Kabukicho Sherlock or Case File nº221: Kabukicho is an original anime produced by Production I.G that premiered on October 11th. Primarily taking place in Shinjuku, that’s been walled off in the middle. John Watson is told by a yakuza oyabun, Kaneko, to find a detective named Sherlock Holmes. At the Pipe Cat bar, Inspector Lestrade, a detective with the Shinjuku Ward Police, tells them that an hour ago there was another victim of Jack the Ripper. The detectives are give the task of solving the case. It’s a competition, with the winner receiving ten million yen. Watson offers to be the driver for Holmes. He has a case to offer Holmes, because “weird things keep happening.”
At the crime scene, we see the body of a young woman, Sayuri Onoue. Her genital’s have been cut off and her body has been surrounded by angel wings made of blood. Finger prints have been found but nothing matched the database. If your familiar with Sherlock Holmes then his mannerisms won’t be surprising. Holmes competition are odd in their own ways. The neat freak detective, Kyogoku Fuyuto and the Gambling Detective and former cop, Michel Belmont. Considering the superior ability of Sherlock, I wonder if the other detectives will ever win one. It’s not a spoiler to say that, Sherlock solves the case. The story of Sherlock Holmes has been told so many times, it can be difficult to separate the adaptions.
This isn’t an issue for Kabukicho Sherlock, as it’s the only one of two anime adaptions. Other than being animated, the way Sherlock presents his conclusions to the audience is unique. He conveys this evidence in the form of “mystery-solving rakugo.” Rakugo is ” a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone storyteller sits on stage, called koza.” Apparently, Sherlock isn’t very good at it though. Regardless, it’s an interesting way to portray this information. Kabukicho Sherlock is well animated, it’s topics can be heavy, as this one was about rape and murder. However, Sherlock as a franchise, focuses mostly on how Sherlock Holmes solves the cases, rather than what actually happened. If your a fan of the Sherlock Holmes in general you will enjoy this series. There’s enough that’s new and many interesting characters, to make this series worth your time.