Well, this was underwhelming! Another retelling of Sherlock stories and I mostly dozed off while watching it! There was nothing spectacularly new and intriguing in these stories.

Except for the hot chemistry between Shishio and Wakamiya. WOW!!! They should have made this a bl and that would have shaken things up and kept me awake!

Everything is as it has always been: a charismatic and charming Sherlock and sweet and a bit dumb sidekick Watson. The modern setting has been done to perfection by BBC and since you cannot improve upon perfection I found the japanese drama boring mostly. The cases, the deduction process, the police....everything has been seen so many times over the decades of Sherlock Holmes imaginings. But eventually Shishio's pushy ways got to be really annoying for me though it had the opposite effect on Wakamiya who had become his friend and keeper of the altar dedicated to SH (his violin!).

This version had the feel of a series made in the 80s: muted colors, closed empty suffocating sets, timeless fashion and loud music. I find it is often the case with japanese dramas. I liked the music but there was too much of it and it drowned the conversation and took attention from crucial scenes. I found myself rewinding because I realized I had not heard anything so overpowering the music was. On the other hand, the scene with Shishio playing the same violin piece over and over again, which helps him focus and think, well those scenes were amazingly filmed and played. I kept wondering if the actor actually played the violin for real.

If you play close attention, there are little things(signs, numbers) throughout the series pointing to the original works of AC Doyle. That was slick and smart!

All in all, it is just another classical version though in modern setting of Sherlock Holmes. The only redeeming quality is the hotness of Watson: it is probably the most handsome Watson in history!