I'm not sure where this came from.  I was watching episode #9 of
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which involves a bombing plot, when an idea
for a writing challenge popped into my mind.

	But first, a digression into genre theory.

	The detective story can be divided into three main subgenres,
based on the detective character.  The first, and probably the most
well-known, is "the private investigator".  In literature, as in real
life, a private investigator is a person employed by another to discover
facts which will lead to the unravelling of a mystery.  During the course
of the story, this status may change -- the investigation may become
"personal" to the detective, or "the client" may become part of the
mystery -- many of the people who employed Nero Wolfe or Hercule Poirot
wound up dead shortly therafter -- but the essential of the story is that
the detective is a private individual whose job is investigation.

	This leads to "the police procedural".  The detective in this
story is a professional in the field of law enforcement -- in simpler
terms, a cop.  The focus in these stories is usually not "whodunnit" but
rather "how do we prove that our suspect is the guilty party?"  In
contrast to the private investigator, there is usually not a "client" *at
the outset* ... however, if the detective becomes personally involved with
the case, there will usually be someone else who could be considered a
"client" -- someone whose innocence the detective is attempting to
establish, for example.

	The third subgenre is that of "the situational detective".  Unlike
the two preceding, the detective in this story is not normally someone who
is professionally involved in investigation.  However, he or she becomes
involved, due to curiosity or to a personal involvement -- or likely as
not both -- in an investigation into a crime.  In the real world, of
course, this is most likely a one-time event.  However, in a fictional
milieu, it would not be impossible for a situational detective to keep
stumbling into these situations -- for example, Jessica Fletcher did so
for twelve seasons. 

	Of course, it is more than possible for there to be a story which
crosses these subgenres.  For example, Ellery Queen is a situational
detective whose situation is that his father is a police detective who
occasionally calls on his son's talent to assist in the investigation of
his cases.  Encyclopedia Brown is a private investigator who has a similar
situation with his father.

	"This is all very interesting, Mr. Davies, but what does it have
to do with anime?" you are probably asking.  Actually, you're probably
less formal ... "What's that b*****d babbling about?" is probably more on
some of your minds.

	Consider if you will the situational detective.  He or she can be
*anyone* who becomes involved in the investigation into a crime.
Including, naturally, any character in any anime ever made.

CHALLENGE:

	Write a story in which a character from your favorite anime
becomes involved, either due to curiousity or a personal tie, in the
investigation of a crime, and is central in discovering the truth of the
matter.

	I have but three guidelines:

	1) It is disturbingly true that the vast majority of detective
stories focus on the crime of murder.  If you wish to do as well, so be
it.  However, I would generally prefer to avoid stories in which a member
of the main cast of an anime is murdered, and another member must discover
the truth.  Still, anything goes, and if you think you can make a good
showing with that plot, go for it.

	2) Many of the characters who will be chosen have supernatural
capabilities.  I would generally prefer it if both the crime and the
investigation of it were performed by NON-supernatural methods.  Again, if
this is inappropriate for the particular story -- to expect Saotome Ranma
to not use either his martial arts abilities or his curse in the
investigation is unlikely, for example -- feel free to disregard.

	3) Unless you find the idea of a twenty-two-year old man weeping
to be amusing, I beg of you to avoid "the Ellery Queen solution" -- to
wit, the dying victim performed something in his or her final moments that
gives the final clue as to the identity of the murderer.  Yes, if I were
murdered, ensuring that they caught the miserable caitiff who did it would
be on my mind ... but I think my murderer would probably take steps to
ensure that I couldn't *do* that ...

	I look forward to seeing what convoluted tales of mystery and
deception this challenge provokes.

Chris Davies, Advocate for Darkness, Part-Time Champion of Light.
"WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?" 
-- Death, in "Reaper Man", by Terry Pratchett.
http://www.ualberta.ca/~cdavies/hmpage.html