Case Closed, also known officially asDetective Conan (Japanese:名探偵コナン,Hepburn:Meitantei Konan;lit.'Great Detective Conan'), is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byGosho Aoyama. It has been serialized inShogakukan'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday since January 1994; its chapters are collected in 107tankōbon volumes as of April 2025. Because of legal problems with the nameDetective Conan, the English language release was renamedCase Closed. The story follows the high school detectiveShinichi Kudo, whose body was transformed into that of an elementary school-age child while investigating a mysterious organization. Generally, he solves a multitude of cases by impersonating his childhood best friend's father and various other characters.
Case Closed is licensed for English-language release in North America byViz Media, which has published the manga in print since September 2004. It also publishes the series in English on theViz Manga digital manga service, with the series' chapters receiving simultaneous English publication in North America as they are released in Japan. It has been adapted into ananimetelevision series adaptation produced by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation andTMS Entertainment, which began broadcasting in January 1996.
Thetankōbon volumes of the manga had over 270 million copies in circulation worldwide by January 2023, making it one of thebest-selling manga series of all time. In 2001, the manga was awarded the 46thShogakukan Manga Award in theshōnen category. The anime adaptation has been well received and ranked in the top twenty inAnimage's polls between 1996 and 2001. In the Japanese anime television ranking,Case Closed episodes ranked in the top six weekly. Both the manga and the anime have had a positive response from critics for their plot and cases. The manga has been sold in 25 countries, while the anime has been broadcast in 40 countries.
Jimmy Kudo (Japanese name: Shinichi Kudo) is a high school detective who sometimes works with police to solve cases.[2] During an investigation, he is ambushed and incapacitated by a member of a crime syndicate known as theBlack Organization. In an attempt to murder the young detective, they force-feed him a dangerous experimental drug. However, instead of killing him, it shrinks his body to the size of an elementary school child.[3] Adopting the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and keeping his true identity a secret, Kudo lives with his childhood friendRachel Moore (Ran Mori) and her father,Richard (Kogoro Mori), who is a private detective. Throughout the series, he tags along on Richard's cases. Nonetheless, after Kudo solves one, he usesDr. Agasa's hidden tranquilizer to sedate Richard and then uses a voice changer to simulate his voice to reveal the solution.[4] He also enrolls in Teitan Elementary School, where he makes friends with a group of classmates who form their ownJunior Detective League (Detective Boys). While he continues to dig deeper into the Black Organization, he frequently interacts with other characters, including his neighbor, Dr. Agasa; Ran's friendSerena Sebastian (Sonoko Suzuki); a fellow teenage detective,Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori); assorted police detectives from different regions; and aphantom thief calledKaito Kid.
Kudo later encounters an elementary school transfer student,Anita Hailey (Ai Haibara), who reveals herself to be a former member of the Black Organization under the code name Sherry and the creator of the experimental drug that shrunk him. She too ingested it to evade the pursuit of the organization.[5] She soon joins the Junior Detectives. During a rare encounter with the Black Organization, Conan helps the FBI plant a CIA agent,Kir, inside the Black Organization as a spy.[6]
Case Closed was conceived in 1994 during the rise of mystery genremanga due to the publishing of the seriesThe Kindaichi Case Files; the first chapter appeared inShogakukan'sWeekly Shōnen Sunday on January 5.[7][8] Aoyama cites the stories ofArsène Lupin,Sherlock Holmes and the samurai films byAkira Kurosawa as influences on his work.[9] When scripting each chapter, he ensures the dialogue remains simple and spends an average of four hours for each new case and twelve for more complicated ones.[10][11] Aoyama's older brother is a scientist who helps him out with the "gimmicks" in the series.[12] Each case spans several chapters (except for a handful of shorter cases that span only one) and is resolved at the end, when characters explain the details of their solutions in simple terms.[13] An online database of all the cases from the manga was launched in 2007.[14][15] In 2007, Aoyama hinted that he had planned an ending but did not intend to end the series yet.[10] Aoyama and his staff decided to computerize their manga creation process in early 2011, although he still draws with a pen and paper.[16][17] The change began with the final page of chapter 760.[17]
Written and illustrated byGosho Aoyama,Case Closed started its serialization inShogakukan'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday on January 5, 1994.[b]Case Closed became one of thelongest running manga series, with over 1,000 chapters released in Japan, and the first series with over 1,000 chapters published inWeekly Shōnen Sunday.[20] Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individualtankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on June 18, 1994.[21] On October 18, 2021, the series reached one hundred volumes;[22]One Piece author,Eiichiro Oda, whose series achieved the same feat a month before, sent congratulations to Aoyama.[23] As of April 18, 2025, 107 volumes have been published.[24]
A recreation of Aoyama's workplace at the Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory
Viz Media announced its acquisition of the series for North America on June 1, 2004.[25] Following Funimation's localization, Viz released the series asCase Closed and took their character names to keep consistency between the two media.[26] Viz Media released the first volume in September 2004 and began releasing digital editions in 2013.[27][28] On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched theirViz Manga digital manga service, with the series' chapters receiving simultaneous English publication in North America as they are released in Japan.[29][30]Gollancz licensed and distributed 15 of Viz Media's volumes in the United Kingdom before ceasing publication of manga. (Viz Media has since re-released them).[31] In 2014Shogakukan Asia began its own English localization of the series for Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries asDetective Conan.[32] Laura Thornton ofCBR.com, citing the common Japanese ownership in both Shogakukan Asia and Viz, described the Singapore version as, compared to the Viz one, "completely identical, word-for-word, even -- save for the names and theDetective Conan logo".[33]
Gosho Aoyama's assistants have written ananthology series ofCase Closed which are released irregularly.[34][35]
Aspin-off manga series, titledCase Closed: The Culprit Hanzawa, by Mayuko Kanba, began in the July 2017 issue ofShogakukan'sShōnen Sunday S, released on May 25, 2017.[36]
Another spin-off manga series, illustrated by Takahiro Arai with supervision by Aoyama, titledCase Closed: Zero's Tea Time started in issue #24 ofWeekly Shōnen Sunday on May 9, 2018. The story centers on the agentToru Amuro/Rei Furuya.[37] New chapters of the manga are only published whenCase Closed is on hiatus.
Another spin-off manga series by Arai, titledDetective Conan: Police Academy Arc – Wild Police Story, was serialized inWeekly Shōnen Sunday from October 2, 2019, to November 18, 2020. Spanning 13 chapters, it again focuses on Amuro/Furuya during his years in the police academy with his colleagues.[38][39][40]
Case Closed's expansion into the video games industry followed behind its foray into animation. On December 27, 1996,Detective Conan: Chika Yuuenchi Satsujin Jiken was released for theGame Boy.[46] Since then, 24 games have been released. Currently, the majority of the games have only been released in Japan, though Nobilis has localizedCase Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation for thePAL region.[47] All dedicatedDetective Conan games released for the Game Boy,Sony's consoles, theWonderSwan, and the Nintendo DS have been developed byBandai.[46][48][49][50][51]Banpresto developed theCase Closed titles on theGame Boy Color andGame Boy Advance whileMarvelous Entertainment developedCase Closed: The Mirapolis Investigation.[47][52][53]
Katsuo Ono composed and arranged the music in theCase Closed animation; his works have been released on several CDs.[41][54][55][56] Twoimage albums, comprising several songs sung by Japanese voice actors of the characters in the animation, were also released.[57][58] Severaltheme music were performed by pop musicians such asB'z,Zard, andGarnet Crow. The first four theme music were released byUniversal Music Group and all releases thereafter were byBeing Inc.[59][60]
