Manga Review: Case Closed, Volumes 74, 75 & 76 by Gosho Aoyama
Time for three more volumes of our favorite manga about a teen genius detective stuck in the body of a little boy!
Volume 74 begins with the conclusion of the hostage situation in Kogoro Mouri (Richard Moore in the American version)’s office. After the bomb is taken care of, the murderer is revealed. At the end of the chapter, Conan is confused as to why Masumi Sera is wearing a girl’s uniform. (He apparently gets updated off-page.)
The next storyline has the Detective Kids about to enjoy curry at Dr. Agasa’s house when Genta (George) ruins dinner with his soccer ball. While most of the crew are out getting replacement food, Ayumi (Amy) is kidnapped in a large rug. Was she the target, or was it meant to be Ai (Anita), the shrunken scientist? Sera and Dr. Agasa’s neighbor Subaru are both shown being unusually inquisitive in the neighborhood.
Then Osakan sleuth Heiji Hattori (Harley Hartwell) and his friend who’s a girl Kazuha show up for help with a baffling case, but first there’s a murder in a Dannys’ restaurant restroom. Agent Camel of the FBI is also on the scene, and his not quite perfect grasp of Japanese dialects both obscures and reveals clues.
That settled, it turns out that Heiji has been challenged to figure out the cold case of a man stabbed to death while tiling a bathroom. There turns out to be an illusion involved, and two more murders!
The next volume begins with illusions shattered, but Heiji and Kazuha are still hopeless at advancing their relationship.
By happenstance, Conan and Ran (Rachel) discover that someone’s been impersonating Mr. Mouri and doing good deeds. When a murder happens nearby, Conan must help the fake detective crack the case!
Next up, the Detective Kids try to help Detective Chiba and new traffic officer Naeko Miike solve a case of vandalized automobiles. Chiba hasn’t figured out yet that Naeko is his childhood sweetheart, to the continued facepalming of everyone else involved.
Then we’re off to Kogoro’s class reunion, which is easy to get to for him since it’s in Café Poirot downstairs. One of his classmates is getting married, but he and his fiancée both have jealousy issues and hired detectives to follow each other. The more important of these private eyes is Toru Amuro, who’s working as a waiter in the café. When the fiancée’s car burns with her inside, Kogoro’s old friend is the primary suspect. There’s a particularly tragic twist, and Amuro decides to become Kogoro’s apprentice to learn how “the Sleeping Detective” works his magic.
Volume 76 opens with a complex case involving Kogoro’s first ever client to hire him over the internet! (Conan built the website for him.) A series of confusing messages and missed connections eventually resolves into one person imitating another, and a case of multiple murder. Conan is abducted by a suspect, and all three of Subaru, Amuro and Sera invite themselves along on the chase.
It’s at this point we learn that one of the three is in fact Bourbon, agent of the Black Organization. But which, since they’re all super suspicious?
But now it’s time for the Detective Kids to visit a bickering couple, one of whom stabs the other. But was it an accident, self-defense, or attempted murder? This one has a heartwarming ending, though Ai’s skeptical it will last.
Finally, police Detective Akagi disappears. Turns out he’s been placed in a death trap because of a case that happened “a year ago.” It’s a race against time, made trickier because his captor doesn’t intend to survive either….
The art and general writing remain decent, and the completist will want all of these. If you’re on a slightly smaller budget, #75 introduces a new recurring character, and #76 has an advancement in the Black Organization plotline, so you will want both. The fake detective story was the most fun of the lot.
