Jimmy isn’t the only detective in his family with a rival.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Gosho Aoyama
Translation/Adaptation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
What They Say
The Mystery of Lavender Manor
A man is found beaten senseless in a parking lot, and the criminal he fingers is…George? Time for the Junior Detective League to spring into action and clear their friend’s name!
Then a discovery in the school library reminds Conan of one of his first cases. Flash back to the young Jimmy and Rachel as they track down a sinister intruder in their elementary school after dark…an intruder who seems to have supernatural powers! Can two ordinary kids solve a code left by a master of mysteries?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With all of the mystery hijinks going on from volume to volume it’s easy to forget that Conan is constantly playing a game of cat and mouse with those that know him as Jimmy. It’s convenient that his parents are overseas or wherever and somewhat out of the picture, and thus easily forgotten about. This volume takes a moment to remind us that they still exist and are living their own lives, sometimes with their own mysteries.
First we have to finish up last volume’s business with the fake television reality show. I had high hopes that this case would be the beginning of some sinister plot to lure Conan out and into a trap. With some many young detectives on the scene and cut off from civilization there was the real threat of a life or death situation. Sadly, that was not the case. The murderer ends up being someone on the island, pulling the strings from the inside. That’s wasn’t surprising. However the motive ends up being far more personal and small, and it turns out Jimmy was never even a primary target. The lock-room case is a complicated set-up, overly complicated in fact, with many red herrings which turn out to be actual clues. The lengths the criminal went to for revenge was staggering, and in the end pointless.
The second case of the volume switches back to the junior detectives and a german man they meet on the way out of a soccer game. This time the story surprised me by not murdering someone, only maiming them. There are plenty of language hijinks that end up being extreme leaps of logic, but Conan’s ploy to get the attacker to confess to knowing more than he should have was simple and brilliantly executed.
That wasn’t the only case where language was a large part of solving the mystery. While in the school library Conan remembers back to the first time he was in Elementary school, to when he and Rachel solved a series of codes with Dr. Agasa’s assistance. (It’s fun to see the adults almost twenty years younger.) I don’t envy the translator for this series, as the clues were almost all word puzzles involving kanji. Juggling that and translating it into english without sounding clunky is a Herculean task. I’ve been a bit harsh on the translation score for this series due to the name changes (an editorial decision from ages ago), but otherwise this series reads extremely well. While the word puzzle based clues in this case were far too abstract, the whole reason for the treasure hunt is extremely interesting. Jimmy was never the intended player, his father was, reminding us that the love of mystery runs in the family. It makes this cross-generational mystery one of the most interesting the series has tackled in recent volumes.
The final case is also far removed from murder and mayhem. Rachel suspects her mother of meeting a man for a date, and it’s an easy case for the reader to solve. In fact it’s so benign and logical it flies in the face of the complicated word games and locked room puzzles that proceeded it. Probably because it’s mostly played for laughs. I had wondered why Eva hasn’t given completely given up on her separated husband by now, but the few flashbacks in this volume make it clear that once upon a time things were different.
In Summary
Another solid volume of Case Closed sees Conan and friends taking on more than murder cases for once. A series of riddles and a mysterious rendezvous both have less to do with Conan and more to do with the adults who are often forgotten in the background. From complicated word puzzles to a simple case of misunderstanding the mysteries take a break from death and destruction and delve into nostalgia and family. It’s a nice change of pace, even if most of the clues would stump even the greatest detectives.
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B +
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: July 13th, 2015
MSRP: $9.99
