A little bit of rambling:
What I believe makes top peak fanfic is one that is written as an expandable universe, even if not intended. Kind of like how the original show gives us a lego set to build whatever stories we want from, fics can do the same.
When you love a story, you always want more. Until that more exists, you end up looking for something that scratches the same itch, be it fanart, fics, edits, etc. Plenty nights I can recall making up imaginary scenarios using another fic's universe or timeline, just to feed my mind until I got more of that fanfic.
They have characters who can exist in more than one color. An enemy who could turn ally, multiple chars that could be love interests, side characters who feel like they have entire books left to tell.
For example, the Great Grandfather is antagonistic toward Leo, but there's Ej. Even though he's part of the Kazoku faction, he has his own agenda. He's the kind who could end up cooperating with Leo, or even turning against the family altogether.
Mayor Iori still has to show what she planned for Leo. Big Mama is a double-edged sword. Quinn could be a young master of a noble family for all we know. I was quite in denial with Solus's death since technically there is no body, but I hope we can at least get a funeral even without a body. Now, the side chars from detective episodes, those are such a wide open field of possibilities. They have a life even when not on screen, and that's exactly the kind of thing I love. It just feels like there are still countless stories hidden between the pages.
It was incredibly fun to read Tantei Ao, even got me some motivation to draw, and I am looking forward to more.
For my inspo, I tried showing personality bits for each, camera film themed. Also, funny enough, I never noticed Quinn had a tail until I re-checked one of ur drawings. In my defense, I don't have the best memory and had to edit it in during coloring phase. And I struggled a lot with Tang Shen, even changed her bangs to be straighter when I saw ur latest post. (her hair is darker as a base, the light layer made it very brownish xD)
Actually, my first idea was drawing Leo in a more japanese style outfit that still vibed detective, maybe smth like Heizou's purple fit from genshin, mainly cuz I was in the mood for something asian themed. Mayhaps I'll do it another time, but I wanted to pay my respects to the original source first.
Rambling over!
Thank you for the story, and hope you like my drawing!
@lunarleonardo