The first anime proper original episode that I'll be reviewing here is episode 184 of Detective Conan, A Cursed Mask Coldly Laughs, an anime original special with the cursed mask theme. I can say that I'll be looking forward to other popular AO's from this series from now on (next one I'll watch is maybe The Séance's Double Locked Room Mystery Case that take place in episodes 603-605).
Right off the bat I can say that I've missed this opening soooo much. I believe 'Mysterious Eyes' (the 7th opening) is the first or second song that Garnet Crow made for Detective Conan. The episode itself opens up with Kogoro driving a car with Ran and Conan in the cut. It's a funny scene as Kogoro is speeding quite a lot, but no cops are around. The episode directing and use of colors looks fantastic (like EP174). The plot of this story is that our main characters have been invited to join a party that celebrates a charity show for children who lost their parents in car accidents that is supposed to take place the next week, so Kogoro speeding around like that is quite the contrast to the whole idea of the case. On the road Kogoro almost hits a tree trunk that's been left in the middle of the road, but what's more, on the trunk there is a letter nailed on it which basically tells (in cut-up words from newspapers) Kogoro not to join the charity show or there will be consequences. The letter creator addresses themselves as The Phantom of the Cursed Masks. In the beginning of the story we also get to know that everyone included in the case had gotten a similar threatening letter sent to them by mail, so we know that the chances of it being a prank are quite slim.
There is literally zero unnecessary build-up to the squad going to the large mansion. As the episode lasts for over 40 minutes it's shaping up to be quite a decent case right from the get-go. At the mansion where the event is being held Conan and co. meet up the case cast that includes the following:Katagiri Masanori (45), a photographer who travels around the world taking pictures of beautiful scenery.
Matsudaira Mamoru (24), a Pro Baseball Player who's known as the homerun king.
Nagara Haruka (25), a popular tarot prophet on TV and magazines. We learn that the homerun king Matsudaira is a big fan of hers. She is the first one to feel bad about what's to come.
Suou Beniko (63), a popular ex-singer and the president of Mahogany Promotions company. She's the one to invite Kogoro to the mansion.
Inaba Kazuyo (40), Suou's secret writer. She's a quiet one.
Aikawa Touya (26), a popular rock star right in the middle of a world tour.
The mansion has two front entrances with two Suou family maids. Shimogasa Honami (21) is the maid to invite Kogoro and his family to the manor by the East entrance (the left side), while her sister Shimogasa Minaho (21) is the one to invite Katagiri, Matsudaira and Nagara to the mansion through the main door on the left, which is the West entrance. The explanation to this is that the mansion is split to East and West sides and the mansion has strict abstract rules like that as they believe something bad will happen if those rules aren't followed, as the Suou family mansion has history as the place where the Phantom of the Cursed Masks resides.
The Suou family is known to collect different masks; they're in the form of cats, weird paintings of masks, and so on. I'm not gonna lie, some of the masks creep me out with the tense soundtrack playing in the background all the time. But aside from the different types of masks, there are also 'Gonzalez's Masks' in the house which are all white and identical. The Masks are created by a Spanish artist and history books about them apparently say and I quote: "Just before Julio González died, he created 200 masks that became known as the Cursed Masks." Gonzalez apparently lost everything from his property to his family and before going six feet under he started creating the Gonzalez's Masks as if he was possessed. However, the moment the 200th mask was finished, he killed himself with a knife on his bed while being surrounded by the Cursed Masks.
Later on as Gonzalez became famous again post-death (as many artists do) the Cursed Masks were bought by different individuals such as an English banker and a French jeweler who all died soon after getting their hands on some of the masks.
The reason for why the room needs to be locked is, according to the maids, because the masks like to play pranks and move around at night. They fall to the ground or are awkwardly faced in the room very often.
The Murder
When the clock hits 00:00 we see the room of the Cursed Masks get locked from East and West sides. Conan answers a ringing phone in their room as Ran and Kogoro sleep, and the person on the phone announces themselves as the Phantom of the Cursed Masks, telling them that they need to hurry or the masks will kill someone. The phonecall is an inside-call with a phone in the mansion, so someone in the mansion must also be the caller. After getting a key to the East side of the door to the Cursed Masks, the squad notices that the masks are missing. Not long after a sound from upstairs is heard in Suou's (the owner of the mansion) bedroom, but to get there you need to go through the West door, which is also locked. After that door getting opened as well, the squad heads upstairs to Suou's bedroom, but only to notice that her door is locked as well and there is no way in.
To get into the bedroom, Kogoro has to stand on a chair and break the glass on top of the door. After doing that he notices that Suou is on her bed, murdered with Gonzalez's Masks around her the same way as what happened to Gonzalez himself. Kogoro then has to throw Conan through the small window on top of the door to open the door to the bedroom.
There are also other interesting parts to this case. Why did the culprit scatter the masks around the body, was it to imitate the original death of their creator? The fact that the locked room is so perfectly created makes us wonder just why did the culprit not make the death seem like a suicide? The culprit called Kogoro's room when the murder was happening as if he was showing around. The murder weapon used to kill the victim is a knife from the Mask room but there's something odd about it as the large knife has blood on the handle as well even though the knife should've splattered on the stabbers hand. Furthermore, on the bed the crime scene inspectors found one of the white masks completely bloodied up on the mouth part by a lot, as if the mask was drinking the blood of the victim. The rest of the masks for some reason also have blood on their mouth parts but this time very little of it.
The case itself is pretty cool. It's not that long (~45 minutes) but you can theorize around with who the culprit is along with the theories the characters make. I liked how they went through the clues at the crime scene, what types of alibis everyone has and what they might've done at certain points. The classic locked room mysteries are really pulled off well in this one. I actually wasn't 100% sure who the culprit was even though I "knew" from the tropes who he would most likely be. The way how it's harder to pinpoint who the culprit is but you just know who it is because of what types of alibis they are given is similar to what I was feeling from the Kamikakushi Village Murder Case from 3rd and 4th volumes of Tantei Gakuen Q. The most defining clue to the killer's identity was also similar to the Kamikakushi Village Murder Case! This wasn't as grand but I think this was actually better as it was much better paced and I didn't see the trick coming even though the hints were presented so well! While the motive wasn't best ever I really liked the way how it makes sense with what we got presented with. This case is the perfect example of something that does whatever it sets out to do perfectly and ends when it needs to.
I must say the soundtrack is fantastic for this episode. The moment when the squad arrives at the mansion and we get this chill track (the moment with the maids) feels incredibly fresh to listen to, as if I'm splattering my face with ice-cold water. In contrast the relaxing soundtracks during scenes such as the dining hall meetup where we get to first know some of the history these characters have together, is so smooth, the exact same thing with the soundtrack used during the meetup at the living room. The track for the investigation is perfect. The case atmosphere is on-point and I think this goes to prove just how important a good tune can be in making these simple scenes better and different.
To wrap it all up, this is exactly why I love Detective Conan the most. Reading other series with much longer stories and dragging stories that take forever to get to the point gets hella tiring and Conan is the place I go to reinvigorate myself with its great writing and characters. It's hard to go back to other series after seeing episodes like these that do so much right. More please.
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