subjection!

Happy late unnecessary feelings day🎉

i actually think that this concept art is really interesting when you consider what it means for herlock’s character and his relationship with yuujin. the truth is that we know next to nothing about how those six years they spent together went, but this illustration kind of tells us everything that we really need to know: by combining this and what we see in their relationship now, kazuya nuri has told us everything about them through just a simple drawing.

this is most likely towards the earlier stages of their partnership, so herlock is probably only around 18-20. obviously he is visually very different from the herlock in tgaa—his “casual” appearance is much less put-together, his hair is longer, and his posture is much more relaxed—but what immediately catches your eye is herlock’s expression! you could interpret it as him being lost in thought or him looking a little pissed off, but we would NEVER see today’s herlock making an expression even resembling that: his deductions are meant to appear effortless, after all, and he never really expresses his true feelings. he has his serious moments, but he would never appear that intense.

and i just. i think it is so, so sweet. that yuujin’s friendship was able to change herlock so much. when you look at him in this illustration you can immediately understand who he is: a moody, young adult man (glorified teenager) who doesn’t really understand who he is yet, doesn’t know how to open up to other people, doesn’t know what to do with himself. and yuujin’s kindness is what changes him fundamentally: his friendship, his support. as much as he cares about susato and ryuunosuke, he MEANS it when he says that yuujin is his only true friend. because as much as they mean to him, they haven’t seen him at his worst. they haven’t helped him grow into himself. they didn’t give him the most important person in his life.

i had so much to say about this goober while playing that he literally needs a whole post of his own. so please enjoy me verbally abusing great detective herlock sholmes

main dgs reactions here!

When your partner is studying forensic science

Based on this:

Enjoi! (Including original IMG for reference)

but if you’re having a spot of bother, i always find dancing aids the cognitive processes

(bonus doodle under the cut)

the truth is now tantalizingly close...

Like, just the way it starts and you realize how different it is from every single Dance of Deduction so far and it just immediately hits you, like, yeah, Herlock and Ryunosuke work well together but Herlock and Mikotoba are so in sync it’s on a whole other level. They synergize so well together it actually changes a whole game mechanic!

And then you realize that this is how Herlock’s Dance of Deductions originally went. The contrast between his genius reputation and his occasionally loopy deductions isn’t purely due to Iris Propaganda. His deductions nowadays can be so odd… because this was originally a Dance for two, simultaneously. And without Yujin Mikotoba’s talent for guiding and helping Herlock’s reasoning, they go astray and come out all wonky. 

And it also, like, dodges some of the Weirder Implications the Yujin reveal. You know, in the sense of, like, ‘did Herlock intentionally set on playing the Dance of Deduction with Ryunosuke and making him his roommate to make him some sort of replacement to Yujin?”. Cause it really highlights that Ryunosuke’s dynamic with Sholmes is not just a replication of his old dynamic with Mikotoba. They’re both unique and distinct things.