Mini reviews of Television seasons old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. Occasional bunnies.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Case Closed: Season 4 (2010)

Where there is crime there is Conan Edogawa, detective to confront it but as the tide rolls in on Case Closed season 4, it would be more befitting to state wherever Conan stands a murder isn't far off. As the series ventures past the 100th episode mark it's obvious the stories are running low on drama as there are more two-part episodes than ever this time around. And as lovable as the cast of characters are, some change to the line-up would be welcome. Kudo's rival-turned-confidant Harley makes a few appearances but is hardly a regular. The original language dialogue with subtitles still reigns over the dubbed. As I found in the mystery "Massacre Night" the writing for the English version struggles to make sense of certain Japanese-specific clues like kanji.

As in usual television fashion, there are 100th episode festivities which include a feature length story, superior animation and coloring, special guest appearances, and yet another tease as Rachel gets close to unveiling Conan's true identity. Unfortunately the feature is really just two investigations back-to-back and ends up being divided into the regular format, dissolving any sort of dramatic build-up. The special appearances include Rachel's mother and Jimmy's jetsetting parents who both figure in to the latter investigation. The show tries to add some much needed flavor once again with new opening title and closing credit sequences but what Case Closed really needs is a permanent change to the main mystery's structure. It needs to be shook up to create some waves or it will continue to grow tepid and unimaginative.

Buyer's Guide:
Available as a 4 disc boxset containing episodes 80-105

2 Rachel is as clueless as Lois Lane out of 5

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