Glaiza Explores Manga: Moriarty the Patriot Vol 2

We cannot change the system overnight, but… there is something we can set in motion now, and that is to push London into the the depths of hell… and turn it into a city of crime.

William James Moriarty

Moriarty the Patriot (Yuukoku no Moriarty) is a manga series written by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and illustrated by Hikaru Miyoshi, and is available on Viz.Com where anyone can find mangas filled with action, adventure, fantasy, mystery, romance and more—thousands of manga volumes for every fan!

This review contains spoilers!

First Impressions:

When I picked up the second volume and saw the cover, I was surprised. It was very clearly Sherlock Holmes on this cover - and though he looked absolutely stunning because let's face it: I have a certain type - I just didn't realize that they would go straight to Sherlock so early in the story.

How did I feel about that?

I'm not a hundred percent sure I would like that because in other Sherlock stories - when the beloved consulting detective met our consulting criminal - it usually meant the end of Moriarty's life. But I did decide to give it the benefit of the doubt as it seemed in most Sherlock stories - Moriarty did notice Sherlock first. It was Moriarty who had the unhealthy obsession first.

It's just hard for me to reconcile the Moriarty that I know from this story and the Moriarty: the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes.

Story:

The second volume of Moriarty the Patriot started pretty quickly with a kidnapping. Who got kidnapped? Why, none other than our criminal consultant William James Moriarty.

Everyone is obviously very concerned as is expected but it soon became apparent that this was all a part of the plan to cement Albert Moriarty within the government so that William will have more reach in their destruction of the nobility.

This is then the theme that plays out in most of this volume: William James Moriarty pulling the strings in the background - moving certain things around - creating a stage for an audience that would break down England, in order to build it up better.

I can see it in the story of the Noahtic - and how William manipulated a noble, sacrificing a human life, for the better good he says. If he willingly risked himself then of course, no one is ultimately out of reach when it comes to his goals.

The presence of Sherlock so early in the story is interesting. It's definitely a different Sherlock that what I'm used to. He's a genius still, but a lot more affable. He has friends, he laughs, he is outgoing. He reminds me of a bard and it's definitely refreshing.

However, that bar scene where he willingly caused an innocent man to be harmed to get what he wants? Yeah - that's the selfish Sherlock that I'm very much used to.

Maybe this is okay after all?

Art:

I do want to say that it might just be a manga thing, but I do appreciate in this scene that even the minor characters who don't even have lines still have very detailed outlines. It's very different from a lot of artwork that I've seen in other media of similar types.

It shows extreme care and I love the backgrounds that it uses. My favorite artpiece here is how beautiful the panel that has the train coming into London. The care of the clouds, the smoke coming out of the train, the obvious line denoting movement, all expertly done

I'm impressed because even though the art is obviously manga, it's still impressive seeing non-Japanese settings, and it feels like like I'm transported to England.

Favorites:

The brilliance of both Moriarty and Sherlock is obviously my favorite in this scene. Sherlock being able to pinpoint exactly what William does for a living? Being a math teacher? That was inspired and I definitely love it. Also, because I am both a dork and an amateur photographer, I could help but fan-girl a little bit when Sherlock mentioned the fibonacci sequence.

It's still a pleasure to see the little reveal of the twists, though a little different from the first volume - because the reader's point of view now is being in on the secret. In the previous volume, we were surprised at how William did it - but this time around - we were part of the whole act.

I appreciate both approaches a lot.

Another thing I enjoyed was the questioning of one of the characters - how far would William go to achieve their dream? Would he sacrifice his brother? His benefactor? His friends?

All that grey? I'm completely here for it.

Drawbacks:

When it comes to the things I didn't appreciate as much though - it's definitely the moving away from the small people crimes. It feels like the story is gearing up to bigger and badder crimes that Moriarty is well known for - which I do not mind I suppose - but it feels like it's going into it too fast.

I could read at least three volumes of Moriarty being the criminal consultant for the townspeople, and then jump into the bigger country changing crimes.

But of course, this is just the second volume - maybe the upcoming stories would still focus on how their network is built some more. I want to see behind the scenes of how Moriarty became the spider on the web that has connections with all the crimes in London.

This is a little nitpicky thing though - but I don't know how I feel about a younger Mrs. Hudson. But that could just be me preferring the motherly treatment of Mrs. Hudson from other stories than this sort of best-friend landlady situation.

Final Words:

I'm still one hundred percent into this story and I cannot wait to read more. I love the art! I love the extra people that were never really a part of the other stories. It's nice knowing that Moriarty of course needed people he could trust as well.

People that he might eventually die for.

On to volume three!