Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Detective Conan is actually pretty easy to get into.

Detective Conan or Case Closed as it's still called when officially Localized into English, is one of the Anime that is thought impenetrable to potential new fans because it has too many episodes.  But Detective Conan is actually like western Superhero Comics in that you can pretty much jump in at any point and when important things happen the gist of the context will be provided.  

In general I disagree with concerns about Continuity Lock Out, if I were interested in a show like Naruto or One Piece genre wise I could navigate them just fine.  Again I go back to how the first episode of Buffy I watched was This Year's Girl, jumping in the middle of something not fully understanding it just makes me want to learn more if what I was entertained me.

What makes Detective Conan more like Western Comics, (or at least how Western Comics used to be in the 90s and 00s) then other Manga/Anime is the more fluid nature of what it even means to say the show has a status quo.

With One Piece certain people think saying everything that happens equally matters is somehow the incentive to watch all of it, when the truth is what helped me breeze through Detective Conan was knowing I don't actually have to watch all of it.

Now with Detective Conan you can compare a one off episode from earlier this year to a one off episode form the single digits that aired in 96 and get the impression that the Status Quo hasn't changed at all.  But that's because that status quo is what the protagonist is seeking to preserve until he defeats the main enemy.  The Black Organization storyline has made significant progress, the thing is Conan is playing the long game in that storyline.

There is an interesting scene in season 1 of The Americans where one character talks about how Spies aren't concerned with catching the enemy but keeping everyone right where they are.  When Detective Conan pivots to the main storyline it's actually essentially an Espionage show and better at it then any James Bond movie has ever been, because Kudo is playing the long game.

Meanwhile Detective Conan is always introducing new characters with many of the most popular not even being there yet in the first 100.  And they actually made Ran and Shinichi officially a couple in the early 900s.

Even it's one off filler episodes have variety, Conan himself is the only character guaranteed to appear in every episode.

If you're interested in Detective/Mystery stories as a genre at all I really feel Detective Conan is the modern pinnacle of that genre.  You can start with what's on Tubi.TV or the classic episodes on Filmrise/Freevee or what's on Cruncyhroll.  A large percentage of the show isn't on any official streaming site but those are still not that hard to find.

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