The show takes two episodes, of which this is the first one, to adapt the Poirot centered short story, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. This is really the show at its best, in my opinion. Hastings and Mabel aren’t entirely sure about this “old-fashioned” Christmas that Poirot is taking them on, but soon enough there’s a mysterious note to confuse things further. Meanwhile, three youngsters decide to stage a fake murder for Poirot to solve; but when the prank is revealed the “fake” murder appears to have become all too real! I really liked the kids in this episode; they’re very anime and a lot of fun. This is the show using the strengths of the anime element to do something a little different from any other Christie adaptation. And what a cliffhanger! Really great episode. 4 stars.
tl;dr – series combines a strong story with some strongly anime influenced characters to create one of the best episodes of the series so far; and what a cliffhanger! 4 stars.
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