Black Organization timeline

Due to early episodes of the anime not following Gosho's plots in the manga precisely, details about Gin, Vodka, and the Black Organization were not initially included in several episodes and had to either be included via a different plot-relevant episode or a rerelease of the episode with the plot elements reintroduced. These changes are noted in the appropriate points in the timeline. The anime has come to adhere much more closely to Gosho's plot and art as time goes on, due to the tendency for crucial foreshadowing to be hidden in the details of a single panel months before its significance comes to light. This page describes revelations about the Black Organization mostly in the order they occur in the plot. For a fully chronological order of events, please see Timeline.

Timeline of Events

Shinichi is given APTX 4869 after being caught eavesdropping.

Gin, Vodka, and the Shrinking of Shinichi Kudo (Manga: File 1; Anime: Episode 1)

Gin and Vodka arrive at Tropical Land for a blackmail deal. When they ride the roller coaster to confirm that their mark arrived alone, they get caught up as suspects in a murder case that Shinichi Kudo solves. Shinichi follows Vodka to the blackmail transaction, where a businessman pays a briefcase full of money in exchange for photographic evidence of his involvement in weapons smuggling. Gin sees Shinichi eavesdropping and knocks him out with a metal pipe; due to the police and public presence, rather than shoot Shinichi they feed him the Black Organization's new experimental poison, APTX 4869. Leaving him for dead, they are unaware that the poison has transformed sixteen-year-old Shinichi to six-year-old Conan Edogawa, who swears to expose them and their crimes.

Akemi Miyano's Robbery (Manga: Files 13-16; Anime: Episode 128)

Gin confronting Akemi Miyano.

Manga version

In order to free both her sister and herself from the Black Organization, Akemi Miyano accepts the mission to rob one billion yen from a bank. To increase the chances of her sucess, she hires a driver and a giant-like man as assistants. However, the driver, Kenzo Hirota, disappears with the cash after the robbery, forcing Akemi to search for him. She hires Kogoro under the alias "Masami Hirota", supposedly Kenzo's teenage daughter. Kogoro luckily manages to find Kenzo for Akemi; after she is left alone with Kenzo, she and their third partner kill Kenzo and stage his death as a suicide hanging after taking the money.

Gin gives Akemi some "sleeping pills" with the instructions to dose the drink of her remaining partner; when she does, she discovers too late that they were poison. Recognizing the cutthroat duplicity, she leaves the one billion yen in suitcases at the front desk of the hotel where the giant-like man died and takes empty cases to go meet Gin and Vodka. She leaves the hotel just as Conan arrives with Kogoro and Inspector Megure, having been tracking her since the death of Kenzo. At the meeting place amidst shipping crates, Gin demands the money, but Akemi refuses until they release her sister as agreed. Gin informs her that her sister is far too valuable to the organization to ever let go, and the robbery was a trick to get rid of Akemi rather than let her leave with knowledge of the organization. Conan arrives at the meeting location just in time to find Akemi alone, bleeding out from a gunshot wound. Akemi tells Conan that the Black Organization was the true mastermind behind the robbery; that they like to dress in black to resemble crows, but she knows little else from having been kept at the edges. Rather than let them have the money, she asks Conan to retrieve the one billion yen from the hotel before the Organization can get their hands on it. Conan is helpless to do anything but watch her die, and the police rule her death as a suicide because only her fingerprints are found on the gun that killed her. Conan privately reaffirms his grim determination to expose the Black Organization for all their crimes.

Conan talks to a dying Akemi.

Anime version

Even though Akemi Miyano/Masami Hirota was introduced much earlier into the anime series in Episode 13, the case had all mention of the men in black edited out. In order to fix the gaping plothole, the animators reintroduced her with a remix of the original case that included the Black Organization elements Episode 128, while her previous appearance is ignored.

