Case Closed 36

Gosho Aoyama – Viz – 2010 – 72+ volumes

The first story in this book, the “Emissary of Guso” story that carried over from last volume, features Conan, Rachael, Harley, and Kazuha stuck on an island with a murderer and a small group of people that “couldn’t have done it.” It’s a nice, long case, and it takes a satisfying amount of time to unravel and finally pin down all the clues, since the first set excludes everyone on the island save Harley and Conan.

I wanna say it’s a bit more serious-minded than usual, but this isn’t the first serial murder that comes as a result of thieves in-fighting or whatever, so I can’t say that. It is a bit more involved than the average case though, since it does go into the history of the town’s mayor and an expensive artifact. It’s a good one, although there’s not enough Richard Moore being drunk elsewhere for my taste.

The next story is even longer and more involved, though. It’s almost three cases wrapped together, all about a bomber from the past who comes back to cause problems in the present. This one is sorta a detective boys story, but it’s mostly about Conan working with the police department, specifically Detective Akagi. Detective Sato is also a major player, not just because of the implied romance between them, but because she has past experience with the bomber. The story starts with a soccer victory parade getting bombed, and there are a few chapters covering how that was done and what the intent was. This bombing was feared to be related to an earlier case where a detective was lost three years ago. That case is related to us, along with the fact that the detective that was lost in it was a man that Sato was fond of. This bombing happened on the anniversary of that one, but it turns out that incident is related, since the Tokyo Police get a bomb threat that reads exactly like the case from three years ago. While trying to solve the riddle left by the bomber, Detective Akagi and Conan find themselves in a bad spot when they apparently have to blow themselves up in order to prevent another bomb being triggered in an area with a lot of people.

And that’s a cliffhanger. It’s a pretty epic case, and I think it’s been awhile since we’ve seen anything quite this involved. The clues make sense, and while knowledge of the city of Tokyo is required for the reader to follow the clues on their own, there isn’t really anything held back that feels like cheating, as sometimes happens when Conan reveals how he figured things out. Plus, the story is even a little romantic since we get to see Detective Sato’s feelings for both the heroic detective from three years ago and Detective Akagi.

This is an awesome volume that has just about everything that makes this series great. Reading all these in a row has made me remember why I love this series so much. It may not have much in the way of a forward-moving plot, but the mysteries are always well-written and really addictive.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.