Two Superfans Got the Interview
Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama's confirmation came during 24 Jikan TV Saishin Joho SP, a preview special for 24 Hour TV 49: Love Saves the Earth, the annual charity telethon on Nippon TV. Aoyama designed this year's charity T-shirt, and the special sent two of the most devoted Conan fans in Japanese entertainment to his studio to interview him, according to a report from Japanese entertainment news outlet Oricon News.
Those two are singer and rapper Chanmina, who found Detective Conan in her teens and says the series is "built into my DNA," and Taiga Kyomoto of the idol group SixTONES, who serves as a charity partner for this year's broadcast. Kyomoto's fan credentials are official: he holds Level 1 of the Detective Conan certification exam, a test known for being brutally difficult. Per Oricon, the studio visit was a dream come true for both of them.
"Want to See It?"
The big moment came when Chanmina told Aoyama she plans her own career from the ending backward, retirement included, and asked whether he thinks the same way. Aoyama's answer: the storyboard for the final chapter, the rough draft Japanese manga artists call a "name," is already written. Then he grinned and asked, "Want to see it?"
Chanmina leaned right in with a "Can I?" before Kyomoto cut her off with the obvious objection: you're not supposed to take him up on that. Aoyama, clearly enjoying himself, closed the exchange with a simple verdict on his own ending: "It's a fun one."
To be clear, Aoyama confirmed that the draft exists and that he finds it entertaining. He gave no hint of when the series might actually end, and nothing in the segment suggests a conclusion is near.
"I Thought It Would End Quickly"
The rest of the interview covered how unlikely this 30-year run looked from the inside. Asked whether he ever expected Conan to be loved this much, Aoyama was blunt: "Not at all. I thought it would end quickly." He said the first time he truly felt the series was loved was when it got its first theatrical film.
These days he sounds delighted by the routine of it. The anime airs every week, and Aoyama recalled a conversation with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda in which the two agreed they are the only ones who get to watch manga they draw themselves become anime every week.
Looking Ahead
The main event, 24 Hour TV 49, airs August 29 to 30, 2026 on Nippon TV, with Aoyama's charity T-shirt design as part of the campaign. The full Chanmina and Kyomoto interview segment ties into that broadcast weekend.
For international fans, Detective Conan is more watchable in English than it has been in years. Curated selections of the anime are streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix with a brand-new English dub, and the third batch of episodes, an FBI-focused selection, arrived on May 1, 2026. The manga, serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1994, is published in English by Viz Media under the title Case Closed.
As for the final chapter itself, the storyboard stays locked in Aoyama's studio. For now, only he knows how Shinichi Kudo's story ends, and he seems to be having a great time keeping it that way.