Motive v. Opportunity (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

Motive v. Opportunity (動機と機会 - Dōki to Kikai) was a Japanese anime television story produced by Oriental Light and Magic for NHK television. The story was Episode 27 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Sukehiro Tomita, directed by Yumi Kamakura and Naohito Takahashi and first broadcast on 20 February 2005. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie short story Motive v. Opportunity.

Synopsis
A visiting lawyer, Mr Petherick, tells Miss Marple an Mabel West about a strange case where a will was changed but those who had the opportunity to do so did not have the motive while those who had a motive did not have the opportunity.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Except for the involvement of Mabel and the absence of the Tuesday night club, the plot follows the original story as told by Mr Petherick very closely.

The episode opens with Miss Marple doing a fake seance to call up the mother of Oliver to entertain Mabel. Thereafter, Mr Petherick, who was a visitor and present with them, proceeds to narrate his story just as he had done to the Tuesday night club in the original. The events are reproduced in faithful detail. At the end, Miss Marple produces the solution, but she uses the parallel not of Tommy Symmonds but of Mabel's father Raymond West, whom Miss Marple says, used to play such tricks when he was young.

Characters/Voice talents
Not every character has a credited voice talent
 * Masako Jô as Oliver
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel
 * Kaoru Yachigusa as Miss Marple
 * Mr Petherick - Toshiaki Karazawa
 * Simon Clode - Shinya Yamamoto
 * Chris
 * Grace Garrod
 * Mary Clode
 * George Clode
 * Philip Garrod
 * Mrs Eurydice Spragg
 * Absalom Spragg
 * Edna
 * Professor Longman
 * Emma