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Case Closed for Detective Conan? Not Quite

In an interview that the Sankei Shimbun paper published on Tuesday, manga author Gōshō Aoyama hinted that the plot for the end of his popular Detective Conan (known as Case Closed in North America) series is ready to go, but it may not appear for a while.

Aoyama gave very few details about the ending for the popular series, saying, "I will not betray the hopes of fans." Volume 59 of the Conan manga will be released in Japan later this month. "I don't feel much pressure," said the author, adding with a laugh, "isn't it more fun just to not feel pressure at all? Instead, I write what feels right to me. I feel lucky that I'm able to do that."

The interview conducted by the Sankei Shimbun focused mostly on Aoyama's career and the popularity of the Detective Conan series. The author talked about how he tries to keep the series feeling original: "The manga is always interesting to me because the mysteries [in the story] let me portray a variety of genres. If the criminal is an athlete, it feels like a sports story. If they're an actor, it feels like a stage drama. Every time I work with a different world, so it lets me draw things in a way that keeps the story feeling fresh. It's hard, but I don't get tired of it."

Aoyana said the most difficult part of writing Conan was "avoiding complicated words and phrases. It's easy to use words that confuse the readers, but then people lose track of the story." Such complications can lead to trouble, says Aoyama. "There will be times when the story just won't develop, and I'll spend almost twelve hours just to get it together. Usually it takes just four."

Conan has been one of the most successful anime and manga franchises of the past 20 years. The series first appeared in the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday in 1994. To date, 120 million volumes (tankōbon) of the Detective Conan manga have been sold in Japan alone. The manga is currently available in 22 nations worldwide, and the anime is in its 11th season in prime time on the NTV network and its affiliates. A 12th full length theatrical anime (title pending) is scheduled to hit Japanese theatres next spring, and a new live-action television drama version of the story debuts in December.

Source: Golgo 31