A teenage detective is poisoned, wakes up in a first-grader's body, and has to solve murders without anyone noticing.
Detective Conan first aired in Japan in 1996 and has run for more than a thousand episodes. We think it lasts because its first episode sets up a rule it never breaks: the smartest person in the room is the one nobody listens to.
The premise – A great detective in a child's body
Shinichi Kudo is a high-school detective the police already call for help. Tailing two men in black, he is knocked out and fed an experimental poison.
He wakes up shrunk to the size of a seven-year-old, and takes the name Conan Edogawa to hide who he is.
Why it still works – Solving cases through someone else
Conan moves in with his childhood friend Ran Mouri and her father Kogoro, a struggling private detective. Nobody takes a child seriously, so Conan solves each case and lets Kogoro take the credit.
Every mystery is fair: the clues are on screen before the answer, and you get to try first.
The verdict – A thousand cases and counting
TMS Entertainment began adapting Gosho Aoyama's manga in 1996. In North America it was first released as Case Closed.
You can start almost anywhere, but we say start with episode one: the poison, the shrinking and the first case are still the best hook in mystery anime.
Where to watch
Detective Conan was listed on Crunchyroll, Netflix and Tubi TV in the USA when we last checked, in October 2026. Catalogues change by country and by month, so check the service where you are.
Shop the Detective Conan collection
Liked Detective Conan? This is where it leaves the screen: every Detective Conan design we carry, in one place.
Source: the Anime Crush Anime Guide.
