Case Closed

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Case Closed is also the title of a book on the JFK assassination by Gerald Posner.

Case Closed
名探偵コナン (Detective Conan)
Genre	Mystery, Shōnen, Romance
Manga
Authored by	Gosho Aoyama
Publisher	Shogakukan VIZ Media Gollancz Manga
Other publishers: EMA Kana Planeta DeAgostini Star Comics Egmont Kärnan Kim Đồng Egmont Elex Media Komputindo Edko Publishing Daiwon Tora Aman Vibulkij Comics NXB Kim Đồng
Serialized in	Shonen Sunday Weekly Comic 漫畫周刊 Neoz
Original run	1994 –
No. of volumes	57 (currently) (600 chapters)
TV anime
Directed by	Kenji Kodama, Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Studio	Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Network	NTV, Yomiuri TV, Animax YTV FUNimation Channel, Adult Swim (Previously) GMA7
Other networks: Cartoon Network GMA7 RTL II Italia 1 Tooniverse CTS TV Azteca Etc...TV, Chilevisión Cartoon Network Dubai TV TV3 Modernine TV, TRUE Spark (TRUE Visions Cable TV) Animax TVB
Original run	8 January 1996 –
No. of episodes	469 (currently, List of episodes) 83 (US dubbed)
TV drama
Directed by	unannounced
Studio	unannounced
Network	NTV/Yomiuri TV
Original run	2 October 2006 – 2 October 2006
No. of episodes	1
Related
Movies (11), OVAs (6)

Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Conan^?) in Japan and other countries, is a detective manga and anime series by Gosho Aoyama which has been published in Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine since 1994.

The series depicts the cases of a young private detective who was inadvertently turned into a prepubescent boy by a certain criminal organization. Although his body has been shrunk, he continues to solve many cases and is strugging to solve the mysteries of the criminal organization responsible in order to return to his normal body.

VIZ Media publishes Detective Conan manga in English as Case Closed for American audiences. The comic uses the original right-to-left format and the English anime names for the main characters while it uses the original Japanese names for the minor characters.

The anime version is produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and has currently aired 467 television episodes (as of March 5, 2007) and ten movies in Japan, and is still running on Japanese television today. It airs Mondays at 7:30 p.m. on Nippon TV, and is also broadcast in Japan by the anime CS network, Animax, who have also aired the series across its networks in Southeast Asia and East Asia (including its English language network in the Philippines, where its English adaptation stayed true to the original, retaining the original name Detective Conan, as well as each of the characters' original Japanese names and dialogue)^[1]. In July 2003, FUNimation announced that they licensed Detective Conan for a release in North America, to be released as "Case Closed" due to legal issues concerning the name Conan (Conan the Barbarian, although Conan can be considered a regular name as in Conan O'Brien). In the United Kingdom VIZ's releases are published by Gollancz Manga with the same naming conventions.

The tenth movie, Private Eyes' Requiem^[2] was announced on December 15, 2005 and was released on April 15, 2006, debuting at the number one position in the Japanese box office^[3] and remained there for three consecutive weeks. As of May 28, 2006, it has earned $25.8 million in the Japanese box office. ^[4]

The latest in the series of its franchise is a live-action TV drama which is poised to be aired in autumn 2006. It would act as a prequel of the current storyline, starring Shun Oguri as Shin'ichi Kudo (Jimmy Kudo), Tomoka Kurokawa as Ran Mori (Rachel Moore), and Takanori Jinnai as Kogoro Mori (Richard Moore) ^[5].

Contents 1 Story 2 Series format 3 Movies 4 Music 4.1 Opening animation 4.2 Ending animation 4.3 Adaptations elsewhere 5 Broadcast and adaptations 5.1 Animax adaptation 6 Inquiry by Yosihiko Funazaki 7 Awards 8 See also 9 References 10 External links 10.1 English 10.2 Japanese 10.3 Other 11 Navigation

[edit] Story

The English manga names will be used, with the Japanese original in brackets at their first mention. Japanese names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name, with the exception of Edogawa Rampo (Edogawa is the last name here).

