is a

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

owned by the Japanese trading card game company

Bushiroad is a Japanese entertainment company, producer of collectible card games and trading cards, publisher of mobile apps and games, promotional items and many other venues, which was founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and is headquartered in Tokyo. ...

. The first release was an Internet

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

, released in December 2009. An anime adaptation by J.C.Staff aired between October and December 2010, with a special episode aired on August 26, 2011. The second anime season aired between January and March 2012 with another special aired on August 25, 2012. A third series, titled ''Futari wa Milky Holmes'', aired between July and September 2013. A fourth series titled ''Tantei Kageki Milky Holmes TD'' aired between January and March 2015. Other media includes a manga adaptation serialized in ''

Comp Ace is a Japanese computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. ''Comp Ace'' began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, ''Comptiq''. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and was publ ...

'' between May 2010 and January 2011; two

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

s, released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

in December 2010 and August 2012 respectively; a trading card game tie-in with Bushiroad's '' Weiß Schwarz''; and a

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series published by

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because o ...

under their

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with the publication of '' Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania'' volume one, and is a light novel imprint ai ...

label. The series is an homage to the detective fiction genre, with four young girls named after famous fictional detectives:

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in ...

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

Cordelia Gray Cordelia Gray is a fictional character created by English author P. D. James. Gray is the protagonist of two novels, ''An Unsuitable Job for a Woman'' and of ''The Skull Beneath the Skin''. Cordelia Gray is a young woman who works as a private de ...

. Milky Holmes is also the name of a

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...

unit consisting of the series' four main voice actresses;

Suzuko Mimori is a Japanese actress and singer. She is represented by HiBiKi Cast. She voiced Umi Sonoda in ''Love Live!'', Hikari Kagura in ''Revue Starlight'' and Asumi Fuurin / Cure Earth in '' Healin' Good Pretty Cure''. Her nickname is Mimorin. Biography ...

Sora Tokui is a Japanese voice actress, singer, and manga artist who made her debut as a voice actress in 2009 as Himemiya in '' Weiß Survive R''. She is a member of the singer group Milky Holmes, formed by the four main voice actresses in the media fran ...

, Mikoi Sasaki and

Izumi Kitta is a Japanese voice actressIzumi Kitta's official blog
(Ameblo). Accessed: January 23, 2013

Plot

Set in the near future in the Great Era of Detectives, chosen people are born with supernatural abilities known as . Those who use these Toys for evil are responsible for a wave of crimes and necessitate employing Toy-using detectives to help solve them. In the

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

District, Opera Kobayashi runs a detective agency named Milky Holmes, made up of four budding young detectives, Sherlock Shellingford, Nero Yuzurizaki, Hercule Barton and Cordelia Glauca, who each wield their own unique toys and train to become detectives at Holmes Detective Academy. The video game casts players in the role of Kobayashi, who must utilise Milky Holmes' unique abilities to stop the Thieves' Empire, a band of thieves led by the mysterious Arséne. The second puts players in the role of another detective, Ellery Himeyuri. The ''Alternative'' TV specials also take place in this universe, in which Kobayashi and Milky Holmes are assisted by another Toy user, Lily Adler, in fighting against the Thieves' Empire whilst visiting London. In the first two anime television series, the four girls of Milky Holmes, Sherlock, Nero, Hercule and Cordelia, end up losing their Toys during an encounter with the Thieves' Empire. Taken away from their rich lifestyle and thrown into an attic, the girls must try to regain use of their Toys or else face expulsion from Holmes Detective Academy. ''Futari wa Milky Holmes'', which takes place two years after the other series, follows two young girls, Alice and Kazumi, who, inspired by Milky Holmes, form their own detective unit, Feathers, and fight against a group of thieves known as the Color the Phantom. ''Tantei Kageki Milky Holmes TD'' sees Milky Holmes help an idol named Marine Amagi recover her Toys, the seven Elements, which have been stolen from her.

Media

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Sorahiro Mizushima was serialized in

Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines ...

's ''

'' magazine between May 2010 and January 2011 and was published into two tankōbon volumes.

Anime

An anime adaptation of ''Tantei Opera Milky Holmes'' by

J.C. Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was '' Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Foo ...

aired between October 7, 2010 and December 23, 2010 and was also streamed by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and t ...

. A special episode aired in August 2011. A second anime season co-produced between J.C.Staff and

Artland is a Japanese animation studio. It has produced numerous noted anime series, including the award-winning ''Mushishi'' and epic (genre), epic ''Legend of the Galactic Heroes''. It is also well known for producing the anime adaptation of ''Kateky ...

