How would you divide Detective-Conan into eras?

[Conan2002]

I think I kind-of divide Detective-Conan into eras. I'm not sure why maybe, but how do you do that (not arcs or sagas, but more as-in how the series comes-off due to times or art-style/music change or what-ever)? I haven't or don't remember much later, but it's vague for me for some-reason. Outside of knowing that the early era starts in 1996 and ends some-where in 1999-2001 or some-thing like that (& even that I'm not sure).

[DCUniverseAficionado]

I think I kind-of divide Detective-Conan into eras. I'm not sure why maybe, but how do you do that (not arcs or sagas, but more as-in how the series comes-off due to times or art-style/music change or what-ever)? I haven't or don't remember much later, but it's vague for me for some-reason. Outside of knowing that the early era starts in 1996 and ends some-where in 1999-2001 or some-thing like that (& even that I'm not sure).

One of the ways you can separate the manga eras is the page length of the files/chapters. From 1994 to 2007, Gosho would occasionally have files/chapters over 16 pages long. Ever since the Bourbon arc started, the only file longer than 16 pages that immediately comes to my mind is File 1,000. Likewise, Gosho also does colored double page spreads far less often than he used to.

Anime is easier to distinguish (along with the movies), since so many people and directors have worked on it. 1996–2002 was the Kodama era (he directed both the anime and the movies during this period). Movie 7 in 2003 was the beginning of the modern Conan animation style, which the movies have kept ever since. Once the Sudo era (2003–2008) passed, the anime adopted this style, too. Even with different directors throughout the Bourbon arc (2008–2015), the anime and movie styles looked pretty similar—and they still do, here in the Rum arc (2015–present) days.

[Conan2002]

Very interesting answer, even-so I feel like you can divide the era from 1996-2002 at-least once. Maybe like 1996-1999 & then 2000-2002? I don’t know why but I feel like those two might feel different.

I would also say maybe from 2008-2015 there could be another split like 2008 being its own thing, since for some-reason it feels distinctly different I think.

[DCUniverseAficionado]

Very interesting answer, even-so I feel like you can divide the era from 1996-2002 at-least once. Maybe like 1996-1999 & then 2000-2002? I don’t know why but I feel like those two might feel different.

I would also say maybe from 2008-2015 there could be another split like 2008 being its own thing, since for some-reason it feels distinctly different I think.

Kenji Kodama directed most of the episodes himself from 1996–1998. He moved to the position of Chief Director in Episode 119, and his main subordinate became Yasuichiro Yamamoto. Kodama would depart after Episode 252 in October 2001, leaving Yamamoto in charge of directing. Yamamoto would be in charge of directing until August 2003 with the airing of Episode 332.

From January to May of 2008, the anime adaption of Clash of Red and Black aired (Episode 491–Episode 504). These were the final episodes directed by Masato Sato (I mistakenly said it was "Sudo" instead—DC anime Character Designer Masatomo Sudo—that one's on me), who had been directing since the airing of Episode 333 in August 2003.
From June 2008 to July 2012 (Episode 505–Episode 666), the anime was directed by Kōjin Ochi. From Episode 667 to the most recent episode (Episode 1,092), the anime would once again be directed by Yasuichiro Yamamoto. In July 2020, Nobuharu Kamanaka would become Yamamoto's main subordinate, and currently still is.

I think the reason behind the 2015 split is because around this time (the mid 2010s), Masatomo Sudo started acting as the animation director more and more.

[kkslider5552000]

To me the most obvious ways to divide Conan is either by art style or arc. Simple as that really. And sometimes both are close enough to changing with each other.

So for art style there's the initial look of the series to the...slightly updated look as it goes on (I have no idea when exactly this happened or if it was the most gradual of shifts) until I believe the revolving sushi case (the one that leads to the New York flashback) and then somewhere in the 400s I believe (maybe early) it changes again before a mostly permanent shift with the Bourbon arc (I could not immediately tell you how different it looks now compared to 2009 tbh).

And for arcs it goes from mostly episodic to Haibara to Vermouth to CELL PHONE (they spent two years largely only having story to figure out a phone number, never forget), to Kir to Bourbon to Rum (though arguably it feels like there's a Sera family arc in there too, seriously they started that story before the Bourbon climax but kept it basically the main focus for a while in the Rum arc). Those feel like distinct arcs and in some ways even reflects how the side stories are handled too (the peak romance stories are largely in the Haibara and Vermouth arcs, that feels correct).

