%%
%% Please relocate any character-specific tropes to the character page, and place them under the appropriate folder.
%%

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tantei_Opera_Milky_Holmes_5851.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-[[ShrinkingViolet Hercule]], [[{{Bokukko}} Nero]], [[GenkiGirl Sherlock]] & {{C|loudcuckoolander}}ordelia-] ]]

->''"Toys. They are miraculous buds that swell from the hearts of the chosen.''
->''Some flowers are born pure, while others bloom laced with poison.''
->''The Age of Detectives.''
->''These two flowers, vying for beauty.''
->''Their names are Detectives and Phantom Thieves."''


InAWorld in the not too distant future, where people have "Toys", inherent supernatural powers, detectives and thieves square off. To aid the detectives in proper use of their Toys, the Holmes Detective Academy has been established. Four trainees, Sherlock Shellingford, Nero Yuzurizaki, Hercule Barton and Cordelia Glauca, have formed a unit by the name of Milky Holmes. Under the guidance of Opera Kobayashi, they seek to defeat Arsene and her band of thieves. Though they need to get along with each other first.

In the {{Anime}} series, the Milky Holmes are now established detectives after successfully solving many cases and are universally admired by the students of the academy and the city of Yokohama. That's before losing their Toys during a battle with the Gentlemen Thieves and degenerating into complete and utter failures. Arsene, guising as the StudentCouncilPresident Henriette Mystere, tries to help them regain their toys, by throwing them out of their fancy rooms into a dusty attic, until the end of the school term, in which they are expelled. This is the start of a GagSeries Anime, driven mostly by the character's (not only the Milky Holmes, but also the G4 and the Gentlemen Thieves, save for Arsene) incompetence, simple-mindedness, and just plain idiotic actions.

While conceptually based on a Platform/{{P|layStationPortable}}SP VisualNovel, the series was AnimeFirst. It aired in the fall of 2010 with a sequel starting in January 2012. Available online through [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/milkyholmes Crunchyroll]] and the sequel through [[http://ch.niconico.com/channel/ch60200 niconico]]. A pair of {{OVA}}s which follow the VisualNovel more closely was aired on August 2012 and December 2012. A third season under the name ''Futari wa Milky Holmes'' aired on July 2013. A fourth season was greenlit and aired on January 2015. A movie titled “Milky Holmes’s Counter Attack” was released on February 27 2016. After that, 3 special TV episodes were released: one in December 31 2016 titled “Fun Fun Party Night - Ken and Janet’s Gift”, another in December 31 2017 titled “Arsene’s Great Desire” and a final one in December 31 2018 titled “Psycho’s Greeting” that works as the franchise’s finale.

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!!Tropes in ''Tantei Opera Milky Holmes'' include:

* AbsurdAltitude: The final battle between Arsene and Milky Holmes takes place on a chunk of rock hovering into the upper atmosphere.
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Henriette has complete control over the school and its students from her position as student council president.
%%* ACupAngst:
* AnimationBump: Very random. Even the Alternative [=OVAs=], which clearly had a higher budget than the show, can't maintain high quality the whole time -- Sherlock's jump from the plane in part 2 looks hilariously cheap.
* ArrangedMarriage: Claris has one she's trying to get out of, prompting her to switch with Sherlock. As it turns out, Pero didn't want to get married either.
* {{Arrowgram}}: GentlemanThief Stone River shoots an arrow with a note into Milky Holmeses room. But since the titular heroines are about as dumb as a bag of rocks, they don't even notice it. When they eventually see the fourth or fifth arrow, the proceed to read the vertically written note horizontally and have no idea what it's supposed to be. So Stone River shoots yet another arrow with a small tape player attached to it, reading the message out loud.
* ArtShift: When Sherlock is about to use Baritsu in episode 4, her face is shown in the style of shounen fighting anime (thicker lines, bruises). [[RefugeInAudacity Happens whenever it happens]].
* AscendedFanboy: In the VisualNovel, Cordelia is a big fan of Kobayashi Opera and she becomes his disciple.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Baritsu, secret martial art(?) taught to Sherlock by [[Literature/SherlockHolmes her grandfather]]. It requires her to hold other people's hands. [[spoiler: And then it does nothing.]]
