ABC Murders (Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple)

ABC Murders (ABC殺人事件 - Ēbīshī Satsujin Jiken) 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 5 - 8 of NHK's anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple. The adaptation was written by Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, directed by Shin'ichi Watanabe and Naohito Takahashi and broadcast between 8 August 2004 and 29 August 2004. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie's The A.B.C. Murders.

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.

Comparison with Original Story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Except for the presence of Mabel and Miss Lemon, this adaptation is quite faithful to the original story.
 * The story opens with Mabel describing her new experience working for Poirot. Hastings does not come back from vacation in this adaptation. The letter about Andover arrives and reads just like in the original. Sharpe (Japp) takes a more direct role in the investigations and accompanies Poirot most of the time. There is no Crome.

Andover

 * Poirot does speak to Alice Ascher's neighbour but Hastings has less luck with the greengrocer than in the original.
 * Sharpe and Glen went with Poirot to see Mary Drower instead of Poirot and Hastings on their own.

Bexhill

 * The second letter reads slightly different but still has generally the same meaning.
 * Most of the events there take place like in the original.
 * After the visit to Bexhill, Hastings and Mabel try to discover a link between Alice Ascher and Betty, such as calling on Ascher's previous employer, visiting Mr Barnard's school and so on. These activities do not occur in the original.

Churston

 * The third letter was sent to White Hero mansions rather than White Horse mansions in the first instance. So there is no discussion that the writer was drinking White Horse whiskey.
 * After Churston, the legion is formed, and Poirot goes to see Lady Clarke just like in the original.
 * Thora Grey comes to see Poirot to tell him she has moved to London to find a new job. Here Poirot confront her about her meeting with the stocking salesman. In the book, this scene takes place in a legion meeting after the arrival of the Doncaster.

Doncaster

 * Cust tells Lily Marbury that he is going to Doncaster. There is no deception about going to Cheltenham. This is probably to save time. Lily immediately makes a connection between Cust has been to and the places the A, B, and C murders took place. She tells this to her mother. In the book Tom Hartigan told the police but in this case there is no Tom so we don't know what the Marburys did after this.
 * Downes is sitting in front of Earlsfield not two seats away.
 * At the hotel in Doncaster, the maid actually sees Cust holding a bloody knife. This is a minor difference.
 * In this adaptation, wanted posters of Cust (with his picture-how did the police get this?) are pinned up everywhere.

Subsequent investigations

 * In this adaptation, Sharpe (Japp) says the handwriting on the letters did not match that of Cust in the Doncaster hotel register. In the original, the letters were printed and so this comparison could not be made.
 * Franklin had simply offered Cust a job when they meet in a park. He did not play dominoes nor did he read Cust's palm.

Denouement
The denouement takes place much as in the book.
 * Poirot mentions the stick with a thick knob hand with melted lead inside which was found at Churston.
 * Franklin had been identified by the police leaving the cinema at Doncaster.
 * From photos, Franklin was identified by people (not named) as being in Bexhill and walking with Betty. In the original, Poirot had brought Franklin and the rest of the legion to Bexhill and then asked Milly Higley about whether she recognised anyone.
 * Franklin's fingerprints had been found on the typewriter in Cust's room.

When confronted with this, Franklin confesses without resistance in this adaptation. He did not try to commit suicide.

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
 * Masako Jô as Oliver
 * Hirofumi Nojima as Hastings
 * Fumiko Orikasa as Mabel
 * Kôtarô Satomi as Hercule Poirot
 * Kokoro Shindô as Mary Drower
 * Atsuko Tanaka as Miss Lemon
 * Kaoru Yachigusa as Miss Marple
 * Yûsaku Yara as Inspector Sharpe
 * Asami Imai as Waitress (probably Milly Higley)
 * Yûko Mizutani as Megan
 * Ai Satô as Mrs. Barnard
 * Akio Suyama as Donald
 * Yasunori Matsumoto as Franklin Clarke
 * Mr Barnard
 * Miss Merrion
 * Alice Ascher
 * Franz Ascher
 * Betty Barnard
 * Strange
 * Deveril
 * Thora Grey
 * Sir Carmichael Clarke
 * Lady Charlotte Clarke
 * Mrs Marbury
 * Lily Marbury
 * Inspector Glen
 * Dr Kerr