Bryce's Blog

I hope everyone is doing well, now that the seasons have changed,
even if you all must continue to deal with the monotony of daily
life.

Aside from something
that cropped up that landed me in the hospital for a couple or so
days, I am doing fairly well and can still do what I’d like.

A while back, I went
looking through Amazon’s catalog for the titles I follow and I
managed to secure some titles.

Recently, one of the
titles arrived, which means that it is time to get off my butt and
take care of it.

Today, I will be
reviewing that title, which is called Case
Closed Volume 94 by Gosh Aoyama.

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

After wrapping up
the case involving the death of a kendo referee, Jimmy get embroiled
into more cases

However, when Jimmy
learns about an upcoming class trip, he is determined to get his
hands on the antidote to APTX 4869, so that he can participate, not
realizing that yet another case is about to fall into his lap.

While the previous
volume was quite enjoyable, that does not mean that I can just
rest on my laurels and just let things waltz on by.

After reading this
volume, I have to say that I really enjoyed this.

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

As I have said a
countless number of 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 giving them
the temporary escape that they desire.

While this can be
accomplished through various means, depending on the genre and the
medium used to present the work, manga like Detective Conan is
typically published in a serial publication, which means that things
need to pick up in a way that makes sense based upon how the previous
installment ended.

In the previous
volume, a murder case starts up at the place where Harley has a kendo
tournament and another one of Gosho Aoyama’s copied character
designs shows up, introducing himself as Okita, with them all
discussing the case the. The final panels then show that Harley had
figured everything out.

Even though I am
still not a fan of endings like this, mainly because they occur to
often, unlike how the older volumes were, this did create some
intrigue and helps to paint a possible path to having this volume
start off as well as it did.

In this volume,
things pick up from where the last volume left off, by having Harley
try to draw attention to himself, so that he can reveal things.

However, before he
gets the chance Okita decides he wants in on the action and accuses
the blind witness of being the perp, until Harley gets things back on
track.

While I am still not
exactly happy that the ending to this case was delayed to this
volume, it does feel a little different from other moments like it,
as Okita breaks up the monotony of the typical denouement in this
series, where the truth is just revealed right then and there, making
things feel way more boring than they should be.

This helped to ease
me back into the series and also reminded me of what was going on
before, which is something that is very important for a serial
publication.

If Gosho Aoyama had
not broken up the monotony that has been plaguing this series for
such a long time now, I think I would be very disappointed, as my
irritation with volumes never concluding a case at the end these days
would just grow further.

Fortunately, that
did not happen with this volume, which means I can give Gosho Aoyama
a passing grade.

Hopefully, future
volumes start up as well as this one did, but considering that there
is a reason I am extremely tired of cases being used to draw up
interest in the next volume, I would not be surprised if things just
end up getting worse.

I also liked that
there was yet another timeline of progression between cases.

Back in the
beginning of the series, the cases themselves were truly episodic,
denoting that this series firmly belongs in the detective, mystery,
and crime fiction genres, and had a charm their own.

The only time this
was really broken in those days was when we were about to encounter a
member of Black Org, like Vermouth and Kir.

Here, however, while
I do not see anything particularly relating to a confrontation with
Rum, where we find out the guise he had assumed, it was still nice to
see a timeline given for these cases by having Okita show up multiple
times in the volume and Jimmy learning about the class trip and doing
what he can to participate for much of the volume.

If there had not
been a timeline presented for the cases to be found within the
volume, I think that I would have been alright with it, as there is
not really anything important about them.

However, because
Gosho did decide to establish a bit of a timeline, it does make me
wonder exactly what is going to happen, aside from what Viz kind of
spoiled with a little feature at the end of the volume, which has me
feeling more satisfied than usual.

Hopefully, things
keep getting connected like this as more volumes get released, as
that will help solidify that we are indeed getting closer to the end,
but considering that only the audience knows Rum’s identity and the
person likely to be the boss has barely started showing up in the
Japanese releases.

Another thing that I
liked was how Harley was causing troubles for Jimmy during the school
trip.

Even though I’m
not particularly a fan of romance, as it feels like it is over done
and only exists for the sake of existing when it comes to fiction,
even if such things do make logical sense in the capacity of making
sure humanity still exists, it is one of the aspects of this series
that does help it to keep the comedic charms found in the beginning
and the annoyance of if characters are getting together or not does
help to provide some closure.

So far, I this
series, almost everyone has gotten some closure on that front,
especially within the police force, where Santos discovered that
Kobayashi was his first love, but the two couples that have not
really received much closure are Jimmy and Rachel and Harley and
Kazuha.

While Jimmy did
confess back in London in volumes 71–72,
according to the thing included at the end of this volume, nothing
has really come of it.

Here, however, we
learn that Serena has been spreading rumors that Jimmy and Rachel are
an item.

