AndrewA

"why are almost all the victims extremely hard (if not impossible) to sympathize with?" Because nice people normally don't have at least three different people who would are not normally likely murder suspects but each have distinct motives for wanting to kill them. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssholeVictim http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SympatheticMurderer

Am surprised no one has suggested Kaito Kuroba yet.

My guess is that Moran was never convicted of murder. Only attempted murder of Holmes. But I can't say for sure.

Also, I think some of the lecturing tone is for the benefit of the audience, especially any kids reading. I think the creators of DC don't want to get blamed for giving the people the idea that there are good reasons to commit murder.

As I just said in another thread, it is up to the justice system to take into account extenuating circumstances. At least in America, the prosecutor can offer a plea bargain to allow the killer to plead guilty to a lesser crime than murder, such as manslaughter. Also, the judge or the jury that hands out the sentence (whichever does it in Japan) can choose to give the minimum sentence for the crime instead of the maximum. In Japan, some murderers can be executed, but most aren't. The serial killer or the terrorist that blows up a school or kills a dozen police officers is probably going to be executed or spend life in prison. The man that kills the gangster that is extorting money from his aged mother will probably be sentenced to 15-20 years in prison and maybe get out early if he behaves well and can convince the parole board or whatever they have in Japan that he has reformed and will never kill again. Indeed, there is a least one case where the girlfriend/boyfriend (can't remember which) of the accused says that he/she will be wait for the accused and be there for him/her when he/she gets out of jail. On at least one occasion, Mouri recommended to the accused the services of his wife as a defense lawyer, which clearly indicates his sympathy. I think that might be the same case where the accused is someone that had just gotten out of prison after serving time for a previous killing, which provides additional evidence that many of the more sympathetic murders in the world of Detective Conan will have the chance to reform and start life anew.

I know the movie isn't canon, and I'm not saying that any of the same characters and same organization in the movie will be used. I'm just saying that the basic concept of having a person live on after death in a virtual reality computer system might be similar to what the Black Org is trying to do with the computer side of their research.

There are a lot of ways to approach this. You could compare, as works, the original Sherlock Holmes stories and Detective Conan. Looking at that, I will simply say that SH is one of the masters that established the field. Not only is it better known, it is is a true cultural icon. Even people that don't read mysteries know who Sherlock Holmes is. DC simply isn't as well established, and probably never will be. A century from know Sherlock will still be a household word that invariably refers to the Great Detective, while Kudo will be just another Japanese name, and Conan will bring to mind the barbarian. That being said, in some ways, DC is more advanced as detective fiction, having the benefit of an author that is clearly as well informed about the many developments of the field since the time of Sherlock. In other ways, it is worse as detective fiction, because it depends too much on impossible technologies like drugs that can shrink people, perfect masks that can be applied almost instantly, a voice changer bowtie that defies physics. Not to mention that everyone seems willing to believe that someone can perfectly articulate a complicate deduction without ever opening their mouth. Too many of the Detective Conan cases also are solved within a matter of hours of in-universe time. In most detective literature, the Great Detective spends days, weeks, and even months on the case. This is far more realistic. So in a way, Kudo could be considered better than Sherlock as a detective because he on average seems to solve his cases quicker. He also has had more recorded cases so far in the manga, which spans less than a year of his life, than Sherlock Holmes had in all of the years that Doyle published the original stories. Then again, maybe that is just because Holmes never bothered to write up all the short cases that were solved in a few hours, or Sherlock refused to take cases that he knew he could have solved so quickly. Sherlock, unlike Conan, did not have dead bodies turning up every time he crossed the street. He only took cases that people brought to him, and was selective about those. Also, as an aside, I'd like to point out that Moriarity was not Sherlock's "constant" enemy. In fact, he appeared in none of the cases until the story in which he was intended to kill off Sherlock, and was never mentioned again after Sherlock first reappeared. The notion that the two had many battles in the past was invented just for that story, leaving many readers latter with the false impression that Sherlock vs. Moriarty was one of the driving forces of the whole Sherlock Holmes canon. In regards to the conversation about letting killers off: Keep in mind that under the British justice system at the time, being a murderer, no matter the reason, almost always meant you would be executed. Sherlock was sending most of those killers to die. In Detective Conan, under the modern Japanese justice system, there are options for lesser punishments. In fact, there are some episodes where comments are made to the effect that the killer will have the chance to start their lives over once they get out of prison. There is also at least one episode where someone (Kogoro I think) recommended Eri as a defense lawyer to that the sympathetic criminal. There were also times that Kudo told criminals that if they turn themselves in, Japanese law allows for a reduced sentence. Therefor, I don't think that Kudo is blind to the injustices suffered by the criminals. I think he simply believes that detective under modern jurisprudence is not to weigh the extenuating circumstances. That is up to the prosecutor, the jury and the judge, who retain the option to pass out the minimum sentence. Prosecutors and judges can also allow people to plea bargin. That being said, Kudo has been very generous on several occasions by allowing people that have commited the crime of attempted murder or conspiracy to murder to go free if the victim didn't actually die. Another point of comparison: As people, Kudo is a lot more pleasant, or at least he is nicer after he has been brought down to size a bit, so to speak. Sherlock tended to be arrogant and anti-social. He was also a drug user, which must be hard for Kudo to reconcile in his worship of all thinks Holmes related.

