Warning: This show is not responsible for compulsive Youtube searching disorder, paranoid scanning of environment, lack of sleep, need for voice-controlling bow ties, fixation with handsome, unreal characters, and a desire to change profession into becoming the world’s coolest detective. Oh, and getting the English opening theme song stuck in your head.
It was the first new century, In 100 years. And when I felt like I should cry, I laughed away my tears. The end of a millennium, We waited a long long time. To see the brave new world, And the mountains we would climb. The things I try to comprehend, As a child remained a mystery. There’s nothing I need to defend, There’s nothing great about me. All that I’ll ever believe, Is the pounding of my heart, No it doesn’t answer questions, That’s just the way it goes. All I will ever have faith in, Is the beating in my chest, It won’t predict tomorrow, Or give me eternal rest.
Ode to Detective Conan
Detective Conan, Detective Conan. You are the Ran to my Shinichi. You are the beer to my Mori-san. You are the inflatable soccer ball to my red sneakers. You are, to put it simply, a long-time friend that is always consistently fun to hangout with. No matter how long I am with you, I never get bored – there are always new surprises.
Detective Conan is exactly as its title describes – it centers around the life of a 7-year old boy, named Conan who solves mysteries that even the police cannot solve, on a daily basis. But here’s the catch – Conan is actually Shinichi Kudo, a 17-year-old genius high-school detective with an excellent streak of closed cases, in his 7-year old form. The reason? Because he accidentally overheard a conversation that he shouldn’t have and as a result was administered pills that should have killed him. Instead, they had an unintended effect – shrinking his physical body but retaining his sharp mind and even sharper tongue.
But because the organization that administered the pills is a deadly one, Shinichi must hide his real identity from his loved ones, and take up an alias. Furthermore, he must find a way to continue solving cases without adults questioning his apparent mentality of a young child. These two factors, along with the loss of his original identity, force Shinichi to create almost an alter-ego for himself, Conan Edogawa.
Shinichi doesn’t mind, however, because it is through Ran’s father that he is able to successfully reveal the culprit. With the help of two of Doctor Agasa’s inventions, the anesthesia-dart watch and the voice-changeable bow tie, In each case, Conan temporarily knocks out Inspector Mori [which leads to the famous nickname “Sleeping Kogoro”], and then hides and uses the bow tie to speak in his voice. To the rest of the world, Mori Kogoro appears to suddenly become a brilliant detective. There’s an influx of business at the detective agency due to Kogoro’s fame and reputation, and unbeknownst to both Mori’s, it is because Shinichi has been helping the entire time.
But Mori’s daughter and Shinichi are in somewhat nebulous territory regarding their relationship [it’s obvious that both like each other, there is just a lag in the actual conveyance of feelings happens].
Ran doesn’t know that she’s currently living with Shinichi, and this fact isn’t helped by the fact that his transformation occurred in the midst of what could be their first date. Although both are very good friends, there’s a subtle thread throughout the whole show reveals a deeper, romantic aspect of their relationship. The fact that Ran unsuspectingly reveals a bit of her thoughts of Shinichi, on the fact that she misses him, to Conan, serves as a dilemma for the couple. At certain circumstances, Shinichi reveals himself to Ran as his original self, but because this transformation is only temporary and he must reverts quickly back, Ran is constantly left hanging. It’s a little bit heartbreaking, because although Shinichi desperately wants to tell Ran that he’s been by her side all along, but is prevented from doing so for fear of endangering her life.
In a sense, it’s strange to see Ran playing the mothering role to Conan, when we can see that before the transformation she played Shinichi’s love interest and best friend. Shinichi’s transformation illuminates two facets of herself – Conan brings out her nurturing side while Shinichi brings out her flustered and annoyed attitude. It’s also somewhat refreshing to see Ran mature throughout the series. Although we can tell that she is a strong, independent girl, in the beginning of the show she served more or less in a secretary role, through running errands for her father and looking after Conan. However, the more recent episodes have illuminated a more direct participation in cases, as well as a closer and closer realization of who Conan truly is. It’s good to see a heroine with a firm head on her shoulders; it’s even better that she has a sharp mind.
Speaking of romantic couples, another side-couple that has a recurring appearance to the show is Heiji and Kazuha, a pair from the “West” [Osaka. Ran and Shinichi are from the “East”, or Tokyo]. Heiji and Shinichi both have a competitive streak, however, and try to outdo one another in order to prove their superior expertise. Nonetheless, the two are like two brothers, and Heiji is one of the few who knows and covers Shinichi’s secret. Just like the two gentleman, Ran and Kazuha also get along very well, with both of their exasperation with their fellow men and their deadly martial arts power.
If we focus back on Ran and Shinichi, we can observe that both have quite interesting families. Ran is the daughter of Mori Kogoro, an ex-cop-turned-detective. Mori is an absolute hoot to watch, and serves as comic relief throughout the series. As viewers, we are with Ran in that we roll our eyes in exasperation whenever Mori boasts too much about himself, flirts too much with women, or drinks too much beer [again]. But we forgive him at the end of he day, mostly because we know that he’s not taking himself too seriously, and for the fact that he has another side to him – a particular protectiveness towards his daughter, as well as a seriousness with his separated wife, Eri Kisaki. Eri is a refined, perceptive lawyer who notices evidence in cases far better than her husband. The two have a bit of an antagonistic relationship, although there are brief moments in which it appears that they would reconcile [personally, I find that Mori always has Eri in his heart, even though he may be a bit of a player on the surface].
