is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series that adapted several

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

stories about

Hercule Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more ...

and

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Ch ...

. A new character named Maybelle West, Miss Marple's great-niece, who becomes Poirot's junior assistant, is used to connect the two detectives. The series was broadcast from 4 July 2004 to 15 May 2005 on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

, and continues to be shown in re-runs on NHK and other networks in Japan. The series was adapted as

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

under the same title, which was released in 2004 and 2005.

Adaptation

The TV series is a generally faithful adaptation of the original stories given the time constraints (typically one 25-minute episode for a short story, four episodes for a novel). Despite being a modern Japanese adaptation, the original (mainly English) locations and time period are retained. The most obvious story change is the addition of Mabel West and her pet duck, Oliver. However, apart from her soliloquies, most of her lines are taken from the incidental dialogue of other characters in the original stories, so her presence does not materially alter the plot development. Other changes include

Inspector Japp Inspector James Japp (later Chief Inspector Japp) is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot. Creation Inspector Japp was inspired by the fictional police detective Inspector Lestrade fr ...

becoming "Inspector Sharpe", possibly due to the derogatory implications attached to the word "

jap ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese". Today, it is generally regarded as an ethnic slur. In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term very offensive, even when used as an abbreviation. Prior to t ...

". The significance of some details which rely on English idioms is changed, for example when a dying uncle taps his eye in ''Strange Jest'', this was originally a reference to the saying ''All my eye and Betty Martin'', but in the anime it becomes a reference to a stamp in which an angel appears to be winking (however the clue still achieves the same end).

Characters

: *

Jane Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of C ...

: *Mabel West: *Oliver West: * Miss Lemon: *

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

: * Inspector Sharpe:

Media

Anime

The anime was produced by

Oriental Light and Magic , formerly Oriental Light and Magic, is a Japanese animation and film studio headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, founded on October 3, 1990. Establishment OLM was founded as Oriental Light & Magic, Inc. on October 3rd, 1990 by Toshiaki Ok ...

for

. The series was directed by

Naohito Takahashi Naohito (written: 直人) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese actor and singer *, Japanese footballer *Naohito Ishii (born 1963), Japanese taekwondo practitioner {{given name Japanese masculine ...

with music by

Toshiyuki Watanabe Toshiyuki Watanabe (渡辺俊幸 ''Watanabe Toshiyuki'') (born February 3, 1955, in Nagoya, Japan) is a Japanese musician and composer who has scored multiple films and anime. His most notable works are the Mothra trilogy in the 1990s and the awar ...

and character designs by Sayuri Ichiishi. The opening theme is "Lucky Girl ni Hanataba wo" and the ending theme is "Wasurenaide," both performed by

Tatsuro Yamashita , occasionally credited as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the style of Japanese Soft rock, adult-oriented rock/soft rock music. His most well-known song is "C ...

. The 39 episodes were initially broadcast in Japan on NHK stations from 4 July 2004 to 15 May 2005. The series was released on seven DVDs.

DVD

Region 2, NTSC, Language: Japanese, subtitle: No

Manga

Three volumes of the manga adaptation of the television series were released in 2004 and 2005 by NHK Publishing, the publishing division of NHK. The adaptations were written by (volumes 1 and 3) and (volume 2), and illustrated by .

References

External links

Official site at NHK
*
Series listing at Aga Search
{{OLM 2004 anime television series debuts 2004 manga Detective anime and manga Detective television series Films based on works by Agatha Christie NHK original programming Odex OLM, Inc.