Miss Sherlock

I'm so upset.




I'm just gonna say this and I'm at least 99% sure I'm on the level here. I like Miss Sherlock way more than the BBC Sherlock. Yes. And for all 2 of you remaining to read this, hi, hello, welcome, I'm so happy to be back. The worst part about this show beyond points that I will make later is I'm not entirely sure I can describe or justify why I liked it more, strictly on the basis that not everyone is gonna enjoy it the way I do. So let's rewind a bit here, I just got HBO Max and was flipping through every single collection of film and television they had and the second I saw two japanese women in the placeholders for Sherlock and Watson I just had one question, "How is this show going to work?" and the answer is very very well. I mean the show came at quite literally in a post BBC Sherlock world, with the last series debuting in 2017 and this show starts in 2018, so there is nods and tips of the hat toward that series but ultimately does it's entire own thing. So we meet up with Wato who has just returned to Japan and gets sort of blindsided into a murder where she meets a heavily eccentric fashionable lady named Sherlock and ostensibly becomes her roommate helping her crack cases and form a quite cute relationship. And while they do not become romantically involved it took maybe 3 minutes before I was just like, ship it! F***ing ship it!! Why? Why not! And the relationship along with these two main characters got me hooked and it got me hooked fast. I got halfway through the first episode and firmly was ready to charge through all the episodes and see this sucker to the end. I could be here for the next 300 years raving and fawning over our two leads, Yuko Takeuchi is in my opinion a phenomenal and hilarious Sherlock. She seems way more sort of eccentric, on the spectrum, deliberately trolls and takes the piss out of people, not caring for etiquette or sensibility because she's got murders and shit to solve, she's away! And my God is it the most glorious and beautiful thing I have ever witnessed! Still retaining the high functioning mind and alien towards human emotion but undeniably leaving her stamp on the character. 11/10, 12/10, the score just keeps getting higher and I can't stop it! Shihori Kanjiya, okay.....I am certain without doubt or question in mind my heart has been viciously stolen from me, and I am thoroughly okay with that. She is so F***ING CUTE I can't even bear it, so funny and sincere, the way she tries desperately to keep Sherlock focused and polite, heaven and gods above, below, and inbetween, I treasure this lady woman and my heart is hers throughout this series. I quite like how the working partnership between Sherlock and Reimon (Lestrade) is potrayed where Reimon is totally onboard and is very amiable with Sherlock, with her always trusting and relying on the police force and them happy to have her help. Ms. Hatano, what a lovely and polite Mrs. Hudson and even gets wrapped up in a case of her own which is cool. The crimes themselves are not terribly convoluted nor do they borrow from previous adaptations or stories, and the visual style while not nearly as in depth and visually stimulating as the BBC series, still has it's unique way of giving information to the audience. Not much hand holding, but in my experience my detective skills were keeping up incredibly well and there is still plenty a twist to this show that did catch me off guard. Real talk, the end of episode 4 dropped a bomb on me and I was not okay. My teeny-tiny heart can't take it, it's fragile very fragile. By the second episode I had this horrifying epiphany dawn on me and I raised the question, are we gonna see Moriarty and the Reichenbach Fall? Then I was concerned. Heavily. Concerned. Cause I did the research and my findings filled me with much turmoil and depression. The show started in 2018. The show ended in 2018. 8 episodes in total. God...damn it!! Of course I find a new show that I can call all my own and love everything about it, and it is ripped from my arms days after I started it. And yes the ending got me, not in a deep emotional way but I was just so upset that it was over. I don't think I have a criticism to throw at it, it really did charm me so effortlessly and entertained the hell out of me every minute. The best way I can seperate potential fans and people who just won't go for it, our emotional lead next to Sherlock's intellectual lead is called Wato-san as is customary in japanese speech. If you like that and you're okay with that, you're in, you'll love it and it's a trick so nice they did it twice (kinda). If not, there's plenty more to love but it does have that tone. Even with fairly grisly murders the tone is light, very funny, dare I say adorable at times but trust me when I say when it needs to get serious, hit a bit harder, and emotionally invest, it handles it excellently, and I know that just ain't it for everyone but it's not super flowery or silly either. I think this is not only the first live action japanese show I've ever reviewed but the first one I've watched as well, so we are busting open whole new worlds of televised fiction here today. I loved it, I thought it was brilliant, we just got back and I'm already giving a 10/10! 4 stars across the board, check it out man, and we got more business to conduct in the land of the rising sun so tune in tomorrow!