Overall the story in this episode is good with some character development between Ran and the "absent" Kudo; more specifically with respect to developing the relationship between the two. Likewise, watching Conan try to investigate the mystery at hand, let alone get the adults' attention, proves to be most humourous at times. Conan and Kogorou are likely to have some serious run-ins unless Conan can find some way to give Kogorou hints of pertinent information to solve the murder on his own. Although, given Kogorou's current tendency to accuse everyone in sight, it could prove rather difficult to nudge him in the right direction.

With respect to the murder itself, we find that Conan shows some very pertinent information as it's discovered although every now and again the overly dramatic music and reactions of characters to Conan's comments make it very clear that what he'd said is extremely important. Also, being partisan to Conan's thoughts helps to keep viewers on the right track as to important details about the murder. While the slow revealing of information is fairly smoothly done, Kogorou's lack of logical thinking and his tendency to accuse everyone in the room of being the murderer tends to be annoyingly distracting. If he's supposed to be a private detective, shouldn't he be a little more circumspect in trying to discover the identity of the murderer? This is a consistent weakness in this series which is also the basis for the story. Afterall, if Mouri Kogorou was a capable PI, Conan wouldn't have any real chance to solve mysteries before the PI himself.

All in all, to date the series has been proving to be interesting with some good character development especially with the growing relationship between Kudo and Ran. The humourous contrast between Conan's coolly logical thinking and Mouri Kogorou's lack thereof could prove to be most entertaining as this series continues. Likewise, the slow revealing of pertinent information in the mystery being presented could make this series a favourite for mystery lovers.
- JN, 99.07.26