I love Neil Gaiman’s works, which my three copies of Good Omens, my Sandman comics, and my copy of American Gods will prove. So, when I saw that a new work in the same world as Gaiman’s Sandman series on Netflix came out, I immediately started watching it.

The show is Dead Boy Detectives, about… boys who are ghosts and detectives. A very accurate name. Our main characters, Edwin and Charles, are about polar opposites. Both are very charming in their own way. I’m not quite sure just how much pull Gaiman had over the series, but automatically to me, they had that really great, quirky charm that almost only Gaiman characters have. 

I’m going to refrain from talking about the plot so as to not spoil anything, but what I can say is the writing is so fun. I don’t watch a lot of television shows and when I do, I don’t often gravitate towards the mythical, but this show was a refreshing change from series like Never Have I Ever, which I love. It’s an exciting watch with some shockingly fun moments and really great characters. As I said before, I think Gaiman often flourishes with writing these sparky characters but I think because this show veers so much from the source material, I have to applaud the other writers as well.

The cast of the show is pretty large, but each character is unique and almost as soon as they appeared on screen, they won me over. I especially liked the costume designs. Through just their clothes, you can already form this solid idea of just who this character will be.

My major qualm with this show is one I have with many Netflix shows. Many scenes are just so dark. Not even content-wise, literally just in terms of lighting. I think almost every actor in the show is wonderful, but half the time I couldn’t even see their facial expressions, so for all I know they could be awful. I understand that they’re in some very (literally and figuratively) dark places in the show, but I just wish I could see their lovely faces.

Knowing Netflix’s history, I’m not sure what the chances of this show being renewed are, but I really hope it is. It’s charming, funny, sweet, and I think it deserves to see its second season.