Status of Case Closed (Anime; FUNimation)
Note: The information provided below is based off a thread by matthewlow (FUNimation forum member) who talks to Adam Sheehan (Marketing Manager for FUNimation) at an anime convention in 2010. This, along with Sophie's reply (post #8 and 9), is all us Conan fans have to go on with what FUNimation has in store for Case Closed.
The original thread can be found here. (Currently offline)
Summary:
- FUNimation does not plan on dubbing more episodes or movies.
Status of Case Closed (Manga; Viz Media)
Note: Viz Media hasn't announced much since the series began, so we don't know much. What we do know is as follows:
- Viz Media is currently doing quarterly releases. They use to do bi-monthly releases, but changed due to the economy.
- Case Closed has been on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list thrice. Once in October, 2010 (vol. 36; ranked seventh), again in April, 2011 (vol. 37; ranked eighth), and in January, 2012 (vol. 41; ranked fifth). All three volumes fell off the list the following week.
From the looks of it, it seems the Lupin vs. Conan special will be the most plausible to be dubbed. It will be a miracle if the other movies are dubbed.
Maybe it's just me, but I have no faith whatsoever that FUNi will release more of anything Case Closed, but if I had to guess what they would release, I'd say the movies. It just comes across as more plausible, at least to me.
その名は・・・ 名探偵コナン!
Sono na wa... Meitantei Conan!
His name is... Detective Conan!
Correction
-FUNimation only released movies 1 - 6. Above you said "Movies 3-7 sold well, so FUNimation MAY license more movies in the future."
Also, Viz Media has Case Closed vol. 40 slated for a October 11th release.
Case Closed Vol. 40 - http://www.amazon.com/Case-Closed-Vol-Graphic-Novels/dp/1421535009/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302978156&sr=8-1
Case Closed Vol. 40 Summary
A Kiss Before Sleuthing The Metropolitan Police force is in an uproar over the big news: at long last, star-crossed police detectives Sato and Takagi are going on a date! But their romantic afternoon at an amusement park turns into a roller-coaster ride when they find a backpack full of smuggled heroin. Can Conan catch the drug runners and save the detectives' date? Then the Junior Detective League decides to track down Doc Agasa's long-lost first love. But to find her, they'll have to crack a numerical code that takes them on a wild goose chase through the local zoo!
Oops. Thanks for posting that.
As for the volume 40 response, I decided to get rid of that otherwise I'd have to update this every time a new volume is released.
その名は・・・ 名探偵コナン!
Sono na wa... Meitantei Conan!
His name is... Detective Conan!
As for the rest of the movies and that Lupin vs Conan special, do you think they will release them in blu-ray format since they released the blu ray's for 7-14 in Japan?
I highly doubt that since FUNi has never done a blu-ray release for Case Closed. They typically only do blu-rays when a series is very popular.
その名は・・・ 名探偵コナン!
Sono na wa... Meitantei Conan!
His name is... Detective Conan!
Adam's response really is what is going on with Case Closed. It's simply too high of a risk.
- It didn't sell enough <-- Number one reason
- It's too long (and ongoing)
- Even if we did get it, fans wouldn't trust us to keep going and would hold off on buying it.
- It's a drama, and dramas never sell what we need them to (even though it's a very good one)
If we were to license more of the movies, Blu-ray would be possible (more likely a Blu-ray/DVD combo), especially if Blu-ray materials exist in Japan.Thanks for stopping by and sharing that, Sophie.
Sophie also responded to my message, where I asked for anything new at all in terms of Case Closed. Here it is:
My original message
Hello Sophie,
I know that you're just a community manager, so you may not have access to this information, but I was wondering if you could share with me anything you've heard about the future of Case Closed. I know the episodes are done for, but have you heard anything about the movies? I see you're friends with Adam Sheehan; go ask him if you don't know! To be honest, I realize that if there was something new then it'd probably be top-secret, but I saw you say, "I'm going to participate more around the forums", or something like that, so I'm testing just how far you're willing to "participate".
But seriously. Anything whatsoever would much be appreciated. :D
Sophie's response
Lol. I'm happy to answer any questions you have to a certain degree. We still have to maintain some confidentiality.
I actually do work at FUNimation, and have for nearly 8 years. I also happen to be part of the acquisitions team (unofficially anyway. I'm more of a consult.). Adam's my boss.
We're not going to buy anymore of the series. It just didn't sell well enough, unfortunately. There's no way we (Acquisitions) could ever convince Gen (our CEO) to get more. I absolutely adore the show, but I couldn't in good conscience ever recommend buying more. we always have to put the good of the company before our personal preferences in anime. Every once in a while the stars do align, though.
Case Closed had a bit of a false start and just couldn't get the momentum to sell well despite our many attempts at relaunching the series and its brief time on TV. We were a different company when we first released Case Closed.
In a parallel universe Case Closed would have had the proper release it deserved from the start. Perhaps if we had licensed it when we started doing season sets, things would be different. Then again, dramas never seem to sell what we need them to. Plus, Case Closed is over 500 episodes, so that makes it a risky buy as well.
Thank you very much for supporting the show, but I'd give up on ever getting to buy more at least from us.
We're still open to getting more movies, but nothing is in the works.
~Sophie
_____
She further confirms what we've already known for a while, but perhaps the most interesting part of the message is when she states, "... nothing is in the works." Looks like we could very well be waiting 'til 2013 to get a movie, and even that could be considered wishful thinking.
その名は・・・ 名探偵コナン!
Sono na wa... Meitantei Conan!
His name is... Detective Conan!
News isn't anything new, but I'm glad that now it's not written by a random guy like me and actually someone at Funimation. Of course, so few of you took my word for it, and still had wishful thinking. It just didn't sell, and as I speculated and Sophie confirmed, it just came out at the wrong time when Funi was still doing singles. With the right reboot, I really think it could be successful, but it's a bit too late for that.
I still think the best we can hope for is for Funi to drop Conan when the contract expires, and a sub only niche company picks it up and goes with it. Even then, the risk of people not buying it because they're afraid it won't be finished will always be present. I know I'd be preordering it for sure, but you can't say that about everyone.
Learning Japanese is the way to go, I'm afraid.
And as for the manga, Viz announced a while back that they moved nearly all bi-monthly releases to quarterly due to the economy.
What was that suppose to be, Arsenic?
@matthewlow
Sophie stated nothing is in the works in terms of the movies. That's news to me. Up until this point, no one knew what they were doing, but now we know: nothing.
Viz announced that? Man, no one tells me nothing. Thanks for sharing that; puts me more at ease knowing that. Still, though, I don't like the idea of waiting ten years before getting the last volume, or even worse, they discontinue it at volume 70...
Guess there isn't much else to say about Case Closed now. Not that there has been in the last three years. What to do now...
その名は・・・ 名探偵コナン!
Sono na wa... Meitantei Conan!
His name is... Detective Conan!