Case Closed stars the young detective Jimmy Kudo solving the toughest, most perplexing mysteries in Japan.  His life changes when he is spotted tailing members of a secret crime syndicate.  They feed him an experimental poison that instead of killing him, shrinks him to the size of a young child! Now he’s staying with his crush (girlfriend?)  Rachel and her father, the inept detective Roger Moore, in disguise as grade-schooler Conan Edogawa. Despite his new small size, he’s still solving mysteries and trying to track down the elusive men in black and their organization.  Case Closed combines character-driven comedy with complex Holmesian mysteries.

Case Closed : Vol 33 continues from 32; Conan's friend Detective Sato is at a marriage meeting  (a particularly Japanese custom). However, the man she probably really cares about, Detective Takagi, is stuck at a robbery investigation. It might be up to Conan and friends to help the couple reunite, but first Takagi needs to solve that case..

Highlights

One complaint with Case Closed is that, aside from their friend Harley (on occasion), the only person who gets to solve cases is Conan. In this first case, Detective Takagi gets to try his hand at solving a crime; even though he gets some help from Conan, it's a fun change of pace.  Also, we get a long awaited advancement in Takagi and Sato's relationship…yes, love and crime. Case Closed's biggest strength is that its characters are as fun as its mysteries; I enjoy watching them interact, joke and work for their dreams even before the crime begins every chapter.

The next story, "Bloody Valentine", is another mystery where everyone ends up snowbound with a criminal, but it has a few neat twists. The series of deaths that's been occurring in the past near the lodge leaves people dead in the snow with a valentine chocolate placed beside the bodies. Weird, and the way it gets there really surprised me. One good thing about Case Closed is that the stories are shorter, so you can get a few per volume. This 4 chapter story that makes up the center of the book is complete; fortunate, because sometimes remembering all the characters involved between volumes can be difficult.

Another mystery starts near the end of the book, once again involving unusually mysterious Rachel's English teacher. Not only that, a mysterious man is snooping around Conan and the others during this volume.. It's intriguing adding some loose ends to the mysteries (which usually wrap up so nicely). What are these people's games and are they related in some way to the organization? The plot about the Syndicate moves really slowly, but I'm still on the edge of my seat whenever it turns up. I'd really suggest keeping an eye out for these guys.

Overall

Once again, Case Closed serves up a lot of mystery goodness.  There is no "meet the characters" section at the front of the book (aside from a short note on Conan's shrinking problem) so it's a good thing Aoyama's art is so distinctive. He also does a great job of characterization, building empathy or dislike for characters; and the best part is it's sometimes a trap. The nice looking guy can really be the killer and the jerk might be a red herring.  The mysteries are always very layered; great for trying to solve along with, but sometimes the real answers can be labyrinthine to the point of silliness. Why does everyone always create the death trap?

While it's true trying to figure out the mystery before the detective is fun, don't expect it to happen as much in this volume. There's a higher than usual instance of needing to know Japanese language or things like "how women wear their watches"; specious or specific knowledge, than usual. For example, the Japanese Valentine's day is where women give gifts of chocolate to men, who later reciprocate on a holiday called White Day; interesting, possibly useful information not given to the reader who may be unfamiliar with this. This is particularly noticeable in the last case with Mrs. Jodie. Some of the time the characters are speaking Japanese and some of the time they are speaking English, but in this English version it's all been translated to English, making the dialogue a bit confusing. It would be nice if there was a way to differentiate the translated Japanese from when they characters are actually speaking in English.

The art is still fantastic. Aoyama's characters are expressive and funny, and you can frequently tell them apart simply by appearance and mannerisms. It's especially useful when keeping track of the plethora of suspects in each new case who all have Japanese names (although it's still a bit annoying how they changed all the main protaganist's names to English ones).  Thanks to the lively sense of humor, I laugh about as much as I think in Case Closed. Frequently, the wit and fun writing is used to disguise the clever clues though, so a sharp eye is called for.

Even when the mysteries get a bit outlandish, the clever plotting and sharp characterization of Case Closed make it a sure winner. Even people who aren't usually manga fans could get a real kick out of the mysteries in this continually inventive series.

ComicsOnline gives Case Closed : Vol 33, 4 out of 5 chocolate Valentines hearts.