Case Closed: Zero the Enforcer is the 22nd film released for the Case Closed franchise, which was released to Japanese theaters on April 13, 2018.

Case Closed: Zero the Enforcer
English Publisher: Discotek Media
Format: Blu-ray
Release Date: September 29, 2020

At the beginning of the film, it’s established that a newly built and integrated resort and convention center “Edge of Ocean” is going to be hosting an upcoming Summit Meeting. At the same time, an unmanned Martian mission craft is supposed to be returning to Earth. Both of these facts are revealed when Conan and Ai are watching television at Professor Agasa’s house. The other members of the Detective Boys are there, but they’re focused on Professor Agasa showing off the new drone that he built. While Conan and Ai are watching the news coverage, one of the buildings at “Edge of Ocean” explodes. When footage from a security camera is shown on the broadcast, both Conan and Ai swear they see Amuro running away from the explosion.

But Conan personally becomes involved in the story when Kogoro is framed for the crime. Even though the police don’t have a motive, the evidence looks strong enough for them to build a case against him. Eri is unable to represent him due to a conflict of interest issue, but a freelance attorney named Kyoko Tachibana volunteers her services. Unfortunately, she already seems to think that Kogoro is going to lose the case.

As Conan looks into things, he discovers that Amuro, along with a law enforcement officer who was injured at the explosion, are working together for the law enforcement agency that they both work for. It turns out Kyoko has a secret of her own that Conan figures out.

But thanks to some attacks on internet connected devices that take place while Kogoro is in prison, he is cleared and all charges are dropped against him. However, there’s still the climax to go, where the real culprit behind the explosion and the internet device attacks is revealed, along with their motivation. But the real tension comes into play when it’s revealed that the culprit had hacked into NAZU’s (the Case Closed franchise’s version of NASA) and tampered with the unmanned Martian mission craft’s programming. It’s up to Conan and Amuro to try to convince the culprit to tell them to code in order to stop the craft from crashing into police headquarters. Professor Agasa’s drone also gets to play an important role in the climax as well. I thought this climax was exciting, and it was worth the build up that we got throughout the film.

Overall, I enjoyed Zero the Enforcer. I liked that this was a film that had a focus on Amuro and what he does in his law enforcement capacity, because this is the side of him the audience hasn’t seen much of when Amuro gets screen time in the anime series. I like Amuro as a character, so it’s always welcome when I get to see him appear in a storyline.

When it comes to the Blu-ray release, it has 1.77.1 16:9 / 1080p High Definition video. The audio includes English DTS-MA 5.1, Japanese DTS-MA 5.1, and Japanese LPCM 2.0. I had no complaints with either the video or audio quality for this release.

For bonus features, there was a clean ending, two teasers for the film, a trailer for the film, and a TV spot for the film. I’m not going to criticize the bonus features, because I’m just grateful to finally have the opportunity to get more Case Closed releases in the United States after all of these years.

It should also be noted that the outer slipcase labels the release as Case Closed: Zero the Enforcer, but the cover artwork on the Blu-ray box itself and the Blu-ray Disc labels the film as Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer.

If you’re a fan of the Case Closed anime and are trying to acquire home video releases for the series, I would recommend acquiring this release of Case Closed: Zero the Enforcer for your anime library.

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