#Ryōsuke Takeuchi

[rei-the-head-shaker]

19.03.2024

Finally a joy in the form of a Vinted package with mangas inside! 🥹❤️

[readtilyoudie]

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL VOLUME 2

[moriartyluver]

DANGEROUSLY YOURS ⓒ Hikaru Miyoshi & Ryōsuke Takeuchi

inspired by the radio series "Dangerously Yours" 

starring…

[NAME] [LAST NAME]

femme fatale and countess

❝ What does anything you can say matter...? You betrayed me with words... What good are words..❞

AND 

WILLIAM JAMES MORIARTY 

criminal mastermind and mathematician

❝ Well... rather melodramatic, aren't you..? Do you mind if I smoke? ❞ 

disclaimers:

• this miniseries is based off the radio series 'dangerously yours'

• this fan fiction does not follow the original plot of Moriarty the patriot 

• do not repost without permission 

Warnings: violence, mature themes, death etc.

𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜:

Lana Del Rey - Happiness Is A Butterfly 

00:00 ━━━━ 04:33

ㅤ◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ↻       ♡ 

❝ If he's a serial killer, then what's the worst

That could happen to a girl who's already hurt? ❞

CHAPTER LIST

[sdeprived]

INTRO

So these are the fandoms I'm in and the topics I'll be posting about:

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (SingShong)

Alien Stage (VIVINOS & Qmeng)

Bungo Stray Dogs (Kafka Asagiri)

Link Click (Studio LAN)

Ennead (Mojito)

Heaven Official's Blessing (MXTX)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MXTX)

Vanitas no Carte (Mochijun)

Moriarty The Patriot (Takeuchi Ryōsuke)

The Husky and his White Cat Shizun (Meatbun doesn't eat Meat)

HelluvaBoss (Vivziepop)

HazbinHotel (Vivziepop)

Rainbow City (Chaepali)

Most recent read was ORV so I'm still recovering... It's been 2 months... will it ever stop hurting

Yeah I know this is an actual graphic representation of myself:

- Sleep🌵

[madraleen]

Moriarty the Patriot - Ryōsuke Takeuchi & Hikaru Miyoshi Chapters 65-76 : A heavily ship-oriented commentary.

-louis thanking william for choosing to live, he's so sweet

-aw lil louis hugging his brother

-the three brothers are together again :')

-i don't recall seeing louis this peaceful ever before, as now that william and albert are returned

-i feel like i'm reading a prolonged happy epilogue and i'm alright with that

-why is albert's and mycroft's reunion so soft omg

-erm? bond/mrs hudson, y/y? THIS IS SO WHOLESOME I SHIP IT

-THE CLOSE-UP ON SHERLOCK'S EYES AS WILL WALKS INTO THE ROOM, WTH! groom meet groom

-i love smiling william. i really do love smiling william, i smile along with him

-ah, sunshine billy!

-louis pretty much loves everyone on this dinner for helping his brother

-AHAHA BILLY IS ONTO YOU, SHERLOCK, HE KNOWS YOU DOTE ON WILLIAM (re: the fruit being 9o% for him)

-i'm really happy for louis, he looks so content

-OKAY BUT LOOK AT HOW BOND LOOKS AT MRS HUDSON! I SHIP IT

-"SHERLY"

-ASFDKM, WILLIAM "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF BUT I KNOW I ENJOYED BEING WITH YOU." finally william is also reciting his wedding vows. he opened up his heart to sherlock (or rather, sherlock barged his way in it) and now the world suddenly looks beautiful, yes.

-aw will bb cries :(

-oh. liam and sherly lived in brooklyn. *steve/bucky flashbacks*

-the amazing thing is that neither sherlock nor liam make a fuss about others commenting on their relationship, ever. they're like, "yeah, i simp for this bitch, and?"

-"sherly." i'm sorry, i'll stop making a note of it, but... it comes so casually now. "sherly" :')

-aww, william crying at being thanked by the girlie

-argh william and sherly separately staring at the fire and worrying for one another

-one liam was indeed more troublesome than 100 soldiers, but this is such a cute comment, sherlock, shut up

-fucking william, literally a knight on a white horse

-that one time holmes and moriarty were in a western

-oh i'd say william's body is done recuperating, sherlock. you missed that action hero entrance

-i can't wait to see sherly's face when he sees liam. okay yeah i saw it, it's predictably soft. he's falling in love all over again

-sherly be like "i've dragged that man back from death kicking and screaming and nursed him until he couldn't take it anymore, YOU AIN'T SHOOTING HIM!"

-"why did you come," asks sherlock, with a grin up to his ears

-LIAM WANTS THEM TO LIVE TOGETHER, SHARE THEIR WORRIES TOGETHER, HELP ME! me? help sherly, is he okay, is he fainting right about now?

-SHERLY WANTS THEM TO LIVE TOGETHER AND GUIDE EACH OTHER TOO, GUHHH. they're getting married. again.

-it had been a long while since liam looked like a kitten

-LMFAO EVEN BILLY CALLED THEM WEDDING VOWS HELP. and literally no one contradicts him. 

-seeing the gang react to sherlock's story like we just did is hilarious

-william had been looking for moran but he was too good at hiding? hilarious.

