Yuukoku no Moriarty

I like the Sherlock Holmes novels, with the exception of The Sign of the Four.
It is an intriging idea to show it from the perspective of Moriarty. Of course Moriarty is way older in the original and has not that much screentime. But I am not a purist, so who cares?

It would have been way better if they had shown only the perspective of Moriarty. Sherlock's appearances should have been something special that triggers strong emotions, like when Johann appears in Monster: Short but intense. But some chapters have more "Sherly" than "Liam".

The art style is terrible. The characters all look almost the same. It is especially a problem when a character, for plot reasons, is supposed to be beautiful. The characters all look beautiful. No one stands out relatively.

I like crime stories with a well defined crowd of people, who could have done the deed, and one can guess while reading. Where, after the conclusion, one will see the foreshadowing that was done from the beginning on. That is so far not the case here. The first time we see the culprits is often when they are caught.

The depiction of the nobility is just absurd. Of course they had contempt for peasants, as moderen Ivy League americans have for average Trump voters. But it is never so direct. The upper class sees itself as noble and just. They beat down on deplorables in a more subtle ways. Paternalize them and so on.They do not go hunting them literally. Atleast not that scale.

Alright to start this off I enjoy Sherlock Holmes and his stories quite a bit. This may or may not affect how much enjoyment you get out of this manga series. Now that the short disclaimer is out of the way lets get into this. First off this series follows Moriarty for the most part. Instead of a traditional Sherlock Holmes story, this manga explains Moriarty's life and motivations as the villain of the story and it works realllllly well. Sequences with Sherlock in them have never been so interesting in my opinion and I only wish there was more out there for me to enjoy. The art is beautiful and each page is a gift for my eyes and the story even without Moriarty in a chapter is compelling enough to keep reading. The side characters make you feel genuine feelings for them and make the chapters all the more flavorful. Plus for a series more focused on seriousness there is surprising humor that has made me laugh out loud and come back to pages in order to reread the gold.

Overall it's a series that isn't super long yet so it's worth a read and the chapters keep getting better. If it had an english release I'll be the first to buy the books! Still crossing my fingers for an anime to come out of it. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

What do you get when you mix poor man's Death Note with a watered down version of BBC's Sherlock, and a dash of Akame ga Kill?

Answer: you get Yuukoku no Moriarty.

This manga is a re-imagining of the classic story, with Sherlock Holmes's arch-nemesis, the titular Moriarty, as the protagonist. For better or worse, the author didn't have the courage to go all out and keep him a self-serving master of crime. In this version, Moriarty is an underdog who goes from rags to riches, and grows up to become a merciless vigilante on a crusade against corrupt nobles.

Incredibly cheesy, right? Yes, of course, but not without potential for some nice, juicy moral ambiguity. Does the story deliver on that front? Well... yes and no. Kinda.

You see, Yuukoku no Moriarty can be split into two distinct parts: the fun one, and the NOT fun one. The manga is at its best when it focuses on Moriarty vs Sherlock mind games, and at its absolute worst when it focuses on our protagonist fighting evil nobles. And they are eeeeeevil, all right. Evil with a capital E. But, first things first, lets start with the good part.

Moriarty and Holmes are both compelling characters. One is a ruthless and brilliant killer, but driven largely by compassion for the oppressed. The other is a likable and eccentric genius detective, who sees solving crimes as the best source of entertainment. The two are good foils for each other, and their budding antagonistic relationship is the manga's strongest point, even at this early stage. It's far from perfect, though, as the manga has an unfortunate tendency to dumb Sherlock down to make our borderline Gary Stu protagonist look smarter.

Other reocurring characters can also be interesting; from Moriarty's cold hearted brother who idolizes him, to Sherlock's upright friend Watson, we have a decent variety of personalities.

So... let's get to the “not fun” part now, shall we?

The chapters that don't deal with Moriarty vs Holmes, follow the monster-of-the-week formula. It usually goes like this:

1. William (Moriarty) learns about some acts of cartoonish villainy committed by an evil noble.

2. He investigates.

3. He and his sidekicks easily kill the evil noble.

4. Rinse, repeat.

Those minor antagonists have exactly three roles to play in the story: being cruel to commoners, gloating evilly, and getting their asses handed to them by our anti-hero. They're completely one-dimensional, they're pathetically weak, and they NEVER pose any threat to the protagonist. Most of the time, they don't even put up a fight before he finishes them off! As a result, the chapters that focus on them have no dramatic tension and no thrill whatsoever. They're about as boring and predictable as it gets, and they're the vast majority.

When you read Yuukoku no Moriarty, you can tell at once if the chapter will be entertaining or not by checking if Sherlock graces it with his presence. If he doesn't, you're in for a snore-fest of the worst kind.

Keep in mind that this is a rather new manga and only 16 chapters are available for the moment, so there's probably a lot of time left to iron out the kinks. But, so far, is it worth the read? Well, if you're bored, have high tolerance for cheese, and don't mind doing a fair bit of skipping to get to the good part... why not? There is some entertainment value to be found here, though definitely diluted by the flaws.

Well what could I say about this series? I don't like Holmes that much, but yeah, this manga is totally an adaption from the famous detective novel series of Sir Authur Conan Doyle, taking the point of view of Professor James Moriaty. However, the idea in the adaption is what makes me sick.

The story takes place in the young ages of The Napoleon of Criminals, yet the genius detective and his sharp companion Watson are at the same era? What the fuck is that? If you could remix the story in that way, why hadn't considered creating a whole new detective story inspired by Holmes? And well, it seems like the chain of events would take some detours, but eventually ends up with the confrontation of Holmes and Moriaty. So there is nothing interesting, as the initial concept and execution are so garbage to me.

Next, the character, art included. James Moriaty isn't refered to Napoleon for no reason, you know. The design of Holmes' greatest rival, I could call failure. There is nothing that resembles the Emperor of France that brought war and fear to the entire Europe. He is just like a GAYLORD in this series. So do Holmes and the other impactful characters, like Dr. Watson, who looks like an idiot. I get it, the authors try to design the characters in a way that's close to the preference of Japaneses, but I have to ask again, why rather stuck with a classical series that set in stone amongst the greatest written works in the world, than creating their own series which takes the inspiration from it? Look at Conan, it is a good example. And don't even mind of Gosick, it's literaturally trash. From the design of characters, I could sense some BROMANCE on the road. Yeah, however, with or without that, I can't get it, the taste and purpose of the author in this series.

There are some potential in this approach, as the series was named Moriaty's Patriotism. Even though, there is nothing that recalls him a British patriot, as the professor was observed by foreigners, or the God of War that feared the whole Old Continent at the beginning of 19th century, or The Emperor of the Underworld that rivaled his own Majesty and country. Well, good idea, but too bad, it's just like the failed copy of a masterpiece, like Gosick.

I'm going to start off saying that this is an interesting manga. Even though a story like this has been made a thousand times before, killing to change the world is a little different. Even though I don't share the same views, I believed the story to be worth reading.

Around the sixth chapter they meet Sherlock Holmes and the pov changes to him for about two chapters or so. I would say it bounces back and forth between the Sherlock Holmes pov and the brothers. I think it's a little annoying, but I got used to it. Even though I believe that they should've focused on the Moriarty brothers because they were more interesting to read about.
Now I haven't read or seen Sherlock Holmes, but I thought this would have been so much better if they got their own characters and not base them on already existing. As you probably know if you base a story on another story, you will most likely be stuck to the source materials. I would personally would have liked it to be it's own thing because they could've done so much more with it. I think that maybe because it was Sherlock Holmes they felt like they needed to show his pov when it would've been much more enjoyable to stick with the brothers. This is my personal opinion, but I think that John and that girl that owns the apartment complex are unnecessary. It would be better to have combined them. Because I see why John is there, but I don't see why he couldn't have been with Sherlock from the begining and we would've had more to their story rather than a useless chapter introducing him to Shelock? If you get what I mean.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty average story that I will have in the back of my mind. The characters for the most part are likeable because you see where they come from( Except Sherlock's pov ofc ). The art is a standard manga style. Oh, but funny thing. At the begining of the story I thought that the eldest and the youngest noble brothers were the same person, so look out for that. If I see that the story has been updated, I will probably read it.

Overall it was something I wouldn't mind reccomending, though I wouldn't say it's amazing and groundbreaking.