"Meitantei Holmes" (1984) TV series

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Directors:

Kyosuke Mikuriya
Tatsuo Hayakawa

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (story)
Tsunehisa Itô (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

26 November 1984 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Crime | Family

Plot Keywords:

Victorian Era | Private Detective | Anthropomorphic | Sherlock Holmes | Based On Short Story

Cast

Hamilton Camp

...

Prof. Moriarty (26 episodes, 1984-1985)

Also Known As:

"Sherlock Hound, the Detective"
"Il fiuto di Sherlock Holmes" (Italy) [it]
"Sherlock Holmes" (France) [fr]
"Sherlock koira" (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

24 min (26 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Italian | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Spain:T

Company:

Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS)

Trivia:

The episodes made by Miyazaki can be easily told apart from the rest because Moriarty's henchman, Smiley, has green fur in a Miyazaki episode.

Soundtrack:

Sora Kara Koboreta Story

Seriously.. The Best Unserious Sherlock Holmes Ever !

Here, (Sherlock Holmes) meets (The Absentminded Professor) meets (Magnum P.I.) ! It was love at the first sight when I watched it for the first time at the beginning of the 1990s. Unfortunately it was aired at 12: AM on our national television at the days of schools ! So I was very pleased whenever I managed to catch the episode entirely.

The atmosphere was just super, exploding with adventures and great comedy. Still the main reason to enjoy is that directing. There were unforgettable dexterous moments, especially with the chases or with the poor Prof. Moriarty whenever he had a shock because he failed or how Sherlock did it again (The best of them is concerning Moriarty and some painting's theft). There were also some wonderful creative ideas, such as that incredible car of Hound. Maybe the only thing to bother is the strange doggy ears of all the characters, in particular the love interest of Hound who got beautiful sight and strange ears !

Originally, the version I watched was the Arabic dubbed one, and really what an effort and what a perfection. The Arabic voices were excellent : Hound is confident sedate all the time and droll for the rest of the time, Moriarty is totally mad and hysterically hilarious, not to mention the opening credits which is still in my mind with its Arabic lyrics after nearly 20 years. Now, thanks to the internet's wonders, I listened to the other versions of that memorable credit and let me tell you the Arabic one's cuteness wins, it goes like this (Sherlock Holmes is a great detective, Sherlock Holmes you're the unique one…) and so on by a childish chorus.

Actually I'm fond of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. He is searching for the truth by the power of logic, so smart, and so serious too ! Therefore at this copy of him, I got the pleasure of enjoying the comic side in him, or looking at him into totally another frame. There were more than "comic" Holmes along the way, for example : Gene Wilder's (The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother - 1975), or Michael Caine's portrayal in (Without a Clue - 1988), or some character of Disney's comic books whom I can't remember its correct name (doggy too, so dumb, and has Mickey Mouse to solve everything for him), …etc. But nothing was like "Sherlock Hound, the Detective", it was real laughable, full of Action, and imaginative.

This show was exactly like its main character : sweet and genius. So the Japanese school of animation is the true "unique one".