Here, (Sherlock Holmes) meets (The Absentminded Professor) meets (Magnum P. I.). It was love at first sight when I watched it for the first time in the beginning of the 1990s. Unfortunately, it was aired at 12: AM on our national television at the days of schools. So I used to run towards home, right after the end of the school day, and be very pleased whenever I managed to catch the episode entirely.
The atmosphere was just super, exploding with adventures and comedy. Still the main reason to enjoy was that directing. There were unforgettable dexterous moments, whether with the chases, or with the shocks of poor Prof. (Moriarty) whenever he fails; the best of them concerns him and some painting's theft. There were also wonderful creative ideas, such as that incredible car of (Hound).
Originally, the version I watched was the Arabic dubbed one, and really what an effort, and what a perfection. The Arabic voices were excellent: (Hound) is confident sedate most of the time, and droll for the rest of the time, (Moriarty) is totally mad and hysterically hilarious, not to mention the opening credits which is still in my mind with its Arabic lyrics after nearly 20 years. Now, thanks to the internet's wonders, I listened to the other versions of that memorable credits, and let me tell you, the Arabic one's cuteness wins, it goes like this: "Sherlock Holmes is a great detective, Sherlock Holmes you're the unique one..", and so on by a childish chorus.
Actually, I'm fond of (Arthur Conan Doyle)'s (Sherlock Holmes). He is searching for the truth by the power of logic, so smart, and so serious too. Therefore, with this copy of him, I got the pleasure of enjoying the comic side in him, or looking at him through totally another frame. There were more than "comic" (Holmes) along the way, for example: (Gene Wilder)'s (The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother - 1975), or (Michael Caine)'s portrayal in (Without a Clue - 1988), or Disney's comic book character (The Sleuth "Sureluck Sleuth") who was doggy too, very dumb, and had (Mickey Mouse) to solve everything for him.. etc. But nothing was like (Sherlock Hound, the Detective), it was real laughable, full of action, and imaginative.
Maybe the only things to bother were the strange doggy ears of all the characters, in particular the love interest of (Hound) who got beautiful sight and strange ears. And (Hound) pipe; I know that it's one of the character's basic features in its novels, however why didn't they cancel it this round, as long as the show was made for kids?! Simply they could have said that he quitted smoking!
All in all, (Sherlock Hound) was exactly like its main character; sweet and genius. So the Japanese school of animation is the true "unique one".
