Given that that only one single new volume of Detective Conan was released this year, and that this year's theatrical release Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet was pushed back to a 2021 release due to the pandemic, it's been a very disappointing year for Detective Conan fans, with nothing new to enjoy. And yes, I know the collected volumes of the spin-off Detective Conan: Wild Police Story are being released in these last two months of the year, but as far as I know, it's not a mystery series, so I'll probably not be discussing them here, even if I'm going to get those volumes.
So the last few months, I've been watching anime original episodes of Detective Conan on and off, i.e. episodes which are not based on the original comic, but which are especially written for the animated series by a varied team of writers: some are specialized screenplay writers for Detective Conan, some are freelance screenplay writers who write for a variety of shows (not just mystery shows) with no fixed attachment to Conan, and sometimes there are special guest writers like mystery author Ookura Takahiro who also wrote the 21st Detective Conan film The Crimson Love-Letter. I started looking for the more interesting anime original episodes about two years ago, and as you may remember, I've come across a few genuine gems.
Obviously, not all anime original episodes are anything near memorable. Most of them are passable, but usually not special enough to make me want to write a review about them. The stand-out episodes I have reviewed until now on the blog do have one major point in common: length. The episodes I've discussed are either two-parters (or even a three-parter) or one hour specials, meaning these episodes have quite some time to set-up a proper mystery and work towards a satisfying conclusion with proper clewing. And it's a lot harder to do that within the confines of one single twenty-minute episode. Most single-part anime originals usually have problems to present a mystery that's deep enough to make an impression in that short period of time, so few of them really make an impression. But as I have the feeling I've already gone through all of the must-see anime original Detective Conan episodes, and there's a Detective Conan shortage this year anyway, I thought I'd discuss a few of these single-part anime original episodes. Most of them have interesting ideas or settings even if sometimes undeveloped or slightly rushed.
Oh, and before I forget this point: I do have to say that Detective Conan is a fantastic fictional world for anime original episodes. There's not only an insanely rich cast of secundary characters but it's also rich in established locations and habits, and any screenwriter can easily fit any idea they have into the world of Detective Conan. Want to write something about a videogame company? Have Dr. Agasa and the Detective Boys visit it. A mystery plot set at a television studio? Have Mouri Kogorou appear in a television show. In a university? Ran visiting someone who graduated from Teitan High. Country house murder? Kogorou, Ran and Conan are out driving and get lost. Seriously, practically any setting will work in Conan and feel completely natural.
Episode 214 Retro Room no Nazo Jiken ("The Mysterious Case in the Retro Room") was originally broadcast on November 20th, 2000 and written by Mochizuki Takeshi, who also wrote the enjoyable two-parter Gosai Densetsu no Mizugoten ("The Water Palace of the Legend of the Five Colors"). Mouri, Ran and Conan are on their way to Dolphin Land, when they become acquainted with a group of three women at the station. The women are old college classmates who are going to have a nice day together. A fourth member of the group is staying at the renewed Dolphin Hotel and the plan is for the three to pick this Naomi up and go enjoy Dolphin Land. Naomi has a room on the Retro Floor, where everything is decorated in a retro Japanese inn style. When they arrive at Naomi's room, they find a Do No Disturb sign hanging from the door, but Naomi does not answer her friends' calls and when they try the door, it's not locked. Inside they find the corpse of Naomi, who has been stabbed. Her hotel room is decorated in a retro style complete with traditional furniture, old-fashioned snacks, and a coin-operated television and it's the latter which is important: the television switched off right as they discovered the body, and the television runs for exactly one hour on one 100 yen coin, and you can only insert one coin at a time. The police suspects therefore Naomi was killed soon after she started watching television, but Conan soon realizes that the murderer could've faked this alibi. While it's fairly easy to guess who the killer is, I have to say I really like the retro room setting, as well as the trick used by the killer to fabricate an alibi for the time of the murder, as it makes optimal use of the prepared props, leading to an original color variation on a trick that's otherwise very familiar. Funny thing is how the incriminating piece of evidence is actually also becoming a bit retro nowadays. Things changed a lot in the twenty years since this episode first aired!
Episode 730 Kanpekisugita Figure ("The Figure That Was Too Perfect") first aired on February 22, 2014 and was written by Mikami Koushirou, a screenplay writer who also works on television dramas. Dr. Agasa and the Detective Boys are visiting a figurine/diarama exposition. Mitsuhiko is in particular impressed by the work of Kitajima Masahiro, a professional modeller. It's Kitajima's body which is found in one of the backstage rooms, and with some help of the Detective Boys, the police soon find three suspects in Kitajima's girlfriend, a rival modeller and a sleazy magazine writer, who were all three present at the event. The police however can't find the murder weapon with which the victim was stabbed, and none of the suspect should've been able to get rid of a weapon that size without anyone noticing. The solution to the hidden weapon is really original and works fantastic in this setting. It's a bit of a shame the episode didn't have a few more minutes to present this more as a Queenian problem, with a grand search of the whole complex to emphasize the impossibility of the murder weapon disappearing. I really like the trick, but the episode kinda undersells the problem, which makes it not as memorable as it could've been.
Mikami Koushirou was also responsible for episode 753 Share House no Shikaku ("The Blind Spot in the Share House"), originally broadcast on October 4th, 2014. Ran's visiting Yayoi, a former student of Teitan High who's graduated and now living in a share house while going to college. Ran likes the idea of living in a share house, but also learns it's not all sunshine. During her stay, she's witness to a fight between two of the other residents: Katsuko has telling lies to their landlord, accusing Suzuki of peeping in order to get him (the only man in the house) out, figuring it would be more convenient if there were only women here. Katsuko and Suzuki both go upstairs to their own rooms, while Yayoi and the other resident Yasuko take turns in taking a shower and keeping Ran company in the kitchen/dining room until her father picks her up. A cry by Suzuki has everyone running upstairs, where they discover that Katsuko's been murdered in her room. Because Katsuko and Suzuki were the only one upstairs, and Ran had clear sight on the hallway in front of the staircase from the kitchen, Suzuki becomes the only suspect, but as the title of the episode spoils, there's a blind spot. This is an episode with a lot of potential, but which sadly doesn't work quite as well as it could've. The trick used to create the blind spot is good, but the presentation is done in a way so it's not exactly clear what's going on until it's revealed in the conclusion, and it's not completely fair to the viewer. In hindsight, you could probably guess how everything fitted together, but considering this is a twenty-minute show, the presentation could've been a bit more generous towards the viewer, while in return one other clue could have been less obvious. A weird episode, as it's a story that really works well in the short runtime, it's just that the presention is intentionally not showing something that they could've shown without attracting to much attention in the first place.
By now you'll have noticed I was specifically watching episodes written by Mikami. Episode 859 Kurayami no Sangaku Route ("The Mountain Route in the Darkness") aired on May 13th, 2017. Dr. Agasa has taken the Detective Boys out on camping on a mountain. At the mountain lodge, they become acquainted with another group staying there. The group of four used to be one of five, but one of them died three years ago, falling off a mountain and since that accident, the remaining four have been climbing mountains together on this day to commemorate their deceased friend. Takemi is the odd on out in the group: the egoistic woman had gone out climbing alone at night three years ago, and their friend only died because he went after her. Takemi's attitude has not changed since however, and after another fight with the other three, she decides to go down the mountain and camp near the river on her own, while the other three sleep in the lodge together with Dr. Agasa and the Detective Boys. The next morning, Genta decides to check up on Takemi all the way down with his binoculars, only to find that she's been stabbed to death. They run down the mountain path to make their way to Takemi, who's beyond rescue. Her backpack is found a bit further down in the forest, suggesting someone killed her and then took her backpack as they fled. During the police investigation, the three friends are also investigated just to be sure, but it becomes clear none of the three friends could've killed Takemi: Conan saw them late at night when they held a small service for their deceased friend, and after that time, it would've take ntoo much time to go down the mountain path, kill Takemi, take the backpack to the forest and climb the mountain again before the others would start on breakfast at the lodge. Even the weather balloons one of the friends brought with him wouldn't be any help, as they can't lift a person and there are too many left anyway. Conan however soon figures out what the secret route is the murderer must've taken to kill Takemi and make it back in time. The trick is pretty simple to guess, especially once the props of the story are introduced, but I think the scriptwriter did a good job at introducing several false solutions to distract the viewer within the twenty minute limit and the trick used by the murderer itself is also pretty original. It's a story that works really well within the time limit, as I couldn't even imagine how you'd want to expand on this in a meaningful manner. One thing this episode shares with the other Mikami episodes I discussed however is that Mikami does like to leave certain clues (especially objects) very clearly for Conan and the viewer to find, and often you wonder why the murderer didn't think of cleaning up better, because sometimes it's like they're literally lying everywhere. I guess that's a problem of the runtime, but some clues are just left on the crime scene as is for no apparent reason save for the twenty minute limit.
One final episode I want to highlight was written by Yamatoya Akatsuki, best known for his work on Gintama. Episode 961 Glamping Kaijiken ("The Curious Glamping Incident") was broadcast a year ago on November 30, 2019 and is about Ran, her friend Sonoko and Conan going out glamping. They have a fun time at the camp, but at night, they hear a cry from the group of four next door, and when the three come and check, they find a dead cross-dressed man with awful make-up on his face, a piece of crab in his mouth and a piece of paper in his hand. What happened here? I should probably warn you that I'm not writing about this episode because it's a good mystery story. It's not. It's just the craziest anime original episode I have ever seen. It doesn't even try to make any sense. The writer probably just came up with the wackiest murder scene he could think of and then tried to make something out of it, but it doesn't even remotely hold together and when the episode is over, you'll realize the writer has forgotten to address a lot of story details that really beg for explanation. But this episode is absolutely HILARIOUS because it's unapologetically nuts and the characters are all acting like complete psychos.
Anyway, I hope this post will be helpful to the people who want to try out some Detective Conan anime original episodes and don't know where to start. I'd definitely recommend trying the specials/multi-parters by Ochi first, but after that it can be a bit trickier and it really depends on what kind of stories you like. For I will say this, the anime original episodes can be very varied, in terms of setting but also of atmosphere. I'll probably do these anime original episode write-ups once in a while, but I do hope I'll be able to write about some new Detective Conan releases soon...
