Case File nº221: Kabukicho

I thought it was cute girls being Sherlock and shit, but I'll accept this. Even if they had to be in Shinjuku instead of old timey London with a dub of British accents.
 
I think this show had a different poster before, but what the hell, I'm interested, I'd watch it, maybe.
 
Why'd Funi retitle this for their release? Is overtly mentioning Sherlock Holmes in the title of a show about Sherlock Holmes (however far removed from the books) somehow a no-go in English? I can't even remember the English title, it's too long and not memorable and I can't be bothered, so Kabukicho Sherlock it's gonna be.

Ep 1:
I might could be bothered to remember the new title if this ep were more enjoyable, but as it was, it wasn't nearly as fun as I was hoping it'd be. Lot of tropes that make me cringe unless they're handled carefully, which I see no signs of happening, and no interesting mystery bits at all. I was still all on board to watch the next ep, but the final gag hit on a particularly prudish vein in me and it turned me off a lot bc I'm pretty sure it means a lot of the humor absolutely won't be for me.

That said, if they promise to give me Holmes detective-monologuing in the form of bad rakugo while Watson stands there all wtf is this? every week, I might be convinced to give it another go bc that was legit funny. I'm absolutely game for all future detective-monologuing on all the crime shows to take place on an inexplicably appearing stage and conveyed via some traditional Japanese theatrical form.
 
daisicles said:
Why'd Funi retitle this for their release? Is overtly mentioning Sherlock Holmes in the title of a show about Sherlock Holmes (however far removed from the books) somehow a no-go in English?
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Yup, the same reason all of Jojo's Stands get renamed in western releases. It's easier to just change the name than try to figure out license holders and all that.
 
StarsMine said:
Except not, Sherlock is public domain
Everything before 1923 are public in the US, and even if that wasnt enough of a hint
https://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

not even a grey borderline case here, its as solid as it gets.
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Even with the definitive public domain thing, I could understand if maybe they didn't want to risk running up against the BBC or something for their show, even if it's a bit of a stretch that anyone could genuinely could confuse the two for longer than a single glance at an episode. But I still think it's a bit silly.
 
StarsMine said:
That's a huge stretch, I dont buy that argument for a millisecond.
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I don't buy it either. I'd be marginally more inclined to think they could maybe possibly be worried about HBO and their Japanese Sherlock Holmes fanfic show, but the fact that I can sit here and come up with multiple pieces of SH-related media with direct use of either Sherlock or Holmes in their titles from multiple countries just off the top of my head is pretty telling on its own. So I'd like to know if they were actually worried about something in particular or just got exceedingly overcautious.
 
I dont think it was either worry or caution. At most it was just to distinguish themselves.
To be honest, the old title Kabukicho Sherlock is not a great title. Half JP, half english, and does not make you think of the British Sherlock. I know I sure didnt connect the two.

Case file n221 makes you at least know its a detective show, though Kabukicho means nothing in English. There is no good English translation of that, its a specific red light district.
 
IDK- as someone who grew up reading Conan Doyle's original Sherlock this Sherlock is nothing like. I mean the actual character. In some way I would have thought it would have served the character better to be itself with its own name, since I like it and think it rather colorful and unique in its own right. Personally I feel all the characters being named after Sherlock Holmes figures is actually more intrusive to the setting. They could still have based the plots based around the Sherlock Holmes stories as a subtle homage and left it to the audience to see if they recognized the references.
I do enjoy the wacky and weird offbeat approach in general, but I'm not so sure I really enjoy this heavy handed Holmesian stuff just for the sake of it.
 
1. I wasn't expecting that. Like any of that. I don't even know what I'm feeling at the moment. I had high hopes for this one but I honestly don't know if this met them or not. I just.. I just wasn't expecting this.

Ep 2. I really, really should've checked the characters before watching.
 
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