Anime that are adapted from mediums other than manga, such as novels, plays, and video games, have occurred in the past, but they are becoming more and more prevalent today. With releases, like The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited, which is adapted from Yasutaka Tsutsui’s crime novel series, Fugou Keiji, the possibilities for anime adaptations seem unlimited today even more so than before.
For many, The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited was a completely new experience. But, even if you are already familiar with its source material, it is meant to feel like a fresh take on the hit novels. You have this guy, Daisuke Kambe, who has endless amounts of money and lives the good life. He becomes a detective and he and his partner, Haru Kato, solve mysteries and crimes. Because of his unlimited resources and family’s wealth, he has a plethora of high tech vehicles, suits, and weapons at his disposal as well as a secret hideout where his intelligent relative, Suzue, does undercover work. In my opinion, these elements put The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited somewhere along the lines of a modern The Great Gatsby meets Sherlock Holmes with a splash of Batman. It doesn’t sound like it should work in theory, but it definitely does, and this is mainly thanks to Daisuke and Haru.
These two are parallel opposites with Daisuke being a millionaire who uses his endless financial resources to achieve his goals, and Haru a practical detective who believes in using hard work rather than money to achieve his goals. These two work together to solve many cases throughout the season, and while they are different in many ways, they complement each other extremely well. Each excel in areas that the other doesn’t, and they both push each other to grow and overcome their individual struggles both on the job and in life.
Daisuke and Haru’s interaction together is one of the best parts about this anime, because their relationship starts out being humorous as they are getting to know each other and deal with one another’s differences, but gets more and more heartwarming to watch as the season continues. As time goes on, they stop bickering and become good friends. You also never quite know what Daisuke is going to do next, and this keeps you interested as well. When you pair all this with the mysterious events that occur and the crazy technology that Daisuke uses, you have an anime that not only held my attention throughout, but proved to be one of my favorite releases in all of 2020 so far.
The 11-episode series and storyline never felt rushed in any way, but I’m also glad the pacing didn’t come across as too slow at any point during the first season. I really appreciate an anime that keeps you interested throughout with every episode fitting in with, or further amplifying, the main storyline. Even the episode where Daisuke has to stay the night at Haru’s apartment, and he finds out he likes the simpler things in life more than he’d like to admit, ended up being on of my favorite episodes in the season. As a result, The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited is not only an easy, bingeable watch, but an enjoyable one as well. So it goes without saying, that for any of you who are asking if The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited is worth watching or not, my answer is yes. Visually, it also features some of the best animation to come out in 2020, and this is all thanks to CloverWorks (The Promised Neverland, Darling in the Franxx); In addition to its overall art style, which I loved as well.
I will admit that before I watched The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited I wasn’t fully sold on the idea, because it appeared to be one of those series where people just fangirl over the main characters. But, my first impressions were completely wrong. It definitely has a more mature storyline than I first perceived. At the same time, it doesn’t take itself too seriously as we see from the start with Daisuke creating a path in traffic by mauling other cars over with his own, which I also appreciated. The scenes that included serious moments were followed by those that were humorous and light-hearted. Because of this, the scale never tipped too far in one direction, allowing The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited to strike the perfect balance.
All in all, with a mysterious plot, great animation, likable characters, and crazy tech, The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited is definitely worth the watch. And while I wasn’t sure about it at first, it ended up not only being one of my biggest surprises of the year, but one of my favorite releases so far as well.
Currently, there is no news as to whether or not there will be a Season 2 of The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited. For now, it appears this may be a long-shot, especially given that it was adapted by CloverWorks, who based on their track record, usually only work on single season anime aside from more popular series, like The Promised Neverland. But, I remain hopeful, because I would love to see more of the antics between these characters and watch more mysteries get solved.
Where to watch The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited: Funimation