** Less impractical as demonstrated for real by Literature/SherlockHolmes himself in Season 2, when he used it to [[SealedEvilInACan seal the evil toys away in Pandora's Pot]]. It's used by Sheryl again in the episode to [[spoiler: accidentally unleash said evil toys from said pot, ironically.]]
* BadassAdorable: In contrary with her strangely adapted anime version, Cordelia in the game version has shown to be a very capable fighter, to the point able to fight off Stoneriver quite easily and counter high kick Arsene.
** Also Milky Holmes with their toys.
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The final battle versus Arsene takes place in ''outer space''.
* BeachEpisode: Episode seven. Kokoro is in a SchoolSwimsuit, among other things.
** Ironically, while the rest of the cast appear in swimwear, [[ShirtlessScene Twenty]] is the only one who keeps his clothes on for the whole episode.
* BearsAreBadNews: Especially when those bears can uppercut you.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Subverted, Cordelia looks like a mummy after she was stuck in a coffin with the creepy narcissist Twenty.
** Also in episode 4, Sheryl after being attack by the bear was seen with blood on her head.
* BookEnd: The first episode begins with a Detective and a Phantom Thief clashing against each other as the narrator explains what Toys are. The final special episode, Psycho's Greeting, ends the same way.
* BrainBleach: See Trope Below.
* BrickJoke: At the end of episode 1 of the second season Milky Holmes' chicken get roasted by fire. Guess what they're eating at the start of the next episode.
* BroughtDownToNormal: In the first episode, no less. Also Kobayashi's backstory in the game.
** [[spoiler: And in the last episode.]]
* BullyingADragon: In episode 1 of the second season, Stone River, Rat and Twenty deliberately destroy Milky Holmes' farm to provoke them, but the only thing they achieve by doing that is awakening a murderous rage within the girls. [[{{CurbStompBattle}} It doesn't end well for the Gentleman Thieves.]]
* ButtMonkey: Cordelia during episode 2. This is probably a parody of the main characters of World Masterpiece Theater series, whose primary traits are perseverance and selflessness (and beauty).
* CallToAgriculture: The first episode of the second season. To the point that they forget they're detectives.
* TheCameo: Kobayashi in his commercials.
** Both Literature/SherlockHolmes and Literature/ArseneLupin appear in the intro ([[JumpPhysics doing some serious jumping]]) representing the GreatDetective and the PhantomThief respectively.
* ChekhovsGun: The plate from the princess wedding was used to block a blow to the head from a sword.
* TheChewToy: The entire Milky Holmes team, especially Cordelia and Sherlock, and don't forget Kokoro.
* CipherScything: Kobayashi Opera is nowhere to be found, Sherlock Shellingford is now the main character (sort of).
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Cordelia. In fact, her delusion ''can'' manifest to certain degree in reality.
** In episode 6 of the second season, Cordelia [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed herself]] by jumping out of the train to dispose of a time bomb. After that, she chased the train and jumped back in, while still holding the time bomb, telling her friends that they live together and they '''DIE''' together.
** Taken to the logical extreme in episode 8 of the second season, in which she dragged the rest of the Milky Holmes and the Gentlemen Thieves into her [[{{Cloudcuckooland}} flower garden of fantasy]] via a literal flood of flowers.
* ComedicSociopathy: Milky Holmes are kept at the brink of starvation, living in conditions that make some prisons look luxurious.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Kobayashi and Ellery in the games.
* DarkestHour: By the end of episode 10, Milky Holmes [[spoiler: have lost all credibility as GreatDetective, unable to use their Toys at all, ''is expelled from the school'', losing friendship with Genius 4, losing sympathy from Arsene, LosingTheTeamSpirit, and even Kamabokko left Sherlock in shame.]]
** Episode 7 of season two has [[spoiler:Arsene finally give up for good. Destroying the flower of hope given to her by Milky Holmes and proceeded to destroy the school and abandon the Gentleman Thieves.]]
* DemotedToExtra: The eponymous characters take a distant mentor role in ''Futari wa''. Of G4, only Kokoro has a meaningful role (mainly in being one step behind the new protagonists, the Feathers). Thief Empire only appear as TheCameo, Color the Phantom are the new antagonists.
