Sara Talks Anime

Early Detective Conan is fun. There are so many awesome cases, and the fact that these are being done back in the time of 90s, when technology isn’t as advanced as it is today. While that isn’t necessarily an issue, I think it creates a lot of cases that would likely be way too easy to solve in the modern day. Now, do I believe that these cases are some of those cases? Maybe. Maybe not. Speaking of, let’s get to talking about the next episode in the series!

EPISODE 4: The Case of the Coded City Map

Anime Original or Manga Sourced?: Manga sourced, Chapters 36 through 39

*Chapter count based on the count utilized in the VIZ Manga app, which is the overall chapter count. Noting that now, since the previous episodes matched up chapter wise.

Is this my first time experiencing this story?: No

You read that correctly. TMS made the wonderful decision to go from a case that originates in Volume 1 to a case that originates in Volume 4. In case it wasn’t easy enough to pick up on my tone there, I was being sarcastic. However, this is where one of my biggest gripes with early Detective Conan kicks in. For one reason or another, some cases are swapped around, causing some plot details to need to be adjusted to account for the timeline shift. And I wouldn’t say all of these are done accurately. Massive side eye to the next episode, which I’ll talk about when I get there.

Now, it could be argued that the reason this case was moved up here was so that the decision to add the Detective Boys to the previous episode made more sense, and would more directly lead into Conan becoming friends with them. But if that’s actually the reason, then why didn’t they move the Haunted Mansion case forward to this spot – the actual first case that the Detective Boys solve without the assistance of any grown ups – and instead decided to move this case from Volume 4 to be in the spot of the fourth episode? Like, hello, we didn’t have to expedite this case!

Anyway, the episode begins with Conan and the Detective Boys visiting an art museum and taking a look at various expensive objects. On the way out, they reflect on what they’ve seen, and how they’d like to find treasure of their own. That’s when they see a piece of paper drop, and go to investigate, to find symbols that, at the moment, make no sense for them…but figure that it has to be a treasure map…and decide to rope Conan in, having this be the case where the Detective Boys basically get formed, despite the fact that at this point in the manga, the group was already formed.

Regardless, the group tries to figure out what the symbols mean. At first, the assumption was that the pair of symbols on the first line referred to a starting point and what street to go on, however, that search turned up fruitless, and while feeling hungry, Conan suggests going to the bookstore for the time being, with the actual kids being distracted by what appears to be manga while Conan reads a dictionary.

While their first thought was that a word that was seen as part of the code was English, there’s no word in the English dictionary that matched. But then he checked in Italian…and there was a perfect match. More events occur in the episode that cause the moon in the code to take on a new meaning, and for the true key to the code to be revealed.

The good news is the Detective Boys found the treasure! Huzzah!

…the bad news is that they were being followed by bad people who were also looking for that “treasure”, and thus get captured as a result.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can really give too much more information about this episode aside from “the Detective Boys and Conan manage to outsmart the adults that captured them and get help” without ultimately spoiling too much of the episode than required, so this is where I’m going to have to stop talking about the content of the episode.

…okay, I lied, I’ll tell you about the post-credits scene, just ‘cuz it’s funny. After the events of the episode, the Detective Boys are at the Mori Detective Agency telling Ran what had happened, with Genta and Mitsuhiko trying to take the credit. Ayumi gives proper credit to Conan (thank god)…and also gives him a kiss on the cheek. This causes shock from Genta and Mitsuhiko and Ran thinking that Conan has gotten a girlfriend. Awww.

It’s not a bad case at all. While I’m still confused as to why this episode was moved to be up so early instead of being further along like it is in the manga, this isn’t a change that I think harms the series much, if at all.

And I wish I could say that about the next episode.

EPISODE 5: The Great Bullet Train Explosion

Anime Original or Manga Sourced?: Manga sourced, Chapters 33 through 35

Is this my first time experiencing this story?: No

I could begin by talking about the fact that the events of this case are supposed to occur before the case in the previous episode. But I think I already aired out my grievances in that regard enough in the previous section. So, instead, I’m going to just start from the beginning of this case and hit my separate grievances as I come to them.

The episode has Kogoro, Ran, and Conan on a bullet train to go to a wedding of a friend of Kogoro’s in Kyoto, as it was initially set up in the manga. That’s absolutely not something that I have a problem with. And then…

Ugh, the Detective Boys were added into this episode. In the manga, this case doesn’t have their involvement at all. So, just like episode 3, this is (unfortunately) a case of the Detective Boys been shoved into a case where they literally don’t belong. While they do have some funny moments in this episode, since I know that this case can be solved without their involvement, I think the original manga version of this case is far superior to the anime version in this respect.

