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Case Closed
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Case Closed, also known as in Japan and most other countries, is a Japanese detective manga and anime series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama and serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1994. In the English world, it was renamed "Case Closed" due to legal issues concerning the name with that of the Conan the Barbarian franchise.
Case Closed follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a prodigious young detective who was investigating a secret criminal organization when he was knocked out and given a drug that was supposed to kill him, but inadvertently transformed his body back to that of his seven-year-old self.
Case Closed is adapted into an anime series by the animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha, directed by Kenji Kodama and Taiichiro Yamamoto, and airs in Japan on Nippon Television, Yomiuri TV and Animax.
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Encyclopedia
Case Closed, also known as in Japan and most other countries, is a Japanese detective manga and anime series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama and serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1994. In the English world, it was renamed "Case Closed" due to legal issues concerning the name with that of the Conan the Barbarian franchise.
Case Closed follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a prodigious young detective who was investigating a secret criminal organization when he was knocked out and given a drug that was supposed to kill him, but inadvertently transformed his body back to that of his seven-year-old self.
Case Closed is adapted into an anime series by the animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha, directed by Kenji Kodama and Taiichiro Yamamoto, and airs in Japan on Nippon Television, Yomiuri TV and Animax. The first episode aired on January 8, 1996, with 520 episodes as of December 15, 2008. 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 12 Golden Week movies, with the first released on April 17, 1997, and one movie released each year since. Ten of the movies held a top 10 box office position in the year they were screened. In addition, nine OVAs have been released.
Plot
Jimmy Kudo, a gifted 17-year-old high school detective who works with the police frequently, is attacked by two members of a mysterious crime syndicate while investigating a case of blackmail. He is forced to take a newly-developed drug that is supposed to kill him, but due to a rare side effect (unknown to the two men), the drug transformed his body into that of a seven-year-old's instead.
In order to hide his identity and investigate the whereabouts of the syndicate (which he later discovers is called the Black Organization), he adopts the pseudonym Edogawa Conan. To search for leads to the syndicate, he moves in with his childhood friend and love interest Rachel Moore whose father Richard Moore is a private investigator. He also enrolls into Teitan elementary school and forms the Junior Detective League with three elementary school friends, Amy, Mitch and George.
Even as Conan, Jimmy continues solving criminal cases through posing as Richard Moore using special gadgets. Richard Moore, a rather inept detective, is bewildered at the sudden rise in his case-solving abilities, but does not question as he is more than glad about his subsequent rise in fame. As the series progresses, so does the relationship between Jimmy and Ran. However, as Ran does not know that Conan is really Jimmy, a special relationship develops between Conan and Ran.
Later in the series, another main character, Haibara Ai, appears. A former member of the Black Organization, codenamed "Sherry", she is actually Miyano Shiho, a gifted chemist who worked on the poison APTX 4869, the one that turned Jimmy into a child. After her sister was brutally murdered by members of the Black Organization, she tried to escape and was held captive. She then committed suicide by taking a dose of APTX 4869, but instead transformed into a child as well and managed to escape the organization. She then enrolled into Conan's school under the pseudonym Haibara Ai.
Media
Manga
The manga was first serialized in the fifth issue Shonen Sunday in 1994, written and drawn by Gosho Aoyama. The manga has, after that, been continually serialized on Since then, Shonen Sunday. The first tankoubon was also published by Shogakukan in 1994; it has spanned 64 volumes, and continuing. The manga has been highly popular in Japan; the tankoubon has received multiple first places in bestselling lists .
Viz Media publishes Case Closed manga in the United States and Canada; Gollancz publishes the manga in the United Kingdom using Viz Media's English translation. Out of the adaption of character names used in the anime version, there is no significant change between the English translations and the Japanese versions. Currently, there are twenty-seven known English books in stores and more expected according to rightstuf.com
Anime
Directed by Kenji Kodama and Yasuichiro Yamamoto and produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, the Case Closed anime series first premiered in Japan on January 8, 1996 on Yomiuri TV and Nippon TV. The series spans thirteen seasons so far, with 524 episodes airing as of February 16, 2009.
