Detective Conan
Detective Conan (名探偵コナン Meitantei Konan, lit. Great Detective Conan ) is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994 and has been collected in seventy-four Tankōbon volumes as of December 14th, 2011.
The manga has been adapted into an anime series by the animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha, directed by Kenji Kodama and Yasuichiro Yamamoto, and is broadcast in Japan on Nippon Television, Yomiuri TV and Animax. The series debuted on January 8th, 1996 and has since broadcast 586 episodes as of September 4th, 2010. The series has seen high levels of popularity in both manga and anime formats in Japan since its reception, and has also been adapted into fifteen Golden Week movies, with the first released on April 17th, 1997 and since then followed with a movie released each year. Ten of the movies held a top 10 box office position in the year they were screened. In addition, four Magic Files related to the movies and eleven Original Video Animations have been released.
Contents
Story summary
The story follows the adventures of Shinichi Kudo (also known as Jimmy Kudo in Case Closed), a young detective prodigy who was inadvertently shrunk into a child's body due to a poison he was force-fed by members of a criminal syndicate. Neighbor and family friend Professor Agasa strongly suggested Shinichi hide his identity to prevent them from killing him and the people he cares about, so Shinichi takes the name Conan Edogawa. He goes to live with his childhood friend Ran Mouri and her father, Kogoro, and tries to use Kogoro's detective agency as a way to find the people who shrank him — without letting Ran figure out who he really is.
Case Closed
Detective Conan in USA | |
Info | |
Language: | English |
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Continents: | North America, Europe, and Australia |
No. of Episodes: | 130 |
No. of Volumes: | 44 |
Published by: | Viz Media |
Detective Conan is known as "Case Closed" in North America. The name "Case Closed" results from concerns of copyright conflict of the name Detective Conan.[1]
Viz Media licensed the manga series under the name for English-language publication in North America and released forty-one volumes as of January 10th, 2012. Funimation Entertainment also licensed the anime series for North American broadcast under the name Case Closed. The character names were also adapted into English ones with some names different between the two. Fifty episodes of the English dubbed series aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block on May 24th, 2004 until January 2005 and were discontinued due to low ratings.[2] Two years later, Funimation made the series available, airing it on Colours TV during its syndication with the Funimation Channel. As of 2011, only 130 episodes (episodes 1-123 Japanese version) have been dubbed in English. Though anime was not so popular in North America, the manga enjoys high success. Volume 36 appeared in the New York Times Manga Best Sellers list during the week ending on October 24th, 2010. The manga continues to be released in North America, though it trails the Japanese publishing by about 30 volumes.
Critical reception
The series has been well received in Japan, with the anime adaptation ranking in the top twenty in Animage's polls between 1996 until 2000, where it dropped below the top twenty. In the Japanese TV anime ranking, Detective Conan often ranked the top six. It has even been used as a mascot to promote citizens to follow the law. The English adaption has not been as equally popular as in Japan, and has been criticized for the name changes. However, the manga still is enough of a success that it is continues being published.
The series is successful in Asia and Europe, where some countries translated most of the episodes and volumes. Due to the high popularity DC is re-broadcasting in many countries after the original premieres.
Demographic
Even though Detective Conan is a Shōnen, its audience is composed of a substantial proportion of female viewers and readers. The series also seems to attract all ages.
Appearances in other media
Besides his anime and manga appearances, Conan is the protagonist for all the movies and the video games based on the Case Closed series. Several anime and games have parodied, lampooned or otherwise mentioned him or the series. Some of them include: Yakitate!! Japan,[3] Black Cat,[4] Inuyasha,[5] Hayate the Combat Butler,[6] Proposal Daisakusen,[7] Sonic X, Kenichi the Mighties Disciple[8], Angelic Layer[9], and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney [10] In case of Inuyasha, Detective Conan features Conan reading Inuyasha manga first in Episode 200 (aired July 24, 2000). Later, Shinichi and Ran made their cameo appearance in Inuyasha episode 128 (aired October 13, 2003).
Conan has also been used as a character to promote people to follow the law in Japan, due to the popularity of the series.
In other languages
See also
- Detective Conan in France
- Detective Conan in Spain
- Detective Conan in Italy
- Detective Conan in Germany
- Detective Conan in the Arab World
- Detective Conan in Finland
- Detective Conan in the Philippines
- Detective Conan in Korea
- Detective Conan in Thailand
References
- ^ "FUNimation renames Conan". Anime News Network. 2007-10-09. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2004-02-05/funimation-renames-conan. Retrieved on 2008-08-18.
- ^ "Adult Swim Anime Plans". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-01-22/adult-swim-anime-plans. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
- ^ Yakitate!! Japan!! Japan Anime Episode # 48
- ^ Black Cat Anime Episodes # 13 & 14
- ^ Inuyasha Anime Episode 128 (briefly about one second)
- ^ Hayate no Gotoku# 30
- ^ Proposal Daisakusen Episode # 10
- ^ Kenichi: The Mighties Disciple
- ^ Angelic Layer Episode 22
- ^ Trucy: "This Summer: A Legal Eagles Production of 'Case Closed'." ...Looks like a poster for a different show. Apollo: ...One I wouldn't mind seeing real soon. (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
Detective Conan in Other Countries | ||
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North America | USA & Canada | |
South America | Brazil • Latin America | |
Europe | Albania • Belgium • Denmark • France • Finland • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Italy • the Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Russia • Spain • Sweden • United Kingdom | |
Middle East | Arab World • Iran | |
Central Asia | India | |
Southeast Asia | Indonesia • Malaysia • Philippines • Singapore • Thailand • Vietnam | |
East Asia | China (Taiwan • Hong Kong) • Japan • Korea |