House M.D. was a show I was somewhat of a fan of, I never actively tried to watch every single episode but I saw a lot and usually enjoyed them. The currently airing Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective has been hyped by more than just me as House but an Anime Girl and that hook worked in getting me to watch it.
Of the episodes I’ve watched so far (those Dubbed already as usual) episode 3 is the one most comparable to a typical House episode. It seems like the creators in Japan are more independently doing the Sherlock Holmes as a Doctor idea. And like most Anime mystery shows Detective Conan comparisons are inevitable.
As a Sherlock Holmes Homage it’s more like it’s source material then House in more ways than just involving actual Murder Cases more often.
One aspect of Watson’s role in the original stories is sometimes being the Muscle due to his Boer War combat experience. My remembering this is why I’m the only Detective Conan watcher who sees Ran Mouri as the Watson., but it’s something this show includes as well. Only in Anime would the male character being the Bodyguard ever feel like a Gender Subversion.
However what really bugs me about modern takes on Sherlock Holmes is the desire to assume he must also be a cynical Atheist and hyper Materialist and House was perhaps the most extreme manifestation of that. Holmes as written by Doyle explicitly believes in God and in Hound of The Baskervilles does not out of hand rule out the possibility that a Supernatural explanation could be real. So seeing Ameku be outright excited at the possibility of encountering some kind of Curse is a refreshing change of pace.
But let’s return to the matter of episode 3. For being the one episode that does follow the structure of a House episode I actually found myself lamenting its shorter runtime, feeling like the Case was solved when it was just getting started.
That doesn’t usually happen, I watch Anime desiring to enjoy them as much or more then their double length Western TV counterparts all the time and am usually satisfied. Whether it’s comparing Conan to Detective Shows, Witch Hunter Robin to both Nikitas, Magical Girl Anime to Buffy, Teen Dramas, SciFi, Fantasy ect. Why is the less runtime per episode only a handicap here?
House episodes were usually equal parts actually investigating the case at hand and relationship drama involving the cast and so it feels like that’s the issue, with less runtime there's less character stuff. But the same can in theory apply to all those others?
With Detective Conan a very large percentage of episodes are at least two parters, but nowhere near all of them, and that’s usually not the case in Magical Girl shows and wasn’t for most of Witch Hunter Robin.
Maybe in my head I was simply making a more 1 to 1 comparison than usual, I kinda was just wanting more House but Animated?
Or maybe it is something in the execution that they will hopefully get better at in future episodes.
Update a Week later: I should also note that when interacting with the Cops this show has both a Gregson and a Lestrade which is rare even for Holmes adaptations.
It's funny that I made that "only in anime' comment and the next episode does reveal the other female Doctor in the cast to have Combat usefulness as well.
And it seems episode 5 of the second episode of at least a 3 parter. I have to remember that Manga is so often written in Arcs that a single cour mystery show may give us only 2 or 3 casses. If this was an older show I'd be starting to suspect episode 3 was an Anime Original Filler episode.
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