Jimmy Kudo, or Conan Edogawa, is back and just as sharp as ever in the fourth season of Case Closed, an anime-style detective show.
As a huge fan of the show, I have waited a couple of years for new episodes ever since the show was pulled from television, and this new season does not disappoint. With 26 all-new cases to test your crime-solving mettle, you’ll have plenty to keep you entertained for quite some time.
While some shows begin to lose their magic after a couple of seasons, these episodes prove that the creative minds behind the crimes have not run dry yet. In fact, the murder plots in this season may even be as convoluted and complex as any of the previous seasons. The crimes all seem impossible to figure out, but Conan always cleverly puts the pieces together to see the larger picture.
Even though the main draw for the show is the excitement of trying to crack the case before Conan does, there are many comedic elements that will get you laughing, mostly at the expense of Richard Moore, a not-so-bright detective.
The writing is still as excellent as ever, and will always lead you to thinking one person is the culprit, but in the end you find out that you were wrong. The criminal is always who you least expect.
Sometimes, an episode will be broken into two parts, instead of one, because the case is much more complicated than normal. These are always a treat, as they usually keep you on the edge of your seat, with one surprise after another. Well, in season four, there are plenty of two-part episodes.
Also, there is a great variety of cases. There are murder cases, as usual, but there are also some missing-person cases, which are thoroughly entertaining to watch.
There are three things that I did not like about this newer season of Case Closed. One is the episode titles. While some are good, such as “Two Times Trouble”, “Mysterious Masked Murder” and “Vampire Villa”, most of the others feel uninspired, such as “The Set Up” and “Find the Kidnap Site!” A majority of the older episodes all the words in their names start with the same letter, for example, Billionaire Birthday Blues, and I always loved that.
The other aspect that I didn’t like was only in the last three episodes, in that they changed the opening theme song. The new song I do not like at all. Now, they did change the ending song as well, but I like that song just as much as all of the other ending songs, so it is fine. The only criticism regarding the new ending song is that it spoils the ending for one of the episodes.
The third and final fault I find in the season is that the title of the four-part episode (yes, you heard me correctly) is very misleading and you may feel cheated upon completion of the case (but not because the content is bad).
In the end, however, all of the essential ingredients of the show are as good as they have ever been, if not better, and the cases are so clever that they will push even the most brilliant minds to their limit. This season is an ardent purchase for anyone who is a fan of the series, or even just anyone who doesn’t mind anime and is interested in detective stories.
