ranger wrote:sweet stuff, but in seriousness I really do hope for a sad ending, Gosho needs to pull a Toy Story 3 - he needs to realize that his oldest fans, who have been following the series since the 90's, aren't kids anymores and he should really cater to the generation that first picked up the series
I'd say most of the hardcore fanbase is at least 16+ and they really don't want to see some cheesy childish ending..this however is just my opinion so maybe some of you guys do really want to see a corny typical happy ending.
And yes, I know DC is generally a series for children/family in Japan, but come on Gosho, just pull a Toy Story 3.
See... I don't understand this. Toy Story 3 didn't end sad. I am actually of the opinion that it ended quite happily. They didn't all burn in a incinerator. Sure they were separated from Andy but to me, that seemed inevitable.
I also do not see happy endings as immature. I think, when handled poorly, they can seem cheap and ill-conceived. But so can sad endings. I tell you what, I've seen some really badly done "sad endings" that make you want to just wring the author's neck. Not because it made you sad, but because the ending was pointless and done for "realism" sake when it's fiction. Mockingjay comes to mind... God, that book was concluded so poorly. Very disappointing.
I'm all for sad endings when they have catharsis. Ender's Game... I'd consider that a moderately somber ending. Of Mice and Men, that's a tragedy that I adore. Because you really got a sense in both those stories that the sacrifice was worth it. That it meant something. And that things came around full circle. Sherlock Holmes too, in the fight against his arch nemesis, had a satisfying ending. Though I must say I'm glad Sir Arthur Conan Doyle didn't leave it at that as I am of the fierce opinion that you do not kill characters off stage and then expect your readers to believe them really dead.
Happy endings are not immature. And sad endings are not in themselves, mature. That is misconception. Things just need to conclude in a way that "fits" be that happy or sad. And I am of the opinion, in fitting with the feel and style of the rest of the series, that this needs to end happy. Or at least moderately so.
Perhaps Conan remains Conan. Or maybe he's still searching for a cure at the end. But I do not think that any main character need die in order to make the story end in a satisfactory way.
There is a quote that comes to mind. From a movie called Stranger Than Fiction. Said by a conflicted fictional character called Karen Eiffel, an author of tragedies who's world is shattered when a character from her book comes to her and begs for her to spare his life. I had friends who criticized this movie, saying that Harold Crick needed to die at the end in order to satisfy the plot. But it is for this line, that I think that such an ending would have been far less powerful. Karen Eiffel confesses this, shortly after Harold is discovered to have survived...
"Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?"
It all hinges back on what this series is? Is Detective Conan a story about a young detective, blinded by his hubris, inadvertently brings death and suffering to his loved ones? Or is it a story about a young detective, having already been punished for his hubris, struggling to right the wrongs that were dealt him and defeat those who had previously defeated him? Or is it something else entirely?
BTW... wanna get sick of sad endings real fast? Take a creative writer's workshop. 90% of the stories people write, end with the character dying in some horrific way. It got old real fast. That's probably why I took to writing very happy stories... to contrast with all the gloom and doom.
Because that could prove to be very sticky for Conan. Especially with how smart she seems to be. 
