REVIEW: The Empire of Corpses (Wit Studios, 2015)

 

REVIEW: The Empire of Corpses  (Wit Studios, 2015)

 

 

 

 

The Empire of Corpses (屍者の帝国) is a 2015 Japanese science fiction adventure anime film produced by Wit Studio and directed by Ryoutarou Makihara. Its main character is an alternative Doctor John Watson (prior to meeting Holmes).

In an alternate version of 18th Century England scientist Victor Frankenstein discovered a method of reanimating a corpse with a soul that could think, feel and speak. After his creation was destroyed another method was used to replace the missing soul with an artificial soul known as "Necroware." It can be upgraded like a computer program, though the corpses are unable to talk, feel or think for themselves. By the 19th century, the use of corpses becomes more common as Necroware is improved daily via a machine known as the Analytical Engine, invented by Charles Babbage, which Corpse Engineers have access to. John Watson, a medical student and an aspiring corpse engineer, illegally creates his own Necroware and resurrects his deceased friend who he renames Friday. M, a member of British Secret service, makes a deal with Watson after catching him: either he goes to prison or becomes an agent of the British Empire. Watson chooses the latter………

I must admit that despite my geek credentials, I haven’t watched a lot of anime. However, I enjoyed this a good deal (having come across the details of it online and ordering the DVD). The animation was excellent and the story (although confusing at times) sped along at a rapid pace for the whole of its two hour runtime, with the action moving around the world (including the very canonical Afghanistan) before returning to London for the denouement. It reminded me a little of 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (the comic not the film). There was also mid-credits scene that featured the cameo that I had been waiting for throughout the film and a very ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’ revelation. Definitely worth a couple of hours of your time.

 

Rating:    (4/5) 

 

Sherlockian Sojourns - Special #4: ‘Was there ever a more exact demonstration ?'

‘A path led us through the pheasant preserves, and then from a clearing we saw the widespread, half-timbered house, half Tudor and half Georgian, upon the crest of the hill. Beside us there was a long, reedy pool, constricted in the centre where the main carriage drive passed over a stone bridge, but swelling into small lakes on either side’   [THOR]

 

 

One of my favourite stories is ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’, the solution of which is my favourite in the Canon. Therefore, in May 2014, I decided to travel to the estate of the Gold King Neil Gibson, the scene of the cleverest of crimes. Catching a train to Clapham Junction, I changed onto a train to Winchfield Station (situated between Fleet and Hook), where Holmes and Watson would have arrived on their rescue mission for the accused governess, Grace Dunbar.

 

Leaving the station, I made my way towards the village of Odiham, passing the entrance to a Pet Crematorium. Reaching a stile, I crossed onto a footbath across a field. Crossing another stile, I continued along the left-hand edge of a large field, eventually reaching a gravel driveway and the church of St. Mary the Virgin, which dates from 1150. Passing to the right of the church, I left its churchyard through a wooden swing gate, hidden behind a large tree. Passing through three squeeze gates I reached Stacey's Bridge over the Basingstoke Canal. Going down to the towpath, I passed under three bridges, before taking the enclosed grassy path to the left of a metal fieldgate.

 

It was here that I got a distant view of ‘Thor Bridge’ Mansion  (now known as Dogmersfield Park) The Georgian mansion was built in 1728. It suffered major damage in a fire in 1981. Since 2005 it has been the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire. 

 

 

Reaching Sprat's Hatch Farm, I kept ahead on its driveway and followed it round to the left. Shortly afterwards, I went through a metal gate ahead, following an enclosed path between fields. At a T-junction, I turned left towards Tundry Pond (‘the long, reedy pool’). According to legend, the Pond was the original site of Dogmersfield village, which was relocated over a hill to the east because the owner of Dogmersfield Park wanted a lake view. The South Bridge was the bridge where Maria Pinto met her death.

 

I then retraced my steps to Winchfield Station, and made my way home.

REVIEW: ‘The Irregulars' (Netflix)

 

REVIEW: ‘The Irregulars'   (Netflix)

 

 

 

 

 

 

'The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply’ – Sherlock Holmes (‘The Sussex Vampire’)

 

I have put off writing this review several times as I find myself torn in my view of the latest version of Sherlock Holmes’ London. Having already alienated traditionalist Sherlockians with ‘Enola Holmes’ (see my review for details), Netflix have come round again with another production trampling even more over canonical interpretations of the master detective and his former army medic friend. In fact ‘The Irregulars’ breaks four out of the ten rules that I identified when talking about theatrical adaptations. Given this and the heinous misrepresentation of not only Holmes and Watson, but also Mrs Hudson and Inspector Lestrade (in fact only Tim Key’s Inspector Gregson, and to a lesser extent Jonjo O’Neill‘s Mycroft, bear any resemblance to their canonical personas), I should hate this production, but I somehow can’t bring myself to do so.

As with EH the focus is not on Holmes and Watson, but is instead on a group of troubled street teens who are manipulated into solving supernatural crimes for the very sinister Watson. There have been two previous television series focusing on ‘the Baker Street Irregulars’, the gang of street urchins used by Holmes as his ‘eyes and ears’ in the first two novels (and briefly in ‘The Crooked Man’) – the incomparable ‘The Baker Street Boys’, and more recently ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars’. I enjoyed the new gang, led by the feisty Bea (Thaddea Graham), but found myself wishing that one of them, Spike (McKell David), was given more to do. There was also a good smattering of guest stars, including the aforementioned Tim Key, as well as Clarke Peters, Anna Maxwell Martin, Shelley Conn, Emma Cunliffe and Denise Black; and the locations included ones also seen in the Granada Sherlock Holmes and the 2009 Guy Richie film, as well as ‘The Fantasy Factory’ from ‘Doctor Who’ episode, ‘The Ultimate Foe’.   (I have added several new locations to my list of future sojourns). I even didn’t find the too-modern musical score distracting.

Those are the pros, what are the cons ?  Well an unrecognisably cruel Doctor John Watson, a too emotional Sherlock Holmes who believes in spirits, and a very uncanonical love-triangle being at the heart of the explanation for the seemingly random opening of a portal to another world/dimension, itself a trope I am tiring of. Holmes is absent for the first half of the eight episodes, and a flashback in Episode 5 briefly shows a much more canonical Holmes/Watson pairing, which I found just rubbed salt into the gaping wound. However, the events of the final episode may mean that any series two might not suffer from the same issues.

So, certainly not one for Sherlockian traditionalists, and I found myself wishing that the series had simply been ‘inspired by’ the Baker Street Irregulars, and that the two monstrous creations who drove the plot were not named Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. However, I would probably still watch a series two. 

 

Rating:    (3/5)