** BackForTheFinale: They came back in the final battle vs Colors the phantom.
* DenserAndWackier: The entire anime series compared to the much more serious VisualNovel it's based on.
** The second anime season too, to the already DenserAndWackier first season.
* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The openings are sung by Milky Holmes.
* DoppelgangerAttack: Seen in the finale.
* DrowningMySorrows: [[spoiler:Henriette]] before her DespairEventHorizon, only with [[DrunkOnMilk Oolong Tea]].
* DyingMessage: When Rat has been [[spoiler:mistakenly (he's still alive)]] murdered, he writes a message that looks like "MH". It's actually [[spoiler:I-3. Sonia's room.]]
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:Buta, after becoming the fake [[AGodAmI God of Lard]], attempted to suck the lard out of everyone and planned to cover the world in lard in order to make a Lard Age.]]
* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: Episode 10. [[spoiler: Kamaboko returning to Sheryl and co in episode 11 marks a turning point for the Milky Holmes.]]
* {{Expy}}:
** Don't you think that Sherlock looks like [[Manga/LuckyStar Tsukasa]]? And Kokoro is strikingly similar to [[VisualNovel/KoihimeMusou Sousou Motoku]]?
** For that matter, Saku Touyama looks a lot like Luka Megurine. One of the eyecatches even shows her as [[MemeticMutation TakoLuka]].
* FourGirlEnsemble: Both Milky Holmes and the Genius 4.
* FourIsDeath: There are four thieves serving as the primary villains.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sherlock is sanguine, Nero is choleric, Cordelia is melancholic and Hercule is phlegmatic.
* FunbagAirbag: Sherlock gets stuck in Henriette's breasts, which are animated (at that moment) to be larger and bouncier than usual.
** This becomes a ''ChekhovsGun''. [[spoiler:Sherlock realizes that Arsene's breasts are as bouncy as Henriette's. The exact same breasts, in fact.]]
* GagSeries: The first anime season and second anime season. Anywhere else though, the series is more serious (as much as superhero detectives can be taken seriously).
** ''Futari wa'' goes the opposite direction. In it, the eponymous characters are ''legendary'', and the new protagonists try to emulate their competence as best as they can. No more fun allowed...
* GenderFlip: Episode three of season two does this in its {{eyecatch}}, providing more or less official male versions of Milky Holmes. The fanbase seems okay with it.
* GentlemanThief: It's a Gender-Neutral term since there are female Gentleman Thieves.
%%* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
%%* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Whenever someone's toys activate.
* GodIsGood: The God of [[spoiler:Lard.]]
* GondorCallsForAid: The finale sees Mary and Kate, Princess Claris, Irene, and Sonia helping the girls towards their goals, directly or indirectly.
* GratuitousEnglish: Twenty uses a lot of English, like describing his "beautiful face and looks".
** [[AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle "CyBWA!"]]
%%** The driver in Episode 2 of Season 2.
** At the end of Episode 11 of Season 2, we also have "We are the lard. We are the childlard of the new century.".
* GrayRainOfDepression: [[EmpathicEnvironment Accompanying]] Milky Holmes' DarkestHour at the end of episode 10.
* GreatDetective: Genderbent, chibified, and then force-fed hallucinogenic mushrooms.
* {{Hammerspace}}: Rat's bombs, the C4 from Nero's test.
* HarmlessFreezing: Kokoro's karma bites her this way. She uses TalkingWithSigns for her usual exasperation.
* HeroicWannabe: Kazumi and Alice. They are not aware of the subtle nuances of being Detectives, and tend to run into troubles in every corners.
** Anti-HeroicWannabe: Colors the Phantom are looking to smash the implied balance of power between Gentlemen Thieves and Detectives.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: "One heart in two bodies!", Mary and Kate. Which they will announce every time.
%%* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Kokoro.
%%* HowWeGotHere: Episode 6 of the second series.
* IdenticalStranger: Sheryl switched with Princess Claris.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The episodes also share their name with detective fiction.
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Pink Phantom test [[spoiler:Kazumi]]'s thief resolve. [[spoiler:She fails, because what she truly wants is to be with Alice.]]
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe: Irene stuffs Kokoro into the trunk of her father's car and then goes home. The rest of the Genius 4 don't even notice.
* InformedAbility: ''Everyone''. Milky Holmes, Genius 4, and the four thieves are all played up to be massively competent in some way or another. From what we see of them, this is, um, not the case.
** Arsene finally shows she is competent in season 2. [[spoiler:When she curbstomps ''everyone'' and destroys the school by herself.]]
** Milky Holmes acts competent when they ''have'' their Toys. Otherwise, they'll acts like a useless detectives and carefree high school girls
* InnocentFlowerGirl: Cordelia's paradise is a flower garden, and she has flowers in her hair. Yet, it's subverted. She's probably the most demented member of Milky Holmes beneath her exterior.
* KaizoTrap: Happens in one [[PressXToNotDie Quick-Time Event]]; you have just told all of your little detectives to use their Toys, got back the gems, the music has stopped and the screen has turned black... before the theif jumps out of nowhere trying to fetch the gems.
* LargeHam: Twenty, Cordelia and Cherry the artist Hercule models for.
** The driver in episode 2 of Season 2.
* LarynxDissonance: Arty, for some reason, is voiced by Motoki Takagi. A male voice actor.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Milky Holmes in the end after crash forgets that Henriette is actually Arsene and apparently everything about them being detectives at the start of the second season. Hercule seems to remember some of it.]]
* LaserGuidedKarma: G4 knows it's going to happen to Kokoro in episode eight, and when it does, they treat it as expected.
** In fact nearly anything bad that happens to Kokoro is her fault.
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Mori Arty, the girls' new roommate, who doesn't appear until after the credits have rolled in the finale.
%% * LikesOlderWomen: Prince Pero fell in love with Miss Marple.
* LivingStatue: The Sherlock Holmes statue in front of the school comes to life, jumps through the window ([[RefugeInAudacity and gets a perfect 10!]]) then possesses his granddaughter.
* LivingWithTheVillain: Arsene/Henriette is the student council president, Stoneriver/Ishinagare is a janitor, Twenty/Mr. Nijuuri is a teacher, and Rat/Nezu is a classmate of the Milky Holmes.
** And at the end of episode 12, Mori Arty becomes Milky Holmes' roommate.
* LosingTheTeamSpirit: Happen amongst both Milky Holmes and the Thieves.
* LovelyAngels: The protagonists of ''Futari wa'', VigilanteMan Kazumi and Alice. Their misadventures are rife with troubles, mainly because they don't have the same level of expertise as real Detectives.
* MadeOfIron: Stoneriver
* MagicSkirt: In episode 4 Sherlock and Kokoro end up buried head first in the ground, and in both cases their skirts stay upright.
* MarshmallowHell: In episode 6 Sheryl actually gets stuck in Henriette's breasts and tries to struggle to get out, ''for about 20 seconds.''
** Arsene [[spoiler: Illusion Toy has evolved to the point that she is now a RealityWarper.]]
* MerchandiseDriven: The series is not subtle in being a glorified TCG commercial. The main reason for new protagonists and antagonists in ''Futari wa'' is so that Bushiroad can print new cards with new characters.
* MindOverMatter: Sherlock. Sherlock ''Holmes'' shows his mastery over it in episode 9.
* MishmashMuseum: Yokohama Museum holds, amongst other things: a desiccated corpse of an alien, the Rosetta Stone, and Venus de Hama, the last of which is about to be stolen by Arsene.
* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: Arsene keeps denying that she is Henriette, even after her identity's been revealed.
* MouthfulOfPi: In perhaps the most extreme example, Claris (as Sherlock), only needs to say the first two digits, the ones everybody knows, to convince Milky Holmes and G4 that she isn't Sherlock.
* MundaneUtility: During the BeachEpisode Stone River uses his sword as a fishing rod.
* NoodleIncident: How Kokoro got beaten up is, to her annoyance, completely left out of the HowWeGotHere of s2e6 [[spoiler: until the end]].
* NoOneElseIsThatDumb: See the MouthfulOfPi entry.
* OncePerEpisode: One or more members of the Milky Holmes thrown into jail. Which is hilarious, considering they are ''supposed'' to be the detectives. [[spoiler: It's made even worse that Henriette is always behind their detainment.]]
