So without further or do, here is the review;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have a little riddle for you guy. What would you get if you took Sherlock Holmes, regressed his age to that of a six year old, and then put him in a situation where he couldn’t tell the woman he loved how he really was out of fear of getting her and her family killed?
Why you would get Detective Conan of course!
For those who have never heard of this series, Detective Conan (Or as we here on the US side know it as Cased Closed) is a funny little manga; it’s the type of series that while it is widely known and popular in Japan, its popularity here in the US might not be as strong. Granted, there are people who have heard of this series but Conan just doesn’t seem to get as much love here as other VIZ titles. Everyone has seen Naurto, Luffy, and Ichigo but Conan….the poor li'l guy doesn’t seem to get any love.
Detective Conan (known by its Japanese title of Meitantei Conan) was first published by Gosho Aoyama in 1994 and since then, the fame of Conan continues to grow. So far, this series has spawned sixteen movies, twenty-one seasons of its animated series, and its volume count has reached seventy-five (with the US publication only up to forty-one) You might be asking yourself right now, ‘Okay, if the series has lasted THIS long, what in the world is it about?’ Well, have a seat and I will tell you.
Detective Conan is the tale of teen sleuth Shinichi Kudo (Jimmy Kudo in the English publication) who, for all his knowledge and skill, winds up getting himself in trouble when his hunger for mystery gets the better of him. After solving a crime of a man who was murdered at an amusement park, Shinichi decides to follow two shadowy figures in black whom, despite not being the culprits in the amusement park murder, still acted a bit odd to him. Little did he realize that in his actions of following them he would wind up being attacked by them and fed a mysterious poison. The Men in Black leave Shinichi to die but unknown to them, Shinichi has not died….but instead he has regressed in age back to his six year old self!
Apparently, being a child in this world sucks since no one believe little Shinichi’s story, despite all the evidence on him that shows he’s been horribly attacked but hey! Little kids always lie! He’s just LOST! He hasn’t been attacked at ALL, even if he has this huge gash on the back of his head and a possible concussion! It’s all just a fib from the overactive mind of a child! It’s FUNNY! Finding no help in the police, Shinichi runs back to his home where he finds the aid in his family friend Dr. Hiroshi Agasa (Hershel Agasa in the English dub) who tells Shinichi that due to the danger he has put himself in, it might be better to play along with everyone and pretend that he is in fact dead and take on a new moniker but what?
Gee, I wonder if his vast collection of books by SIR AUTHOR CONAN DOYLE and EDOGAWA RAMPO will play any part in this?
Shinichi takes the on the identity of Conan Edogawa just as his girlfriend Ran Mori (Rachel Moore in the English dub. Are you sensing a pattern here?) appears but unable to tell her the truth, Conan is now forced to play the part a child just as Dr. Agasa suggest that Conan live with Ran and her father, a bumbling PI by the name of Kogoro Mori (Richard Moore). Needless to say, with Conan around, business begins to pick up, no thanks to Conan using his gadgets (thanks in part to the work of our friendly, neighborhood Doc Agasa) to knock Kogoro out and use his voice to make it sound like he solved the crimes….
And you take this concept, and then repeat.
Sounds repetitive?
Well, yeah, I will admit that it is but the thing that will keep you coming back is just how twisted the cases can be. Right from the very start, the series jumps on a grisly case as the amusement park case involves a man getting DECAPITATED on the ride and it only gets bloodier from there. Needless to say, Detective Conan isn’t as ‘kiddy’ as its protagonist makes it out to be. If you’re not comfortable with bloody murders and a body count that continues to grow with each case, this is not the series for you but if you enjoy a series that pokes fun at many elements in the Sherlock Holmes series (as well as other famous detectives series from around the world) as well as adds intrigue to its own world, this is the series for you. As stated, you might bore of how repetitive some of the cases, especially those outside of the Black Organization, might get but there is something about how the cases start that keep you interested. Even if at first you might think ‘Aw come on! I’ve seen something like this before!’ you can’t stop reading; you’re so hooked that you HAVE to find out how the cases is resolved and the pay of is more often than not exciting and even on the lowest tier, silly that something like that could even be possible.
This is a series that definitely deserves much more loving, especially here in the US. Sure, Shinichi isn’t hurting for fame in his home country of Japan but the poor boy doesn’t seem to be getting the love he should here stateside, especially when you consider some of the cases that he and his friends find themselves in. This series isn’t about pirates with magical powers, ninjas with demons sealed inside of them, or even about kids using super-power skates to do things that would land normal people in ICU. This is just a story of a kid who finds himself being turned into an even younger kid and going through a lot of violent stuff, especially for a series that is drawn to look so harmless and comical.
All in all, this is definitely worth checking out. If anything, you could always play a drinking game of ‘Take a drink at the number of cases that involve people being killed with cyanide!’
For those who want to check out the series in manga form, hit http://www.viz.com/product?id=2210 .
For those who are interested to watch the anime series and its many movies, head down to http://www.funimation.com/case-closed where you watch clips of the show and can even purchase season sets.
No comments:
Post a Comment