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EP. REVIEW: Moriarty the Patriot


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ZiharkXVI



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 348
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:09 pm Reply with quote
I almost always enjoy an alternate take on a classic tale - so there was no way I wouldn't watch this show. As long as it doesn't get superbly stupid (trying to combine acts of sheer evil with justification - sometimes its best to just write out the source material in favor of a solid tale that stands on its own rather than attempt to be clever), I'll probably really enjoy the rest of this. Already its providing me a lot of enjoyment.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 3:43 pm Reply with quote
I was making a generalization about sensational Victorian fiction, which Conan Doyle did not write, and not about Conan Doyle himself. The three others you mentioned weren't Victorian authors; they published later, and in fact weren't born until the very end of the Victorian era.

More specifically, I was looking at the genres known as sensation novels (such as those by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Wilkie Collins) and penny dreadfuls (like Child of the Jago and The Flying Dutchman), which relied on stock characters and tropes.


{Mod Edit}: This post is in response to a post by a user on an alt account that has since been removed. ~ Psycho 101
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CrypticPurpose



Joined: 15 Jan 2020
Posts: 320
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:01 pm Reply with quote
The first episode felt kind of at odds with the "criminal consultant" role they are supposed to be playing - they basically acted as detectives, figuring out the truth behind the murders, and then came to the father of one of the victims with the devil's temptation, the opportunity to personally avenge his son's death. They weren't hired to help commit a crime, but rather came up with a crime to commit, and offered it to someone they knew couldn't say no.

Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that, but it was certainly very different from what I expected.
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Morry



Joined: 26 Jun 2016
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:14 pm Reply with quote
I'm so used to adaptations rushing through the source material (*cough cough Assassin's Pride cough*) that I was flabbergasted when episode 2 ended with finishing chapter 1. Won't hear me complain, though. I haven't felt a series be this atmospheric since Noragami s1.
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rahzel rose
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Joined: 19 Apr 2011
Posts: 823
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 4:19 pm Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
They weren't hired to help commit a crime, but rather came up with a crime to commit, and offered it to someone they knew couldn't say no.


It’s not that he couldn’t say no to it, but he says in front of Albert something along the lines of “If I knew who did it . . .” and then meaningfully looks at the scissors. So it’s not that the thought had never crossed his mind and they brought the idea up unsolicited. The implication is clearly there that if the dad knew who did it, he would get revenge.
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Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 6:43 pm Reply with quote
The second episode was if anything more impressive, because if they're rolling with the "Screw the British Upper Classes!" thing I'm totally behind that given the damage posh old Etonian boys have done to this country Moriarty and pals are in the right.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 4:45 am Reply with quote
rahzel rose wrote:
CrypticPurpose wrote:
They weren't hired to help commit a crime, but rather came up with a crime to commit, and offered it to someone they knew couldn't say no.

It’s not that he couldn’t say no to it, but he says in front of Albert something along the lines of “If I knew who did it . . .” and then meaningfully looks at the scissors. So it’s not that the thought had never crossed his mind and they brought the idea up unsolicited. The implication is clearly there that if the dad knew who did it, he would get revenge.

There's also the issue that they had to play detective since the police weren't going to bother, because the victims weren't important (rich) enough. All Moriarty did was point at the right culprits and provide the opportunity to obtain justice outside a system that wasn't interested in it. Motive and means were still the choice of the "client."
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
Posts: 2793
PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:45 pm Reply with quote
I'll be honest when I say,I'm not sure about this anime. I get the idea it's trying to make a hero out of a villain. For me,it's what Disney tried to do with it's character Maleficent in a couple of live action movies. I admit,there are those who identify more with villains than heroes and that's what I think might be at play here. Knowing this,I don't think I'm going to see this show,even with an English dub. I don't think I'd be comfortable seeing it.

Last edited by Snomaster1 on Sun Nov 08, 2020 3:03 am; edited 1 time in total
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Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2020 12:32 pm Reply with quote
When picking this up I thought it would be a shallow work about poor misunderstood Pretty Boy dressed in Sherlock theming to cash in the familiarity.
Turns out it's a tad more deliberate and fitting in what it wants to do, and what it wants to do is spread that "eat the rich" message.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:07 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Many people have mentioned the ikemen-style beauty of young Professor Moriarty in this series, citing that as a concern.


