Case Closed Vol. 22

Rating T+ Genre manga Author Gosho Aoyama Publisher VIZ Media

It never ceases to amaze me that respectable adults don’t so much as flinch as they watch a little first grader run around right under their noses and solve some of Japan’s grisliest and most complicated murder mysteries.  But I guess that just the fun of reading about the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a.k.a. Conan Edogawa in the popular Case Closed manga series by Gosho Aoyama.

Volume 22 operates under the same premise as those that came before.  Jimmy Kudo, a seventeen year old high school student and amateur detective was on a case when its culprits gave him a poison that should have led to his death.  Instead, the poison transformed the young sleuth into a six-year-old boy, who operates with a significantly smaller stature, but just as much determination and keen observational skills as always.  Under the pseudonym Conan Edogawa, the boy gains access to endless crime files when he moves in with his childhood friend (and love interest) Rachel and her father Richard Moore—a seriously useless detective himself.

The volume contains three full, and very different murder mysteries.  The first pairs Conan with his occasional partner and other well-known teen detective, Harley Hartwell.  The two team up to find a “locked door murderer” when a wealthy family’s butler is stabbed inside their mansion the day before a family wedding.  The mystery is similar to the popular board game Clue, (which was later adapted into a movie), with the five people staying in the house becoming the five main suspects.  The second story places Conan and the Moore’s on the Northern Star luxury train bound for Hokkaido.  When a popular jewelry store owner is shot in the head as the train passes through a tunnel, a manhunt begins for the murderer.  Conan is the only passenger who recognizes that a murder exactly like it had taken place in a novel his father had never finished.  He is forced to recall the rest of the novel in order to solve the mystery.  The final story follows Conan, Rachel, and her friend Serena on beach vacation with a suspected serial killer on the loose.  The focus on Rachel allows the reader to gain further insight into her blossoming relationship with Jimmy Kudo.

Like the volumes that came before it, Case Closed: Volume 22 is not for those who like the opportunity to solve the mysteries on their own.  A lucky Conan often makes large, outlandish speculations that end up being right, and the clues are impossible to uncover until he first discovers them.  However, the stories are well-paced, and the suspects are well showcased, making the sleuthing to solving process easy to follow.  The drawings are also well done; the detailing on the train and mansion is intricate and realistic, and the suspects and clues are easy to distinguish.   

As I said in the beginning, the fun part of the manga is watching a six-year-old Conan sneak his way onto crime scenes and attempt stunts that his sixteen-year-old self may have once pulled off, but that his new height restrictions do not allow.  And seeing an inept Richard Moore give long-winded and very wrong explanations about the murders as Conan darts through legs discovering the right clues gets a laugh every time.

A briefing of the overall series plot at the beginning of the story make this manga accessible even to people who are picking up Volume 22 before having ever read any of the Case Closed series.  So I’d not only recommend the volume to fans who are sure to read it, but to anyone who likes a good murder mystery with a quick witted detective.  Oh, and to those who may turn away from the manga after seeing a little boy running on the cover, don’t worry, this is no children’s story, there is enough blood and death imagery to keep you turning the pages!