It is licensed for English language release in North America by Funimation Entertainment. The English dubbed episodes began airing on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block on May 24, 2004. Fifty episodes aired until it was canceled in January 2005 due to low ratings. The dubbed episodes aired in Canada on YTV's Bionix programming block from April 7, 2006 until it was cancelled on September 2, 2006. They also aired on the Funimation Channel programming block on CoLours TV starting June 19, 2006. As of early 2009, FUNimation has released a total of 105 episodes to Region 1 DVD. Funimation released its first 26-episode season box set on July 22, 2008; as of February 17, 2009, it has released four season sets. On February 17, 2009, season box set four was released. It contained episodes 80-105. Season 5 box set will contain episodes 106-130 which is to be released in May 2009. The series has also been dubbed into English by the anime television network Animax and broadcast on its English-language networks in Southeast Asia.
TV drama
There are currently two single-episode TV drama made for this series, one in 2006 and one in 2007.
The first drama, which was premiered in Japan on Nippon Television on October 2, 2006. It served as a prequel of the current storyline, starring Shun Oguri as Jimmy Kudo, Tomoka Kurokawa as Rachel Moore, and Takanori Jinnai as Richard Moore.
The second TV drama was premiered on December 17, 2007, with added characters such as Yu Kashii as Shiho Miyano, Sasaki Kuranosuke as Gin, Okada Taro as Vodka, Tayama Ryosei as Agasa, Fujisaki Nao (Conan) and Shibata Kyoka (Haibara).
Movies
Since 1997, there has been an animated Detective Conan movie released on every Golden Week. With the exception of the first movie, all Detective Conan movies have been one of the highest-grossing movies on the year it was screened in Japan.
The first movie, was screened on April 19, 1997, directed by Michihiko Sawa and written by Kazunari Kochi. It was partly based on Gosho Aoyama's planned ending for Magic Kaito, on a chain of arson/bombing cases around Tokyo, intertwined with Rachel's request for a date with Jimmy in a place destined to be bombed. It was released by FUNimation in 2006, and short of standard name changes, there was no significant changes to the English adaptation.
The second movie, , was debuted on April 18, 1998, and the English version was released in 2007. Directed by Kanetsugu Kodama and written by Kazunari Kochi, it was about a case where people close to Richard Moore were attacked in a way similar to The A.B.C. Murders. This movie achieved a distributor's income of 1.05 billion Japanese yen. It was released by FUNimation as DVD in 2007. Although the storyline remained the same, due to character name changes, there has been a significant changes on the explanation of the names used.
The third movie, , was debuted on April 17, 1999. It shared the same director and writer as the last movie, being Kanetsugu Kodama and Kazunari Kochi respectively. This movie was on a newly-discovered Faberge egg that was subjected to Phantom Thief Kid's warning-- and a murder case that involves the descendant of Rasputin. This movie achieved a distributor's income of 1.45 billion Japanese yen.
The fourth movie, , was first screened on April 22, 2000. Directed and wrote by the same staff of the previous two movies, Captured in Her Eyes was about Rachel Moore got entangled a series of murder cases where police officers were victims when a failed murder attempt made her amnesiac and made herself another target of the killer. This movie achieved a box office income of 2.5 billion Japanese yen.
The fifth movie, , was first screened on April 21, 2001. Keeping the director and writer of previous movies, in this movie the murder of a developer, the bombing of the latest development of the development, together with the Black Organization and Anita Hailey's suspicious phone calls, brought it the box office of 2.9 billion Japanese yen.
The sixth movie, , was first screened on April 20, 2002. This movie was written by famed scriptwriter Hisashi Nozawa, but kept Kanetsugu Kodama as director. This movie was a double story: in real life, the murder of a IT magnate's chief programmer, and in the virtual world, the virtual reality game that Conan etc. was in their lives were in stake. This movie brought 3.4 billion yen in box office, the highest in all the movie so far.
