Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is doing well, even if the start of the new year did
not go well.

Things are going
relatively well here and I can still do what enjoy.

Not long after I
managed to get the final Detective Conan release of 2022 from
Viz Media, I was able to place an order for the first volume of 2023
and my copy recently arrived, though there were some hiccups, so it
is time to get off my butt.

Today, I will be
reviewing that release, which is Case
Closed Volume 85 by Gosho Aoyama.

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

After the conclusion
of the case involving an elementary school teacher, An FBI agent is
caught off guard and the truth about an event in the past is forced
to come to light in a confrontation between Bourbon and somebody that
is supposed to be dead.

However, dealing
with a threat from Black Org is not the only thing Jimmy has to deal
with, as cases continue to pile up on his plate.

While the previous
volume was pretty enjoyable, aside from some minor annoyances,
that does not mean that things will always remain strong, so I have
to keep up my own guard.

And after reading
this, I must say that I quite liked this volume.

From the moment that
I opened up this volume and started reading it, I found myself
engrossed enough that I did not want to stop reading for any reason.

As I have said many
countless times before, one of the most important things in a work of
fiction is how things begin, as the beginning is supposed to help
transport the audience to another world, thereby creating the
temporary escape that they desire.

While there are many
ways to accomplish this feat, depending on the kind of work and the
medium used to present it, Detective Conan, like many other
manga series, is published in a serial publication, which mean that
each installment needs to start in a way that makes sense based upon
how the previous installment ended.

In the last volume,
after we find out who attacked the teacher and why, we see Jimmy,
Jodie, and Camel head off to the hospital, with Camel getting
ambushed by Amuro, with the final panels revealing that Camel had
given Vermouth the info she wanted know, which had made me glad that
I was able to preorder this volume not long after getting that
volume.

In this volume,
things start up not long after that, with Camel spotting the real
Jodie and Amuro talking with Vermouth privately about what they
uncovered, saying that discovered something, while Jimmy,. who was
listening to Camel and Jodie discuss the aftermath of the leak,
realizes that the enemy has figured out a big secret.

This was the best
possible way to start off the first volume of the year because not
only has an event started that I have been looking forward to seeing
come over here, but it was also the only way that this really could
have started after seeing Vermouth’s smirk in the previous chapter,
signifying that what Camel had told her was a major piece information
regarding something that was supposed to be a mystery up until this
point in the series.

If the volume had
not started out here, I think I would have been quite disappointed,
as the tension and intrigue of the events in this incident start off
right here, and would have possibly killed the big reveal in this
volume, making things less enjoyable.

Then again, seeing
as the big reveal was already made clear all the way back in volume
60, which contained chapters that could have only maintained the
mystery in the weekly releases, I do not think there is much more
damage that could be done.

I also really liked
was how excited I felt throughout reading the first case of the
volume.

Even though I
remember how things played out clearly enough from the first time I
read through it, which should understandably diminish the enjoyment a
bit, I found myself wanting to throw out everything I know and wonder
what would happen next, as well as how Jimmy and the gang were going
to get out of this.

If I had to say why
I felt like this, it would have to be for the same reason as the
events that culminated into the events found in volume
58, where Kir shoots Akai, in that Gosho did things so well that
everything was just as exciting as it was the first time around, from
the reveal that somebody else was playing Okiya than the person he
obviously was all this time to the surprise of Akai being in the car
with Jodie and Camel.

While I do kind of
wish that this case closed out the year 2022, instead of having it
start off 2023, I do not think I would have enjoyed things too much
if this was one of those incidents that are only truly exciting to
read through the first time around, as it helped make this feel like
an adventure, and it makes me want to give Gosho and those helping
him to bring us this series a good round of applause.

Hopefully, future
volumes will have things that are just as exciting, including events
that have yet to happen it the manga, like the confrontation with
Rum, who has been revealed but not given a real name, or the climatic
standoff with the boss of Black Org, who has been name and has
possibly been showing up more frequently, but seeing as this series
is not always consistently great, I would not be surprised if things
take a turn for the worse.

Another thing that I
liked about the volume was the humor to be found.

Aside from how great
the cases can be in this series, one of the things I like about
Detective Conan is how there are moment that can make either chuckle
or outright laugh about, and that is no different here.

While nothing really
stands out to me as there have been in past volumes, whether they
were meant to be hilarious or are mostly hilarious when revisiting
the cases with the knowledge I have, as much of it can just be
considered par for the course at this point in time, I still found
myself chuckling about a few things, which helped things from
becoming too tense.

If Gosho had
forgotten that the humor to be found in this series is just as
important as the cases, I would have been pretty disappointed, as
that is what helps it feel unique among the haystacks of the
detective, mystery, and crime fiction genres, and it would have taken
this series for a much worse turn.

