Case File nº221: Kabukicho has numerous references not only to the original novels, but also to the various adaptations made.
Episodes:
- The episode "Hello Detectives" has a number of references to the Sherlock Holmes franchise.
- Shinjuku ward is divided to the west and east side in the middle due to metro line traveling in the center of the ward, similar to the actual west and east side of London. The map shown at the end of the episode shows that the metro line is the Yamanote Line.
- The address of the Pipe Cat bar is located at 221st Avenue, a reference to Sherlock's home address in London, which is 221B Baker Street. This is also referenced in the anime's international title.
- The kid who runs into Watson in the parking lot and bumps into him is a reference to the Baker Street Irregulars. The group is named officially as of "Why Not Join the Staring-At-Eye-Moles Squad?".
- Mrs. Hudson allowed Watson to stay at an apartment inside the building that houses Pipe Cat. In the anime, she is charge of the bar's operation and the landlord, a reference to Sherlock's actual landlady at Baker Street.
- The entire episode itself is a Japanese-based retelling of the novel A Study in Scarlet.
- The episode "Why Not Join the Staring-At-Eye-Moles Squad?" is an adaptation of The Red-Headed League.
- A pair of boxing gloves is seen hanging in Sherlock's apartment. It's shown in The Adventure of The Gloria Scott, The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist and The Adventure of the Naval Treaty that he's good in boxing. The 2009 movie also shows off Sherlock's boxing skills.
- One of the shops next to the Poppin flower shop is Garrideb. Garrideb is one of Sherlock's clients in the story The Three Garridebs.
- Watson gets embarrassed whenever he's near Mary. In the general franchise, Mary is usually paired up with him as either a love interest or later on as his wife.
- In the epilogue, James mentions a previous case about a "snake that came down from the ceiling", obviously referencing The Adventure of the Speckled Band.
- Watson is forced to clean up Sherlock's apartment as a semi-Running Gag. Miss Sherlock and Elementary have their own Watsons trying to keep up with their demanding Sherlocks.
- The episode "The Dream of Fuyuto Kyokgoku, the Ace" adapts The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
- When the detectives discuss the state of Shinjuku, they reveal the local mayor's name is Moran, aka, Sebastian Moran from The Adventure of the Empty House.
- The episode "Wife Looks at Future" is a loose adaptation of A Scandal in Bohemia due to the appearances of Irene Adler (the woman who beat Holmes) and her lover Godfrey Norton and the case regarding Irene stealing a piece of information from a very important member of society which can be used as blackmail.
- The episode is also inspired by the BBC version of A Scandal in Bohemia where Mycroft enlists Sherlock to retrieve a gadget (in this case, a USB drive instead of a phone) containing classified information from Irene. Initially, it's hinted to be revenge porn but it's actually something else.
- Mycroft Holmes works under the Shinjuku city government, a reference to his ambiguous government job in London when he first debuted in the Doyle novels.
- The episode "Don't Take Off Your Swimsuit" is a loose adaptation of The Case of Charles Augustus Milverton due to the appearance of the famous blackmailer, Milverton, and the case of stealing his blackmail material back before he exposes them.
- Like in the original canon, Milverton shows up in Sherlock's apartment where he taunts Sherlock, Irene, and Watson when they try to force him to surrender the blackmail material.
- Also in the original canon, Sherlock, Irene, and Watson go to his apartment to steal his blackmail material with some minor differences: Watson is forced to distract the guards while Sherlock and Irene sneak in to find the material only to witness Milverton's murder by his former blackmail victim.
- Sherlock also burns all the blackmail material, saving all of Milverton's victims just like in the canon.
- The Stinger shows Lestrade offering a case of Milverton's death only for Sherlock to reject it to protect his murderer.
- The episode "That Woman's Pad" has Mrs. Hudson mention to Watson that Sherlock's experienced in using baritsu. Kyogoku shows him an online distance course photo for baritsu. The novels do mention from time to time that he uses it as his main martial art.
- The episode "Take Back Your Melon Heart" is a loose adaptation of The Adventure of the Priory School.
- The episode "Looking Back on Saudade" is based on The Adventure of the Dancing Men, and also involves a criminal using messages coded as seemingly-nonsense graffiti to communicate with a retired associate.
- The episode "Not Breathing" is partially based on The Final Problem which shows the ultimate showdown between Holmes and Moriarty. The twist here is Moriarty commits suicide by letting himself fall from the building.
- Watson faking his death to fool Moriarty is also based on The Adventure of the Empty House where Holmes fakes his death to fool the remnants of Moriarty's criminal empire.
- Moriarty shoots Watson on the leg which was what had happened in The Three Garridebs where Watson got shot on the leg.
- The episode "The Thread Where We Talk About Yeast" shows the part about Watson being admired by his female coworkers in the hospital where he working but it caused a lot of fights among them to the point that his boss blamed him for it. This is a reference to his Fan Nickname "The Three Continents", which was mentioned in The Sign of Four where Watson boasted about his "experience of women which extends over many nations and three separate continents."
- The last three episodes ("The Thread Where We Talk About Yeast", "Everybody Be There At Eight", and "See you in Kabukicho!") take elements from The Adventure of the Empty House: Holmes and Watson spend an interim separated from each other, the story arc also deals with the fallout of Moriarty's death and climaxes in an empty building distinguished by its location across a major landmark, and involves the shooting of a life-like dummy on the other side of a window.
- The epilogue name-drops Dr. Grimesby Roylott, the villain of The Adventure of the Speckled Band.
Story Background:
- Jack the Ripper in this show is a transwoman who is unable to undergo sex reassignment surgery due to her physical limitations. It is somewhat based on one of the recurring theories of the real Jack the Ripper being a woman.
- The idea of Ripper being a cannibal is also based from the "From Hell" letter that the Ripper left together with half of a human kidney.
