Sherlock Holmes (2014 TV series)
[2] The series is based on the Canon of Sherlock Holmes, with characters and events adapted to a fictional London boarding school where a teenage Sherlock Holmes (voiced by Kōichi Yamadera) investigates incidents with roommate John H. Watson (voiced by Wataru Takagi).
Although Holmes has a reputation as a trouble-maker, he has keen powers of observation and the two are able to solve the many incidents which occur at the school, at the request of teachers and pupils.
Though depressed from a leg injury that made him retire from playing rugby football, he pulls himself together with the case of Jefferson Hope ("The First Adventure") and comes to understand Holmes.
[3][19] Irene Adler is a school nurse who is having an affair with Headmaster Ormstein but takes up with art teacher Godfrey Norton.
[20] Gordon Lestrade (pronounced "Resutoredo" in the Japanese) is a pupil of Cooper House and has an atmosphere of mod subculture.
He partially plays the role of the Baker Street Irregulars through a group of mice that inform for Holmes.
Sherman, a taxidermist in The Sign of the Four is adapted to a female pupil who loves animals and speaks like a boy.
Despite his love for the stories of Sherlock Holmes, Mitani was reluctant to adapt the series into puppetry due to the difficulty in describing the details of investigations through the operation of puppets.
All four novels of the canon – A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Valley of Fear – are dramatised in the puppetry, which Mitani says may be the first case among screen adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's work.
[25] Though the comment aroused criticism, he stated that what he wanted to say is that real Sherlockians should have the playfulness of mind to accept and enjoy any adaption of the series of Sherlock Holmes and that the material is worth creating derivative work.
The staff referred to the stained glass in the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the building of St Pancras station in constructing the set.
[35][36] In "The Adventure of the Cheerful Four", actors Masachika Ichimura and Kenji Urai, who are famous for their appearance in musical theatre, voice some puppets.
[39] The show is produced by using prescoring,[24] and projection mapping is used in the title sequence that describes "The Adventure of the Dancing Men".
In it, an episode of the first series is played followed by a quiz programme presented by puppetry characters John H. Watson, Lestrade and Langdale Pike.
Another special programme "Sherlock Holmes Award" was broadcast on 28 December 2014, while the original series was on a new-year's break.
It was presented by Kōichi Yamadera and constituted an awards ceremony, interviews with Kana Hiramatsu, Daniel Harding, Nano and Bunta Inoue and a preview of upcoming episodes.
Kōichi Yamadera appeared in NHK's show "Studio Park kara konnnichiwa" on 13 November 2014[48] and talked about why he became a voice actor and played the role of Sherlock Holmes.
Bunta Inoue exhibited some puppets from Sherlock Holmes in Art Fair Tokyo held 20–22 March 2015.
A guidebook that provides the information of the programme (シャーロックホームズ冒険ファンブック, Shârokku Hômuzu Boken Fan Bukku) was published by Shogakukan on 4 October 2014.
ISBN 9784091065445 A Memorial Book that summarises eighteen episodes (シャーロックホームズ完全メモリアルブック, Shârokku Hômuzu Kanzen Memoriaru Bukku) was published by Shogakukan on 26 February 2015.
ISBN 9784091065513 A quizbook (NHKシャーロックホームズ推理クイズブック, NHK Shārokku Hōmuzu suiri kuizu bukku) was published by Shufu to seikatsu sha on 21 November 2014.
Though the book targets the young, it is written by professional mystery writers including Naohiko Kitahara, a member of the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club.
Model figures of Holmes, Watson and Irene Adler were released by De Agostini Japan on 9 October 2014.
[55] Goods related to the programme such as T-shirts, cellular phone cases, tote bags and mugs are sold on the website of SUZURI.