The Best of Detective Conan andThe Best of Detective Conan 2 albums collectively sold over 2.2million copies, while singles fromThe Best of Detective Conan 3 collectively sold over 1.6million copies.[61] On July 25, 2017, the singerMai Kuraki was awarded aGuinness World Record for singing the most theme songs in a single anime series, having sung 21 songs forDetective Conan, starting with her hit song "Secret of My Heart" (2000).[62]
Fourlive action drama TV specials and a TV series were created by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation and TMS entertainment based on the series.[63] The first two specials aired in 2006 and 2007 featuringShun Oguri portraying the teenage Jimmy Kudo andTomoka Kurokawa asRachel Moore.[63][64] The third and fourth TV specials aired in 2011 and 2012 featuringJunpei Mizobata as Jimmy andShioli Kutsuna as Rachel.[65] The cast used for those TV specials were used for the television series which aired between July 7 and September 29, 2011.[66][67]
In celebration of the 50th anniversary ofWeekly Shōnen Sunday andWeekly Shōnen Magazine, the two companies collaborated to publish twelve biweekly magazines consisting of chapters fromWeekly Shōnen Sunday'sCase Closed andWeekly Shōnen Magazine'sKindaichi Case Files.[68] The magazine ran between April 10, 2008, and September 25, 2008.[69][70]
Shogakukan have also produced many books spun off from the series. Fifty volumes of afilm comic series were published in Japan between June 1996 and August 2000, covering the first 143 episodes of the anime, though some episodes were skipped.[71][72][73][74] Five additional film comics entitled5 Juuyou Shorui (5重要書類, lit. 5 Important Documents) were published between July 2001 and January 2002 and covered selected episodes between 162 and 219.[75][76] Thirteen official guide books were published between June 1997 and April 2009.[77][78] Shogakukan has also publishednovels,[79] digest books,[80] educational books,[81] and puzzle books.[82]
In North America,Score Entertainment published theCase Closed Trading Card Game on June 29, 2005.[83][84] The game entails the use of three customized decks of cards, which players buy and collect. Representing characters, events, and objects in Case Closed, these cards are used by players to fulfill certain conditions to solve a case and win the game.[85] Certain cards are used to foil the progress of the player's opponents.[86][87] An English unofficial guidebook to the series titledThe Case Closed Casebook: An Essential Guide was published by DH Publishing Inc. on March 25, 2008.[88] A collaborative themed event byUniversal Studios Japan with the series, for the UniversalCool Japan 2018 attractions, ran from January 19 to June 24, 2018.[89] Characters from the series were featured in a crossover event for thesurvival horror video gameIdentity V for the game's China server in 2020,[90] and released globally in 2021.[91]
The series has ranked on the "Book of the Year" list fromMedia Factory'sDa Vinci magazine, where professional book reviewers, bookstore employees, andDa Vinci readers participate; it ranked fifth in 2012;[92] eleventh in 2014;[93] fourth in 2015;[94] sixth in 2016;[95] fifth in 2017;[96] first in 2018;[97] fifth in 2019;[98] sixth in 2020;[99] tenth in 2021;[100] fifth in 2022;[101] eighth in 2023;[102] and thirteenth in 2024.[103] OnTV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series,Case Closed ranked fourth, behindOne Piece,Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba andSlam Dunk.[104][105]
In 2006, the Japanese government used Conan in campaigns to help promotecrime awareness among children.[106] Targeting the same audience,Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs used Conan and his friends in two pamphlets: one to promote the ministry's mission, the other to introduce the34th G8 summit held in the country in 2010.[107][108][109][110] Several characters in the series featured in the sixth installment of the Anime, Heroes and Heroines commemorative stamp series issued byJapan Post in 2006.[111] Aoyama and his creations are celebrated in his hometownHokuei, Tottori; a museum with exhibits of his work is located there, and several bronze statues ofJimmy Kudo,Conan Edogawa, andRachel Moore are installed in various locations throughout the town.[112][113][114][115][116] It also has other tourist attractions related toDetective Conan, including aDetective Conan themed airport and train station, and it is promoted asConan Town.[117]
In 2018,Case Closed caught the attention of American late night talk show hostConan O'Brien, who discussed the character Conan Edogawa as well as Conan Town in his talk showConan,[118] and visited the town in September 2018.[119]
By October 2021, theCase Closed manga had over 250 million copies in circulation worldwide, making it one of thebest-selling manga series,[120] having been sold in 25 countries.[121] By January 2023, the manga had over 270 million copies in circulation worldwide.[122][123] In Japan, individual volumes frequently appear on the lists of best-selling manga.[124][125]Case Closed was the nineteenth best selling manga in 2011, with 2,120,091 copies sold.[126]Nikkei Entertainment magazine published a list of top 50 manga creators by sales since January 2010, in its September 2011 issue; Gosho Aoyama, the author ofCase Closed was ranked sixteenth, with 3,320,000 copies sold.[127] It was the seventeenth best selling manga in 2012, with 2,430,572 copies sold.[128] In 2013,Case Closed became the 24th best selling manga, with 1,966,206 copies sold.[129] In 2024, alongsideSpace Brothers,Case Closed won the grand prize ofRakuten Kobo's second E-book Award in the "Long Seller Comic" category.[130]
Licensed merchandise based onDetective Conan are sold in Asia. In Japan,Detective Conan licensed merchandise sold¥2.89 billion in 2003,¥17.29 billion during 2005–2008, and¥9.03 billion during 2010–2012, adding up to at least¥29.21 billion ($366.08 million) sold in Japan between 2003 and 2012.[131] The first volume ofCase Closed appeared thrice in the top ten selling lists, right after its premiere,[132] the same volume has also appeared in theDiamond Comic Distributors's ranking list.[133] Later-published volumes have appeared onThe New York Times Manga Best Sellers lists.[134][135][136][137]Case Closed is one of the best-selling manga in Vietnam,[138] with volumes 93–96, surpassing the 1.5 million digital copies each by 2020.[139]
In the United States,Case Closed received praises from Mania.com's Eduardo M. Chavez andIGN's A. E. Sparrow for its stories—telling the mysteries and how they were unfolded by the investigations of Conan and gang. Sparrow called the style of the series a mix ofScooby-Doo and Sherlock Holmes, while Chavez believed the manga had appeal to readers of all ages.[140][141] Melissa Sternenberg fromTHEM Anime Reviews gave the series 5 out of 5 stars, she praised its animation and plot, and described it as "what putsDetective Conan as my all-time favorite anime is the superb writing. I soak upDetective Conan like a good book, I get so drawn into every episode that everything around me just sinks away and it is just me and the episode. It is engrossing. I can not think of another word for it. Like I said, every episode is fresh, and every mystery that is solved is profound. The kid is a prodigy, and you can not blink while watching an episode of this wonderful series".[142]
ActiveAnime's reviewers commented on complex character design and the "spirit" that the series has, indicating that fans of serialized mystery shows would rather enjoy it. The series is also said to better suit the more matured audience.[143][144] Lori Lancaster of Mania.com describedCase Closed as "a clever series that had mysteries at every corner", noting the "bizarre" and "interesting" nature of each case.[145] IGN's Chris Wyatt was positive to the manner the cases were set up, relating them toAgatha Christie'slocked-room mysteries. He described the series as "Inspector Gadget meetsLaw & Order but in an anime style".[146]
TheCase Closed manga series was awarded the 46thShogakukan Manga Award in theshōnen category in 2001.[147] It respondents in an online poll for Japanese citizens in their mid-twenties votedCase Closed as one of the top three manga they wanted to continue running in publication.[148][149][150] In France, the series was nominated for theAngoulême Festival Graphic Novel award among the Japanese selection.[151] The series ranked onAbout.com's top continuing manga series of 2010, under the title "Best Underappreciated Gem: Shonen" category.[152]
Several of the franchise's films were nominated for awards in their home country. The ninth film was nominated for the feature film category at the 5th Annual Tokyo Anime Awards, and the next five films were nominees for theJapan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year in their respective years of release.[153][154][155][156][157][158] The anime series won the Anime Grand Prize at the 2024TVer [ja] Awards, topping the platform's category in total views.[159]
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