Miss Sherlock – Japan’s own consulting detective
So there is a new crime series on HBO Asia called Miss Sherlock and as a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional super sleuth I just had to see what this Japanese rendition had to offer. After all, the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ is know for some weird television (and films) – and I mean that in the good way. It turns out, Miss Sherlock is not that bad especially the first episode.
The first episode has all the mainstay characters, or more accurately their Japanese egos. You have the arrogant but brilliant detective who, by the way, is a woman. Then there is the police inspector who is obviously Lestrad and the medical doctor Watson and even Sherlock’s elder brother is present.
The first episode, appropriately titled The First Case, starts off with a volunteer doctor returning from Syria witnessing the death of her colleague at the airport. The death is weird as the victim dies from a small explosion in his stomach – and of course, Sherlock is called to the scene.
Unfortunately, I found this a bit unappealing at certain scenes because it is kind of demeaning the police who call the super sleuth without even trying to make heads of the case. Now, this could be intentional or not. I don’t know. However, the portrayal of Sherlock is unexpected – especially for a female.
The female lead who portrays Sherlock channels the arrogance brought to the television by Benedict Cumberbatch quite well. In fact, it is a bit too uncanny that it can be scary just thinking about it.
Anyway, in this contemporary setting, Sherlock is the nickname given to Sara Futuba (Yūko Takeuchi) who is the detective and Dr Wato Tachibana or Wato-san (Shihori Kanjiya) (get it?) is long suffering, yet unappreciated partner. I think I am getting my wires crossed with Sherlock Gnomes.
The play on words is quite genius and I have got give props to the screenwriters especially for the word play above (Wato-san). There are a few others you will catch in the first episode. Another thing that I found amusing was trying to connect the dots ie Japanese references to the original Sherlock of England eg address, dressing, mannerism etc.
The first episode turned out quite entertaining and I cant for more of Miss Sherlock.
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