Case Closed volume 2

(quoted from the back of Case Closed volume 2)

In this suspense-filled volume:
Conan must contend with the murder of a man who burns to death while the prime suspect has the perfect alibi; he helps a seemingly sweet and innocent girl look for her missing father; and he still has time to explore a haunted house with some of his new friends from elementary school!

All the clues are there--
can you piece them together and solve these baffling cases before Conan does?

Case Closed volume 2 contains:
File 1: A Lucrative Tailing Job
File 3: The Photo Speaks
File 4: The Missing Man
File 5: The Poor Girl
File 6: Follow the Big Man
File 7: A Devilish Woman
File 8: Mansion of Horror
File 9: Disappearing Children
File 10: Nightmare in the Basement

Storyline:
If you are looking for dramatic twists and turns in the plot read Hot Gimmick because Case Closed isn't going to satisfy your thirsts. The story of this volume continues with very slight developments in the plot. Although, mystery-wise this volume offers plenty of cases that need to be solved, and they all walk you through the mysteries which is a great idea. Bottom line- if you are looking for a killer story and a crazy plotline, look elsewhere, but if you want to stump your brain with difficult cases then this is the series to read.

Artwork:
The artwork of this volume is exactly the same as the last volume. The characters are still designed to look kiddish and then the murders are very detailed. You will probably never mix up locations or characters like some other series which is important here. Also, the artwork may look a bit outdated, but it is original, which helps develop a sense or originality towards this series.

Characters:
Not much character development in this volume. Actually, there is basically no character development in this volume other then the fact that Richard Moore, Rachel's father, is starting to catch on to Conan's hints at solving the cases. Conan doesn't make it any further in his relationship with Rachel, only 3 silly elementary school kids are introduced, and I feel that they are more annoying then a help to the series(although in the TV show they had one or two good cases with Conan).

Summary (Warning: May Contain Spoilers)

Since Case Closed is a mystery series I don't want to give away any of the ends to the cases so I'm pretty much just going to summarize each of the chapters and the cases.

Files 1 through 3 all focus on one specific case. During the beginning of the case, Conan is transfered to elementary school to help keep his kid disguise going. Conan also recieves his next gadget, his trademark sneakers which give him incredible kicking power to help stop the bad guys. After meeting three kids who will later help him form the Junior Detective Squad, Conan goes on his way home and finds out that Richard has been tailing a guy for the last week for some easy money. A few days later Richard finds out that the guy that he followed was killed in a burning building. The next day, Richard, Conan, and Rachel go and confront Mr. Yutaka Abe and hypothesize that he was the one who killed the man, but... he has the perfect alibi: Richard was tailing the guy who was killed past the day that Mr. Yutaka Abe went out of town, which the man was killed while Mr. Yutaka Abe was away. The rest of this case focuses on Conan figuring out the clues, Richard starting to realize Conan is more then just "some kid", and Conan confronting the culprit at the airport.

In files 4 through 7 the case starts off with Conan getting another new gadget, his glasses can track certain homing devices that he can place at random. Before Conan leaves, he reads about a robbery that happened a few days ago.Then, when he gets home, a young girl, Masami, is at Richard's house and is begging him to find her father, Kenzo Hirota, who has been missing for a while. After some looking around Conan accidentally drops one of his homing devices on Masami's watch and she leaves before he can take it off. Richard immediately starts looking around for her father but can't find a lead, that is until Conan figures out where he might be. Richard, Conan, and Rachel find Kenzo and reunite him with her daughter but the case doesn't end there. The next day Kenzo is found dead at his apartment with Masami missing.

Immediately, Conan and crew go searching for Masami who they figure must have been kidnapped during Kenzo's death. Without any leads they almost give up but then Conan remembers he dropped a transmitter on Masami's watch so he turns on his tracking device and recieves a signal. He follows it and at the end of the trail he finds a big man instead of Masami which leads him to believe she was killed. On his way home he spots Rachel chasing a man who she thinks took Masami. After an explanation they find out he was another detective who was hired to look for Kenzo, by the big man that Conan spotted today. The last part of the mystery focuses on Conan and his group finding out where the big man was hiding and then a bizarre twist happens when they find out who the killer really is.

The final case, that was in Files 8-10, focuses on Conan and his three elementary school buddies: George, Mitch, and Amy exploring a haunted house. One by one the kids get kidnapped until there is just Amy and Conan. They are then forced to find out about the horrible events that took place in the haunted house a few years ago...

Extras:
Actually, compared to the last volume there are quite a few extras here (not very good extras, but extras none the less). You get a few comic strips that take up a couple of pages, an author's commentary, and some background knowledge on Richard Moore's name in the original series, Detective Conan. Also, if you like pages printed twice in a volume then Viz delivers once again with their horrible reproduction ability! Whoopy! I love you Viz!

Content Warnings:
-Language: Yes
-Violence: Yes
-Nudity: No
-Sexual Situations: No

Overall:
Not a bad volume. Not really any character development or story progression, but it makes up for it with the great mysteries that puts the last volume's to shame. The way that the author sets up the mysteries truly involves the reader and it makes Case Closed one of the better detective series out there. Sadly, the undeveloping characters and the very small amount of story progression makes this volume seem easily forgettable(no real memorable scenes). Unless you are absolutely obsessed with mysteries you aren't going to want to reread this volume.

+ Excellent mysteries that make the last volume's look like crap.
- Characters aren't developing, slow progression of the main plot, and Viz's wonderful "extras" that puts pages 45-46, not only on 45-46 but on 15-17 as well!

Score: 7/10