Meitantei Conan (Detective Conan, alternatively localized with the far less unique Case Closed), is a long running detective anime. The following summary appears at the beginning of every movie:
I'm Kudo Shin'ichi, a high school detective. I was playing at the amusement park with my childhood friend and classmate, Mori Ran, when I witnessed a man wearing black participating in a shady exchange. I was so caught up watching that I didn't realize his partner was sneaking up behind me. He force fed me a drug and when I woke up...
my body had shrunk! If they knew that Kudo Shin'ichi was still alive, they'll come after me and it'll put my friends in danger. I hid my identity at the advice of Dr. Agasa and when Ran asked for my name, I blurted out, "Edogawa Conan". In order to gather more information on the men, I found myself living with Ran and her detective father.
He sees the truth! He looks like a kid but has the brains of an adult! His name? Detective Conan!
It's impossible to watch a majority of the episodes outside Japan. Here in North America, only some 300 out of the over 1100 episodes are available on streaming websites.
On some anime forums, I saw people asking what episodes are "filler". People talk about skipping to the episodes with "plot" but frankly, these people are insane. I hate to break it to them, but almost 30 years later, the status quo has barely changed. I feel like Conan is something you watch every week (and go see the new movie once a year) until you get bored or die.
The worst mysteries are what I call "mechanism" murders. The setup is the same: the culprit commits murder in an "impossible" manner. The weapon disappears or the victim died in a sealed room or the murderer killed someone remotely. Conan solves the crime by showing that if you built a contraption with wires and tape, you could in fact kill someone in this way. The mystery feels cheap because you, the viewer, didn't fail to solve the murder due to gaps in logic or observation. The "ah-ha" moment isn't the puzzle pieces falling into place, it's Conan building a mechanism that could kill while fitting within the tight constraints of the evidence.
Interesting Episodes
These episodes are a departure from the typical murder mystery setup or otherwise interesting.
1 - Introduces the main cast and backstory. Obviously you should watch the first episode
2 - The first case as Edogawa Conan
3 - Introduces the voice changing bowtie
27/28 - Kogoro solves a case by himself!
43 - Ran and Kogoro get suspicious of Conan's identity and he has a run-in with the Organization
48/49 - Introduction of rival high school detective Hattori Heiji
50 - Less mystery and more of a horror episode. The murder isn't hard to figure out, but the mood is spectacular.
76 - Introduction of Kaito Kid
81/82 - Conan (voiced by Takayama Minami) solves a mystery for Takayama Minami (voiced by Takayama Minami)
96 - 2 hour special with returning characters, Ran figuring out Conan's identity, and a mystery without Detective Mori
I think this is the first time in the anime people attempt to perform CPR instead of just checking for a pulse and shaking their head sadly
98/99 - I like the Pottery, not the murder in this one
Kakiemon's three pottery apprentices are named after major kiln sites - Arita Yoshihiko, Seto Ryuuichi, and Otani Kaoru
Conan remarks that the only 3 cases Kogoro solved while conscious so far were the class reunion, the art museum, and the magician
104/105 - No blood and little violence - Conan and co. solve the mystery of a clockmaker's house. This feels like a Legend of Zelda dungeon in some way: The entire environment is an interconnected puzzle
112 - The kids investigate rumors of weird things happening at school at night
116/117 - Conan solves a mystery encoded in a serialized novel. The crux of the mystery relies on being fluent in Japanese though. The code involves merging characters based on orthography rules
118 - Conan and company vacation in Osaka, but end up solving a serial killer case. The story telling in this one is great and the killer's identity reveal really got me.
128 - The second appearance of the men in black in the anime. Lead up to episode 129
129 - 2 hour special introducing Haibara Ai and featuring the Organization
It feels like the episodes starting here become slightly more interconnected instead of being purely episodic
130/131 - Finding the bad guy is kind of fun in this one. Also expands more on Ai and Conan's relationship
135/136 - The kids explore an old mansion with secret passages and a hidden message. Thematically, it feels similar to the 3rd movie, which opened in theaters a month after this episode aired
155 - Conan solves a case as himself? This feels illegal somehow.
156/157 - The episode features the Policeman Takagi solving the case (I feel like it's been a few episodes since Mr. Mori got tranquilized)
162 - Shin'ichi solves his first case (set a year before he became Conan)
176/177/178 - Conan and Haibara get involved in an Organization assassination. Weak mystery, mainly focuses on the drama. References properties of the drug that shrank Conan that were explained in episodes 48/49.
182 - This felt like a Sherlock Holmes story. Conan deduces what the owner of a ring is like to return it.
