Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery (Japanese: シド・クラフトの最終推理, Hepburn: Shido Kurafuto no Saishū Suiri, lit.'Syd Craft's Final Thoughts') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui, who also wrote the series We Never Learn. The series follows the story of Syd Craft, a brilliant young detective who solves mysteries with his assistant Elio Evelyn; together, they help police inspector Souffle Flamberry catch criminals. The three are entangled in an unrecognized, unrequited love triangle. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since November 2024.
Viz Media licensed the manga in North America. Shueisha simultaneously published the series in English on the website and app Manga Plus.
Plot
Syd Craft is a "great detective" who combines keen observation with deductive reasoning to solve the most difficult cases while maintaining a cool, professional demeanor. Privately, he hates blood and scary situations, but fell into the detective business due to his background and talents; rather than mysteries, he relaxes by reading romance novels written by his favorite author, Levie Oleyn.
Syd is assisted by Elio Evelyn, a cheerful and popular teenager; while Elio idolizes Syd's suave manner and abilities, Syd envies Elio's easy manner with women. Syd is notably unlucky in love, as the women he meets often turn out to be responsible for the crimes he solves. Police Inspector Souffle Flamberry grudgingly relies on their help to catch criminals and considers Syd a rival; she is determined to solve a crime before he does, someday.
Characters
Syd Craft (シド・クラフト, Shido Kurafuto)
Syd is a great detective, born to parents who were great detectives, and thrust into his celebrated great detective career through a series of childhood traumas: his first love's parents were murdered and she was adopted by distant relatives, his best friend turned to a life of crime as part of the family business, and his tutor was a serial killer. Since then, he has continued to attract difficult cases while seeking comfort and escape in the romance novels of Levie Oleyn. He is unaware both that his faithful assistant Elio is actually Levie, and that his police interface Souffle is his first love.
Elio is Syd's young assistant, who idolizes and is learning Syd's skills. Elio dresses as a boy to disguise her secret identity as novelist Levie Oleyn, adopting the pseudonym Elio Evelyn, an anagram of her real name. After Syd cleared Levie of false criminal charges, she responded to his advertisement for a male assistant to learn the detective craft; unknown to her, he specifically requested a male assistant because talking to women makes him nervous. When she is overwhelmed by her feelings for Syd, she expresses them in written notes, which have been collected and published as romantic novels under her real name; she believes her confessions are safe, as she assumes Syd never reads romances.
Souffle Flamberry (スフレ・フランベリ, Sufure Furanberi)
Souffle is a police inspector whose superiors regularly ask her to enlist Syd's help, to her eternal shame; she considers Syd her fiercest rival and dreams that one day she will surpass him. Syd is able to talk to her because he is slightly intimidated by her forward manner. She and Syd are both unaware they thought of each other as their first loves, as they were separated as children after a robber murdered her parents.
Lulu Chatnoir (ルル・シャノワール, Ruru Shanowāru)
Lulu is also a fan of Levie Oleyn. Her secret identity as the seventh to bear the title Phantom Thief Mistcat is closely guarded by the Chatnoir family, which regard the Craft family as their mortal enemies. She knows Elio is a woman; Syd assumes she is chasing Elio romantically.
Publication
Written and illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui, Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on November 18, 2024.[2]
Chapters not yet published in volume format
These chapters have yet to be published in a tankōbon volume. They were originally serialized in Japanese in issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump starting from November 2024.[1][3]
"A Great Detective's Fate" (名探偵の宿命, Mei Tantei no Shukumei Case)
"The Great Detective and Secret Reverence" (名探偵と密かなる敬愛, Mei Tantei to Hisokanaru Keiai Case)
"Thus the Transformation Deceives the Great Detective" (その変幻はかくして名探偵を絆し惑わす, Sono Hengen wa Kakushite Mei Tantei o Kizuna shi Madowasu)
"Cats at Twilight Strangely Sleep to the Same Dream" (宵闇の猫は奇しくも同じ夢に眠る, Yoiyami no Neko wa Kushikumo Onaji Yume ni Nemuru)
"The Great Detective and the Stormy Night" (名探偵と遣らずの雨の一夜, Mei Tantei to Yarazunoame no Ichiya)
"The Lost Cat Dwells on an Enemy Love Letter" (迷い猫は敵陣の恋文に馳せる, Mayoi Neko wa Tekijin no Koibumi ni Haseru)
References
^ abc"「ぼく勉」の筒井大志、新連載は名探偵のミステリーラブコメ ジャンプで始動" ['We Never Learn' author Taishi Tsutsui's new series is a detective mystery romantic comedy starting in Jump]. Natalie (in Japanese). November 18, 2024. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
