Death Note

Death, a series made by Tsugumi Ohba, focuses on a death god named Ryuk, a student named Light Yagami, and the world foremost detective, L. Ryuk, on an impulse of boredom, drops his "death note" into the human world where it is found by Light. The death note has a peculiar characteristic: anyone whose name is written in its pages will die. Discovering this, Light goes on a righteous crusade to cleanse the world of all evil doers under the guise of "the god of justice, Kira." In the process, he crosses fates with L, who will stop at nothing to see that identity behind "Kira" is brought to true justice.

Of all the anime in my dossier, this is one I'd recommend to anyone, especially those who perhaps aren't familiar with some of the more outlandish aspects of anime. Death Note is founded in the modern day real world, and is all about cat and mouse, strategy and tactics. Conan Doyle would be proud of this series.