Ask John: How Much Detective Conan Is There?

Question:
How many episodes does “Detective Conan” have? How many movies? I heard that Cartoon Network will stop airing “Detective Conan” pretty soon and they’re stopping at episode 52. Do you have any ideas why?

Answer:
Detective Conan aired its first TV episode in Japan on January 8, 1996. As of this writing, there are nearly 375 TV episodes, and counting. There are also 8 theatrical movies so far, each one released annually since 1997:

Movie 1: Skyscraper on a Timer
Movie 2: 14th Target
Movie 3: Last Wizard of the Century
Movie 4: Captured in Her Eyes
Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven
Movie 6: Phantom of Baker Street
Movie 7: Crossroads of Labyrinth
Movie 8: Magician of the Silver Sky

During the September 2004 Dragon Con convention in Atlanta, Georgia, Cartoon Network representatives officially revealed that the network does not plan to license broadcast rights to any episodes beyond the 52 already licensed for American television broadcast. There may be practical or unforeseen reasons behind this decision, but the most obvious theoretical explanation is that “Case Closed” has not been as successful on the Cartoon Network as hoped.

I believe that the Cartoon Network’s decision is likely based on lower than anticipated viewer response for the show. I don’t think that Detective Conan is an anime series particularly suited to American television broadcast because it’s a show that clearly illuminates the differences between Japanese and American pop culture. The uncut Japanese version of Detective Conan contains fairly intense and graphic violence and mature concepts that appeal to Japanese children and adults. However, these themes are deemed too mature for American children by American mainstream culture and the FCC, which regulates the content of American broadcast television. Years ago, Fox Television reportedly considered acquiring American distribution rights to the Detective Conan animation then changed their mind when they realized that the show couldn’t be aired on Saturday mornings without extensive censoring. The Cartoon Network probably agreed to acquire broadcast rights to the series based on knowledge of its massive popularity in Japan. Presumably encountering the same roadblocks that Fox discovered, the Cartoon Network may have found itself in possession of a show that simply doesn’t fit smoothly into any of their programing time slots. Detective Conan is ostensibly a children’s show, but it’s too mature for American children, so it couldn’t be aired in the afternoons or early evening. The show’s mature content relegated it to broadcast during Adult Swim, but its child protagonists and primary target of younger viewers may have made it unappealing to typical Adult Swim viewers.

If you can overlook the ironically humorous, omnipresent fact that Edogawa Conan is a virtual god of death, considering that wherever he goes, people get murdered, Detective Conan is an appealing and intelligent program with strong characterizations and interesting stories. However, I think that American television and its viewers are simply not ready for an uncompromising and unflinching children’s program like Detective Conan. Hopefully, at least the domestic home video release will achieve greater success.