After this
revelation, Jimmy, who returned back to his child-like state when the
case got underway, has to hide and has Harley take his place until he
can take the antidote again.

During this time,
Jimmy’s classmates try to badger him on how things with Rachel went
down, to which Harley says they had already kissed and such.

Afterwards, Rachel
is not so happy to hear what Jimmy supposedly told his classmates,
even though we, as the audience know that it was Harley saying all of
that.

Now, I am not too
sure if Harley was saying this to get back at Jimmy for all the times
that he caused Harley to not be able to confess his own feelings to
Kazuha or not, but seeing as Jimmy is the only one of the two of them
to have said anything to the person they had feelings for, I would
not be surprised if this was pay back.

Still, this is one
of the few moments that the romance stuff actually me laughing out
loud.

If Gosho Aoyama had
not included this stuff in this case, I think I would be alright with
it, as the case itself was intriguing enough, but I highly doubt that
there would be too much to laugh about as there was.

Hopefully, this kind
of thing does not get dragged out like the tiresome moments where
Harley fails to convey his feelings to Kazuha because I really want
to have these romantic development be over, so that the series can
start focusing on the main plot again and I doubt I am the only one
that feels this way, though the people that want to see characters
get together are going to outnumber me.

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

As I have said a
countless number of times, aside from how things begin, another
important aspect in a work of fiction is how things end, as the
ending is supposed either leave the audience feeling satisfied, in
the case that it is a standaone work or final installment in a
series, or give the audience an incentive to come back, if it is an
installment in a series.

While I am still not
all that pleased with the ending presented in this volume, it
accomplishes the latter in a way that is a bit more satisfying than
the norm, by introducing a new moment of tension.

In this volume, once
Jimmy has finally figured out what is going on, to the point where he
is ready to reveal the truth, he suddenly feels himself reverting
back into his child-like state sooner than expected, though Haibara
did warn him of the possibility, and people notice he is not doing
alright when he reveals that he knows what happened ad how but
doesn’t have the proof.

Seeing all this has
me way more excited to see what is going to happen, beyond getting
some answers, as we have a race against the clock to reveal
everything.

Now, some of you
guys might be groaning, saying that this development is not exactly
new for the series, and you would be right, seeing as this cropped up
back in volume 10, as I stated in my review for FUNimation’s second
season, and then again during the events of volumes 25 and 26,
which I did not cover, but in comparison to just being made to wait
for the solution portion of the case being present, this eds up being
a lot better, making me glad that I had preorder each volume to be
released this year.

If more volumes
ended like this, I would be satisfied, even with being made to wait
for the conclusion, and would feel like giving out more praises for
choosing a great end.

Hopefully, more
volumes will be able to end like this, as I would prefer to give
Gosho Aoyama and Shogakukan, or whoever they had put this volume
together, praises, instead of getting up in their face, as that will
help bring them more readers, but considering how boring the edings
have been getting, I would not be surprised if things end up worse.

Outside of those
things, I cannot think of anything else that I particularly liked, at
least that stood out as much as the things that I did talk about.

Because the volume
started off in a way that was better than typical, there was a
timeline to be foud, in spite of tere not being a Black Org
confrontation just yet, Harley might have gotten a bit of pay back
for the tmes Jimmy sabotaged his confessions, and that the ending had
more going for it than telling the reader that they need to read the
next volume for an answer, this was a pretty decent read.

Although I liked the
volume, there are some issues.

However, aside from
things that are too minor to talk about, such as typos, and things
that can inferred from what I already said, only one thing really
disappointed me, which was that there was no real celebration for
hitting 1000 chapters.

Now, for those of
you familiar with this series and how long it has been going on might
not be as excited about this series breaking the 1000 mark, since One
Piece and many other manga broke the same barrier, but I still
remember this being a big deal when these chapters were actually new.

Not only was hitting
1000 chapters a big deal, but back in volume
48, the series had hit the 500 chapter mark, according to a page
of Detective Conan
World, and volume
49, when it released here, had a little bonus that was released
as a separate booklet to commemorate reaching 500 chapters.

Yes, it is possible
that the next volume, which Viz says will give Rachel’s answer to
Jimmy from back in London, will have something to to celebrate
reaching 1000 chapters, but I kind of wish it was in this volume
rather than a briefing on the relationship between Jimmy and Rachel,
as I thin hitting 1000 chapters is more exciting that seeing their
relationship develop.

Still, this was more
so disappointing than it was an actual issue, so I can at least let
Gosho Aoyama, Shogakukan, and Viz walk away knowing that they did not
do anything majorly wrong.

Thankfully, this was
the only thing that I found annoying.

While there was
something that disappointed me, it was not bad enough to do any real
damage.

Considering that
there was quite a bit to like, with only one small disappointment,
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 is good enough to give a try, but because this volume
starts with the conclusion of another case, it would be better to
check 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 to the end and maybe
find other worthwhile reads for you guys to check out.