The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case

Chronology
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Episode 162 (Int. Episode 172-173)
Information
Title:	The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case
Japanese title:	空飛ぶ密室 工藤新一最初の事件 (Soratobu Misshitsu Kudō Shin'ichi Saisho no Jiken)
Original airdate:	September 27, 1999 * September 26, 2005 (Rerun) *
Broadcast rating:	19.8%
Manga case:	#59
Season:	4
Manga source:	Volume 21: Files 4-7 (204-207)
Case
Cast:	Shinichi Kudo Ran Mouri Conan Edogawa Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Kogoro Mouri Detective Boys
Case solved by:	Shinichi Kudo
Next Conan's Hint:	Tablets N/A (Rerun)
Staff
Director:	Masato Sato Kenji Kodama (chief)
Organizer:	Kenji Kodama Masato Sato
Storyboard:	Kenji Kodama Masato Sato
Episode director:	Masato Sato
Animation director:	Mari Tominaga Miwa Oshima (asst.)
Character design:	Masatomo Sudo Yasuhiro Moriki (design works)
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Kappei Yamaguchi as Shinichi Kudo, Next Conan's Hint Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri Chafurin as Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi as Wataru Takagi, Genta Kojima, Next Conan's Hint Yukiko Iwai as Ayumi Yoshida Ikue Otani as Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Jouji Nakata as Noboru Saginuma Masuo Amada as Kazuhiro Otaka Takako Fuji as Chizuru Tachikawa Ryuichi Horibe as Tsuneo Ukai Andy Holyfield as Edward Crowe Takashi Nagasako as Passenger A Isshin Chiba as Passenger B Natsumi Asaoka as Stewardess A Akiko Koike as Stewardess B Miki Itō as Tsugumi Amano
Music
Opening song:	Girigiri chop
Closing song:	Free Magic
* 1 Hour Special

The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case (空飛ぶ密室 工藤新一最初の事件 ,Soratobu Misshitsu Kudō Shin'ichi Saisho no Jiken) is the 162nd episode of Detective Conan anime.

Cast

Characters
Shinichi Kudo (flashback) Ran Mouri Conan Edogawa Juzo Megure (flashback) Wataru Takagi (flashback) Kogoro Mouri Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima

Case

Situation

In Tokyo International Airport, Conan and the group are going to take a trip to Okinawa by taking a passenger plane. When Ran takes the glasses off Conan, who was sound asleep, she smiled, as it reminded her of Shinichi sleeping. Ran falls asleep as well and dreams about going to Los Angeles with Shinichi.

On the way to Los Angeles, a company employee named Tsuneo Ukai is telling the photographer named Kazuhiro Otaka to not smoke. Otaka said sorry to Ukai and spits smoke at him. Next to him is another photographer named Tsugumi Amano, also his girlfriend, tells him to cut it out. Otaka then tells Amano to lighten up because he will be rich by selling the negatives to the newspaper office. Another photographer named Chizuru Tachikawa questions if the negatives are real or not. She also mentions that the congressman from America might have come to Japan to spread rumors. It would be embarrassing if they caught a wrong person by taking a picture. Otaka tells them that he already sent two pictures and they confirmed it's the right person. After the conversation, Otaka sees Saginuma, another photographer, sleeping. Another man who's in front of Otaka is the freelance journalist, Edward Crowe and he's just looking at Otaka.

Amano asked the stewardess to bring her medicine because she felt sick. Ukai stood up and walked around as he isn't comfortable sitting in a plane. Meanwhile, Amano is still feeling sicker and Tachikawa then switches seat with her. They notice that Otaka is missing from his seat.

Later, a drunk passenger is knocking on the restroom door for telling the person who's using the restroom to hurry up. The stewardess unlocks the door and finds the dead body of Kazuhiro Otaka.

Murder
	Location: Luna Airliners restroom Victim: Kazuhiro Otaka Age: 29 years old Cause of death: Suffocation due to cervical spinal cord injury Suspects: Tsuneo Ukai, Tsugumi Amano, Chizuru Tachikawa, Noboru Saginuma, and Edward Crowe Photographer Kazuhiro Otaka was found dead in the plane's lavatory with an unusual scratch on his neck and a puncture wound just below his hairline.

