Lupin III's director took Sherlock Holmes and built a show that moves like a heist caper instead of a mystery, all propulsive momentum and visual gags that land harder than they have any right to. The cases are elaborate, but the real story is always the people caught in them, a pickpocket kid, a morally boundless Moriarty, and whether Holmes actually cares about solving anything or just the game itself. It's 1984 anime treating Victorian crime fiction like it's a playground, not a museum piece.
When a priceless blue carbuncle vanishes through an impossibly intricate heist, Sherlock Holmes recognizes the handiwork of his greatest nemesis: Professor Moriarty. While working to recover the gem, the detective also tries to guide a young pickpocket away from a life of crime. In the film's second story, Moriarty aims even bigger and makes off with a classified navy submarine, leaving Holmes to follow his trail and work out why the villain wants it. Made up of two separate adventures, this 1984 film mixes detective mystery with comedy and a lighthearted sense of adventure.