At the beginning of the story, 17-year old (16 years in the manga) high school student Jimmy Kudo (Shin'ichi Kudo) becomes a 6-year old boy, Conan Edogawa. Jimmy Kudo in the beginning is known as a high school student detective. One day, Jimmy goes to a theme park named "Tropical Land," with his girlfriend, Rachel Moore (or Ran Mori). He encountered a case where a roller coaster passenger, Kishida (Kenneth in the English anime), is killed in a spectacularly bloody decapitation^[6]. He solved the case and then on his return home, he witnesses a suspicious deal of some men dressing completely in black. One man in black spots him, knocks him down, and gives him an untested poison named Apotoxin-4869 (APTX4869), which is intended to kill him and ensure there will be no body left to investigate. Although he isn't killed by the poison, when he comes to his senses, his body has shrunk down to the size of an elementary school boy.^[7]

Following the advice of Dr. Hiroshi Agasa (Dr. Herschel Agasa in the English anime), Jimmy hides his real identity, lest the men in black find out that he is alive. When Rachel asks for his name, Jimmy spots books by Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo and comes up with the name "Conan Edogawa." Agasa says that "Conan" is a relative of his, but was too busy to take care of a young child, and suggests that "Conan" go live with Rachel, and both Conan and Rachel agree.^[8]

Rachel's father, Richard Moore (Kogoro Mori) is an incapable detective. Conan always solves mysteries in his stead. As Conan appears to be just a boy, police don't pay any attention to him. Conan instead uses Detective Moore by putting him to sleep with a "anesthesia gun-watch"^[9] and pretending to be Moore by using a voice changer disguised as a bow tie. ^[10] Other important characters that appear (some later) are Jimmy's parents Booker (Yusaku) and Vivian (Yukiko) Kudo , Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori), a rival detective from Osaka^[11], a gentleman thief Phantom Thief Kid (怪盗キッド, Kaitō Kido^?)^[12] , who also appears in Magic Kaito), the inventor of the APTX4869 Shiho Miyano (codename "Sherry" within the black organization, turned into a child also after she took her own drug to escape the organization, and then lives with Dr. Agasa under her new name Ai Haibara)^[13], and the other members of the Black Organization: Gin, Vodka, Tequila, Calvados, Pisco, Vermouth, Kir, Chianti, Köln, and a mysterious "boss" who has only been mentioned so far.

To maintain his cover, Conan goes to Titan elementary school (Japanese: Teitan Elementary School (帝丹小学校, Teitan Shōgakkō^?))and has made friends with three children at the school, George Kaminski (Genta Kojima), Mitch Tennison (Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya) and Amy Yeager (Ayumi Yoshida) who form the self-styled Junior Detective League (Detective Boys (少年探偵団, Shōnen Taitei-dan^?) in original). Although Conan feels profoundly self conscious playing with them given his true age, the foursome have numerous adventures of their own and the trio have proved capable assistants to the detective for their age.

[edit] Series format

Case Closed has the format of classical mystery/crime literature, with such classical set ups such as the Closed-Room-Type murder case, and cases with a limited number of suspects. It also includes the wrap up of the case and conclusion/solution of the case as in typical crime literature.

Most episodes are self-contained, especially in the anime, which uses an episodic format (though multi-part episodes abound.) Occasionally there are also long story arcs.

