For some reason, when I logged into Crunchyroll this morning and went to the page for Case Closed, this episode wasn’t showing up there. However, when Googled “Case Closed Episode 984,” the page for the episode was at the top of my search results. Thanks to this, I was able to find the episode and watch it. Hopefully Crunchyroll will have fixed this issue by the time this review is posted.

The episode opens with the recap. It was on the short side, and conveyed the absolute basics that the viewer needed to be reminded of the plot that happened in the first part of the episode. But it felt sparse for a recap.

After the buildup in last week’s episode, this episode just felt a little… weak. It turned out that Conan and the inspector from Nagano had their suspicions about what happened and that the Kazuha with Hattori wasn’t the real Kazuha. But Hattori didn’t notice. In fact, he almost kissed the disguised Kaito Kid. LOL!

Even though Kaito Kid is revealed, he manages to get away (as usual). Even though Hattori was blind to the fact that the Kazuha who had been with him recently was a fake, he did pick up on the fact that the jewel collector wasn’t the true owner of the treasure that was stolen. The collector revealed this when he talked about how he got the item, because he got so many basic traits about it wrong. Near the episode, there is a touching scene of Kaito Kid returning the jewel to its rightful owner.

After the ending credits, we get to see the result of a subplot that had been hinted at earlier. The inspector from Nagano needed to talk with the Tokyo MPD because of an envelope that had been in their deceased comrade’s locker for a year. Even though the writing on the envelope was a bit smudged, the envelope was addressed to the inspector from Nagano. Inside is his younger brother’s cell phone with a bullet hole through it. We heard earlier in the episode that the inspector hadn’t heard from his brother in a while, and this was his explanation… his brother was dead. But, the ending the episode hints that the younger brother had some kind of connection with “Zero.” This seems to be setting up yet another thread in the Case Closed series.

There was no episode preview or any of the other of the things that appear after the end of the episode. I’ve noticed in recent months that this normally means there won’t be an episode the following week. I’ll see next week whether this holds true or not.

The episode opens with Hattori and Kazuha traveling on a train to Tokyo. Hattori is caught up in the kiss Ran gave to Shinichi on the cheek while on the Kyoto trip. But in his mind, he saw it as a kiss on the lips. Hattori wants to tell Kazuha how he feels, but he doesn’t want to be upstaged by Shinichi. He’s extending the rivalry past the detective work, which is kind of silly. Oh well.

Anyway, we find out they’re going to Tokyo to go with Ran, Conan, and Kogoro to a museum for a display of a rare pearl, the Fairy Lip. The display is being put on by the rich man who likes to pick fights with Kaito Kid, much to Kogoro’s dismay. Helping him out is an inspector that we’ve seen before (I forgot his name, but he’s related to a couple of other characters we’ve seen before), and this inspector comes up with an idea of how to display the pearl where it can be protected and still be seen.

Kaito Kid is hiding among the security guards, and he realizes that Conan, Hattori, and this inspector are all there. But he picks up on Hattori’s nervousness about Kazuha and decides he can seize on that for his plan, which he launches.

And, sure enough, when it’s time for the crime to be committed, Kaito Kid is disguised as Kazuha and takes advantage of Hattori’s feelings for her to pull off his heist. But I have to say, it’s pretty amazing what Kaito Kid manages to pull off.

I thought the setup for this story worked well, and it’s great to see Hattori wrestling over his feelings for Kazuha… even if I do think he’s acting rather silly about trying to one-up Shinichi at such a time that he confesses those feelings to her. I guess it shows that Hattori really does view Shinichi as a rival.

The ending was a great hook to make the viewer want to come back for the next episode. But after seeing the preview, I’m wondering if this story will conclude in a second part or if it might go into a third. I’d be happy either way, as long as the story isn’t either rushed or drug out.

The episode started with just the right amount of recap to remind the audience of what happened in the previous episode.

The first half of the episode focuses on the fact that Conan has realized that the owner of the restaurant didn’t actually commit suicide, and that he and the other Detective Boys are determined to figure out the true culprit with the help of the police. The first thing they quickly determine is that whoever killed the owner committed the other person first to create a reason for people to think that the owner had committed suicide.

Through interviewing the main three suspects again, they discover that there was no way that any of them could have a motive to kill the owner. After some deduction, Conan figures out what they need to do to find the evidence they need to determine the culprit. He assigns Ayumi and Ai to talk to the staff at the restaurant again, he sends Mitsuhiko and Genta to start asking questions of employees at local hardware stores, and Conan goes to the hospital and starts asking questions there. This is accomplished with a montage scene, but we don’t get to hear any of the dialogue. This is important, because what they learn from these investigations is revealed in a scene near the end of the episode. Although, I do have a hard time believing that doctors would openly talk about patients’ conditions with a kid who isn’t related to the patient. But then again, I don’t know what kind of privacy laws, if any, Japan has when it comes to giving out this kind of information. Looking at this through the lens of an American, where we have laws on the book forbidding this kind of thing, this comes across as unrealistic. But since I lack the knowledge of how the Japanese handle this kind of situation, I could very well be looking at this plot point through my own cultural bias.

