Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is doing well, especially as the season has been
starting to change.

Things have been
going fairly well here, especially after making a big switch in my
computing environment recently, though I did have things mostly
prepared before the big switch happened, and I am still able to do
the things that I enjoy.

A while back, I took
a look through Amazon's catalogue and managed to secure a copy of
one of the series that follow, and that title has recently arrived,
which means that it is time to get off my butt and take care of it.

Today, I am going to
review that title, which is called Case Closed
Volume 100 by Gosho Aoyama.

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

After catching the
persoon he believes to be Kaito Kuroba up to speed on a case that his
father was supposed to reveal, Jimmy thinks that he is in the clear
to continue on with his life full of cases.

However, not long
after the conclusion of the case, Jimmy finds out that Black Org has
started to make a move and, unlike many of the other incidents, Black
Org's number 2 has decided to involve himself in the matter.

While the previous
volume was kind of disappointing towards the end, there was
enough to like to not feel like dropping the series again completely,
so I feel like I can try to keep things fair.

And after reading
this, and I have to say that I very much enjoyed this.

Upon opening up this
volume and reading through the first few pages, I found myself
engrossed in it enough that I didn't want to stop reading.

As I have already
stated a numerous amount of times before, one of the most important
things in a work of fiction is how things begin, as the beginning is
supposed to bring the audience into another world, thereby giving
them the temporary escape that they desire.

While this can be
done in a variety of ways, depending on the genre and the medium used
to present the work, Detective Conan, much like other manga,
is published as part of a serial publication, whiich means that
things need to pick up in a way that makes sense based upon the
previous installment.

In the previous
volume, things ended off with Jimmy's parents rendered
incapacitated, making it so that he had to think of how he would
present the case on the broadcast that was set be held until somebody
that he, as well as we, the audience, thought was Kaito Kuroba came
to bail him out.

Even though I did
not particularly like this ending, because the case was practically
solved and I did not get the chance to see the information Jimmy and
his father had, this was still a good enough ending that it did catch
my interest.

In this volume,
things pick up from there with Jimmy explaining the case to Kaito
Kuroba and showing him the photos of the crime scene, which finally
gives me, and the rest of the audience, a chance to make our own
guesses and conclusions.

This is what I wish
I had gotten in the previous volume, but by having this volume start
off with this stuff, I finally feel like there is reason to get
involved in this case.

If things had
continued like usual, there might have been a cance that this volume
would have been able to start off as well as it did here, but I
probably would have been more annoyed because of the fact that I had
to wait for yet another volume where the final chapter of a case is
to be found.

Thankfully,
Shogakukan, or whoever they had compile this volume, and Gosho Aoyama
decided to make a more interesting start where it made me feel more
invested, which makes me feel like giving them a passing grade.

Hopefully, future
volumes will be able to start out just as well as this one did, as
that will help keep the attention of readers, but I am still wishing
that we start seeing the old pattern of every other volume starting
with a new case to cone back.

I also liked how we
finally found out the identity of Rum, Black Org's number 2, and
learned more about him.

For quite a while
now, many fans have been wondering who this person was, and while we
don't know he is exactly, even in the Japanese releases, which Viz
Media has been translating and publishing online as of late, we
finally got a reveal during this most recent confrontation between
Black Org and the FBI and friends.

However, what really
made things stand out about this was the things we learned before
Rum's identity was revealed to the audience.

When we first learn
of Rum, we got vague descriptions that made it seem like the person
was an engima, much like the boss of Black Org in the beginning, and
we were left wondering who he could be.

In this volume, we
learn that Gin, who was responsible for turning Jimmy into the child
he has been since the beginning, spread all of that false information
that was making it hard to pin down who Rum was.

Seeing as we already
have a name for the boss of Black Org, which ties back to a name we
heard back in volume
30, which corresponds with episode 219 (Japanese count) of the
anime, I am glad the number 2 was kept as a mysterious individual for
quite a long time and I am now wondering when Jimmy will learn of
Rum's identity, even though I already know the answer to that.

If we did not learn
who Rum was now, I might have been alright with it, as I think we
still do need some questions to be present until Gosho Aoyama decides
to finally end the series, seeing as a post
from August of this year on Anime
Corner says that the storyboard for the final chapter is
complete, but I don't really think this incident would be able to
stand out as much as the past Black Orgs appearances, which would
start to make them feel boring.

Fortunately, Gosho
Aoyama decided that now was the time to reveal Rum's identity, even
if we still do not know his true identity beyond who he is disguised
as at the moment.