A typical Conan episode begins with the main cast (usually either Conan, Richard, and Rachel, or Conan and the JR Detective League, or occasionally both groups together) arriving at a location and meeting several new characters. One of them eventually turns up dead, and the others are all possible suspects. Conan investigates (usually clandestinely) and uses various tricks to call the adults' attention to the different clues, usually in such a way that they won't suspect that he recognized them as being pertinent to the case. Eventually, Conan will discover some important clue that will confirm his suspicions of who the killer is; however the viewer will not be told the conclusion he has reached. At this point, Conan will wait until Richard and all the suspects are in the same room and then knock Richard out with a dart from his watch (occasionally when Richard is not around, he will use another character.) Then he impersonates Richard's voice with his bowtie and to make it look like Richard is the one who solved the murder. At this point, the viewer is informed of Conan's deduction along with the characters themselves. The explanation usually starts with an explanation of how the murder was committed, ending with "Richard" revealing the killer's identity. The killer will usually deny it and point out that there is no proof, at which point Conan calls his/her bluff and reveals that he has found conclusive proof. At this point, the killer usually confesses and gives him/herself up, though occasionally they try to make a break for it. Either way, the story ends with the culprit safely behind bars. Often the final scene involves some sort of gag (usually involving Richard doing something stupid) to lighten the mood.

There are a few cases when the killer's identity is already known, however, he/she usually has an alibi of some sort, and Conan must figure out "how" they did it.

At the end of each episode, a hint is given as to how the following episode's murder is committed, and is shown on the screen.

Many references to other detective literature can also be found for fans of detective novels; References to Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's works, Kogoro Akechi, Kosuke Kindaichi, Arsène Lupin, Maigret, Ranpo Edogawa, and many more.

The manga also includes a Detective Encyclopedia, where many characters of detective, mystery, and crime literature and film are introduced, including even Columbo and James Bond.

In Japan a new theatrical movie of Detective Conan is released every year in April during the Golden Week. Also, regular appearances of 1 hour specials as well as the yearly two hour new year special define the series.

[edit] Movies

Since 1997, a movie based on the series is screened during the Golden Week of Japan. Because of the series' general popularity in Japan, most of the movies are number one in box office rating at debut, if not for several weeks. The list of movies screened so far include:^[14]

1. The Time-Bombed Skyscraper (名探偵コナン 時計じかけの摩天楼, Meitantei Konan Tokei Jikake no Matenrō^?), 1997, 2006 (English version)
2. Detective Conan: The Fourteenth Target (名探偵コナン 14番目の標的, Meitantei Konan Jyuuyon banme no Tagetto^?), 1998, Distribution income: 1.05 billion yen.
3. Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century (名探偵コナン 世紀末の魔術師, Meitantei KonanSeikimatsu no Majutsushi^?), 1999, Distribution income: 1.45 billion yen
4. Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (名探偵コナン 瞳の中の暗殺者, Meitantei Konan Hitomi no Naka no Ansatsusha^?), 2000, Box office: 2.5 billion Yen.
5. Detective Conan: Countdown to Heaven (名探偵コナン 天国へのカウントダウン, Meitantei Konan Tengoku He no Kauntodaun^?), 2001, Box office: 2.9 billion Yen.
6. Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street (名探偵コナン ベイカー街の亡霊, Meitantei Konan Beikā Sutorīto no Bōrei^?), 2002, Box office: 3.4 billion Yen.
7. Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (名探偵コナン 迷宮の十字路, Meitantei Konan Meikyū no Kurosurōdo^?), 2003, Box office: 3.2 billion Yen.
8. Detective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky (名探偵コナン 銀翼の奇術師, Meitantei Konan Ginyoku no Majishan^?), 2004, Box office: 2.8 billion Yen.
9. Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths (名探偵コナン 水平線上の陰謀, Meitantei Konan Suiheisenjō no Sutoratejī^?), 2005, Box office: 2.15 billion Yen.
10. Detective Conan: The Private Eyes' Requiem (名探偵コナン 探偵たちの鎮魂歌, Meitantei Konan Tantei tachi no REQUIEM^?), 2006 (10th Anniversary Special)
11. Detective Conan: Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (名探偵コナン 紺碧の棺, Meitantei Konan Konpeki no Jorī Rojā^?), April 21, 2007.

[edit] Music

To date, Detective Conan/Case Closed has 19 Opening themes and 26 Ending themes in Japan. Most of the themes, except a few, were sung by Giza Studio singers or groups.

