It's open for 8 weeks (until November 26) so if you can, sign up and send your feedback about your opposition to EU Kids Act, and please let them heard that this bill won't help protecting kids and at worst, it'll ultimately destroy a industry.

Please be polite, make sure you're explaining the problem correctly and try to refrain from showing hard feelings towards the EU Commission or Video Games Europe. Otherwise, they won't take it seriously.

All feedback received will be summarized by the European Commission and presented to the European Parliament and Council with the aim of feeding into the legislative debate.

Hey, this is the second part from my old post I made back in 2025, so if you haven't check out, click here.

>TL;DR - The anime staff limited the character usage to avoid "destroying the Conan's world and plot". Gosho Aoyama doesn't check the scripts himself. Iioka rejects most of plot drafts sent if they aren't interesting to him, not even getting the chance to be revised. Writers like Urasawa uses Conan and Kogoro the most because they're more easy to use. I find the restriction an "overcorrection" than good-intended.

It's been a year and TMS is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Detective Conan anime. Besides some specials here and there (others being planned ahead), the average TV Original episodes still utilizes a selected cast of characters that are only allowed to be used, which it's a mandate suspected to be set by the story editor Junichi Iioka

You already know it by now, but since the post, there has been more info that came out about the character usage restriction and the limitations that the writers currently have. So I'm bringing the light here, as it kinda explains why the restriction exist and what are my opinions are about this, and will let you to discuss in the comments what you think about this.

DIME interview

In April 16th, DIME released their 2026-06 issue talking about the 30th anniversary of the Detective Conan anime. It features OP/ED rankings, Gosho Aoyama's episode recommendations (the most talked about) and of course, interviews from various heads from the Conan anime and movies, which discusses about the process of airing important episodes in a year in advance, how broadcasts help the audience unfamiliar with Conan to follow the story, how the episode production goes and so much more. There are interesting stuff you can check out in this issue.

But let's focus on the production of anime-original episodes. I'll go with some relevant stuff about the fillers and might not necessarily mean it's a bad thing so keep it in mind.

In page 37, there's a interview with one of the producers who talk about how they want to expand the appeal of Detective Conan and not wanting to destroy the original work. And also, it confirms further the reasoning why they limit the characters from the fillers.

With the primary goal of not destroying the original work, we aim to expand the appeal of Conan. The most important thing is not to ruin the world of the original work. We must not advance the story or create unintended settings. Each episode is basically self-contained, and we limit the number of characters we can use. When we have a more ambitious project, we consult with the editorial department of Shogakukan's 'Weekly Shonen Sunday' as we proceed.

In the same dual page (Page 36-37), there are four type of filler recommendations:

1. A side story episode featuring the usual characters
2. Local collaboration episodes based on on-site reporting
3. Urasawa's episode goes viral thanks to its unique characters and original direction (yes really)
4. Mystery tour solution session linked to a real-life event

Next, it talks about how the scripts are based on Iioka's input and how the writers are asked to come up with interesting ideas (as long as Conan is the main character). It's to see how Iioka has involvement in the script.

We’re developing the scripts based on Junichi Iioka’s input. I think that’s why the Conan series has remained so consistent. Weekly script meetings are held between the department responsible for developing what are called “literary” scripts, Mr. Iioka, the director, and the producer.“We ask the screenwriters to come up with interesting ideas, but if it doesn’t work with Conan as the protagonist, then… well. Mr. Iioka checks to see if a regular detective could solve it or if forensic analysis would suffice. It’s precisely because it’s Conan that he finds that evidence.

Next, it's how's Gosho is involved in the anime production. Basically very rare (with one of them being School Scarlet Trip arc). And he never checked on anime-original scripts and only asked for specific questions (likely about the world-building).

[...] Nowadays, even original scripts don’t go through Mr. Aoyama’s review; he’s only consulted when there are specific questions. [...] In the past, communication went through the editorial department, but now he apparently communicates directly with Mr. Aoyama via LINE.

They also said that Conan, Ran and Kogoro are depicted as what they are in the manga to avoid disrupting the world-building.

To avoid disrupting the world of the story, Conan, Ran, and Kogoro are depicted according to the original manga, but for some characters, director Yamamoto has come up with ideas to give them unique anime-original expressions. \"I think Aoyama-sensei has also been influenced by the actors' performances lately.\"

I guess that's all there is from the magazine.

2nd(?) 2025 interview with Urasawa and Yamatoya

Next there's a interview in another unspecified magazine with two screenwriters, Yoshio Urasawa and Akatsuki Yamatoya. Not sure if it is same as previous one I covered in Part 1, but either way, it is the same talking points that I have already covered, so I won't be repeating myself. It's the same "you can't use the characters because it will affect the story", "Iioka rejects various drafts no matter what" and "Conan has been going for 30 years and the ideas has already been used to death".

Here's only the new stuff that I could get about the filler process:

>Urasawa: That's true. After all, we have to avoid affecting the original plot. I always want to write more characters, but in order to minimize the impact, I usually only write Conan and Mouri Kogoro. Conan and Kogoro have the excellent qualities of protagonists in a positive sense. No matter what happens, their character characteristics will not be easily shaken. On this basis, I add the villains I conceived, and that's the model. The case itself is the most difficult part, and I can't think of it no matter how hard I try. In the face of Mr. Iioka's repeated rejections, I had to keep starting over until the script was approved.