Ran heard people saying they found a dead body in the restroom. Ran is about to tell the person next to her that something horrible happened but he's gone. Inspector Megure who happened to be onboard was taken to the crime scene, suddenly, a strange boy deduces that the cause of death is probably nerve damage. The weapon is pointed but has no blade, like a ice pick. Before he was killed, someone made him take something that put him to sleep. Inspector Megure angrily asks who he is and the strange boy reveals himself as, "Kudo Shinichi". Megure remembers Yusaku Kudo who was his friend but hardly recognizes Shinichi. He is happy to see him but angrily got him out of the crime scene because it is an official police investigation. Then, Megure asks the stewardess that if he could borrow the camera from someone to take a picture. The stewardess said that Shinichi already took the pictures and already returned the camera. Shinichi deduces that from the appearance of the corpse, and the hardening of the chin, he has been dead for around an hour or two. There are three things that Shinichi cannot understand. First, there are some bloodstains on the wall, but there are no stains on the back of victim's clothes. Second, to the right of the death causing injury, there is a scratch. Third is the corpse's left side pocket. The inside is soaking wet, but the victim's hand is dry. Megure makes Shinichi leave. Takagi had now arrived at the scene and starts investigating. The official verdict was the exact same as what Shinichi dedeuced. Takagi wonders of who he is and Megure explains that he is Yusaku's son. He told Takagi that in the past, whenever he gets stuck on cases, Yusaku always solved for him. He remembered Shinichi as a little kid who used to follow his father to the crime scenes. He was so good at analyzing the crime scenes. Takagi became really impressed and wonders if they could ask for his help, Megure calls Takagi an idiot because he doesn't want any help from an amateur.

Next, Megure and Takagi decided to find some eyewitnesses but of course Shinichi interrupts again that he's the only witness who saw everything. He thinks it's four suspects. The ones that went to the bathroom, besides the victim. He doesn't remember how long each one took, but he can recognize them. Since his seat is in the back, he was watching them the whole time.

The four suspect are, the two women next to the victim's empty seat, Tsugumi Amano and Chizuru Tachikawa. The man sitting next to the aisle, Tsuneo Ukai and the man named Edward Crowe in the front.

Tachikawa wonders why would he would be murdered. Megure is about to explain but Ukai mentions that it's because of the negatives. He would sell them to the newspapers for a lot of money. But there were no negatives in Otaka's possession. Saginuma asks if that he was murdered with a sharp object jabbed into his neck. Megure confirms that is correct which means this culprit was professional. But anyone with enough medical knowledge, as well as the right weapon, all of them including Saginuma could have done it.

Amano said that she wasn't feeling well, so she went to the restroom to throw up. When she came back, Otaka was still in his seat. After that, she asked the flight attendant for air sickness medication. Shortly after, Ukai left to go the restroom, which took about five minutes. Megure said that he should have been sitting next to the victim, with the aisle in between. Ukai said he was uncomfortable, so he walked around for a bit. When the flight attendant came back with the medicine and water, Otaka already left his seat. It took less than a minute. Tachikawa went to the bathroom too, after Tsugumi had taken the medicine. It had been about twenty minutes. Since Otaka hadn't come back yet, she went to check on him. At that time, he was still alive. She knocked and asked, "Is anything wrong?" He answered back by knocking. Next for Edward, Shinichi asks him when did he go to the toilet. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember when he did. Saginuma wonders how long is the police going to keep up with the pointless questioning. The one who has the weapon is the culprit so he thinks the police should search the other four because he said as for him, he was asleep the entire time. Ukai calls Saginuma a liar because he knows that he left his seat that's behind Otaka's. Saginuma got confused and Megure asks what is he saying. Ukai said that Otaka was in his seat before he left the restroom. At that time, Saginuma wasn't in his seat. Saginuma asks Ukai that what is he talking about because he was so sure that he was asleep the entire time. He also said that the other four had gone to the restroom and points at Shinichi that he saw it too. Since all five of them are suspects, the police are going to conduct a body search and inspect their luggages.

Later, the police couldn't find a murder weapon even by searching the five people's bodies and luggages. They decided to search the victim's belongings as nothing suspicious was found on the suspects.