[edit] Opening animation

The 5th is the first to introduce Shiho/Ai. The 6th is the first to introduce officer Wilder. The 7th is the first to show all the main officers that work with Inspector Meguire as well as Rachel's mother (Eva Kadan). The 10th is the first to show Gin and Vodka thoroughly in the intro credits. The 13th is the first to show ALL the officers including those who don't work with Meguire, plus, Jodie, Shuichi, Araide, Yukiko, Yusaku, and the new BO member Vermouth. The 15th introduces James Black and the FBI Agents (Jodie Santemillion and Shuichi Akai). And the 16th Opening is the first to introduce new members of the Black Organization (Kir, Chianti, and Korn). The 17th Opening recycles visuals from the previous openings (13-16), however, it adds Kir to Vermouth, Gin, and Vodka's group as the main black organization members. The 18th opening shows almost every contributing minor character in the series, and Kir as the only black corps member. The 19th Opening focuses mainly on Conan and Rachel's relationship, and unlike the previous, eliminates almost all the minor characters.

[edit] Ending animation

From ending 1-18, the animation begins and end with the same video, however, in between they show different scenes of the currently aired episode. Starting ending 19, this differs and the animation displays a picture of Rachel and Jimmy in a photo sitting on a desk while things around the desk change. Ending 20 shows Conan wandering through the city passing various characters. Ending 21 shows Conan and Rachel in chibi version. The 22nd and 23rd ending show an animation based on the relationship of Rachel and Jimmy. The 24th shows character outlines while displaying different views of the city. Starting ending 25, the animation resorts back to showing scenery of the episode while the beginning and end remain intact.

[edit] Adaptations elsewhere

In the U.S. version, as is customary for most of FUNimation's productions, the original songs were replaced by new songs using the same melodies and an English translation of the original lyrics. Only 7 of the original Japanese themes have been dubbed. For the German series, only 9 have been dubbed.

[edit] Broadcast and adaptations

Detective Conan is airing on Yomiuri TV (producing TV station), NNS TV stations, and TV Miyazaki on Mondays at 7:30 p.m., after Tezuka Anime, Black Jack. It is regularly one of the highest rated programs on Japanese television.

There have been unconfirmed reports that the Fox Network (pre-Fox Box) considered licensing the series at one point, but decided not to as it was thought to be far too violent^[15]. Indeed, there are many situations that involve disturbing homicides, such as human corpses, dismembered bodies, and in a very few cases, even murdered children. (In the very first episode of the anime, the young man, Kishida, is beheaded on a roller coaster, with actual graphic detail and gore. The anime version has gouts of what appears to be intense light spouting from where Kenneth's (as "Kishida" is known in the English anime) head was.

In every other part of the world, in the many countries where Detective Conan was released and aired, the name "Detective Conan" (or the literal translation of it), remained intact, including the anime TV network Animax's English adaptation. Detective Conan has aired in Turkey, Chile, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, China, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Malaysia and other nations.

However, it is alleged that when the series was licensed in North America, it was at the insistence of TMS that legal precautions be taken in the US market and the alternate title "Case Closed" be used.^{[citation needed]} Likewise, FUNimation was also instructed, much to their dislike, to use a new logo designed by TMS, as well as change most of the character's names to what the Japanese licensor felt would be more friendly to an American mainstream audience.^{[citation needed]} However, like many licensor's who have an inaccurate perception of the North American market,^{[citation needed]} marketing an animated murder mystery show to a family audience in the US was far more difficult than TMS anticipated.^{[citation needed]}

Cartoon Network began broadcasting Case Closed as part of their Adult Swim programming block on May 24, 2004. Although a family series in Japan, the mature content of the crimes portrayed prevented it from gaining prime time exposure to its proper audience. Also, one glaring example of an inaccurate translation was an episode where TNT was discounted as the cause of an explosion because of the lack of burnt gunpowder smell or traces of gunpowder (which hurt the series' credibility) - originally, it was the mention and doubt of dynamite instead of TNT. Only 50 episodes aired in the United States, and in January of 2005, Adult Swim announced that it would not purchase additional episodes due to low ratings. They gave back the rights to the series later that year, and it has now debuted on a syndicated FUNimation Channel programming block airing on CoLours TV on June 19, 2006. However, episodes are still being released on DVD, though no news has been given on renewing the license.