>Yamatoya: I am the type who will repeatedly use characters that are easy to write. Mr. Iioka likes series stories very much, and thanks to him, I can continue to write series such as the Detective Boys and the Girls' Party. However, it is not allowed for the screenwriter to open a series without permission (laughs).

It also would explain why Conan, Kogoro, Megure, Takagi and Chiba episodes are way common, due to them being more "convenient" and "easy to use".

2019 LiveDoor interview with the producers

And lastly before going to my thoughts, the late 2019 interview that I end up finding with director Yasuichiro Yamamoto and former producer Isato Yonekura.

They discussed about how the manga output has slowed down significantly due to Aoyama now taking long breaks. It means that the anime-original output has to be increased for cases that has "never done before" (they only mentioned cases where nobody dies, which it is already done in the manga). Yonekura admits that they have a compacted budget and a limited schedule (which adds to the quality of the anime).

This is a question about the script proposal:

>Are a lot of rejected proposals generated during the review process?

Yonekura : Well, there are plenty of them. Regarding anime original episodes, in addition to the points I mentioned earlier, it is important whether the mystery is interesting or whether the tricks are interesting. I will reject it without any compromise. It's not just me, Mr. Iioka, the story editor, examines the script with a stern eye.
On the other hand, Director Yamamoto is a very flexible person, so he often brushes up on the parts he can make the most of. I feel like that's connected to the breadth of the episodes.

Remember that this was during the time that two new screenwriters Yoshio Urasawa and Atsushi Yamatoya are brought up. In the interview, they seems to praise Yoshio Urasawa at the time due to "crazy ideas" for Detective Conan, regardless if they would be badly received by fans in the future.

>What episode is particularly memorable for you?

Yamamoto: If I had to pick based on my impression alone, it would be "The Tokyo Barls Collection" and "The Secret of the Insect Man" Coincidentally, both were written by Urasawa-san... I guess the impact of the title is really important (laughs).

Overall thoughts

My thoughts about all of this is that I can understand them wanting to avoid changing the story of Detective Conan, which obviously they shouldn't do that. And it's fine if they want to avoid disrupting the world-building. The problem however is that limiting what characters to use is pretty much an overcorrection than a good-intended rule.

While yes, there are characters that are having their character arcs in the manga, like the Black Organization, Tsutomu and Amanda, the problem is that it extends to characters like Heiji Hattori, Kudo parents, Kaitou Kid (his latest appearance was a special), Kobayashi + Rumi (arguable, but she's second teacher and guardian of DBs), Okiya (again, arguable) and even Amuro. And also for minor recurring characters through the series, like their family members.

They simply are avoiding taking a risk to use any character that's not plot-important or it'd be fine to use, because of the excuse that "it's to avoid destroying the world". Why don't you add mandates about what characters should do or revise the script to make sure they are in-character? They have the resources for that, even if it is for +100 recurring characters. I don't buy that there's so many characters, since they had 30 years to see how the characters operates in the world.

Zero's Tea Time managed to utilize the characters in way they aren't interrupting the story and are self-contained. While it focuses on Amuro in his daily life, at least it also focuses on other characters and keeping it simple. Even if the manga is supervised by Gosho Aoyama, the usage of characters without messing them in the story are still possible.

The studio, over the years, has already end up messing in stories a few times, which it's fine that they're being cautious now, but some steps to avoid that would be necessary to mitigate that.

I also don't like how Junichi Iioka is the only approving/rejecting the drafts before revisions. It also make it more difficult and discouraging for new writers to work on something fresh for Conan, because it has to be in their vision. Iioka doesn't seems to have the same vision of the series as Gosho Aoyama and even veterans who were passionate about the series is. As he's around 80 years old, he seems to think Conan is a marketable mystery-of-the-week series with a popular mascot, despite that it's proven that fans cares deeply about the characters and the unique horror and clever tricks from cases that creates great classics.

And writers like Yoshio Urasawa isn't helping with the consensus for the anime, as it focuses on being too goofy than a good balance between light-hearted moments with intriguing mystery. And writers like Nobuo Ogizawa that only focuses on talking without bringing something new or interesting to the table.

I do wanna praise some stuff here done in the anime production, I appreciate them revising the script to make sure Conan is consistent through its run (tho not in quality) and their willingness to make sure Conan, Ran and Kogoro are close to their manga's personalities. However, there has been debate about Ran's treatment from the studio and their bias, but I'd rather not focus it here.

Wherever you think the staff are saying the truth about the production is up to you. And if they're in right to add restrictions as well.

Also I want to point out that it seems the staff toning down the violence was their decision to make the series more appealing, but I need a source for that. Which that explains why the current episodes looks so boring compared to the old ones.

Let me know in the comments about what you think about all of this.

I remember seeing a trailer of this movie when aired on Disney XD, and I pretty much forgot its name but it's like some sort of spiritual journey for the girl protagonist.

It's live-action and looks like a sci-fi movie made by Disney. The year I remember seeing the trailer was likely around 2017-2018, but there's some chance that it could be early 2020s.

To be more specific, I'm making a Sparta Remix with The Amazing Digital Circus, but I need to cover the countdown lines that happens during a part of it. It goes like "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0!"

I can't find them saying all the numbers in the series itself, so I wonder if there's some TADC video that features someone saying the numbers in it (officially or unofficially). It can be from a meme, music video or even from any content farm. As long as it is a video that the creator is fine with me using for a Sparta Remix.

It need to have a voice going 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. It can be reversed (1, 2, 3...) or not have "zero" in it. But it has to be TADC-related and a voice counting until 10.