Detective Conan

[LumRanmaYasha]

Also known here in the west as Case Closed, the long running anime franchise is now finally legally streaming simulcast episodes on Crunchyroll! New episodes will be released every tuesday afternoon at 3pm, having already started this week with episode 754 - "The Tragedy of the Red Woman (Steam)", which is a great place to start at since it's the first part of a three-part case which ends with the revelation of a new major character in the story! 

I'm unsure whether or when Crunchyroll will upload any backlog episodes, but presumably they will start to do so at some point in time down the line, though I suspect the popularity of the simulcast episodes will affect the rate and quantity of what they put up. Still, this is great news for longtime fans of the series, as the fansubs rate of release was frustratingly inconsistent, making it hard to keep up with on a weekly basis. This is also awesome considering the "Scarlet" case, a CRITICAL arc in the story, will be coming up soon in the anime, and should be just as exciting to watch as it was to read!

Though it is a LONG series, Detective Conan has always been more about it's episodic cases than it's story, and though sometimes it has it's moments of repetitiveness and other such problems long-series tend to have, I believe it has maintained a very consistent level of quality throughout the years and is still highly enjoyable to this day. It's a series that I've gone in and out of watching and reading throughout the years, but each time I come back into it I become obsessed with it all over again. Having read the series out of order myself, I feel that it's a pretty easy series to jump into without having to watch any of the older episodes. I will say, though, while the stand-alone cases are often fun, the more plot and character development related episodes are always the most interesting and best parts of the series. So obviously, if you care about experiencing the overarching story properly, and I highly suggest you do it that way, then you have to watch the plot related episodes in order, which amounts to having to watch around half the length of the series so far. And considering the "Scarlet" case pays off on a five year mystery over the fate of a certain character, if you don't want to be spoiled about that, you might want to wait on watching the simulcast episodes and wait until Crunchyroll adds the backlog of the series (whenever that will be). Until then, the first 130 episodes are available on dvd by FUNimation (dubbed as well, though you might want to stick with it subbed for consistency), and a select amount of episodes are available on Hulu. Over 50 volumes of the manga are also available through Viz, though as I've said before, I find the anime to be the preferable version because of it's presentation and because of how dialogue-heavy the series can be by nature. The manga is still great, though, and I enjoy keeping up with it.

For anyone interested in watching the series from the beginning, you can use the episode guide on the Detective Conan wiki. Basically every episode that has a symbol in the "plot" section is essential to watch in order to understand the story. However, the guide is not totally accurate, sometimes only putting a symbol for one part of a multi-part story arc/case, and missing some other important/worthwhile episodes, so be mindful of that. So in addition to what is marked with symbols, I suggest also watching all the "Metropolitan Police Love Story" and "Courtroom Confrontation" episodes, and well as any episodes with the character Heiji Hattori in it (who is, by the way, Vlord's favorite Conan character  ). You could try just watching all the episodes adapted from the manga just to be safe, but that will take you a little longer and there are honestly some weak/unimportant cases even in the manga that might as well be skipped in favor of the more interesting stuff.

As for me (and everyone else who is caught up with and loves this series), I will be happily watching new episodes of the anime every tuesday from now on! Seriously, I can't wait to see the "Scarlet" case animated. 

[Daikun]

Does FUNi still have the rights to this show?

[LumRanmaYasha]

They still have the home video release and streaming rights to everything they licensed, which are the first 130 episodes and the first six movies.

[VLordGTZ]

I'm so happy that Conan has gotten a simulcast.  I still have about 200 eps left to burn through, but I'm glad that there will be a way for me to watch the anime on a weekly basis once I'm caught up.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The next film will have Kaitou Kid in it. Not surprised, considering the Magic Kaito anime will be over in time for the movie's release and it's been like 5 years since he's been in a DC movie anyway.

[gunswordfist]

i want to start from the beginning.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Magic Kaito 1412 is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

Odd that they waited until now to add it. Maybe something was preventing them from streaming it from the get-go, or they were waiting to see what kind of numbers the Conan streams got. Well, either way, it's nice that it's now available to watch legally.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A 20-part project is in the works to celebrate the anime's upcoming 20th anniversary. It seems like a lot of cool stuff is in the works, especially the series' 20th film, which looks to heavily feature the Black Organization. Movies that prominently feature the Black Organization, like The Raven Chaser, tend to be some of DC's best, so I'm definitely excited for this one. Especially since they are teasing that Rum will make his/her appearance in the film, when he/she hasn't even been introduced in the manga yet.

