Duke
10-08-2005, 01:58 PM
Even those who hate CSI and its ilk love watching a good mystery in action, and more often than not, Case Closed, or more well known in the fandom by its original name of Detective Conan, has had plenty of exciting and unique mysteries. That tradition continues on this disc, and provides a new foil for young Conan Edogawa to match his wits against.
<a href="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-09/ccnewdvd.jpg"><img src="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-09/t-ccnewdvd.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Seems that a new thief has entered the scene, and nobody knows how in the world he can be stopped. He is known as Phantom Thief #1412, though he prefers the Phantom Thief Kid. Supposedly, he's been around for over 20 years now, but he looks as spry as ever, and he's targeting Serena's parents' priceless jewel! The police think they have Kid trapped, but by using some amazing tricks and his uber disguising skills, Kid manages to escape. There's only one person who can stop him: Jimmy Kudo! And Rachel may have already found him.
After that, it's time to visit the original Kudo-look-alike, as Harley re-appears to solve the case of a murdered business man with a particularly dysfunctional family. Conan and Harley have to work together in order to solve this mind-boggling case, especially when the suspect ends up to have died before the crime was committed, but will Harley accidentally blab Conan's secret to Rachel? One truth will prevail!
This is the disc all Case Closed fans have been waiting for: the first appearence of the one who could be considered Jimmy Kudo's arch-nemesis: Kid. And boy does he know how to make an entrance. He's slick, suave, and always in control. The way he manages to escape capture in the first two-parter is really clever, plus the way he manages to fool pretty much everyone except for Conan. In fact, he's so good, he seems inhuman. I particularly want to know how he managed to get into certain disguises in part two, and how he can imitate voices so well, even without any technology. But that only adds to his charm, and this brief introduction will certainly leave an imprint on anyone who's ever been a fan on this series. I already can't wait for his next appearence, which I hope is relatively soon.
As for the second two-parter, it's your typical mystery, and really feels ordinary after that cool special preceding it. Thankfully, the writers realized this and put Harley in there to liven things up a bit. The scenes between Harley and Jimmy are easily the other highlights of the disc, and it's nice to see the two of them working together. And since Harley knows that Jimmy is Conan, it's also refreshing to see Jimmy being honest with someone other than Dr. Agasa. While you can probably guess who the killer is, it's still a pretty fun ride. It's just kind of ordinary after the first half raised the bar so much.
The searchlights in the Kid episodes demand better lighting effects, and the animation quality does rise. That said, the animation is still not this series' strong point, and never was. I mean, you don't really need super-amazing and fluid animation for a relatively realistic murder mystery. One thing did bug me though, and that was the English text replacing the Japanese text. Normally I don't really mind this and I even encourage it (especially in a series like this where written words are extremely important), but there's one scene where Richard is reading a note, and half the screen is jiggling (due to the cels not being centered), but the half with the note is not. I know it's because FUNi froze that half of the screen so they wouldn't have the note bouncing, but it was a little odd to see half of Rachel's face moving up and down and the other half staying still.
Voice-wise, it's the usual excellence from FUNimation. Kid's voice is simply perfect, as it's suave, cool, and condenscending all at the same time. Pretty much everyone else has the same acting ability as previous disc, and since I love the English acting, that is good to hear. The Japanese version is about the same as well. I like Kid's Japanese voice too, but almost every single adult male is given a really unbearable voice, and it's starting to irritate me. Not that many new music cues this time around, but I must say that the ending theme (sung by Kyle Herbert in the English version, I believe) is really starting to grow on me.
Most of the extras are your standard stuff: bios, a description of Conan's gadgets, trailers, etc. Unfortunately, the Crack the Case game is gone now, which is sad, since that means the bloopers are as well. Instead, FUNimation offers the complete fifth episode of Mr. Stain on Junk Alley, which FUNi is releasing in early 2006. This episode was basically a more disturbing version of "Harold and the Purple Crayon." It has limited appeal.
The Kid introduction and the Harley reappearance make this disc a no-brainer. Anyone who is a fan of Case Closed will love it. Get it now.
