Aoyama Gosho's Case Closed, aka Detective Conan (名探偵 コナン, Meitantei Konan') has been going strong for more than a decade. The creator did announce that he had an ending in mind, but do I really want the series, anime or manga, to end?
Unlike Kinda'ichi Case Files (金田一少年の事件簿, Kinda'ichi Shōnen no Jikenbo'), there is a definite plot device to start the series, somewhat of a MacGuffin much of the time, but real nevertheless. I'm referring to of course, the fact that the series started out with the character Conan being created after the high schooler detective Kudo Shinichi was administered by the mysterious Black Organization with the Apotoxin-4869 (APTX4869), a drug meant to kill him but instead shrunk him from the body of 16 year old to that of a 6 year old.
Given such a premise, it is to be expected that there would be a resolution - either he would get permanently cured, or he would not. If he does, that'd be the series finale, 'cos the character Conan would cease to exist.
But do I really want the series to end?
I do so hate it when a favourite series ends.
Like Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, was completed (well, it ended since the author died, on a sad note with death of a cherished character).
Like Agatha Christie's Poirot, with the death of the character.
Conclusions mean farewell. Goodbye to something that became an intimate part of one's life.
End of primary school - end of the most carefree days.
End of secondary school - well, I wasn't missing it too much, as I was looking forward to the co-educational environment of junior college.
End of junior college - very sad, the U was a great unknown.
End of the U - well, didn't have luxury of remiscence then - U was hectic and expensive, I was feeling the pressure to go out and earn a living, pay off some debts, support the family.
Now I find myself trying not to think of when my little girl and little boy will grow up and leave the nest.
Back to animes and mangas ...
There're never-ending series like Doraemon.
Then there's those that seemed never would end, like Dragon Ball.
I guess I still enjoy Conan a lot, and I wish it would continue longer, though I know there'd be others out there to replace it once it's over. Detective fiction never goes out of style, though its main drive today comes mainly from Japan instead of Europe/America.
All good things come to end one way or the other.
ReplyDeletePersonally i prefer things to have and ending. The ending an closures actually made my favourite series even better.
Applies to much of life actually.
The ending stories are often the ones you remember the best.
ReplyDeleteIs it manga?
ReplyDeleteI do so hated some of the endings of series I like, like van Gulik's Judge Dee, Christie's Poirot, Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes (half of a mind about it), Hikaru no Go (both anime and manga), just to mention a few.
ReplyDeleteAll things must come to an end, yes, but why did it have to be done in *those* ways ...
Manga and anime.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes there are those that ended badly, which took off points from the series as a whole. I am not so sure Poirot's ending was bad, can't say much for the other 2 series since I haven't read all or even most of them.
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On the other hand I dislike series which refuse to die. Comic books is one of the biggest culprits. Is there really a need to keep 'modernising' the superheroes and darn it, keep changing history! Just let the heroes grow old and die if need be or just make them immortal if you really want, but enough with the 'updating'.
Some Fantasy series are just as guilty, trying to milk more money from fans of the earlier books by publishing yet another sequel or never-ending 'next chapter' in a never ending series.
T3I is another series I wished they had not try to 'update' it. I have no problems reading adventure stories of boys set in the 1950s USA. And those poor sods after decades are still in their late teens in their latest incarnations (of which the least said the better)
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Very off-topic, um, anyone interested in watching Iron Man on the big screen?
I was very disappointed with the revamp of Dragonlance, beginning with Second Generation and Summer Flame.
ReplyDeleteThumbs down for Star Wars New Jedi Order too, beginning with Vector Prime. The sequels began well enough with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, and should have ended with his Hand of Thrawn duology.
T3I ... original series rulez!!!
Have you tried the Fandorin novels? They are good, one especially invokes some flavour of the The Murder on the Orient Express.
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