Takagi opens the overhead bin door and asks Amano which luggage is Otaka's. Amano points to the bag so she reaches to get it with her right arm but suddenly stops. Amano remembers that Otaka said something strange. About a week ago, he left his bag in the photo studio. The next day, he found the bag had been cut up with a knife. So it's the new bag that Otaka brought currently and Amano reaches to get it with her left arm. In Otaka's bag, there's nothing that could be the murder weapon. After seeing his passport, Takagi remembers that three years ago, Kazuhiro Otaka won the newspaper's big journalistic photography contest. The picture he won was about the mother handing her baby to the fireman during a big apartment fire.

Meanwhile, Ukai is still accusing Saginuma that he's the culprit. He knows that Saginuma is lying about sleeping the whole time. He saw it when Amano was taking medication, Saginuma wasn't in his seat. Megure asks where was Saginuma at that time. The stewardess doesn't think he was in his seat. Saginuma asks the other flight attendant if he was asleep in his seat but unfortunately, she can't remember. When Shinichi asks something to the stewardess by whispering, she said yes. Shinichi had finally figured out who the culprit is. He then asks Ran something that's inappropriate and Ran confirms his suspicions. Shinichi finally found the weapon that the culprit used to killed the victim.

People

Tsuneo Ukai
	47 years old (a year ago) Company employee

Kazuhiro Otaka
	Victim (suffocated) 29 years old (a year ago) Birth date: November 3, 1969 Photographer

Tsugumi Amano
	27 years old (a year ago) Photographer Kazuhiro's girlfriend

Chizuru Tachikawa
	29 years old (a year ago) Photographer

Noboru Saginuma
	30 years old (a year ago) Photographer

Edward Crowe
	51 years old (a year ago) Freelance journalist

Dickson
	American senator

Woman
100px	Hostess

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

Shinichi begins his deduction by singling out the culprit among the suspects.

• First, although Megure claims that the most suspicious person is Saginuma, he is the least likely person to commit the crime as he was not among the people that went to the restroom. However, he is not entirely uninvolved with the case, as he was unknowingly used by the culprit, who is among the four people and told a lie to cover up their crime.

• Next, even though Tachikawa claims that the victim knocked on the restroom's door back when she went to check sounds not so believable, but the truth is that there was a person inside the restroom other than the victim: Edward Crowe, who was searching for Otaka's negatives, causing his colonge's smell to get on the victim's clothes. Realizing this, he used his handkerchief dabbed with water to wipe the smell away, resulting in one of his hands not having the colonge's smell. Though Megure thinks that Edward doesn't understand what they're speaking, Shinichi reveals that Edward is actually fluent in Japanese due to having checkbook to buy art in Japan. With this revealed, Edward confessed that he was hired to buy the negatives by Representative Dickson before it could reach America. When Otaka went to the restroom, Edward thought it was a good time to make a deal with him and followed shortly later, but instead found the murdered Otaka. Not wanting to leave empty handed, he searched Otaka's body for the negatives, but didn't find it. When Tachikawa knocked on the restroom's door, he replied by knocking it back to prevent her from coming in. His statement is verified by Shinichi, as Otaka's body was moved from the original position after the blood on the wallhad dried: only the person who came in after the murderer was capable of such action as the murderer didn't need to wait until the blood dried if they wanted to move the body. Additionally, Edward was the only person among the suspects who didn't know that Otaka kept the the negatives in his pocket due to his seating position, thus it was necessary for him to search in every possible location, hence the need to move the body. Due to this, the murder must happened before Edward went to the restroom, thus Shinichi removes both Tachikawa and Edward from the suspect list, leaving Ukai and Amano.

• From Ukai's statement, when Amano asked the flight attendant for medicine, Saginuma was not in his seat. However, Saginuma was indeed in his seat sleeping and being used by the culprit Tsugumi Amano.

Shinichi then explains Amano's method in committing the murder.

• Before the trip, Amano reserved a seat behind Saginuma in advance for her alibi trick and canceled it shortly before the plane took off.

• While on the plane, Amano switched Tachikawa's sickness medicine with sleeping pills and gave it to Saginuma, causing him to fall asleep.

• She then waited until Tachikawa was asleep as well, and asked Otaka to go to the restroom because she needs to talk with him. She then brought a handkerchief soaked with chloroform and the murder weapon to the restroom, knocked out Otaka and stabbed him to death. Afterward, she hid the weapon and used scissors from her knitting set to cut the negatives in Otaka's possession to pieces and flushed them down the toilet in order to disguise the crime as Otaka being robbed for the negatives, in order to remove any suspicion from herself. Amano also didn't lock the door during the murder to see if there was a passenger waiting outside when she left the crime scene, and if someone tried to get in she would just use her hand to block them from coming in so that they would have to use another restroom instead.

