Hey You Jerks! Leave this Anime Character Alone.

Detective Conan (AKA Case Closed) is one of Japan’s most popular manga and anime. In Tottori Prefecture, the hometown of Detective Conan‘s creator, Gosho Aoyama, is dotted with little bronze Conan statues for the locals to be proud of and for visitors to pose with.

Yet, there seems to be individuals who are not proud of Conan and who are bent on destroying the statues (or bent on bending them!). Those bastards.

Detective Conan follows the adventures of super sleuth Conan Edogawa, a 17 year-old traped in a little boy’s body.

According to Japan’s 47News, two of the Conan statues were recently damaged: One of the statues (above, prior to vandalization) had its magnifying glass bent off, and another had its snorkel damaged. This isn’t a first—between 2000 and 2007, there were nine incidents of Conan statue destruction, totaling ¥3,500,000 ($43,556).

These sorts of statues exist elsewhere in Japan. For example, there’s a bronze Gundam statue near the Sunrise animation company’s office. In the Shigeru Mizuki’s hometown, there’s a street named after the famed manga creator and decorated with Ge Ge Ge bronze statues. These markers are a fitting way for cities and towns to celebrate the creativity of their hometown heroes.

Yet, someone apparently thought it was a-okay to vandalize these Conan statues—which is pretty crappy! A commuter noticed the latest destruction on the morning of the 14th. Fixing both statues will cost ¥500,000 (US$6,222). The culprit still remains at large, and this sounds like a case, a case for Detective Conan. If only he could find his magnifying glass.

Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesome—game related and beyond.

(Top photo: Menkyo, 鳥取の憲法、平和、民主主義を語る館, 百桜記