Fairy tales are getting a clue-up as Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story gears up for a January 2027 premiere on Crunchyroll.
The big bad mystery is out of the bag. A new main trailer and key visual have dropped for Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story, a Japanese fantasy-comedy and mystery media franchise created by author Aito Aoyagi, confirming the anime’s January 2027 broadcast debut, with Crunchyroll set to stream the series worldwide, excluding Asia.
Alongside returning voices Yume Miyamoto as Red Riding Hood and Akira Sekine as Pinocchio, the mystery gets a fresh batch of suspects and sleuths with six new cast members joining the adventure.
Takuya Sato voices Jill, Atsushi Tamaru takes on Antonio, Motoko Kumai voices Rodrigo, Kotaro Nishiyama plays Paolo, Sakiko Uran lends her voice to Thumbelina, while Ryoko Shiraishi handles the narration.
The anime adapts Aoyagi’s mystery novel series, which began publication under Futabasha publishers, a major Japanese publishing company based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in August 2020 and currently spans four volumes. The property also received a manga adaptation by Kanoka Tana, Japanese manga artist, which ran from January 2023 to May 2025 across four volumes. A live-action film, Once Upon a Crime, followed in 2023 and is streaming on Netflix.
Behind the animation curtain, Itsuro Kawasaki (The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil) is directing the series at Benten Film, a Japanese animation studio. Yuko Yahiro and Manami Minakata are handling character designs, while Jun Ichikawa (Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?) is composing the music.
The story puts a detective twist on a fairy-tale favourite. Red Riding Hood sets off on a mysterious journey, only to find herself caught in one incident after another. Armed with sharp instincts, curiosity and a decidedly keen eye, she begins cracking cases along the way.
And when even the villains’ plans are too flimsy, Red has just one question: why make a crime story when the plot practically confesses?
With fairy-tale nostalgia, murder-mystery mayhem and a hood full of clues, Red Riding Hood: A Detective Story looks set to take the classic tale down a decidedly darker and much more curious path. Come January, the wolf may not be the only one getting caught.