-hahaha the entire gang will be working together for mi6, nice. this feels like a "and they all lived happily ever after” fanfic in the best way

-we interrupt for a "moran becomes a cooking show judge" interlude

-OKAY, the happiest of endings! i'm glad!

[doamarierose-honoka]

Boruto has gained significant attention in recent months, especially after the Blue Vortex time skip, and a character who has become one of the most prominent in the story is Eida. From her character design to her nature as a cyborg, Eida is someone the fandom has appreciated quite a lot, and one of the reasons was her most powerful ability, Omnipotence.The Omnipotence ability can lead most characters in Boruto, bar the ones who have blood connections to her or are part of the Otsutsuki race, to be charmed by her. However, the ability can also switch a person's place and role, as happened with the title character and Kawaki. Now, there is information that the inspiration behind the ability can explain much of it.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Boruto series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda.

The inspiration behind Eida's Omnipotence ability in Boruto

There is a fan theory that Eida's Omnipotence could be inspired by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Takeshi Obata's 2014 manga known as All You Need is Kill, which was adapted in the West as a film titled Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. The main character of that manga has to live the same day over and over again, which is something that connects with Eida's ability.This is further emphasized in recent chapters of the manga when Boruto is talking with Shikamaru Nara, stating that they have had this conversation in the past and that the new Hokage will forget it soon. That theory could explain why it feels like Sarada Uchiha has been saying the same thing for the last three years: the events are repeating themselves, and the protagonist is, on paper, doomed to relive these moments.Of course, much like in the movie, Boruto could potentially fix this situation since there is a chance of him changing things. The solution, as a theory, could be him making some changes to the events and different situations in the hopes that it could affect the flow of things, which is something that author Masashi Kishimoto could aim for with the recent plots in the manga.

The current state of the series

The cover of the first volume of Blue Vortex (Image via Shueisha)

Boruto is a series that has had a lot of ups and downs since it started, although there is general consensus that the Blue Vortex time skip has been one of the best decisions for this manga in the long run. Compared to many other moments in the series, there is a common conception that this is the best period of the story thus far.This is because of several reasons, such as the protagonist's current state as an outlaw, Eida's manipulations through her Omnipotence, the whereabouts of key characters such as Naruto and Sasuke, and the impending threat of the clones at the moment. There is a lot to unpack in the series at the moment, which is why there is so much interest in the fandom now.Perhaps the biggest challenge at the moment for author Masashi Kishimoto is giving these plot points the conclusion they deserve. Kishimoto has been criticized for not sticking the landing on many of his biggest plots in both Naruto and Boruto, so it is going to be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.

Final thoughts

Eida's Omnipotence ability in Boruto could be inspired by the All You Need is Kill manga, also known as Edge of Tomorrow, because of the Western film adaptation by Tom Cruise. This is because both situations have led to the main character having to deal with an endless cycle of the same day constantly repeating itself.

[worldcomics51]

Moriarty the Patriot torna a gennaio e termina il manga Servamp

Sul numero di agosto della rivista Jump SQ, rivista di di Shueisha, ha rivelato che la seconda parte di Moriarty the Patriot di Ryōsuke Takeuchi e Hikaru Miyoshi inizierà la serializzazione nel numero di gennaio 2025, che uscirà il 4 dicembre. La prima parte si era conclusa nel dicembre del 2022 con la fine dell’arco “Valley of Fellows”, iniziato nel volume 17, che si ispirava al quarto e ultimo…

[tgaeuanbaxter]

One Japanese mangaka by the name Ryōsuke Takeuchi decided to reinvent the character of Moriarty. In his manga, Moriarty the patriot (憂国のモリアーティ,) Moriarty is depicted as a sort of folk hero, a man who strikes at the rich and those he views as evil with brutality. His illegal and vicious exploits to protect those who cannot protect themselves poses a question of morality concerning Sherlock, who is after Moriarty, similarly to other renditions of Sherlock Holmes. The story itself is centered around Moriarty, with him & Sherlock being each other's intellectual equals. Moriarty in this version is similar in a sense to Conan Doyle's original Holmes, operating outside the law to enact his justice, however due to his methods, often including murder, it does pose a question. Is it right for Holmes to apprehend Moriarty for his crimes? Takeuchi's work is a unique take on Conan Doyle's works, and I highly recommend watching/reading it.

[megsbooklr]

2022 End of Year Book Asks - part 1/5

(I’m answering all these questions because they are a cool way to summarize my year of reading ^^)

1) How many books did you read this year?

24 novels and novellas, 16 short stories, 2 mangas

2) Did you reread anything? What?

The Silmarillion, A Study in Scarlet, Fullmetal Alchemist

3) What were your top five books of the year?

Eight Detectives

The Graveyard Book

Mo Dao Zu Shi

The Snake and the Crane (on-going webnovel)

Moriarty the Patriot (on-going manga)

4) Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

J.F. Lee - the author of the wuxia series Tales of the Swordsman; Alex Pavesi - for Eight Detectives; Ryōsuke Takeuchi for Moriarty the Patriot manga series :)

5) What genre did you read the most of?

