Let's start with the characters, specifically Conan, a textbook Gary Stu, with ridiculous strength, speed and agility, as well as a blatant plot armor (except if it's spanking, you will understand when you watch it), as well as being a siiiimp because of the useless Lana, the perfect damsel in distress, and of course Jimsy, the only one I can't criticize, in fact he has an interesting character development.
The villains are the worst, a nation of very bad and very stupid bad guys, led by the great villain, with an evil laugh and the most cliché and flat motivation in history.
Then there's and the message, which is basically "nature is good, war is bad" but put in such an obvious and superficial way, a mediocre environmental pamphlet.
Even the action is questionable, it's funny at the beginning but it becomes repetitive.
And even with all that said, I can't hate this anime, I don't love it either, but it still has its charm, the drawing and animation quality is excellent for its time, and the designs are Ghibli (before Ghibli) everywhere you look.
Conan despite all is cute and overflows with charisma, even Lana has a couple of redeeming moments, although for me she is still the worst of the protagonists.
And while most of the action is repetitive, there are some that stand out for good, especially the final battle, which was exciting and fun at the same time.
Even the cliché environmentalist message doesn't bother me that much, I guess I forgive it because of how old it is.
All in all it's not a marvel, but being the classic that it is I think it's still worth watching, just don't go in with too high expectations, or you might end up disappointed.