Episodes on Case Closed Case 5, Volume 4:
Episode #78: Phantom Thief, 1412 (Part 1)
Episode #79: Phantom Thief, 1412 (Part 2)
Episode #80: Mysterious Masked Murder (Part 1)
Episode #81: Mysterious Masked Murder (Part 2)
<a href="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-09/ccnewdvd.jpg"><img src="http://news.toonzone.net/images/2005-09/t-ccnewdvd.jpg" border="0" align="right"></a>Seems that a new thief has entered the scene, and nobody knows how in the world he can be stopped. He is known as Phantom Thief #1412, though he prefers the Phantom Thief Kid. Supposedly, he's been around for over 20 years now, but he looks as spry as ever, and he's targeting Serena's parents' priceless jewel! The police think they have Kid trapped, but by using some amazing tricks and his uber disguising skills, Kid manages to escape. There's only one person who can stop him: Jimmy Kudo! And Rachel may have already found him.
After that, it's time to visit the original Kudo-look-alike, as Harley re-appears to solve the case of a murdered business man with a particularly dysfunctional family. Conan and Harley have to work together in order to solve this mind-boggling case, especially when the suspect ends up to have died before the crime was committed, but will Harley accidentally blab Conan's secret to Rachel? One truth will prevail!
This is the disc all Case Closed fans have been waiting for: the first appearence of the one who could be considered Jimmy Kudo's arch-nemesis: Kid. And boy does he know how to make an entrance. He's slick, suave, and always in control. The way he manages to escape capture in the first two-parter is really clever, plus the way he manages to fool pretty much everyone except for Conan. In fact, he's so good, he seems inhuman. I particularly want to know how he managed to get into certain disguises in part two, and how he can imitate voices so well, even without any technology. But that only adds to his charm, and this brief introduction will certainly leave an imprint on anyone who's ever been a fan on this series. I already can't wait for his next appearence, which I hope is relatively soon.
As for the second two-parter, it's your typical mystery, and really feels ordinary after that cool special preceding it. Thankfully, the writers realized this and put Harley in there to liven things up a bit. The scenes between Harley and Jimmy are easily the other highlights of the disc, and it's nice to see the two of them working together. And since Harley knows that Jimmy is Conan, it's also refreshing to see Jimmy being honest with someone other than Dr. Agasa. While you can probably guess who the killer is, it's still a pretty fun ride. It's just kind of ordinary after the first half raised the bar so much.
The searchlights in the Kid episodes demand better lighting effects, and the animation quality does rise. That said, the animation is still not this series' strong point, and never was. I mean, you don't really need super-amazing and fluid animation for a relatively realistic murder mystery. One thing did bug me though, and that was the English text replacing the Japanese text. Normally I don't really mind this and I even encourage it (especially in a series like this where written words are extremely important), but there's one scene where Richard is reading a note, and half the screen is jiggling (due to the cels not being centered), but the half with the note is not. I know it's because FUNi froze that half of the screen so they wouldn't have the note bouncing, but it was a little odd to see half of Rachel's face moving up and down and the other half staying still.
Voice-wise, it's the usual excellence from FUNimation. Kid's voice is simply perfect, as it's suave, cool, and condenscending all at the same time. Pretty much everyone else has the same acting ability as previous disc, and since I love the English acting, that is good to hear. The Japanese version is about the same as well. I like Kid's Japanese voice too, but almost every single adult male is given a really unbearable voice, and it's starting to irritate me. Not that many new music cues this time around, but I must say that the ending theme (sung by Kyle Herbert in the English version, I believe) is really starting to grow on me.
Most of the extras are your standard stuff: bios, a description of Conan's gadgets, trailers, etc. Unfortunately, the Crack the Case game is gone now, which is sad, since that means the bloopers are as well. Instead, FUNimation offers the complete fifth episode of Mr. Stain on Junk Alley, which FUNi is releasing in early 2006. This episode was basically a more disturbing version of "Harold and the Purple Crayon." It has limited appeal.
The Kid introduction and the Harley reappearance make this disc a no-brainer. Anyone who is a fan of Case Closed will love it. Get it now.
Episodes on Case Closed Case 5, Volume 4:
Episode #78: Phantom Thief, 1412 (Part 1)
Episode #79: Phantom Thief, 1412 (Part 2)
Episode #80: Mysterious Masked Murder (Part 1)
Episode #81: Mysterious Masked Murder (Part 2)