Gosho Aoyama

A diplomat is found dead in his study and Conan's on the case. But what exactly happened? The elder statesman was definitely murdered, but the door and windows to his private chamber were all locked from the inside. How in the world did the killer escape? Later as if that wasn't bad enough, Conan and his pals get swept up in a missing person caper at the local library. Murder, kidnapping and drug smuggling aren't exactly the sorts of things condoned by librarians. What's the connection? show more Conan thinks he knows the answer but he's got more pressing things to worry about-like escaping the deadly grasp of the fiendish miscreant! show less

For as long as I can remember, I've always been fascinated by mysteries and who-done-it murders, even though I'm usually wrong about who was responsible! It's fun to work with the detective, piecing everything together to find who the bad guy is. When you get it right, you feel proud of yourself, but even when you get it wrong, you just resign to do better next time.

I honestly don't remember when I first stumbled across the anime, Case Closed, but I fell in love from the very first episode*. show more I can't quite articulate how amazing the series is to me. Each case explores a different element and not one of them is the same - the motives may be the same, but each case is as different from one another as a pineapple and a turtle! The atmosphere around this series, both in the anime and the manga, pulls you into the mysteries and the stories of the characters. But it's not all serious drama, there's a nice slap of comedy mixed in, as well, keeping it from getting too dark.

I've always been the kind of person to empathize with characters, both fiction and fictional. I often cry when they do, laugh when they do. When I'm listening to their stories, they feel real to me. This is especially apparent in the Case Closed series. I feel frustrated because I can't properly articulate how this series makes me feel and how amazing I find it to be.

Case Closed greatly draws inspiration from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and mentions it several times. Actually, I was never much interested in Sherlock Holmes until I watched Case Closed! Some may not want to invest their time in this series simply because it's so long! But I promise you, every single episode is worth watching and every single book is worth reading. Even if you're not into anime/manga, if you're a fan of mysteries and detectives, you should definitely give this a chance!

You can't have a complete collection of detective stories without Case Closed on your shelves. I love this series so much! show less

Even though I've already seen the episodes, granted it's been a while, I still couldn't put the book down. I was only planning on reading one chapter before going back to playing my game, but instead, I kept reading and finished the book. I love this series so much, words can't even express it!

As for this volume, I forgot that the men in black re-appear, it was a total shock for me. We also get the first introduction to the little ones, which they do kind of annoy me, but at least I don't show more have to hear Amy's English voice!

Can't wait for the next volume~ show less

By now, most people know what to expect when reading a volume of Case Closed. Crime is committed, suspects are named, boy tranqs someone, and the case is solved. That in itself is not a mark against this series. My main problem after 27 or so volumes is the fact that this series is basically stuck in neutral, cranking volume after volume, without really making any serious progress to the core plot. It's like Heroes or Lost at season 2 where with the it initial popularity, made the networks show more go insane with trying to stretch that midas touch story into infinity if possible. Of course, Case Closed is different in that its structure is episodic in nature that can support such 'stretches' longer without much problem. But after 27 volumes, its really starting to feel its age and redundancy. Crimes are getting more absurd, evil criminals now are blatantly obvious (the sinister shifty eyes and pointed nose), while crimes of reason are getting less and less relevant (killed to protect hometown, killed to protect sister, killed to avenge family/finance/murder). At least with this volume, it looks like a new character is introduced that has some connections to the main plot. Even though she is filled with the usual stereotypes regarding Americans (blond, promiscuous, good with guns, and high praise of Japan).
Still I read on, in hopes of the series making a big advancement in plot, and because it's easy for a short read :-) show less