Moriarty the Patriot Part 2

憂国のモリアーティ (Yuukoku no Moriarty Part 2)

8.3(139,182)

MAL Score

Ranked #350

Popularity #957

Mystery
Suspense
Adult Cast
Historical
Organized Crime
Psychological

Episodes: 13
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Apr 4, 2021 to Jun 27, 2021
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Victorian Britain reels under headlines about a “Lord of Crime,” blamed for bringing down a string of troublesome nobles. The truth is more complex: William James Moriarty and his brothers, Louis and Albert, operate as a collective, using carefully planned crimes to tear out what they see as the nation’s corruption and remake society on fairer terms. Their campaign draws the attention of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson, who refuse to accept justice delivered through criminal means—setting off a tense battle of wits in which Holmes doesn’t realize his adversary is closer than he suspects.

Caught between these opposing forces is Irene Adler, as alluring as she is sharp-minded. After stealing classified documents capable of rattling the British Empire itself, Irene finds her latest scandal spiraling beyond her control, raising the question of whether she can be pulled back from the brink—or whether the stakes will prove fatal.

Otaku Consensus

Moriarty the Patriot Part 2 lands as the stronger half of the series for many viewers because Kazuya Nomura’s direction and Taku Kishimoto’s series composition turn its anti-hero crime drama into a tighter Holmesian duel, with the Irene Adler material giving the season its sharpest mix of espionage, identity, and political danger. Critics and fan reviews consistently praise the intricate plotting, adult cast, deceptive character dynamics, and Production I.G’s clean visual polish, while the most common complaint is that the animation can feel visually plain outside of key dramatic moments.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Moriarty the Patriot Part 2 if you want a detective anime where the “case” is less important than the moral architecture behind it. It scratches the same strategic itch as Death Note, but trades supernatural brinkmanship for Victorian class warfare, political blackmail, and organized-crime logistics. Viewers who like Psycho-Pass for its arguments about justice, but want something more theatrical and historically flavored, will find a lot to chew on here. The appeal is in watching intelligent adults test one another’s ethics through conversation, traps, and reputation-destroying maneuvers rather than tournament-style escalation. With only 13 episodes, Part 2 moves briskly, and its strongest material comes from how it reframes Sherlock Holmes mythology through anti-hero psychology instead of simple villain worship.

Key Characters

W
William James Moriarty
William is compelling because the series treats his brilliance as both a political weapon and a psychological burden, making him more than a Moriarty-shaped answer to Sherlock.
S
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock works here because he is not just a genius detective but the ethical counterweight to a rival whose methods force him to examine what justice costs.
I
Irene Adler
Irene becomes Part 2’s pressure point: a charismatic operator whose intelligence and danger make her arc feel closer to espionage noir than a standard guest mystery.
A
Albert Moriarty
Albert stands out as the aristocratic insider of the Moriarty group, giving the class-struggle theme a sharper edge because his rebellion comes from within the system.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Production I.G gives the season a controlled, polished look built around crisp character acting, formal interiors, and clean urban staging rather than constant action spectacle. That restraint fits a suspense series where posture, eye contact, and timing often carry the threat.
2
The season’s structure is unusually focused for a 13-episode second part: it tightens the conflict around anti-hero crime strategy, detective pursuit, and political fallout instead of resetting into isolated mystery-of-the-week cases.
3
The Irene Adler material is the season’s clearest tonal shift, pushing the story from aristocratic revenge schemes into classified documents, imperial anxiety, and spy-thriller stakes.
4
Its identity is strongly supported by AniList’s tag profile: Crime at 99%, Anti-Hero at 96%, Detective at 92%, and Class Struggle at 90%, which accurately reflects how the show blends procedural logic with ideological conflict.
5
The series stands apart from more puzzle-centric detective anime by making the audience sit with the criminals’ social thesis; the suspense comes from whether a plan should succeed, not only whether it can be solved.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Moriarty the Patriot Part 2 aired from April 4, 2021 to June 27, 2021, finishing as a 13-episode spring-season continuation produced by Production I.G.
Fun fact 2: The creative credits preserve the manga’s core authorship: Ryousuke Takeuchi is credited for the original story, while Hikaru Miyoshi is credited for the original character design.
Fun fact 3: Director Kazuya Nomura worked with series composition writer Taku Kishimoto, character designer Tooru Ookubo, art director Yoshio Tanioka, color designer Sayoko Noda, and editor Junichi Uematsu on the anime’s polished period-drama presentation.
Fun fact 4: Its reception numbers show unusually strong approval for a sequel part: MAL lists it at 8.29 from 139,182 votes with a rank of #350, while AniList records an 82/100 score and 2,698 favourites.
Fun fact 5: Public review summaries repeatedly single out the complex cast, deception-heavy plotting, and original soundtrack as major draws, while even positive viewer reviews note that the animation can look plain compared with the writing’s intensity.