Fantasy - with the majority of titles belonging to wuxia/xianxia/inspired by Korean/Chinese mythology category :)

[manga-and-stuff]

All You Need Is Kill

Edge of Tomorrow

オールユーニードイズキル

Ryōsuke Takeuchi

Takeshi Obata

[lunaslittlelibrary]

Luna’s Manga Reviews #14

Luna’s Manga Reviews #14 incl Moriarty the Patriot, Mao and more! #mangas #manag #graphicnovel

Moriarty the Patriot, Vol. 4 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi, Hikaru Miyoshi (Illustrations) The untold story of Sherlock Holmes’ greatest rival, Moriarty! Before he was Sherlock’s rival, Moriarty fought against the unfair class system in London by making sure corrupt nobility got their comeuppance. But even the most well-intentioned plans can spin out of control—will Moriarty’s dream of a more just and…

[shesnake]

“Catch me if you can, Mr. Holmes.”

Moriarty the Patriot (2020-2021) based on the manga by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi + Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series.

[patchworkprince-archive]

yuukoku no moriarty by ryōsuke takeuchi

[moriartyluver]

𝐃𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭

❝ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴍᴇ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ, ᴅᴇᴋᴜ❞

ᴅʏɪɴɢ ᴡɪsʜ ⁀➷ ᴍʏ ʜᴇʀᴏ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍɪᴀ x ᴍᴏʀɪᴀʀᴛʏ! ꜰᴇᴍ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

⏝ ⊹ ⏝ ⏝ ୨୧ ⏝ ⏝ ⊹ ⏝

˗ˏˋ 𝙄𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 (𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚) 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙐𝘼 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙮ˎˊ˗

⏝ ⊹ ⏝ ⏝ ୨୧ ⏝ ⏝ ⊹ ⏝

poc, all skin tones, all body types friendly

! slow updates !

꒰ fluff, angst, comedy ꒱

Character Profile

Playlist

Act I

In which the past of the lady of crime is revealed, Celeste James Moriarty joins UA and catches the eye of a certain organisation.

Our story is about the girl who managed to confound he world's greatest detective...

The genius criminal mastermind, known as Professor Moriarty.

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

ⓒ Kohei Horikoshi

ⓒ Hikaru Miyoshi & Ryōsuke Takeuchi

ᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ : 02.10.22

ᴅᴀᴛᴇ ᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ : ???

𓂃 I do not own My Hero Academia or Moriarty the Patriot.(Name) and a few OCS belong to me. 𓂃

this book will not contain any specific characteristics (hair, height, race etc.). I will have my own personal interpretation of her but her design is yours to imagine. This is a reader insert after all. The only mentioned characteristic will be her red eyes. That is all.

(On that note, her family will be white. That doesn't mean she will be though because she's adopted. As for Louis in this book, you can choose whether you're biologically related or not but you will have a brother-sister dynamic.)

• (Name) will be female and use she/her pronouns.

•(Name) will be a female version of the character "William james moriarty". Her name in this will be 'Celeste' but it will be constantly referred to that it isn't her real name and just the name she had taken on after stealing her adoptive sister's identity. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ITS AN X OC STORY

• (name) will have the tendency to not be a great person sometimes. We all have flaws, so it's only reasonable that she will too.

•some of the older characters will be aged down (e.g. shigaraki will be 18 ish). These relationships will usually be between the Mc and villains so they aren't meant to be healthy and this isn't me justifying anything. It just makes the story less weird if a 20 something year old isn't obsessing over a 16 year old girl.

Warning!

this book contains themes of child abuse, swearing, yandere tendencies for some, harassment, death, violence and mental instability. It will also contain spoilers for recent chapters of the manga for mha as well as spoilers for moriarty the patriot

[2centsoframblings]

Two cents of ramblings on “Yūkoku no Moriarty” (‘Moriarty The Patriot’) (Anime) - Season 1...

...and why I STRONGLY recommend it.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Yūkoku no MORIARTY (憂国のモリアーティ “Moriarty The Patriot”)

Media: Anime television series

Adaptation of: Yūkoku no MORIARTY (憂国のモリアーティ “Moriarty The Patriot”) shōnen manga by Takeuchi Ryōsuke, illustrated by Miyoshi Hikaru.

Genre: Crime, Mystery

Directed by: Nomura Kazuya

Written by: Zappa Gō

Studio: Production I.G

Original run: October 11, 2020 December 20, 2020

Episodes: 11

WARNINGS: There's murder, drug abuse, mistreatment of minors, discrimination, implication of sexual abuse of minors.

The plot in short: The story is a very loose retelling of “Sherlock Holmes” by Conan Doyle, however this time the main protagonist is professor William J. Moriarty, who’s now represented as a man committing crimes in an attempt to fight the corruption of the English nobles so as to create a better world.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

The title got me curious and since Studio I.G usually makes very good series I decided to try it out.

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference the manga version on which this anime is based, the manga “Fushiji Fushiji” (ふしぎふしぎ ‘Wonder wonder’) by Yamazaki Hiroshi, the manga “Death Note” by Ōba Tsugumi and illustrated by Obata Takeshi, the anime “Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch” (コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ ‘Code Geass: Lelouch of the rebellion’). Oh and the movie “The silence of the lambs”.

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The series uses as opening “DYING WISH” by Tasuku Hatanaka, and, as ending theme, “ALPHA” by STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION. I quite liked both song and I love, love, love, both the opening and the ending. They’re both awesomely drawn and well matching with the songs, the opening is filled with symbolism and foreshadowing which makes it pretty intriguing. The ending, if possible, is drawn even better, even though it’s mostly a panning of still images and it too drives forward an interesting message.

