Edogawa Ranpo (a pseudonym for Tarō Hirai) is considered the father of the Japanese detective story and was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
He is married to a woman named Fumiyo (文代) and lives with Kobayashi Yoshio (小林芳雄), the leader of the Boy Detectives Club.
The fiend is a master criminal whose infallible gift for disguise may have been inspired by Hamilton Cleek, Thomas W. Hanshew's heroic but amoral "Man of Forty Faces."
The Akechi stories are based mainly in the detective's home city of Tokyo, though some move the action to the Japanese countryside.
Akechi has been featured as a character in the manga Lupin III (and its anime pilot) and references to him are common in Japanese fiction.
Akechi himself is highlighted in volume 2 of the manga, in "Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from literature.
Further Akechi references can be seen in Aoyama's other series, Magic Kaito, where a master thief steals high profile items for recognition.
One of the musicals performed by the Teikoku Kagekidan is Benitokage ("Crimson Lizard") and features the title character, a criminal femme fatale, along with a handsome young detective named Akechi Kojiro.
In 2015, a new Anime series entitled Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace has been created, based on the Mystery novels of Edogawa Ranpo, and in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death.
Kobayashi, who has an undying body because of an "unidentified fog," wishes his own death, but together they both make their way after a mysterious criminal, nicknamed the "Fiend with Twenty Faces".
Also of note his role in the overall story of the game, combined with the protagonist's ability to change Personas serves as an homage to the rivalry between Akechi and the Fiend with Twenty Faces.