* OneeSama: Cordelia (more prominent in the VisualNovel), and also Irene: even though she's ''younger'' than the detectives.
** All four girls look up to Mary and Kate this way, despite the fact that they're clearly thieves.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Arsene wants to fight Sherlock on equal terms and won't let anything else get in her way.
* OnlySaneMan: Between the hilariously useless Milky Holmes, laid back G4, and over-the-top Phantom Thieves Empire, Henriette come across as the most normal character.
* OpeningNarration: At the start of every episode to date.
-->Toys: miracle blossoms flowering in the hearts of the chosen.
-->Some bloom into flowers of purity, others into flowers of poison.
-->It is the age of the {{Great Detective}}s.
-->These two flowers wage war to see which is the most beautiful:
-->the {{Great Detective}}s or the {{Gentlemen Thie|f}}ves.
** In episode 10 of the second season, which is the prelude to the climax, the scenes of the narration are replaced with [[SpoilerOpening spoilerific scenes]] of the episode itself, while still receiving the usual voiceover. Thankfully, it doesn't make any sense until one watches the episode itself.
** In the next episode (Episode 11), the OpeningNarration is skipped entirely.
* PetTheDog: Henriette got this when she let Milky Holmes keep Kamaboko. She gets plenty of these throughout the series.
** Even after the events of [[spoiler:episode 7]] Arsene made sure that all the students [[spoiler:except Milky Holmes]] were transferred to new schools without worry.
* PhantomThief: (''see GentlemanThief above'')
* {{Pixellation}}: When Kokoro insults the Toy-less Milky Holmes on TV, she [[FlippingTheBird gives them the middle-finger]]... which is censored.
** Sheryl's grandfather's mystery "medicine".
** [[CovertPervert Hercule's]] [[EroticDream dream.]]
* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Every chapter of the games. For example, in one case you forcefully open a locked door with Elly's Triascend, locate a time bomb with Cordelia's Hypersensitive, get it with Sheryl's Psychokinesis, and deactivate it with Nero's Direct Hack.
* PointyHairedBoss: Kokoro is the Apparent leader of G4.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Lampshaded, played straight, ''and'' parodied.
** Absolutely {{D|efiedTrope}}EFIED in episode 4, with a huge bribe of bananas.
* PowersViaPossession: In episode nine, the girls get possessed by the ghosts of their grandfathers and Cordelia's grandmother (the famous detectives for which they are named) and gain some of their physical attributes in addition to their brainpower.
* PrinceAndPauper: Sherlock and her body double, Queen Claris, swap places for a day so Claris can get out of marriage.
* PsychicPowers: The Toys.
* {{Pun}}: "My dad's company is going bankrupt" can be written in Japanese as "''tousan'' no kaisha ga ''tousan''", which Irene said at some point in eps 4. This is a somewhat common pun.
* RealityIsOutToLunch: When Henrietta[[spoiler:/Arsene's]] power is out of control due to a combination of sickness and Sheryl's very poisonous looking medicine. Everyone in the vicinity is suddenly put into a bizarre version of ''Momotaro''. And the effect stays for sometime for the thieves.
* RealPlaceBackground: Season 2 episode 6 takes them to Kamakura by train, passing Enoshima island along the way, however the Great Buddha statue has been replaced by a meditating Great Detective.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Subverted with Hercule.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The Yokohama forests are home to bears and these in the form of giant lemmings.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: What Cordelia draws during her short imprisonment includes, amongst other things, depiction of herself as [[JeanneDArchetype Jeanne d'Arc]].
* SealedEvilInACan: The aptly named, Pandora's Pot.
* SequelHook: The introduction of Mori Arty at the end of the first season.
* ShoutOut: Episode eight has the [[Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman Toys Ninja Magic - Phoenix!]], a combined attack out of nowhere.
** [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure Everywhere during the ecstasy episode.]]
** A ''Anime/GalaxyAngelRune'' eyecatch shows up, with G4 in the Angels' place.
** In episode four, Sheryl singing the La-La theme from ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.
*** The same episode references [[Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro another Miyazaki work]] near the end. After Kokoro gets "[[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe taken home]]", Hirano remarks that Irene "stole something quite precious. Our Kokoro...[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics -san]]".
