Anime: Agatha Christie no Meitantei Poirot to Marple 64w48

The great mystery writer Agatha Christie gets her own anime series that follows the adventures of her two greatest characters Hercule Poiret and Ms. Marple. Linking these two characters is the new character of Mable West.

Story: Each episode is it's own individual story or mystery. Occasionally, one of the larger mysteries may stretch out over the course of 4 episodes. I found these to be the most interesting. While the individual episodes were exciting in their right, there was a bit of a rush to get things solved and so I felt it lacked depth.

Characters: There are three main characters (you could argue four). They consist of Mable West (a 16 year old who wants to become a detective), Hercule Poiret (Mable's tutor if you will), and Ms. Marple (Mable's aunt). Arguable, Poiret's other assistant may also be considered a main character, and if you're really picky, Mable's pet duck, Oliver.

I found that while the characters were quite easy to watch and not annoying, they never developed throughout the series. They are all very static and flat. While Mable is expected to develop and hone her detective skills, it doesn't seem like she ever does. This makes the characters lose some appeal. However, the fact that you can still watch the show means that the characters are decent.

Sound: I wasn't a big fan of the opening or ending themes, in fact I just skimmed through them. It seemed a bit too cheerful considering many of the mysteries involved death, but it is a children show (or so it seems), so I suspect that's normal. Not good, but not terrible either, its a .

Animation: The show's budget seems pretty small considering there is little animation. Often, movement of the mouth is the only animation that occurs. However, while sometimes dull, it does allow you to focus on the details of the show (which is key to solving the mystery) so it's not too bad.

Value: While it was a fun watch and I enjoyed trying to solve the mysteries, the show has the distinct problem that all other mystery (and arguably crime) shows have; you can't rewatch it as the surprise and fun is gone after the first time. Unless you're a large Christie fan, or you've forgotten the answer, chances of rewatch are slim.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed watching this show and recommend it to any Agatha Christie or mystery fans as a fun way to the afternoon. However, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone whose wants a serious, hard sort of show. It's in the iffy area of ratings.

Agatha Christie no Meitantei Poirot to Marple, also known as Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, has a few nice parts, but also a few boring parts and one very irritating part.

Art/Animation
The art is clean and simple. There is nothing outstanding about it, but there is also nothing to complain about. In many scenes the only animation is the mouth movement of the person that is speaking, or a glitter in the eye of the person that is spoken to. This makes it seem like the animation budget of this anime was very low.

Story
This anime consists of several stories in which a case is investigated by either Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple. Both have Mabel West as their assistant. The nice parts are the cases that span over several episodes. Usually the longer the case (up to 4 episodes), the better the story. The boring parts of this anime are the 1-episode cases. There isn't anything interesting about them. It would have been better if they hadn't included those.

Character
The most irritating part of the anime is Mabel West's little duck. Why do they put a stupid duck in a detective anime? Because the duck is cute? Detective animes aren't supposed to be cute! Besides her duck, I would have preferred that Mabel herself wasn't in this anime as well. The creators probably added her to make the anime more appealing for a young audience. Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple on the other hand are interesting characters.

Sound
The opening doesn't fit this anime at all. It is too happy/cheerful for a detective anime. The ending matches the anime's genre a bit better, but it's still nothing great.

The background music of the anime itself does fit the genre. There are some nice tunes that give scenes a good mysterious feeling. However, the same tunes are reused too often. It would have been better if there was some more variety.

Conclusion/Overall
I enjoyed watching the longer cases. Without the 1-episode stories and the duck this anime would have gotten a better rating from me.