Detective Conan - Reviews

I love Detective Conan. I've been watching it for almost as long as it's been running. I always want more and I always save episodes so I can do marathons later on. I'm currently caught up with the entirety of the anime and can't wait until the movie comes out here in the US. This is one of my top 10 anime, and for good reason. From story to art, the Detective series of the decade is something you definately shouldn't pass up just because it has somewhere over 800 episodes. 

One note I will leave you with, though, is to please, PLEASE just watch the subtitles. I support dubs as much as i can but Case Closed is one translation of Detective Conan that really, really shouldn't be allowed on the market. 

I probably got into this series a lot later then most people. I started watching it in 2016. An ex-friend of mine was browsing Netflix for anime to fall asleep to and he put Conan on. I am not a person that can fall asleep with any lights or sounds so I watched a few episodes, unfortunately starting at 754.

I didn't think I'd find it as interesting as I did so I actually went online (kissanime) and started at episode one (96, not the remake) and spent a year watching everything, even following online guides for when to watch the movies and OVA's. I always avoided long series because I always had a hard time with them, like Bleach or Naruto, which to this day I've never finished.

I got hooked pretty quickly, despite the age and bad quality of the old episodes, I really loved them. I got into the series when I was going through a pretty rough time, so that could be why I powered through it but I don't regret getting into this series. It's the longest running for a reason and as much as I want my IRL friends to get into it with me, I know they won't because of that reason.

I love the characters, the main story as well as character related arcs. The style took a bit to grow onto me but I really enjoy it as well now that so many anime "look" the same recently. As I get older I enjoy the ones that have a different style to it more and more.

I always describe to my friends that it's kind of a murder mystery. Theres a lot of murders and going through him solving them, and myself trying to guess along is a lot of fun. But I also enjoy the arcs, be it related to Conan himself or other characters, like Akai or Takagi and Sato. The creator has put so much work not only into his main cast, but it's supporting cast as well. You can't help but enjoy it when you get to see more of them.

detective conan is an amazing anime that will keep you entertained and develop some logic of how you see the world really is.Sometimes there are few scences with ran and shinchi but the anime is still great.

SPOILER ALERT.                             

IN EP 927 RAN  HAS STARTED DATING WITH SHINCHI WHICH MADE ME HYPER HAPPY.

So far, Conan is a pretty good show.  There is a strong sense of a blend from many possible sources or similarities to other things that the show reminds me strongly of in one way or another such as: the "Back to the Future" film series (the relationship between the mad professor and his neighbor is very similar not only of the types of devices and the fact that most fail despite the professor being so smart.  Plus they both look comparable in age both student's original age (Conan) and the professor's.  Marty was also very good at riding skateboards, and though this is not featured very strongly it is strong enough to suggest that Conan/Jimmy is also very good at riding skateboards.); the TV series Psych (This would not be a source but it is similar because  Case Closed is an older show, the music of the first 50 or 60 episodes opening and closing sequence and the style and feel of the various relationships are similar to Psych.  The main characters are both genius detectives who are hiding something from everyone including their own girlfriends who are related to the police in one way or another.  Both main characters often end up involved in cases in the same almost most unlikely of ways.  Both main characters not only hide their true abilities but their very identities from everyone even those they love or care about or that are closest to them save a few who know and later eventually others find out or figure out the main character's true identity or skills.); Columbo (There are times the show reminds me strongly of Columbo in how Conan/Jimmy quickly solves cases and often seems to know exactly who the culprit is long before he even starts developing much in the way of finding evidence.  Like Columbo, he also often ends up going right to the suspect and interogating him or her early on.  Many times the suspect looks suspiciously at or fears Conan/Jimmy too soon or easily as if they some how sense danger in him like suspects often seem to do fairly early with Columbo and then either try specifically to fool them (Columbo and Conan/Jimmy) or harm both to get them out of the way some way or another); The Fog (Though this is only for the 2 part episodes of the Mist Goblin, but the story, background, and such were a little too similar.  I sense strongly the Fog may have been used as a near shot for shot source of inspiration for these two episodes.  It even went down to the distant past of how the villagers related to the group of pirates and how the pirates ended up were almost exactly the same.  It is a little too close to be mere coincidence.); Murder, She Wrote (Like Psych, the main character often ends up involved in the most unlikely of ways and it seems that such violent crimes gravitate toward both in how they often end up involved.  There are times when a fictional story either the main wrote about or relatives of the main, somehow get connected with some of the cases.); The Wild, Wild West (Now here both main characters are gifted and perhaps genius or near genius level when it comes to how well they deal with the cases they are involved with.  Both main characters use deception or disguises to aid them, though Conan/Jimmy's is a much more permanent one so far.  Both main characters have a close friend who supplies them with information or gadgets at times.  Both use spy tools and behaviors (Conan/Jimmy the supposed detective at times acts more like a spy than a detective) to accomplish their tasks.).  There are others this show reflects in some way or another. 

It is a more or less positive refreshing story with high brow high intellectual types of stories in each episode.  Some shows are connected and need to be seen in order but most are not, which is neither a negative or a positive trait.  Sometimes the show is pretty funny and others it is a bit more serious and not afraid to adress more serious natures of things such as kidnapping or death threats.  His behavior is a little deceptive because though he is smart and supposed to be only 17 despite his now shorter younger looking body, he often acts more like a 30 or 40 year old while his future father n law acts more like a teenager though a more dim witted one.

The only downsides on the show so far are: How he deceives the one he loves (Yes he may have fairly good reason via the threat of an unknown criminal organization but that also feels more like a lame excuse and not a totally legit reason to lie to his so called love and girlfriend.  You know how women love being lied to or deceived by the ones they love too right?); The main story seems to be dragging on a bit too much (I did not even see a hint of another encounter with the so called criminal organization until about episode 54 (Game Company Murder) which suggests a few things: One, the so called criminal organization doesn't care about Jimmy despite his name cropping up a few times already; Two, the so called organization is not nearly as large, well organized, or dangerous as Conan/Jimmy believes which sort of puts a damper on the whole reason he deceives them; Three, the so called organization might already know about the effects of the 'poison' (even if that one episode was not what it seemed, it does reveal a weakness, after all this time, it is likely they used it more than once and probably would have seen that it did not kill the target.  So you might call this a serious plot hole.); Four, though it is not actually said yet, his house still seems to belong to him and even if not what happened to all his stuff?; Five, though we do meet and see reasons why, but why did not the POLICE of all people notice Jimmy missing for so long or investigate?; Six, it is vaguely suggested Conan/Jimmy is still somehow attending highschool, but no teachers, friends, or other students ever notice or care he isn't actually in classes save Rachael and her best friend?; and Seven, the fact that an idiot is getting credit for all his work stinks and though some know the truth, too few do and too few aren't so easily fooled by the often haphazard lopsided crappy methods he is forced to used to deceive others such as the fact that Richard is not always used.  The main two problems are the fact he is lying to and deceiving the person he supposedly loves and despite being as smart and well read as he is, is somehow dumb enough to think that doing so will either work or end well, and how the story is dragging on so slowly about all the time missing from his life without much to go on about how he is dealing with it such as, is he taking high school classes in absentia?  Another little thing bad about it is how dumb Richard Moore is and is still getting credit for it and no one ever notices that he is in fact an idiot or that Conan is behind it all save maybe one so far.  I have to wonder though despite doing those things right in front of Rachael, why didn't she notice?  

If you can get past these often sadly blaringly overt over the top logic issues and plot holes, it is a pretty good show.  I guess it is enough to entertain children more than anyone with experience and a higher than average intellect, but even those it may amuse but not quite to the same level the high intellect of the main character suggests.  At least it has an air of suspension of disbelief where other shows often lack that.  Though it maybe hard to swallow, the story does in it's own way adequately set up the background over time and you realize everyone around Conan/Jimmy save a small handful, are just guilable idiots.  This sadly includes Rachael given how easily she is fooled.  I will admit, I wanted to believe she was slightly more intelligent then everyone else Conan/Jimmy fools but in at least one episode, Conan/Jimmy literally shots a tranquilizer dart at Richard Moore right in front of Rachael and sh doesn't grasp what she saw.  I don't mean he did it from some hidden corner either, he literally stood right in front of her facing Richard and his back was not facing Rachael, she had a side view of him shooting a dart at Richard, so there is no way she would or could not have seen him raise the target sight on his watch and watched how her father dropped right after.  Everyone else you can understand why or how they might be fooled or are not sharp enough to catch it, well the ones that don't that is as I said a few do catch on.

Now all that out of the way, it is other wise a good entertaining show.  Most the stories and epsiodes are ok for even fairly young children to watch.  A few however, you might be a bit weary of such as (Episodes 34-35, A Mountain Villa Murder, due to higher than average for the show violence and graphic nature, and episdes like the shipwreck murder where a woman is shown in a somewhat revealing bikini or one where Rachael is a little just a couple episodes before that), so parents should keep a watch out for those occasional more adult than averag episodes.  However, if you at least either watch each episode first or watch it with your children then you should be ok, just be ready to deal with those things as they come up.

Review is subject to change as I watch more episodes.  It is over 800 so far, and I have barely watched 1/10th of that.

Detective Conan started airing in my country when I was about 12/13 years old. I was already a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes books by then. So when I found Conan, I immediately loved it. The references to Sherlock Holmes in Conan'sd deductions were such a treat. They stopped the show in my country soon but I was hooked. I have many fond childhood memories of this anime. I'm 22 now and I keep catching up with newer episodes whenever I can. The cases are almost always interesting and you never feel bored.

This is one of the shows I will keep watching no matter if it's "good" or "bad". The only complaint I have about it is that the pacing is too slow and even random at times. Some episodes are connected linearly, and some aren't. It really makes it difficult to skip episodes because I don't want to miss the parts relevant to the main story. Apart from that, I think this is a great show to watch for killing time.