** In episode 7 of season 1, Sher and Nero stumble upon figurines of [[Music/{{AKB48}} AKG49]].
*** Also the giant squid from the same episode looks a lot like a [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Blooper]].
** The OVA is full of it, including Sheryl making remark how the room is lonely without Kokoro, which is a parody of the [[UnCanceled (not-)ending]] of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}''. Of course, the room is cramped with other characters and isn't anywhere close to lonely.
** In the {{Eyecatch}} of episode two of Season Two, Saki looks like a certain [[Manga/SquidGirl invader from the sea]].
*** In the same episode the diplomat, after his truck is lifted in the air. Says [[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial Diplomat Phone Home]].
*** At the end when The Phantom Thief Empire are thrown back in jail, right next door there are a bunch of pirates, which includes [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]], [[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Captain Marvelous]], an yellow octopus with a [[Manga/OnePiece straw hat]]... and a Pop Up Pirate.
** Episode 4 of season 2 features an a appearance by [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva Unit 2]]. Kinda.
** Episode 5: "[[Anime/StrikeWitches Those are trousers! They're fine! I'm not embarrassed!]]"
*** G4's bomb disposal robot bears a striking resemblance to ''WesternAnimation/WallE''.
** In Episode 6 Manga/{{Golgo 13}} makes an appearance, Tsugiko is wearing a ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Madoka]]''-inspired outfit and holding a [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Raising Heart]] knockoff, Hirano has a [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Face Hugger]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE Poporo]] makes another appearance...
** In Episode 7 of Season Two we have the [[Literature/TheBible Last Supper]] [[spoiler:before Arsene destroys the school. Ironically she's Jesus in that scene]].
*** Episode 7 also had [[spoiler:Arsene attack with [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Ultima]]]].
** In Episode 8 of Season 2, Milky Holmes and the Phantom Thief Empire are trapped inside Cordelia's delusion. At one point, Stone River suspects that he's no longer in the real world and how does he verify that? [[Film/{{Inception}} He rests the tip of his sword on the ground and makes it spin like a top.]]
** Episode 11 has them call call Rat ComicBook/RasAlGhul.
** During the trip to London in the Alternative ONE episode, [[http://i47.tinypic.com/2efti88.png two]] [[http://i46.tinypic.com/fz7k0j.png familiar]] [[Series/{{Sherlock}} people]] can be spotted in the crowd from time to time.
** In ''Futari wa'', the way [[spoiler:Kazumi's light arrow-like Toys]] can be used to unlock doors is reminiscent of [[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry the Siesta Sisters]].
** In the second episode of TD, when Marine is fighting Capriccio, [[Manga/SaintSeiya she wears an armor and assumes a very familiar fighting pose while a constellation shines in the background.]]
** In the movie, Kamaboko gets his paws on the MacGuffin and acquires great powers. This causes every female cat around to fall in love him. Among those cats, there’s a particular one with [[Franchise/SailorMoon a coat of black and a yellow moon on her forehead]]
* ShoutOutThemeNaming: Every character is named after a famous character from detective fiction.
** Sherlock Shellingford is named after (and is possibly a descendant of) Literature/SherlockHolmes.
*** GeniusBonus: Doyle's early drafts call the detective Sherringford Holmes, a name later used by some sources to refer to his eldest brother.
** Nero Yuzurizaki is named after and has some [[BigEater personality]] [[{{Jerkass}} quirks]] of Literature/NeroWolfe.
** Hercule Barton is named after Literature/HerculePoirot.
** Cordelia Glauca is named after the detective woman [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordelia_Gray Cordelia Gray]].
*** And later the girls are [[PowersViaPossession used as medium]] for them in episode 10.
** The [[CipherScything absent mentor]] of Milky Holmes, Opera Kobayashi, is probably named after Yoshio Kobayashi, the adopted son of Kogoro Akechi, who himself lead a boy detectives club.
** Kokoro Akechi, Tsugiko Zenigata, Hirano Hasegawa, and Saku Touyama are named after fictional Japanese detectives [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kogoro_Akechi Kogoro Akechi]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenigata_Heiji Heiji Zenigata]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onihei_Hankacho Heizo Hasegawa]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyama_Kagemoto Toyama no Kin-san]] respectively.
