The Light Gray Penultimate Act
| ‹ The Bluish Gray Middle Act | List of Chapters | The Dark Red Last Act › |
| Chapter 1132 | |
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| Title: | The Light Gray Penultimate Act |
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| Japanese title: | 薄墨色の前楽 (Usuzumi-iro no Maeraku) |
| Original release: | September 4th, 2024 |
| Shōnen Sunday issue: | #41/2024 |
| Volume: | 106 |
| Pages: | 16 |
| English title: | The Pale Gray Penultimate Act |
| English release: | September 4th, 2024 (Simulpub)[1] |
The Light Gray Penultimate Act (薄墨色の前楽 Usuzumi-iro no Maeraku) is the 1132nd chapter of the manga of Detective Conan. It was written by Gosho Aoyama, drawn by him and his assistants and first released in Shōnen Sunday #41/2024 on September 4, 2024 and was reprinted as part of Volume 106 on October 18, 2024. It was released in English by Viz Manga on the same day under the name The Pale Gray Penultimate Act.
Contents
[hide]Characters
Introduced
Featured
Gadgets
Settings
Plot
Superintendent Ginshiro Toyama arrives at the crime scene and gives Otaki a hard time because two more murders were committed under his supervision. Ginshiro angrily shouts that he would have beaten Otaki to a pulp if they were in the Shōwa era, and Otaki thinks to himself that he is glad they're now in the Reiwa era. They then talk about the new message from devil's puppeteer Nagakubo's cellphone, where "from below" (下手 shimote) is written, which does not fit the style of the previous messages. Conan and Heiji point out that in theater jargon this term means the left side of the stage from the audience's perspective; if the theoretical next victim after the previous letters "E", "V" and "I" really represents the letter "L", then reading from the left would indeed result in "EVIL".
To prevent another victim like this, Ginshiro orders that the remaining suspects are now guarded by two police officers, as they have to protect the people at all costs. With an annoyed look at Youka, Anzaka, Kazuha, Ran, Yoshiura and Kogoro, Ginshiro adds that there is one person who should not be here in the first place. Outraged, Anzaka asks if Ginshiro means him. Otaki jumps to Anzaka's side and tells Ginshiro that Anzaka did kill a man, but was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. Only now does Ginshiro recognize Anzaka as the boy from back then, which makes Otaki pause. Ginshiro tells Otaki that if there is another victim, police chief Heizo Hattori will beat him beyond recognition; Otaki is shocked that he would do this, while Heiji thinks that his father would probably really do it.
Conan calls Heiji to the broken railing next to the body. It was not just old, the traces indicate that the railing had been coated with liquid gallium, corroding the railing in less than half a day. However, to prepare for this, the perpetrator would have had to predict which room would be used for the interrogations. Otaki says that they chose the tidiest room for the interrogations and speculates that the perpetrator might have tidied this room beforehand so that the police would choose it.
Conan now asks about the details of the story with Anzaka. Otaki says: It happened eight years ago when word got around that a beautiful girl from Tokyo had transferred to a high school in Osaka. This girl was Youka Kuraishi. A gang noticed Youka and tried to drag her into a car on the way home from school, but Anzaka, who had just finished baseball practice, intervened and defended Youka. When the guys pulled out knives, Anzaka defended himself with his baseball bat, hitting the gang leader on the head so hard that he died. In court, the prosecution pleaded excessive self-defense, but a witness had taken a video of the altercation with his cell phone. Using this video as evidence, the court ruled that self-defense was appropriate and Anzaka was acquitted. The witness with the video was Toshikata Yoshiura. Since the gang did not want to leave the matter at that, Yoshiura finally invited Anzaka and Youka to his theater group in Tokyo; Yoshiura made this invitation on the observation deck of the Naniwa Harukas so that Anzaka and Youka could see the view of Osaka one last time before they went to Tokyo. A connection with the current case seems possible, as a screenshot of an article about the case was found on Miku Narasawa's cell phone, which contains a somewhat censored photo of the face of the then 17-year-old Anzaka.