FUNimation's English dub of Case Closed made its Canadian television debut on YTV's Bionix programming block on April 7, 2006 at 10:30 p.m. Beginning on June 2, 2006, Case Closed was still part of the Bionix block, but it had been airing at a later timeslot of 12:00 a.m. The reason for this, however, is likely not so much because of low ratings (as was the case on Adult Swim), but because the station needed to meet their annual Canadian Content quota by airing a certain amount of Canadian programming before 12 a.m., leaving, effectively forcing the series out of the main line-up. After broadcasting 21 episodes, YTV has since stopped airing Case Closed, with its final broadcast at 12:00 a.m. on September 2, 2006.

FUNimation's English dub of The Time-Bombed Skyscraper, was released on DVD on October 3, 2006. Unlike the series, the movie left the original animation entirely intact with no translations except in for the opening title and ending credits. The opening title was replaced with an English version. The original Japanese credits were changed from a tour of Tokyo and recap of the movie with an endless loop of fire engines and police cars with their lights from the final scene with the credits displayed over it.

[edit] Animax adaptation

The series was also later dubbed and translated into English by the anime television network Animax for broadcast across its English-language network in the Philippines^[16], with Animax's unedited dub staying true to the original, retaining the original name Detective Conan as well as the original dialogue and each of the character's original Japanese names.^[1] Animax, whose founders include the studio behind the production of the anime series, TMS (along with other studios such as Sunrise, Toei and NAS) has also aired the series in its original network in Japan (in Japanese), as well as its other networks worldwide, including Hong Kong and Taiwan (where it was aired in Chinese).

[edit] Inquiry by Yosihiko Funazaki

Yoshihiko Funazaki mentioned this story has recemble situation to his novel Picasso-kun no tantei note. Although Funazaki inquired Shogakukan about this issue.(But Funazaki didn't read other "Case closed" series except volume1,Because he thought "It is ridiculous that he gave the royalties from Conan books to Gosho Aoyama". )Later,he write about this inquiry process in quartely magazine "Parolu",And he delclared "There is no responsibility（責任の所在がない）","I'll fall into evil way（グレてやる）". ^[17][18]

[edit] Awards

At the 5th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards competition, the ninth Detective Conan movie, Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths, won the Feature Film category, together with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Heirs To The Stars. ^[19]

[edit] See also

• List of Case Closed episodes
• Case Closed Trading Card Game

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] English

• FUNimation's official U.S. website
• Box Office Mojo
• Detective Conan @ dokidoki-paradies.com
• Case Closed Trading Card Game website
• Case Closed at the Internet Movie Database
• Case Closed at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Case Closed (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

[edit] Japanese

• (Japanese) Official website of the Detective Conan movie
• (Japanese) YTV INTERACTIVE -よみうりテレビ - Official TV series web site
• (Japanese) Official manga web site
• (Japanese) Official drama site

[edit] Other

• (Spanish) http://www.shinichi-paradise.com
• (Spanish) http://www.detectiveconanweb.com

• (German) site that has information on the black organization, including the newest members (Kir, Chianti, and Korn)
• (German) RTL II official Detective Conan blog.

[edit] Navigation

Case Closed / Detective Conan
Main Characters
Jimmy Kudo • Rachel Moore • Richard Moore
Minor/Recurring Characters
Harley Hartwell • Kazuha Toyama • Serena Sebastian • Booker Kudo • Vivian Kudo • Hiroshi Agasa • Eva Kadan
Ai Haibara • Mitch Tsuburaya • George Kojima • Amy Yoshida
Phantom Thief Kid • Akemi Miyano • Eisuke Hondou
Black Organization
Gin • Sharon Vineyard • Rena Mizunashi • Chianti