Alrighty, so most of it will be from the view of a DC veteran, but a few things will be in the style of "I've never seen this show before" if necessary.
So, starting off with the name of song all shiny is...nice, but at the same time that could confuse some people into believing that's what the show is called. Quickly fixed but still a minor complaint, only existing as I don't remember that happening before (where they literally spell out the OP song in such a blunt way)
Okay, Ran and Conan running is nice - little weird since I don't know if it's snowing or if that's just fancy shiny lights - but overall a nice scene and nice way to start. Definitely seems like something Conan would do in the sh-What the hell, the ground is splitting open. ...And here is where something that has always bothered me goes: the appearance of these "Even the earth won't let them be together, oh no!" scenes. The funny part is I wouldn't mind half as much if it was Shinichi that was getting ...uh, "earthquaked" apart from Ran since...
he has actually been taken away from Ran. Conan...
lives with her and sees her everyday, so a "They're torn apart, oh no!" scene is really hard to believe and it's silly originally so that fact just makes it sillier.
Now, like the song or not, I do enjoy how they had the title being put together in beat with the song and the clips of the episode happening at the intervals. That was a nice way of doing things as it gives us the preview and sort of makes us a bit more interested in what the title is. ...Also, there's no really misleading parts here as 1) It's the title of the show 2) we get to see clips from the show itself and 3) DC is very much about solving cases/"puzzles" so the put together nature of the sequence actually fits.
Flash to Conan to see he has...accidentally stumbled into his future "Beehive Museum of Mouri Ran". This...is just weird. I mean, he just saw her...what, ten seconds ago? And already it's "Oh no, remember all the good times we've had? ...Or rather, how stalkerish I've been?" Though I think what bothers me more is that there doesn't seem to be any "Ran is kicking ass" pictures which is unfair. Though, I don't remember too many OPs actually having a scene like that, so...
Then THE PLAN WORKED! Distracted by stalker pictures, Conan is trapped by the names of his previous cases! Now this part, I'll say now, I love. Not only is it a nice callback, it's a nice way to look at how many cases Conan has solved. At this point in time, he pretty much literally has to bat away the more filler-y cases to finally get to his goal. And yes, it does look silly, but it fits with what the show is supposed to be.
Then we go to Ran's side of the spec--
...
...
...Give me a minute.
...
Ooooooooookay, I think I'm good. Um...alright, there's no other way to phrase this other than "What the f***?" I mean...what? I'm all for trying something surreal, and tbh I really loved it without the critical side on, but now that I think about it...this is just riddled with inconsistencies. 1) Why are the buildings destroyed? As someone who watched it already, I know there's no explanation. I also know that Conan skateboards off a cliff to get to her. So...why not have
cliffs as the backgrounds? That would've made more sense. Though then that leads to 2) the spire of crystal thing that Ran is on. ...Where did it come from? How did she get up there? ...Did she
land on it? Why isn't she freaking out? ...Especially since the city she knows and loves (I'm assuming) has been
utterly destroyed around her? ...Well, it's an OP, it shouldn't make sens-Except wait it should, because 3) This is far too confusing for those new to the show. This is more so the case when the show it's presenting is based on logic and more "real life" presentations. It's also too half-way: I'm all for being surreal and using symbolism, but you either have to go all the way and explain it as a dream at the end or don't go at all and just be "real". And last but ...well, it actually is least 4)
Why did Ran's outfit change? This...for some reason really bugs me. I think it's because Conan's outfit didn't change and that they didn't bother to make her running with that outfit in the beginning. It's almost like they knew it was too silly to throw on her in the "real" part so they left it for later...whch sort of worked against them.
Which leads to another wall of text. This once works just as well as the other one - as anyone who's seen a resolution file knows - since words are a HUGE part of what DC is. It's especially nice that the words are in English AND relate. It makes sense that Conan would hesitate and then Heiji jumps in to break through the case (which is AWESOME, btw) but, and believe me it's hard to say since I love Heiji, but this scene would've been far better placed with Kogoro jumping in instead. Not only is he also rash, he's a far more main character than Heiji.
Then we'll cut to Ran ag-Hey wait, oh, it's still Conan. And there's a lot of timers for some reason. Okay, that fits, he's solved cases with bombs before. I guess Heiji will help in defusing-
...