The seventh movie, , was first screened on April 19, 2003. The writer was reverted to Kazunari Kochi while Kanetsugu Kodama was kept as the director. Staged in Kyoto, this movie was the unmasking of a gang of antique robbers. This movie brought box office income of 3.2 billion yen.
The eighth movie, , was first screened on April 17, 2004. This was the first of Yasuichiro Yamamoto's Detective Conan movies, but Kazunari Kochi kept as the writer. The movie was about a poisoning case on an airliner, and since the pilot and co-pilot were also affected, Conan Edogawa and Kid the Phantom Thief were forced to take case of the lives of the passengers. The movie brought the box office income of 2.8 billion yen.
The ninth movie, , was first screened on April 19, 2005. The movie kept the previous movie's director and writer, being Yasuichiro Yamamoto and Kazunari Kochi respectively. Set on a cruise ship and integrating the murder of the shipbuilder, a shipwreck disaster, and part of Rachel Moore and Jimmy Kudo's past, this movie brought box office of 2.15 billion yen.
The tenth movie, was announced on December 15, 2005 and was released on April 15, 2006, debuting at the number one position in the Japanese box office and remained there for three consecutive weeks. As of May 28, 2006, it has earned $25.8 million in the Japanese box office. Directed by Taiichiro Yamamoto and written by Kazunari Kochi, it was about Conan's investigation of an old murder case as Rachel etc. were held hostage. Important personnel like Harley Hartwell, Kid the Phantom Thief and Saguru Hakuba have all appeared in this movie.
The eleventh movie, , was first released on April 27, 2007. Written by Kazunari Kochi and directed by Kanetsugu Kodama, the movie was about the murder of treasure hunters and the alleged loot left by pirate Anne Bonny on a Japanese island. This movie brought in 2.53 billion yen.
The twelfth movie, was announced on February 20, 2008, and released on April 19, 2008, debuting at the number one position in the Japanese box office. It is unknown how long it remained there for at this time. There have been reports that the advertising for the film was limited, yet normal for a Detective Conan movie. It was reported that (an estimate of) 350,000 people watched the movie in its opening weekend alone. As of May 5, 2008 the movie has earned over 420.03 million yen.. It is twelfth on 2008's Top Domestic Movies at Japanese Box Office.
The thirteenth movie, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser (?????? ?????? Meitantei Conan Shikkoku no Chaser) was previewed at the end of the twelfth movie and it set to be released on April 16, 2009. This movie is confirmed to be about the Black Organization, the first since movie 5. In the movie, a new member of the Black Organization manages to find out Conan's identity, putting everyone around him in danger.
Video games
A Game Boy Advance game of Conan called Detective Conan: The Targeted Detective was released in Japan with no outside release planned. In 2007, a Wii game of Case Closed named Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation was released on May, 2007 in Japan and is scheduled for a North American release in 2009.
An adventure game for the Conan series titled Meitantei Conan & Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbou for the DS was released on February 5, 2009. On its opening weekend it sold about 20,000 copies and was the sixth best-selling game in Japan.
Reception
In 2001, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shonen, along with Cheeky Angel by Hiroyuki Nishimori. 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.
TV Asahi, in a national survey conducted in 2005, put the series to the sixth in the top 100 anime, while in a web survey also conducted by the same TV network, the series was put to the eighth. The same poll, done in 2006, put the series in the 23rd place using the online poll, and 43rd basing on a survey of 100 celebrities.
Due to its high popularity, several Japanese government agencies had used the series to promote government policies, including the mission of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the history of the G8 Summit, and general crime fighting.
Case Closed was featured in the sixth installment of Japan Post's Anime, Heroes and Heroines commemorative stamp series, issued on 3 April 2006. The set was on a miniature sheet, featuring Jimmy Kudo, Conan Edogawa, Rachel Moore, the Junior Detective League, the Black Organization, Anita Hailey, and Phantom Thief Kid. The first day of issue cancel featured Conan and Rachel.
In contrast to praises, there were criticism about the series. IGN commented how the series is not going anywhere and is always returning the status quo. They criticized the English dubbing and the changing of character names to American sounding ones.
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