Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is doing well and were able to find an enjoyable way
to celebrate the new year, even if it was spent on your own.

Things are still a
rough and frustrating here, but I am still glad that I can do what I
like.

A while back, I went
looking around on Amazon and I was able to secure of a copy of a
couple titles that I have been following for a while and they finally
arrived, which means it is time to get off my butt.

Today, I will be
reviewing one of those titles, which is called Case
Closed Volume 89 by Gosho Aoyama.

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

The cases continue
to pile up on Jimmy, as yet more murders come his way, along with
helping a police officer find something precious.

However, after
helping an acquaintance in the police force, Haibara hears mention a
name that she recognizes as a victim of APTX 4869, and one of the
cases Jimmy must tackle is said to bear a striking resemblance to the
mystery sounding their death.

While the previous
volume was okay at best, probably thanks to the hilarity of the
revelation of who Sera's brother was and then the series likely
making fun of itself, I did note that it shared a problem with its
predecessor,
so it makes it a little easier to be more level headed, but there is
still a danger that I can still be too negative towards it.

And after reading
this, I kind of liked it.

From the moment I
opened up the book and started reading the first few pages, I found
myself engrossed enough that I did not want to stop reading for any
reason.

As I have said
numerous times before, likely to the point where many of might feel
like barfing, one of the most important parts of a work of fiction is
how things begin, as the beginning is supposed to help transport the
audience to another world, thereby giving them the temporary escape
that they desire.

While there are many
ways to accomplish this, depending on the genre and medium used to
present a work, this series, like many other manga, was originally
published in a serial publication, which means that it needs to start
in a way that makes sense based upon how the last installment ended.

In the previous
volume, Serena had the bright idea of forming an all-girl band and
they ultimate went to a place to practice only to have the misfortune
of being there when a member of an established, though maybe not
famous, all-girl band was found dead, with the last panel showing
that Jimmy had everything figured out.

In this volume,
things proceed accordingly, with Meguire and the team still hung up
on the murder weapon, and the group of sleuths, comprised of Jimmy,
Sera, and Amuro, come in to reveal the solution to the case and
ultimately reveal the culprit.

While I still find
this kind of beginning insufferable, due to how often it has been
done in this series, it plays off the excitement that new readers
should have while reading this volume and even helps me kind of
remember in a case that I would say is largely forgettable.

If things had not
started here, I would have been largely upset, even though I am very
much fed up with cases that are practically over being carried to the
next volume, because this is the only way that this volume could have
started unless Shogakukan decided to increase the number of pages in
a volume.

Fortunately,
Shogakukan, or whoever the had compile this volume for them, decided
to starts things off as well as they could, so that the people who
wanted to know the culprit of the last cast was, so I can at least
give them a passing grade.

Hopefully, there
will be a volume somewhere is the future that starts off with a new
case, so that I can recommend it to as many people as I can, but with
this pattern being held steady, I'm not too certain that day will
ever come.

I also liked how the
second case was resolved.

While I have not
talked about cases specifically too much these days, since the things
that happen in cases tend to be more memorable than the cases
themselves, the case here was both good and quite memorable.

The reason I say it
was both quite good and memorable, however, is not that everything
was done right, as it should be, but because of what had occurred
during a case.

During the case, a
chef, who received a strange call at the start, was found with a
knife in the abdominal region and told Jimmy that the culprit rand
down the stairs, which prompted him to have the Junior Detective
League try to identify the attacker.

Later, when
Inspector Meguire asked about what the children saw, they each gave
different answers, which Jimmy was shocked by.

Now, some of you
guys may be seeing where I'm going with this, though the people who
already read this case when it was new in Japan might already know
what I found good about this case, but when things like this happen,
there is ether a liar or an inconsistency in human memory tends to
pop up, which is why direct evidence, like eyewitness testimony,
cannot be fully trusted.

However, that does
not mean that everything a person says is unreliable.

