It’s time to look at the Moriarty spinoff. It’s always interesting to check out the spinoff of a title that has completed while the main one is still ongoing. So you’ll see the more in depth thoughts on Moriarty and the crew once that title is done with. It is fun to see the cast all having fun in rather low key cases compared to the main series though. Each adventure is a fairly cozy that shows how daily life is improved thanks to Moriarty and his crew. The 3 volumes definitely go by real fast.

The general premise for the main series is that Moriarty has decided to be the world’s ultimate villain in order to destroy the class system that has taken over the country. In the meantime he helps out those that he can. He’s certainly not the most heroic soul with how many murders are necessary for his grand plan. In this spinoff, we see a few day to day adventures so I’ll dive into those as I discuss the series.

The first story is about Moriarty finding out that his teammate Moran lost a game of cards. Not only did he lose, but he was found to be cheating and will be losing a great deal of money. Moran’s only hope is a double or nothing game against another cheater who has a lot of sway within the gambling circuit. Moriarty is forced to jump in and figure out a way that he can cheat without the cheater finding out. This is naturally a bit of a logic puzzle so it’s something that’s right up his alley.

It’s already a fun twist to know that Moran was cheating as well. The other guy was just able to prove it quicker than Moran could. So this isn’t a case where Moran is innocent or anything but Moriarty is always ready to help his friends. It’s a simple enough 2 part adventure here. There isn’t a ton of danger but it shows how close the group is for Moriarty to show up personally to help out here. This wasn’t something that he was going to let go on for very long. He is the lord of crime after all.

The second story is a prequel about how Jack the Ripper trained Moriarty and his brothers. Jack made a deal where he would train them on how to be excellent fighters if they could win a game of tag against him. Basically they have to tag him three times before he murders them. Yes, he is actually trying to destroy them all which is a part of the deal. If they are unable to survive then it just means that they were not ready for this level of competition. Moriarty and the others are absolutely ready to handle this threat head on but it won’t be easy.

Naturally, as good as Moriarty is at thinking, this will take some plot armor to really survive such a situation. You won’t really be able to buy into this but I give the manga credit for trying to write this as realistically as they could. Moriarty uses every kind of trick in the book and even then they only barely claim victory. I know they’re all villains but I always find it a bit iffy when the training involves a chance of dying. Always seemed counterproductive to me.

After that we have a story where Moriarty was doing some shopping when he runs into a girl with the power to see a person’s true soul. Her rainbow eyes can detect evil people from good ones. It’s not quite as perfect an ability as it sounds but it can still help her avoid total troublemakers. Unfortunately a group of robbers attack the mall and are holding everyone hostage. Moiarty will have to find a way to take all of these guys down without letting slip the fact that he is the lord of crime and an incredibly powerful figure in the underworld.

Since the girl can see into him, she notices the fire within his soul but is fine with it since she can tell that he’s not fully evil. I’d treat this like a spider sense where she knows that he isn’t targeting her at the very least. It’s a pretty fun story where Moriarty really gets to use his intellect in such a way where he can even manipulate the little girl into making the right moves. It’s also a story where he is really on his own for a lot of it which works well. I always like to see just how much Moriarty can achieve without any real backup.

Then in the next story the girl actually returns. Moriarty and his crew decide to host a survival game where they have to shoot each other with paint balls and see who the last man standing is. So you’ve got Moran, James Bond, and all of the other big shots around. Isn’t this a little too frivolous even for a spinoff? Well, it would be except that Moriarty is also doing this to drag a corrupted rich person out from the shadows. In that sense this story is the most similar to the main series where that is usually what’s going on. In the meantime it’s fun to see all the characters competing although it can be hard to tell just how hard they are going at each other while keeping the plan in mind.

The characters say they are going all out but it’s hard to say. In a life or death match I imagine Moriarty would come in first, followed by Moran and Bond. Jack would probably be in 4th and then after that it’s tricky for the rest. The girl got to use her spirit powers once again to do pretty well in the game. She even managed to make a friend so that was pretty wholesome. The adventure is a fairly long one as they really had to set up a big trap for the villain and we got some extended fights in the meantime. From all the cases this was probably my favorite one. Even if calling it a “case” may be a bit misleading.

Finally it was looking like Holmes would miss out but he’s in the final adventure. It actually continues directly where the last one left off. Moriarty and crew managed to get their man but now they need a proper cover story and a “hero” to take the villain down. So they create some evidence which lures Sherlock Holmes into the mix. Once again you could say Holmes is one step behind Moriarty as usually was the case in their games of cat and mouse. Holmes still has to do a good job of putting all the pieces together though.

In a way it’s a real feather in Moriarty’s cap because he has to plan everything so thoroughly that he also anticipates every single action that Holmes will make. In that way it may sound like Moriarty is way smarter than Holmes but Holmes is often able to do a similar amount of deducing. As Holmes mentions in the main series, Moriarty just has the advantage since he is the one committing the crimes while Holmes has to solve them afterwards. It would be a completely different story if Holmes were a crook.

So the stories had a good amount of variety here. There may have been some danger in the hostage case but for the most part these were all just calm stories to look at while waiting for the main series. It’s a quality spinoff that can hold its own even if you aren’t familiar with the main series. Granted, it would probably be a bit less impactful since you wouldn’t know any of these characters at all. It’s not like the series goes out of its way to reintroduce them although characters like Holmes and Moriarty are fairly popular in pop culture so that shouldn’t be too confusing.

Moriarty is a fun main character as always. It’s nice to see him always in control here and you can see how he is far superior to the average crook running around. Moriarty always sees the big picture here and doesn’t miss a beat. Holmes also works well as the rival who is incredibly confident and knows that he can hold his own at all times. We don’t have time for banter between them this time but that is always the best part of their interactions.

The artwork is definitely solid as well. The angles are all very dynamic and the characters really stand out. It’s not like there is a lot of action here but the paint ball survival case got to do some pseudo fight scenes. Same with the mission against Jack and each one looked good so I don’t have any issues there. The series definitely delivers on the technical aspects. This may not be a series that you think about all that often but it serves its purpose as a fun spinoff.

Overall, This is one of those really safe spinoffs. Nothing particularly big is happening nor are any of the characters really challenged a lot. It’s just an excuse to see your favorite characters in some new cases. Fortunately that’s right up my alley. It makes for an easy read at any time and the quality of the writing is still really good. Each case will keep your interest throughout so I can easily recommend this to anyone. I’d be game for more spinoffs in the future.

Overall 7/10