It’s a shame that the “Hunting of the Baskervilles” arc wasn’t animated.
Although I do believe that they chose to not animate it due to the chapter being heavily graphic and disturbing and instead opted for a lighter version of the story in the form of the very first episode, “The Earl’s Crime”.
But even so I wouldn’t like to call “The Earl’s Crime” the anime adaptation of “The Hunting of Baskervilles” despite their similar themes (nobles kidnapping + murdering/hunting children) because the episode omitted a lot of the important points that “The Hunting of Baskervilles” presented.
I’ll be explaining more of these after the cut as well as a short summary of what happened in the chapter so if you don’t wish to be spoiled, do not proceed.
“The Hunting of Baskervilles” is a Fred centric arc. We first see Fred going about his usual liaison duties in the slums (collecting requests and looking out for potential cases) until he encounters a case that involves children in the slums being kidnapped and taken to Dartmoor, the now deceased Earl Enders’ (it takes place directly after “The Noahtic”) hunting grounds. At first he thinks of a way to solve this case on his own after thinking that William wouldn’t bother at all, but then Moran convinces him otherwise leading the gang (William, Moran, and Fred) to set foot for Dartmoor. Louis later on convinces William to let him join as well.
They learn later on that the hunting grounds is being operated by Charles Baskerville and his three other goons. In classic Lord of the Crime fashion, they end up killing all four hunters and successfully rescue all 6 children that were kidnapped that night.
A. More insight on Fred
As I said in the summary, “The Hunting of Baskervilles” mainly focused on Fred. We learn that Fred is a very caring person and is always willing to help those in need from the fact that he wanted to save every single child.
Moran even goes to say that out of everyone in the entire organization, Fred is the one most similar to William.
Moran also did point out that Fred has quite the reckless side to him, which is then further supported in the chapter when Fred immediately goes for one of the Baskerville goons upon seeing him and killing him in an instant.
B. More insight on Louis
Aside from Fred, Louis also plays a major role in this arc.
We learn that Louis and Fred are almost opposites when it comes to ideology. Fred being more emotional, and Louis being more rational. When they encountered a heavily wounded child, Louis suggested to leave him behind in favor of accomplishing their main goal (aka killing the hunters) as he thought that direction would lead them to saving more lives.
Later on we do see Louis being worried for both Fred and William as pointed out by Moran, telling us that his character may be rational but not heartless. Rational wherein he would like to take the most logical course of action to take care of those around him.
C. Louis & Fred’s dynamics
Louis and Fred are both protectors, although they have different ideologies they follow through
Louis is a more rational protector and opts to protect the people he loves more than others (most especially William)
Fred on the other hand is overly thoughtful and cares a lot about commoners
They even ended up in a tiny argument over what to do due to their differences
But despite these differences, they both follow William’s orders in a heartbeat and value his input and orders over anyone else’s
What unites the both of them is their will to serve William and do anything for him and his grand plan.
They just both have different methods of executing it (the aforementioned Fred being more thoughtful of the commoners involved and Louis really only keeping in mind the orders of his brother)
This makes their union to save William in the final plan a bit more special as it really goes to show how much impact William has on them. Like because they both have this common will to serve him, they both go out of their way to overcome their differences and save him.
D. How the others view William
This chapter outright confirmed that both Louis and Fred had unknowingly put William on such a high pedestal.
Fred thought that William wouldn’t appeal to his request to save the children at all considering it would be useless in the grander scheme of things and because they handled a job similar to this before.
Louis, who couldn’t even be honest with his own brother, because he feels he’s becoming too distant and sympathizes with how Fred’s feeling (even if that’s literally his own brother)
Both of them come to erase this high position they put William in after Moran talks them to realize that William isn’t really how they think he is
Moran tells Fred that William wouldn’t abandon a case no matter how similar it is to a crime they’ve exposed in the past if it meant that there were innocent people involved
He then tells Louis that he should be honest about his feelings to his brother because literally that’s his brother (this then seems to work because Louis is seen handling dirty work in their missions more often)
This chapter also shows us more of how Moran is like a big brother to them, from giving advice to both Fred and Louis and breaking up their fight, which I think is really neat
If you guys can’t tell, this mini arc is one of my favorites in the entire series because it gives us a break from talking about William to now talking about the other characters. I think that the information we got here would be interesting considering that the 2nd arc would be more focused on the Lord of Crime now taking on the role of MI6. It gives us more room to speculate how they operate considering we have a chapter that openly tells us about their personalities (specifically Moran, Louis, and especially Fred). I hope in the next part we get to learn more about Fred (specifically his backstory), and more of Louis as he’s taking the centerstage in operations as the leader of MI6.
Kaveh would be the type to ask “Would you still love me if I was a worm?” with full actual seriousness
Alhaitham, knowing how serious Kaveh is, would seriously think about his answer for the next 72 hours
He would then proceed to say no just to mess with Kaveh but deep down he knows his answer is a sure yes with an overly romantic explanation that will never see the light of day because he’s too embarrassed to say it out loud
Sometimes, I think about how much Alhaitham's entire adult life has been shaped by Kaveh and I just... have to sit down for a second.
Kaveh was Alhaitham's first, and, as far as we've been told, only friend until recently. At the very least, Kaveh was likely his only close friend throughout Alhaitham's entire schooling years, from teens into adulthood.
Alhaitham lives in the house he received for his work with Kaveh. The house Alhaitham lives in wouldn't even exist without Kaveh.
Alhaitham's ideology and behavior have been shaped by his diametric opposition to Kaveh's perspectives. He acts and thinks the way he does in part because of how their debating over years shaped how Alhaitham sees the world.
He's become an active part of a friend group almost entirely because of Kaveh. Alhaitham's story quest says that he didn't become particularly friendly with the rest of Sumeru's saviors even after they saved the archon, but now we see him hanging out with Cyno and Tighnari all the time because Kaveh was friends with them first and eased the way.
He even drinks a particular brand of coffee because he and Kaveh picked it together.
If you removed all trace of Kaveh from Alhaitham's life, virtually nothing would be the same. He wouldn't live where he does now. His house wouldn't look like it does inside at all. He very likely wouldn't have a single close friend. His ideology would probably be significantly more pragmatic and cold. Literally the only thing in Alhaitham's current life that hasn't been shaped in some way by Kaveh is Alhaitham's job. Which is... probably why work is Alhaitham's least favorite aspect of life.
Meanwhile, Kaveh is honest to archons over here wondering "What does Alhaitham even think about me?"
I don't know, buddy, probably that you're his whole world?
