Case File nº221: Kabukicho

I kept stopping myself tonight from finishing Sherlock because I simply loved it so much! But eventually I had to put my big girl panties on and do the thing. Sherlock is full of eccentric characters in a shady part of town where the night life just keeps on forever. You have Sherlock who an extremely intelligent but unsurprisingly weird man who enjoys canned mangos on top of all of his meals. You have Watson who is this very kind but very naive giant of a man. And then you have Moriarty, oh Moriarty. At just 16 he could bring many detectives to shame! There are somany characters in this that all deserve to be talked about but I don't want to clutter this up anymore than I may already have. You have your mystery, a Sherlock, a Watson, and a Moriarty. At first its very episodic but when the arcs come in they come in hard! This anime is very fun and slice of lifey episodic detective anime for 12 episodes and then shifts to an extremely dark detective anime. Its definitely worth watching! I enjoyed it immensely and I wish I could describe to you how much fun it is from start to finish! But I had months to enjoy it and happily anticipate the next episode! And I don't want to spoil too much. If you like eccentric characters in an eccentric community where the atmosphere can and will change abruptly with no warning. This is for you! <3

Unfortunately, this anime was one of the most fragmented and messy ones I have seen. Firstly, I thought this is one cool interpretation of the overexposed and overused Sherlock Holmes myth created so skillfully by Sir Conan Doyle. The odd rakugo-crazy Shinjuku Sherlock seemed unique enough to carry this on. The addition of Moriarty as his best friend was also unexpected and thrilling, regardless of him being just a teen. Watson himself was quite alright as the embodiment of normality in this crazy world of rejects and geniuses. However, things went very wrong. The anime was probing the line between comedy, mystery, and drama so muchthat is lost itself somewhere in-between. The first 12 episodes were a boring variation of the Jack the Ripper case, mixed with some ridiculous investigations varying from a corrupt sumo wrestler to a murder in a masked pop band. The second 12 episodes were even worse, with nothing to hold them together and villains, heroes, and madness splattered all-over. The characters were never presented properly and could not develop at all. The weird thing is, few of them (the Morstan sisters and Kyougoku) had their own mini-stories, but this was quickly abandoned, leaving the plot and the whole idea of the anime even messier. In the end, I was left with the feeling of watching 24 promo specials or 24 "filler episodes" while waiting for the real story. Too bad it never came to it.

You do not have to be a Sherlock fan to enjoy this fun and rather deep anime! I honestly have little experience watching or reading about Sherlock Holmes, but I really enjoyed this for the following reasons: 1. Every character matters (a lot) and is interesting/quirky/mysterious. 2. Story is deeper, or twistier, than you might expect and initially perceive. 3. Its quite a unique work because of its setting and wonderful characters + the music and art are quite good. I am shocked this anime is not more popular, and that people dropped it after watching the first few episodes. I was absorbed into it after the first episode, butthere is a bit of a slow down in story progression for maybe 3-4 episodes towards the first half of the show. But it is nothing too major, and some important but discrete things do happen even in those episodes that have to do with a bigger plot. Most people probably watch the show thinking it is too comedic or too different from normal Sherlock Holmes works because there is a very lovable transgender side character that makes often brief appearances, and many jokes and occasional talk of rakugo come up, but this one to me is just special. The comedy is just right, and is actually funny at times. But the creators did not over do it, and gave the show a good balance of seriousness and light heartedness. The mystery aspect in the anime is VERY strong and might not be immediately apparent, but it will build very nicely. There is indeed crime solving, unlike some other "mystery" animes I have watched recently, and perhaps even more so the aspects of murder and disguise. Trust me, the show takes some turns I did not expect, and you just can not help but love the characters. The pacing of this show is also something to comment on. Pacing is just right, and doesn't drag out much at all, but is not too fast or choppy. Many recent shows lose me because of too fast or too slow pacing, but I did not experience that with this wonderful anime. Its 100% worth the watch. Highly recommend!!

I watch anime, and I never have an account for MyAnimeList because I’m simply too lazy, but guess what? I want to vent about this one so much that I open up an account for it. I’m a really big Sherlock Holmes fan for years, and I love to see all kinds of adaptions. When Kabukichou Sherlock had its first trailer, I was so excited! All the novelty, the setting, the weird characters! I waited and waited, watched the trailer over and over. Well, the bigger the anticipation, the worse the disappointment. Dreadful characterization, so dreadful that by the end of the anime the only person Istill actually like is Mrs. Hudson. I welcome innovative approach to Sherlock Holmes adaptations, in fact I love it. Innovation toward characterization? Marvelous! But you have to make them into actual people, sane rational human beings. I don’t see any of that with this anime. I typed and deleted, typed and deleted. Just writing this review brings me back the anger I had when I tried finish watching this anime months ago. If you like Sherlock Holmes in the ACD novel, or actually, any good adaptations, don’t watch it, you’ll likely be disgusted. If you want to watch characters with sane minds interacting, don’t watch it, there’re very few in the anime, and none of them is the main characters. If you want to completely disregard the actual Sherlock Holmes novel, watch characters interact in ways you think “why would you do that???”, enjoy non-mystery mystery. Go ahead, I guess when you don’t think about it, pretending everything is okay, it might be somehow fun. I mean, it’s supposed to be funny. Although by the end of the anime, I was nothing near being entertained.