Bryce's Blog

I hope everybody has been doing well, even if you have been facing
hardships from the economic times we are currently in.

Things have been
going fairly well here, aside from some annoyances, so I can still do
what I like to do.

For much of the two
the two or so months it has been since the last post, I have been
monitoring the series that I currently follow, hoping to be able to
secure some copies, and after being able to place an order for two of
them, one recently arrived, which means it is time tackle that title.

Today, I will be
reviewing that title, which is called Case
Closed Volume 84 by Gosho Aoyama.

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

After Jimmy gets a
bit of a break, by walking down memory lane, more cases come his way,
like an attempted murder at a kite competition and a poisoning at a
hospital.

However, in the
middle of one of those cases, Bourbon shows his face and starts to
ask questions regarding an individual that was in the hospital at the
same time as a CIA operative, Kir, and Jimmy suspects that something
is about to begin.

While the previous
volume was a good treat, mainly because of the special booklet
that was a real gem and Viz doing a decent enough job, that does not
mean that I can let things go.

And after reading
this, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

From the moment I
opened up this book and started reading the first few pages, I found
myself engaged enough that I did not want to put it down for any
reason.

As I have said many
times before, one of the most important parts in a work of fiction is
how things begin, as the thing beginning is supposed to draw the
audience into it, thereby creating the temporary escape that they
desire.

While this hook can
be created in any number of ways, depending on the genre and the
medium used to present the work, Detective Conan, like many
other manga, is published as part of a serial publication, which
means that it has to start in a way that makes sense, based upon
where the previous installment left off.

When taking a look
at the previous volume, we seen that Jimmy and the Junior Detective
League are at a museum with Rachel, who starts to reminisce about a
time before Jimmy was given APTX 4869 when she and Jimmy visit that
same aquarium and got caught up in a murder case, with the final
panels showing the discovery and Jimmy demanding the police be
called.

Even though I am not
particularly a big fan of endings like this, due to how saturated the
series has gotten with them lately, this kind of ending was one of
the better ones because it gets me excited to see how things will
unfold and starts the game that many fans of detective, mystery, and
crime fiction enjoy, instead of being made to wait for the reveal
that would happen in the next chapter.

In this volume, as
expected from what happened in the previous volume, things start up
with the investigation phase of the case and I found myself wanting
to get involved with it, even though my only real memories of this
case are the scenes shown in a tv
special that shows everything that happened during the time frame
of the pilot
episode, and was also among the first things to get dubbed after
Funimation gave up on the series.

If things had not
started off where they did in this volume, I would have been alright
with it, as long as the police coming onto the scene was included,
seeing as Jimmy was shown demanding the police get called, seeing as
the very first panels do not seem to be that necessary, beyond a way
to connect back to what Jimmy said in the very last panel of the
previous volume.

However, because
things started off with Jimmy’s explanation of why he said the
smell tipped him off, it made things easy to jump right into, even
though I kind of question the reason for mentioning smell at this
point, since it only gives an explanation as why blood smells like it
does, and it is one of the things I find questionable in this volume,
and helps to set things in motion.

Hopefully, future
volumes will be able to start things off just as well as this one
did, especially when the Viz releases start focusing on Black Org’s
number 2, but because the quality of the cases starts to decline
more, I would not be surprised if things actually get worse.

I also really liked
the funny moments to be found in this volume.

Aside from all the
cases the come up in the series, the other thing that I really like
about this series are the comedic moments to be found, as the more
humorous moment keep things from getting too serious, and I found
myself chuckling quite a bit.

However, two moments
really stood out as incredibly funny to me.

First, during the
kite competition case, Jimmy, wanting to know what Haibara was
listening to, decides to evasdrop on Haibara, while having Amy get
the song out of her, and the phone, luckily, ends up in the hands of
the culprit.

After the case is
resolved and the culprit is revealed, Takagi expresses his amazement
about Jimmy, whom he calls Conan, like everyone else in the series,
to Meguire, who notes the case was solved by a child’s toy and a
very childish plan.

This had me going
off on a big chuckle because I think that Jimmy would have been
reprimanded here, if he was his normal self, as opposed to the child
that everyone perceives him to be, though they all know that he is no
ordinary child at this point in the series, making me think Jimmy
should be grateful for his current predicament.

The second and final
thing that had me going was during the final case of the volume.

After Amuro and
Vermouth reported seeing somebody on the ground, the usual
investigation phase starts up and the suspects show up, with one of
the suspects saying they came to warn the victim to not seduce her
son because of what she typically wears.

Now, while I am kind
of annoyed by how the suspect blamed a teacher for putting so called
filthy ideas into her child’s head, because I am reminded of
the double standard of modesty that was drilled into the heads of my
generation in church, which claims it is the woman’s fault for men
having sexual thoughts, I also find it funny because of the exact
same thing, and makes me wonder what kind of depraved thoughts that
this mother is having.

It is not every day
that something I find annoying due to a hypocritical view is also
something that I can laugh about, though it does occur more often
with anime and manga than American television, but I am pleased just
about every time it happens, especially because the victim in
question is an elementary school teacher.

If these moments
were not in the volume, I would have been alright with things, as the
comedic moments that are so far par for the course of the series do
give me enough chuckles, but it would not be anything to write home
about.

Fortunately, Gosho
decided to put in these little things to enjoy, which helped to make
this volume stand out.

The thing that I
liked the most though was how this volume ended.

Aside from how
things begin, another important thing in a work of fiction is how
things end because the ending is supposed either leave the audience
satisfied, if it is a standalone work or the final installment of a
series, or make the audience demand more, if it is an installment in
a series, as both give the audience reason to check out what the
creator has in store next.