[Conan2002]

Would you guys say that it could even be divided by other things such as say time and obvious changes in the times? Like 1996 obviously doesn’t have the phones we have today and such things. And I do think the change in direction is also a way they can be divided, nowadays for example the series is very colourful compared to the early days and how the music changed so much. Perhaps it’s just me, but in the early days IIRC I think even music was maybe less used and that significantly added to a difference in atmosphere in a way. The music does feel more minimalistic nowadays though, like it feels more like sound-effects (not exactly but hopefully you get the point) instead of actual music, if you know what I mean.

[DCUniverseAficionado]

Would you guys say that it could even be divided by other things such as say time and obvious changes in the times? Like 1996 obviously doesn’t have the phones we have today and such things. And I do think the change in direction is also a way they can be divided, nowadays for example the series is very colourful compared to the early days and how the music changed so much. Perhaps it’s just me, but in the early days IIRC I think even music was maybe less used and that significantly added to a difference in atmosphere in a way. The music does feel more minimalistic nowadays though, like it feels more like sound-effects (not exactly but hopefully you get the point) instead of actual music, if you know what I mean.

In the 90s, one of Dr. Agasa's inventions was a fax machine; even in the late 2000s, flip phones were still the majority of phones used by the characters (as kk mentioned, we even had a whole arc based on the SFX of pushing a flip phone's buttons); only in the mid-late 2010s did most of the characters start using smart phones (and it was around this time Gosho started using smart devices for the tricks).

Thinking about it, I agree that it feels more vibrant in terms of color—I remember the early days felt less vibrant by comparison (this is just a feeling though, I don't know if technology advancing a bunch in terms of color in animation is the main cause or if it was a change in design philosophy by the DC anime team to go with an increased color vibrancy approach).

What I can tell you about the music is that the original recordings in the 90s, as well as from the first 4 movies, have always been recurring throughout the series. Beyond that, now and again they'll use tracks from the movies after that, depending on the year (like using Movie 11 tracks in 2008), but those don't have the staying power of the 90s OST and the Movie 1–Movie 4 OSTs. In 2007, they remastered a bunch of tracks from the 90s and Movie 1–Movie 4, and those versions, not the originals, are what's been playing ever since.
Katsuo Ōno, the original composer, did his final work on movie OSTs with Movie 24 (he did all of them from Movie 1 to Movie 24). Since then, Yugo Kanno of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fame took over the OST duties with Movie 25.

[Conan2002]

What about fashion-changes? Is that a thing? Like clothing that's more a sign of the times? Even artists or actors, even-though I guess we wouldn't know here since I guess you aren't from Japan.

I some-what recently watched some episodes and they still come-off as using some of the more recent-ish music, but maybe that changed. I did really, really like the old music more too. It had that retro feeling (bad word to use I think, maybe more reminiscent or not even that).

[DCUniverseAficionado]

What about fashion-changes? Is that a thing? Like clothing that's more a sign of the times? Even artists or actors, even-though I guess we wouldn't know here since I guess you aren't from Japan.

I some-what recently watched some episodes and they still come-off as using some of the more recent-ish music, but maybe that changed. I did really, really like the old music more too. It had that retro feeling (bad word to use I think, maybe more reminiscent or not even that).

Indeed, I'm not. I'm not yet familiar with the subculture of fashion within Japan (or the country where I'm from either, for that matter ).

Yeah, they'll stick with the current music for a bit... but just a bit, typically. An exception would be Episode 954 (September 2019) using music from Movie 17 (2013). A more prominent exception would be the OST of BO movies (5, 13, 20, and now 26), since they're the main antagonists of the entire story... like when Episode 701 (July 2013) used music from Movie 13 (2009). Actually, Movie 5 (2001) also has a bunch of music that's been remastered and reused... maybe not as much as Movies 1–4, but it's still pretty up there.

DC's OST does have a lot of electro/synth/orchestral music, but the really iconic stuff is the jazz. I feel jazz was more heavily used in the 90s OST and the first few movies in comparison to what came after. Movie 2 (some real funk vibes going on in this OST), Movie 3 and Movie 4 were the jazziest of all, I'd say (even though they used electro/synth/orchestral too).

[Conan2002]

I hope you learn more lol.

True, the classic-era music is what I think of when I think of Detective-Conan. Surprising Truth (soooooooo jazzy) is amazing. I'm glad I think I think I bought the Detective-Conan music-collection they released some-what recently with all the movie music, but mostly I think I bought that for Movies #1-#4 (maybe #5 too, but can't remember) lol.