Happy 2020 everyone! I know the year hasn’t been great, but how are
you all doing? I’m doing okay, finally got around to writing this
article. I’ve been playing Animal Crossing, waiting for Nintendo to
give us the Dream Suite so we can visit other islands whenever we
want. Of course I would like to visit Gosho Aoyama’s island. I’ve
been to his New Leaf town and the amount of work he put into that is
unbelievable. He’s usually so busy it’s a wonder how he finds
time to play daily. Then again we are in quarantine and he’s
supposedly “resting”.
Anyone who follows
Detective Conan week....well, no we can’t call it weekly anymore,
can we? It’s not even considered monthly. Let’s start over.
Anyone who has been following Detective Conan/Case Closed for the
last few years would probably know what I mean when I say this series
has been a roller coaster. Long before this pandemic, Gosho Aoyama’s
health was a huge topic back in 2017 that lasted a few months;
ultimately resulting in the series’ sporadic updates adding on to
the already surreal and odd maze the plot has been going through. At
this point, I’d be surprised if this his schedule ever goes back to
normal, but I digress. Instead, let’s take a trip back to the year
2011. Way back before this hell of a year started, way before we got
stuck in that time loop that was 2012; back when Aoyama threw us into
part one of his confusing maze.
Well, before we
really get into this volume, we have to backtrack because this case
starts back in the previous volume. If you recall, I didn’t want to
really cover it until this one was released mainly because I’d
rather talk about the case as a whole instead of just taking the little information we got from the one chapter in volume 72. Okay, here it is. Someone dies
in it, Conan solves it, what a twist! And here we go on to the next
case!
Uh….I’m being
told I should at least talk about it a little. Right, it’s only
fair, you’ve waited this long. I don’t like this case. I don’t
think it’s a bad case but it’s one of those cases that’s a
little hard to enjoy. We’re introduced this older rich lady named
Rukako Hoshina and guess what? She’s celebrating her birthday.
Yay!! But hold that thought, since...she’s…not a nice lady. It’s
hard to find sympathy when she’s
killed (not a spoiler, there are so many warning signs).
How’s the case? I’ll admit the trick of how the murder weapon
disappeared was actually pretty smart although it also seemed a lot
like I’ve seen it before; Probably from a movie (if you’ve seen
them you’d probably understand which I mean). I know it’s mean,
but honestly this rich broad deserved to at least be punished. I
don’t know if she should actually have been stabbed, and at her
birthday party is overkill, but cases like this really make you
question morals. You can sympathize with the murderer although you
know it’s wrong.
“Ramen so Good, It’s to Die for”--as it’s called in the anime-- is just as it sounds; there’s Ramen and there’s death. Ran’s training for a tournament so Kogoro and Conan are left to fend for themselves. Both are terrible cooks so Conan suggests they look at some fliers and pick where they should go, ultimately deciding on a new ramen shop.
Let’s talk good
and bad points of this case:
Good: Kogoro being a
good dad and taking his son-in-law (unbeknownst to him) out to eat.
On top of this they have a good time, and they’re really enjoying
the ramen!
Bad: Someone dies.
There’s that dumb “Three Suspects” thing going on in this case.
(C’mon Sensei, change it up a little!!) The motive is not good.
This case always makes me hungry.
I also want to add,
the trick is actually something that makes you think. The case
involves glasses how they fog up and how people hold them. As a
full-time wearer of glasses like Conan and Aoyama, I thought it
pretty clever and somewhat thought provoking because it’s small
things you won’t think about, just like the upcoming Heiji case.
We now interrupt
this review for some Bruce Lee fun facts!
Did you know the
style of martial arts he practiced is a hybrid called Jeet Kune Do?
Did you know it
makes an appearance in this case?
Sonoko, Ran and
Conan are riding the bus to a hotel to eat cake! Perhaps to chase
down that ramen? Here they meet a kid who Sonoko thinks is touching
her butt, to which Ran steps in to fight them; it’s Karate versus
what we later learn is Jeet Kune Do. Conan points out the JKD kid
actually stopped the man who was touching her (eww). On top of this,
the pastry buffet is closed because they ran out of food. Fools, how
could they not predict this outcome? There’s a scream and an
apparent suicide, but Conan and JKD-san think otherwise.