Fortunately, the
comedic moments, as standard as they may be, were still present,
which saves the series from becoming a complete loss.

Hopefully, the
comedic moments never go away, though I am hoping for better to crop
up before the series comes to an end, as that will help getting
readers to come back for more.

The thing that I
liked the most though the reveal of two more members of Black Org.

Even though I
typically find the way volumes end the most intriguing part of the
volume, noting how important it is that things end well, which this
volume does, the thing has caught my interest the most is the reveal
of more members of Black Org.

Now, some of you
guys might be groaning, saying that this is nothing new, seeing as
Bourbon had been revealed and Okiya was confirmed to be Akai, much
like how Kir was revealed to be a CIA agent and alerted everyone that
Bourbon was on the move back in volume
65, but there are two big differences.

First, there were
two members mentioned directly.

Normally, when we
have a reveal this early, we only get one and others show up later,
like how we only knew about Vermouth and later found that she had
somebody working with her.

However, in this
volume, we get two names, with the revelation that one of them is
dead and the other is more important than Gin.

While it is not
exactly revealed right now why one of the members is much more
important than Gin, it makes me think that this is the start of the
final portion of the series, as well as makes me wonder how much
power Gin has, since I already know the significance of this
dangerous individual, which makes me want to continue plowing through
this series way more than the ending of this volume.

If these revelations
had not come up, I would have been alright with it, since I was not
expecting this kind of development to happen so quickly and the final
chapter, while disappointing due to its tired presence, does give me
some incentive to come back.

Thankfully, there
was something that makes me want to continue on with this series more
than wanting to see the conclusion of this volume’s last case,
which makes me feel like giving Gosho Aoyama a good round of
applause.

Hopefully, there
will be more instances like this, especially when we find out if the
boss of Black Org has become more active, like I believe he has in
the Japanese releases, but considering how important one of the two
names in this volume is, I would not be surprised if this is going to
be the biggest moment in the main plot.

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 talked about.

Because the volume
had a very exciting start, the comedic aspects, while standard
affair, did what it is supposed to, and that a significant person
starting to make moves made me more interested in what is to come
than the end of the volume, this was a pretty decent read.

Although I liked the
book, there are some issues.

However, aside from
things that are too minor to talk about, such as typos, only one
thing really seemed to bother me, which was how the volume ended.

While there is
nothing exactly wrong with it because it does its job properly, as I
did indeed want to find out who the criminal was, it kind of felt a
bit lackluster, in comparison to everything that happened before.

Now, some of you
guys may be thinking that I should give it a break, seeing as I let
the biggest issue at the end go numerous times, though I did mention
at those times I am tired of seeing endings like this, but the pay
out off learning about how important Rum is might not be revealed for
a while, though his position will likely be revealed next volume,
which is supposed to come out in April, according the product
listing on Amazon.

Things like Rum are
supposed to be a long term thing to look forward to in the future,
while giving the audience questions to ponder over, while the ending
should give the audience the most intrigue until the long term pay
off finally comes to fruition, and if the ending just comes off as
just another moment of where the case is being unnecessarily dragged
out, that does not give the ending of an installment in a series an
equal, if not greater, footing to what is to come later on.

If Scarlet Return
had come out last year, instead of the start of this year, I think
that this could be ignored, but by starting off the volume with
Scarlet Return, even though the ending of the previous volume did not
leave much choice, it just makes me wish Viz would speed up their
releases of this series, which really hurts my enjoyment, though not
enough for me to call it garbage.

Hopefully, things
will improve when Jimmy finally learns who Rum is, as well as his
true name, because that will help the series end on a good note, but
because it can be hard to decide where a volume of manga should end
and begin, I would not be surprised if I see much worse.

Thankfully, nothing
else seemed to bother me too much about this book, so I can let Gosho
Aoyama and Shogakukan go with the knowledge that they at least got a
passing grade.

While there was only
one issue that would be ignorable on my radar by now, even though it
still irritates me to death, the fact that it made me less interested
in the more immediate future Viz releases than the ones to come does
hurt the quality of the work a bit.

Despite the fact
that there was something that irritated me more than usual, there was
enough to balance things out enough to make it worth reading.

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

As for everyone
else, feel free to give this a try, but because I think this volume
may be the start of the final portion of the series, depending on how
much longer Gosho Aoyama drags things out, the earlier volumes in the
series might be better to read.

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 to have a copy of the reviewed title for
youself, please buy
a copy of Case Closed Volume 85 from Book Depository, who
has helped me complete my Detective Conan and offers free shipping to
many countries around the wold, so that I can continue following this
series and potentially find more worthwhile reads for you guys to
check out.