Case Closed

Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan (名探偵 コナン), is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama and is serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994. The name "Case Closed" for the English language release results from "unspecified legal considerations" of the name Detective Conan. The story follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a prodigious young detective who was inadvertently transformed into a child due to a poison.

Case Closed has been continuously serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994 and has been collected in sixty-eight Tankōbon volumes as of May 2010. Since its publication, Case Closed has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series produced by TMS Entertainment and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation which is still ongoing in Japan as it adapts the story from the manga. The series has also spawned fourteen original video animations, fourteen animated feature films, numerous video games, and many types of Case Closed-related merchandise.

Viz Media licensed the manga series under the name for English-language publication in North America and released thirty-five volumes as of July 13th, 2010. Funimation Entertainment licensed the anime series for North American broadcast. Both English adaptions went under the name Case Closed and the characters in the series were given Americanized names. Fifty episodes of the English dubbed series aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block on May 24, 2004 until January 2005 and were discontinued due to low ratings. The first six films, Case Closed: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper, Case Closed: The Fourteenth Target, Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century, Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes, Case Closed: Countdown to Heaven, Case Closed: The Phantom of Baker Street, were released on Region 1 DVD in North America.

Compilation volumes of the manga have sold over 120 million copies in Japan. The anime adaptation has been well received, 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, Case Closed often ranked the top six. Many featured films of the series were nominated for the Japan Academy Prize.

Plot
Jimmy Kudo, a 19year-old high school prodigy and detective who frequently worked with the police, was attacked by two members of a mysterious crime syndicate while investigating a case regarding blackmail. He was then forced to take a newly developed experimental poison that was supposed to kill him, but due to a rare side-effect unknown to the two men, the drug transformed his body back into that of his seven-year-old self instead, after they left him for dead. In order to hide his identity and investigate the whereabouts of the syndicate, which he later finds out is called the Black Organization, he adopts the pseudonym Conan Edogawa. To search for leads to the syndicate, he manages to move in with his childhood friend Rachel Moore, whose father, Richard Moore, works as a private investigator. He also enrolls at Teitan elementary school and forms the Junior Detective League with three other children in his class; Amy Yoshida, Mitch Tsuburaya, and George Kojima. Even as Conan, Jimmy continues solving criminal cases, usually posing as Richard Moore with the help of special gadgets, invented by his neighboor and friend, Dr. Agasa. Richard Moore, a rather inept detective, is bewildered at the sudden rise in his case-solving abilities, but does not question this as he is more than glad about his subsequent rise in fame.

Later in the series, another main character, Anita Hailey, appears. A former member of the Black Organization, codenamed "Sherry", she is actually Shiho Miyano, a gifted chemist who developed the poison APTX 4869 which turned Jimmy back into a child. After her sister was brutally murdered by members of the Black Organization, she tried to get out and was held captive. She then attempted to commit suicide by taking a dose of APTX 4869, but instead was transformed into a child as well, and managed to escape from them. She then enrolled in Conan's school under the pseudonym Anita Hailey. She knows Conan's true identity and helps him in his quest to bring down the Black Organization.

Later on, Conan becomes involved with the American FBI, and they are able to capture Kir, a member of the Black Organization. Kir is later revealed to be an undercover CIA agent, and promises to relay information about the Black Organization to the FBI. They return Kir to the organization. Later, she tells the FBI that the Black Organization has a new member codenamed Bourbon.

Production
Gosho Aoyama's Case Closed manga was influenced by the stories of Arsène Lupin, Sherlock Holmes, and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa.

Manga
The chapters of the Case Closed manga are written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. In Japan, they have been published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994. Since Case Closed ' s premiere, over seven hundred chapters have been released in Japan making it the 24th longest running manga series. The individual chapters are collected by Shogakukan in a series of tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on June 18, 1994; as of June, 2010, sixty-eight volumes have been released. Viz Media released the first volume on September 7, 2004, with thirty-five volumes released as of July 13, 2010.

Anime
The episodes of the Case Closed anime series are directed by Kenji Kodama and Yasuichiro Yamamoto and produced by TMS Entertainment and Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation. Funimation Entertainment obtained the foreign television and home video rights to the Case Closed anime where it premiered on Cartoon network. Fifty episodes of the English dubbed series aired on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block on May 24, 2004 until January 2005 and were discontinued due to low ratings.

As of June 2010, 18 seasons and 151 volumes in total have been released by Shogakukan. Five DVD collection boxes of the English adaption of the anime has been released by Funimation Entertainment between July 22, 2008 and May 12, 2009. The DVD box sets were re-released in a Viridian edition between July 14, 2009 and March 23, 2010.