Man, to think the anime is almost 20 years old and has almost has 800 episodes, and is still going strong. I started watching the series almost a decade ago myself, so next year, specifically next September, will be my 10th anniversary as a Detective Conan fan. I should do some kinda crazy full-on watch through of the show next year to celebrate. Though to get through it all in a year, I'd have to watch, like, at least 3 episodes every day. 

[gunswordfist]

Dammit, makes me want to think about going through the series..

[VLordGTZ]

The 20-part project sounds pretty cool.  I'm near episode 700 of Detective Conan currently, so I'm going to see If I can catch up by the end of the year. 

[VLordGTZ]

I just finished the Scarlet case.    I think it's safe to say that it is has become one of my favorite cases in the entire series and is a great conclusion to the Bourbon arc.  I now only have 6 episodes left until I'm caught up with the anime. 

[VLordGTZ]

After almost 10 long years and 800 episodes (minus filler), I have finally caught up with the Detective Conan anime! Throughout my entire time with this show, it has continued to be as enjoyable and addicting as ever if not more-so.  It actually feels weird that I'm now going to be watching only an episode a week instead of 5-10 episode bursts.  I'll probably go and read the 30 or so manga chapters that haven't been adapted yet right now.     

[VLordGTZ]

Detective Conan is now on Netflix!
It's only episodes 748-799 though, so it's not the best entry point into the series.  I hope that eps 124-747 eventually become legally available in the US, but that doesn't seem very likely.  Honestly, I'm just glad that Viz is still releasing the manga and that Crunchy is streaming the new eps.

[VLordGTZ]

So since this year is the 20th anniversary of the Detective Conan anime, I thought I would make a list of the essential episodes of Detective Conan for the first "arc" of the series.  I particularly wanted to focus on this part since, while it is still enjoyable, many people seem to have trouble maintaining interest in this part of the series due to the lack of plot development. This list includes any episodes that contain a major plot-point, character development, or a notable character introduction.  Also, keep in mind that I used the Japanese ep numbers instead of the Funimation ep numbers, so 1-2 hour episodes are counted as one episode instead of several.

Spoiler

Episodes 1-3 – Introduction Cases
Episode 5 - The Shinkansen's Bomb Case (I'd suggest reading/looking up the manga version of this case as well, Chapters 33-35, since there is a slight difference that is important for episode 54)
Episode 7 - Once-A-Month Present Threat Case
Episode 9 -  Tenkaichi Night Festival Murder Case
Episode 11 - Moonlight Sonata Murder Case
Episode 12 - Ayumi Kidnapping Case
Episode 20 - A Haunted Mansion Murder Case
Episode 27-28 - Kogoro's Class Reunion Murder Case
Episode 32 - Coffee Shop Murder Case
Episode 34-35 - Mountain Villa Bandaged Man Murder Case
Episode 43 - Conan Edogawa Kidnapping Case
Episode 48-49 – Diplomat Murder Case
Episode 50 – Library Murder Case
Episode 54 – Game Company Murder Case
Episode 57-58 – Homes Freak Murder Case
Episode 76 - Conan vs. Kaito Kid
Episode 77-78 - Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case
Episode 84-85 - Ski Lodge Murder Case
Episode 96 - The Cornered Famous Detective! Two Big Murder Cases
Episode 118 - The Naniwa Serial Murder Case
Episode 128 - The Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery Case

[close]

This cuts down the first 128 episodes into only 28, and allows you get to the more interesting cases a lot faster.  Beyond this point, I'd suggest just watching the episodes adapted from the manga (which are listed here on the Detective Conan World Wiki).  There are still going to be a number of standalone cases here and there, but they are more often mixed in with plot-points or development and overall much more entertaining compared to the one-shot cases in the early episodes.

[LumRanmaYasha]

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series, they're re-making the first episode as a two hour special.

I'd be interested in seeing what they could possibly add to flesh out that story, though I'll bet they'll add more stuff with the Black Organization and include a subplot with Haibara that might tie into the events in an interesting context. If nothing else, it'll be interesting to see the events of the first episode play out with the show's more modern character designs and aesthetics.