An unsettling string of murders has taken place. Young school girls have been killed, chopped up, and placed into boxes. The story follows Shutaro Kiba. He is a private detective who has been hired by one of the victims’ mothers. He receives help from his colleagues and friends. Together they solve this bizarre case and seek justice.

Though Mouryou no Hako makes use of the supernatural and has a bit more thought-provoking dialog, this intellectual thriller shares some similarities with Subete ga F ni Naru. For example: everything shown in flashbacks and mentioned by the characters is important. Though it may seem negligible at first it, it ties back to who the murderer is and their motivation.

The dark atmosphere also contains some characters that seem fated to solve the mystery. In Moryou those characters are Kiba, Chuuzenji Akihiko, Enokizu Rejiro, and Sekiguchi Tatsumi. In Subete they are Professor Saikawa Souhei and Nishinosono Moe. The professor seems to be one of Magata Shiki’s biggest admirers. He can easily identify with her thought process and philosophy. Moe is infatuated with the professor so much that she went and visited Magata on the secluded island. She was one of the last people to have a conversation with her. So, it appears as if they are somehow connected to Magata’s death and were meant to discover her corpse.

Kazuya Kujo is a young man studying abroad at Saint Marguerite Academy. In that town, there are plenty of ghost stories and urban legends, but one stands above them all. The Queen Berry is a haunted ship that has a long history and was tied to a series of bloody murders during the First World War. Though Kazuya generally ignores the ghost stories, his eccentric friend, Victorique, loves the morbid tales. Her curious nature and extremely logical approach to problems has allowed her to solve some of the town’s most puzzling mysteries. One case leads to an elaborate dinner on the Queen Berry. This sets in motion events and connections that will uncover a much more dangerous issue than the individual cases they have been solving.

The first thing that GOSICK shares with Subete is the atmosphere. Both shows have a dark tone and pacing that seems to weigh down the characters and story. An underlying sense of the supernatural surrounds them at all times.

There are also female geniuses in both shows. GOSICK has Victorique while Subete has Shiki and Moe. Moe shares some personality traits with Victorique. Both can be rudely blunt, they react with quick whips when frustrated, and they have feelings for their male counterparts (though Moe is much more overt about hers).

Lain Iwakura is a fourteen-year-old girl who has trouble using even the most basic technological gadgets. One day she and other girls from her school receive a cryptic email from a fellow classmate that recently committed suicide. As if that wasn’t strange enough, when Lain opens the email she is introduced to a virtual world known as the Wired aka the Internet. From there, she has her world turned upside down. Cyberspace bombards her with bizarre messages and imagery that stretches her notions of existence and reality. And she comes into contact with people and events that force her to question what is an “identity” or “consciousness”.
Lain plays various roles depending on the situation at hand. The show slowly reveals different sides of this aloof genius that the audience would have originally not believed. It’s difficult to pinpoint who she really is and what her motives are.

It’s very similar to how Magata Shiki is portrayed early on in Subete. Though she doesn’t come off as aloof or naïve, she does keep her cards close to the chest, so to speak. Her facial expressions and probing questions reveal nothing of what she’s thinking or feeling. All you know for sure is that you can’t take anything she says at face value. There is a deep meaning in her words and even deeper meaning to her actions.

Like Subete, Serial Experiments Lain utilizes atmosphere and philosophical thoughts concerning programming and computers. However it amps them up exponentially. Where Subete contains short esoteric dialogues about programming and consciousness, Serial takes those thought experiments and puts them in-plain-view. Lain (and the viewer) grapples with what she is shown and how it conflicts with what she (and the viewer) thought to be real.

Shoutarou Tatewaki is a high school boy who spends a lot of time with a very beautiful woman in her mid-20’s. The woman’s name is Sakurako Kujou and she has a strange fascination with bones. Shoutarou accompanies her on various cases where she uses her talent to analyze the remains of victims to uncover clues and ultimately solve cases.

This is another mystery anime that happens to be airing this season as well. An interesting similarity to Subete is that they both have adult protagonists (Sakurako and Saikawa) and a sidekick in their teens. Plus, the main character, Sakurako-san, is prone to childish tantrums which mirror the personality trait that Moe has in Subete. Moe is very intelligent and mathematically gifted, but she behaves immature at times just so she can have the attention of those around her.

Though both anime have a pair working together to piece together clues, Sakurako delves more into “how” cases are solved. By that I mean the show focuses more on forensics and the step by step process for analyzing evidence that leads to a suspect.

Ranpo Kitan starts out in a typical middle school where some unsolved murders have occurred. Akechi Kogorou is a young genius detective who comes in to investigate the cases. He gains the admiration of one of the students, Kobayashi Yashio. The middle schooler volunteers to become Akechi’s assistant. The two work together to get to the bottom of the puzzling investigation.

Besides having a murder case that most of the anime on this list share, this show spends a fair amount of time using symbolism and imagery to discuss topics such as chaos theory and algorithms. Additionally, both shows highlight the dark side of human nature and twisted sexual relationships. These are the primary similarities with Subete.

But, there are a few others. Such as a dark tone and intense atmosphere. It uses these to throw some “shock value” into some of the episodes. But Ranpo does a good job of balancing it out with some comedic moments and brightly animated scenes as well.

Two men have managed to steal an atomic weapon from a secure facility. Calling themselves “Sphinx”, they proceed to execute successful terrorist attacks throughout Tokyo. What’s more, they leave cryptic messages about the places they will hit next. The police slowly start to piece together who these two individuals may be. But, they are always a step behind them. Paranoia spreads and a larger conspiracy starts to come into view. Are these two really out to destroy the government and murder thousands of people? Or might there be something else that these two men are after?

This is an interesting anime that differs from the others on the list. This is does not have a detective storyline or follow a mystery genre format. That’s because the leading characters are actually the ones committing the seemingly vicious acts of terrorism. You’re not trying to solve how they’re executing their plans, because they show you what they’re doing. Instead, you’re taken on a journey of their past and shown their motives. Subete uses this story telling technique as well. Each episode we are given snippets of what really took place on the night Shiki’s parents were murdered.

Other ways the shows are alike: both take place in contemporary times, there are genius characters in both, the character designs are very similar, and the cinematography looks uncannily close between the two. These are psychological thrillers that deal with child prodigies and traumatic events that take place early in their adolescence.