The plot: This first season loosely covers the first 4 volumes of the manga (and a chapter from vol 5). Loosely because they actually skipped 3 arcs and added one. Each arc is a case the Moriarty brothers take, but the structure of its presentation might differ from case to case. This season works mostly an introduction to the characters and the story but we also see an evolution in the situation as the characters start to interact and the Moriarty brothers’ plan begins to unfold. Personally I enjoyed the series both for the overarching plot that it starts and for the episodic plots that it contains.

The characters: As this season covers only a small part of the manga we get introduced only to a part of the full cast and since not all the arcs of the manga are covered Fred and Moran are less developed than their manga counterparts, the anime focusing more on the Moriarty brothers as well as on Holmes and Watson. Still, the characters come out as interesting and likeable and there’s a care in depicting the minor characters involved in the various stories, even though they often get to end up being simplified a bit, often either to tame down the story or due to time constraints.

The visual: Personally I think the anime did a good work of reproducing Miyoshi Hikaru’s work. The character design is faithful enough to the one of the manga and there’s this amazing cure in the background which I really love. Here and there however I feel the quality is a little less than good though it will probably get fixed in the dvd release. There are some interesting stylistic choices too so it’s still very pleasurable to watch.

The BGM: Oh, no doubt I love it. I truly enjoyed Tachibana Asami’s work on this series, the music well underline the mood, stays with you and it’s pleasurable to hear.

Overall: It’s a good, well done and intriguing first season. I would personally wish it had been longer, so as not to cut arcs and take more time exploring the characters but nowadays seasons are mostly short so I guess they couldn’t do things differently. It’s still a good work and a good transposition, even though if you want to know more about the characters I recommend you to read the manga.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

Let me dig a moment into the opening and the endings as I think they really did a good job here. The opening really get you in the mood of the series and gifts you with little gems of foreshadowing and symbolism.

It starts with the sun disappearing so we find ourselves in the dark side of the day and of London. Then it well introduces the Moriarty brothers and their helpers (Fred and Moran) and then send them walking for the night streets of London.

The scene is interrupted by the nobles entertaining themselves with a masked ball… uncaring of how a lily (usually used as symbol of purity and innocence) lays in a pool of blood. The only one who pays it any mind and picks it up is William Moriarty, which basically foreshadows the whole plot of the story, the nobility is uncaring of other people’s suffering while he wants to help. As the lily seems to redden further in blood we basically get a flashback of a poor girl selling lilies having her flowers tossed on the ground a noble deliberately stepping on them with cruelty while she’s desperate and then disappears in red petals. The lily in William’s hand, now completely red, burns.

I mean, this whole scene isn’t just beautifully drawn and takes care to match with the music in both melody and lyrics but it’s of an awesome symbolism for the series down to how London will burn in the following season.

We’re treated with some more symbolism, fruits which quickly grow rotten, a poor street and a cemetery, a statue of the angel of death then, in a maze of thin threads, Sherlock appears and this too symbolizes how he’ll have to untangle the skein of the Moriarty case. Sherlock runs with Watson and the next we know is he and William are pointing their respective guns at each other head, foreshadowing another scene in the next season.

Then a bird flies above them (birds, I’m not sure if they’re crows or ravens, are used to symbolizes the Moriarty brothers) and, superimposed to it, we see hands being joined and then the other 2 Moriarty brothers and William and Fred, so as to symbolize how they’ll join forces with William.

We get a flashback of the Moriarty house burning down and then of William’s eyes. To better tie him to the bird, his eyes are then covered by bird’s wings and we see 3 birds (symbolizing the Moriarty brothers) fly away. The song’s pace get fast and we’re showing Fred and Moran fighting, Albert smiling (as he basically fights from behind the scenes, using his own power to aid his brother’s plan) and then Louis fighting as well.

William then, in a scene that reminds me a lot of the opening of “Zankyō no Terror” let himself be fall from what we’ll discover is the big bang tower, watching the city as it burns, and foreshadowing how he plans to end his plan. As if this foreshadowing isn’t enough, the scene switches again, William joins his companions in a room and points a gun at his own head. All this is beautiful animation, smooth transitions and intriguing storytelling that well fit with the music and the lyrics of the song which I recommend to read as you enjoy it. And I love it.

And what to say of the ending?

It starts depicting a simple episode of the Moriarty brothers’ childhood. They’re just having fun painting some walls with beautiful scenery (which is symbolism for how they are hoping in real life that, with their actions, they can paint a beautiful world).

I love how they did the colouring, it reminds me of watercolours, I liked how they had bright colours all over the characters, how the clear colouring of the scenery makes it look like as if everything is filled with light. Although it’s made by still images on which the camera pans, it has its own dynamism, the characters in motion and expressive. It reminds me of the manga “Fushiji Fushiji” (ふしぎふしぎ ‘Wonder wonder’) by Yamazaki Hiroshi whose message was just to discover the wonderful beauty of the ordinary all around you.

There’s an interesting contrast between the lyrics and this calm and happy moment, well harmonized by the music that still seems happy and dynamic but it has a purpose.

