Conan O’Brien is beloved for his late night gig where he talks to world-famous celebrities on his show. But in Japan, when you say the name “Conan”, a different persona comes into mind.
“If you google Conan in any country, I’m the first thing that comes up,” O’Brien stated in a clip from his “Conan” show posted on YouTube Monday, Aug. 20. “Which is as it should be, except in one country — Japan.”
He explained about his recent discovery: in the Land of the Rising Sun, the first thing that appears when people search Conan on the internet is not O’Brien, but the famous manga character Detective Conan.
Shocked by what he learned, the talk show host said he delved deeper into research. “Like me, Japanese Conan has long skinny legs,” he noted. “He has distinctive hair, he always wears a suit, spends all day asking people questions and is extremely cartoonish.”
O’Brien also stressed that the manga character was created in 1994 — one year after the talk show host first went on air with the now defunct “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”.
“So someone has been making money off of an Asian version of me for 24 years,” he said. Adding that he is a reasonable person, he joked that he and the manga’s creators can reach a settlement, for 3 trillion yen (about P1.5 trillion).
“If you wanna keep this thing out of court, send a cheque for 3 trillion yen to the more famous Conan,” he jokingly told the manga’s creators.
“Detective Conan” was first introduced in 1994 for Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday. It has since been adapted into a TV series and as a video game. A town in Japan is also named after the famous detective. JB
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