ninthfeather | Makin' It Mecha: Detective Conan (Reply)

You have been offered an exorbitant sum of money to (somehow) remake Detective Conan as a mecha series. What Do You Do?

First of all, I would take that money.

The adaptation would be a compressed one, because in general mecha shows do not run for quite as long as Detective Conan. I would be focusing on including the cast, the most important themes, and the most enjoyable tropes from the original show.

This post is a monster so I’m adding a readmore.

Enter your cut contents here.I actually thought about this over the course of the week, and I think I have a workable concept. The setting is Tokyo circa 30XX A.D., and most people have one or more robots, which are not sentient, but can be controlled via neural uplink technology. Robots are registered to individual users, so in an ideal situation, everyone is only using their own robots. But the truth is that it’s relatively easy to find and access methods of briefly taking control of a robot that doesn’t belong to you– these methods are how people loan out their technology and they also get used for pranks pretty frequently. Of course, commandeering a robot is also the most common method of committing crimes. After all, why bother committing a crime in person when you can use a metal exoskeleton with no fingerprints and inhuman strength?

With most crime being carried out via robots, most crime-fighting is carried out the same way. Police officers and detectives still exist, but they’ve largely been supplanted by a robot-piloting Robot Crimes Department (RCD) in charge of intervening in robot crimes when they happen, and a squad of computer and neural uplink experts tasked with tracking the digital aspects of the crimes. The police come to the crime scene last, and no one really expects them to do much.

Shinichi and Ran were in training for the RCD together until the day Shinichi ran off at the amusement park. Being a child in this setting presents different challenges. Technically, he still has access to neural uplink technology, but it hasn’t been tested on children of his physical age, and he generally experiences adverse physical symptoms (exhaustion, dizziness, pain) if he uses it for an extended period of time. Additionally, he still has difficulty getting most people to take them seriously.

Except for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which is underfunded, floundering, and will at this point take help from anyone, including a small, bored genius who is definitely not a normal child. Thus begins Shinichi’s apprenticeship in old-fashioned crime solving. Or, at least, somewhat old-fashioned crime solving, since the crimes are still being committed using robots.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is staffed by canon’s Division 1 and a few other canon cops. Their personalities are also similar, although the fact that their skills and contributions are constantly disrespected by the RCD has made all of them a little bit pricklier, in particular Satou and Megure. Kuroda and Matsumoto are both members of the RCD. Naeko Miike and Yumi Miyamoto both work on the technology support division associated with the RCD.

Ran is an RCD trainee who specializes in karate. Since I am adapting, I am making the rules, and Ran knows. She finds out early on, during the adaptation of one of the canonical suspicion arcs, and the tension in their relationship switches from the canonical reasons to tension over the fact that the two of them were close to possibly moving forward into some sort of romance when Shinichi got himself de-aged, and now things are back to being awkward and unspoken.

Rather than being a veteran police officer, Kogoro is an ex-member of the RCD who used to work closely with Megure. His abrupt departure signaled a downturn in how the MPD was treated by the RCD and Megure has never really forgiven him.

Most of Ran and Shinichi’s classmates aren’t named characters, but Hakuba Saguru is attending another RCD training program in Ekoda. Hondou Eisuke will eventually transfer in.

Sonoko went to middle school with Ran, but currently attends a prestigious high school along with Kuroba Kaito. She meets up with Ran after school and on weekends.

The Detective Boys are students at Conan’s school who also start hanging out around the MPD.

Haibara is basically the same as canon, but she also knows a fair amount about neural uplinks and can provide computer support when necessary.

Agasa is responsible for building several different custom mecha for Shinichi, all of them tailored to different situations that he might encounter as Conan during a crime.

Hattori Heiji is training for the Osaka equivalent of the RCD.

The Black Organization… Honestly, I don’t feel like I have to make a lot of changes there. We don’t really know what they want in canon, other than to do crimes, and in this setting, they would still want to do crimes, just using different methods. Some of their tech would probably be different – like, Gin would probably be a really great pilot with a custom gunner unit instead of a sniper, and Vermouth would use things like holographic masks in her disguises– but they would basically be the same characters.

What I would really want to change is, starting a little bit before Eisuke’s introduction in the timeline, I would wrap up whatever season the show was on, give the next season a nifty subtitle, and do everything from the Clash of Red and Black to the Scarlet Arc primarily from the perspective of the FBI. Imagine Raiha Pass with mechs instead of cars. Imagine the Scarlet Arc version of Raiha pass with mechs instead of cars! It would be a really good way to further establish the worldbuilding by showing the FBI characters, who are older and have more experience with using robots as weapons. As the season(s) progressed, this focus would expand to Masumi and Amuro as well, further expanding the audience’s view beyond Conan’s limited perspective. It would also be a way to move the plot forward at a bit of a faster clip.

Akai is the ace pilot (naturally), but Jodie pilots too and Camel’s better at maneuvering (while Akai’s better overall in a fight). Hidemi’s a decent pilot but a better infiltrator. Amuro is also an ace pilot because he’s Amuro. Masumi probably joins the RCD training program.

Some of the really notable cases from that period of time that have no connection to the FBI characters could also be included as OVAs. (If I could get the budget for KID OVAs featuring him stealing stuff with his dad’s decade-old custom mech, I’d do it.)

After those seasons focused on the FBI/the general spy shenanigans end, the perspective can return to Conan, (probably with a new subtitle after the title) and show the effect of the accelerating plot on him, his allies, and the city in general. Depending on when I hypothetically received this money and what Gosho’s plans are, this arc might carry us up to the end of the series, or I might get to write my own ending.

Please note that if I get to write my own ending for this kind of DC adaptation, it will involve Shinichi fighting half of an epic robot battle over a piece of defining evidence as Conan, doing himself permanent injury, and then getting a temporary antidote just in time to make it out with the evidence while all of his more-skilled friends cover his retreat. The last episode would be about everyone’s lives afterward and would be decidedly bittersweet.

As much as I’d love a Real War, Gundam-style series with Conan characters in it, it wouldn’t be anything like an adaptation. This at least preserves the mystery elements while adding mecha elements. In practice, it’s probably more similar to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex than anything. But I still like the concept.

~~(drabbles may eventually happen in this ‘verse)~~