The author of this article is @North of the Little Wan family
Find the spiritual corner of everyone in the movie
In 1994, a detective comic was published in the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday.
In the manga, a high school detective named "Shinichi Kudo" is given a mysterious drug code-named "APTX-4869" and wakes up with a body that resembles his elementary school appearance.
Since then, this "famous detective who looks like a child but is too intelligent but too ordinary" began his 28-year-long detective journey, which continues to this day.
In the era before the rise of the Internet, this detective-themed reasoning comic was very eye-catching in terms of storyline, modus operandi, and reasoning process.
Especially with the broadcast of the cartoon of the same name, the "Detective Conan" series has quickly become popular in Asia.
Today, the Detective Conan series has become a huge series of 100 manga, 1,000 episodes of animation, and dozens of theatrical versions.
Among these intricate and numerous works, one theatrical version is particularly special. In the 20 years since its birth, it has gone from being unknown at the box office at first to becoming the "white moonlight" of fans of the series.
This is the 2002 theatrical version of Douban with a score of 9.0, Detective Conan: The Undead of Baker Street (2002).
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Baker Street's Undead.
In this memorable year, let's take a good look back at this milestone in the history of the Detective Conan series and see why it is called the best in the series.
A series of transformative works
From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, with the high ratings of the animated TV version and the doubling of the box office of the movie, the "Detective Conan" series gradually reached the peak of popularity.
But at the same time as the commercial success, the problems that have been haunting the Conan series have gradually been exposed.
Compared with the juvenile comic works of the same era, the "Detective Conan" series not only has obvious stylization tendencies and emphasizes reasoning, but also emphasizes the story of the modus operandi, which also makes the work have a big threshold.
In his early works, the author Tsuyoshi Aoyama absorbed a lot of suspense and detective film styles, so the paintings appeared gloomy and oppressive.
One of the most representative is not to give the murderer a specific image performance, and to create a sense of suspense in the plot in the way of the man in black.
However, as the Conan IP gradually became widely known, this too dark painting style and focus on the story of pursuing the murderer is obviously not suitable for the general public.
In order to make the work have a longer vitality, the "Detective Conan" series is in urgent need of major changes.
As a result, the sixth theatrical version of the Conan series, Detective Conan: The Undead of Baker Street, established an original story led by new screenwriter Sho Nozawa and injected a distinctive element into the series.
On the basis of maintaining reasoning, the film adds science fiction and social issues, so that the film expands the audience of the series genre without losing suspense and reasoning.
The Douban 9.0 rating and the acclaimed reputation at the time of its release are enough to prove the success of the change.
Arguably after The Undead of Baker Street, Conan's theatrical version established a style that weakened reasoning with multiple genre elements, a focus on scenes, and a focus.
However, it was also after it that Conan's theatrical version gradually slid into the abyss of high box office and low reputation, and "The Undead of Baker Street" was a symbolic turning point.
Advanced concept setting
Although it is an indisputable fact that the reputation of the Conan series theatrical version is mediocre today, in "The Dead on Baker Street" 20 years ago, we can feel the creators' advanced creative ideas.
The film's chief screenwriter, Nozawa, is not bound by the traditional TV animation of "Detective Conan", and the Conan story from his pen not only has a larger stage, but also makes audiences who have not been exposed to the series relish it.
The story of "The Undead on Baker Street" begins with Conan and his party being invited to a video game launch, where the organizers unveiled a new game technology calluse.
This device not only simulates all the sensations, but also allows the player to immerse themselves in it and feel a different adventure story (isn't it the hot metaverse right now).
Advanced demonstration of VR equipment
Just as Conan and his party came to London in 1888 through the "cocoon" and enjoyed solving the unsolved case left by Sherlock Holmes, the conspiracy of artificial intelligence gradually emerged.
It turns out that behind this game that combines virtual reality and reality, it is actually a bet on the lives of 50 people, and only by solving many puzzles and overcoming difficulties can all those who participate in the game return to real life.
So Conan, who has everyone's hopes on his shoulders, will unveil the mystery of life and death in London at the end of the 19th century...
Compared to other theatrical versions, one of the most unique highlights of Baker Street is the collision between Conan World and Sherlock Holmes World.
In the fictional city of London, the little detectives need to find the culprit behind the clues in The Sherlock Holmes.
So whether it is Jack the Ripper who really appeared in history, or a tramp who plays the accordion, they all have a strong "British" style.
For example, in the movie, Jack the Ripper is portrayed as a beautiful man in women's clothing.
The source of this shape comes from sir Conan Doyle, the author of the original novel. In real history, he believes it was a female murderer dressed as Jack the Ripper.
In addition, on the way to the Sherlock Holmes mansion, Conan and his party pass by a scruffy tramp, which also pays tribute to the first "Empty House" of the novel "The Return of Sherlock Holmes".
In the novel, the returning Holmes disguises himself as an old man with books in his hand and gray hair rubbing shoulders with Watson, while in "The Undead of Baker Street", the mysterious old man holding an accordion and singing nursery rhymes is also disguised by the real Holmes...
Intertextuality with literary works like this can be seen everywhere in the film, and it is precisely because of so many details that the film presents a romantic sense of mixing novel and history, fantasy and reality.
When Conan, known as "Heisei Holmes", fought alongside his idol and unlocked many puzzles, he also achieved the most eye-catching highlight of the entire "Detective Conan" series.
Profound social critique
In addition to constantly innovating in content style and story, "The Undead of Baker Street" is a critique of technological development, educational society, and human nature that has never been seen in previous Conan films.
In 2002, when the theatrical version was launched, the virtual reality game was undoubtedly avant-garde, especially the film also explored the emergence of artificial intelligence that was too advanced to this day through a game system similar to "battle royale".
On the other hand, "The Undead on Baker Street" offers its own views on the current state of Japanese society.
Through a game in which only the children of high-ranking officials and nobles can participate, the film tells the harsh reality of it: "In this hereditary Japan, the son of a politician will always be a politician, and the son of a bank president will always be a bank president. ”
This critique of the hereditary system and educational issues undoubtedly gives this work a depth that distinguishes it from other theatrical versions.
Today, 20 years later, although the legendary screenwriter Who created all this, Nao nozawa, has long since left us (Nozawa died of suicide in 2004), whenever we talk about "The Undead of Baker Street", we are still impressed by its advanced and profound creativity and brain hole.
I sincerely hope that the theatrical version of the "Detective Conan" series can get rid of the dilemma of being too routine as soon as possible, and once again launch a miracle like "The Undead of Baker Street".
This is perhaps the most pressing voice of many Conan fans.
Note: Some of the pictures in this article come from Douban and the Internet, if there is infringement, please take the initiative to contact us.