** Arsène is named after the infamous GentlemanThief Literature/ArseneLupin.
** Stoneriver is obviously named after the bandit Goemon Ishikawa who stole gold and valuables and gave them to the poor. [[PaperThinDisguise His mundane alias, Ishinagare, can even be written with the kanji for Ishikawa]].
** Rat is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezumi_Kozo Nezumi Kozo]], a Myth/RobinHood-like thief. His surname translates to "mouse", even.
** Twenty is named after The Fiend with Twenty Faces, eternal rival to Kogoro Akechi.
** Irene Doala[[note]]Doyle?[[/note]] is obviously named after Irene Adler.
** Mori Arty is named after Professor Moriarty, who was Sherlock Holme's archenemy.
* ShrinkingViolet: Hercule.
* SickEpisode: Episode eight. Milky Holmes gets sick (it's all Kokoro's fault) and Henriette takes care of them. Then she gets sick. Then things get ''weird''.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Nero is suddenly wearing glasses while reading a book for a single gag in episode 5.
* SmashingWatermelons: Tsugiko is attempting to do this in episode seven, but Sherlock gets in the way and gets a CranialEruption.
* StandingInTheHall: In episode two, though everyone foists their buckets on Cordelia.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Milky Holmes regains their toys in episode 12, but loses them immediately after the battle.
* StealthMentor: Henriette/Arsene.
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: All the thieves' human names are rather obvious giveaways for their code names.
* StudentCouncilPresident: Henriette.
* StupidityInducingAttack: The Failure Toy, one of the most dangerous toy around is capable of turning everyone into complete failures. Doesn't work on the Milky Holmes, because they are already complete failures.
* SuperSenses: Cordelia.
* SuperStrength: Hercule.
* TakenForGranite: Stoneriver's Toy. To be precise, he temporarily turns them into mannequins.
* TakingTheHeat: Cordelia sacrifices herself rather than let Kamaboko, who she believes to be the one thing gelling the girls together, be thrown out. Her innocence is proved and the cat is allowed, though her brief time in prison did involve Cordelia drawing a RoomFullOfCrazy.
* TeamPet: Kamaboko, the cat Sherlock finds and brings home.
* {{Technopath}}: Nero.
* TeenGenius: Kokoro constantly mentions that she graduated from Harvard at 13, but compared to what Irene pulls off, she's laughably incompetent.
* TeruTeruBozu: The girls hang up a bunch of these during a heavy rainstorm. Sherlock also hangs up herself.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: When the girls finally get their Toys back, the OP kicks in to help them.
* ThisIsADrill: There a guy actually called Drill.
* ThisLoserIsYou: Milky Holmes pretty much. Turns into a ChekhovsGun [[spoiler:against Buta's loser power]].
* ThunderShock: When Milky Holmes are about to be expelled. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by Rat, who wonders if anyone else saw the lightning.
** Could also be foreshadowing: Look at Sherlock's eyes right before the lightning: They went into Toys mode.
** [[spoiler:Arsene can do this in season 2.]]
* TimeBomb: In the first episode. The girls fail to defuse it.
* '''TooDumbToLive''': Sherlock, but especially in episode 10. It's the last straw for everyone. [[spoiler: Even Arsene, who was awed with her altruism, got fed up with her.]]
* VagueAge: According to the Milky Holmes Twitter, Sherlock and Nero are 15, Hercule is 16, Cordelia 17, and Henriette? "You should never ask a lady her age." She's young enough to be the student council president, but is also an established PhantomThief...
* VillainousBreakdown: Arsene, thanks to Sheryl. And no, it's not because Sheryl is a competent detective. [[spoiler:Exactly the inverse, actually.]]
** She gets an even worse one in season two. [[spoiler:And this time, leaves and disbands the school for good.]]
%%* VisibleSigh
* WaifFu: Hirano, and in the episode 9 of the second season she is shown practicing martial arts at a dojo.
* WhatTheHellHero: Henriette gives this to Milky Holmes '''every episode''' in season 2.
* YouAreWorthHell: [[spoiler:Kazumi wants to be with Alice no matter what-- it matters not whether Alice is a Detective or a Thief. Fortunately, Alice choose to be a Detective.]]
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