Moriarty the Patriot, Volume 5: 05/25/22

Moriarty the Patriot, Volume 5 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi (Illustrations) has me scratching my head and doubting my own memory. I should back up and say I've also watched the anime series which has done chapters from the manga out of order and has chosen to skip entire arcs. But I can't completely blame the anime for my confuzzled state.

Volume 5 ends the mystery on the train where Watson is accused of murder. The investigation gives the narrative a chance to show exactly which side of the line both Sherlock and the Moriarty brothers stand on. Where Sherlock goes for only evidence he can find and a timeline he can logically reconstruct, Moriarty is willing to fabricate evidence to bring down the man both men are certain did the crime.

The remainder of the book involves the series' introduction of Irene Adler. Now from the anime I know where their plot arc is going. I also know from reading spoilers online. But here's where my memory gets fuzzy. While reading Volume 5 I could have sworn Adler had already been introduced. I remembered Adler already taking on his new name.

So convinced of my obviously incorrect memory, I ended up re-reading the first four volumes before reading the Adler chapters. Yes, MI6 is set up in Volume 4 but not Adler's part of in it. My best guess is that I fell asleep while reading volume 4 and dreamt the bits that I remember. Since I knew where the series was headed my dreamt up bits were convincing, especially since I included artwork and speech bubbles, thus keeping the illusion of reading going!

Volume 6 featuring Adler on the cover was released in English translation by VIZ in January. I have it on hand and will be reading it soon.

Five stars

Comments (0)