This short film has the best aesthetic in the whole Animatrix. The art style and design is a very strong throwback to old film noir of the vintage era. It makes for a very interesting crossover of styles when we see hacking, Trinity and agents. It does raise some questions about the setting though. As cool as it looks, doesn't this clash with the setting of the rest of the series which is firmly Chicago in 1999? Continuity aside, A Detective Story is absolutely stunning and manages to fit a lot of engaging story in a short amount of time.