Manga: - Case Closed (Manga)

Case Closed (Manga) Customer Review: How Jimmy became Conan.
Gosho Aoyama, Case Closed vol. 1 (ViZ, 1994)

Back before I switched cable companies, I got a station called ColoursTV of which I was greatly enamoured. Prime time weekdays was reserved for Funimation, an importer of anime that managed to come up with the some of the coolest shows I've ever seen come out of Japan. One of them, and the one I miss most dearly these days, was Case Closed. So when I found the manga sitting at my local library, I was overjoyed and immediately dove in.

Volume 1 gives us the story of Jimmy Kuda, high school super-detective, before he becomes Conan Edogawa. (Because the idea of a high-school super-detective just isn't enough weirdness for a manga, it seems.) We see him solve a few cases, meet some of the main characters, and get himself into the tangle that results in the creation of his alter ego, pint-sized primary-school sleuth Edogawa. Fast-paced and fun, a good start to the series. *** ½
Customer Review: SHRUNK TO A SIX YEAR OLD
Jimmy Kudo tries his best to be like his idol Sherlock Holmes by helping the authorities solve baffling crimes even though he's just a junior at Teitan High School. His mind has been trained by reading an extensive library of detective novels, which include those written by his own father, who along with his mother, work in the United States, leaving Jimmy to fend for himself. He might have gotten involved in one case too many as he is knocked unconscious while witnessing a blackmail payoff. Instead of killing him outright for what he's seen, a mysterious man in black slips him an experimental untraceable poison and leaves Jimmy for dead. But instead of bringing about his death, the poison transforms his body into that of a 6-year-old boy! Of course noone believes that he is Jimmy Kudo, except Dr. Agasa, a mad scientist that happens to live next door. Agasa advises the boy to keep his identity secret because if the guys that poisoned him find out he is still alive, they'll just come after him. Better to let them think he's dead. Taking the name Conan Edogawa, Jimmy must keep his secret even from the girl that loves him, Rachel Moore, even as he moves in with her and her father, who is a sorry private detective. Conan will try to use the resources in Richard Moore's office to track down those who gave him the poison and hopefully get his body back to its normal size. Along the way, he will help Rachel and her dad solve cases while at the same time never revealing his real identity.

Volume 1 of Case Closed is a promising read that is nothing if not entertaining. The art is more influenced by Disney than most manga I've read and gives you a feeling of anthropomorphized animals like Donald Duck or Goofy. While the art seems very kiddy-friendly there are some very unfriendly scenes in this book of graphic violence such as a man getting decapitated on a rollercoaster and bloody corpses. Actually, this ability to show some of the crime scenes is what makes it interesting to older readers. While Case Closed is no CSI, this book provided some entertaining mysteries even though it fumbles on its own passion to connect dots and make plot twists, which can be a failure in any mystery novel. The characters are cool, but I could have done without the needless identity secret giving Rachel an ulcer. Jimmy could have at least told HER if he told some crazy scientist so she wouldn't be worrying about him. A good start to the series.