They have all of the information they need… except for proof of a motive. The Detective Boys decide to talk to this suspect and bring up every piece of information they have in order to get this person to confess to them that they’re guilty.

I believe I mentioned last week that with some information that was revealed, that it was being established that a certain individual was behind both murders. It turns out I was right. We did receive a couple of hints in the previous episode, and this is laid out, along with all of the information that the Detective Boys discovered earlier in the episode… and it pieces everything together to determine the guilty party. The police show up right at the end, saying they want to question everyone again, and the guilty party agrees to share with the police what they just talked about with the Detective Boys. I did appreciate how the writers didn’t utilize Conan’s usual trick of knocking Kogoro out and using the voice-changing bowtie to reveal information and get the guilty party to confess.

This was actually a pretty good two-part episode, even though I had a good idea of who the murderer was by the end of the first part. There was just enough going on in this episode to keep me invested in the story in order to learn all of the details of how this culprit pulled off both crimes.

As the Detective Boys are wandering through a park, Ayumi finds a severely injured cat. They find strands of pink and yellow threads in its claws, which Conan carefully gathers to use as evidence to find the person who injured the cat. The group takes the cat to a nearby vet, who says the cat will live but will need time to heal. As they leave the vet, a group of police cars with sirens blaring go by. Of course, Conan and the Detective Boys decide to find out what’s going on.

The group finds that the police, as well as Kogoro, are at the Bocchan Restaurant. A body has been found on the grounds, so they are launching a murder investigation. The Detective Boys notice that the victim’s shirt has colors that match the thread they found in the cat’s claws. Seeing this, they decide to stay for the murder investigation. As the story continues, they deduce that the cat must have been a witness to the murder, and that the murderer panicked and beat the cat up because it was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

When the employees of the restaurant arrive, it’s revealed that the restaurant is inspired by a novel titled, Bocchan. I liked that Mitsuhiko knew what this was, in addition to Conan and Ai, and that Mitsuhiko was the one who got to explain the story to the others. Normally, these types of explanations come from Conan, so it was nice to see this get shaken up a bit.

As the police and Kogoro investigate, they discover that the actors playing the characters from the novel are nothing like the characters that they portray at the restaurant. Which becomes important, because it seems like Kogoro, at least, kept trying to think of the actors’ personalities and motives as being like their characters, which could seriously affect deducing who committed the crime. It comes out that the victim and the owner were both rivals for the affection of the woman portraying the love interest in Bocchan, and that three other employees with known animosity toward the victim don’t have alibis that could be corroborated by others. Through talking with various employees, the Detective Boys start picking up some information on the potential murderers.

Near the end, the Detective Boys visit the cat at the vet, and discover the cat has two broken legs. This makes Conan realize that the park where they found the cat was too far away from the restaurant for the cat to have made it to the park on its own. With this information, the Detective Boys realize the murder had to have been at the park and not at the restaurant.

After this, it’s discovered that one of the potential culprits for the murder is hanging from a tree, with a suicide note scrawled into the dirt nearby, as well as the murder weapon for the first death on his altar. Conan feels suspicious that this was set up to make this person look like the murderer, but he doesn’t have any solid proof to back up this suspicion.

The way this is going, I feel confident that the case will solved in the next episode. I really can’t see this going past two parts. There’s one character in the story that doesn’t seem to have any issues with their alibi, but a piece of information revealed about them earlier in the episode makes me think they could have been somehow involved with the second death at the end of the episode. Outside of that, though, I haven’t really figured anything out. I’m curious to see what the “one truth” to this crime is that Conan will reveal. At least this one doesn’t have a solution that’s easy to guess, so that helps to make me want to come back next week to find out what happens. Oh, and I also have to add that this is one of the better episodes of Case Closed that features the Detective Boys.

This week’s episode establishes a man who sells customers “the perfect crime.” He gains the attention of the police after several of his clients are arrested for crimes and provide a kind of “instruction manual” for their crime upon their arrest. Takagi and Sato come to see Kogoro after identifying the man and ask him to come along as an adviser for an undercover operation. Conan ends up tagging along.

I’m not sure what they were thinking having Kogoro come along for something undercover, though, since the suspect recognized him easily. But it turns out this guy’s not as smart as he seems to think he is. While talking to the police, he proudly details what he’s done and believes they can’t touch him because he didn’t commit any crimes. I loved it when Sato handcuffed him and declared he was under arrest for abetment. What a great take down of such a pompous ass. Apparently, the guy was too stupid to realize he himself was committing a crime by writing these crime novel plot ideas and selling them to people to use as guides to commit “the perfect crime.” And as it comes out later in the episode, his “perfect crime manuals” aren’t as perfect as he seems to believe they are.

