#ddrk spoilers

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

10 reasons (and then some) you should read Akira Amano’s Deranged Detective (especially if you love or used to love Sherlock BBC, but basically love Doyle’s SH, not spoiler-free)

1) if you have a penchant for the height difference trope between the protagonist and the deuteragonist; with the lanky one as the private detective and the smaller a keeper of his adventures. Ron Kamonohashi sports black hair that hides the eyes. Reminiscent of Cumberbatch’s iconic SH dark curls. Police detective Totomaru “Toto” Isshiki is a blonde-/light brown-haired guy that gives off MF’s John Watson vibe.

The two met during the depressing phases of their lives. Ron lost his detective license shut out to the world for years with part memory loss and a flaw. Toto experienced a major slump at work, tied to do office tasks instead of investigating like a proper detective. Okay, Toto wasn’t a military doctor here.

2) Fine. There has never been a Turkish bath scene on Sherlock BBC, but on Doyle’s original writings SH and JW have fondness for Turkish baths and have visited there together several times. Ron and Toto went to an onsen already with them wearing yukata in their early days of acquaintance (Chapter 3).

3) Ron is a descendant of Sherlock Holmes by referencing a famous passage from “A Study in Scarlet.” And then Akira Amano confirming it in the succeeding chapters. Ms Amano took that premise when Sherlock Holmes was framed for a crime that he didn’t commit. She ran away with this idea that has become the focal point of her plot. This feels like an alternate universe.

But there’s a catch. There lies a difference among the three works. His scar that looks like “96” has a meaning. (If you scour the tags, you’ll find more super spoilers!)

4) Ron used to have a passion for the architect Le Corbusier that only a few people close to him know about. He told a “friend” that if he left England, “he’d build a vacation home in a country with one of Le Corbusier’s buildings.” An obvious nod to Sherlock BBC’s SH’s ubiquitous Le Corbusier black leather armchair.

5) Ron’s classmates at the prestigious Blue Academy in the UK nicknamed him“the freak” with negative connotation.

6) Ron might not be taking a recreational drug, but him consuming brown sugar is his addiction.

7) Toto supporting and protecting Ron has become his ethos. But there’s a major if. Some readers deduce that there’s something more than meets the eye. Is Toto a friend or a foe? Once again, an homage to season one’s “The Great Game” where SH initially thought JW was James Moriarty.

8) Ron’s eyes light up and makes a grin whenever he reaches an epiphany, as in he’s solved the mystery.

9) Moriarty. Of course. But who are they? And how many?

10) Toto’s “jealousy” every time Ron’s attention is not on him. (Elmer Stingray is the Victor Trevor.) Likewise the glances Ron gives Toto whenever the latter does or says something that pleases or amazes him. They have become each other’s world, won’t exist when they aren’t together.

And so many other things. Choice of phrases, words. (“The curtain rises… “Because you are an idiot.” ) The gestures. They give me a nostalgic kick because they remind me of Sherlock BBC. Naturally, these are the reasons that draw me to the manga.

Ps: there’s no Toby neither Gladstone here, but a cat that slumbers like dead.

(In case you’d love to know more, @clouds-of-peach )

[seekers-who-are-lovers]

Ah, these panels!