Anime Review: Case Closed Season 3

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After quite a few delays, some intentional and some not, I finally covered all of the episodes that make up FUNimation’s third season of Detective Conan (Case Closed). Today, I will be reviewing Case Closed season 3.

As I have given a series synopsis in earlier post, I will not go over it again.

The pursuit of finding Gin and Vodka and the antidote to APTX 4869, which has yet to be named, continues.

However, Black Org is not the only thing Jimmy must deal with, as cases ranging from those that appear to be suicide to chasing after an elusive thief.

Cases

As with my other season reviews for Detective Conan (Case Closed), here is a list of cases featured in this season. They are ordered by when they happen in the manga and what volume they can be found in, according to Detective Conan World, so no filler cases are listed.

Review

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I am not too sure about this season, but I can say that this is not my most hated season. There were a few cases that were interesting in some way, such as a whodunit based on mistaken identity. Many of the cases were pretty faithful, even if there were some changes present, either because of a dub error by FUNimation or the Japanese did not follow the manga counterparts of the cases exactly. In fact, unlike other seasons, both the important episodes, such as episodes 54 and 68-70 (Japanese count on both), and episodes that were not important to the series in some way were pretty faithful to their manga counterparts. Because of this fact, FUNimation did not really have to explain something that was present in the manga to begin with, which is the main reason I prefer the manga to the anime. This is certainly an improvement over what had happened in the first season. There are cases that I can allow to not be perfectly adapted from the manga, but cases that have some importance later in the series should be one of those that are faithful. There were also quite a few funny scenes ranging from having some significance in the case to just plain funny to pointing out what is obvious to those that have read both Magic Kaito, KID’s own series, and Detective Conan (Case Closed), or are familiar with the works of Gosho Aoyama. Outside of that, I cannot really think of anything else without repeating myself. The fact that many of the cases presented were faithful to the manga counterpart and the fact that there were cases that were interesting due to a certain factor, as well as the fact that there were scenes that were definitely funny, made this season pretty good.

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Although there were things to like about this season, there are certainly issues. First, there were not a lot of cases that I found interesting. Yes, there were some that I really enjoyed, such as episode 76 (Japanese count), but most of them, including cases that came from the manga, were just plain dull, with the filler cases being the worst offenders. To me, it just does not seem like Japanese know what makes up a good mystery, even though they may be may be able to recognize characters like Sherlock and Arsène Lupin. People do not want cases that are dull because they will not follow the material if too few cases catch their attention. After all, I doubt that Sherlock and Lupin would have the worldwide recognition that they do if the cases of the former or the heists of the latter were all dull. If they chose some better cases to be in this group episodes, I think that I would probably like it more than I do right now. I know FUNimation is the one that put these episodes in the set, but I am blaiming Japan because that is where this show originally came from. My biggest complaint though is that there are two plot holes present in this season. As I have said many times, back in episode 5, Japan decided to not have Gin and Vodka be present on the same train as Jimmy, when they were in the manga. Because of this fact, the reason that Jimmy knew the aliases Gin and Vodka went unexplained, until FUNimatoin tried to fix it in the second season. This leads me to the first plot hole present in this series. How come does Harley not know Conan is Jimmy, when he seemed to know back in episodes 48 and 49 (Japanese count)? In the manga, Harley is not the one to reveal the aliases for the men who gave Jimmy APTX 4869. As a result, I can understand why the sub zealots may get angry about this one, but it pales in comparison to what Japan did when making the anime version of this series. The second plot hole I noticed was that Jimmy seemed to automatically connect Tequila to Gin and Vodka via eavesdropping on a conversation in episode 54 (Japanese count). While FUNimation did something to try to fix the first plot hole presented in the Japanese version, they did nothing about this plot hole. Later on, Jimmy acts like Tequila was part of syndicate. How does Jimmy know that Tequila was part of the syndicate? At most, he should only know that Tequila had connections with the men that poisoned him, not that he belongs to Black Org. This plot hole was created because episode 13 (Japanese count) was not faithful to its manga counterpart. In the manga, after finding Akemi Miyano, who hired Richard to find somebody for her, Jimmy learns that the syndicate likes to wear black and that members are given names of alcoholic beverages as aliases. Because that did not happen in the anime until episode 128 (Japanese count), there are still some questions that have not been answered in the anime. Other than that, I cannot think of anything else that I did not like, because the issue that happened because the episode were originally released out of order by FUNimation has most likely been fixed, and I do not have the season set itself, like I do for seasons 4 and 5. While many of the cases were dull, the fact that episodes from the previous two seasons created plot holes in this season takes it from being otherwise great to okay.

Despite the dull cases and plot holes, the fact there are interesting cases, as well as important cases, makes it worth it to see this season. I recommend this to fans of detective, mystery, and crime fiction, as well as fans of Detective Conan (Case Closed). As for everyone else, this is a good season to introduce one to the series, as well as the detective, mystery, and crime fiction genres in general.

What are your thoughts on Case Closed season 3? Do you agree or disagree with my views? Do you have anything to add? Feel free to comment.

Copyright © 2013 Bryce Campbell. All Rights Reserved.