183 - This one felt very Sherlock Holmes too. The kids start by trying to deduce what people are having for dinner by looking at shopping receipts. By looking at suspicious purchases, they end up solving a mystery.
188-195 - A 6 part story! Technically it's several interlinked mysteries. The school play had a great moment when Shin'ichi's friends worked together so Ran didn't find out Conan's true identity.
196 - Mouri Ran solves a mystery (with Conan's help)
199 - Conan and Ran's mom have to defend Kogoro's innocence. I liked how the murder was premeditated, but didn't go as planned so Conan has to piece together the events that lead up to the crime.
205/206 - Officers Takagi and Sato are at it again. This time they need to solve an old case before its statute of limitations runs out while also handling an arsonist. Conan and Kogoro take a back seat, which is always a nice break.
219 - Six detectives face off against Kaito Kid. The setting is a bit more manufactured, but the ending is satisfying nonetheless. The detective death games feel a bit forced but are still enjoyable. Also, I think this is the first episode drawn digitally instead of with cels?
222-224 - Actually quite a profound story. The setup contrasts an eternal mermaid with a murder mystery. The reveal gets a little philosophical. And Heiji and Kazuha show up which a plus in my book.
238/239 - Conan meets his hero and it clouds his judgement. I like the emotional depth and internal conflict Conan has between defending someone he admires and following only the facts and logic.
253/254 - The deduction in this one is unique. Three different witnesses give contradicting testimonies, but Conan is able to resolve the contradictions to find the culprit. Also Officer Sato gets married?
286/287/288 - A continuation of the story in episode 162. Shin'ichi solves a murder in a theater. I kind of like the talk about God and fate at the end. The Iliad references were also pretty neat.
Movies
Tokei Jikake no Matenrou - Pretty solid. I like how the flashbacks to the cases Shin'ichi solved in the past come back into play for figuring out the identity of the bomber. Certainly raises the stakes and makes it feel like a huge mystery.
14 Banme no Target - Not as interesting as the first. I was expecting a title drop after the 13th assassination attempt though. Also a bit of a let down that halfway through the movie Conan narrows down the suspect to someone in the group - at that point it was more or less like a typical episode. The ending was nice and the callback to Ran's mom being shot was really cool.
Seikimatsu no Majutsushi - Beautiful. The animation and art is absolutely gorgeous. I think the story is also stronger than the first two because the main mystery is the egg and the murder is secondary. Kaitou Kid makes an appearance too and I like how figuring out who he's disguised as is a little bonus mystery that I totally figured out before Conan revealed it
Hitomi no naka no Ansatsusha - Alright. Felt more like a 1 hour special than something really worth going to the movie theater for. The murderer reveal felt a little cheap since there was no way of knowing their motivations beforehand. There was only one mystery this time unlike movies 1 and 3 which had several mysteries that all fed into each other.
Tengokuhe no Countdown - Pretty fun. The murder mystery was ordinary but the action was well animated.
References / Puns
I feel like English speaking mystery stories almost exclusively rely on Sherlock Holmes for inspiration, but Meitantei Conan also takes ideas from Arsene Lupin and Edogawa Ranpo's stories.
People
Edogawa Conan is named after Edogawa Ranpo, a Japanese mystery author, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, an English mystery author
Mori Kogoro is named after French author Maurice Leblanc and Akechi Kogoro, a fictional detective from Edogawa Ranpo's stories
Not a Meitantei Conan character, but Akechi Kokoro from Milky Holmes is named after the same
The poison that shrank Conan, ATPX 4869, is named after Sherlock Holmes
4869 is Goroawase for Sherlock (shi - ha - ro - ku = sharoku)
Conan, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko name themselves the Shonen Tantei Dan (Boys' Detective Group) after the group of the same name in Edogawa Ranpo's stories
Places
Conan lives in Beika-chou, named after Sherlock Holmes' house's Baker Street
The river that runs through Beika-chou is named Teimuzu (after the River Thames)
Haido-chou might be a reference to Hyde Park?
There's a local college called Touto University, but I'm not sure if it's a reference
Other
Kudo Shin'ichi goes (went?) to Teitan High School (tantei = detective)
Friend who talks in Conan movie titles (Japanese adjective + English noun)
How to identify a criminal
I learned this after watching several dozen episodes.
Say, "I'm the great detective Mori Kogoro and you're the killer!"
If the accused panics and starts yelling about how they're innocent, then they're innocent.
If the accused smiles smugly and says something like, "Interesting theory, Mr. Detective. Let's say for the sake of argument that the victim was killed in the way you explained. But do you have any proof that I was the one who did it?" Then they're 100% guilty.