TV drama
A live drama titled Detective Conan: Shinichi Kudo's Written Challenge (名探偵コナン- 工藤新一への挑戦状) was produced by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation and aired on October 2, 2006. The drama served as a prequel of the current storyline which lead to when Jimmy turned into Conan. The special stared Shun Oguri as Jimmy Kudo, Tomoka Kurokawa as Rachel Moore, and Takanori Jinnai as Richard Moore. A second drama titled Shinichi Kudo Returns! Showdown with the Black Organization (工藤新一の復活！～黒の組織との対決) was aired on December 17, 2007. In the special, Gin and Vodka continue their search for Sherry, but little do they know that Ai and Conan had eaten cakes at the Miss Japenesque award ceremony which had Baigar in it, so they change back into their original bodies. New to the cast are Yu Kashii as Shiho Miyano with Kyoka Shibata portraying her as Ai, Kuranosuke Sasaku as Gin, Taro Okada as Vodka, and Nao Fujisaki as Conan. The two dramas were released on a regular and limited edition DVD on March 23, 2007 and March 28, 2008 respectively.

Films
There are fourteen feature films based on the Case Closed series. The films have been released in April of each year starting in 1997. Each movie features an original plotline, rather than being an adaptation of the manga's story.

The first movie, Case Closed: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper known as Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper (名探偵コナン　時計じかけの摩天楼) in Japan, 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.

The second movie,Case Closed: The Fourteenth Target known as Detective Conan: The Fourteenth Target (名探偵コナン 14番目の標的), in Japan, debuted on April 18, 1998. Directed by Kenji Kodama and written by Kazunari Kochi, it was about a case in which 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 yen.

The third movie, Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century, known as Detective Conan: The Last Wizard of the Century (名探偵コナン 世紀末の魔術師) in Japan, debuted on April 17, 1999. It was again written and directed by Kenji Kodama and Kazunari Kochi respectively. This movie was on a newly-discovered Faberge egg that was subject 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 yen.

The fourth movie, Case Closed: Captured in Her Eyes, known as Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes (名探偵コナン 瞳の中の暗殺者) in Japan, 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 how Rachel Moore became entangled in a series of murder cases where police officers were victims, and when a failed murder attempt gave her amnesia and made herself another target of the killer. This movie achieved a box office income of 2.5 billion Japanese yen.

The fifth movie, Case Closed: Countdown to Heaven, known as Detective Conan: Countdown to Heaven (名探偵コナン 天国へのカウントダウン) in Japan, 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 box office receipts of 2.9 billion yen.

The sixth movie, Case Closed: The Phantom of Baker Street, known as Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street (名探偵コナン ベイカー街の亡霊) in Japan, was first shown on April 20, 2002. This movie was written by famed scriptwriter Hisashi Nozawa, but kept Kenji Kodama as director. This movie was a double story: in real life, the murder of a IT magnate's chief programmer, while in the virtual world, a virtual reality game that Conan and friends played, their lives were in danger. This movie brought 3.4 billion yen in the box office.

The seventh movie, Detective Conan: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (名探偵コナン 迷宮の十字路), was first screened on April 19, 2003. The writer was again Kazunari Kochi while Kenji Kodama was kept as the director. Staged in Kyoto, this movie concerned the unmasking of a gang of antique robbers. This movie brought a box office income of 3.2 billion yen.

The eighth movie, Detective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky (名探偵コナン 銀翼の奇術師), premiered on April 17, 2004. This was the first of Yasuichiro Yamamoto's Detective Conan movies, but Kazunari Kochi stayed 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 Phantom Thief Kid were forced to take case of the lives of the passengers. The movie brought a box office income of 2.8 billion yen.

The ninth movie, Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths (名探偵コナン 水平線上の陰謀), was first screened on April 19, 2005. The movie kept the previous movie's director and writer. 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 resulted in 2.15 billion yen.

The tenth movie, Detective Conan: The Private Eyes' Requiem (名探偵コナン 探偵たちの鎮魂歌) was released on April 15, 2006. It was directed by Yasuichiro Yamamoto and written by Kazunari Kochi. The plot revolves around Conan's investigation of an old murder case as Rachel and friends were held hostage in an amusement park. It earned 3.03 billion yen in the box office and debuting at the number one position in the Japanese box office and remained there for three consecutive weeks.

The eleventh movie, Detective Conan: Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure (名探偵コナン 紺碧の棺), was first released on April 27, 2007. Written by Kazunari Kochi and directed by Kenji 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, Detective Conan: Full Score of Fear (名探偵コナン 戦慄の楽譜) was announced on February 20, 2008, and released on April 19, 2008, debuting at the number one position in the Japanese box office. As of May 5, 2008 the movie has earned over 420.03 million yen. . In the Japanese box office, it was twelfth on 2008's Top Domestic Movies earning 2.42 billion yen. .

The thirteenth movie, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser (名探偵コナン 漆黒の追跡者) was released on April 18, 2009. In the movie, a new member of the Black Organization, Irish, manages to find out Conan's identity, putting everyone around him in danger. This movie earned 3.5 billion yen in the domestic Japanese box office, making it the highest grossing movie in the Detective Conan series.

