The Wonderful World of Sherlock Hound

Sherlock is my favourite character in classical literature. Hound and 22nd Century are up there on my tier list in terms of adaptions. As much as I adore the BBC’s 2010 series, it was somewhat difficult to follow at times. But right now I want to focus on Hound because 22nd Century is something I’ve only caught in syndication and never actually had physical copies.

Sherlock Hound is a humble steampunk anime that sees Sherlock and Watson as canines in a furry world. The famous Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli worked on the first six episodes with five being directed himself. Being aimed at a wider audience, the series as a rather whimsical nature to it, but this doesn’t rob it’s core themes.

Hound is still stoic and sarcastic as ever yet also a lot more cheerful and laid back given the show’s lighter tone. He is someone who doesn’t take his job too seriously. But that’s nothing compared to rival, Moriarty, who is loud and incompetent that wants to use inventions to be the greatest criminal mastermind. A lot of their adventures usually revolves around Hound discovering Moriarty’s latest schemes in the most random of scenarios.

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard is laughably incompetent as Moriarty himself. Their methods and/or assumptions are always proven wrong even when they’re right about Moriarty. This makes Hound’s relationship with the Inspector both hilarious and compelling. (You can see why this wouldn’t fly in the so-called “Land of the Free.”)

A good example of this dynamic is also one of my favourite episodes. A new jewel thief shows up and is after the same prize as Moriarty. The Inspector isn’t exactly wrong to suspect to him as he was caught at the same scene of the crime before running away. However, it turns out to be a lot more complicated than that. The new thief successfully escapes with the jewel by shattering a glass window which Hound knows that Moriarty would never do. The twist behind the thief’s motives is both surprising and rather endearing, too.

Much like Summer Wars, I could go on and will likely make deeper dives to both that and Hound as well. Overall, despite being humbler and whimsical variation on the famous of detective in all of fiction, it still manages to send a thoughtful message while really challenging you to think. Despite targeting a wider and younger demographic, the show still goes out of its way to treat their audience with respect.

And on that note, adaptions like these are why I can’t understand gatekeeping fictional characters and their stories for centuries.