How many times in your life do you get to watch a school detective mystery story play out like everyone working on it took peyote, but it all has a completely reasonable explanation at the end?
Not many, I’d wager.
Alternative Titles:
- Bishounen Tanteidan
- 美少年探偵団
Year Anime Premiered: 2021
Animation Studio: Studio Shaft
Number of Seasons: 1
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Light novel, Manga
Is It Officially Licensed Past Where The Anime Ends?: Light Novel: No, Manga: No
Is It Fan Translated Past Where The Anime Ends?: Light Novel: No, Manga: No
Entry Last Updated: May 27th, 2026
Where To Start The Pretty Boys Detective Agency Light Novel After The Anime?
If you finished the Pretty Boys Detective Club anime and want to continue the story in the light novel, you can start at Novel 7.
Do note that the anime skipped Novel 5, which is just another case, and you should go read that.
Furthermore, the end of the anime is not strictly anime-original, but was not the ending of the novel they were adapting. So the novel didn’t have “the big spoiler-y reveal” at the end that the anime had and is just moving on to the next detective story.
Is The Pretty Boys Detective Agency Light Novel Over?
The Pretty Boys Detective Club light novel is complete. It ended in 2021 with Novel 12.
Where To Start The Pretty Boys Detective Agency Manga After The Anime?
While Pretty Boys Detective Club does have a manga, it only adapts what the anime covers, with its own “similar, but different” manga-original ending similar to the anime. So you cannot continue the story with the manga, but it does adapt some moments from the novels that the anime skipped while also skipping moments the anime adapted.
The manga also doesn’t adapt Novel 5, which the anime skipped as well.
Is The Pretty Boys Detective Agency Manga Over?
The Pretty Boys Detective Club manga is complete. It ended in 2019 with Volume 5, Chapter 24.
What to Expect From The Pretty Boys Detective Agency Source Material Compared to The Anime?
If you were to look at how Pretty Boys Detective Club adapts the novels to anime, you wouldn’t be wrong to think that the anime adapted the novels very quickly, sometimes packing in a whole novel in one episode. However, the Pretty Boy Detective Club novels are actually shorter than the standard light novel, which helped them some.
The anime does cut out details, sometimes speeding through cases and cutting out many of the character interactions that weren’t crucial to it, but the anime actually adapts the story of the novels really well. The major thing you miss out on in the anime is Mayumi’s inner dialogue about things and also a sizable chunk of just plain old external dialogue between characters. Nisio Isin is famous for long-winded monologues, and the light novel lets those go on longer than the anime does at times.
Do you need to read the Pretty Boys Detective Club light novel from the beginning after the anime? No, but they do have a bit more to offer if you do. You are completely equipped to jump into the light novel story just fine.
Will There Be A Pretty Boys Detective Agency Season 2?
There has been no official announcement of a Pretty Boys Detective Club Season 2 anime.
Though, the light novels ended while the anime was airing, so this series may have been a promotional push and no further announcement after the anime ending is not a good sign.