In fact the hopefulness and the wonder are kind of shattered when, at the end, we have a really clever transition.

The image moves from the brothers looking at the painting they made in front of them, to the beautiful images painted behind them, as if to hint those images, those happy moments will become their past, something they’ll leave behind, and then the image quickly shift and we see the three brothers, now adults, under the rain and among ruins (are those the ruins of the place they painted?). Albert has a bittersweet expression, the corner of his lips are turned up but the rain makes it look as if he’s crying,

Louis keeps his face down, in the shadows and is not smiling,

William is smiling but it’s a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, which are on the ground, a forced smile.

The rain soaks them like tears, in a way it washes away the memory of the colours that covered them because, despite their beautiful hopes and dreams, what they had to do was dark and painful and definitely not nice, the sad contrast between idealism and realty.

The songs end showing the Moriarty coat of arms on the ground, in a giant puddle (or outright under water) the words ‘Je crois en moi’ (“I believe in myself”) clearly visible as the song ends with “There is no turning back” which fits so well with how the Moriarty brothers can’t return to that time of their childhood… how they can only advance until the end.

So okay, said this let’s move on the story.

As I said the anime starts with an original only episode. Why this choice when they instead cut manga arcs? Why not to animate another manga arc instead than create a new one that’s loosely based on “The hunting of the Baskervilles”? Why not to just animate “The hunting of the Baskervilles” instead? Why did we ended up having “The earl’s crime” instead?

My guess is that the anime was very invested in making sure we would know we’ve to root for the Moriarty brothers, but also that we were aware that, although they want to create a new world, they’re not Yagami Light from “Death Note” but are closer to Lelouch Lamperouge from “Code Geass”.

So what they do?

They first remember us who was Professor Moriarty, the Lord of Crime in Conan Doyle’s tales by starting the story showing us a kid reading “Sherlock Holmes – The final problem” book and, as his father gives the book a look, his gaze falls on a photo of Professor Moriarty (and the image of Moriarty is a copy of the illustration by Sidney Paget which accompanied the original publication of “The Final Problem”) and then we hear…

Narrator: This is the tale of the man who confounded even the great detective Sherlock Holmes… Professor Moriarty, the Lord of Crime.

…and, as we hear so the image switches from the picture of the book to an image of William Moriarty as we’ll see him in the series, all busy writing mathematic expressions on a blackboard, but then everything seems to take fire as he keeps on writing and then everything fades to black.

From this start we might even think the story was going to represent Moriarty as we know him from the books… an evil mastermind… though the story would start from his past, as the Moriarty we see writing on the blackboard is clearly younger.

And this is a device to raise interest. Then the opening starts.

I’ve discussed about how awesome the opening is above, but when you first see it, you might not catch up all the symbolism or only part of it and therefore fail to see the full picture and this too is a good idea.

Then the episode starts and in a nightmarish red atmosphere (as every image is painted with a red filter) someone chases a poor kid, captures him and makes clear he’s going to make something terrible to him.

We don’t clearly see who’s doing this so we might be tricked into thinking it’s Moriarty himself… but then it turns out the guy implied to be a young Moriarty is reading on the newspaper about the kidnapping and this can divide the audience in 2 groups, those who realizes by the glimpses we saw of the abuser he can’t be Moriarty and those who didn’t.

And here the anime does another clever thing with this bit of dialogue.

Louis: It’s hard to believe a human being could do such a thing. William: (smiling) It’s human to think that this could not be the work of a man.

The fact William can smile in such a way for such topic feels suspicious, the anime plays with our pre-existing ideas of how professor Moriarty is evil. Is he bragging when he talks with Louis? Or is he genuinely analyzing the case? Or is he planning to offer his services to the child murderer?

And then, as he studies the case we get this line…

William: People’s fancies do not get taken by that which is out of view. They want what they see.

…and doesn’t all this starts to look like a reference to “The silence of the lambs”?

Clarice Starling: The thing is that Lecter said everything we need to catch him is in these pages. Ardelia Mapp: Dr Lecter said a lot of things. Clarice Starling: He's here, Ardelia. Ardelia Mapp: Is this Lecter's handwriting? "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random - like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter." Clarice Starling: "Desperately random." What does he mean? Ardelia Mapp: Not random at all, maybe. Like there's some pattern here...? Clarice Starling: But there is no pattern or the computers would've nailed it. They're even found in random order. Ardelia Mapp: Random because of the one girl. The one he weighted down. Clarice Starling: Oh, Fredrica Bimmel, from... Belvedere, Ohio. First girl taken, third body found. Why? Ardelia Mapp: 'Cause she didn't drift. He weighted her down. Clarice Starling: What did Lecter say about..."First principles"? Ardelia Mapp: Simplicity... Clarice Starling: What does this guy do, he "covets". How do we first start to covet? Ardelia Mapp: "We covet what we see -" Clarice Starling: " - every day." Ardelia Mapp: Hot damn, Clarice. Clarice Starling: He knew her.

Now, child murder is one of those crimes that are considered morally terrible by a lot of people included criminals. If you add to this a comparison between the criminal and the culprit of “The Silence of the Lambs” you create in people’s mind the image of a monster.

And, as William keep on talking, it’s clear he’s not the culprit, but the fact he claims…

William: This may be a case in which we become involved.

