Category: Mystery

Lupin the 3rd VS. Detective Conan: The Movie—Turbo Engine Skateboard VS. Walther P38

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(Watch for free on Hulu)

narutaki_icon_4040 It is rather hard to believe that we have only recently seen an official team-up of Detective Conan and Lupin the 3rd considering both have been mega-franchises for so long. Detective Conan movies are already known for their splashy, high-stakes situations and a penchant for putting in as many characters from the Conan universe as they can. So doubling up by adding the all-star cast of Lupin the 3rd just sounds so right.

Despite the obvious love that Japan has for these characters, they have both only had middling success stateside with the exception of something like The Castle of Cagliostro. To say that seeing the Lupin the 3rd VS. Detective Conan: The Movie streaming was a shock would be a huge understatement. This film is not licensed by an American company and probably won’t be. Plus, unlike TV series, theatrical anime is still a lot less likely to be streamed so we are constantly missing out on titles.

hisui_icon_4040 If you pay attention to any sort of comic book news you will notice people endlessly debating the merits of a Batman VS. Superman movie. I mostly bring that up not so the comments can be a quagmire of angry nerds but because it shows a desire for fans to see their favorite characters interact. That is the reason that comics crossovers sell so well, people makes games like Super Robot Wars, and odd things like a SuperWhoLock fandom exists. Anime and manga is no exception. CLAMP and Go Nagai have often done this with their own series. One Piece and Toriko as well as Fairy Tail and Yankee-kun to Megane-chan have had joint adventures. There was even a Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA crossover but the less you think about that the better. The characters of Nisekoi and My Love Story!! have even officially met at one point in time. And this is all outside of fan-fiction which breaks any and all barriers.

But rarely have two properties has an almost gravitational pull like that of Lupin the 3rd and Detective Conan. They are practically designed to fit together seamlessly. Lupin is the world’s most notorious thief and Conan is secretly the world’s greatest detective. Ever since Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late there has been a rivalry phantom thieves and detectives so it is only natural for them to clash. While Conan already has Magic Kaito (or considering the order in which they were created maybe I should say Magic Kaito already has Conan) it hardly diminishes the excitement over this clash. Like the old saw of who would win in a fight between Superman and Goku I think fans of either franchise would be curious to see who would come out on top.

Is Conan smarter than the thief with many-colored jackets or is the Lupin’s Walther P38 more dangerous than the boy detective’s wit?

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Murder, Magic, and Madness: Kindaichi Spin-off Manga

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narutaki_icon_4040 It has been a long, long time since TokyoPop released some (nearly all of it actually, 22 volumes worth out of 27) of the original Kindaichi Case Files by Youzaburou Kanari and Fumiya Satou manga stateside. This was in their early days, with 100% Authentic emblazing the covers. In Japan, long has Kindaichi reigned alongside Detective Conan as an institution.

Still, in the last year it feels as though there has been an extra resurgence for the Kindaichi franchise. A new anime has premiered, more live action has been announced, and two spin-off manga series have debuted. In a shocking twist, those spin-off manga have been made available for English-speaking fans via Kodansha’s MangaBox App.

hisui_icon_4040 I always felt like Kindaichi Case Files was Green Arrow to Detective Conan‘s Batman. Batman and Green Arrow are similar enough that they get constantly compared to each other but different enough that you can’t call them carbon copies of each other. The thing is Batman has always just been a major tier above his fellow billionaire superhero. As the current Arrow TV show proves the Green Arrow character is hardly forgotten but at the same time he is just always one step behind the more popular character. But let’s make it clear: Kindaichi is still a popular manga detective character. It is not like Detective Conan is Transformers and Kindaichi is Gobots. That is just an insulting comparison. It is just that any big anime fan has probably heard of Detective Conan but you would not be super surprised if American fans were unaware of Kindaichi.

So this Kindaichi renaissance is a bit unexpected but not utterly surprising. The main benefit of this recent surge is that we are now getting a lot of this new material in this era of simulcasts and simulpubs. When Crunchyroll picked up The File of Young Kindaichi Returns it was pretty hard to miss the announcement if you watching anything streaming but MangaBox is not anywhere near as high-profile. So as manga bloggers and detective aficionados we felt it was our duty to talk about these two titles that you can read for free.

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The Speakeasy #051: Upside-down Pineapple, March Movie Madness

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Drink #051: Upside-down Pineapple
March Movie Madness

Unlike all the other East Coast anime fans, we didn’t head to Anime Boston this month. Instead, we talk about all the movies we saw during March. Okay, yeah, fine we couldn’t come up with a real, all encompassing topic, okay? But hey, you get two anime movie reviews (Patema Inverted and Giovanni’s Island both of which played at the NYICFF) and our thoughts on the Veronica Mars movie (have we ever sounded this ridiculously happy in a podcast before?).

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And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Upside-down Pineapple

  • 1/2 oz. Vodka, vanilla
  • 1/4 oz. Grenadine
  • 1 oz. Pineapple Juice

Shake vanilla vodka and pineapple juice with ice and strain into shot glass. Add grenadine. The grenadine will sink to the bottom and will give this shot a very sweet conclusion.