Anyway, both in the manga and the anime, this episode introduces the modification that Agasa made to Conan’s glasses to give him a hidden microphone. However, because the manga story that served as the canon introduction to Conan’s gadget-ified shoes (which makes his kicks stronger), this episode also had to provide a flashback to introduce those. And, you know, this could’ve been avoided by actually doing the episodes in the same order as the manga chapters!

*ahem*

Sorry about that. The shoes being introduced like this isn’t that big of an issue. It’s just frustrating as someone who’s currently reading the manga to get these stories all out of order. Anyway, during the ride on the train, Conan sees two men in black who look like the two who shrunk him walk past him, so he dashes off to follow them. After seeing them make a deal with someone in a dining car, he decides to use his hidden microphone to bug one of their seats. He tries sticking it under the seat, only for the Detective Boys to find him and dispose of the gum elsewhere, though thankfully still on the intended seat and dash off with Conan.

After a conversation that I swear is just there to fill some time, the Detective Boys go off exploring, and Conan himself runs into…two people who look like the men who shrunk him, but aren’t?! Hold on, am I still watching the right episode?

*checks notes*

Okay, it appears that I am. Yeah, for one reason or another, TMS decided to make the men in black for this episode lookalikes of the two men who shrunk Conan. The actual men who shrunk Conan, Gin and Vodka, are nowhere to be seen in this episode. The only reason I stated their names is because this case was when the reader/viewer is supposed to learn the codenames of the men in black who shrunk Conan. With the lookalikes here, however, that identity reveal is omitted…and, as far as my research has gone, that leaves a big fat plothole in the anime. If Gin and Vodka weren’t on the train during this case, how would Conan know their names for later? I’d have to rewatch Episode 128 to see whether or not Gin and Vodka’s names are used in that episode during the confrontation, but if they aren’t, then that still leaves a plothole for the anime and, unless there’s something done in an episode that hasn’t been brought over to America yet (which I doubt, considering that we’ve already finished the Conan vs the Black Organization collection), it seems that the anime still hasn’t patched this plot hole.

Then again, it’s been a while since I’ve watched Episode 128, and for me, that episode will be the key regarding whether or not this plothole was fixed.

Okay, got a bit off track there. While listening in on the men after adjusting the frequency of his glasses to correctly stimulate his eardrums (actual technology that exists in our world, by the way), he finds out that they’ve made a deal with one of the passengers on the train…and the case they gave their customer has a bomb! When just the right things are done, the bomb will activate a ten second countdown and explodes once it hits zero!

I don’t think I can say too much more about specific details about the case without getting too heavy into spoiler territory, but this is another case where Conan has to navigate the fact that he’s in his child body, and as a result, won’t be taken as seriously compared to being in his regular body. Because you don’t get all that knowledge overnight. You need to have the experience to be able to know exactly what to say and how to act to get the adults to take you seriously. Especially since this isn’t something that has anything written down about what you should do in this situation down in the archives, because this isn’t something that happens every day.

However, what I will say about the ending of the episode is that Conan saves the day (because the series couldn’t go on if Conan died), the criminals get punished, and status quo resumes. Yay! 😀

While this is an enjoyable case, I feel that the anime version of the case is weaker compared to the manga version of the case. Maybe it’s just because I dislike the Detective Boys showing up where they don’t belong. However, I recommend that people who are checking out the anime find a way to read chapter 33 of the manga (or chapter 4 in Volume 4) to rectify the plothole I brought up. For those who are reading the English version of the manga, I do have another chapter that I recommend you read, but I’ll cover that when we get to the episode that the manga chapter was adapted into, which is still quite a while away. But since I’m only using the episodes that are legally available in the United States, it shouldn’t take as long to get to that episode compared to if every single episode was legally available, alongside adding in the movies that were released before that episode. Aka…yeah, there’s still a bit that I’ve gotta get through before that point.

Though, without giving away too much about the next episode before its respective post, the next episode is the first of something for the series.

Previous Post: Episode 3

Next Release Order Post: Episode 6

Next Manga Sourced Episode: Episode 7

Note: It is not recommended to go straight to the next manga sourced episode if the anime is your first exposure to Detective Conan, as Episode 6 serves as the anime’s introduction episode for one of Conan’s most frequently used gadgets.