What a delicious bit of nostalgia and 1980s charm. I can remember watching Sherlock Hound on VHS when I was a kid and now being able to watch the whole series as an adult felt kind of like finally getting the platinum trophy on a PlayStation 3 game that was sitting on the bottom shelf of my closet for years. The story is straight forward. A combination of 26 individual capers that pits the world's greatest detective against the world's most brilliant criminal. The episodes are extremely repetitive with the same recycled formula over and over. Moriarty steals something with a goofy invention, Hound and Watsonfoil the plan, and Scotland Yard's police officers flail about making human pyramids trying to apprehend the criminals who always escape and live to steal another day. But even after all of that the show still throws a few curve balls your way. I found myself pondering a few times: "just how did the villain manage to steal a single train car out of the middle of a moving train?". While the answers are almost always "cartoon logic" it still was enjoyable enough. There isn't much in the form of character development but I didn't think that it really matters. You don't really need to know why Sherlock is the greatest detective or why Moriarty turned to a life of crime. Just accept that they are what they are spent the next half hour or so watching them pit their wits against each other.

The animation is dated to be sure but on par with similar pieces around the period. The fact that the godfather Miyazaki himself lent his creative talent to the project is a plus today but overlooked when I was younger. The music was also enjoyable, particularly the introduction sequence.

Overall a very enjoyable experience to an old head like me and not a waste of time to some of the younger folks too. Solid 8 / 10