Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m positively bouncing in my seat in excitement over our return to Sherlock Hound, that delightful fusion of Doyle’s ingenious stories and the best animation staff the ‘80s could muster. In spite of not quite offering the same outrageous overall quantity of animation as its predecessor, episode four might have been Sherlock Hound’s most inherently fun episode yet, taking the rich premise of “Moriarty abducts Mrs. Hudson only to fall in love with her” and executing it with impeccable flair.

Episode five maintains Sherlock Hound’s staggering roster of post-Lupin and pre-Ghibli luminaries, once again pairing Miyazaki up with long-time collaborators Yoshifumi Kondo (animation direction) and Hirokata Takahashi (director of photography). Basically any key staff position you could think of is here helmed by someone who’d go on to be a Ghibli mainstay; art director Nizo Yamamoto would subsequently handle background art or art direction on a slew of Ghibli and Hosoda features, background artists Mutsuo Koseki, Yuuko Matsura, and Katsu Hisamura would each contribute background art to future Ghibli films, etcetera. In Sherlock Hound, we see the team that would eventually help anime break through on a world stage already in full command of their talents, offering tiny masterpieces of mystery, adventure, and slapstick goodness. Let’s see what their next episode has in store!

Episode 5

Alright, really holding out for that badass intro plane chase by Mrs. Hudson this time. C’mon plane chase!

The contrast between the tone of this opening song and the images it’s accompanying is so discordant that I have to guess they were originally planning on doing a formal opening for this show, but ended up just turning it into a Miyazaki sakuga clip show instead

Mrs. Hudson is an interesting entry in Miyazaki’s hall of heroines. More of an active character than Miyazaki’s original icon Clarisse, but nowhere near the Ideal Action Girl of Nausicaa or Mononoke, she actually comes across as one of his more human heroines (at least until he started drifting from his standard model with films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle)

“Blue Ruby.” Presumably this episode will cover the “Blue Carbuncle” story then, one of the earliest and most famous of Holmes’ original adventures. Though it’s a very well-known tale, it also fits within the earlier model of Holmes stories, where there’s very little active dramatic movement, and the mystery is largely introduced and resolved through exposition. As such, I imagine this will be a particularly loose interpretation

We open on a breathtaking shot over the London rooftops, demonstrating this episode’s absurd background artist credentials right from the start

And after panning down, we greet Holmes and Watson in the midst of another bustling London street, echoing that bravura opening of the third episode

Just wild to see three or four layers of animation cels over the background layer here, all intricately detailed and simultaneously obscuring each other. Creating visual clutter in this way is incredibly work-intensive, and also tertiary to this episode’s actual priorities, meaning you normally only get something like this in prestige feature films

Suddenly, a pink mechanical pterodactyl appears soaring above the street. Yes, I do believe we’ll be seeing some changes from the Arthur Conan Doyle version of this story

Very on brand that Watson is astonished while Holmes is just vaguely annoyed by this disturbance

Background characters fill the screen, gaping and waving as the plane flies overhead. Just a stunningly generous sequence, one whose seeming effortlessness belies the reality that you basically never see sequences like this in TV animation, because animating anything beyond the principle characters is simply too demanding. Not just in terms of animation, but also character and general art design – a crowd scene like this instantly triples the number of character designs necessary for an episode

As the plane swoops above the crowd, Moriarty uses the commotion to sneak into a building and break open its safe

And the ruby is claimed! Moriarty’s character acting is as delightful as ever; the animation staff are clearly having a great time with his large, expressive eyes and nose

A young boy slams into Moriarty outside, presumably dislodging the ruby in the process

Even the shot of the plane leaving the square has onlookers extending out of every goddamn window! What is this production!?

Moriarty’s expression when he realizes he’s lost the jewel is adorable. Moriarty is without question the most adorable character in this production

The child with the gem’s name is Polly, and the entrance to her secret hideout offers the animators even more chances to indulge in convoluted mechanical devices

Such warm painted texture and so many flavorful details in these backgrounds. Personal homes in this show look, well, like Ghibli homes – lived-in and inviting, brimming with knickknacks that imply a whole life story

Holmes’ own apartment is equally stuffed with intriguing and character-specific details. His desk houses beakers, papers, and also a mug with a toothbrush in it, emphasizing his mono-focus and inability to compartmentalize his life

“I don’t understand what’s going on.” Thank you for that, Watson

Watson reveals that after announcing a burglary, the owner of the store actually doubled back, stating that nothing had been stolen

