Glaiza Explores Manga: Moriarty the Patriot Vol 4

They weren't ready to die and that's the big difference between us

Sebastian Moran

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:

John Watson is on the cover this time and I really like it, which a surprise to me because I'm not usually fond of warm colors, but it works on this particular re-incarnation of the beloved Doctor and biographer. Though he hasn't really made much impact in the way of the story - it's acceptable.

This is Moriarty's story after all, and I want more focus on the Lord of Crime than I am with Sherlock and John. Now this doesn't mean I don't enjoy the dynamic duo - I do.  I just want more Team Moriarty, because as much as I enjoy and will always enjoy all of the Sherlock reincarnations - I want to learn more about Moriarty and possibly the rest of his merry crew.

That is why even though this cover looked really good, with an excellent drawing of John Watson - I was a little bit disappointed when I first picked it up.

I should have known better.

Story:

The firs three chapters of the story focuses on Sebastian Moran, but the little bits that weren't focused on him is a lot to unpack, and I really want to talk about it.

Mycroft made his appearance in the last volume - though technically based on my understanding - he was present as early as the second volume, we just didn't know his name at the time. I really truly love this introduction of Mycroft - because it lays the foundation of how Mycroft is the British government. By making him the sort of creator of the MI6.

But what made me excited about all of this is how smoothly it was introduced that Em, or M, is Albert Moriarty. Let me give you an example of how my brain went as I read it:

"Hmmm, Em, aight. Monnie... penny? Is this-? Que? As in Que? Like James Bond?"

And then finally when they introduced Sebastian Moran as 006 - I knew one hundred percent that they were introducing a little bit of James Bond lore in this story and that made me so happy.

As for the story about Sebastian's past - it was very interesting because I don't know if I just missed it in the other chapters - but it tells the story of how he lost his hand - and how technically he's dead according to the British Government. It showed how dedicated Sebastian is to William and the Moriarty's plans of bringing down the nobles.

There was one chapter dedicated back to Sherlock and John Watson. Sherlock the jerk, as he is known in most characterizations, is back in full blast. Angry that he decided to let Hope live and might have possibly missed his chance of knowing who was the Lord of Crime - he abuses poor John.

The twist ending of that chapter that puts John as the criminal is definitely unexpected and welcome.

Art:

I must say I am enjoying the multiple scenes of William looking like a villain. There's been many scenes of him looking weak and kindly, so much so that when he says or does something that is absolutely villainous - it stands out. The way his face is drawn and how different it is from everyone else around him?

It's perfectly evil and I love it.

I'm constantly impressed by the details that the artist puts in this work, because even though there is a tendency for some of the characters to look very similar - the backgrounds are very detailed and every single time I look at it - it blows me away.

Having a couple of artist friends, they always tell me that backgrounds are difficult, so this is impressive for me.

Favorites:

I have a couple of favorite things from this volume:

The James Bond tie in is by far my favorite because it's hilarious and smart. I don't think I've ever seen that done - not that I would know because I don't really watch a lot of James Bond - but this was a nice little easter egg that made me smile.

I also enjoyed the fact that we did a little story focused on just Sebastian Moran. I've said it once and I'll say it again: give me all the Team Moriarty back stories because this is called Moriarty the Patriot - I want more of them.

Another thing that I enjoyed in this volume is how a lot of people think that Sherlock has John wrapped around his finger - but it can also go the other way around with John telling Sherlock that if he really wants to find out more about the Lord of Crime - they need to get more cases - and secretly thinking to himself that he also needs more stories to submit to his editor. Definitely a refreshing take.

Drawbacks:

I guess the drawback that I could think of is that I didn't notice that Sebastian only had one hand. Was I just not paying attention? As soon as I saw that scene where his hand was missing, I started looking closely - and I just saw him wearing glove which didn't really make it clear. I also looked back at the chapter where he appeared for the first time - and Sebastian clearly used two hands on one of their punishment chapters. Maybe a continuity error? I'm pretty sure the original Sebastian Moran had both of his hands.

Also, I wish there were more differences in the faces of the characters. There was one scene where Mycroft was introduced and then another scene where Sebastian Moran was wearing a formal attire - they looked very similar.

But these are nitpicky things that I can fully ignore.

Final Words:

Volume four ends with a twist that seems to have put John in danger - but I'm sure Sherlock and William will be able to conquer this situation pretty easily.

On to volume 5!