For my review I’m going to split plot and story into 2 categories. Plot will refer to canon content and story will refer to everything else.
Plot: I have to say that this is a really interesting anime and it makes me excited when new cases come out that involve the Black Organization. I like stories that involve a lot of mystery/plot twists, and the canon of Detective Conan does not fail to amaze me. The amount of stress Shinichi goes through every time he has to tell Ran that he won’t be able to make it just burns a hole in my heart. And to make it even worse, we get OVA 9 that just destroys me. I know Gosho is one “Master troll” but seeing Genta’s face in almost every post-BO case stops me from giving Detective Conan’s plot a perfect score. With that said, I think it would be interesting to see cases involving Shinichi (or Conan if he is stuck in that form forever) after his final engagement with the BO. I’ll also include arcs like metropolitan police love story and desperate revival in this section but I won’t talk about them… even though they are incredible and very fun to watch.
8/10 (When the plot finally ends this score will probably go higher)
Story: I choose to split the two because aside from the repetitive praise that the plot will get I just have to talk about the fillers. Please keep in mind, although I do find some cases strange and/or stupid, I do plan on watching every case because I like how there is always that slim chance that I will solve the case before Conan’s explanation.
How on earth has Conan/Shinichi’s identity been kept a secret for this long?! I mean, for someone to actually solve cases while they sleep in absolutely absurd. I know Kogoro has thought to himself “I don’t remember how I solved it.” Etc, etc, etc. But come on it is getting ridiculous. (It is the same for Sonoko and everyone else Conan put to sleep and solved cases using their voice) However, on that point, it is funny to see how Conan manages to wiggle himself and Kogoro out of suspicion. Don’t even get me started on the Detective Boys and cases revolving around them.
2/10
3/10 Just because this is the only anime that I’ve seen more than 100 episodes of so it’ll get the extra point.
Animation/Art: Detective Conan is the only that I’m still watching (Apart from animes that have ended and I’m watching for a 2nd or 3rd time through). I have to say that I love how the characters have evolved from their giant elephant ears into a pair that dumbo wish he had. Even though everyone has aged only a little bit, it is interesting to watch episode 1-10 then watch the 10 newest episodes to see how much the art has changed. As for the animation part, there isn’t much to say. If you were talking about Code Geass or Black Lagoon it would be easier, but Detective Conan doesn’t need “the best animation” because 99.99% of the time they are slowly walking or just standing there talking. As for when some action is actually going on, it is only when Conan is defying gravity. Oh my god I just remembered movie 15’s car animations… but I’ll let it slide because they were trying something different. If they do that again I’ll be disappointed.
8/10
Sound: I would have never found some of the opening songs that I like if it weren’t for Detective Conan. Even the main theme for DC is awesome. As for sounds/music within episode or movies, once again… awesome. I wish they would continue the dub because English is my first language and that is the way I prefer it. Although, I can’t deduct any points from the score because it doesn’t have to be translated. Nor should it be translated if they are going to switch the names.
9.5/10 (I would give sound 10, but there might be something I’m missing that I can’t think off the top of my head)
Characters: Apart from 3 kids I like every character. Pretty much every reoccurring character has their own unique traits that make them awesome every episode there are in. With that, we can expect what the mood of an episode just by seeing 1 character. The show has a lot of exciting moments because of the Black Organizations fight with the FBI/CIA, we get a fair share of hilarious moments with Heiji/Kazuda/Ran/Conan, and we get to see how relationships build up, my favourite being Takagi/Sato (usually starting being childhood friends because Gosho likes that idea… A LOT!)
And I know I keep poking jokes at the detective boys, but I do understand that Conan would have to make a few friends during school or else he would go insane. But, I still wish death upon them.
9/10 (Would have been 10 but you know who appear in almost every episode/movie etc.)
Originality : This is kind of hard to say because the story (not plot) is pretty much based off of earlier ideas, for example; Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, Edogawa Rampo’s Kogoro character and detective boys “gang”, and Agatha Christie’s “Poirot”. It is obvious that Gosho got his inspiration from the 3 authors above to write about his own “consulting detective”. As mentioned above, he also pays tribute to those 3 by the constant references to their works throughout the series. As for the plot (BO related), I’ve never seen anything like it.
10/10 (perfect score because even with my little hatreds(spelling? lol) towards parts of the plot, it is original for me haha)
Overall: I would recommend Detective Conan to all anime lovers. However, I would tell them to skip pretty much all fillers and detective boys’ cases for their repetitive nature unless they really really really wanted to watch more. Still, that only applied to episodes, the movies/OVA’s/magic files are a real breath of fresh air because, for the most part *cough movie 11* they are awesome.
Unfortunately, as much as I like Detective Conan, I cannot ignore how much Gosho has trolled us with the series going from a thrilling Black Organization case, to the detective boys being the detective boys. Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate fillers. The amount of them almost outweighs the number of brilliant and superbly well thought-out episodes.
8/10
I really didn't go into much detail because this could easily be 3 or 4 times the length and I haven't seen a lot of the cases for over 2 years now and my memory of them is a little fuzzy.
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