A Study in Scarlet (Manga Classics) - Arthur Conan Doyle with Julien Choy - ★★★★.¼

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ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Arthur Conan Doyle
ADAPTOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Julien Choy
SERIES: Manga Classics Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1
GENRE: Manga
PUBLICATION DATE: January 21, 2025
RATING: 4.25 stars.


In a Nutshell: A wonderful option for manga lovers to experience Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’. Faithful to the original. Full-colour graphics. Sherlock and Watson look too young to be convincing, but the rest is great.


Plot Preview:
The same story as ‘A Study in Scarlet’, the very first novel where ace detective Sherlock Holmes makes his appearance. This manga is faithful to the classic in every relevant way, skipping out only a few of the relatively unimportant scenes.


Let me again begin by reminding manga newbies that this book is almost in traditional manga format, with the reverse right-to-left pattern of storyboarding. ‘Almost’ because unlike most manga, this is in full colour.

‘A Study in Scarlet’ is the first of the four Sherlock Holmes novels (The rest of his detective outings are in short stories.) While it is not my favourite of the Holmes books (That honour belongs to the incomparable ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’!), I still like this book for the way it introduced the characters of Holmes and Watson to readers. Without feeling too much like an ‘origin story’, it still offered us a well-rounded insight of the two characters such that we get a handle of their personalities before the actual case begins. This is something Christie failed to do for both Poirot and Marple in their respective first appearances.

I have read a few Manga Classics by now, and I have found them mostly faithful to the original works. (This also goes against them when it comes to manga adaptations of Shakespeare, but that’s a story for another day.) This book is no exception. The plotline is true to the original novel in all essential aspects.

If you have read ‘A Study in Scarlet’, you might remember that the story has two distinct halves. I wasn’t a fan of this decision as I was caught by surprise at the change in tone, setting, and characters for the second half of the story. It took me a long time to understand where Doyle was going with the whole thing. The segue between the two sections had been too abrupt. This manga rectifies the issue wonderfully. I can’t tell you how as it would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say, the story no longer feels like two distinct halves forcibly joined together.

The illustrations serve the story decently well. The actions and the emotions are spot on. I appreciate how characters were introduced with little text boxes containing their name – very helpful for a book with many characters. I especially enjoyed the depiction of Sherlock’s street squad: the Baker Street Boys. Their street-urchin charm and attitude were captured perfectly. I wish the art had got the portrayal right for some characters. Manga Sherlock certainly looks hot, but he doesn’t look “Sherlock-y’. Sherlock is supposed to be about 26-27 in the first book, so he does look his age. But John Watson looks like a college boy with his fresh face, not like an experienced army doctor straight out from Afghanistan. For some reason, I got this weird feeling that Sherlock and John were being set up as a potential romantic pair (‘shipped’, as youngsters say) in the artwork. Stamford, who is supposed to be Watson’s batchmate, looks like his grandpa. I am not sure if the “maid” in the story was supposed to be Mrs. Hudson, but if yes, she also was sketched too youthfully to be a middle-aged housekeeper.

Other than the issues with the art, I have no grouses with the story. I love it when adaptations stay true to the original, and this one certainly does. It would be a great way for manga lovers to experience the brilliance of Sherlock Holmes without having to wade through the descriptive text of the original.

Definitely recommended to manga fans and Sherlock fans.

My thanks to Udon Entertainment for providing the DRC of “Manga Classics: Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 - A Study in Scarlet” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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