Another thing that I
liked was how things ended.

Aside from how
things begin, another important aspect of fiction is how things end,
as the ending is supposed to either leave the audience feeling
satisfied, if it is a standalone work or the final installment in a
series, or wanting more, if it is an install,ent in a series.

While Detective
Conan has not had any extraordinarily bad endings in its
installments, as they generally do the job they were meant to do,
which is give me reason to wonder when the next installment will come
out, it has been disappointing as of late by ending volumes so close
to the end of a case, where only one chapter is left in nearly every
volume released these days,

However, in this
volume, things finally wrap up with the end of the last case
presented in the volume instead of leaving the case finale for the
next volume.

Even though I am not
completely thrilled with the ending of the volume, as I think ending
things with the reveal of Rum's identity would have made things
more memorable, I feel like I can finally let out a big sigh of
relief.

This is how I want
volumes to end because it means that there will be another volume
that I can potentially view as a good place to start, even if we are
likely at the end game of the series because confronting the
organization itself is the only thing left after discovering who the
top brass is, especially considering that Gin revealed that he has a
position high enough to know Rum's full identity.

If this volume had
not ended like this, whether that be with the ending we got or the
reveal of Rum, which I think would have been better, and we instead
were made to wait for the next volume to finish off the last case of
this volume, I think that I would have thrown in the towel on this
series, especially now that it has over 100 volumes.

Thankfully,
Shogakukan, or whoever they had compile this volume, and Gosho Aoyama
decided that it was time to finally end a volume in a way that would
reduce the amount of baggage we currently have right now, and that
makes me feel like giving them high praise.

Hopefully, 2027 will
be that start of a return to an era in which every other volume
started with a brand new case, but considering how things have been
recently, I doubt that will ever dome to fruition.

The thing that I
liked the most though was how this installment was celebrated within
the volume itself.

While I have been
reading manga for quite a while, I do not know everything about it to
know how significant the 100^th installment in a series is,
beyond the fact that I cannot name too many series that hit 100
volume, I feel like it should most definitely be a big deal.

Here, in this
volume, we not only get some bonus content in the form of yonkoma, or
4-koma, of things that likely go on behind the scenes, which were
both enjoyable and gave me a good laugh, but we also see the return
of somebody that we had not seen since the first volume.

In nearly every
volume of Detective Conan, including the previous one that
surprised me because it talked about a series that recently got an
anime adaptation, there is a segment that talks about various
characters from the detective, mystery, and crime fiction genres,
regardless of whether they are criminals or detectives, and
recommending works to check out.

In the first volume,
the featured detective was the world renowned Sherlock Holmes with
Gosho Aoyama recommending the book The
Sign of Four.

In this volume, to
commemorate the release of the 100^th volume, we get
Sherlock again, but for the BBC reimagining set in the present day.

If Sherlock had not
made an appearance in this volume, which was what I was expecting to
be the case, I would have been alright with it, as the cases were
decent enough to make this enjoyable on its own.

However, because
Sherlock was featured again in this volume, it really helps to make
this volume feel even more special, as I feel that it should be,
thereby making me feel like giving Gosho Aoyama some huge praise.

Hopefully, we will
see the return of other big names in future volumes that are as big
milestones as this, but considering that this series feels like it is
in is the final stretch, I doubt that we will see the return of faces
that have already appeared, according to a page
on Detective
Conan World's wiki that lists everyone mentioned so far.

Outside of those
things, I cannot think of anything else that I particularly liked, at
least that stood out as much as what I have already or could not be
shoe horned in.

Because things
started off fairly well, we finally learned the identity of Rum, the
volume ended in a way I have asking for for a long time, and that the
volume celebrated a milestone by recommending the same detective it
did in the first volume, this was a great read.

Although I liked the
volume, there are some issues.

However, aside from
some issues that are too minor to talk about, such as typos, nothing
seemed to bother me all that much.

As a result, I will
have to say that there is nothing worth mentioning.

Considering that
there was quite a bit to like, especially the fact that the volume
doesn't end in the fashion that recent volumes have ended, and
nothing to really hate, unless one wants to get nit picky, this was
definitely worth reading.

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

As for everyone
else, this might be worth giving a try, but considering this this
volume is likely part of the final stages of the series, I would
recommend checking out the previous volumes first.

If you liked this
review and would like to see more, please consider supporting me on
either Patreon
or SubscribeStar,
so that I can continue following this series and possibly find more
worthwhile reads for you guys to check out, or if you would like the
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where I am currently streaming a murder mystery visual novel.