30 years of Detective Conan
On January 8, 1996, a little boy with glasses appeared on Japanese television screens. Thirty years later, Detective Conan has become one of the longest-running series in Japanese television history.
And yet, we are dealing with a very specific genre, the crime thriller. In Japan, the license is one of the most important of all time, with the annual film ranking among the biggest blockbusters at the box office. The weekly episode also ranks among the highest ratings. And for good reason: the series is watched by children and teenagers alike, as well as mothers and the elderly. Everyone wants to know who the murderer is!
Initially, Gosho Aoyama planned to draw a few volumes of Detective Conan, but today, he has reached 107 volumes! The manga's success is mainly due to the huge popularity of the anime, which is expected to exceed 1,200 episodes this year. For the past few years, only about ten episodes a year have been adapted from the manga, with the rest being fillers. But it's easy to follow the plot of the title: a murder, suspects, and an Agatha Christie-style resolution. Aoyama adds a significant number of secondary characters: police officers, shopkeepers, teachers, classmates, parents, parents' friends, anyone who might cross paths with Conan. But the author doesn't abandon his main plot. Little by little, the veil over the men in black is lifted, and numerous flashbacks prove that Aoyama had thought of everything from the beginning.
In France, the first 214 episodes were dubbed and broadcast on Cartoon Network and France 3, and are now available on Netflix.
But it took ten years for ADN and La Chaîne Mangas to start showing the latest episodes the day after they aired in Japan. Now you can watch the special anniversary episode that revisits the famous aquarium case that takes place just before Shinichi's transformation.
Happy birthday, Conan!