Book Review: Case Closed Volume 97
Happy New Year, everyone!
I hope everybody has
been doing well.
Things here have
been kind of a bit hectic, especially because I have had to deal with
a problem that many people do not seem to notice where I live, but it
has mostly been alright.
A while back, I was
looking through Amazon’s catalog for the titles I follow and was
able to secure a copy of one of those titles, which has finally
arrived.
Today, I will be
reviewing that title, which is called Case
Closed Volume 97 by Gosho Aoyama.
As I have given a
series synopsis in an earlier
post, I will not go over it again.
After uncovering the
identity of the killer on a movie set, Jimmy and the gang have plenty
more cases to solve, such as a case where a killer takes advantage of
a predicament caused by a snow storm and coded notes, the death of a
man who was swindling women, and the death of an antique appraiser.
However, the Rum
suspects and Sera are still acting a little strangely, and Jimmy must
tread carefully while dealing with them.
While the previous
volume was pretty decent enough to get on my nerves, aside from
an issue that feels like beating a dead horse right now, that does
not mean that things are all better at the moment, so I still feel
like I can be on my toes when I need to be.
And after reading
this, I must say that I found it to be alright.
From the moment I
opened up this volume and started reading the first few pages, I
found myself engrossed enough to find out what how things would end
in the case, but I didn’t feel like I just had to read it because
it was that interesting.
As I have said many
times before, one of the most important things in a work of fiction
is how things begin, as the beginning is supposed to draw people in,
thereby giving them the temporary escape that they desire.
While this can be
accomplished in a variety of ways, depending on the kind of story
being presented and the medium used to present the work, Detective
Conan, much like many other manga was originally published as
part of a serial publication, which means that things need to start
in a way that makes sense.
In the previous
volume, after Makoto accidentally injured an actor, who he thought
was committing an actual crime, got forced to take part in the
filming, people start dropping like flies and the investigation
proceeds, with the final panels showing that Jimmy had pieced things
together and that it was time for the reveal.
In this volume,
things pick up from there and proceed into the reveal portion of the
case, which should be the most exciting part of a case in a work
detective, mystery, or crime fiction, as the audience wants to find
out if their guess was right, and goes through its thing.
While I’m not
exactly happy with this opening, because I am still sick and tired of
seeing volumes that begin with the concluding chapter of a case, I do
have to give Shogakukan, or whoever they had put this volume together
for them, credit for starting things off in the most appropriate way
possible.
If Gosho Aoyama had
started this first chapter in any other way, I would have been really
disappointed with what I was seeing, as he doesn’t really make
mistakes like that, even if the cases that he presents are not the
most enjoyable to me.
Thankfully, Gosho
Aoyama and Shogakuka, or whoever they had put this volume together
for them, provided the minimum expected and got a passing grade.
I also liked how
Detective Yamamura was unknowingly right on the nose about a case.
While there was not
really that much to laugh about in this volume, due to much of the
humor being mostly par for the course, the one thing that I can count
on is either the idiotic characters being so close to the truth of
what had happened or totally off the mark.
Here, while
Yamamura, one of the dimwitted police detectives, wasn’t exactly on
the mark of what had transpired, he unknowingly pegged the right
person from the start.
Early on in the
case, we see the culprit leading a man to a home, where she then
stabs him, establishing this particular case as one where we must
expose the culprit, rather than finding them like the typically
whodunnit.
Later, after the
body is discovered by Jimmy and the gang, Yamamura talks to the
culprit and accuses her of killing the victim to get out of marrying
them, which we, as he audience knows is not the case.
Although he was off
the mark in why the culprit killed the victim, I was laughing because
his usual shtick involves the paranormal and he does not typically
dig into people like Yokomizo did back in episode
9 of the anime.
Unlike my beef with
that episode, where the cast was very much incompetent and did not
notice very obvious mistakes that the killer did not hide very well,
this is one instance where it seems Yamamura is a bit more competent
that he usually was and that was enough to subvert some expectations
enough to create a laugh.
If Gosho Aoyama had
made Yamamura even more aware of what had actually happened, I don’t
know if I would have enjoyed things as much, since there we things
we, as the audience, knew that he did not until his team revealed the
victim’s past.
Fortunately, Gosho
remembered that there were things that only the audience was supposed
to know and made Yamamura give a reasonable enough accusation towards
the culprit to help make a simple enough case be more enjoyable that
it would have been.
The thing that I
liked the most though was how this volume ended.
As I have said
countless time before, aside from how things begin, another very
important part of a work of fiction is how things end, as the ending
is supposed to either leave the audience wanting more, especially in
the case of a work that is part of an installment of a series, or
leave the audience feeling satisfied, in the case of a standalone
work.
While I have been
relatively unhappy with how many of the recent volumes have been
ending, mainly due to them ending when there is only one chapter of
the case and that one chapter turns out to be a typical reveal,
rather than a trap, this one is on the better side of the spectrum.
After Jimmy and the
gang hear that Agasa was going to see an appraiser, to see how much
his antique was worth, they make their way with Subaru, who we now
know is Akai, and Sera to visit the appraiser.
Later on, after the
appraiser is dealt a fatal blow and leaves his mark on the authentic
antique, the investigation begins it usual process until we hit a
point where antiques cannot be determined so easily, with the volume
ending on Sera questioning Subaru, since she doesn’t know Subaru is
Akai.
By ending things
like this, my interest is raised by posing three questions:
- How will the real
antique be found? - How did Akai know
his sister was spying on Agasa’s place? - Who killed the
antique appraiser?
Typically, the main
focus of these cases is exposing the culprit, whether that be their
identity, breaking their alibi, or exposing their lie, which is why
the way volumes these days have ended has grown rather tiresome.
However, by leaving
me with multiple questions, instead of the usual Jimmy finding the
answer, I find myself wanting to get my hands on the next volume
right now, even though it will not be released until April, according
to the product listing
on Amazon, and I cannot preorder it in my preferred format yet.
This is how I wish
volumes would end these days, since Shogakukan, or whoever they have
compile these volumes, and Gosho Aoyama refuse release a volume that
starts with a new case, because this is the excitement I, and likely
many others, desire, and the team behind this series finally deliver.
Hopefully, future
installments will be able to end just as well as this one did, as
that will help keep readers coming back for more, but because I have
had a rough time with this series last year, I would not be surprised
if things take a tumble again.
Outside of those
things, I cannot think of anything else that I particularly liked, at
least that could shine as brightly.
Because this volume
was able to start off decently, there was something to laugh about
because it was unexpected, and the volume ended in a way better way
than the typical volume has been recently, this was a decent read.
Although I there
were things I liked about the book, there are some issues.
However, aside from
things that are too minor to talk about, such as typos, and things
that can be inferred from what I already said, there was only one
thing that really bothered me.
The bulk of cases
found in this volume felt rather dull.
One of the things
that really drew me into Detective Conan in the early volumes
was how good the cases were. The cases were interesting from start to
finish and felt like they were so fun that I could see why fans of
detective, mystery, and crime fiction have a fun time trying to beat
the detective to the answer, which is why I was able to recommend
this series to fans of those genres.
However, for much of
this volume, none of the cases could really pull me in, whether that
was because things were a bit too obvious, like the chapel murder
case, or the trick felt way too simple, like the case where Yamamura
unknowingly suspected right the person from the beginning.
This dullness in the
cases presented here made it rather hard for me to really want to sit
there and read through the volume to the point where I think that I
could have easily put this volume down, thereby missing the good that
I was able to experience by pushing on through.
Yes, I cannot expect
things to remain great in a series that has been running for about 3
decades by now, but considering that the biggest threat in the series
right now is the number two of Black Org and the Japanese fans are
likely waiting for the showdown with Rum, now that Jimmy knows who
Rum was disguised as, I would expect things to be a little better
than this.
If Gosho Aoyama and
those helping him bring this series to people like us had put in a
bit more effort, I feel like things could have been better in this
department, because people like me want to experience some good
mysteries again that we can keep coming back to, to relive.
Unfortunately, that
was not what was delivered here, and I feel very much disappointed.
Thankfully, this was
the only thing that really soured me experience with this volume, so
Gosho Aoyama, Shogakukan, and everyone else working their hardest can
at least walk away knowing that they did not comletely and utterly
fail.
While there was one
one issue that could be found with this volume, that issue was big
enough that it hurt my overall enjoyment, thereby hurting an
otherwise good release.
Despite the fact
that there were a few things to like, the bad was enough to only make
this good enough to kill time.
I mainly recommend
this to fans of Detective Conan, as they will be able to enjoy
this the most.
As for everyone
else, I suggest you look elsewhere, or even read one of the early
volumes, as the dull cases might be a big turn off for those that
want to see some good mysteries.
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 or maybe find more worth
while reads for you guys to check out.