With his arrest, though, the police get information on some crimes that were about to happen, as well as information on at least one unsolved crime. That unsolved crime from seven years ago plays an important role in the story. The police successfully stop all but one of the crimes that were in progress or were about to happen… except for one. This one is the most worrisome, though, because it involves an explosion that could kill a lot of people.

I can’t go into too much more detail, because I’d be giving too much away. But there is a twist near the end, and it’s fortunate Conan figures it out in time. Unfortunately, though, this story requires our “modern day James Moriarty” to be an egotistical moron. But in order to fit this into one episode, his character had to be this way. I think there could have been potential for a two-parter here, but it would have needed a stronger villain to make that work. While I liked the concept of this episode, I felt that it wasn’t as strong as it could have been due to the time restriction of one episode that was placed on this story. The best part of this episode was just how badass Sato was in it. The egotistical learned rather quickly not to mess with her!

According to what was said at the end of this episode, it appears there won’t be a Case Closed episode next week. However, when it does come back in a couple of weeks, there will be a two-parter. It was nice to have advance warning of the fact that there will not be an episode next week, and I’m also happy to finally see a multiple episode story again. The last time we had that was all the way back in March.

This episode sees a young woman named Kanae coming to Kogoro, claiming that someone stole her precious brooch and left her a note written with newspaper letters. The note tells her where to go, but to not involve the police. She decides to come to Kogoro to help her instead. Kogoro decides to take on the case.

This basically leads into a scavenger hunt, with Kogoro and Kanae finding more notes that tell them to go to other locations. For the first two or three spots, we see a shadow figure following them. There’s also near misses when it comes to accidents that could have hurt Kanae and Kogoro.

When it comes to the shadow figure, the animators tried to make it look like someone suspicious. But I liked the twist that it was actually Conan secretly following them around. Around the third location, though, Kogoro finally catches him. When Conan gets a chance to talk to Kogoro alone, he learns that a building across the street from the first location has a connection to a case that Kogoro solved that took place before the beginning of Case Closed. Once this fact was revealed, I had my suspicions about the true nature of the scavenger hunt. Conan seemed to feel the same way.

On the way to the next location, Kogoro drops Conan off at home and tells him to stay there. Of course, Conan doesn’t listen and continues is own investigation. What he learns and figures out is very important for the case and backs up the suspicions I had earlier in the episode.

I can’t go into much more detail than this, because it would provide too many spoilers. But what I will say is that it was interesting to see how Kogoro accidentally ends up in “Sleeping Kogoro” mode, and how Conan was able to use this to his advantage.

Even though I basically figured out the truth by the midway point of the episode, the execution of the story was still interesting enough for me to want to continue watching and see how the truth was revealed.

I should also note that there was actually a next episode preview, as well as a “next Conan’s hint” segment and the other things that usually appear at the end of a Case Closed episode. Could this be a sign that the series will be returning to more of a sense of normalcy, instead of only having episodes every other week?

The episode opens with Conan and the Detective Boys using binoculars to bird watch from the opposite shore of a river. However, Conan isn’t bird watching… he’s people watching. At first, most of the others admonish him for it, but after he frames it as detective training, they start people watching as well. At first, they’re looking at some people and using clues to try to determine what these people do for a living. However, when they discover Detective Takagi and Chiba, as well as some other police officers, are disguised and have gone undercover, they watch what unfolds. When it was first revealed that Conan was people watching, I thought that felt a little creepy at first. I know they were using this as a way to set up the structure for the story, but it never entirely sat well with me during the entire episode.

It turns out there’s a kidnapping case, and someone is supposed to be picking up ransom money from that location. For most of this, Conan and the Detective Boys watch what unfolds from the other shore. We occasionally see what’s going on from Takagi and the others’ point of view, but the case is primarily shown through Conan and the others looking through binoculars and giving commentary on what they see. It’s established that there’s too great of a distance from where they are to get to a bridge that would get them to the other side, and this is an important detail when it comes to Conan giving assistance during the episode. He has to use his phone, and tell Chiba what he sees with the binoculars, as well as trying to explain his deductions while this is going on. In the end, the correct person is apprehended, thanks to Conan’s help.

While this was an interesting structure for telling the story, I’m not sure it entirely worked as well as it could have. And as I said earlier, the set up to get the episode going in the first place never entirely sat well with me. The idea of Conan and the other Detective Boys intentionally watching unsuspecting people through their binoculars feels like an invasion of privacy, and I’m not entirely convinced from how Conan has been portrayed that this would entirely sit well with him, either. And I especially can’t see him being the one to instigate it, as it was portrayed in the episode. If one of the others had stumbled upon something suspicious while looking through their binoculars, I might have bought this concept a little better.

There still isn’t a preview or a “Next Conan’s Hint” or anything after the episode ends. So far, the every other week pattern for episodes seems to be holding, so let’s see whether or not there will be an episode of Case Closed next week.