• After leaving the crime scene, Amano went to sit next to the sleeping Saginuma, using a hat similar to the one worn by Otaka in her possession, a sleeping eye mask, and a blanket to disguise Saginuma as Otaka, and called one of the air hostesses for a sickness medicine in order for the hostess to confirm that Otoka was still alive after she returned from the toilet. She could’ve also used her luggage and another blacket to disguise the seat next to her as the sleeping Tachikawa to further this deception. The empty seat behind Saginuma was to prevent anyone from noticing that she wasn't sitting in her original seat, and to cast suspicion that Saginuma had left his seat at some point. Because the entire plane was dark, the hostess easily fell for Amano's trick, and while the hostess was fetching the medicine, Amano removed the disguise, returned to her own seat, and pretended to cough to wake up Tachikawa. Once the hostess came back with the medicine, Amano pretended to notice that Otaka hasn't returned from the restroom so that Tachikawa would go to check it out. All of her actions were to shift the exact time that Otaka went to the restroom, and with the hostess and Ukai as a witness, Amano would be removed from the suspect list as she was still in her seat during the time the murder supposedly took place. A piece of the cut negatives was found on a seat next to Saginuma's, confirming this theory.

• The murder weapon is something that can easily be passed through a metal detector at the airport and wouldn't be noticed even if she had undergone body check twice: her bra wire that was specifically sharpened on one end for the murder. By using all her strength, she could easily stab the back of Otaka's neck up to five or six centimeters and would be deep enough to hit a spinal nerve. The scratch besides the wound is concrete proof that it was used in the crime, and since it was impossible to get rid of the weapon without the police realizing that the woman who is missing a wire in her bra is the culprit, Amano must still have that specific wire in her possession, and Otaka's blood on it will prove beyond all doubts that she is the murderer.

Motive

Mr. Amano
	Deceased (burned) Tsugumi's older brother

Amano confesses to her crime and reveals that three years ago, Otaka won a journalistic photography award because of a picture of a mother inside a burning building handing her baby to a fireman. She began to like Otaka because of said picture that captured its emotion so well, as it was also the same fire that killed her older brother.

After dating him, Amano discovered that the photo in fact wasn't the only one that he had taken: Otaka had taken dozens of pictures of the fire, many of them were even before the fire had started, from a small cloud of smoke until the entire building had become enveloped in flames, she then realized that he was the one who started it in the first place. Her suspicions were soon confirmed when Otaka revealed "Instead of waiting for the perfect moment, he created the moment himself".

Amano also expresses disappointment that Shinichi easily discovered her weapon, as she was very confident in her plan. Shinichi answers that it was because of her unnatural action of switching her hand from right to left midway while trying to take down the luggage. This seemingly unimportant action caused him to realize that the wire had started to poke into her arm, requiring her to switch her hand, and thus allowed him to come to conclusion that she is the murderer. Satisfied with Shinichi's explaination, Amano silently nods as Takagi places her under arrest.

Afterward

In the end, Ran who is still dreaming about talking to Shinichi about how he asked to see her bra and asking if it has a steel wire is sexual harassment. Kogoro is asking Ran what did Shinichi do to her in a big fuss while the stewardess tries to calm Kogoro to get back in his seat. Ran wakes up shortly after while the befuddled Ayumi asks what is the meaning of sexual harassment.

Continuity

• Follow up to Shinichi's first case is shown during the flashback of Shinichi Kudo's New York Case.

Anime to live action changes

• Edward Crowe is African American instead of Caucasian like in the anime.
• Although Takagi appears, Sato takes Megure's place instead in the live action movie.
• When Ran makes the remark in her sleep on the plane, Kogoro is not present instead Shinichi apologizes to those around him.
• Tsuneo Ukai wears glasses in the live action movie and is relatively thinner than his anime counterpart.
• An additional scene was added, where Tsugumi Amano is shown yelling out for her brother as his apartment building burned.
• The flashback to this case took place before Shinichi encountered the Black Organization and became Conan, because of this Shinichi is present and the kids are not.

See also: Shinichi Kudo and the Kyoto Shinsengumi Murder Case

Rerun

• The episode was rerun on September 26, 2005.