…might still make people to wonder on how he would get involved.

Professor Moriarty wasn’t a detective, he was a crime consultant, a lord of crime, so what is he up to?

And there’s also something else that’s incredibly smart, the whole mention of how a victim was an orphan with William discussing the lack of relation between noble men and orphans.

Louis: Still, one of the victims… …appears to have been an orphan who slept on the streets. What of him? William: Ah, yes. Noblemen and orphans—there is nothing quite so far removed as the two worlds in which they live. Assuming that’s the case, it could be the clue that leads us to our culprit.

And at this point the dynamic between the two starts to resemble the one people would expect between Holmes and Watson but there’s more in this line that just that, the foreshadowing William knows personally the distance between nobles and orphans.

And then Albert appears and goes visiting the father of one of the victims, Eden, but who pays attention to the discussion might notice that he’s an earl… and the episode’s title was “The Earl's Crime” so is he the culprit?

Meanwhile as we are introduced to the poor father, we start to pity him. That man is destroyed from pain for his loss… and he’s a nice, humble man, a loving father who lost a beloved child. We sympathize with him, we want justice for him.

Then William approaches a boy… but in case we still have doubt it’s clear he’s merely doing so to investigate on the case… and then William and Louis are joined by Albert and their goal is made clear, provide the poor father with a chance of vengeance.

So, now we know for sure William, Louis and Albert aren’t involved in the child murders and are hunting the culprit… and we all side with them because what he did was terrible… but just in case we need an extra push let’s have Earl of Argleton, aka the culprit, be introduced… and at the same time William confirm what we assumed, that he is William James MORIARTY.

Then William, engaging conversation with the Earl, acting as if he were Sherlock Holmes (to the point even the Earl observes he seems a detective) points out from where the various objects the Earl is wearing come. The Earl is impressed by his deductions but for us, viewers, the scene is a further proof the Earl is guilty because all those objects come from the shops from which worked the murdered kids. And, as William progresses, even the Earl realizes that’s the point he’s trying to make.

And then we’ve William say this.

William: You prefer the meat of young hares, yes? Tender, not yet fully developed, and so fresh that it still drips with blood, which you take your time to savour, nice and slow.

And, as he says so, we see the shapes of young boys running, and they seem naked, and they’re smiling and it’s clear that’s how the earl sees them… Previously we were merely said the killer ‘target young boys for their amusement, and then, after they’re done, slaughter them’.

You might even think the amusement was in the hunt… but now it has been made clear the Earl lusts for those young boys. And if killing a child is considered one of the worst crimes, it pales to sexually abuse a child. The series as now successfully painted the Earl as the most disgusting monster ever.

So why is this so very important?

Because you ends up agreeing with William that this person deserves to be killed, that the world would be better without him. And this means that in the viewers’ eyes the figure of Moriarty despite being called ‘crime lord’ and ‘crime consultant’ will be viewed as someone who bring justice, not something like Yagami Light who forced his own justice to the world, but something we all agreed upon is justice.

The Earl is a monster. He deserves to die.

This episode also becomes a chance to let us glimpse Lois in action. In the manga he would start to be more active much later, ironically exactly in “The hunting of the Baskervilles” while the anime decided to put him immediately at work. While this choice sacrifices part of the character arc of both Louis and William (there was a reason why Louis wasn’t as active at the start), since “The hunting of the Baskervilles” was cut, it made sense to put it here.

There’s also the beautiful artistic choice to show William arriving driving a coach as the scene is completely covered by fog with the sounds somewhat muffled.

It feels creepy, like the death itself is getting on that place. And then it turns out the tables are turned, the coach was likely Earl of Argleton’s one and this time it was his turn to be kidnapped, taken there and tied over as he had done countless times with the boys… and it’s William, instead than him, the one who gets inside the place, his red eyes shining as he gets inside.

And really, the colouring is so brilliant here because it’s mostly greyish brown and white but then there are some colours that shine and are clearly visible.

William’s eyes and tie which are red… his blond hair… Eden’s red tie and his empty blue eyes… the Earl’s fear filled blue eyes…

And then there’s a flashback in which William is shown talking with Eden.

Eden: Are you certain you can grant my wish… …Sir William? William: Mr Eden, what you are proposing to do Is unfortunately categorized by this twisted world as a crime. Knowing this, does your resolve remain unchanged?

We’ve a flashback in a flashback, with Eden thinking at what happened to his poor son before he nods.

William: Very well. Then I, crime consultant William James Moriarty, accept your request.

And with this we go back to the present and to Eden pulling out a pair of scissors. It’s clear what he wants to do and William urges him to be quick about it. We see nothing of the gruesome scene that happened after, just darkness and a scream, but we’ve gotten to a point where few of us would deny a poor father the chance to avenge his own son abused and murdered by such a monster.

Light returns as William lights a match and this too symbolizes how William’s actions bring light in a world filled with darkness. Birds fly away and raven’s feather flutter around him so that we now will get the symbolism in the opening.

Eden joins him and William kindly offers him his tissue so he can clean up before he personally takes care to close the door of the place in which Earl of Argleton was killed. We don’t see the Earl, just some blood but it’s clear it should have been a gruesome mess and this too is clever.

Some anime like to show things up but merely implying is much more powerful because you can actually imagine a scenario as bad as you prefer.

