Cold open: two windswept boys drop straight out of the sky and onto the damp pavement. In close pursuit is a knife-wielding soldier dressed in WWI garb. The boys’ weapons of choice — a cricket bat and waspish attitude — have evidently not prepared them for such an encounter. Not far ahead, though, is a mirror. The boys exchange glances and make a run for it. With the soldier hot on their trail, they make it just in time to fall through the mirror — and then the world spins as shattered glass falls like acid rain.

This is Dead Boy Detectives, and it hasn’t even gotten weird yet.

The premise is simple: Edwin (George Rextrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are, as the name suggests, ghosts. Best friends for 30 years and on the lam in London while avoiding Death, the pair solve cases for other ghosts to be able to move on to their afterlives. However, their familiar lifestyle is suddenly upended when they help amnesiac psychic Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and get sucked into a case in the quaint and bizarre world of small-town America. The show operates like a procedural, with each episode taking on a different case, but connects all the threads — there are several different Chekhov’s guns operating at once, and none of them are left unfired.

Dead Boy Detectives is based on a series of comics written by Neil Gaiman and operates within the same universe as his Sandman comics, which were adapted into a Netflix series last year. As such, there was much speculation before the release of how Dead Boy Detectives would be able to tonally match The Sandman, which leans into grittier dark fantasy and is tonally fairly serious.

The first two episodes get off to somewhat of a rough start. Notable exposition weighs early dialogue down, but the show soon finds its groove once the introductions of Crystal and sweet, empathetic boarding school dropout Niko (Yuyu Kitamura) are out of the way, allowing the script to step into darker subject matter. By episode three, an excellent balance between comedy and heavier drama has been struck. There are strange hijinks aplenty, but the show sets itself apart from other popular teen-aimed shows by giving itself room to grapple with more mature themes in addition to toying with levity and its supernatural premise without falling into the traps of poorly executed tropes.

What really makes the show stand out is its captivating cast that brings the eccentric array of characters to life. From a sadistic witch with serious attitude to a charismatic but lonely king of cats, the show rarely falters when it comes to the standout supporting roles inhabited with ease by actors who give their parts 110%. Rextrew and Revri work magic in scenes together, and their chemistry with each other and with the other actors gives the show its most memorable and valuable element — heart.

Dead Boy Detectives isn’t perfect and notably takes a while to find its footing. On the whole, however, the faults only seem superficial compared to its successes. Charming, cheeky and bursting with heart, Dead Boy Detectives is the best new show now streaming.

Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Season 1 (8 episodes) of Dead Boy Detectives is available on Netflix.