My anime review debut! Hooray!
Synopsis: Young Mabel West is the daughter of mystery writer Raymond West, who wants her to lead a normal life. Rebelling against this, Mabel wants to be a great detective, and sets out for London to become assistant to none other than Hercule Poirot, the great Belgian detective who resides there. She finally wins the reluctant approval of her father, and embarks on an exciting life of mystery and suspense - his only demand being that she occasionally spend some time with her great-aunt, Jane Marple, in the small village of St. Mary Mead.
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First, I will start off by stating that I have not read Agatha Christie's works, myself. I will therefore be reviewing this series on its own, without comparing it to the novels it was based on.
The stories are old-fashioned mysteries which may seem boring compared to usual silly comedies, magical fantasies, action-packed shonen, etc. However, there is something enjoyable and relaxing--even refreshingly different--about the classic literature feeling this anime presents the viewer with.
After the first few stories, I predicted that this 39-episodes-long(!) anime might wind up having the same effect on me that CSI did after a while. When CSI first started, it was interesting, but then I began to feel as if I'd seen every single episode, even when watching new ones. Indeed, the episodes started to get a bit dull around episode 9. Until about halfway through the series, I was sure my prediction was accurate, but then the stories became a bit more interesting after that.
Overall, the mysteries seemed quite predictable to me, though I believe this anime was intended to introduce a younger audience to these classic stories. It may have been that the creators deliberately made the clues easy to catch onto and connect.
These stories take place in Europe, mostly in England, with the occasional visit to France, etc. The scenes (especially outdoors) are often quite beautiful, though I wouldn't go so far as to say the art is a total masterpiece. Still, it is good enough to make you want to visit these places on your next vacation. As for the people, they are drawn in a slightly old-school, very simplified style that reminds me a bit of Pokemon; not quite enough detail in my opinion, since most of them are dressed in very simple clothes to portray the time period (1930's). Also, Mabel's pet duck Oliver looks very much like something out of an old Disney cartoon. In my book, this causes him to fail spectacularly at fulfulling his simple role of being cute.
The music would fall into the classical genre, and is fitting for the anime, though nothing spectacular. It usually gives a calm, peaceful feeling to the anime. I could not stand either the opening or ending theme songs. I'm not even going to bother commenting more on those.
The character development is a bit lacking in depth. Once again, this might be because it was intended for a younger audience. Mabel was not originally in the novels, and her purpose is mainly to link the two detectives' stories. My first impression of her was that she was rather impulsive and did not think things through much--I mean, she had great determination, but hopping on a train and going to another town to beg Detective Poirot to let her be his assistant without thinking about a place to stay or anything seems a little stupid for an aspiring detective, even though she's young and inexperienced. (Also, I noticed that we never see her carrying a suitcase or anything, though once she does find a place to stay, she changes outfits. Hmm...) As time goes on, she seems to get a little smarter, but never really strikes me as potential detective material. The other characters all seem toned-down and bland, even though I haven't read the novels. I'm guessing they must have had more depth and personality to them if the stories became such classics. Also, minor characters introduced during each mystery often wind up looking a lot like each other or even main characters. I often got other male characters confused with Hercule Poirot's assistant Hastings. The first example of this occured to me during episode 9 when the Minister of Internal Affairs looked almost identical to Chief Inspector Sharp. It made the dialogue a bit hard to follow.
I watched the Japanese version with subtitles (I'm not even sure if there is a dub for this one). The voice actors were all cast well. No complaints here. I didn't hear a single annoying voice the entire time, or one that didn't seem to fit the character.
Overall, I'm going to give this anime a 5 out of 10. In my opinion, it is average, and nothing more. The idea was wonderful, but it could have been executed much better. Had the art and animation been more detailed, the characters been given more depth, and the music been a little more beautiful (and, OH GOD, PLEASE, better theme songs!)--even less-obvious clues and more drama in the mysteries--well, it had potential for something great. I'd say it's worth watching if you're bored and like classic detective stories. Otherwise, spare yourself the time it would take to watch these 39 episodes.
Please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, questions, etc. Or even just to let me know you read this. I set the comments up so that anyone can leave one; you don't need an account.
Next up, by request, is Samurai Champloo. Then I'll be resuming my alphabetical list with Ah My Goddess.
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