I really enjoy watching several police and legal procedurals/dramas on television, as well as those season long mystery stories, like True Detective and The Killing, and I was wondering if there's a manga that uses that as its set-up. I can take anything, if it exists, as long as there exists some story or minor character development; I don't want a manga version of Law & Order where the characters don't develop or something like Conan where the main plot progresses really slowly. Thanks in advance!

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Monster is a really excellent one. The protagonist is a vigilante but there's a detective character as well.

Death Note. Has police and detectives. There's probably more 'red-tape'-type stuff in this one than in Monster.

Maybe Defense Devil, but it slips away from the investigations in the second half.

Last edited by hkanz at 11:30 am, Aug 7 2014

Yeah, I did read Death Note and Defense Devil. Defense Devil had a lot of potential and I felt even though it went away from its initial premise, it could have continued somewhat. But it just kinda... ended. Death Note has procedural stuff in it, I guess, but while I do want something that's not a strict procedural, I'm not really looking for something where the crime solving/courtroom stuff is secondary; Death Note may be about Light's quest and his avoidance of L and N, but it's not a procedural, really.

The mystery in Monster seems intriguing, and I will read that gladly. Thanks for the recs, but I'd also like to see manga that is told (mostly) from the law enforcement side, as well.

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they are not exact rec, but psychometer eiji do have police tagging along and Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo have the detective thingy going on

Himitsu You might like it, although the plot is cyberpunk-ish. One of my favs in the mystery/detective genre.

Q.E.D. and C.M.B. Maybe, I haven't read them yet but it's on my wish list and seems to have good recs. But they are shounen and might not be as realistic/mature as what you want.

If you're interested in Monster, which is great btw, you could also check Pluto. The protagonist is a real police detective, unlike Monster where the MC is just pulled in the story unwillingly.

Perhaps Yuureitou

Shibatora might work

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Like educational manga? take a look at Ed U. Manga's list of manga here

Manhole is basically one big mystery case spanning 3 volumes, which, to me, sounds akin to a season-long mystery