The episode ends showing Eden being back to normal. Although this is kind of a dangerous message to give out (vengeance by murder bringing you peace, I mean) it makes sense.

The ending for this episode is just a black screen on which credits runs but it makes sense to postpone seeing the images in the ending AFTER this episode, when we’ve seen “The scarlet eyes” and got to know the young versions of the Moriarty brothers.

After the ending the anime leaves a final bit explaining how the Moriarty brothers went through the trouble of erasing everything so that the death of the Earl and his coachman don’t even make it to the news, so that they successfully created the perfect crime.

With this the episode ends and now the series has successfully created a mind setting in which we know William helps people in committing terrible crimes… but in a way we see him as Robin Hood, as if those crimes were an act of justice because those people were terrible but due to social differences and privileges they were also untouchable and this was the only way to punish them.

William is not Yagami Light, who passed judgement on people because he felt better than them, he really feels a lot more like someone who brings justice were none can be obtained but with terrible methods. Like Lelouch Lamperouge, he took what was helpless and gave him power so that they could obtain justice.

Long story short, this episode exist to make as easy as possible to see William as a good guy despite committing crimes and “The scarlet eyes” couldn’t quite drive to the same result.

It’s not solely just because the anime tamed it down, so that the nobles involved seem less abusive than in the manga, but because that’s what those nobles are. In “The earl’s crime” we have a paedophile murderer, so it’s easy to say he deserved a horrible death but in “The scarlet eyes” we just have abusive people.

They’re bad, mind you, but this could still lead to the discussion ‘did they deserve to be murdered like that though?’ They were Albert’s real family after all. They were horrible but they hadn’t killed anyone yet. And the decision to murder them is taken by three children who all benefit from their death. And what about young William preaching to kill all the bad nobles to a group of children?

Mind you, I’m not saying that the “The scarlet eyes” is bad, in truth it’s a lot more interesting than “The earl’s crime” but it moves on a huge grey area… which is great if you want to think things through but if you’re handling a short anime and need your viewers to immediately stick with the main character… well, it doesn’t work so well.

So yeah, “The earl’s crime” might not be quite as good but it works well as first episode, and it serves well to make viewers understand to what William is referring when he gives his speech about wanting to fight the whole country.

William: Our lives should have the same value… Everyone should have an equal right to happiness… But in this country, that doesn’t exist. This class system places a curse upon people. Because of it, people’s hearts are tainted and twisted, giving rise to devils. In which case, the opposite is also true. Once the devils are cast out, people’s hearts become clear again, and the curse is lifted. The country will assuredly be beautiful.

And if you hear all this and think to episode 1, you see how the unfairness of a class system allowed a man to abuse and murder young poor boys and how murdering him fixed everything. It’s an easy to understand, immediate message and one that can easily be shared by the viewers.

So yeah, it works. It’s not great and morally elaborate like the other episodes but that’s exactly its purpose. To be as straightforward as possible to drive home a concept.

So, yeah, I think they did a very clever thing with episode 1… though, on the opposite side, I hate how, due to the limited episode number, its existence meant to further cutting chapters from being transposed. And it’s not just that chapters were cut… even those that were transposed were often changed so as to make them short and simpler.

Mind you, the episodes still remains powerful and well done but they’re actually a lot less strong than the original.

For example in “A rare breed” which is the transposition of “The one grapefruit pie” all William does is to cause the viscount’s death because he let a child die. In the manga he lowered the rents the townspeople had to pay to live on his newly acquired property, stole the control of the town from an evil baron (in the anime they decided to turn Baron Dublin into Viscount of Belfor), forced him to regret denying to the parents of the sick child a glass of water by causing him to feel sick and desperately needing water, write down a formal apology to the child as well as a testament that, once he were to die, his tenant farmers would inherit his lands and then caused the baron’s death.

It’s a much bigger accomplishment for a more complicate plot which is much more tied to the state of society than the one of the anime, who merely focus on a noble’s wrongdoing toward a poor family… but “A rare breed” is still a very good episode, even if simpler than what gave it inspiration.

Another downside of the cuts is that, as I mentioned before, the characters gets less fleshed out than in the manga, which is something that strikes hard for the minor characters. Moneypenny gets cut off and the same goes for Von Herder and Mycroft Holmes (although they’ll manage to recover the two of them for season 2), while Fred and Moran will get a lot less characterization.

Major characters will also be affected by the cuts, although they won’t have it as bad as the minors.

Still…

William James Moriarty, Albert James Moriarty, Louis James Moriarty, Fred Porlock, Sebastian Moran, Sherlock Holmes, John H. Watson, Miss Hudson, George Lestrade, I loved them all. They might be not as fleshed out as in the manga but they’re still interesting and very likable, especially William and Sherlock. I love those two guys they’re perfect.

Now… for who’s not familiar with “Sherlock Holmes” and doesn’t get why this story involves the ‘Moriarty brothers’ instead than just professor Moriarty, that is because Takeuchi Ryōsuke, the manga author, found an interesting way to solve the contradictory information about Professor Moriarty. Professor Moriarty has no given name in the first story in which he appeared (“The Final Problem”) but gives him a brother, Colonel James Moriarty. However, according to another story (“The Adventure of the Empty House”) it’s said that is professor Moriarty who’s named James and his brother is not a Colonel but a station master. So Takeuchi Ryōsuke decided to interpret all this as Moriarty having two brothers, one of which is a Colonel (Albert) and giving to the three siblings the middle name of ‘James’ so that when they play the role of Lord of crime the three of them can say they are ‘James Moriarty’, which is quite clever if you ask me.