Trivia

• The names of the characters are related to birds: Ukai (鵜飼) cormoran fishing, Otaka (大鷹) big hawk, Tsugumi (つぐみ) thrush, Chizuru (千鶴) one thousand cranes, Saginuma (鷺沼) heron swamp/lake, and Crowe sounds phonetically similar to the bird crow.
• According to the English translation of the manga, smoking wasn't banned on Japanese planes until 1999, a year after the original story was published.

BGM listing

#	Song Title	Romaji	Translation	OST
1	ギリギリchop	Girigiri chop	On the edge chop	Girigiri chop
2	のんびり気分	Nonbiri Kibun	Carefree Feeling	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
3	緊迫	Kinpaku	Tension	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
4	対決のテーマ （落ち着きver.）	Taiketsu no Tēma (Ochitsuki ver.)	Showdown Theme (Calm ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
5	悪のテーマ （パート２）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 2)	Theme of Evil (Part 2)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
6	事件現場 （謎ver.）	Jiken Genba (Nazo ver.)	Scene of the Case (Mystery ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
7	ターゲット サスペンスＣ	Tāgetto Sasupensu C	Target Suspense C	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
8	犯人のアジト （忍び込みver.）	Hannin no Ajito (Shinobikomi ver.)	The Culprit's Hideout (Creeping In ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
9	悪のテーマ （パート１）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 1)	Theme of Evil (Part 1)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
10	犯人のアジト	Hannin no Ajito	The Culprit's Hideout	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
11	推理 （不気味ver.）	Suiri (Bukimi ver.)	Deduction (Ominous ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
12	推理 （オリジナルver.）	Suiri (Orijinaru ver.)	Deduction (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
13	尋問	Jinmon	Interrogation	Detective Conan "The Last Wizard of the Century" Original Soundtrack
14	犯人からの電話	Hannin Kara no Denwa	Phone Call From the Culprit	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
15	ターゲット サスペンスＨ	Tāgetto Sasupensu H	Target Suspense H	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
16	事件現場 （オリジナルver.）	Jiken Genba (Orijinaru ver.)	Scene of the Case (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
17	真相究明	Shinsō Kyūmei	Investigating the Truth	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
18	トリック	Torikku	Trick	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
19	西の名探偵	Nishi no Meitantei	The Great Detective of the West	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
20	怪人包帯男２	Kaijin Hōtai Otoko 2	The Mysterious Bandaged Man 2	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
21	名探偵コナン・メインテーマ （ヴォーカル・ヴァージョン)	Meitantei Konan・Mein Tēma (Vōkaru・Vājon)	Detective Conan Main Theme (Vocal Version)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
22	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic
23	蘭のテーマ	Ran no Tēma	Ran's Theme	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1

Quotes

• Shinichi Kudo (to Juzo Megure):

Shunichi Kudo... I'm a detective.
(工藤新一...探偵ですよ。)

• Shinichi Kudo (to the culprit):

The smallest most likely to be overlooked detail usually turns out to be the most important.
(見逃しやすい細かな点こそ何よりも重要なんです。)

In other languages

Language	Title	Translation
Arabic	لقاء طال انتظاره	A Long-Awaited Meeting
Catalan (Catalan dub)	Un espai tancat volant, el 1r cas d'en Shinichi Kudo	A locked area in the sky, Shinichi Kudo's first case
Catalan (Valencian dub)	Assassinat en l'aire, el primer cas de Shinichi	Murder in sky, Shinichi's first case
French	Meurtre dans les nuage	Murder in the Clouds
Galician	O cadaleito voador. O primeiro caso de Shinichi	The flying coffin. Shinichi's first case
German	Mord an Bord	Murder aboard
Italian	Il primo caso di Shinichi	Shinichi's first case
Spanish (American dub)	El primer caso de Shinichi Kudo: Asesinato en el cielo	Shinichi Kudo's first case: Murder in the sky
Spanish (Castilian dub)	Especial del primer caso de Shinichi en un vuelo	Special of Shinichi's first case in a flight
Thai	ห้องปิดตายลอยฟ้า คดีแรกของคุโด้ ชินอิจิ	The locked room in the sky - Shinichi Kudo's first case
Vietnamese	Căn phòng kín trên không: Vụ án đầu tiên của Kudo Shinichi	The Locked Room in the Sky: Kudo Shinichi's First Case

See also

• Season 4