Manga Review: Case Closed, Volumes 77-79 by Gosho Aoyama
Recap: Conan Edogawa is actually Shinichi Kudou (Jimmy Kudo in the U.S. version), a genius teen detective who was poisoned by the Black Organization and now has the body of a pre-teen. This makes it more difficult for him to get listened to, but he keeps running into mysteries to solve anyhow. We’re deep into the series, so SPOILERS abound.
Volume 77 begins with the wrapup of the Takagi kidnapping case, made more difficult by the kidnapper already being dead so that the police can’t just ask where their colleague is.
Next up is a tabloid publisher who’s fallen from his top floor condo. The suspects are his employees who all happen to live on a lower floor of the same building. Each has an alibi involving an ephemeral phenomenon, but which one is faked? This case is made more complicated because Conan and Ai (Anita) are accompanied by Subaru, the mysterious stranger who’s been renting the Kudou house.
This is followed by a case where it appears that the same killer who struck years before and left a bloody kanji symbol has struck again. If Shinichi’s mystery novelist father couldn’t solve the original crime, can Conan solve this recursion? He’s assisted here by Ran (Rachel), Sonoko (Serena) and Sera.
Then the Detective Kids go camping in the woods, only to find a corpse who’s been hacked to death with an axe. Worse, the killer locks them in a cabin and sets it on fire! Will Conan be able to figure out the clue in the victim’s hands, or will Ai need to expose herself to danger to save the day?
And what is waiter and trainee detective Toru Amuro up to?
This volume has hints as to the identity of the Black Organization agent Bourbon, so is plot-relevant.
Volume 78’s big feature is the Bell Tree Express arc. It’s a train decorated up like the Oriental Express, and hosts a mystery game each year. This year, of course, Conan and company are aboard. Naturally, a real baffling murder happens and must be solved. But the more important subplot is that the Black Organization has set a trap for Ai on the train. Oh, and an upcoming Kaito Kid plot is foreshadowed.
This is a more ambitious story than most of the Detective Conan pieces, so it interesting to see. There’s special guest stars, and the secret identity of Bourbon is revealed. (But is even that the agent’s true identity?)
The next story is bumbling detective Kogoro Mouri (Richard Moore) taking Ran, Sonoko and Conan to Sonoko’s family tennis retreat. They’re sharing it with a group of young people coming together to party in honor of a deceased friend. Except of course, soon another friend, the one no one liked, is also dead. And how was it committed without Conan, who was in the same room, noticing?
And the last chapter is the first part of a Kaito Kid story, as he vows to steal a gem from a turtle swimming freely in a glass aquarium. At the end of the volume, it appears he’s succeeded in stealing it complete with turtle!
Continuing plot-heavy, so a must have volume.
The Kaito Kid story continues, and the Kid makes a silly mistake that leaves him not quite the smug escapee he usually is in these tales.
Then Heiji (Harley), Shinichi’s rival from Osaka, his girlfriend Kazuha, and Inspector Otaki of the Osaka P.D. arrive in Tokyo to check out an apparently impossible hanging, unless somehow the Roomba did it. This case is easily solved, but this leads to a man apparently shooting himself in an elevator, with all the suspects having skills that could have been used to set up the trick.
Otaki is ordered by his chief to investigate a case on the Osaka/Tokyo district border, and the rest of the gang tags along. There’s been a series of events in a creepy old mansion that suggest the recently deceased master has become a vampire, and his heirs are dropping like flies.
A lot of the spooky stuff is obviously faked, but there are a couple of aspects of the case that temporarily baffle both Heiji and Conan.
The funniest bit is Kazuha improvising a silver cross, and being called out on this only working for Christians. “Well…we go to Christmas parties an’ give presents and stuff. We’ve been celebrating Mr. Christ’s birthday every year!” Ran doesn’t know enough about Christianity to dispute this.
The actual solution of the case is put off until the next volume.
No overarching plot this volume, but the vampire case is a lot of fun.
Stay tuned for more baffling volumes!
