremely uninteresting theres underground organizations android/cyborg technology and supernatural organisms ripped straight outta Parasyte The Maxim but theres lack of intrigue and hook. The series doesnt seem to know where to go and how to utilize such story aspects as it only seems to pander to the usual tropes youd find in any romcom or harem. Whatever further twists and revelations within the series that do come up felt either awkwardly inserted or insanely obvious. The show jumps back and forth between the present day and flashbacks of when Siesta and Kimihiko were still together. Its bad enough that you take her out of the picture early on but then to insert her back in after the audience was told she was dead early on...that only begets inconsistency in direction. In repeated attempts to get us as an audience to get attached to Siesta it instead has many of us wondering why go back and forth between the past and present to begin with. What are we supposed to be truly focused on? The mystery regarding Siestas death? The villainous groups motives? The other girls Kimihiko randomly meets whom are supposed to play major roles? What exactly is the series trying to tell us? Why does it feel the need to move things out of order? The plot is literally all over the place. It fails to connect the dots when it needs to. It haphazardly plays with plot conveniences and trivialities without much care. I know its possible to produce a great series that follows an achronological order with the proper direction and execution but Tanmoshi doesnt seem to have any of that. The characters are apparently supposed to be the main strength of the series but theyre so uninspiring and dry in terms of how they were written out. Kimihiko being presented as the unlucky loner makes him obnoxiously dull and hard to relate to especially when it involves his lackluster interactions with Siesta and the other girls. I mentioned Siestas characterization before but I need to mention how she doesnt seem too useful aside from these annoying extended monologues magical plot devices and repeating the same catchphrase Baka ga kimi wa over and over oh how convenient that kimi is part of the main guys name she ends up quite predictable and tiresome after a while. I really hate how both of the leads are made to look and sound smarter than they really are. All the other notable characters arent any better. Nagisa the very female character with the closest established connection comes off as the typical headstrong character archetype who turned out so clumsily written. Yui is the obligatory child idol character whos said to be very mature but has very conflicting and unfounded initial motives. Charlotte has.quite a mother complex with Siesta and not much else. Due to how the story direction is so disjointed none of these characters were really given enough distributed development and highlights to really feel important. Aside from the few impressive cuts from an animator known as Ryuuki Hashimoto the aesthetics of the show are just dreadful and soulless. Backgrounds are stitched up with zero sense of depth and realism. Inanimate objects like boats planes or cars seem like they were awkwardly cropped and dragged onto the frameworks right outta a photoshop app. The character designs are fairly decent but generic and seemed ripped off from numerous actual harem shows out there like say.Date A Live?. Color tones and palettes are overly monotone and lack much variation. The camera work is uninspiring and lackluster and fails to deliver any sense of impactfulness to select scenes. Most of the overall art direction and composition in general looked amateur and halfassed. Like there was one particular scene with an idol concert that was absolutely horrendous and looked like it was done by an elementary schooler. Honestly it felt like those few amazingly fluid cuts were used to bait viewers into watching it especially in the preview trailers. From the likes of ENGI a relatively new studio not known for making even halfdecent shows all of this shouldve been expected but its a disappointing blemish nonetheless and with how animation quality is more advocated and desired nowadays its an extremely tough break. The soundtracks are dull and nothing special at all. The opening and ending themes are typicalsounding and not evocative enough to be something particularly memorable. Even the voice acting feels soulless and devoid of passion as if the seiyuus dont seem to give much care for what seems like simply another one of those countless vanillaflavored series. I know animation and sound quality isnt supposed be the ultimate rideordie rule but art direction and writing quality go hand in hand nearly every time but here theyre merely touching fingers. From an enjoyment standpoint I cant help but feel let down overall despite having kept my expectations at a minimum. I genuinely enjoy it quite a bit early on but I still had issues here and there. As the series progresses and jumped back and forth it became hard for me to really keep being invested in any positive story elements. I didnt really like or enjoy any of the characters aside from Siesta even she ended up not being much more than mild passable entertainment. Its not like I was expecting a godly light novel adaptation like 86 or Mushoku Tensei but Tanmoshi couldnt even pass for me as halfdecent. By the time the series ended Ive given up trying to follow the confusing chronology of the plot and any particular details it mightve had cause it left no impact for me at the end of all of it. Tanmoshi is the epitome of both a failed adaptation and a failed anime all in one and the nearperfect example of how NOT to write and direct a series. In the end it winds up as yet another typical LNderived story with no innovation or coherency to stand out from the rest of the pack. Kadokawa shat this series out without any care for the health of its production value. Perhaps the worst part is how it badly reflects its source material which by all means should be far far superior. Despite the popularity it begot from the light novel community all the praise is more oriented toward its source material instead. Unless youre curious to see just how bad a LN adaptation can get I suggest you turn away and look for more innovative premises and ideas instead. Otherwise youll end up with one of the biggest jebaiting moments in anime history.