And then, because repetita iuvant, the visual is so very great, from the art used for the background to the way the scenes are framed. Really I love this.

So, to sum it up, the first season of this series is a very good first season and actually I hope the fact that it differs slightly from the manga will also work to persuade you to read the manga because boys, the manga is awesome.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching: Confrontation

[madraleen]

Moriarty the Patriot - Ryōsuke Takeuchi & Hikaru Miyoshi Volume 6-Chapter 64 "It's not you, it's me" turned to "ASJFSDF": A Commentary

[tldr; i got so very bored reading the anime-covered parts, but once new things were introduced, i got excited again.]

-v6 is anime territory, i have nothing to comment.

-i'm halfway through volume 8. really, i have nothing to say, all this is anime territory, i know it. i want to get to the new stuff.

-william is such a sweet professor tho

-*chokes* "HEY PROFESSOR DID I PASS YOUR TEST"?! SHERLOCK YOU DIRTY MINX

-i see sherlock and william are adopting a son (bill)

-sherlock's cigarette fell off his mouth when william told him to survive "sherlock," and you know what, relatable 

-i'm speed reading, i just want to get the anime stuff over with. i feel like i'm not experiencing anything new story-wise or visually-wise and i'm losing interest.

-i wonder how guilt-ridden "i can't forgive myself/i want to die" william gets by in the remaining six volumes.

-i really do like that louis who's so william-obsessed betrays william to protect him.

-sherlock's apology to john, peak apology.

-i like william's reasoning "i wanted to get rid of the devils, i became a devil to do it, therefore i have to get rid of myself too." makes it grounded and convincing

-william visited sherlock to tell him to kill him and they're two seconds away from blushing and confessing their love. john playing matchmaker without knowing it

-bold of liam to assume that with this kind of letter sherlock wouldn't move heaven and earth to save him. profiling-sherlock: 0-1.

-i'm excited again. anxious even, even though we're still on the bridge, familiar territory

-sherlock making his wedding vows as liam hangs down the bridge

-"sherly"

-"when did you guys get together?" "well, we were falling down this bridge into the thames to certain death and..."

-that hair tho. damn, sherlock! don't ever tie that hair again, what

-SHERLOCK LOOKS SO GOOD WITH THE LONG LOOSE HAIR I CAN'T GET OVER IT

-louis must be dying inside wanting to know if his brother is alive too

-goddamn sherlock's face is so soft when he realizes william is on the bed next to him after he comes to

-sherlock getting worried and protective over his damn man, he's giving it his all here, i wish william were conscious and seeing this

-who is this american ray of sunshine?

-ah i see, billy the kid. the third william-related name in the manga.

-the US department of justice saved them, i see

-MY GOD, SHERLOCK'S FACE, HE'S SO SOFT FOR WILLIAM

-oooh, i can't wait until louis tells us how he actually feels

-i can hear you/see you speaking, sherlock, but the words don't register, all i see is the mermaid hair. THAT HAIR

-awww louis is thanking sherlock for saving liam and staying with him <3

-yes, fred, i hope we can ALL see him soon. (*william)

-it's nice seeing louis being his own person, making decisions, doing action stuff, it's cool. he does look so much like liam sometimes, but also very different

-louis ffs, all you have to do is yell at moran "BROTHER IS ALIVE."

-THANK YOU for clarifying that, moran's hand is prosthetic, okay.

-all these reunions and partnerships are so heartwarming

-WELCOME BACK TO THE FOLD, MORAN!

-now i feel bad about little william, that's such a high pedestal to be put on by albert.

-interesting how albert sees ~the original sin as his, not william's.

-albert's pov is very interesting. it's nice to see him get so introspective

-ffs william, just get into the goddamn tower and save this older brother of yours from this anguish

-oh bb william, how are you? are you doing well?

-albert: “hello, brother, i'm glad you're alive, but whoa you must be suffering living in this world with your sins, huh?” *facepalm* this is probably not the welcome william expected. not even william.

-this is so sweet, the william-albert discussion. it's so honest and heartfelt and they are so deeply connected and care for one another

-idk, i love it when characters go from "i intend to die" to "i intend to live on." 

-i like how it's "i needed this time to reflect and understand, otherwise atonement would be meaningless," it explains the three year gap and gives everything weight.

-YES, REDEEM YOURSELVES TOGETHER, DO IT TOGETHER WILLIAM AND ALBERT NII-SAN, WELCOME BACK TO THE FOLD LIL WILLIAM

-oh lil bb william burying his face in his big brother's chest, my heart

-dude this is a beautiful reunion, well done

-yes, let's go to louis :)

-sherlock sent a letter to john to let him know he was alive?? how considerate!

-the sherlock-john-miss hudson is also a sweet reunion

-WE'RE ALL HAVING DINNER WITH THE MORIARTYS? A MEETING OF THE FAMS?! ASKLFSDGNJ THAT'S TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT