My hopes for what additional Detective Conan content gets dubbed this year.

First let's talk about movies.  I have quickly come to love the Nano cast the most of all English casts I've heard for this franchise.  I do like the BangZoom cast more then enough that I'd definitely rather they continue the Films then no more getting Dubbed at all.  But if possible I would like for the Nano cast to also take over dubbing the films, but don't redo any that already have a Dub till all with none are covered, which are movies 7-18 and then catching up on the most recent until only the last 1 or 2 still aren't dubbed.

But I'd also be fine with this year focusing on Dubbing the show itself and not getting more movies besides besides 27 and maybe 28 (and maybe release movie 18 if it's true it's already recorded).

I am optimistic that what we'll get from the Netflix Dub project is a Cour of international count episodes every 2 months or 2 cour every 3 months, meaning 6-8 cours over the course of the next year.

Speaking of movie 27, it'd be good market synergy to have a selection focused entirely on Kaitou Kid appearances to correspond with that film's English Dub getting released.  It's be nice if it could cover all of them from before the Mystery Train Arc, save the Mystery Trains Arc (episode 699-704) to be the Finale of a future cour covering the Bourban Arc.  I've done the math and there is room for a 2 cour collection to cover all of them including Shinichi Kudo's Childhood Adventure and Kobayashi Sensei's Love which transitions into The Kirin's Horn.

I'd also like to see a collection continue where the Black Organization collection left off. One where the first cour includes the 2 2-parters that introduce Eisuke Hondou, Shadow of the Black Organization and the first 4 episodes of The Clash of red and Black, then the second cour would be the rest of the Clash of Red and Black and the Karaoke Box Case which says goodbye to Eisuke (so far).  They could call it the Red vs Black Collection.

I'd like to have a Cour that is 646-657 which happens to be 13 consecutive international count episodes that among other things introduce Sera Masumi.  It'd arguably have to be preceded by a Cour that incudes the Homes Revelation saga and maybe one with the earliest appearances of Subaru Okiya and Scar Akai. [Update: 652-655 are not as relevant to the Sera Masumi or Bourbon storylines as I initially assumed.]

The Holmes Revelation case along with episodes 398-400 could be part of another ShinRan romance focused cour.  

I'd also really like one that fills in the gaps that were skipped over during the Vermouth saga.  Principally Contact with The Black Organization 309-311 and Four Porsches 338-339 and then Hidden Bathroom Secret 340-341. Those could be covered by a Haibara centered Collection which could also include Hooligan's Labyrinth 279-280. And then episodes focused on the FBI characters like The Battle Game Trap 226-227, then 277-278 and The Man from Chicago 258-259, On The Trail of The Silent Witness 307-308 and 343-344 The Connivence Story Trap.

And then if there is time for more after covering all that, maybe drop a cour near Halloween focused on episodes that could work as Halloween episodes, a lot of the ones where the case is solved using Sonoko's voice would happen to fit into that.

This is the year for 20th Anniversaries of 2006 Anime.

 Starting with January 9th being the 20th anniversary of Detective Conan’s 425th episode Black Impact! The Moment the Black Organization reaches out.  An episode I’ve discussed on this blog already and is among those you can watch Dubbed on Netflix and Crunchyroll.  January 8th 2026 is also the 30th year of the Detective Conan anime premiering, which the community at large has been more focused on talking about, Anime with 30th anniversaries I may save for a separate post, though I'm not sure 96 has enough to talk about. 

I happened to spend some time in late 2025 on social media asserting a view that 2006 is the best Year of Anime, not even thinking about the fact that those shows are getting their Two Decade anniversaries soon.  2006 is not a year I consider either the start or end of an era, it’s more like it’s the peak of what I call the Bronze Age of Anime.

Alright technically two Anime episodes I consider of note aired before January 9th.  January 6th was the last episode of Shuffle.  And the pilot of Studio Deen’s Fate/Stay Night anime on the 7th.  But my defense of Deen/Stay Night mainly begins with episode 3 where you should start after watching UBW’s episode 0 and 1 to get the property beginning of the VN.

Nerima Daikon Brother is a hilarious spiritual sequel to Excel Saga. Kashimashi: Girl Meets World could be the best stealth Trans Feminine Anime. Good Anime with second cours airing in Winter include, Karin, Black Cat, Mai-Otome and Blood+ which was actually still be airing for most of 2006. 

Returning to Detective Conan in February Eisuke Hondou made his Anime Debut in 429-430 Two People Who Can’ Return.

For Spring Simoun is an Anime I still haven’t seen but intend to, it’s an important example of Anime exploring Gender.  Another spring show I haven’t seen that I know is important is Gintama. I don't have much interest in that one. 

Shows I have seen from Spring are where we really start getting how 2006 isn’t just a good year but could be the best.  

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya, which I shouldn't need to explain the logic of considering one of the most important Anime of all time. 

Strawberry Panic which I consider the Magnum Opus of Classic Class S style Yuri Anime.

The second season of School Rumble, which surpassed the first season, is one of the best really wild Comedy Anime, an important precursor to more modern shows like Kaguya Sama: Love Is War and DFrag. 

Nana is the best Shoujo Melodrama of all time.

Higurashi When They Cry which is still the best Horror Anime of all time.

I’ve only seen a few episodes of .hack//roots, not sure what to think of it yet. 

Though the year isn’t looking great so far in the Film department, with nothing I’ve seen from Winter and Spring having one of my personal lowest ranked Detective Conan films.

Summer had The Familiar of Zero which via a website that started as a fansite for it can be considered the Grandmother of both modern Isekai and modern Magic Academy Anime.

Le Chevalier D’Eon which is one of the year’s top forgotten Gems, a highly recommended Anime for all Francophiles. 

And Summer finally has some good movies with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the 9th Pokémon film, Pokémon Ranger and The Temple of The Sea. 

And in late July Eisuke Hondou made his second appearance in 446-47 The Sealed Western-Style Window.

Fall is what really seals the deal.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl began on September 28th, which I consider the best era of the Pokémon TV Anime.

Death Note is another show that is inarguably one of the most popular and influential of all time.

Kyoto Animation’s Kanon which I consider the best Anime based on a Dating Sims Style Visual Novel.

Code Geass first season which is my favorite Mecha Anime and I at one time considered it my second favorite Anime over all.  Regardless of my personal opinion, it's as widely popular among Anime fans as Death Note, if only a little less mainstream, that show’s natural rival and counterpart in a lot of ways.

Strain: Strategic Armoured Infantry is another great hidden gem, think of it as unofficially a Gundam where Sayla Mass is the main character. 

The Mai-Otome Zwei OVAs I also enjoyed. 

So a lot of important Anime turn 20 this year, and some neat bonuses as well. 

A notable non PreCure Mahou Shoujo is all 2006 lacks among what I’m already aware of. 

And one more thing: new Detective Conan episodes on Netflix

I'm pretty happy with what we got, all episodes not Dubbed before.

First to the updated original watch order for people only using Netflix.

Watch the first two episodes of the Black Organization Collection.

Then watch the first 11 episodes of the Rivals collection.

Then watch the next two episodes of the Black Organization Collection.

Then watched Locked Room in The Sky, Shinichi Kudo's First Case in the Rivals Collection.

Then watch the Reunion with The Black Organization 3 parter.

Then finish the Rivals Collection.

Then finish the Black Organization Collection.

[Update: The director of the Dub has also posted what the Watch order is.

https://matchaandmayhem.tumblr.com/post/799001080524570624/detco-dub-order]

The Detectives Gathered Together is an episode that will turn 25 years old on the same day the Pilot episode turns 30, January 8th.  The Mysterious Passenger is also from 2001.

I have to say the Rivals of The Great Detective Collection feels very misnamed.  Only some episodes involve any character who could be called a Rival to Conan, but there are few that don't feel important to the ShinRan Romance storyline. It's almost like they wanted to hide that Romance was the real focus.

This is perhaps the best this Dub has seen of Sonoko so far, still none of the episode where the case is solved using her voice, but it captures the point of her character better then the small roles she had in Kid's Debut or the Vermouth Arc's finale.

The Case from the last two episodes of The Desperate Revival is a Columbo episode though I forgot to note it as such when making my personal list of Columbo episodes, Kudo even has a "one more thing" moment, though probably for lipflap reasons the Dub didn't translate it using that exact phrase.

It's amusing how in less then two months a number of Magic Kaito supporting character went from having no English VAs to having 2 each.

The detective wearing Green in Detectives Gathered I'm pretty sure has the same VA as "Santos" from the Funimation Dubs of the first 6 movies.  A voice actor who I remember uniquely because of the Audio Commentary for the final episode of Robotics;Notes, I think it was the last episode I'm thinking of.

Looking Forward to Anime in 2026

The first day of the year a new batch of Dubbed Detective Conan episodes are dropping on Netflix, I may be in the process of watching those already when I post this, or about to start them. And then we’ll get the Episode Zero special on Saturday with the first movie The Time-Bombed Skyscraper going up on YouTube that night as the climax of Cinema Saturdays.  The first new Manga case we get in 2025 should be a new Kaito Kid appearance, but we can sometimes go over a month with only Anime Original episodes. 

The Simuldubs for Watari-Kun and Spy x Family season 3 should be finished sometime in January. 

For the Winter season the only show I know for certain I’ll be making an attempt to watch as it airs (or as it’s Dub airs) is Fate/Strange Fake. I’ve been hyped for it for over two years now.  I’ve been holding off on doing any Fate/ rewatching so that I can do that while this airs like I did watching Gundam stuff while GQuuuuuuX aired. So I intend to make it a Fate/Full winter. 

Frieren is a show I’ve already concluded I prefer binging by arc, and according to some rumors it sounds like the new season may have only one arc, so I’ll likely wait. 

Spring is going to have 4th seasons for three shows Re:Zero, SlimeReincarnation and Classroom of the Elite. Each of these are ones I also know I tend to prefer Binged, especially with Slime’s penchant for doing multiple Council of Elronds. But I feel less dogmatic about it then I do for Frieren. 

Liar Game looks like it could have the potential to remind me of why I loved Liar Liar back in Summer 2023. 

Summer will have a new season for Magical Luimierre. I liked season 1 but I’m not sure I liked it enough for the show to maintain my interest. 

The upcoming Detective Conan movie will be released in Japan in April but as usual we who need English Subs probably won’t be able to see it till between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

There is a lot of stuff that may or may drop this year, it’s uncertain.  The new Raildex shows, Darkside Item and season 4 of Railgun, the new Nanoha project, new Code Geass project, new seasons for Mushoku Tensai, Boochie The Rock, Alya speaks Russian. Maybe new seasons for Skeleton Knight and Deadliest Assassin and MobuSeka, and for non sequels I’m interested in Girl Crush and Ruri Dragon. 

It almost feels like Looking Forward is a misleading title when I’m mentioning so few truly completely new shows.  But that’s the thing, the New shows I wind up liking are not usually what I was hyped for going in but something which catches my attention in the moment, or even after it’s done airing. That’s the point of being a New show, they’re the pleasant surprises while the sequels and spin offs to shows I already like are what I rely on. 

Update January 6th: I forgot to mention the Gundam Hathaway sequel, that's something I've been excited for. 

There is also the matter of Dubs for things that came out before, Girls Und Panzer Das Finale 4 and Lupin The IIIrd Immortal Bloodlines is confirmed to be getting a Dub already, I'm hoping Zenigata and the Two Lupins will as well.

2025 has been a good year for Anime.

I’ve spent much of the last few years wondering if we’re entering a period when I won’t be all that into currently airing Anime anymore.  And yet 2025 provided a good number of shows I like quite a bit.

I'm definitely watching to completion less shows than I did during 2017-2023. But the year has still provided some shows I think are instant classics and others I’ve enjoyed as much as I enjoyed the average Anime during those prior years. 

The year started out with Zenshu which has quickly earned the status of a must watch for every fan of Animation as a Medium. Ameku M.D. and Magic Maker and Guild Receptionist were also quite fun. And while I didn’t watch it at the time I’ve come to be an unironic appreciator of Solo Leveling. And it finished off the third seasons of Re:Zero and Arifureta. 

I feel the Online Anime Community was uniquely fun to be a part of when GQuuuuuuX was airing during the Spring, I also think Lazarus was unfairly hated and Your Forma is a hidden gem. Also Moonrise was a decent Netflix original and the 2025 Detective Conan film held up to expectations. Speaking of Detective Conan it was in June we got out the most recent major new development in the Rum arc. 

And then Summer brought us a new era of Detective Conan being localized in the West, most importantly a new Dub on Netflix that is the best Dub cast yet. In seasonal Anime we got a Clevetass, a Fantasy Anime that feels like something out of the 2000s and not another quasi Isekai. A few fun new Slice of Life and/or RomComs in Renta-A-Girlfreind season 4, Watari Kun and Cultural Exchange with the Game Center Girl. Plus Rascal does not Dream or Santa Clause lived up to the hype. Oh and Gigguk’s movie Baan was alright. 

For Fall we got more Star Wars Visions, that Assassin Isekai which was above average for an Isekai, more Watari Kun and Spy x Family.  And more shows I may return to later. 

There is non Anime stuff I’ve enjoyed too, Andor was still good but not what I want from Star Wars. Fallout season 2 is just starting. Peacemaker season 2 was great, I still like James Gunn's Superman but the more time passes the more my small issues with it crawl around in my brain. And season 3 of Foundation was phenomenal. 

I may be forgetting something, I don’t have an Anilist counterpart for the American stuff I watch. I know such things technically exist but just keeping my Anilist up to date every time I watch something new is stressful enough. 

Detective Conan and Magic Kaito 1412 Watch order post.

Since I’m pretty sure only two new episodes are going up on the 19th it’s time to update the Chronological Order of the Detective Conan episodes on Netflix in preparation. If a surprise happens I’ll update this post. 

Watch the first two episodes of Conan Vs The Black Organization.

Then watch the Rivals of the Great Detective Collection up through The Case of The Blackmailed Pro Soccer Player.

Then watch the Karaoke Box Murder Case in the Winter Episode Showcase.

Then watch The Conan Edogawa Abduction Case in the Rivals Collection.

Then watch Alpine Hunt in the Snow Mountain Murder Case in the Winter Showcase.

Then finish what’s currently in the Rivals collection, which at this time still ends with Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief. 

Then finish Conan vs The Black Organization. 

The movie currently on TMS's YouTube Channel, Captured In Her Eyes, originally came out between Reunion with The Black Organization and The Mysterious Passenger.  The movie going up this Saturday, Strategy Above The Depths, came out between the last two episodes of The Black Organization Collection.

[Update: There was a surprise, and it's that these won't be on Netlfix and won't be Dubbed, they're on YouTube. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIGYpfXP3Uw

So as far as watching just what's on Netflix goes the prior Chronological Order works till January 1st.] 

We’ve also learned that an English Dub for Magic Kaito 1412 is now on Amasian TV. And I’ve noticed that Anime has it's episodes in a different order then the original Manga, which is most notable when observing the Detective Conan crossovers.

So here is a Manga accurate Watch Order for that show (some Manga chapters still aren’t covered by this Anime at all though).

Episode 1: The Revived Phantom Thief Kid

Episode 15:The Princess and The Thief's Improve

Episode 7: Kaito Kuroba’s Busy Day

Episode 5: A Temptation in Scarlet

Episode 13:Stay Away From Him

Episode 8: The Adult’s Charm

Episode 3: Hustler vs Magician

Episode 12:Christmas Eve - Two Kaitou Kids

Episode 4: The Great Detective Steps Into the Light

Episode 2: Blue Birthday

Episode 17:Green Dream

Episode 14:Crystal Mother

Episode 22:Red Tear

Episode 6: Black Star 

Episode 16:Kid Vs Conan, Miraculous Midair Walk

Episode 18:Golden Eye (Part 1)

Episode 19:Golden Eye (Part 2)

Episode 20:Dark Knight

Episode 21:Kid Vs Conan: Teleportation Under The Moonlight

Episode 9: The Phantom Lady Appears 

Episode 10:The Phantom Lady and Ryoma’s Treasure

Episode 11:Kid and Conan’s Ryoma Treasure Illusion

Episode 23:Midnight Crow (Part 1): The Name is Corbeau The Phantom Thief!

Episode 24:Midnight Crow (Part 2) Clash! White or Black!?

The Detective Conan episode Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief happens right after Black Star.  Miraculous Midair Walk takes place between the last two episodes in the Black Organization Collection and before Strategy Above The Depths.

Fantasy and Science Fiction

I’ve made a few posts on this blog before the line between Fantasy and Science Fiction and stores that straddle that line.

But I’ve recently come to a final conclusion about how to define these genres that is important.

Science Fiction is defined by what can’t happen in it far more than Fantasy is.  Because the point of Science Fiction is to try and stay theoretically scientifically possible no matter how out there it gets. The supernatural can never unambiguously happen in Sci-Fi. But it goes beyond just what literal things can and can’t exist in the universe, there are certain kinds of stories that at their core are Fantasy stories no matter how Futuristic or Scientific you try to make the setting. A Sci-FI story would never begin with “Once Upon a Time” or something analogous to that. 

Fantasy meanwhile is defined by its lack of limits, anything you can fantasize about can be Fantasy. That’s why I once argued that Sci-Fi can be in its entirety viewed as a subgenre of Fantasy, from a certain point of view. 

However nothing that is at its core a Fantasy story can become Sci-Fi by draping itself in cosmetically Sci-Fi elements like space ships and lasers. 

And that once again brings us to Star Wars, the most contentious franchise in this debate. 

The Midichlorenes do not make The Force scientific enough to qualify as Sci-Fi, they tie this fundamentally mystical concept to Nature in a way no different then how The Lifestream works in Final Fantasy VII.

But what’s really funny is when the Prequel Haters who hate the Midichlorenes for allegedly demystifying The Force also want Star Wars to be allowed to qualify as Sci-Fi.  They fail to see how their interests conflict. 

The people who really want to be allowed to classify Star Wars as Science Fiction are basically insulting Fantasy as a genre, because it’s clear however much they don’t want to outright say it, that this comes from a palace of viewing Sci-Fi as more respectable. 

And it says something about the modern world that in this unique case the younger Genre is viewed as the more respectable one, by some people at least.  Science Fiction as a distinct genre begins with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein at the absolute earliest. Fantasy meanwhile is the oldest genre there is, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Iliad and the Odyssey, Beowulf and the Mabinogion.  All of them are Fantasy stories in a modern genre classification context. 

Andor is the one piece of Star Wars media that feels like it could count as Sci-Fi if only it weren’t in the same Universe as all that Force stuff. And sadly I think that’s a factor in why it’s the closest to universally praised any Disney Era Star Wars project has been. I liked Andor well enough but do consider it overrated, I’d rather have more stuff like Ahsoka and The Acolyte which actually delve into Force Lore.