歌舞伎町シャーロック

KABUKICHOU SHERLOCK

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
24
RELEASE
March 28, 2020
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

The East Side of Shinjuku Ward … In the center of this chaotic neighborhood, the neon-lit Kabukicho district is expanding. Where light shines, there are also deep shadows. The curtain rises on this night stage where bizarre murders occurred! Is this suspense? No, comedy? An indistinguishable drama is about to begin….

(Source: Anime News Network)

CAST

Sherlock Holmes
Katsuyuki Konishi
John H. Watson
Yuuichi Nakamura
James Moriarty
Seiichirou Yamashita
Hudson Fujin
Junichi Suwabe
Lucy Morstan
Mariko Higashiuchi
Fuyuto Kyougoku
Souma Saitou
Pipe
Mary Morstan
Nao Touyama
Irene Adler
Maaya Sakamoto
Michel Belmont
Yutaka Aoyama
Toratarou Kobayashi
Tatsumaru Tachibana
Maki Hokari
Ayumu Murase
Mycroft Holmes
Ryoutarou Okiayu
Sebastian Moran
Naomi Kusumi
Nobuo Kaneko
Katsuhisa Houki
Masaya
Subaru Kimura
Dylan
Reo Tatsumori
Tony Shigeru
Hitoshi Bifu

EPISODES

Dubbed

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RELATED TO KABUKICHOU SHERLOCK

OVA ComedyKabukichou Sherlock OVA

REVIEWS

Necokeniii
70/100
The fun isn't the mystery, the fun lies within the process
I had this show on the back burner for weeks and I just completed my binge for it. I do like the concept of anime Sherlock Holmes with mystery-solving rakugo, but it needed to try a little bit better to be a masterpiece. I did like the setting and premise of the show, however, it never tried to invent a winning formula. Imagine combining two things that are amazing on their own but combined they are a mediocre acquired taste. Once you watch one episode you literally know what to expect for each mystery.

The town is filled with stereotypical characters that'd you expect, the foreigner, kids who seem innocent but are thieves, clean freaks, the old man who is softer than he looks, geniuses with family complexes.

The setting and music carried the show for me, I love jazzy music and a crazy town combo. Each episode you get to see bits and pieces of a city that never sleeps filled with twists and turns at every corner. I love the music that plays when Sherlock is about to perform rakugo. The rakugo itself isn't that entertaining, but it never failed to put a smile on my face. Sherlock's only redeeming quality is his obscure love and obsession with rakugo and everything surrounding it such as merchandise, performances, etc. Watson's most redeeming trait is he wants to prove his usefulness (which makes even more sense toward the second half of the story). Sherlock and Watson balance each other out because they bring out the best and weird in each other.

The best thing about the series to me was the underlying theme of everyone needs someone or something to keep them going. The dynamics between the characters kept me watching. A lot of the times what got me through the dull and weaker episodes is seeing the wacky relationship between Watson and Sherlock. I also like seeing the other members of the main cast get stand-alone episodes or moments. It makes me happy to learn more about the supporting characters who helped out in crucial moments. Usually, I don't care or cheer for the side/supporting characters yet by the time I was almost done the series, I kept cheering for their success.

It's hard to recommend this series to everyone, however, I want to say watch at your own risk. The moral I got from this series is you never really know what drives someone until you ask. Yes, you could judge and make comments based on your observations, but things make more sense when you know the bigger picture. It was a slow burn that I almost dropped but what kept me going is I wanted to figure out what drives sherlock to be passionate and obsessed with something that he's stagnant with. If you want to see an episodic mystery and drama sprinkled with gags and some payoff, be my guest.
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iamokayiswear
75/100
Unique take on a classic, it manages to paint Sherlock with a new coat of paint, and mostly succeeds.
Spoilers avoided.

The most unique take on Sherlock I've seen so far. Plenty of Sherlock adaptations go with a fairly standard formula "Sherlock but in (insert location here)!", to varying results. Many are boring, or at the bare minimum - uniform. They don't take risks in terms of the fundamental portrayal of the main cast of characters that the namesake series is known for.

Kabukichou Sherlock AKA Case File n221: Kabukicho, made a ton of changes. An anime original story produced by Kadokawa and Production I.G., Case File endeavours to shake up the classic series in a very anime way, and mostly succeeds.

A case of the week murder mystery makes up the first half or so of the season, which can get a tad repetitive at points. However - the second half's twists enable the story to shift in a direction I didn't see coming.
Some particular plot points you will see coming, if you have ever seen or read a Sherlock story before, however - the execution is far more unique than what I would've expected.

I watched the show dubbed on Funimation, so that means I got to see Justin Briner shine, among a lovely cast of Funimation regulars, keeping the absurdity of the animation and the story alive and well. Kabukicho is an absurd place, and the cast sells it. It would be easy to allow the performance to fail to sell the story, and they manage to pull it off under the careful direction of Cris George, and the strength of the rest of the cast.

There are some issues with it - I cannot go into too much detail without entering spoiler territory, but I will say that the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters is mixed in the show - with some stereotypes and negative connotations causing me some concern. It's great to see an anime with so many LGBTQ+ characters that is not a yaoi/yuri story, but it was not handled as well as I would prefer in this day-and-age...

There are uncomfortable moments in the show beyond this - it is not a pure comedy-mystery play. There are entire portions of episodes without humour - which can lead to some tonal whiplash, especially compared to the start of the series.

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. The animation is gorgeous - the opening is fantastic (how often do we see a jazz-style song in an anime opening?) and wish it would be able to continue, but I doubt it.

If you have no interest in mysteries or a new take on Sherlock Holmes that is verrry different from what you've seen before, don't watch this show.
However, if you want an eccentric adventure that you won't forget quick - this is the show for you.

There is no word yet on a second season, but the complete Season 1 is available (+1 OVA) on Funimation. It could have been better, it had some weak episodes, but overall it was - fine but memorable.
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