Detective Conan

Detective Conan (名探偵コナン) 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 eighty-four Tankōbon volumes as of July 18, 2014.

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 734 episodes as of March 29th, 2014. 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, always in the month of April. Ten of the movies held a top 10 box office position in the year they were screened. In addition, five Magic Files related to the movies and twelve Original Video Animations have been released.

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 is known as "Case Closed" in North America. The name "Case Closed" results from concerns of copyright conflict of the name Detective Conan.

Viz Media licensed the manga series under the name for English-language publication in North America and will have the fiftieth volume, released by April 8th, 2014. Print edition for the manga covers of volume 48, 49 and 50 are completed and set, volume 48 is scheduled for October 8, 2013,, volume 49, for January 14, 2014 and volume 50, for April 8, 2014.

Because Victor Gollancz Ltd canceled publication of Detective Conan after 15 volumes in UK, Viz Media continues to handle UK's distribution with the American edition. Funimation Entertainment 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. In Canada, Case Closed premiered on channel YTV, 22 episodes were broadcasted between April 7th, 2006 and September 2nd, 2006. . A separate English adaptation of the series by Animax Asia premiered in the Philippines on January 18th, 2006, under the name Detective Conan. Because Animax were unable to obtain further TV broadcast rights, their version comprised 52 episodes. The series continued with reruns until August 7, 2006, when it was removed from the station. Funimation also released DVDs of their dubbed series beginning August 24th, 2004. Initially, the releases were done in single DVDs and future episodes were released in seasonal boxes; as of 2009, they have released 130 episodes dubbed in English. The seasonal boxes were later re-released in redesigned boxes entitled Viridian edition. The first six films were released on Region 1 DVD in North America between October 3rd 2006 and February 16th 2010, and sold very well.

As a part of its syndication with the Funimation Channel, Colours TV aired Case Closed at the night-time progamming block, premiering on June 19th 2006. Till 2012, no more than 130 episodes (episodes 1-123 Japanese version) have been dubbed in English. Detective Conan is later broadcasted in North America on NHK's cable network TV Japan. Though anime didn't get that popular in North America, the manga enjoys high success. The first volume appeared trice in the top ten best sellers, right after its premiere, the same volume has also appeared on the ranking list conducted by Diamond Comic Distributors in August, 2004. Later manga volumes have appeared on the New York Times Manga Best Sellers lists at various times. Volume 41 broke the record making it to the top 5 in sales rank during the week ending on January 14th, 2012. The manga continues to be released in North America, though it trails the Japanese publishing by about 30 volumes.

S. California's UTB, United Television Broadcasting's free digital television station began to re-broadcast already dubbed Case Closed episodes on August 21st, 2011. The next two-episode block was scheduled for Saturday, August 27th, followed by two more episodes on Sunday, August 28th. The episodes were broadcasted at 6:30 a.m and repeated at 10:30 a.m the same day. A one-episode block also aired at 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays as well.

Incidentally, the catchphrase for Masumi Sera is 'Case Closed' (whether it's intended as a reference or coincidental is unspecified).

As of 2013, only one Case Closed branded video game was released, which was Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation, which was a Nintendo Wii exclusive title and released only in Japan and Europe. It features the English voice cast from the Anime for the English version, and has minor changes in script. It is so far the only English DC Game.

As of April 2013, Funimation was renewed the Case Closed license "For Future Use". Additionally on April 2nd 2013, Funimation announced Starting April 16th 2013 seasons 1-5 would be made available digitally through many online vendors, starting with iTunes, Playstation Network and Xbox Live. Season 1 will be available April 16th, season 2 and 3 in May, and Season 4 and 5 in June. Movie release dates have not been announced, however a hint shown in the description hints at a possible new season. Each episode will be 99 cents a piece. Source

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.

The manga is a huge success and it is continued to be published. It won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category in 2000. Some of its volumes appear on the lists of best-selling manga.

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.

Although popular in many other countries, Case Closed was not as successful in the US, most likely due to poor advertising, name changes, and script changes. Due to this, the "Case Closed" version was cancelled at only 130 episodes. However, the manga is still released by VIZ media, and Funimation is continuing to dub movies.

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, Black Cat, Inuyasha, Hayate the Combat Butler, Proposal Daisakusen, Sonic X, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, Angelic Layer , and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney 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.