In an antique shop in Kyoto’s Teramachi Sanjō shopping district, high school girl Aoi Mashiro unexpectedly runs into Kiyotaka Yagashira, the son of the shop’s owner, and ends up working part-time at the shop. Kiyotaka is called the “Holmes at Teramachi Sanjō,” and he and Aoi solve odd cases brought to them by various clients. – ANN
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Episodes: 12
Source: Novel
Episode 1 Summary: Aoi Mashiro is in need of an antique appraisal, and the antique shop she finds is staffed by one of the best in the business, though she doesn’t realize it initially. Kiyotaka Yagashira is known as a bit of a Sherlock Holmes (“Holmes” is a pun on the characters that make up his name) who has an intuitive knack for sniffing out counterfeit items, uncovering the histories of genuine ones, and knowing just what his clients are looking for. He deduces soon enough that the art scrolls Aoi is trying to sell don’t really belong to her, but that she seems like a good person and her situation must be desperate for her to be taking such extreme measures. Though he won’t buy the scrolls he does offer to appraise them, and they turn out to be quite valuable. One of them even has a history that causes Aoi to think twice about spending her money the way she intends. “Holmes” offers instead to give her a job so she can earn the money she needs, though by that point she may no longer feel it necessary to spend it.
Impressions: In the past some readers have asked me how I decide the order of my reviews, because I don’t always complete them in a logical sequence. I usually consult an online schedule to get a general idea of when first episodes are supposed to air (which usually means that they’ll be available in simulcast form soon afterward). Sometimes I tackle them in exactly that order. But usually I have some idea about the content of each series whether it’s based on other reviews or summaries or just my own instincts. There was one season I tried to watch all of the shows I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like first to get them out of the way… which went poorly since I burned out before I even got to the good stuff. Most of the time I watch them in the general order that they become available. This time I made a list and crossed them off as I went, but happened to overlook a couple until they’d been out probably longer than some of the other shows from this season. In any case, Holmes of Kyoto actually wasn’t the last series on my list of first-run anime from the Summer batch, but it ended up being my last First Impression because I made an executive decision not to end on a low note (check out Master of Ragnarok if you want a refresher on the sorrow that could-have-been). My intuition told me that it would be more my speed, and as usual it was mostly correct. Holmes of Kyoto is the very definition of laid-back entertainment. The first episode takes place entirely within the confines of the stately Kura antique shop and deals not in action or comedy, but in the analysis of beautiful, unique objects and the ways in which they connect with and reflect human emotions. I could almost hear it beckoning me.
One of my favorite live-action TV series is Antiques Roadshow on PBS (yes, I’m a dork). Though I enjoy seeing the wide variety of pieces of art, old books, and strange curios that are examined on the show, what I really love are the stories people tell about where they acquired them, especially if their yarns are uniquely circuitous or involve eccentric relatives and things like that. As someone who isn’t a hoarder but has tendencies toward collecting stuff and things (mostly art supplies, anime, and kawaii J-fashion), I’d like to believe that my inability to throw things away might result in a payoff some day (or at least my descendants may be happy to have some of my items and get use out of them). There are definitely some great stories behind many of the anime I own; several of them were acquired during momentous times in my life, or provide a snapshot of my preferences at the time. While I think rampant consumerism is one of society’s problems, I think the holding to the attitude that the items we own are just “stuff” doesn’t pay enough respect to the fact that looking at an object, holding it and running your fingers along it, or even just describing it to another person can create a conduit to the times and places it was desired and loved. In any case, I’m sure it’s partly the fascination that I have with interesting items that draws me to this series.
Because of that I think perhaps the most successful part of this episode is the second half, which is a flashback to Aoi’s arrival at Kura. Yagashira appraises the scrolls she brings with her, and tells a powerful story related to the one that has a portrait of an infant painted on it. We Rent Tsukumogami operates on the assumption that all well-loved objects have a story to tell. Holmes of Kyoto seems willing to advance that concept even further by both avoiding any supernatural trappings and instead ruminating on the unique and sometimes powerful histories of things made and held by human beings. I’m sure there are many of you out there who still believe that talking about fancy old junk is boring, but as I mentioned above I think that these types of items can be just as important as oral history or photographs at telling the stories of people’s lives and I like how this episode speaks to that.
The title of the show evokes the image of a certain detective and the promise of an engaging mystery; I don’t necessarily think that the mystery angle is fully realized in this first episode, but Yagashira’s skill at appraisal, his vast knowledge of antiques, and his intuitive ability to figure out what’s going on with the people around him promise that at least the “Holmes” angle is covered. I’m not a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes (or at least its many modern reinterpretations) because I almost always find that the genius detective character to be arrogant and insufferable. The episode heads off initial criticisms of Yagashira’s character by having him be upfront about hiding his Kyoto accent when speaking to other customers, performing elegance in various other ways, and generally deducing just a little bit too much about Aoi’s life – she calls him a nasty boy, and he is, just a little bit.
The one thing I didn’t really like about this episode was that Aoi’s story had a real petty edge to it that felt unrealistic to me. Her stated goal is to purchase a bullet train ticket so that she can travel back home and give a piece of her mind to her ex-boyfriend and the former friend of hers he started dating after they broke up. I can fully relate to the type of hurt she must be feeling, but even in high school I don’t feel like my emotions would have been powerful enough to drive me toward theft, let along spending large sums of money just to give a couple of jerks a piece of my mind (it’s more likely I would have just written an angry LiveJournal post and locked it so that they couldn’t actually see it).
To be honest, I doubt that a majority of anime fans are going to enjoy this episode, and that’s not a dig on either the fans or the episode. It’s very slow-paced and glorifies the smallest details of niche-interest objects. It’s not exactly the next My Hero Academia. But if you’re like me and love learning about stuff (especially if the teacher is an attractive and mildly douche-y anime guy), I’m betting you might get a kick out of this mildly-mysterious, truly unique low-impact drama.
Pros: The slow, gentle pace is extremely pleasant. The show does a good job of expressing how objects intertwine with people’s lives.
Cons: Aoi’s goals are a bit petty and unrealistic.
Grade: B-