This popular anime TV series ran for an impressive 390 episodes; it follows the exploits of high school detective Jimmy Kudo. Walking home from one of his more gruesome investigations, Jimmy is spotted by a group of gangsters who become enraged that he has witnessed their crime. They force Jimmy to take the experimental drug they're handling, which they believe is poison. The strange and lasting effect of the chemical, however, is that his body shrinks down to that of a seven year old. With the thugs who gave him the drug still after him, Jimmy uses his changed body to assume a new identity and dubbing himself Conan (after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), he continues his private-eye business only now with even more anonymity. He lives with his friend Rachel and her father, who is also a detective...but a completely incompetent one. Conan usually ends up solving the crimes for Rachel's father, and is barely noticed by police and criminals alike, because of his appearance.
Case Closed aired in Japan under the name Meitantei Konan which literally translates to
Detective Conan. There were fears of copyright entanglements in the U.S., however, because of the
Conan the Barbarian franchise and so the name was changed for American distribution. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide