Kogoro Akechi
Kogoro Akechi (明智 小五郎 Akechi Kogorō) is a fictional character and the creation of Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo. He was the featured detective for Volume 2 of the Detective Conan manga.
About
He first appeared in the story "The D Slope Murder case" in 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Akechi is the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
Like Holmes, Akechi is a brilliant but eccentric detective who consults with the police on especially difficult cases. He is a master of disguise and an expert at judo whose genius lets him solve seemingly impossible cases. Also like Holmes, Akechi makes use of a group of young boys to gather information. His version of the Baker Street Irregulars is known as the Detective Boys (少年探偵団 Shōnen Tantei-dan, lit. Boy Detectives Club). Akechi smokes Egyptian cigarettes when he is thinking about a case.
Kogoro Akechi is a tall, handsome man with heavy eyebrows who dresses well, although in earlier stories he always wore a dirty green yukata and had messy hair. He is married to a woman named Fumiyo (文代 ) and has an adopted son, Yoshio Kobayashi (小林 芳雄 Kobayashi Yoshio), the leader of the Detective Boys. Kobayashi often plays an important part in solving cases. Like his mentor, he is an expert at disguise and is especially adept at posing as a young woman. Aside from these relationships little is known of the detective's personal life, which always takes a back seat to the mystery in his adventures.
Detective Akechi's most frequent foe is the infamous Kaijin Nijū Mensō (怪人二十面相 , Fiend with Twenty Faces). The Fiend is a non-violent criminal with an infallible gift for disguise who steals to demonstrate his brilliance rather than out of need for money. He and Akechi have a mutual respect in the stories.
The Akechi stories are based mainly in the detective's home city of Tokyo, though some move the action to the Japanese countryside. The stories often feature supernatural and erotic overtones, though not so much as Rampo's other fiction.
Allusions
There are more allusions to Akechi than any other detective in the manga. The main ones are:
- Kogoro Mouri: Has the same kanji for Kogoro as Akechi.
- Detective Boys: The name chosen by Conan and his friends for their school detective agency.
- Fumiyo Edogawa: An alias used by Yukiko Kudo, the first name taken from Akechi's wife name.
- Tomoaki Araide: The kanji for "Akechi" (明智) are rearranged and used for "Tomoaki" (智明).
- Sumiko Kobayashi: Although it is said she is named after a friend of Gosho Aoyama's, the name Kobayashi could be taken Akechi's adopted son. Kobayashi-sensei is also a fan of Edogawa Rampo.
- Fiend with 200 Faces: A mystery game created by Kobayashi-sensei for her class, based on Akechi's rival, the Fiend with 20 Faces in Class 1-B's Great Operation!.
- Fiend with 20 Faces: The other nickname for Phantom Lady (Kaito's Mother), based on Akechi's Rival, Fiend with 20 faces.
- Episode 379-80: The writers of this episode just came up with Eri Akechi's name by just using Eri Kisaki's given name and then Kogoro Akechi's family name. This is why Eri makes a comment about being embarrassed when she's called "Akechi-sensei" since it sounds like people are referring to the fictional detective.
