Take an alternative history in which the supernatural is real and imagine what that could do for Sherlock Holmes stories. Oh, I don’t mean the detective gets to investigate the supernatural – that’s already catered for – but what if the detective was supernatural?
Let’s jump to the end; what if Sherlock Holmes was a woman, and a magical severed head, trapped in a cage and carried around so she could investigate?
It’s an undead murder farce.
IMDb calls the series “Undead Girl Murder Farce”, and that’s likely a translation from Japanese, but Google Translate doesn’t quite help me be sure. I can’t rule out a bit of Western culture and the growing importance of not using “girl” when the person in question identifies as a woman.
I can say that Fuji TV’s popular +Ultra block is running the show in Japan. Usually, I’d say let’s see which, if any, streaming platform picks up the series, but this time, Fuji and Crunchyroll have announced a partnership.
Crunchyroll will air the Undead Girl Murder Farce as it shows in Japan. That’s coming in July 2023.
The 19th century — a world inhabited by vampires, golems, werewolves and other paranormal creatures. Immortal beauty and disembodied head Aya Rindo, along with half-human-half-demon “Demon Killer” Tsugaru Shunichi and her loyal maid Shizuku Hasei, travels through Europe as supernatural detective “The Cage User,” solving supernatural mysteries while she searches for her lost body.
Undead Murder Farce is being directed by Mamoru Hatakeyama (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War?), and the head writer is Noboru Takagi (Durarara!!). Durarara!! is out of this world interesting, so that’s a good sign.
The three key characters are;
- Aya Rindo by voice actor Tomoyo Kurosawa (Kumiko Omae in Sound! Euphonium)
- Tsugaru Shinuchi voiced by Taku Yashiro (Hirokazu Arai in Chainsaw Man)
- Shizuku Hasei played by Makoto Koichi (Sakura Otome in Lycoris Recoil)
There are three novels in this series which have been released so far. Kodansha USA Publishing has licenced the manga adaptation for digital publication in the United States. Kodansha describes the first like this:
The end of the 19th century—a vampire’s wife is murdered, and the detective known as the ‘cage user’ is called in to solve the crime. But there’s more to the detective and the curtained birdcage he carries…after all, when solving a case involving a monster, it might just take one to know one!
Via Crunchyroll.
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