In the case of this
volume, the goal is to give the reader a reason to continue on with
the series, and Gosho Aoyama was able to pull that off spectacularly.

After the culprit of
the final case is revealed and Jimmy ties Amuro to the PSB (Public
Security Bureau), there is a fear created that the victim of the
crime is about to die, causing Jodie to rush over to the hospital,
and Amuro asks Camel about the guy that died when Kir was supposed to
hospitalized, but before anything could happen, we see Jodie drag
Camel inside and then she disappears.

While it is not hard
to guess at this point that Vermouth got the intel out of Camel that
she and Amuro wanted to know, the way things played out and how there
was no hint of the Jodie Camel was talking to was Vermouth until the
second panel of the final page of the last chapter has me feeling
happy that I was able to have already placed a preorder the next
volume, which is schedule to come in January, according to the
product
listing on Amazon, as I really wonder what is going to happen
next, even if I do kind of remember what is to come soon.

If the volume had
not ended like this, I think I would have been alright with it, as
there were no cases to continue in the next volume, which has me
relieved in of itself, but I do not think I would be as anxious to
read the next volume as I am right now.

Thankfully, Gosho
and Shogakukan, or whoever they had put this volume together, decided
to have the volume end here, rather than ending the volume with a
case that was nearly over, which makes me want to sings their
praises.

Hopefully, more
volumes will end like this one did, as that will help to attract more
eyes and keep the fans coming back for more, but considering that
there are not too many moments with endings as great as this, I would
not be surprised if the continued saturation of disappointing ends
continues right up until the point where the Viz releases reveals the
dentity of Black Org’s number 2, who is still somebody Jimmy has
not figured out in the Japanese releases.

Outside of those
things, I cannot think of anything else that I particularly liked, at
least that either stood out as much as what I talked about or cannot
be shoe horned into what I talked about.

Because the volume
started off in a great way, there were some moments that made me
chuckle more than the usual, and the ending has me on the edge of my
seat, this was a great read.

Although I liked the
book, there are some issues.

However, aside from
things that are too minor to talk about, such as typos, there was
something that kind of annoyed me.

While I heavily
enjoyed reading through this volume, there were a couple of things
that had me scratching my head.

To help you guys
understand where I am coming from, Detective Conan, while
largely a work of fiction beloved by many around the world, even
where I live, since there are people that still want Discotek and/or
TMS, who are now responsible for the releases here, to release
episodes 124 and later (Japanese count), has made of its tricks an
explanations behind murders and other crimes based in reality, with
maybe the exception of volume
58, which has something I still question to this day, and have
things to back them up.

However, in this
volume there are two things I really have to question the validity
of.

First, how does
hemoglobin make blood smell like iron?

While hemoglobin
does contain iron, according to a page
found on the Britannica
website, I also find that people notice that iron does not really
smell, according to an article
posted by Stephen K. Ritter on the Chemical
and Engineering News website.

Now, blood was
obviously coming from the victim, and the blood did likely touch
human skin, which is why there was a scent of iron, but seeing as it
was the scent that drew Jimmy to the body, I was kind of expecting a
bit better of of an explanation as to how he knew the victim was
dead, aside from there being no pulse.

If Gosho had given a
difference reason for Jimmy deciding the guy was dead, I think I
could have let this one pass, but it really breaks the believability,
unless you want to believe anything and everything in Detective
Conan, beyond the shrinking that happened to at least three
people in this series.

The other thing that
I kind of question is the sagging of the breasts that Jimmy brought
up when the case in the flashback concluded and told Rachel not to
run.

Even though Jimmy
does not say that it will happen right then and there, which makes it
a bit more credible than blood smelling of iron, when I went looking
around I saw a post
by Cory Steig on Refinery29
that suggests women are more likely going to notice pain in their
breasts before they notice any sagging from doing things like running
and Rachel also says she was wearing a sports bra, rather than not
wearing a bra.

This moment does
make me laugh a bit, due to Jimmy overlooking a possibility, but it
still makes me wonder where Gosho is getting his information from,
since the sagging talked about in the volume should only occur
if Rachel never wore a bra when exercising and he knew she had sports
bras for karate.

If Gosho had cut
this part out, I would have been able to live with it better, but I
instead get a feeling that Gosho is just throwing in random things
right now, which takes away from the mostly realistic setting
of Detective Conan.

Really, Gosho. If
you are going to include things as if they were factoids like these,
I would have expected stuff to come up backing up the statements, but
instead, I get questions, like how bad was Rachel’s injury and
other things, which I should be able to throw away.

Thankfully, these
moments were only small parts of the volume and seem to be relegated
to just one case in the volume, so I can write this off as a minor
annoyance.

Fortunately, nothing
else crept up on my radar, so I do not have to go even further in
pointing out issues.

While there was
something that kind of annoyed me, the issue was minor enough that it
did not really hurt the quality all that much.

Considering there
was quite a bit to like and the only things that were bothersome only
occurred during one case, this was definitely worth reading.

I mainly recommend
this to fans of Detective Conan, as they will like this the
most.

As for everyone
else, this might be worth giving a shot, especially because the first
case is kind of towards the beginning of the case, but I think the
fans of detective, mystery, and crime fiction would have an easier
time starting with this volume than person that is new to both
Detective Conan and those genres.

If you liked this
review and would like to see more, please consider supporting me on
either Patreon
or SubscribeStar,
or if you would like a copy of the reviewed title, buy
Case Closed Volume 84 from Book Depository, who has helped
me complete the gaps in my Detective Conan collection and
offers free shipping to many countries around the world, so that I
can continue following a series many enjoy and possibly find other
worthwhile reads for you guys to check out.