Case File #632/#633
The Sword of the Time Guardian And the common trend of laser-guided karma continues in this show, where jerks are often guaranteed to die. So don't be a jerk in
Detective Conan. It is perhaps a bit questionable in the kind of lessons learned here when the victim is usually some brash asshole who wronged someone in life once upon a time. To be fair, Conan does point out that this does not justify murder in any way every now and then.
So as I've pointed out in the opening post, I won't be reviewing every episode I watch or rewatch, particularly not TV originals (episodes not based on the manga) like the Case File #631 I didn't review, since these have less interesting cases that don't progress the main plot. The episodes that are based on the manga are sometimes uneventful as well, like this particular two-parter, so much so that they had to fill the runtime of Part 2 with a recap of Part 1. In fact, this is the reason why I previously suspended my viewing of the series, because it was beginning to be choked full of such episodes. Not that there's anything wrong with the manga author writing mystery-centric chapters for a long period of time - it's a detective show, after all - but as mentioned, I'm more intrigued by the drama and romance of the series, not so much the mysteries, especially when I'm not nearly intelligent enough to follow the clues that efficiently (unless it's a TV original; those are easy to follow).
I'm also going to focus on reviews that don't summarize the entire plot of the episode, because I feel that my review for Case File #2 was just humdrum and lifeless - both the writing and reading of it. If it's not fun for the writer, I'm pretty sure the reader won't have much fun reading it either. What I might focus on instead is these little things present in almost every episode so that I could use the opportunity to shed a spotlight on them.
For example, the opening and ending theme (or OP and ED). If there's one notable quality of the show (other than its taut mysteries), it's the music. Anime series have a great opportunity of featuring a large number of distinct and unique opening themes. Not all anime series exploit the opportunity efficiently of course, and most just settle for rather formulaic pop music sequence with some fancy graphics that ironically don't really bear a striking theme with the show (look at Daredevil and True Detectives for an example on a good thematic opening). While Detective Conan is unfortunately one of this cases, with over 40+ OPs and 50 EDs to date in its 25 seasons, I must admit that I find a good amount of the theme songs to be memorable and catchy. It's a fun show with a little kid detective catching bad guys, hardly the stuff of gritty Batman after all. And the featured OP and ED in this episode are among my favorites, albeit nowhere in the top 10.
The OP here is "Misty Mystery" by GARNET CROW, who performed the very catchy OP 20, "Namida no Yesterday" (Tears of Yesterday). Notable lyrics include:
"Why do you walk towards the unforeseeable tomorrow with hope?"
"In exchange for break-up and tears, what was it you obtained in your hands?"
"Sadness is a natural phenomenon. Tranquility is only an impression."The thing about Japanese songs is that they aren't really written to have a coherent message of some kind, and are more like a brain-dump of mixed emotions personified by the lyrics. Thus it is often that I don't have any idea what the songs are about unless I carefully examine them. In most cases though, I do notice the trend of this anime's OPs evoking the melancholy of lost love and hope for a brighter day. Despite being rather cheery songs most of the time, a lot of the openings show somber scenes of both Conan and Ran in a kind of grimacing deep thought as they long for being embraced in each other's arms once more. This goes back to what I said about the opening theme fitting the theme of the show, and it fits here quite well. More often, the OPs that end up being my favorites are the ones like this that focus on the tragedy (more frequently unaddressed in the story nowadays) of two lovers separated by, well, the shrunken body of a seven year old. Yeah, I'm a sentimental sod.
The ED here is "Your Best Friend" by Kuraki Mai who pretty much does most of the Detective Conan OPs and EDs nowadays. Due to that longevity, she ended up having almost as many songs that I like as my favorite singer for the series, the late Izumi Sakai, better known as the vocalist of ZARD. RIP.
In this ED, notable lyrics include:
"But I know you've been holding back your tears for so long
To the extent that your heart is about to break
Even if you're only putting up a front, just by looking at your eyes
I'd know right away, you're my boyfriend
so you can lean on me
Always, you're my best friend"I've often said that the purpose of an anime OP is to set up an exhilarating mood so that you can get excited for the show. Therefore, most of the sappy stuff about Ran not seeing her boyfriend is often pushed towards the ED than the OP, because most anime EDs are slower, calmer songs that express the joys or sorrows of the heart. That's why I don't have as many favorite EDs as favorite OPs even though there are a lot more EDs than OPs in this show, because I like my songs fast-paced.
That being said, this one was a particular favorite ED of mine because it's simply quite adorable. In the outro, you have Ran and Shinichi (not Conan) as little children riding a handcar together between an endless spread of flowers. The lyrics suit the scene perfectly as it shows how close the two used to be in their carefree childhood days before the inevitable shrinking.
Now let's (finally) talk about the actual plot of the episodes!
The mystery of this two-parter is pretty cut-and-dry, your standard
"latch the murder weapon onto a swinging device" trickery. When you get this late into the series, you would have pretty much seen all kinds of murder-tricks the criminal would use, thus lacking that surprise element. Even I managed to solve most of it by the end, except maybe the identity of the actual culprit. As evidenced here, the writing is clearly different from the TV originals. There are red herrings littered here to throw you off, such as the three suspects' testimony all describing the criminal in reasonable ways that don't stand out. At first, I had thought it was
the old man because he's the last person who could commit a murder. This show has a way of tricking you into dismissing the usual suspects. But of course, there was an even more unusual suspect I had forgotten.
One recurring trait of the more recent episodes (and all remastered versions of the older one) is the black-colored blood. Now, I know blood blackens after a while, but it certainly isn't
immediately blackened after spillage. I assume that this is the network's way of 'censoring' the blood and gore of the show. In the remastered version of the classic Case File #1, for example, a decapitated head is replaced with a blast of shining light jetting from the man's neck, wowie. I think that's a more dangerous message to teach any kids who might be watching. "Hey, cut off your head and light comes out, POOOFSSSHH!"
The episode ends like any other, with a sob story about the victim wronging the murderer somehow. It's not especially terrible this time, but I have very mixed feelings about leaving it on such a pretentious note, "Maybe... instead of avenging him... it was more like I wanted to rescue (the clocks) - from the Tyrant of Time..." Like, c'mon. Who talks like that in real life? I could appreciate the sentiment of loving inanimated objects, but "the Tyrant of Time"?
2.5/5 (A pretty standard mystery with a good OP and ED)