During the case,
Jimmy collects enough details to figure out that the children were
indeed describing one individual that had such different attributes
because of visual markers, or contextual changes, and then reveals
basic things, like colors looking brighter when placed against colors
of low saturation or things appears smaller when place among tall
objects.

Yes, I know this is
not the first time in the series where a case points on that you
cannot exactly trust what one sees, but I really liked how the case
showed that seemingly conflicting statements can indeed match up,
which is why the minutest details are important in figuring things
out and is a good thing for people to remember both in their own
lives and when trying to find a killer in a work of detective,
mystery, and crime fiction.

If Gosho Aoyama had
not made the case involve such an interesting bit, I don't think
that I could remember this case too well, as it did not feel that
engaging outside of the fact that the descriptions the children
provided did not match, and likely would have contributed to this
volume have stuff that is rather forgettable.

Thankfully, Gosho
decided to have the case proceed in the direction that it did, which
makes me feel like giving him some praise.

Another thing that I
liked was how Viz dealt with the clues in the case involving the
police officer and the precious thing that she thought she threw out.

While Viz has not
been bad in this department as of late, at least that I can remember,
there was a time in which Viz just threw in kanji and katakana, as if
their readers, whose vernacular is primarily English, could read it
and understand the explanation or hints. This habit of their
irritated me because I know fans of detective, mystery, and crime
fiction want to follow along and try to figure everything out and I
myself cannot really read Japanese at all, which meant I could not
pick up on things or follow along with deductions.

Here, however, Viz
decided to include the Japanese characters, a romaji representation,
so that readers like me can attempt to pronounce them, and a
translation.

Now, the translation
may not be exactly perfect, especially because Viz is sill using the
names that FUNimation used for many of its characters, as well as
Haibara's original name for the FUNimatoon dub, but I still
appreciate how much they are doing to make sure the Japanese hints
and clues are not completely lost on the audience.

If Viz had gone back
to their old ways, I think I would be mad because that would have
suggested that they once again forgot what the general knowledge of
their audience is like, which would probably cost them sales, even
though others might have been happy that Viz did not bother
translating what could not be translated.

Fortunately, Viz
remembered that their audience largely speaks and reads English, so
they get a little higher than a passing grade.

The fourth thing I
enjoyed about this volume were the humorous moments.

Aside from the
cases, one thing that I like about Detective Conan is its
funny moments, which help to liven things up.

While much of the
humor found in this volume is still pretty much par for the course,
as it was in the previous volume, there were two things that really
stood out to me that both occur in the same case.

First, after Richard
decides to take on a case for somebody Rachel regularly fights in
karate tournaments, they decide to visit the girl's school, to see
if they can find an answer to what she saw.

Not long after
arriving there, Rachel remembers that there was news of a death on
the grounds of a high school and they see the body and Chiba appears
to drive them away, though he initially acknowledges Richard's
presence.

What has me laughing
here is that ever since the beginning of this series, the police just
accepted Richard's appearance and let him be involved in the
investigation, yet he is being rightly chased off here until Richard
reminds him of the favors he had done.

Now, this kind of
makes sense because the cases don't typically start during an
investigation phase in this series, but I found myself chuckling
pretty hard that now of all times is when they decide to chase out
Richard and the gang.

If this had not been
made part of this case, I would have largely forgotten about it
because it felt rather unimpressive, beyond the trick the killer
used.

The second thing
that had me laughing, and probably more so than seeing Richard being
shooed away, was Naeko and the influence she had on Chiba during the
case because of what her coworkers thought of him.

At the beginning of
the case, before Richard gets involved, we see Chiba running up to
Yumi to ask her and Naeko about a case that has been ongoing for a
while and Naeko says he is cute and chubby when Yumi wonders if he
gained weight again.

Not long after,
Naeko's other coworkers come along and say that he is a ball and
lard and too out of shape to be a police officer, which upsets Naeko
enough that she send Chiba package, though we do not know she is the
one responsible at the time, that ends up making him lose a lot of
weight over the course of the case.

