Comics / Manga

Case Closed: Volume 52 manga review

By Leroy Douresseaux
October 20, 2014 - 21:43

Case Closed Volume 52 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

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Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”

Jimmy Kudo, the ace high school detective, is trailing two men in black named Gin and Vodka.  The nefarious duo attacks the teen and administers to him a mysterious substance that physically transforms the young detective into a first grader.  While searching for a cure, Jimmy adopts a new identity as elementary school student, Conan Edogawa.  Acting alone and sometimes with his friends, the Junior Detective League (JDL), Jimmy/Conan continues to solve criminal cases and mysteries.

As Case Closed, Vol. 52 opens, Conan and the JDL are among the lucky ones who obtained tickets to the premiere of “Star Blade VI,” the final film in the Star Blade film series.  However, their encounter with photographer, Bungo Tatei, makes Conan suspicious.  Is a murder in the works?

Next, the marriage of a young couple, Rei Masudo (the bride) and Masateru Taira (the groom), is the target of a mysterious person who has marked the groom for death.  The police have set up a sting operation to catch a killer, but Conan suspects there is more to this case than the others realize.  Then, in a room where everything is a little topsy-turvy, Conan and the JDL must solver a murder mystery.

THE LOWDOWN:  The Case Closed manga (known as Detective Conan in Japan) is one of my favorite manga and all-time favorite comic books and graphic novels.  I guess that you, dear readers, need to know that bit of info whenever I highly-recommend this series.

I am surprised by how much I enjoyed Case Closed Volume 52, especially after I enjoyed Vol. 50, a kind of anniversary volume, so much.  The cases in Vol. 52 intrigued me, especially the opening mystery centered around the Star Wars-parody, “Star Blade.”  The story has a unique twist on the usual Detective Conan murder mystery.  The wedding and topsy-turvy mysteries really engaged the whodunit reader in me, and my suspicions about the wedding case turned out to be right.  Yea, me!  There are four mystery arcs here, all good, which makes it difficult to pick a favorite.  That's how it usually is with Cased Closed – it's usually all-good.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for fun mystery fiction must choose the “Shonen Sunday” detective manga, Case Closed.

Rating: A+ /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12