Moriarty the Patriot, based on the mystery-shonen manga by Ryousuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi, was one of the highlights of the Fall 2020 anime season. The series is a spinoff of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic Sherlock Holmes stories featuring the Holmes' arch-nemesis, James Moriarty, as the series' protagonist.
With Part 1 of Season 1 recently wrapped and Part 2 airing in Spring, let's go over all of the classic characters from the Holmes universe that have made an appearance in the anime thus far. It is worth noting that while characters like Count Drebber and Fred Jefferson are from the original stories, they aren't reoccurring characters in the anime, and won't be included on this list.
William James Moriarty
Mathematics professor James Moriarty is the most notable character to rival Sherlock's extraordinary intellect with an equally frightening intuition of his own. Moriarty is usually portrayed as a greedy criminal, but in the anime, his goal is easier to sympathize with. Moriarty vows to end the economic hierarchy of Great Britain which favors the rich and greedy while forcing the people at the bottom of the food chain to suffer horrible tragedies merely to survive.
As a criminal consultant, he is working towards equality through heinous means and carefully calculated plans by turning all of Britain into his own crime show. The anime explores how he went from an orphan to the world's greatest criminal.
Sherlock Holmes
One of the most recognizable fictional names in all of history, Sherlock is known as the world's greatest detective and the only existing consulting detective. An eccentric and sometimes selfish character, he's extremely intelligent but lacks understanding of human emotions. Due to his impressive intellect, Sherlock becomes easily bored with the people around him and actively seeks out complicated crimes that need solving for the thrill of it.
This is shown in the anime as Sherlock finally meets a worthy adversary in the form of Moriarty. Being overconfident and eccentric is what makes Sherlock stand out, but little does he know he has become the showman in Moriarty's masterplan.
John Watson
A former doctor in the British army, John is a writer and plays the role of Sherlock's sidekick after the two become flatmates at 221B Baker Street. An extremely brave and capable individual, John assists cases by providing medical insight when necessary.
While initially being stunned by Sherlock's mystery-solving skills, John eventually becomes Sherlock's closest friend as well as his impulse control, keeping his wildest behavior in check. John is much more in tune with human emotions, supplying a contrast and balance to Sherlock's brilliant, yet analytical way of thinking, especially when he gets too carried away.
Mycroft Holmes
Working for the British government and the older brother to Sherlock, Mycroft possesses observation and deduction capabilities at a level that easily matches his brother's. There have been many interpretations of his character in the Holmes universe, but in the original stories, he lacks the energy and ambition to act on practicality, failing to demonstrate his analyses despite always being right.
In the anime, not much is known about Mycroft except that he is the director of the London Military and superior to Albert James Moriarty, an original character of the anime and James Moriarty's older, adopted brother. Based on how Part 1's ending teased his character, he is sure to take on an active role in Part 2, causing problems for both Sherlock and Moriarty.
Lestrade
Police Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard is a skilled individual highly recognized in his field. Originally skeptical of Sherlock's prowess, Lestrade slowly comes to accept Sherlock and regards him as a great detective, even defending his character to those who misunderstand his nature.
Additionally, he is the only person in Scotland Yard to trust Sherlock's deductive capabilities when he encounters a case too complicated for the police to unravel on their own. As such, he is the reason so much of Sherlock's rude behavior is dismissed as Lestrade prioritizes the case at hand over Sherlock's somewhat odd tactics.
Miss Hudson
Known as "Mrs." in the original stories and "Miss" in Moriarty the Patriot, Miss Hudson is Sherlock's landlord. Her patience runs thin with Sherlock's investigative antics that often inconvenience her. While arguing about rent, it is Miss Hudson who suggests that Sherlock get a flatmate to split the rent money, one of whom she approves of.
It isn't until she meets John Watson does she approve, thinking him a good and responsible man to balance out Sherlock's chaos. Nevertheless, when Sherlock was accused of committing a murder, Miss Hudson showed great concern, proving that she does care for Sherlock like family despite their squabbles.
Sebastian Moran
Sebastian is an ex-colonel and now an accomplished hitman with the MI6. He possesses exceptional skills worthy of being Moriarty's right-hand man. Even Sherlock and John praised him in the original novels. Moriarty recruited him to be a part of his inner circle due to these skills and his proficiency with a rifle.
While the exact circumstances of how they met are unknown, Sebastian agrees with Moriarty's goal of creating an equal and more just country and is thrilled to deal with snobby aristocrats. As such, he has a strong loyalty to Moriarty and takes an active role in his plan of creating crime and stirring up social unrest within Britain.
Fred Porlock
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle portrays Fred as a petty small-time criminal who works for Moriarty. Occasionally, he will sell information to Sherlock, but other than that, his role in the original stories is minuscule. In Moriarty the Patriot, he is given a much larger purpose. Loyal to Moriarty and particularly skilled in the art of disguise, Fred is reserved, yet kind with incredible combat skills as seen when fleeing from Sherlock.
He is usually the one gathering information for and reporting to Moriarty which further speaks to his abilities as a spy. Similar to Sebastian, Fred strongly believes in the reality that Moriarty envisions and assists him diligently in turning that vision into a reality.