The fourteenth movie, Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky (名探偵コナン 天空の難破船), was previewed at the end of the thirteenth movie and was released on April 17, 2010.

Video games
The first video game released from the Case Closed series was Meitantei Conan: Chika Yuuenchi Satsujin Jiken, which debuted on December 27, 1996 for the Game Boy. Currently, the majority of the games have only been released in Japan, though Nobilis has localized Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation for the PAL region. So far, all dedicated Case Closed games released for Sony's consoles, the WonderSwan, and the Nintendo DS, have been developed by Namco Bandai Holdings. Banpresto meanwhile developed the Case Closed titles on the Game Boy and Marvelous Entertainment developed Case Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation.

CDs
The Case Closed original soundtracks are composed and arranged by Katsuo Ohno. Twenty-seven original soundtracks CD were produced by Polydor Records of Universal Music Group and have been released for the Case Closed anime series and for each of the films. Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack 1 was released on February 21, 1996 and contains twenty tracks. Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack 2 followed on May 2, 1996 with seventy tracks. Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack 3 was released on November 25, 1996 with twenty-seven tracks. ''Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack 4 ～Let's go! Detective Boys～'' was released on April 25, 2001 with twenty-eight soundtracks. Three CDs were released containing the collections of best original soundtracks in the anime. Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack- Super Best was released on November 27, 1997 containing thirty-tracks. Detective Conan: Original Soundtrack- Super Best 2 was released on December 17, 2003 containing twenty-two tracks. Detective Conan TV Original Soundtrack: Selection Best was released on December 5, 2007. Four singles were released by Universal Music Group: Detective Conan Main Theme was released on January 25, 1996; lit. "If Your Here" (キミがいれば) was released on April 23, 1997; lit. "If Your Here, If I Have You" ~Theme of Conan~ (ぼくがいる～コナンのテーマ～) was released on September 26, 1997; and lit. Our Memories ~Memories~ (想い出たち ～想い出～) was released on December 28, 2005. Two image albums were also released by Universal Music Group. The first one titled lit. "If I have" TV anime Detective Conan Image Song Album (ぼくがいる～TVアニメ「名探偵コナン」イメージソングアルバム) was released on October 22, 1997, and the second one titled lit. Detective Conan All Character Best Songs in School (名探偵コナン・キャラクター・ソング集　帝丹小学校に全員集合!!) was released on January 25, 2006. An original soundtrack was produced by Universal Music Group for every Case Closed film.

Seventy-Seven theme songs from the Case Closed series have been released; Twenty Eight opening themes, thirty-five ending themes, and fourteen themes from the films of the series. Universal Music Group released the first two openings, ending, and first film theme song singles. All theme song henceforth were produced and released by Being Incorporated. Being Inc later released three theme song collections titled "The Best of Detective Conan", "The Best of Detective Conan 2", "The Best of Detective Conan ～The Movie Themes Collection～", and "The Best of Detective Conan 3".

Trading card game
Case Closed Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based around the Case Closed series. Produced by Score Entertainment, the game was published in June 2005 in America. The game is played between two to six players. Players compete to be the first to successfully solve three cases using their detectives and appropriate clues, while simultaneously attempting to stop their opponent from doing so. Rather than taking alternating turns, each player plays through each of the five steps of a full turn at the same time.

Reception
In 2001, the manga won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen, along with Cheeky Angel by Hiroyuki Nishimori. Over 120 million copies of the Tankōbon volumes have been sold.

Mania.com reviewer Eduardo M. Chavez praised Gosho Aoyama's art style and how it was suitable for a mystery series. He also commented how the drama, suspense, action and humor is able to captivate readers of all ages and praised the plots pacing, humor, and drama. He criticized the character name changes stating it is a disappointment and Viz Media's step back. A.E. Sparrow of IGN praised the cases and compared the plot as a mix between Scooby-Doo and Sherlock Holmes. Leroy Douresseaux of Comicbin.com called them stories compelling even if implausible nefarious schemes were used to commit the murder.

A national survey conducted by TV Asahi ranked the series popularity as top sixth, eighth on an online survey, in 2005 and twenty-third in 2006. At the 5th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards competition, the ninth film won awarded Feature Film category. The Blu-ray Disc release of the thirteenth film was awarded the Best Interactivity Award by Digital Entertainment Group Japan.

Due to its high popularity, several Japanese government agencies had used the series to promote government policies such to introduce the 34th G8 summit and were used to promote general crime fighting. Case Closed was featured in the sixth installment of Japan Post's Anime, Heroes and Heroines commemorative stamp series, issued on April 3, 2006. Statues of Jimmy Kudo, Conan Edogawa, and Rachel Moore are found at Hokuei, Tottori.