Case Closed: Encyclopedia II - Case Closed - Story

Case Closed - Story

The English manga names will be used, with the Japanese original in brackets at their first mention. Japanese names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name, with the exception of Edogawa Rampo (Edogawa is the last name here).

At the beginning of the story, 17-year old (16 years in the manga) high school student Jimmy Kudo (Shin'ichi Kudo) becomes the boy, Conan Edogawa. Jimmy Kudo in the beginning of Case Closed is known as a high school student detective. One day, Jimmy goes to a theme park named "Tropical Land," with his childhood friend (or current girlfriend), Rachel Moore (Ran Mouri). He encountered a case where a roller coaster passenger, Kenneth (Kishida), is killed in a spectacularly bloody decapitation. He solved the case and on his return home, he witnesses a suspicious deal involving some men dressed completely in black. Another man in black spots him, knocks him down, and gives him an untested poison named Apotoxin-4869 (APTX4869), which is intended to kill him. The poison does not kill him. However, when he comes to his senses, his body had shrunk down to the size of an elementary school boy.

Following the advice of Dr. Hershel Agasa(Dr. Hiroshi Agasa), Jimmy hides who he really is, lest the men in black find out that he is alive. When Rachel asks for his name, Jimmy spots books by Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo and comes up with the name "Conan Edogawa." Agasa then suggests that "Conan" go live with Rachel, and both Conan and Rachel accept the change.

Rachel's father, Richard Moore (Kogoro Mouri) is also a detective, but is not very capable. Conan always solves mysteries in his stead. As Conan appears to be just a boy, police don't pay Conan any mind. Conan instead uses Detective Moore by putting him to sleep with a "clock type anesthesia gun" and pretending to be Moore by using a voice changer disguised as a bow tie.

Other important characters that appear (some later) are Jimmy's parents Booker (Yuusaku) and Vivian (Yukiko) Kudo , Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori), a rival detective from Osaka, gentleman thief Phantom Thief (Kaitō Kid , who also appears in Magic Kaito), inventor of the APTX4869 Shiho Miyano (codename "Sherry" within the black syndicate, turned into a child also after she took her own drug to escape the organization, and then lives with Dr. Agasa under her new name Ai Haibara), and the other members of the black organization: Gin, Vodka, Tequila, Calvados, Pisco, Vermouth, Kir, Chianti, Köln, and a mysterious "boss" who has only been mentioned so far.

Case Closed has the format of classical mystery/crime literature, with such classical set ups such as the Closed-Room-Type murder case, and cases with a limited number of suspects. It also includes the wrap up of the case and conclusion/solution of the case like in typical crime literature.

Many references to other detective literature can also be found for fans of detective novels; References to Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie's works, Kogoro Akechi, Kosuke Kindaichi, Arsène Lupin, Maigret and many more.

The manga also includes a Detective Encyclopedia, where many characters of detective, mystery and crime literature and film are introduced, including even Columbo and James Bond.

In Japan a new theatrical movie of Detective Conan is released every year in April during the Golden Week. Also, regular appearances of 1 hour specials as well as the yearly 2 hour new year special define the series.

Detective Conan is airing on Yomiuri TV (producing TV station), NNS TV stations, and TV Miyazaki on Mondays at 7:30 pm, after Tezuka Anime, Black Jack.

As of October 2005, Case Closed is no longer being shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim or any other channel in the U.S. for that matter.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Story", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki