Solo Leveling Star Reveals His Most Underrated Anime

The highly anticipated Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has finally premiered in North America to incredible praise. Ryan Colt Levy, the voice of Chainsaw Man’s Denji and Solo Leveling’s Eunseok, recently reflected on the roles that shaped his career, and revealed what he considers his most underrated anime series.

Ahead of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, CBR held an exclusive interview with Ryan Colt Levy, Chainsaw Man’s English dub VA of Denji and Solo Leveling’s English dub VA of Eunseok. Levy opened up his history in anime voice-acting, including his role as John Watson in the underrated Sherlock Holmes-inspired anime, Moriarty the Patriot, which he says “is not seen enough.”

Solo Leveling Star Names Moriarty the Patriot an Underwatched Sherlock Holmes Anime

Although Levy has gained significant exposure voicing the likes of Denji in Chainsaw Man and Rody Soul in My Hero Academia, he’s long been in the anime voice acting industry, with one of his first series’ headlining roles as John Watson in Moriarty the Patriot. In the interview, when asked about his favorite roles over the course of his career, Levy said, “For very obvious reasons, I feel like it’s [Chainsaw Man]. There are so many things I love working on. I loved working on My Hero Academia. I loved working on Moriarty the Patriot, which is a not seen enough, Sherlock Holmes anime.”

Moriarty the Patriot, produced by Production I.G. — the anime studio also behind shows such as Ghost in the Shell, Psycho-Pass and Haikyu!! — aired from October 2020 to June 2021. The series retells the classic Sherlock Holmes stories from the perspective of James Moriarty, traditionally an antagonist, as an anti-hero. “I got to play John Watson,” said Levy. “That was never going to happen otherwise.”

Sherlock Holmes has an incalculable impact on the mystery genre on every platform, including numerous anime series from Detective Conan and Sherlock Hound to Moriarty the Patriot. John Watson is a crucial character in every version of the story, serving as Sherlock’s (often) sole source of rationale. In live-action adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Watson, or their representation, has been played over the years by actors such as Lucy Lui, Martin Freeman and Jude Law.

Although Moriarty the Patriot didn’t attract massive mainstream attention, its viewers had overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising its animation and character portrayal. On MyAnimeList, the series holds an 8.17 score from roughly 200,000 users. For comparison, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End ranks at 9.29 with nearly 750,000 votes, and Fullmetal Alchemist holds an 8.11 rating with over 900,000 users. Although Levy credits much of his current fame in the anime voice-acting industry to his role as Denji, stating, “nobody knew who the hell I was before [Chainsaw Man],” John Watson is never a forgettable role, and Moriarty the Patriot has evidently remained an important series to him.

Chainsaw Man: The Movie – Reze Arc is now in theaters. Moriarty the Patriot is available to stream on Crunchyroll.