Customer Reviews

Case Closed, Vol. 34 (Case Closed (Graphic Novels))

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It's become pretty obvious that Jodie Saintemillion isn't everything she appears to be, and is a lot more when people aren't looking. "Case Closed Volume 34" unravels a little of her mystery, even as Conan dives headfirst into a few more murder mysteries -- Gosho Aoyama's writing is solid and well-thought-out, although one crucial plot point is a bit of a stretch.

First, Conan finishes up the mystery that the police were baffled by, giving them a tip about kanji that solves the case. Then when he and Harley visit Jodie, they find that a man has fallen to his death from an apartment window -- and while it initially seems to be suicide, the boys soon discover that it was actually murder. How could a man in a locked apartment be pushed out a window?

Then on the day of a crucial soccer match, a self-proclaimed soccer hooligan is found stabbed... in the middle of a crowded bus. Conan is able to narrow it down to three suspects, but has some trouble narrowing them down further. Finally, a "cursed" movie's executive is trying to talk Rachel into starring in a new blockbuster, but suddenly drops dead of poison at the table -- and there's no sign of how he was killed. And Rachel, suffering from a bad fever, begins to dream of a long-ago case.

Without revealing too much, "Case Closed Volume 34" drops a lot of hints about Jodie Saintemillion, who appears on the outside to be a pleasant, ditzy, bubblebrained American teacher who speaks extremely broken Japanese. But now we have some subtle hints about her real reason for being in Japan, who she knows, and what her real identity might be.

In the meantime, the cases here are entertainingly baffling whodunnits, with suitably sinister suspects, clashing testimonies, and some genuinely surprising solutions. The one problem that one of the major clues in the soccer-themed mystery is... kind of stretching it (seriously, it would STILL be there?). And there's some nicely atmospheric moments near the end, when Rachel starts flashing back to times past.

And while they're not sure what's going on, Harley and Conan are finally cluing in that there's something unclean in the milk about Jodie. Unfortunately Richard and Rachel are MIA for most of this volume, but Rachel's absence from center stage is made up for by her awesome entry into the restaurant (she nearly KOs a waiter), and the hints about her flashback.

"Case Closed Volume 34" is a solid little cluster of whodunnits, and Gosho Aoyama manages to advance the overarcing plot. Definitely keep an eye on what comes next.