Glaiza Explores Manga: Moriarty the Patriot Vol 3

He is just the man to become the hero who'll bring light to the shadows of this world. Sherlock Holmes

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:

Picking up volume three and seeing the cover gave me a bit of mixed feelings once again.

At first I couldn't pin point it - Louis looks great. I've always enjoyed this whole aesthetic of men with glasses taking them of and just looking at the audience. It's very well done - if I do say so myself. The little subtle hints of flames around him is a nice touch too.

However - after a while I figured out the reason for my mixed feelings. Louis scars look more like a shadow rather than what a third degree scar would look like. I'm going to admit though, that is completely a personal preference as I am a burn survivor and my scars definitely do not look that pretty.

Other than that though - I was excited for a Louis centric story - and maybe a return to defending the little guys against the terrible nobles that I missed from the second volume.

Story:

The third volume picks right up from where the second volume leaves off: Sherlock has been arrested because his name was written in blood in a murder scene. A Study in S is definitely an interesting retelling of a Study in Scarlet. If you haven't read a Study in Scarlet - it involves the murder of two ex-Mormons with poisonous pills, "RACHE" written in blood, and gold rings as clues.

Did you know that it's only in the BBC Sherlock's, as well as this manga that introduces the idea that it was Moriarty that was pulling the strings for this crime? Though there were a lot of the same characters involved in both stories - the manga is actually a lot closer to the original Study in Scarlet - when compared to the Study in Pink. There were no poisoned pills in this story. I still enjoyed the little call back of BBC's Sherlock wearing the deer hat like he did at the end of a Study in S.

Then the next chapters are focused on the Hunting of the Baskervilles, which other than the name bares only a little bit of resemblance to the actual story as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In these chapters we shift focus from Sherlock Holmes back to the Team Moriarty.

Which, by the way, I'm one hundred percent here for. I mentioned last week that personally for me - the strength of this series comes from stories where William focuses on saving the helpless. Having said that - there is definitely a lot of gore from this volume. So a warning to people who do not want to read about children getting harmed - please try to skip these chapters.

The scenes though were each of Team Moriarty that was present punished the nobles in their own special way? They were perfectly done. I enjoyed every moment of sweet, sweet justice.

Art:

Speaking of gore, did I just notice how much gore is in this story? Granted, I don't read a lot of manga with obvious gore in them - having not read a lot of manga in a while - maybe this is what's considered tame nowadays? Honestly - I probably wouldn't know.

I guess the whole scene filled with decapitations depicted in the Hunting of the Baskervilles is still very clear in my mind, and the art continues to ramp up in the areas of murder. However - I mentioned earlier that Louis looks too pretty for a person with scars. I do think it's interesting that everyone here in this manga looks very prim, proper and clean.

Even the children who were supposed to be homeless; they look very clean.

Oh! I have to mention though - the cover for A Study in Scarlet in this book looks exactly how A Study in Scarlet looked when it was first published. It's those little things that really make me happy with this manga.

Favorites:

When it comes to what I liked about the stories in this volume? I really enjoyed the focus turning back to Team Moriarty. With this view of Fred and another view of Louis - it does make me happy because in the original stories - Fred was just a sort of throw-away character.

I didn't mention it before - but I love that Sebastian Moran and Fred Pollock are included in this remaking. I also love the fact that this story explains the discrepancies about Moriarty's family. Professor James Moriarty - the villain according to Sherlock. Watson writes that Colonel James Moriarty defended his brother's memory after Professor Moriarty died. Finally there's mention of an unnamed younger brother - a station master. Albert James Moriarty, William James Moriarty and Louis James Moriarty. Three different James Moriarty with different jobs!

Finally: Mycroft! I don't want to talk too much about the ending, but I love seeing Mycroft!

Drawbacks:

I believe the only drawback I can come up from this time is that there wasn't really much in the twist for me. No big reveal of how the Master Criminal did a crime that no one could possibly see as a crime. I really liked that from the first book - so I'm a little disappointed that it still hasn't come back

Maybe in the next volumes we would see more of this since it seems to be focusing back on Team Moriarty, and I would definitely be a fan of that.

Final Words:

I'm going to admit - I'm excited to see where this story is going to go. I'm in it till the very end. I've reached the point of this story where I'm now a hundred percent invested in this story - and it will take a lot of screwing up for me to stop reading this story.

So strap in, readers - we're in for a long haul with this.