Detective Conan Anime Celebrates Edogawa Rampo With 2-Part Story Set at Rampo’s Home – Interest

Among the pantheon of modern Japanese storytellers are Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Osamu Dazai, Natsume Sōseki, Haruki Murakami — and Edogawa Rampo (Rampo Edogawa), almost inarguably the father of modern Japanese mystery novels. Best known for his Kogoro Akechi detective stories, his stories have inspired generations of Japanese readers.

One such reader is manga creator Gōshō Aoyama, as his Detective Conan character’s name Conan Edogawa takes inspiration from Rampo and Sherlock Holmes’ Arthur Conan Doyle. (“Edogawa Rampo” is itself a pen name, a wordplay on “Edgar Allan Poe” as pronounced in Japanese.) With Edogawa Rampo’s birthday just a month away, the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Detective Conan anime series announced on September 20 that it is presenting a two-episode special murder mystery set at the real-life Edogawa Rampo Residence on November 16 and 23. The account also revealed a special visual for the episodes:

The key visual for the two-episode special shows the protagonist Conan Edogawa (the shrunken Shinichi Kudo) inserted into an iconic photo of Edogawa Rampo. The visual also features the tagline, “A great detective does not choose his era.”

It will be interesting seeing Conan solve a case in the home of one of his namesakes. Perhaps he will even take on more iconic poses of the father of modern Japanese mystery stories during the episodes.

Update: Official photograph of Edogawa Rampo and copyright notice added, courtesy of The Edogawa Rampo Memorial Center for Popular Culture Studies, Rikkyo University.

Sources: Detective Conan anime’s X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie