English Dub Season Review: Detective Conan: Zero’s Tea Time Season One

Based on the Japanese Manga series, written and illustrated by Takahiro Arai and a spin-off of the Case Closed/Detective Conan Anime/Manga franchise by Gosho Aoyama, with Aoyama supervising the project, and is centered on the supporting character Zero/Toru Amuro/Rei Furuya.

On the technical side, this was produced by TMS Entertainment and directed by Tomochi Kosaka, with scripts written by Yoshiko Nakamura, character designs handled by Kyōko Yoshimi, and music composed by Tomisiro. The opening theme is “Shooting Star” by RAKURA, while the ending theme is “Find the truth” by Rainy.

In a nutshell, Zero’s Tea Time is a series of 6 short episodes (13 mins each) about Toru/Zero’s life when Conan/Shinichi isn’t involved. It primarily focuses on the life of the triple agent as he attempts to keep all his different roles in check. The majority of the events are just slice-of-life storylines with the titular Zero who’s a hyper-capable master of disguise with excellent information gathering skills which is where a bit of the detective/spy intrigue and occasional wackiness of his adventures come from. Of course, it has a slow start with one of his side hustles as a Barista at a small café.

The biggest problem comes from those who have never watched or at least followed the Case Closed/Detective Conan anime/manga franchise before this, as it mostly has nods/references from past episodes of that series which is just about as prolific and ongoing as Lupin III and would have a tough time connecting the narrative dots. However, the weirdest part is sometimes the visuals where every criminal that’s being pursued or apprehended is strangely represented with black skin. 

Overall, this wasn’t terrible, but if you haven’t been exposed to the Detective Conan franchise before this, it works as a self-contained plot. But if you’re an actual fan of the franchise and you enjoy Zero as a character, you’ll enjoy this a lot. The visuals are a bit inconsistent and the soundtrack is lighthearted, catchy, and passable. At the very least, the plot was both easy to follow and enjoyable for what it accomplished while excelling in some comedic and occasionally heartfelt wholesomeness moments for added measure.