Manga Review: Case Closed, Vol. 73 by Gosho Aoyama
Recap: Shinichi Kudou (Jimmy Kudo in the dub) is a teen genius detective who has been shrunk by a poison and now poses as grade-schooler Conan Edogawa, but still solves crimes. Thus the Japanese title that translates as “Detective Conan.” See my earlier reviews.
This volume opens with the conclusion of a case in which a woman obsessed with clocks was threatened with death by “The Guardian of Time” (But was it the White Guardian or the Black Guardian?) The lights went out at her birthday party, and when they came back up again, she’d been stabbed. But where’s the murder weapon, and why are the witness descriptions of the murderer so odd?
The next case begins with Ran Mouri (Rachel Moore) off at a karate tournament and most of the neighborhood restaurants closed due to a hot springs trip. So Conan and Kogoro (Richard Moore) wind up going to another neighborhood to try Ogura Ramen, which has the slogan, “Ramen to die for!” And sure enough, one of the other customers dies! It’s poison, but how did it get into the victim?
Having returned triumphant from the tournament, Ran takes Conan along with her to a dessert buffet promised by her friend Sonoko (Serena.) On the bus to the hotel it’s at, they happen to run into Sera, another teen detective that’s almost as smart as Conan and as good at jeet kune do as Ran is at karate. Despite a misunderstanding about a groper, Sera accompanies them to the hotel because that person has a reservation there.
So they’re witnesses when the hotel owner’s son falls to his death. But was the man a suicide, a murder victim, or the cursed target of the Wheelchair Ghost? Sera helps solve the case, and turns out to be a new recurring character as a classmate of Ran (and theoretically Shinichi if he ever comes back to school.) More on Sera in the SPOILERS section below.
Remember that neighborhood association hot springs trip? Turns out that there was a murder there; one of four mystery writers. The victim’s brother tricked the three other writers into coming to famous detective Kogoro’s office and reveals he’s got a bomb; he wants the Sleeping Detective to figure out which one is the killer. Ran and Sera happen to be present, but Conan isn’t, being off with the Detective Kids. Can the case be solved without any more deaths?
This is another of those cases that requires knowledge of the Japanese language; the suspect is revealed, but the final twist to the case will be in the next volume!
Overall, a good volume, and because it introduces a new recurring character and that person’s subplots, a key one. Recommended to Detective Conan fans.
SPOILERS: For the first case Sera’s involved with, everyone assumes Sera’s a boy until the very end when Masumi Sera shows up at school in a girl’s uniform. Even the normally very observant Conan is fooled (and since he’s not there for the reveal is still under that impression during the next case.) This is pulled off by Sera being flat-chested and slim-hipped, having a relatively deep voice, wearing baggy men’s clothing and hat…and in the Japanese version, using masculine language. (This last is because she’s spent most of her life overseas and her Japanese tutors were all male.)
The creator gives us a rare pantyflash to establish that Sera’s not a boy wearing a girl’s school uniform, but apparently the fact that she never wears women’s clothing outside of that uniform is going to be a running gag. More interestingly, Sera makes it clear she knows something weird is up with Conan. This is sure to cause trouble!
END SPOILERS!
