2-Episode Moriarty the Patriot Original Video Anime Launches on April 27

The official website for the television anime of Ryōsuke Takeuchi and Hikaru Miyoshi's Moriarty the Patriot (Yūkoku no Moriarty) manga announced on Friday that the two-episode original video anime (OVA) project will launch on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in Japan on April 27.

The first episode "Yuri no Tsuioku" (Recollection of Lily) is an anime-original story not told in the manga. The story is about a popular aristocratic painter's masterpiece that is defaced in Bath, the British city renowned for its Roman baths. The second episode "Moriarty-ke no Kyūjitsu" (Tea Party or literally, Moriarty Family Holiday) adapts the manga chapter of the same name.

The Blu-ray Disc and DVD will include two exclusive mini character illustration sheets and eight-page booklet in a sleeve case illustrated by character designer Tooru Ookubo.

The first episode will get an advance screening event on March 5 at the Nakano Sun Plaza venue in Tokyo. Voice actors Sōma Saitō (William James Moriarty), Takuya Satō (Albert James Moriarty), Chiaki Kobayashi (Louis James Moriarty), Makoto Furukawa (Sherlock Holmes), and Yūki Ono (John H. Watson) will be in attendance.

The television anime premiered in October 2020, and it had 24 episodes. Funimation streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and it is streaming an English dub.

The anime's second half premiered in Japan on Tokyo MX on April 4. The second half began with the 12th episode. Funimation began streaming the 12th episode on March 28, a week ahead of its debut in Japan. Tasuku Hatanaka performed the opening theme song "Twisted Hearts," and STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION performed the new ending theme song "Omega."

The story's protagonist is James Moriarty, the famous antagonist from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series. In the manga, he is an orphan who assumes the name William James Moriarty when he and his younger brother are adopted into the Moriarty family. As a young man, he seeks to remove the ills caused by England's strict class system.

Kazuya Nomura (Joker Game, Run with the Wind, Black Fox) directed the anime at Production I.G. Go Zappa and Taku Kishimoto were in charge of the series scripts. Tooru Ookubo (Sengoku Basara - Samurai Kings, Tokimeki Restaurant: Miracle6) designed the characters and was also the chief animation director.

Takeuchi and Miyoshi debuted the manga in Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine in August 2016. Takeuchi draws the storyboards and Miyoshi provides the art. The manga's "Saigo no Jiken" (The Final Problem) arc reached its climax in the 14th volume, which shipped in Japan on April 2. Shueisha published the 16th volume on December 3. Viz Media is releasing the manga in English.

Update: The OVA volume will include two exclusive mini character illustration sheets, not one.

Sources: Moriarty the Patriot anime's website, Comic Natalie