And just then, the team receive a request from the shop to investigate personally

Apparently, this gem was left in the care of this shopkeeper by the royal family. He doesn’t want this situation to become a major case, so he’s willing to negotiate with the criminals in order to get the ruby back

Polly pickpockets Watson’s wallet, but Holmes deftly pickpockets it back

I love this preposterous steam-driven tank that Moriarty just happens to be driving down a London street. The mechanical designs are definitely the place where this production team most let their imagination run wild, giving Sherlock Hound the scifi credentials to compete for attention with all the giant robot spectacles it was presumably running against. Even in a golden era of TV productions like this, the best anime had to offer was still competing with the attractions of its principle genres

Love this. In a very Sherlock Hound maneuver, Holmes’ usual investigations are replaced by Watson interrogating one of Moriarty’s minions as they drive alongside him, and the minion dutifully explaining the whole gem scheme. Dispensing with the mystery gives us far more time for car chases!

Delightfully ambitious panning shot as Holmes grabs Polly; the pan of the shot syncs perfectly with the momentum of Holmes tearing down this street, amplifying the sense of momentum as they flee Moriarty’s tank

Moriarty ends up obliterating his tank in the chase through narrow streets, resulting in a series of classic Lupin vehicle reductions, until he’s at last just flying on a metal sheet attached to a steering wheel. Bless this show

Back at Polly’s hideout, the walls of her room offer more details regarding her life story. A formal portrait of her seems to imply that she once had a more traditional life with a home and family. Rich background details like this are one of the great strengths of animation; every object in every animated composition must have been intentionally drawn there, and thus the audience is naturally inclined to treat them as purposeful. This is one of those unfortunate areas where the specific strengths of animation are often unrealized simply because those strengths also require a healthy production with a robust crew of background artists

Polly serves each of them a preposterously generous open-faced sandwich, each adorned with a wedge of cheese, half a fish, egg, and cherry on top

Once again, Holmes demonstrates his knack for speaking with children on their level in his conversations with Polly

Holmes cleverly deduces the ruby’s location by telling Polly she can take anything important to dinner at his house, to which she asks to take her stuffed bear. A cute riff on the original Blue Carbuncle tale, wherein the gem was actually hidden inside a goose

I love this profile diagram of Moriarty’s whole underground base. This production embodies the childish joy of concocting wild schemes and elaborate secret bases

For dinner, Mrs. Hudson has dressed Polly up in a decidedly Mrs. Hudson-esque ensemble

“Do you want me to give you the gem?” “Only if you feel like it, Polly.” At this point, recruiting a top notch child pickpocket might strike Holmes as a better payoff than actually retrieving the gem. I recall he had a small army of highly skilled hoodlums by the end of Doyle’s stories

This precisely detailed realistic revolver feels slightly out of place in Sherlock Hound’s steampunk world, but far be it from me to deny animators their love of perfectly realizing mechanical devices

Love the tense atmosphere as the night continues, and we glimpse down London’s fog-coated streets, With background art this good, setting the tone for a scene can easily be accomplished without a word

Oh Watson, you fool! Why would you trust a handwritten note without question!?

Ahaha, incredible animation for Polly just going goblin mode on Moriarty. Love the exaggerated expression work, the staggered tempo of movement leading into her attack, and then the dynamic energy of her kicking him even while bound in a sack

And the episode fully transforms into top notch Lupin as Holmes barrels after the fleeing aircraft

Polly Cannot Be Stopped. She bites and kicks her way onto the wing of the plane, sending the vehicle into a tailspin

More truly incredible Moriarty faces as Polly continues to chomp on his arm. Moriarty has found himself severely overmatched this episode

And it all ends in an explosive finale, with Holmes sending his car flying off a raised bridge to catch Polly mid-jump. What a ride!

And Done

Ah, what a ludicrously generous episode! This one carried us right back up to the standard set by episode three, absolutely brimming with delightfully exaggerated character animation and death-defying action setpieces. Every incidental moment of these Miyazaki episodes is lavished with beautiful background design and flavorful character movement, while the dramatic finale sequences feel plucked straight from the Ghibli canon. All that, plus this episode introduced the charming Polly, who perhaps made for an even more entertaining hostage than Mrs. Hudson. I’m just so very happy that this production even exists; it’s a beautiful, enchanting spectacle, and there will never be its like again.

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