I looked up the meaning for 'ikemen-style' since I have never heard of it before. It doesn't seem to be a bad thing, unless the sub-text is, that all kids have to look like dirty little ruffians , lest the adult viewers become evil for thinking they are pretty or beautiful.
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CrypticPurpose



Joined: 15 Jan 2020
Posts: 320
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 6:19 pm Reply with quote
rahzel rose wrote:
CrypticPurpose wrote:
They weren't hired to help commit a crime, but rather came up with a crime to commit, and offered it to someone they knew couldn't say no.


It’s not that he couldn’t say no to it, but he says in front of Albert something along the lines of “If I knew who did it . . .” and then meaningfully looks at the scissors. So it’s not that the thought had never crossed his mind and they brought the idea up unsolicited. The implication is clearly there that if the dad knew who did it, he would get revenge.

Still, they seem more like the bad guy from Psycho Pass, looking for people who might, in certain circumstances, commit crimes, and luring then to the dark side by dangling the means in front of them. In neither of the two cases so far, would the killer have proactively sought to commit a crime had the brothers not offered their temptation.

Of course, in this case, they only go for a certain kind of potential criminal, one who would strike out at the corrupt nobility. They definitely seem more like devils than angels to me, though, willing to do and use anything or anyone to fulfill their goals. Helping others achieve their vengeance or fulfill their rage seems more like an incidental side effect of how they operate than a goal in and of itself.
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lhernan02



Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Posts: 194
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 7:35 pm Reply with quote
Well, it got its three episode try out and now it is dropped. I liked the first episode, but episodes 2 & 3 were lazy to the point of being dumb.

1. The Cast: The Moriarty family is straight out of villain casting 101 with no redeemable traits except for the saintly Albert.
2. Background: Saintly Albert's first impulse is mass parricide. Did moving to the country with equally saintly relatives or renouncing the family and working for the oppressed never cross his mind? Just, one day, hey here's a bright kid with anarchist sensibilities, lets get him to tell me how to wipe out my family, because that is not an evil psychotic thing to do.
3. The Crime: More holes than a sieve, although most of this can be put down to the writers not really researching Victorian mansions or the nature of fires or the amount of force required to pierce flesh covered by at least two layers of wool/tweed with a jagged (but not sharpened) piece of wood or a whole bunch of other things.
4. The Victims: What happened to the upstairs staff? The butler has to die (the first thing he would say is that the two boys are not part of the family, but criminally minded street urchins), but for him to go either the rest of the upstairs staff is involved or they all die also (and you only see the three boys get out). This one I also put to lazy research on Victorian mansion staffing structure (although who has not seen "Upstairs, Downstairs", "You Rang M'Lord", or any of the other 12 million British period dramas/comedies/satires).

So final verdict, for a crime procedural (whether helmed by a hero or anti-hero) to hang its hat on Sherlockian lore, it has to have complex crimes with the accompanying characterization and research, and this one does not by a mile.
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Morry



Joined: 26 Jun 2016
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 8:34 pm Reply with quote
Finally, the adaptation has finished with chapter 1. Slightly more bombastic, but I was surprised how forgiving it was to the Missus. spoiler[She was the one originally punishing the Professor and leading the failed evidence plant. Real-William just manipulated her jealousy and spite to make the beatings all the more frequent and painful.]

The added focus on Albert was nice, though. Even if real-William didn't get spoiler[splintered wood down the throat while his mother watched], the anime did a good job immersing you in his perspective.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2242
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:03 pm Reply with quote
I have nothing useful to contribute except that Rebecca’s line about Moriaty’s beauty and what it says about his self reminds me an awful lot of Johan of Monster, which is a marvelously chilling thought. Very Happy
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Catseyetiger



Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 779
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 10:56 pm Reply with quote
Let’s be clear The main character has been using his mind palace a great nod to Sherlock! He has been planing crimes in a age where modern technology and forensics really do not apply. Yet he clearly lays out the objective and plans for its execution while preaching not eat the rich but down with the overbearing and arrogant who abuse others due to position of power! Imagine a social structure on all class levels that would kill over this type of abuse. It would quickly end in society at least this is the main characters ideal world.
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