I’m just going to
come out and say it: Masumi Sera is a girl and she knows Jeet Kune
Do. We learn this by the end of the case, but I also think it’s
kinda silly to try to keep up the charade nine years after its
reveal. Not to mention, you really going to tell me this looks like a
boy? Then again, we did get Eisuke- no, sorry, I'm getting off topic.
For those who don’t know, according to Aoyama, Sera was created
after fans asked for another female detective like in the Detective
Koshien case back in volumes 54 and 55. Also interesting is her name:
her name comes from a character named Seyla Mass, from Gundam, of
which Aoyama has mentioned numerous times that he is a fan.
One
more thing, there’s an
error on page 96 of
volume 73. I’m not sure
what happened, but somehow Hirukawa in her debut panel becomes
Furukawa in the very next, but
it seems as this is the only time the mistake occurs.
To the case itself: The trick itself is fairly complicated and only
Aoyama could really ever write something this tedious and
unrealistic. However! Overall, I actually liked this case. You can
tell Sera’s up to something when she screws up the trick just so
Conan can figure it out. Not to mention, now we can begin Sera’s
story.
We immediately head
into the next case which picks up where this one leaves off with Sera
introducing herself. She follows Ran and Sonoko back to the Mouri’s
where it turns into a hostage situation.
Something I found
interesting in this case is Sera’s connections with these random
snipers. Who are they? How did she get them? Why are they never
brought up again? Whoever they are they do arrest the bomber and the
company is saved!
Next is a case involving the Detective Boys. I know they're not the
most popular characters, but most of these cases are going to be
important in some way for a while, so I’ll get through this one
quickly. The chapter begins as Sera stops Genta and Mitsuhiko outside
to play 20 Questions about Haibara and the lurker in the Kudo house.
We cut to the kids are at Agasa’s making curry when Genta stupidly
kicks a soccer ball inside the room and makes a goal straight into
the pot. The curry goes everywhere especially on Ayumi who was
watching over the curry. The best part about this case is being able
to see Haibara acting as a mother. She’s rightfully angry at Genta
and she takes the kids and Conan to the store to get more supplies to
remake the curry while Ayumi stays home to get clean. When the others
return home they find Agasa unconscious and Ayumi missing! Conan has
to find her and who kidnapped her and why.
As I mentioned, the Detective Boys aren’t everyone’s favorite
characters and you could skip this case if you wanted, but I’d
argue that this is an important case to at least take note of. It’s
here Sera meets the Detective Boys, which may not seem important, but
I promise it's worth at least five minutes of your time.
With that we arrive
at the last full case of the volume. It’s a Heiji case!!!! I’ve
been waiting for years for Viz to get here. Not only do we get Heiji
and Sera (characters who need to interact way more), but we get some
unforgettable scenes. No, nothing plot related but if you’re here
for a good time, this case has just what you’re looking for; let’s
dive in.
Conan’s been
talking to Heiji about Sera (a scene implied with his entrance that
not shown in the manga, but it was added in the anime), so the Kansai
detective has come to check out the new competition, and for another
reason that will come up later. Ran was talking to her about Heiji to
which Sera asks who is the better detective: Shinichi or Heiji?
I want to stop here
for a second to bring up another error. I haven’t been able to
check the physical copy (most of the time now-a-days I get manga
digitally), but this one happens on page 72 leading into page 73 of
volume 74 after Sera asks for Ran’s thoughts, Conan pipes up and
begins saying west. Interrupting him is Heiji barging in saying “Da
East.” Detective Conan mostly takes place in Beika or Baker, a
fictional borough of Tokyo. It’s in the Kanto region (not a Pokemon
reference) in EASTern Japan. Heiji lives in Osaka, in the Kansai
region in WESTern Japan. Interestingly it’s fixed on the next page.
I’m not trying to call anyone out, people make mistakes, it was
clearly a small over-site and with this being the only error, it
takes nothing away from the flow of the story or case.
