Death in the Clouds (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

Death in the Clouds (雲の中の死 Kumo no Naka no Shi) was a Japanese anime television story produced by Oriental Light and Magic for NHK television. The story was broadcast in four episodes and formed Episodes 36 - 39 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Yukiyoshi Ôhashi and directed by Joji Shimura and Naohito Takahashi. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.

Production Details
The story arc is narrated and broadcast in 4 episodes as follows:

Synopsis
As with the other episodes in this series, the main protagonist is Mabel West, the daughter of Raymond West who spends her time alternating between working for Poirot in London and spending time with her great aunt in St. Mary Mead. This allows her to be involved in cases investigated by both of them.

The story is fairly faithful to the original plot with the exception of the involvement of Mabel and other series regulars such as Miss Marple, Miss Lemon and Hastings. Japp has been renamed Sharpe. The major characters are retained but some minor characters are dropped or not named.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) The story opens with some scene setting with Mabel at St Mary Mead with Miss Marple. Mabel then needs to go back to London as Poirot is due back from Paris at the conclusion of a case. She goes to Croydon with Hastings to receive Poirot.

From here on, the story runs very faithfully along the lines of the original. Poirot boards the aircraft for the flight to London. All the passengers from the original are featured except for James Ryder. The conversation on the plane and the discovery of Madame Giselle's death is faithfully depicted as are the interviews which Japp has with the passengers at Croydon. One additional touch is that Mabel actually knows Jane Grey, who is her regular hair-cutter!

There is even an inquest where Mabel narrates the proceedings in a voiceover. Poirot, Hastings and Mabel follow Fournier back to Paris. The interview with Elise, Zeropoulos and the Jules Perrot all take place as in the original except that Elise does not produce the little black notebook.

Back in London, Mabel has tea with her friend Jane and there she learns that both Normal Gale and Jean Dupont are interested in Jane. Poirot and co. meet Jane and Normal on their way to interview Clancy. Later Poirot arranges for Norman to play act the blackmailing of Lady Horbury which sets the stage for her to confide in Poirot.

Jane has quit her job as a hairdresser so Poirot employs her as an assistant (he has sent Hastings to Ireland to check on Jane's background). Jane accompanies Poirot and Mabel back to Paris where they interview the Duponts. There Poirot makes a large donation to Armand Dupont and asks him to give a job to Jane. Fournier brings news that Anne Morisot has been found and they go off to the officer of Maitre Thibault to meet her.

At the end of the interview, Poirot asks Mabel to accompany Anne back to her hotel. After they leave, he suddenly realises that Anne was Lady Horbury's maid whom he had met on the plane. He realises both Anne and Mabel could be in danger so they rush to the hotel. Mabel is all right but she says she saw Anne leaving in a taxi with a man heading for the railway station. Fournier tries to get the train stopped but it is too late and Anne is found dead with a bottle of cyanide in her hands. Except for the incidental roles played by Mabel, all this is exactly as happens in the original novel. Meanwhile Jane tells Poirot Jean Dupont has invited her to join in an expedition to Persia but she declined his offer because she had earlier agreed to join Norman Gale who is moving to Canada to set up a dental practice.

Back to London for the denouement, which, as in the original, is only attended by Clancy and Norman Gale, plus Sharpe. In this adaptation Fournier is also present. Norman is exposed and incriminates himself in the same way. Through Mabel, Poirot meets Janes and tells her the bad news about Norman. He urges her to take up the invitation of Jean Dupont. Towards the end of the last episode, Poirot, Hastings and Mabel are seen waving goodbye to Jean Dupont and Jane Grey on a ship departing for the expedition to Persia.

During the ivestigation, Miss Marple writes to Mabel to wish her a happy birthday and gives good advice on the need to learn to observe and study people as they really are.

Characters/Voice Talents
Note not every voice talent is credited. It is also possible that some of the voice talents supplied the voice of more than one character
 * Takeshi Aono as Daniel Clancy
 * Yoko Honna as Jane Grey
 * Masako Joh as Oliver
 * Kotono Mitsuishi as Lady Horbury
 * Hirofumi Nojima as Hastings
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel West
 * Kôtarô Satomi as Hercule Poirot
 * Atsuko Tanaka as Miss Lemon
 * Kaoru Yachigusa as Miss Marple
 * Kôichi Yamadera as Norman Gale
 * Yûsaku Yara as Inspector Sharpe
 * Toshikazu Fukawa as Jean Dupont
 * Venetia Kerr
 * Lord Horbury
 * Armand Dupont
 * Maitre Thibault
 * Dr Bryant
 * Davis
 * Mitchell
 * Fournier
 * Elise
 * Jules Perrot
 * Zeropoulos