A lot of Aoyama's characters play like references to other famous mystery and crime characters - for example, Kaito is an Expy of Arsène Lupin and Shinichi is quite literally a "Heisei Sherlock." But if this is true, who's Hakuba? Even the other Wiki points out the design aspects seemingly correlating him to Sherlock Holmes. But if the role as modern Sherlock is already taken by Shinichi, why? Especially since Hakuba often seems like a parody, rather than an serious adaptation of the character. The answer is simple—Hakuba is not Sherlock Holmes, but rather, Herlock Sholmes. Sholmes was an old Expy of Sherlock Holmes that Leblanc, the creator of Arsene Lupin, specifically created to contest Lupin in his second collection of Lupin short stories. Originally Leblanc explicitly identified the character as "Sherlock Holmes," but he ran into copyright problems, so he instead changed the name to "Herlock Sholmes" (or, in some editions, "Holmlock Shears"—neither of which is very subtle}. Though the character was based off Sherlock Holmes—and Leblanc likely wanted the story to be interpreted as his character facing off with the suppose greatest of all detectives—many disagree on whether Leblanc's obvious Expy is a well-written representation of Sherlock Holmes (citing debatably lessened competency and a difference of characterization). Despite other authors similarly adopting the character, Leblanc's Herlock in particular has largely been rejected as noncanon to the massive collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, and the two characters—Sherlock and Herlock—have ended up being largely treated as separate detectives in posterity despite the clear inspirational relation, paralleling Hakuba's similarities and differences with Shinichi. Hakuba can at times come off as a parody of Sherlock Holmes and modern Sherlock character adaptations because Hakuba is an Expy of Herlock Sholmes, who was himself an Expy.
points out the design aspects seemingly correlating him to Sherlock Holmes. But if the role as modern Sherlock is already taken by Shinichi, why? Especially since Hakuba often seems like a parody, rather than an serious adaptation of the character. The answer is simple—Hakuba is not Sherlock Holmes, but rather, Herlock Sholmes. Sholmes was an old Expy of Sherlock Holmes that Leblanc, the creator of Arsene Lupin, specifically created to contest Lupin in his second collection of Lupin short stories. Originally Leblanc explicitly identified the character as "Sherlock Holmes," but he ran into copyright problems, so he instead changed the name to "Herlock Sholmes" (or, in some editions, "Holmlock Shears"—neither of which is very subtle}. Though the character was based off Sherlock Holmes—and Leblanc likely wanted the story to be interpreted as his character facing off with the suppose greatest of all detectives—many disagree on whether Leblanc's obvious Expy is a well-written representation of Sherlock Holmes (citing debatably lessened competency and a difference of characterization). Despite other authors similarly adopting the character, Leblanc's Herlock in particular has largely been rejected as noncanon to the massive collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, and the two characters—Sherlock and Herlock—have ended up being largely treated as separate detectives in posterity despite the clear inspirational relation, paralleling Hakuba's similarities and differences with Shinichi. Hakuba can at times come off as a parody of Sherlock Holmes and modern Sherlock character adaptations because Hakuba is an Expy of Herlock Sholmes, who was himself an Expy.