Heiji is here on request to solve a case, but before that there’s
trouble at a nearby family restaurant. Sera suggests Heiji and Conan,
the latter of which is representing Shinichi and acting as his
“informer”, go head to head to be the first to find the culprit.
The case involves Andre Camel being a witness to a poisoning in the
men’s bathroom, but being an FBI agent not completely fluent in
Japanese, he gets a few details wrong. I don’t blame him, Japanese
is a hard language and on top of that, the voice he heard had a
Kansai accent. Heiji deciphers the meaning behind the words Camel
thinks he heard. From there the boys go head to head to be the first
to solve the murder, that is, if you ignore the fact they almost
never leave each others sides, so would the victory even count?
So why do I love
this case? Heiji is one of my favorite characters, and I love that he
knows about Conan and he can be an ally to him. However, the real
reason why I enjoy this case is it’s one of the least serious
stories in the series. When Heiji appears, we’re almost guaranteed
a good time, but this one I’d put above the others because of its
humor. Before he began this series, Gosho Aoyama wrote a series about
a child learning to be a samurai called Yaiba. Yaiba was the opposite
of Conan. It was a comedy with fantasy and supernatural elements.
Conan is realistic and while there’s the occasional comedic moment,
most of the time it doesn't rely on humor due to it being a mystery
series where Conan takes his job seriously. Though it's this side of
Aoyama I wish we could experience a little more. What I also enjoy is
the vocabulary; we learn a few words in Kansai jargon that helps the
case. Lastly, this case was actually inspired by a real life event.
Aoyama writes about his experiences moving to Tokyo and having to
learn the different words in standard Japanese (check it out, it’s
on page 184).
Finally, we’ve
made it to the last case. I’ve decided to cover this one despite it
being incomplete in this volume because it’s only missing the
conclusion as opposed to the first case I covered that was missing much of the investigation. Now
where were we? Heiji has gathered the group back at the Mouri agency
to explain the case he was hired for. Sera wants to join them but
Heiji rejects the idea making the excuse the clients were only
expecting 5 people. Obviously he doesn’t trust her. This case
involves multiple murders, a possible poisoning, a Jojo- I mean A
Pink Floyd reference, and my favorite addition: a reoccurring maid,
Sakurako Yonehara. I like Sakurako, partly because her voice actress
is Sakura Tange of “Card Captor Sakura” fame, but mostly because I do
like her character. She’s great at her job; I like that she speaks
her mind and how she constantly sees the good in people, not to
mention how observant she is. That being said, this poor girl has the
worst luck, as we’ll see in her future appearances. For this case,
the victim is the man who raised and took care of her for so long
after her parents died. This happens more than once and because of
that, she thinks she’s cursed and I can’t help but feel for her.
The case I’ve always found a little boring. Most of that might have
been because for the anime TMS adapted a SIX chapter case into FOUR
episodes. There was a lot of padding and talking on both ends, but.
It’s actually a bit of a shame because I loved optical illusions as
a kid –I
still do– so I
hoped they case would be more fun but all they do is talk, but that’s
a mystery series for you, all talk and not so much physical action.
The ending gives us a cute little moment that due to recent events I
can’t look at the same way. (Please, can we just make Heiji and
Kazuha an item already?)
Overall, volumes 73 and 74 are a joy to read and while it’s not my
favorite era, there are a lot of fun cases coming up in future
volumes. Whether you’re a long time fan of the anime or someone who
stumbled upon this review, I hope you consider looking into the
series. Anime fans especially might be surprised to see what was left
out or added during the transition from panel to animation. That’s
a big reason why I’m always open to writing about the American
releases; most of this I’m actually experiencing much of the manga
for the first time as I didn’t really start reading it until a
couple years after I caught up with the anime. Speaking of, I hope
both the manga and the anime come back soon. Sure I have a huge
backlog like everyone else, but Conan is my favorite series and I
keep holding out, hoping Aoyama will bless us with more plot (and
less spin-offs), but only time will tell. Tune
in next time to see the introduction of a certain individual who
single-handedly caused a Conan renaissance. Who am I referring to? If
you're dying to know but have had enough ramen, return at zero hour
for tea time. All answers will be revealed then.
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