On a 5ch forum thread, a lively debate broke out over a long-standing plot hole in Detective Conan. It started with someone pointing out how strange it is that nobody questions the sudden disappearance of Shinichi Kudo, the series’ famous teen detective. From there, the discussion expanded to other timeline inconsistencies that come with such a long-running series — like the fact that, based on calculations from volume 99, only about six months have passed in-story, yet every seasonal event seems to have been covered, or how the crime-ridden Beika Town never seems to get any safer despite the constant murders. Someone also pointed out that Shinichi tells Ran he can’t come home because he’s “chasing a troublesome case,” and the back-and-forth over these small inconsistencies in the setting continued from there.
What people said
1AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:09
Shinichi Kudo isn't just some random guy — he's a pretty famous high school detective. If a guy like that just vanished without explanation, you'd think someone would say 'hey, that's weird.'
5AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:13
The fact that crime-ridden Beika Town's public safety is left unaddressed is on the Metropolitan Police for being lazy.
8AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:15
Re: #5
Other towns might be just as dangerous, who knows?
6AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:13
What even counts as a 'famous detective' anyway? In our actual world, if you asked people to name one, how many could actually answer?
22AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:22
Re: #6
Isn't there a real detective out there somewhere like L from Death Note?
7AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:15
He does call sometimes, and he occasionally shows his face too.
9AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:16
His parents probably know what's really going on, right? If so, who knows what they actually tell people, but something like 'studying abroad' could cover for it well enough.
10AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:17
He's told Ran it's because he's "chasing an incredibly troublesome case" and can't come home.
11AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:18
Are Kaito Kid and Kudo really total strangers? He's the only person who can impersonate Kudo perfectly without even needing a disguise.
24AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:23
Re: #11
I think they recently added a setting where Shinichi's dad and Kid's dad are twin brothers.
12AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:18
The setting is that not much time has passed since he became a kid, but there are plenty of episodes where the drug wears off and he turns back into Shinichi, so it feels like he's switching back about once a week.
14AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:19
Re: #12
Isn't it that he can't see her because it'd be dangerous if people found out Shinichi Kudo is still alive?
13AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:18
There are just so many incidents in this series that nobody even questions it when someone says 'he's investigating some mysterious case.'
15AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:20
So does that mean he just stopped going to high school entirely one day?
20AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:21
Re: #15
He's gone to school a few times whenever he's turned back.
17AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:20
How many hundreds of murder cases has he solved by now, seriously?
18AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:20
Re: #14
They do meet. He just says, 'Don't tell anyone I'm back,' every time.
21AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:22
The Black Organization is so sloppy it's been infiltrated by a surprising number of people.
23AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:22
That kid gang he's always hanging around with must be dozens of bodies deep by now — they've surely gotten used to seeing corpses.
25AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:24
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wMLeVIN2P8g
Detective Conan Special feat. Sakura Oda, Ayumi Ishida, Reina Ichioka, Juju Asakura — Song: 'Kimi ga Ireba' ('If You Were Here') / Iori 【Hello! Anisong Club #43】
26AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:24
Re: #24
Wait, so does that mean the original Kaito Kid really was alive after all?
30AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:29
How many years have passed in the story since he disappeared?
32AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:32
Re: #30
It's been six months since the disappearance, and Shinichi and Ran just recently started dating.
38AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:36
What month did he even disappear in? There was a Hinamatsuri (Girls' Day) episode pretty early on, but there's been no sign of anyone moving up a grade since then.
41AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:37
Re: #38
January. The newspaper shown that day has 'January' printed on it.
64AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:55
I always figured they were just looping through the same first-grade year over and over.
66AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:55
Re: #64
Volume 99 confirmed it's only been six months lol
67AnonymousOct 1, 2026 19:57
The twist is probably going to be that it's all a dream Shinichi Kudo is having while lying in a hospital bed in a vegetative state.
91AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:40
Re: #67
Sounds like one of those fake 'Doraemon final episode' urban legends.
73AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:03
It's a classic long-running-manga thing — volume 1 has characters calling each other on old black rotary phones, and by the latest volume everyone's on smartphones.
75AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:04
Re: #73
Like Kochikame, for instance.
76AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:04
Was Rekka no Honoo basically told to just go draw YuYu Hakusho?
77AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:05
Re: #76
Yeah, pretty much. Though YuYu Hakusho itself ripped off stuff like Ushio and Tora and Parasyte, so it's getting some payback.
81AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:08
Back when Rokudenashi Blues was popular —
Sunday's Tokyo Banchō
92AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:43
It's been running for over 30 years, but only a few months have passed within the story.
98AnonymousOct 1, 2026 21:07
Re: #92
Way too many people have died for that timeline to hold up.
94AnonymousOct 1, 2026 20:53
Why do a full year's worth of seasonal events show up when only six months have passed?
97AnonymousOct 1, 2026 21:04
Re: #94
They're drawing future events ahead of time.
99AnonymousOct 1, 2026 21:09
You can't take a manga that seriously — by that logic, those guys are getting caught up in a murder every single day.
100AnonymousOct 1, 2026 21:11
Re: #99
Early on, Inspector Megure even tells the old man (Kogoro), 'You're the suspicious one, since you're at every murder scene.'
Background and key points of this topic
The inconsistency that “a full cycle of seasonal events gets shown even though only six months have passed since the disappearance” is a classic case of the “time lag” problem that comes with any long-running manga. In Detective Conan, fans have long worked out — based on references in volume 99 — that roughly six months have passed in-story, and this has been a recurring topic of discussion. What split opinion in the thread was whether to simply laugh off the inconsistency as creative convenience, or to accept it as “consistent within the story” on the grounds that Shinichi Kudo does explain the situation to Ran. Commenters also drew comparisons to other long-running series like Kochikame and YuYu Hakusho, framing it as a structural issue common to any manga that runs long enough. Worth noting: this is all based on fan calculation and speculation, not an official timeline or any statement from the author.
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