I was going through the unresolved plots section, and saw this from The Black Demon: "We can be both God and the Devil, since we're trying to raise the dead against the stream of time..." Haibara has already stated that the purpose of APTX-4869 was not to raise the dead (Vol 38 - Chap 2 - Page 8), whether you believe it or not. But if that's so, then what was Vermouth trying to indicate ? Does it have something to do with the program that Itakara was developing, which he didn't want to continue "for the sake of humanity" ? Might there be a similarity to the DNA program and the game developed in Phantom of Baker Street, that allowed the boy to live on inside the computer after he committed suicide?

Thanks! I hope a day will come when the entire series is posted online with quality subs by official licenced groups in a way that will make money for the creators of the Detective Conan. But until then, I'll take what I can get.

Now that the DCTP has ended subbing animes, does anyone know... Have other fansubbers stepped in the take over? Has Funimation announced their intent to sub and/or dub any more seasons?

It would be great if Funimation subbed the entire series. It would make up for them ending the DCTP translations. Also, subs should be a lot cheaper for them than dubs. Don't have to pay the voice actors and the sound engineers.

Detective Conan is published in Weekly Shonen Sunday, which means its official target demographic is boys. However, I have not idea how the actual demographics break down. I would suggest, however, the notion that the detective/mystery genre is a guy thing is very much off. Mysteries is hugely popular with females, and many mystery writers are female. The Queen of Crime, of course, is Agatha Christie. But look through the mystery section of library and you will see a lot of female names. Laura Childs is famous for her cuilinary mysteries. Elis Peters did the Brother Cadfael series. Dorthey Sayers was a contemporary to Agatha Christie and wrote the Lord Peter Wimsey books. Caroline Lawrence is the author the kid detective series The Roman Mysteries, as well as the The Western Mysteries. The Nancy Drew books have been written by a number of authors, but they have been hugely popular among girls for generations. My mother used to watch Murder She Wrote all the time. Many more examples could be mentioned.

" knew something was terrible wrong when I saw Haibara's room. It was too...OOC." Except, of course, that it wasn't Haibara's room. It was Ayumi's room, because Ai was staying over at her apartment. Anyway, reading this thread was kinda funny. "Will it reveal Haibara's secret past? Will it reveal Bourbon's secret identity?" Of course freaking not. The OVA's have always been and will always be filler. Not there is anything wrong with filler. Personally, I think the occasional comedic slice of life episode like OVA 11 or 12 is a lot of fun.

My perspective is simply that there are multiple different canons. There is the Manga Canon, with is Master or Prime Canon. There is the Anime Canon, which takes the Manga Canon as modified by the Anime adaptations plus the anime only episodes. There is the Extended Anime Canon, which includes OVA and Movies. There is the TV Drama Canon, which has the live action episodes, some of which contradict with the manga/anime. Then there is the "Head Canon" of the individual fans, which allows them to pick and choose from all of the above. In my mind, anything in the manga trumps anything else that directly contradicts it. But personally, I tend to be willing to accept most of the Extended Anime Canon, with a few exceptions. One of those being the whole notion of the Black Org flying around in attack helicopters. Not going to happen. Another is the idea of Conan being able to sing on pitch so well and so loudly as to phone phreak a pay phone that must have been hundreds of feet, maybe even hundreds of yards, away. Sorry, but the manga and direct anime adaptations thereof have made it pretty clear that Kudo/Conan can't even sing a scale.

Who is your favorite Anime Only character? What is your favorite Anime Only (aka TV Original) episode? What is your favorite Anime Only recuring character/story sets: By this I mean, things like the the "Courtroom Confrotation" series of episodes, or the theatre troup episodes with the Ito siblings, that have generally the same groups of recuring anime only characters and sometimes have similar plotlines and epidode titles. http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/wiki/List_of_minor_recurring_anime_characters

Suppose that Sato and Takagi, or any of the other current official couples, finally get married during the course of the storyline. Should they invite Conan to the wedding? On the one hand, it would be the polite thing to do, given their friendly relationship. On the other hand, doing so would pretty much a guarantee that one of their wedding guests will murder another during the reception.

Just a random idea I have: Eisuke and Sera would be a really good couple. Granted, they have never even met so far, but... 1) They have parallel roles in the story. The little brother of the CIA agent who inflitrated the BO and came to Japan to look for her, and the little sister of the FBI agent who came to Japan to look for him. 2) They are both intelligent, deceptive and even a bit manipulative. They are also both strong willed and independent, given their willingness and ability to cross an ocean by themselves to look for their respective siblings. 3) Eisuke is regarded as girly while Sera is regarded as a tomboy. Sera told Ran that she is "her type". Maybe she was just teasing Ran, and maybe she actualy prefers those that are a bit girlish. Not necessarily lesbian, but a girly guy might be a good match for her. Also, the fact that they are considered outside of gender norms and are sometimes mistaken for the opposite gender give them something else in common, both in personality and in the role they play in the story. 4) Both are Japanese Americans that have spent much of their childhood growing up in Japan.

Crazy idea, but might Bourban be Akai and Sera's other brother, who has infiltrated the Black Organization either because: 1) He is also an FBI agent, and James Black ordered him to do with without the knowledge of Jodie and Kir. 2) He is a free lancer, and his brother Akai asked him to do it, to make up for his own failure to infiltrate. 3) He is a free lancer, and did it on his own initiatve to find out what happened to Akai, just as Sera is searching for Akai.

How do we define winning? Kaito has always accomplished his real goal, which is not stealing the gem, but getting his hands on it long enough to determine if it is Pandora. Conan has always failed in his goal, which is capturing Kid. Still, wouldn't it be crazy if Conan and Kid ever sat down together and had a completly honest talk about who they were and what they were up to? I think that if Conan knew how much he really had in common with Kid (trying to fight a mysterious murderous mafia like organization) Conan would not try to capture him, but instead would ally with Kid.

Not that I'm suggesting this as a serious option, but it would be really wild if "he" was really Yoko Okino.

So in the end, Kudo and company find a way to defeat the Black Organization, and gather enough data about the drug to permantly turn Conan back to Kudo. All is fine and dandy, except... 1) What about Ran? You have a choice between either telling her the truth (Hey, I just spent the last year lying to you because I didn't trust you to handle the truth, and used your dad as a meat puppet to cover up my secret. Will you marry me?) or coming up with yet another lie to explain why she will never see Conan again, who she clearly regards as being practicaly a little brother by now. 2) What about "Sleeping Kogoro"? Either revel the truth and he becomes the laughing stock of Japan, or have his super supposed detective abilities suddenly dissapeared without explanation. Either way would be very humiliating for him, his daughter and even his wife. While he could use some humility, this would reach the level of shame and disgrace, which he does not deserve. 3) His friendship with the Detective Boys (and girl) will be altered at best. Even if he still hangs out with them, Japan has a very heirachal approach to age relationships and they'd have a hard time seeing him as a peer and companion the way they used to.