...Wha?
...Uh, okay, I guess the DB will be Pokemon with one sole move: Cut! ...Also, nice way to do absolutely nothing Conan. -_-
I guess now we'll cut to Ra-Ai pointing. ...And she's in a fantasyish outfit too in the destroyed city setting. ...And she just...points. Is she supposed to be showing Conan which way to go? ...But he can't see her, he's in the blue place. ...Also, this almost makes Ai look like the villain: seriously, I'm expecting goons to go marching towards Ran's position in the background. As much as I liked the outfit, it was really out of place and misleading
Ah, THERE'S Kogoro! ...In a frame that flies by so fast that you can't actually notice! I'll say something, though, I really enjoy the concept here but I think they botched it. There are a lot of characters in this show so it makes sense to have a sort of "Fly by" presentation but...for that to work the viewer should be able to actually see who's there as everything is flying by. But this goes too fast for anyone to really be seen UNLESS you're a veteran and know the usual colors, but even then you only can guess at a few. Also,
where did Conan get his skateboard from? I love that thing, but where the heck did it come from? Lastly, Shinichi's image on the huge HD television is always hilarious because it gives the impression he's telling Conan he's been going the wrong way. I mean...we just watched about seven seconds of Conan going one way only for Shinichi to point in the exact opposite direction...and funnily enough that actually leads directly to Ran. However, there's something else with this Shinichi appearance: it doesn't make it clear that Shinichi = Conan which is...pretty monumental.
Then it's back to Ran on the pillar and--OH NOES, she's falling! ...Probably had it coming as that was the thinnest thing to stand on ever. ...I'm surprised it broke and she didn't just fall. Uh, anyway, Conan inexplicably is in the war torn place...that...somehow has even less buildings than before and we weren't tol-Ah forget it. So Conan is rushing to save Ran, for some reason not having an outrageous outfit of his own and-apparently he was on a cliff so he decides to ditch the skateboard in a last minute effort to roll and catch Ran. Ah, here we go, this is where they'll show he's Shinichi, right? He's going to roll, then get up and catch Ran as Shinichi and-
Why is he reaching for his bel-
Oh you've got to be
...Just LOOK at that. I mean, even RAN is like "Ah, Shinichi must be the one who's going to save me and-the hell, a soccer...ball...? ._." There's no way that no one in the animation department didn't see SOMEONE laughing at this. And...of all the gadgets to be used, it's the skateboard and the ball belt -- JUST the ball belt -- that get the spotlight. I love the skateboard, but you have to admit it's never used anymore. And...it's ludicrous to think that he didn't use the watch or the bowtie or the shoes. Those are his main three and they're never touched upon.
Also, on the whole something that bugs me is Ran's Damsel status yet again.
IHKF wrote:Hime-Chan wrote:I'm siding with the "I'm confused" party, and I'm growling inside because Ran is not a damsel in distress...The song is ok, I usually skip them anyway xD
... *piffle piffle* ..... XD
(NOTE: this is meant to be heard as a cross between
and
rather than >:( so nothing mean is meant)
And you can ..."piffle" (xD?) all you want, but on the canon side (as in NO AOs, NO movies, NO OVAs) how many times has Ran been kidnapped and unable to handle herself? The anime kind of jumped the shark on that as canon Ran is almost a humorous stab at damsels in distress: she has the attitude of what you'd expect from one, but any time she's been in danger she's handled it with a fist to the face. ...In fact, in canon material,
she's probably saved
CONAN more than he's saved her.
Aaaaaaanyway, Ran lands on Conan, there's a shotaconish scene, they stand up...and the sponsors show. ...Not even a group picture OP? ...Okay, your loss.
So, on the critical whole, this was really a terrible OP. It didn't stick to one tone, jumped all over the place, missed the basics of DC for any new viewers and the good stuff never lasted long. Really, a jumbled mess
On the normal side, it's so ridiculously amusing that I can't help but enjoy it, but in that "What the hell am I watching? *laugh*" sort of way
Though I wish I could've done something like a Nostalgia Critic review since that's what it felt like 
Kay and her friends...
