Review of Case File nº221: Kabukicho

Unfortunately, this anime was one of the most fragmented and messy ones I have seen. Firstly, I thought this is one cool interpretation of the overexposed and overused Sherlock Holmes myth created so skillfully by Sir Conan Doyle. The odd rakugo-crazy Shinjuku Sherlock seemed unique enough to carry this on. The addition of Moriarty as his best friend was also unexpected and thrilling, regardless of him being just a teen. Watson himself was quite alright as the embodiment of normality in this crazy world of rejects and geniuses. However, things went very wrong. The anime was probing the line between comedy, mystery, and drama so muchthat is lost itself somewhere in-between.

The first 12 episodes were a boring variation of the Jack the Ripper case, mixed with some ridiculous investigations varying from a corrupt sumo wrestler to a murder in a masked pop band.

The second 12 episodes were even worse, with nothing to hold them together and villains, heroes, and madness splattered all-over.

The characters were never presented properly and could not develop at all. The weird thing is, few of them (the Morstan sisters and Kyougoku) had their own mini-stories, but this was quickly abandoned, leaving the plot and the whole idea of the anime even messier.

In the end, I was left with the feeling of watching 24 promo specials or 24 "filler episodes" while waiting for the real story.

Too bad it never came to it.