Kogoro informs Otaki that Ginshiro is now beginning to question the suspects further. Kogoro, Ran and Kazuha are allowed to be there, but Conan and Heiji are not, on Ginshiro's orders. Conan gives Otaki his detective badge, which allows Conan and Heiji to eavesdrop on the interrogations. It turns out that all three are equally suspects. Anzaka was down in the car in the parking lot, where he and two police officers went to get the character table for the optical telegraph code. But then the wind blew the table away, so the two policemen ran after it; Anzaka was unobserved for a short time, and shortly afterwards Nagakubo fell to his death. Anzaka could have drawn Nagakubo's attention to him without making a sound. On the other hand, Youka on the roof would also have had a chance. Her loud shouts during her suicide attempt may have attracted Nagakubo's attention: he could have heard her screams from the roof, leant on the railing to look up, and then fell to his death. Yoshiura also had his chance: although he was in the toilet under police guard, in the safety of the cubicle he could have silently sent a message to Nagakubo on his cell phone, which would have made him lean on the railing.
But there was one thing only Anzaka could do: put the body into the "L" pose after the fall. However, he was lying in bed in the dormitory when Ayari Kakiwaki fell. As they walk through the corridors, Heiji notices that a picture frame with a certificate is missing from one of the walls. Two employees of the theater group explain that the certificate has been missing since the morning, and a tablet containing a recording of an impressive acting performance by Ayari in which she screams in panic is also missing. Another employee comes and says that Anzaka's mother is supposedly at the back entrance with proof of Anzaka's innocence. Conan and Heiji meet the woman, who shows them a selfie of her with Anzaka, in which Miku Narasawa can be seen falling in the background. So Anzaka could not have pushed her. Anzaka's mother did not go to the police with this at first, because her son came to her after he was with the body and told her that she was not allowed to show the photo to anyone. Anzaka's mother had actually come to the theater because it might be the last time she sees her son on stage, but she couldn't imagine him being involved in such an incident. Heiji asks her if she is missing something, since she was talking about the last time; Anzaka's mother replies that it is her son who is missing something. He is only holding on with medication and apparently only told Yoshiura. She tells Conan and Heiji the details, which gives the two detectives a sudden realization: the case has been solved.
Conan wants to get Otaki and the others, while Heiji is supposed to call Kazuha in the meantime. Heiji doesn't understand what Conan means at first, until Conan points out that the sky is clearing up and Heiji still has the unique chance to confess his love to Kazuha during sunset at Naniwa Harukas. Blushingly, Heiji dials Kazuha's number. A little later, Kazuha looks at her cell phone and turns red; Ran asks her if she just spoke to Heiji on the phone, but Kazuha replies that it was her father who is angry with her and told her not to do anything. Since the questioning is over, Kazuha now wants to go to Naniwa Harukas with Ran. Meanwhile, a suspect has escaped from the police's surveillance, but Otaki knows where the person is going. Some time later, the perpetrator has arrived at Naniwa Harukas and secretly goes from the observation deck up to the roof, where he is confronted by Conan and Heiji, who were already waiting for them there.
Continuity
Referencing
- The Dark Red Curtain to The Bluish Gray Middle Act (Manga: 1129-1131) : Flashbacks to Narasawa, Kakiwaki and Nagakubo's murders.
Referenced in
- The Dark Red Last Act (Manga: 1132-1133) : Flashback to Heiji and Conan's realization at seeing the missing picture frame.
Sherry's Soliloquy
Sherry's Soliloquy (シェリーのひとりごと Sherī no Hitorigoto) is a collection of comments Gosho Aoyama has Ai Haibara say on the official Detective Conan website, Conan News Agency (こなん通信社 Konan Tsūshin-sha) in the course of every new chapter's publication.
Soliloquy of File 1132:
銀司郎さんキタ━(゜∀゜)━！！
Ginshiro-san's here!!
(September 6, 2024)
Animal Crossing Promotional Hints
With every new chapter, players can receive these hints written by Gosho Aoyama in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons by interacting with four characters named Spade (スペード), Heart (ハート), Diamond (ダイヤ), and Clover (クローバ), who appear in Gosho's Dream Town.
September 9, 2024:
Spade: The final chapter (of this case) is almost here! Look forward to it!
Heart: Is that really you...? (-"-;) Kazuha-chan?
Diamond: You feel like going to the Abeno Harukasu (tower)!
Clover: The Sunday Culture Site (event) was fun!
Trivia
- The convenience store "8 Eleven" is named after 7-Eleven.
See also
References
- Summary translated from the German version as of February 3, 2025.
- ^ In America, it was still September 3rd when the release was made. https://www.viz.com/vizmanga/case-closed-chapter-1132/chapter/43996?action=read
| Collapse Volume 106 | ||
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| 1124 • 1125 • 1126 • 1127 • 1128 • 1129 • 1130 • 1131 • 1132 • 1133 |