After her coworkers
see how much of a hunk Chiba has become, Naeko becomes jealous when
her coworkers say they want to claim him now, which makes her send
him stuff to make him gain weight just before the end of said case.

This has me laughing
because Naeko should have seen this coming from the start and not
worried about how others perceive the guy she likes, yet she did and
then became jealous.

Sure, I had a
chuckle at what Chiba went through throughout the case, right down to
Rachel not recognizing him, but just knowing that Naeko was
responsible for it all and why made this all hilarous enough to be a
huge highlight of the volume.

If either of these
events had not been featured in this volume, I would have been
alright with it, as there were other things to chuckle about, but I
don't think it would have been as enjoyable.

Thankfully, Gosho
Aoyama included some nice gens in the comedy department this time
around, which makes me feel like giving him a ton of praise.

Hopefully, there
will be more comedic moments that are as funny as the ones found
here, but I would not be surprised if things continue on with the
usual pattern.

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

As I have said many
times before, aside from how things begin, another aspect of a work
of fiction that is very important is how things end, as the ending is
supposed to either leave the audience satisfied, in the case of a
standalone work or the final installment in a series, or wanting
more, in the case of an installment in a series.

While the ending
does its job well in that department, even if I am tired of seeing
it, because I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was
reading it and made me glad I had already preordered the next volume,
which releases in April, according to the product
listing on Amazon, the thing that has me really excited about the
ending was a big revelation that happened in the penultimate case of
the volume and how it leads into the last case of the volume.

In the volume's
penultimate case, where Yumi had to find a marriage registration
form, Haibara hears Yumi say the name Koji Haneda, who seems to be
rather insignificant beyond being a big influence on Shukichi, and
when the case is resolved, Haibara tells jimmy that, like them, Koji
was given APTX 4869.

After learning that,
the final case starts off with Jimmy, Haibara, and Dr. Agasa looking
at the details regarding the death of the famed shogi and chess
player that Shukichi admired when they find out Koji was holding a
pair of scissors and that the latest murder victim was also holding
some scissors that Dr. Agasa made.

Later on, when
Agasa, Akai, dressed as Okiya, and Jimmy are at the crime scene, Akai
tells Jimmy that this case resembles the murder case of Koji Haneda,
with the last panel of the volume having Akai say that Koji's case
made him want to join the FBI.

I might not be that
interested in the last case of the volume, in spite of the fact that
it does not hint that it will end in the first chapter of the next
volume, but this development alone makes me want to see how this
series will finally end, which means it gives me much more incentive
to read the next volume than the fact that this new case just got
started.

If Gosho Aoyama had
just ended the volume with the start of a new case like, I would have
been alright with it, as the last chapter itself is not as bad as it
could be, but I don't think it would be quite as memorable without
the other developments.

Fortunately, Gosho
Aoyama and Shogakukan, or whoever they had compile this volume,
decided to end things off on a high note, which makes me want to give
them even more praise.

Hopefully, there
will be more volumes that will end just as well as this one did, as
it will help to maintain interest in the series, but seeing as Jimmy
and the gang have yet to learn who Rum is, even in the Japanese
releases, even though the Japanese audience knows Rum's current
identity, and Rum is the number two of Black Org, I would not be
surprised if there are no more big moments in this series, aside from
the purpose of APTX 4869.

Outside of those
things, I cannot think of anything else that I particularly liked, at
least that stood out as much as what I just mentioned.

Because things
started off well enough, there was a case that did not feel like it
would be forgettable, there were things to laugh about, and the end
had more interesting things going for it other than just doing its
job well, 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, nothing
really seemed to bother me too much.

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

Considering the fact
that there was quite a bit to like and nothing to really hate, unless
you want to get real nit picky, this was definitely worth reading.

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

As for everyone
else, this might be worth giving a try, especially for fans of
detective, mystery, and crime fiction, but it might better better to
start with the earlier volumes.

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 a series that myself and many others
enjoy and maybe find some more worthwhile reads for you guys to check
out.