, titled aired in Japan from January 5, 2012 to March 23, 2012 and was streamed by Nico Nico. A third season, titled , co-produced with

Nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

, aired between July 13, 2013 and September 28, 2013, alongside live action segments featuring the cast. The series is set two years following the other series and focuses on a new pair of protagonists. A fourth series titled began airing on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

began airing in January 2015. A TV special episode based on the PSP games, titled , was streamed on Nico Nico Douga between August 19 and August 25, 2012, before airing on

on August 25, 2012. A follow up special, , was announced and both ''Alternative'' episodes were released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 9, 2013. A new anime series will premiere in December 2016.

Music

For the first season, the opening theme is by Milky Holmes (

Izumi Kitta is a Japanese voice actressIzumi Kitta's official blog
(Ameblo). Accessed: January 23, 2013

and Mikoi Sasaki), while the ending theme is by

Faylan is a female Japanese singer affiliated with management agency S, run by veteran singer Hiromi Satō. She is known for many of her songs being in video games and anime. Her stage name was given by composer Noriyasu Agematsu. She is affectionatel ...

. The ending theme for the TV special is by Milky Holmes. For the second series, the opening theme is by Milky Holmes while the ending theme is "Lovely Girls Anthem" by

Natsuko Aso is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Natsuko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *夏子, "summer, child" *懐子, "reminiscence, yearn, child" *捺子, "press, print, affix a seal, stamp, child" *奈津 ...

. For ''Futari wa Milky Holmes'', the opening theme is by Milky Holmes while the ending theme is by Milky Holmes Feathers (

Ayasa Itō is a Japanese voice actress from Kyoto Prefecture. She is a member of the singing unit ''Milky Holmes Feathers'', formed with fellow voice actress Aimi for the media franchise ''Tantei Opera Milky Holmes''. She plays keyboardist Arisa Ichig ...

and Aimi Terakawa). For ''Milky Holmes TD'', the opening theme is by Milky Holmes, while the ending theme is by

Emi Nitta is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Nagano Prefecture affiliated with the talent agency Difference. She became a voice actress after passing an audition organized by talent agency S-inc. She officially transferred to Difference on 1 Septe ...

. A

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...

, ''Colorful Garden'', was released on April 6, 2011.

Video games

developed by Bushiroad was released on

on December 16, 2010. Players play the role of Opera Kobayashi, who must train Milky Holmes to be great detectives and use their abilities to stop thieves. The game's second chapter, ''Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 1.5'' was released on September 29, 2011 from the

PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable conten ...

. A sequel, ''Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2'', was released on August 23, 2012, casting players in the role of a new protagonist named Ellery Himeyuri. A new music-based video game based on the animated series was announced by Bushiroad in July 2013 for release in 2014.

Other appearances

The four main characters of Milky Holmes appear briefly in many different episodes of ''

Cardfight!! Vanguard is a Japanese multimedia franchise jointly created by Akira Itō, Satoshi Nakamura, Mitsuhisa Tamura, and Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani. It currently consists of multiple anime television series, an official tradi ...

'' as cameos where they are simply shown in the background. The voice actresses also make a cameo as the Milky Holmes in episode 23 of ''Fire Leon'', a live action series also produced by Bushiroad. In this scene, Suzuko Mimori portrays both Sherlock Shellingford and Yû Kusayanagi, a recurring character of the series. Additionally, the character "Sherlock "Sheryl" Shellingford" appears as a "guest" partner in the Japanese MMORPG '' Onigiri Online''.

Movie

An idea of a movie adaptation was first teased in the form of clues hidden within the end cards of the delayed fifth episode of ''Tantei Kageki Milky Holmes TD'' for fans to solve.

TV Kanagawa (tvk for short) is an independent television station in Japan serving Kanagawa Prefecture and parts of the Greater Tokyo Area with favorable reception. The station was founded on April 20, 1971 and began broadcasting on April 1, 1972. Its call si ...

, Hokuriku Broadcasting,

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcast ...

and Sun TV aired the same episode in different regions, but showed a different pair of letters in the end card, which when rearranged vertically could be read as "Milky Movie". A leak also emerged from the Japanese retail website Gamers' listing for the April issue of ''Monthly Bushiroad'' magazine, which included an image sample of a bundled publicity image extra which said "Milky Holmes movie adaptation planning start!!" The image has since been taken down from the website. The existence of the project was officially revealed later in a special edition of ''Miru Miru Milky'', a variety show starring the main voice actors, and confirmed by the Milky Holmes official website the next day. However, it was also announced that they need support from the fans to realize its production, meaning the project hasn't gotten greenlit for production yet.

References

External links

Official site
* {{Nomad 2010 anime television series debuts 2010 Japanese novels 2010 manga 2010 video games 2012 anime television series debuts 2012 video games 2013 anime television series debuts 2015 anime television series debuts Artland (company) Bishōjo games Bushiroad Dengeki Bunko Detective anime and manga J.C.Staff Japanese girl groups Japanese radio dramas Japan-exclusive video games Kadokawa Shoten manga Light novels Mass media franchises Nomad (company) PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only games Seinen manga Sherlock Holmes television series Tokyo MX original programming Video games developed in Japan Visual novels