Shinichi’s parents are an impressive duo – his father is a brilliant author of the detective genre, and his mother was once a famous Japanese actress. But besides writing excellent literature, Shinichi’s father possesses an incredible skill in solving mysteries. For Sherlock fans, if Shinichi were to be Sherlock Holmes, then Kudo Yusaku would be equivalent to Mycroft, in the sense that he is superior in intellect and skill, but chooses to stay out of the profession. Yusaku has offered great advice to his son, not just in terms of detective clues, but also with regards to general wisdom as well. Complementary to Yusaku, Shinichi’s mother Yukiko is brilliant as well, as she is a master of disguise and appears to Shinichi in different forms throughout the series.
The fundamental goal running through the show is Conan’s struggle to find the Black Organization, the organization responsible for his current state. The organization had hired a young scientist, Haibara Ai, in order to create a deathly pill that would kill people if it were ingested. Unfortunately [or fortunately?] the pill resulted in Haibara and Kudo being reverted back to their childhood bodies. Both have such a mature aura that it is amusing to compare both to the playfulness and childishness of other seven-year-olds. Speaking of which, these other seven-year-olds – Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta – make up a motley bunch in a Conan’s elementary school, and the group name themselves the “Junior Detective League”, in their attempt to solve cases. It’s sort of adorable how all three loyally follow Conan around when it comes to solving cases. Shinichi ultimately plays a big brother role to them.
Each episode focuses predominately on this trio – Mori, Ran and Conan – although the supporting cast is featured quite often. There is a consistent layout of the episode. The episode opens to a single individual’s death, and an introduction to some background knowledge on the victim. Conan, as well as the audience, is introduced to three [or four] possible suspects for the crime, all related in some way to the victim. Possible suspects could be members of the victim’s family, friends, secretaries or colleagues. Evidence is presented in an accumulating fashion, with Conan slowly piercing the answer together as the case goes on. The genius factor is that because Conan’s thoughts are made apparent to the viewer, the viewer can actively participate by thinking about the presented evidence himself and also presenting his own theories as to what really happened. The show throws in quite a few red herrings, dead-ends, and stumbling blocks for a good measure, which forces Conan to think on his feet and also adds to the overall tension of discovering the true criminal.
The door-shut/door-open sequence occurs when Conan discovers who the true criminal is. Conan first states who the criminal is, and then proceeds to go over the exact evidence as to why the crime must have been committed by that single individual and no other. It’s fascinating seeing the final act dissected into its evidential components, and seeing how each component adds to the overall argument against the murderer. It’s fascinating seeing how Conan reconciles the impossible crime [I.e. an individual’s death in a snowbank, but no footprints], or takes apart an individual’s alibi. As a fan of the detective genre myself, each episode is almost like a logic puzzle, where the answer isn’t revealed until the very end. In most cases, the criminal has a personal vendetta against the victim, and justifies his method of killing as retribution for an earlier crime. The episode often wraps up on a light note, such as Ran taking Conan out for ice cream, or a funny act from our Detective Mori.
Detective Conan is one of the longest running anime series in history, with over 600+ episodes to date [the first episode was aired in 1997]. But it is fortunate that its exceptionally long length does not lead to redundancy in case-solving methods, nor plot and character development. Furthermore, Detective Conan has also launched a total of seventeen movies, with each premiering in theaters across Japan. The movies are fleshed-out versions of the episodes, with a slightly longer arc and more case development. There are actually quite a few romantic developments in the films [romantic developments are a tad scarce in the actual episodes], which is always an added bonus.
Furthermore, there are live-action movies, with the first two featuring Oguri Shun as Shinichi and Kurokawa Tomoka as Ran; and the second two featuring Mizobata Junpei and Kutsuna Shiori as the two leads. I was a little irritated that I had not discovered it earlier, but there is also a 13-episode special with Junpei and Shiori, with the famous trio locked in a white-room maze and having to find their way out through Shinichi’s memory of passwords. It’s a genius way of incorporating one case per episode, in the format of Shinchi’s memory, so that each past case possesses a key to escaping one more locked room.
But before the whole franchise, the live-action, the movies, and even the anime series – is the Detective Conan manga, written by Aoyama Gosho. This manga author is the sole cause for such a fantastic show, so hats off to him and his conception of the story in the first place.
Is Conan the Barbarian 2011 worth watching?
"Conan the Barbarian" is an entertaining adventure, full of action, fantasy and special effects. I was reluctant to see this movie, since I do not like remakes, but this 2011 movie is totally different from the 1982 Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Is Detective Conan good for adults?
Re: What would be the right age to watch Detective Conan? I think everybody has a right age to start watching/reading Conan, but what's more important, in my opinion, is to have many people hooked up with the series. It's OK as long as you understand this is a fiction series.
Why do people love Detective Conan?
Many people like Detective Conan because it's a series with many clever surprises and an expansive plot. With almost a thousand manga chapters and almost that many episodes, that's a lot of cases. The author puts a lot of care into crafting mysteries that will stump and puzzle you.
Is Detective Conan OK for kids?
Parents need to know that Detective Conan: The Culprit Hanzawa is a comedy anime spin-off based on the popular Detective Conan manga series. This anime centers around an inept criminal who moves to a big city to become a criminal mastermind. Expect to see fantasy violence [physical violence, blood, and dead bodies].