The Show:
This volume of Case Closed contains a pair of two-part stories
that are more enjoyable than the average single show tales. The first
story introduces a new interesting villain, one who is a match for Jimmy
Kudo. After that there is a murder in a rich old man's mansion that
is more than it appears.
Series background:
Jimmy Kudo is a teenage detective who is one of the best investigators
around. The police often solicit his advice on their toughest cases,
and he's taken all of the business away from the city's other private eyes
even though he's still in high school. All of that changes one night
while Jimmy is out at an amusement park with his girlfriend Rachael.
He sees a crime going down and investigates only to be caught by a pair
of thugs. They give him a new experimental poison so that he won't
talk, but the poison doesn't kill him. Instead it causes him to become
younger, much younger. When he wakes up he's a little kid.
He still has his razor sharp intellect, but no one wants to hire a ten
year old detective.
Rachael discovers the little Jimmy wandering around and takes him home
with her. So that his true identity will remain a secret he tells
her his name is Conan, taken from his idol, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the
creator of Sherlock Holmes. Rachael's father, Richard Moore, is an
incredibly incompetent detective, and Conan soon starts tagging along on
Richard's cases. Using some nifty inventions his friend Dr. Agasa
invented, and the aid of the Junior Detective League; Amy, Mitch, and George,
Conan is able to solve the cases without anyone knowing that he's the real
brains of the operation. The downside is that with just about every
case he solves, the bumbling Richard Moore becomes more famous.
This volume:
The first double episode story introduces the Phantom Thief 1412, a
mastermind criminal who is wanted all over the world. He sends some
opaque notes to the police where he threatens to steal the Black Star Pearl.
Of course Conan deciphers the clues and figures out the crooks plans, but
when he confronts him, Conan discovers that it was all a ruse. The
Phantom Thief just wanted to see who could figure out his clues, and then
miraculously escapes even though he's surrounded by police. The next
note he leaves however proclaims that he really will steal the pearl, and
from under the police's nose on a cruise ship too. Conan is up for
the challenge, but is this phantom actually smarter than Conan?
The next story is also a two-parter, and this time there's murder afoot.
When Mr. Moore, Jimmy and Rachael are called to help an rich old man find
a long lost love, they never expected that they'd get wrapped up in a murder,
but that's what happens. The rich man's son is killed and as everyone
watches his second son, whose face is wrapped in bandages due to a wound
he suffered years ago, is clearly identified running from the crime scene.
The only thing is that no one has left the estate, and the bandaged son
can't be found. Why would this man kill his brother, and where did
he go?
I enjoyed this disc more that some of the others. The longer stories
gave more room to flesh out the story and deepen the mystery. I was
glad to see someone of Jimmy's intellect appear as a villain. The
Phantom Thief promises to return again, and the fact that he escaped from
Jimmy (twice) makes this character all the more interesting.
The DVD:
Audio:
This disc offers the choice of the original stereo Japanese soundtrack,
or an English dub in 5.1 or stereo. I alternated tracks between episodes,
and I enjoyed the original audio a bit better. The English dub was
good though, with the actors doing a good job. There weren't any
phoney accents, something that I really dislike. The audio quality
was fine, there wasn't a lot of range, but there weren't any defects either.
Video:
The full frame video was okay but not outstanding. The program
was made on a budget and the animation isn't that great. The colors
were just a bit dull, but the lines were fairly tight. Digital defects
were minimal. An average looking show.
Extras:
As far as bonus items goes, there are a few character profiles, and
a file of Conan's gadgets with explanations of how they work and links
to video of them in action. There is a textless opening, and some
trailers too. This time around we didn't get a "Crack the Case Game"
like on the previous volumes.
Final Thoughts:
This disc was a lot of fun. The first story was light and breezy
and the second one was more serious. A good mix. While I enjoyed
them both, I was more interested in the second story which had a fair share
of suspects and clues along with some pretty impossible circumstances.
While this isn't as engrossing or mysterious as Ghost in the Shell:
SAC it's still a nice show. Recommended.
Buy: