Case Closed, known originally as Meitantei Conan (名探偵コナン?, lit. Great Detective Conan, officially translated as Detective Conan), is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since January 19, 1994, and has been collected into 84 tankōbon volumes. Due to legal considerations with the name Detective Conan, the English language release was renamed to Case Closed.[1] The story follows Jimmy Kudo, an amateur detective who transformed into a child while investigating the Black Organization.
Meitantei Conan received an anime adaptation by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation and TMS Entertainment. The anime resulted in animated feature films, original video animations, video games, audio disc releases, and live action episodes. In 2009, a television special titled Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan was aired featuring characters from Lupin III.
Funimation licensed the anime series for North American broadcast in 2003 under the name Case Closed with the characters given Americanized names. The anime premiered on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim
programming block and was discontinued due to low ratings. On March
2013, Funimation began streaming their licensed episodes of Case Closed. The first six films were released on Region 1 DVD in North America. Viz Media later licensed the manga series for English-language publication in North America and used Funimation's renamed title and cast.
The tankōbon volumes of the manga have sold over 140 million copies in Japan. In 2001, the manga was awarded 46th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category. The anime adaptation has been well received and ranked in the top twenty in Animage 's polls between 1996 and 2001. In the Japanese TV anime ranking, Detective Conan
episodes ranked in the top six on a weekly basis. Both the manga and
anime have had positive response from critics for its plot and cases.
Plot
Jimmy Kudo is a high school detective who sometimes works with the police to solve cases.
[1] During an investigation, he is attacked by
Gin and
Vodka who belong to a syndicate known as the
Black Organization. They force him to ingest an experimental poison called
APTX 4869
to kill him without leaving evidence. A rare side-effect of the poison,
however, transforms him into a child instead of killing him.
[2] Adopting the pseudonym Conan Edogawa, Kudo hides his identity to investigate the Black Organization.
[3] Later,
Shiho Miyano,
a member of the Black Organization and creator of APTX 4869, tries to
leave the syndicate after her sister's death but is captured. She
attempts suicide by ingesting APTX 4869, and like Kudo, is transformed
into a child. She escapes and enrolls in Conan's school under a
pseudonym, Anita Hailey.
[4] During a rare encounter with the Black Organization, Conan helps the FBI plant a CIA agent,
Kir, inside the Black Organization as an undercover spy.
[5]
In 2007, Aoyama hinted he had the ending planned out but does not intend to end the series yet
