September 22nd 2005

• Artist
• ISBN
• Published

• Price
• Dimension

• Gosho Aoyama
• 4-09-199891-7
• 05/2003

• ¥ 3300
• 8.25x10

Detective Conan is one of my favorite mangas/animes. As a result, this might affect the rating in a negative way in that I might be slightly biased. You have been forewarned.

The artwork in this book is absolutely great. The presentation is quite shocking at first. The book alone, is about one inch thick. When I opened the book, there were pages and pages of posters (around 15). All were high quality and nice and big. A quick flip through the rest of the pages really stimulated my interest.

The format of the book is very organized for an artbook. From what I've seen in past artbooks, almost all the images were jumbled up with one another. However, in this artbook, everything is set by "file." The "file" is basically the chapter of the anime. Each "file" holds a variety of images full of vivid colors and an exerpt from the anime itself. Some of the images are provided in the samples below. In addition to these "files", they also stuck some random artwork to split the chapters.

One thing that I regret about the scanning, is not the poor quality, but the fact that most of the images in this artbook span through both pages. Since the artbook is quite big, I could not scan both sides. However, just viewing it in a regular book form is absolutely wonderful. Gosho Aoyama really knows how to choose colors that go well together.

An interesting feature of this artbook is that it provides an interview with the creator and the voice actor (and two-mix member) of Conan. It is in black and white, and fills up only a few pages. However, it is comprehensive and is, well, just some extra information for Detective Conan fans.

The price really lived up to its value. I bought this at Asahiya for $40.00. At first, I thought it was a insane amount only to find out that other online stores sold it for $60.00+. So, if you can pick up a copy, you will not be disappointed.

An artbook is an artbook. I believe that if you are a fan of Detective Conan, this is a must-have. The price might turn you away, however, purchasing the artbook and looking at it will bring a greater satisfaction.