Kodansha Comics licenses ‘Sherlock Bones’

Taking a bite out of crime, one case at a time.

It was revealed on Saturday that Kodansha Comics had licensed the Sherlock Bones (Tanteiken Sherdock – 探偵犬シャードック) manga via an update on the Random House website. A pre-order solicitation also appeared earlier Sunday on Amazon. The manga is written by author Ando Yuma and drawn by artist, Satou Yuuki. The manga runs in Kodansha’s Weekly Shounen Magazine.

Ando Yuma is one of the many pen-names for Kibayashi Shin, who has worked on such series as Get Backers, Bloody Monday, The Drops of God and Psycho Buster. This will be Satou Yuuki’s first licensed work to be published in North America.

The story is about a dog-loving boy, Wajima Takeru, who through a convenient circumstance finds himself introduced to a talking-dog. And not just any talking-dog, but the very incarnation of a certain Sherlock Holmes. These two pair up and set out, solving all sorts of mysteries…or at least, that is what I’m lead to believe.

After briefly discussing this manga with a few people that were familiar with it, the manga relies on a lot of slapstick-comedy and even issues some fair fanservice into the mix. I have to say, this piques my curiosity, and seems like a different kind of title than KC has gone after before.

Sherlock Bones (the official US title) is scheduled for release on September 17, 2013, with a retail-suggested price of $10.99 (which is the usual price for all Kodansha Comics shonen releases). The series is still ongoing in Japan, with 6 volumes currently out, and volume 7 due out on February 15.