Case Closed: Case 1
The Secret Life of Jimmy Kudo

Pros: Four uncut, uncensored episodes, great extras (including an interactive settop game)
Cons: Only those that dare to fool the great kid detective.

My Take:

One truth prevails, and so does this series!

Detective Conan is one of Japan's most popular animated shows of all time. Accumulating over 300 episodes, Detective Conan continues to impress Japanese viewers. This year, FUNimation brought the series, now known as Case Closed because some people think that viewers might confuse a shrunk-down detective with a sword-swinging barbarian, to the United States, with a slot on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. Months after its impressive premiere, FUNimation has released the first volume of Case Closed, which contains the first four episodes of the series in its uncensored form, both in English and in Japanese (which still has the original Detective Conan title and the original character names).

For those just getting into the series, or those that need a reminder about how the show began, this volume is a must-own. Jimmy Kudo is a 17-year old master detective. Although he's just a teenager, Jimmy is lauded in public and respected by all police officers and their city. Only one person doesn't respect him, and that's Detective Richard Moore, who has had a significant slump in the private investigating field, mainly because he's an inept detective. His daughter, Rachel, just happens to be the best friend of the greatest detective in town, Jimmy Kudo. After solving a strange murder case at an amusement park, Jimmy becomes entangled in a crime that changes his life forever. He gets assaulted by a pair of men in black and drugged with a strange pill. The assailants left him him for dead. However, instead of killing him, the experimental drug left Jimmy in a shrunk-down childlike form. After being advised by his mentor to not tell his family and friends what has happened to him for fear that they may end up killed, Jimmy takes on the guise of Conan Edogawa, a young boy with a very inquisitive mind. He proves to be a valuable assistant to Richard Moore, who becomes "the sleeping detective" as a result of Conan always figuring out who was involved in the crime of the day, whether its the kidnapping of an executive's daughter, the mysterious murder in the home of a pop star, or any other crime that comes their way.

This first volume introduces Case Closed to the DVD format in North America, and this series proves why DVD is the best format for anime in this country. With both the original Japanese language dialogue and themes and untranslated screens as well as the dubbed series like the one we watched on Adult Swim, the people at FUNimation has outdone themselves. There's the usual character descriptions and a gadgets gallery, but the "Crack the Case" game is an interesting addition for a DVD release. I'm still playing it trying to figure out how to break this code.

Case Closed is one of the best shows to come out of Japan in a long, long time, and FUNimation have presented the series in a format that is a welcome addition to any DVD collection. Kudos to Kudo and the cast of Case Closed and FUNimation for prevailing on this first of many volumes of the series.