A quarter of a billion copies of Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed in English-speaking territories, are now in circulation worldwide.
As reported by Mantan Web, publisher Shogakukan announced the new sales figure alongside the release of the 100th collected volume in Gosho Aoyama's long-running mystery series. This new achievement makes Detective Conan the fourth best selling manga series in history, placing it just under Dragon Ball, which comes in third with a 260-million lifetime circulation, Golgo 13 in second place with 300 million copies, and Eiichiro Oda's beloved One Piece in first with almost half-a-billion copies circulating worldwide. Aoyama's manga originally debuted in Japan in 1994, and has been localized in over 25 different countries.
The series tells the story of Shinichi Kudo, an ace detective who is kidnapped by a criminal syndicate and forced to ingest a mysterious poison. Instead of killing him, the poison transforms him into a literal child. Kudo adopts the identity of Conan Edogawa -- his first name being a homage to Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- and continues to help solve mysteries and thwart crimes committed by the nefarious Black Organization, despite everyone now assuming he is just a normal kid.
The manga was adapted into an anime series in 1996, which is still currently running with over 1000 episodes produced. The 24th and latest movie in the franchise, Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet was released in Japan in April 2021. The movie is the second highest grossing movie for 2021 in the region, ranking just behind Evangelion 3.0 +1.01: Thrice Upon A Time, but ahead of Mamoru Hosoda's latest film, the critically acclaimed Belle.
Source: Mantan Web