The Show:
The third season of Case Closed (or Detective Conan as
it's known in most of the world) starts strong with some good mysteries,
some heart-breaking revelations, and the apparent reappearance of the gang
that poisoned Kudo at the beginning of the series. While some of
the earlier volumes were feeling a little stale, this disc has some really
fun mysteries.
The Show:
Shin'ichi Kudo (Jimmy Kudo in the English version) 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 Ran Mouri (Rachael Moore.) 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.
Ran discovers the little Shin'ichi wandering around and takes him home
with her. So that his true identity will remain a secret he tells
her his name is Conan Edogawa, taken from his idol, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(the creator of Sherlock Holmes.) Ran's father, Kogoro Mouri (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; Ayumi,
Mitsuhiko. and Genta (aka 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 season starts out with a two-part story, Billionaire Birthday
Blues. The Mouri's are invited to the party for a rich industrialist's
daughter. Everyone is having a good time until one of the guests
is discovered face down in a fountain. When more bodies start showing
up and even Ran is attacked, Kogoro thinks that there's a serial killer
on the loose. Conan has other ideas however.
The two-part episodes are generally stronger than the stand alone installments,
so it was nice to start the season off with this story. There's a
nice red herring at the beginning and several other twists along the way
which make it a fun mystery.
Following that one is the weakest show on the disc, Left in Tatters.
The banner for a high school baseball championship is *gasp* slashed with
a razor while in the principle's office. Was it a member of the school
or one of their rivals? Only Conan can discover the truth.
In Karaoke Killing, an egotistical, arrogant and mean singer
from a popular pop-band dies after singing their hit song in a Karaoke
bar. Was it one of his band mates who were angry over the fact that
he was leaving the band, or the manager that he constantly ridicules?
A story with an unusually tragic ending.
That episode was followed by one of the strongest shows in the series,
Conan is Kidnapped. When Mrs. Edogawa shows up at the Mouri
household to take her son Conan home, everyone is a bit surprised, most
especially Conan who knows that there is on Mrs. Edogawa. In order
to protect Ran and her father, the young detective leaves with the lady.
She reveals that she's part of the gang that originally poisoned Kudo and
they what to experiment on him to see if they've really discovered the
fountain of youth. The woman's accomplice has other plays however,
which involve trying the poison on another unsuspecting candidate and then
killing the dupe and Shin'ichi. It's up to Conan/ Shin'ichi to escape
and stop the masked accomplice before it's too late.
This show had a lot of suspense (for this series at least). It
was nice to see the original gang again, and it also added some continuity.
At the end they even explain why Conan gets to live with the Mouri's for
so long without Kogoro ever kicking him out. A strong show that was
really a lot of fun.
The volume is wrapped up with another good show, Unhappy Birthday.
A rich man is blown up on his birthday, and any of his children could have
done it, they all can't wait to get their hands on his money. His
estranged daughter is the most likely suspect, but Conan suspects someone
else of putting a bomb in the old man's present.
This was a nice disc with some good episodes included on it. While
one wasn't that great, the others were above average mysteries that are
sure to please fans of the show.
The DVD:
This disc contains an ample six episodes on a singled sided 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.
Unfortunately, there were no subtitles for signs only. There are
some clues that are in Japanese and when characters are introduced their
name and age is given in a Japanese subtitle, but these are only translated
if the English subtitles are on.
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, and the lines were a bit on the soft side.
Digital defects were minimal with a little aliasing present in most episodes.
An average looking show.
Extras:
Like the first season, but unlike the releases of seasons four and five,
there are no extras included in this set.
Final Thoughts:
This was one of the better volumes in the series. These mysteries
were, with one exception, better than average. The opening two-part
story was strong, but the episode where Conan is kidnapped by the gang
who originally poisoned him is excellent. Well worth picking up.
Recommended.
Buy: