Back when FUNimation started releasing Case Closed, they began with Case 4 so that people could watch episodes that Adult Swim didn’t have at the time. After completing Case 5, the company went back and started releasing the first three cases. The recently arrived final volume of Case 3 also brings us new-to-US episodes, as three of them never aired during Adult Swim’s broadcast of the show.
The volume starts with “Unexpected Visitors.” Conan, Rachel, and Richard stumble onto a crime scene, and all three suspects have something to hide. It’s a solid mystery with a bunch of twists and turns and an unlikely culprit. Various cover-ups add variety, but the murder method is pretty standard and the story overall is pretty forgettable. It’s also not clear whether the final piece of evidence in the case would actually hold up in court. This one might have been better as a two-parter, but I’m not sure how it could have been extended by another 20 minutes in a way that didn’t test the viewer’s patience.
“A Game of Murder” sends Conan and the gang on a skiing trip, though Richard’s not exactly in a hurry to go down the slopes. When he loses the key to the rental lodge, he is forced to stay at the lodge next door. Luckily for him, the owner is a wealthy doctor who is a big Richard Moore fan. However things turn ugly when he is soon found dead. Stranger still, he’s propped up in a formal position and the tablecloth displays a dying message.
This mystery is distinguished by its use of shogi (essentially Japanese chess), as the final message is a code relating to that old-fashioned game. It’s a unique twist, but it also weakens the story, as it can be a little confusing how Conan arrives at his conclusions if you’re unfamiliar with chess and shogi. Furthermore the English version doesn’t include sign-only subtitles, so you don’t really have a chance to solve the mystery yourself unless you turn on the full subtitles, which many dub watchers aren’t prone to do. “A Game of Murder” is a game attempt, but the execution just isn’t there.
The excellent two-parter “No Immunity for the Diplomat” introduces a rival for Jimmy in the form of Harley, another teen detective who may be as sharp as our hero and who is interested in his whereabouts. Their rivalry plays out over the corpse of a diplomat, with Richard’s bumbling almost blowing Conan’s cover while Harley seemingly solves the case at the end of Part 1.
It’s a clever conceit, and I liked how you really have to pay attention to the details to see where Harley goes wrong. The actual murder itself is pretty clever as well, and the key pieces of evidence aren’t quite as flimsy as those in previous episodes. But the real focus is on the Jimmy-Harley rivalry, and the latter has a cynical edge that gives the show a shot of needed freshness. There’s also a few great scenes where Rachel’s love for Jimmy is tested, further showing what a cute couple they are, and making Conan’s deceptions all the more cruel.
The first of the three episodes that did not air on Adult Swim is “Taking a Dive.” Richard wins a raffle for a membership to a new gym, where Rachel and Conan observe that one of the star high divers has a rather rotten personality. Naturally he’s killed soon after. Conan quickly figures out it wasn’t an accident, but only circumstantial evidence points to murder. Like earlier episodes on the disc, this one is decent but not memorable, and it’s especially weakened by the fact that a key piece of evidence pointing to the true culprit isn’t revealed until after Conan solves the case.
On the other hand, “The Book Without Pages” is a must-see. Conan, Amy, Mitch, and George head into the library so Conan can do a book report for school, but when a librarian turns up missing, the Junior Detective League stays past closing hours to see what’s up. Unlike previous JDL episodes, this is an actual mystery and not just a fluff adventure, and it’s one of few that puts the kids in real danger. The culprit is easy to spot, but he’s really, really creepy, which adds to the danger. How Conan and the others finally stop him may be a bit cheesy, but it works well enough. We also get a hint as to why Conan doesn’t turn into Jimmy more often throughout the series.
Finally, we have “Driving a Bomb.” Yoko Okino invites Richard to a golf tournament, but he can’t hit a golf ball ten feet, much less the length of a course, so he drags Rachel and Conan to a golf training center to improve his swing. While they are there a nearby businessman dies in an explosion. The story holds up well enough, thanks to plausible alibis and a key piece of evidence that is used to disguise the real culprit’s identity. Moreover, the solution process is very logical so that the viewer won’t be confused as to where Conan gets that final piece of evidence. The only real problem is that said key piece of evidence is something that only Conan could finds, giving more fuel to those fans annoyed that nobody can figure out it’s Conan talking instead of Richard. Still, it’s a minor nitpick and doesn’t substantially weaken the entire episode.
Usually there’s not much to say about the visuals in Case Closed, but I have to note that there are problems with this release. The show seems to switch between bright and faded color palettes, which gets jarring after a while. There are also problems with the video transfer, so that the video looks unsteady, even on an analog television. Everything’s all pixelated, and while it doesn’t look as bad as Illumitoon’s initial DVDs, it’s still rather distracting and may take you out of the episode.
Thankfully, the voice cast for FUNimation’s dub continues to shine. Jerry Jewell (Jimmy), Allison Retzloff (Conan), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Rachel), and R. Bruce Elliott (Richard) all continue their wonderful performances from previous episodes. Kevin Conolly (Cruss in Beet the Vandel Buster, Fuery in Fullmetal Alchemist) puts in an excellent performance as Harley, and even the one-timer characters all have nice, natural-sounding performances, which usually vary from episode to episode. The Japanese version is decent as always, though not quite as enjoyable as the English dub. The music is also enjoyable, thought the sudden switch from the second opening theme to the first during the opening credits is still pretty annoying.
The extras are lackluster as usual, so that we only get FUNimation’s catalog and a trailer reel, though perhaps that’s not a surprise, given that the disc holds seven episodes.
Overall, this is an excellent conclusion to Case Closed‘s first season, mainly thanks to the three episodes in the middle of the disc. If you’re a fan of the series, this is a definite pick-up.
Episodes on Case Closed Case 3, Volume 2: Death Wears a Blindfold:
Episode #46: “Unexpected Visitors”
Episode #47: “A Game of Murder”
Episode #48: “The Last Dive”
Episode #49: “No Immunity for the Diplomat” (Part 1)
Episode #50: “No Immunity for the Diplomat” (Part 2)
Episode #51: “The Book Without Pages”
Episode #52: “Driving a Bomb”