In Episode 128, Akemi Miyano, works as a bank teller under the alias "Masami Hirota" to prepare for the upcoming robbery. With the assistance of Shirou Kaizuka (a racecar driver) and Kishi (one of the bank guards), Akemi steals one billion yen from a transport van. However, soon after the Black Organization murders Akemi’s two accomplices and a lipstick-smeared facemask is left at the crime scene in order to frame Akemi as the third robber (which she is), who killed her partners to keep all the money herself (which she didn't). Akemi manages to meet with Gin and Vodka anyway and demands the release her sister and herself from the Organization, as promised, before she gives them the one billion yen. However, she is betrayed and killed by Gin. Vodka finds the key of the locker where Akemi hid the money inside her pocket and they leave the scene, without knowing that it’s only a fake. By the time Conan finds out Akemi's location, it is already too late. It is in this moment that Conan learns about the Black Organization being the true mastermind behind the robbery. In her last words, Akemi gives Conan the real key and asks him to find the stolen money before Gin and Vodka do. Her death is concluded to be a suicide by the police, because only her fingerprints are found on the gun that killed her.

Conan encounters Gin and Vodka.

The Bullet Train Bomb (Manga: File 33)

The anime episode with this plot was reworked so that the two "men in black" are simply lookalikes of Gin and Vodka, not the men themselves. As a result, this section summarizes only the manga events.

Gin and Vodka board a bullet train to complete a transaction: selling information about gold for 400 million yen. They arrange the meeting place to be a dining car on the second floor of the bullet train. On the way to their seats, Gin and Vodka coincidentally encounter Conan. However, neither of them recognize that he is actually Shinichi Kudo, because they are unaware of the rare shrinking effect of APTX 4869. Vodka simply orders Conan to get out of the way and they take their seats, which are very near the Mouris', without paying further attention to him. When Gin and Vodka go to make the transaction, Conan plants an eavesdropping bug in the seat ashtray. Once they return, he overhears them discussing how the black briefcase they exchanged for 400 million yen has no information about gold, but is a bomb their client is sure to set off without meaning to at a specific time. Conan also learns their codenames at this time. They leave the train at Nagoya station, before the explosion is set to occur when the client dials a specific phone number as instructed to learn how to open the case; the number is actually the bomb activator. It is unknown if Gin, Vodka, or the Organization know that Conan was the one who found the bomb and kicked it off the train just before it exploded.

Tequila appears at the Mantendo Convention.

Tequila at the Mantendo Convention (Manga: File 114-116; Anime: Episode 54)

At the Mantendo Convention, Conan encounters the man code-named Tequila. Tequila appears at the Mantendo Corporation convention to buy a list of the best programmers in the world from one of the company employees, Hideaki Nakajima. The exchange occurs by the two men bumping into each other in the hallway and exchanging claim tickets for the convention hall's coat-check area. Tequila uses the claim ticket to obtain Hideaki's company briefcase; however, both men are unaware that Hideaki's ticket was previously switched with that of his co-worker with the intention of killing him via a briefcase-bomb. When Tequila opens the briefcase, the explosion kills him.

Later, when Conan-a-Kogoro solves the case and orders Hideaki to reveal where he met with Tequila, Hideaki confesses that they met at the bar Le Cocktail in the "Black Building" in Beika. However, although Conan rushes to the building as soon as he learns of it, just before he can reach the bar it is destroyed in an explosion of such degree not a scrap of evidence remains.

Ai Haibara, AKA Sherry (Manga: File 176-181; Anime: Episode 129)

Shiho swallows the APTX 4869.

Shiho Miyano already resented the Black Organization for dictating her life and then taking the incomplete APTX 4869 to use as a poison. When she learns that her sister was killed after getting more involved in the Organization for Shiho's sake, Shiho boycotts her research until she receives an explanation for why Akemi died. The Organization will not, and since her refusal to work and her knowledge of the Organization makes her a liability, decides to execute her unless she relents. Handcuffed inside a gas chamber, she takes a dose of APTX 4869 to die on her own terms. To her surprise, she also shrinks into a child, which frees her from the handcuffs and lets her escape through a ventilation pipe in the room. She attempts to reach Shinichi Kudo's house, as she already suspected his identity as Conan Edogawa after discovering that between two separate sweeps in his house by her team to confirm whether Shinichi was dead by the poison, the grade-schooler clothes in Shinichi's house disappeared. Shiho had noted a single mouse in all her research that shrank instead of died, and during a lunch date after the billion yen robbery, Akemi described Conan as a miniature adult living with Shinichi's childhood friend.

Strain causes Shiho to collapse outside of Agasa's house, who takes her in and agrees to become her guardian. Shiho chooses the alias "Ai Haibara" to hide her identity and joins Conan's class at Teitan Elementary. At school, the Detective Boys befriend her before a classmate asks them to find his missing brother. During that case, a witness mentions a woman dressed completely in black. Conan accidentally lets slip aloud that he is after her because she might be connected to the men in black who shrunk him; the Detective Boys are understandably confused at the comment, but he dismisses it and heads off alone to investigate. The Detective Boys follow him with Haibara help, and together they foil the operation and the police arrest the counterfeiters. Despite the woman's clothes, she knows nothing about the Organization. Elsewhere, Gin speaks on the phone with an unknown party about a missing person who must be alive because no body has found; Gin wants him dead or alive.

Haibara cries on Conan after asking why he hadn't saved Akemi Miyano.

Conan walks Haibara home, as she lives at 2-22 Beika, in Conan's neighborhood. On the way home, to Conan's utter shock and horror, Haibara reveals her identity as Sherry, the creator of the APTX 4869 poison. Informing him that she marked his status as deceased in the Organization, and that she had never intended to create a poison, does little to diminish his anger. Agasa mentions that as the creator, she might be able to create an antidote; however, Shiho cannot remember all the data, and the research facility was already demolished by the Organization in an explosion to cover their tracks. She mentions that if the drug continues to be used as a poison, the odds are high that someone else will shrink and the Organization will realize the possible effect, and if she is discovered Conan's cover will also be blown. She also remembers that she sent a floppy disk with drug and organization data to Akemi by accident, years ago, and they might be able to find the find the disk in the possession of Akemi's old professor, Masami Hirota. Conan finds the name familiar, but can't remember why. Learning that they are friends of Akemi, Masami invites them to come retrieve the disks, but in the three hours it take to reach his house, the professor is murdered and all computer data and disks stolen. Investigating the scene, Conan and Haibara speculate the Organization would have had record of Shiho's actions, but they recognize Vodka's disguised voice on the answering machine and both know that the message would have been erased if the Organization had been the culprits. The Organization could not have obtained the floppy; Conan defies Haibara's expectations and proves the "accidental death" is a murder. To Conan's surprise, Haibara's response is to break down in tears and demand why he couldn't be clever enough to save her sister's life—Akemi Miyano used her professor's name as her alias to hire Kogoro.

A week later, the disk is released from police evidence and Shiho tries to access it from Agasa's computer. However, it has been protected with the Night Baron virus, which deletes all the data whenever the disk is accessed from a computer that does not belong to the Organization. Another brief scene with Gin and Vodka reveal that Hirota was the man they wanted dead or alive, and they are determined to find Sherry and whoever may have helped her escape.

Osaka Serial Killer Case (Manga: 185-188; Anime: 118)

During a visit to Osaka, Conan and Heiji get caught up in a serial killer case. The dead and the suspects all attended the same driving school, along with infamous serial killer Numabuchi Ki'ichiro, who escaped from prison not long before. Conan ends up with Officer Ootaki, tracking down Numabuchi on Mt. Minoo outside Osaka. The police arrest Numabuchi but he attempts to escape and stabs Conan in the process; only the protection charm Heiji lent Conan saves Conan's life. It turns out Numabuchi was involved in the accidental death of the father of the man behind this set of serial killings, and was intended to be the scapegoat because he already killed several others.

Pisco, Vermouth, and the return of Shiho Miyano (Manga: Files 238-242; Anime: Episode 176-178)

Haibara dreams of Gin discovering her identity, and plans to leave before the Detective Boys can be put in danger through association with her. She recognizes Gin's rare porsche in the Beika neighborhood and cannot stop Conan from planting a bug in the car. The overhear a plan for a murder at a wake at the Haido City hotel, but Gin also finds an auburn hair he recognizes as Shiho's, and stakes out the hotel to catch her, assuming she'll try to interfere. Haibara tries to stop Conan, but follows when she cannot change his mind. Pisco recognizes her childhood form and on Gin's order, kidnaps her from the wake after he murders the target. Conan tries to find the murderer as well as Haibara, forcing Pisco to require the help of Vermouth to escape police scrutiny.

File:Sherry shot 1.JPG

Shiho shot by Gin.

While they are being questioned, Haibara investigates Pisco's computer in the wine cellar and then drinks baijiu on Conan's orders. She grows back into Shiho to escape up the fireplace chimney onto the snow-covered roof. However, Gin and Vodka intercept her on the roof; Gin shoots her several times as torture to make her answer how she escaped the gas chamber. When she refuses, Gin is about to kill her when Conan shoots Gin with the tranquilizer needle and orders Shiho via th voice-changing bowtie to escape back down the chimney. Gin shoots himself in the arm to stay awake, while Vodka tries unsuccessfully to shoot Conan, letting Shiho escape successfully just before she reverts to Haibara. Pisco is waiting for her in the wine cellar and praises her success with continuing her dead parents' research, but he is still under orders to kill her. Conan again comes to the rescue, tricking Pisco into accidentally starting a fire. Conan escapes with Haibara in the smoke and Gin arrives through the chimney and executes Pisco for getting caught on camera before Pisco can tell Gin the truth about Shiho. Haibara plans to leave the city, worried the Organization will find her, but Conan convinces her that staying put is the best thing to do exactly because Gin expects her to run and will never look for her in Beika again. Haibara also says that the disk with Organization data was lost in the fire, though this is later shown to be a lie Conan is unaware of. Gin and Vodka also escape the police along with Vermouth, who now intends to stay for a while in Japan. Gin also wants to find the "man" on the roof who helped Shiho escape.

The Desperate Revival (Manga: Files 251-253 & Files 254-260; Anime: Episodes 188-193)

Vermouth takes the place of Tomoaki Araide, the doctor at Teitan elementary and high school. Soon afterwards, the FBI who had followed Vermouth from America raid Araide’s office and see pictures of Conan, Ran, and Shiho tacked to her dartboard. Vermouth works undercover to undermine the FBI and learn more about Conan, Haibara and their friends and family. As Araide, she witnesses Shinichi Kudo perform in a school play and solve the murder.

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Vermouth disguised as Dr. Araide protects Conan on the hijacked bus

Busjacking and Akai's introduction (Manga: Files 287-289; Anime: Episode 230-231)

At a bar after completing an assassination, Gin and Vodka are approached by Vermouth in a barman's disguise. Vodka is fooled, but Gin knows her instantly and is unamused. He asks if she found what she was looking for in Japan yet, but Vermouth plays coy about her goal and flirts with Gin instead. Elsewhere, Conan, Haibara and the detective boys are on a bu to go skiing. Conan and Haibara quietly discuss the Organization and Haibara reveals that she can recognize the presence of one of them by a distinctive "smell" only Organization members emit. She explains that she couldn't identify Pisco at the wake because she wasn't sure—he was overshadowed by someone with a stronger scent and evil aura. Almost immediately, Ai reacts to the sudden presence of a member on the bus just before Araide and Jodie, and an evil-eyed man in a dark ski cap all board the bus. When a busjacking occurs, Vermouth as Araide protects Conan from the busjackers. Ai is certain Vermouth, whose presence she recognizes, is on the bus, but she does not tell Conan. Vermouth observes how Conan foils the busjackers and orders him to treat a wounded arm before letting the police question him about the case. The same day, Vermouth also steals the police department's records of all the cases in Tokyo that included the involvement of Kogoro Mouri. Once she has the necessary information to testify as Araide in the trial for his father's death, and has successfully baited out the FBI to surveil Kogoro's apartment, she returns the files.

Sato's Marriage Arrangement (Manga: 328-330, Anime: 253-254)

As Araide, Vermouth helps Ran and Conan interrupt Shiratori's would be engagement to Miwako Sato. She witnesses Conan use the Voice-Changing Bowtie to impersonate Wataru Takagi, and comes up with a story when Conan can't think fast enough.

Ran saved Vermouth (who was disguising as a serial killer) back in New York

Vermouth in New York City (Manga: Files 350-354; Anime: Episode 286-288)

In a flashback to three years ago, high school first-years Shinichi and Ran meet Vermouth under her original name of Sharon Vineyard, Yukiko's old friend and fellow actress. Sharon gets Yukiko out of a speeding ticket by impersonating a police captain. Shinichi is shocked that Sharon's disguise was so flawless; Sharon and Yukiko both learned disguise from a famous Japanese magician, but Sharon was always the better at it. By this time, Sharon has already established her secondary identity as her own estranged daughter, Chris Vineyard, for possibly as long as ten years. Sharon has had a bitter life but takes a shine to Ran, though she seems to sense ahead of time that when Ran saves the life of an actress, something bad would happen, but leaves rather than try to prevent it. While Shinichi solves his second solo murder, Sharon goes out in disguise as an older male serial killer, though the reasons for her assignment remain unknown. On the way back to the hotel, Shinichi and Ran encounter Vermouth as the serial killer, wounded by an earlier firefight with the FBI. Vermouth nearly shoots Ran but the railing Vermouth was leaning against unexpectedly crumbles. Ran, with Shinichi's help, saves Vermouth from falling to her death. Vermouth demands to know why Shinichi would have done such a thing, and Shinichi counters that unlike murdering, no reason is needed to save a life. Ran faints, and Shinichi lets Vermouth go in order to get Ran home safely, confident that Vermouth wouldn't shoot them because it would summon the FBI she wouldn't be able to escape with her injuries. However, he promises that eventually he will put Vermouth in jail. Vermouth creates a fake suicide scene for the serial killer and presumably moves on to another assignment.

Ki'ichiro Numabuchi's profile was sent to the drug development division so Shiho could test the APTX4869 on him.

Numabuchi and Mitsuhiko (Manga: 358-360; Anime: 289-290)

Ki'ichiro Numabuchi was a murderer who was sought by the Black Organization to become one of their assassins, but his mental instability soon exempted him from that career. Instead, he was to become a human guinea pig for the new APTX 4869 poison, under the supervision of Shiho Miyano. However, while Shiho had been given his file for research, she didn't get to meet Numabuchi personally; knowing about his impending fate, he escaped the Black Organization. During his flight, he panickedly murdered several people he suspected of being Black Organization pursuers.

Several months after his re-arrest in Osaka, Numabuchi is escorted into a forest in Gunma after having claimed that the body of a fourth victim was buried there. In truth, he intends to pay a last visit to his childhood friends, the fireflies living in the forest, before his execution. He escapes from Misao Yamamura in the forest and Haibara becomes highly unnerved that she fails to sense him while they look for Mitsuhiko, who was attempting to collect some fireflies as a surprise for Haibara and Ayumi. Numabuchi encounters Mitsuhiko with a captured firefly, but rather than hurt him, Numabuchi carries him to the search parties and does not resist being arrested on.

Time To Pick The Apple (Manga: 340, Anime: 272)

Vermouth's pictures of Conan, Ran, and Shiho

Following the Battle Game Trap case with Jodie, Vermouth is seen writing a somewhat teasing letter to Gin, asking if he believes in heaven. She also throws a dart at the picture of Shiho tacked onto her dartboard. Conan and Ran are on the dartboard as well, with the captions "Cool Guy" and "Angel", respectively. This is the first time the readers see these pictures, but it is heavily implied that Jodie and the FBI already know of them.

Suguru Itakura and the confrontation with Vodka (Manga: File 380-383; Anime: Episode 309-311)

Conan manages to arrange contact with Vodka of the organization, and goes to confront him in a trap, however, Gin arrives and realizes it's a set up. He and Vodka leave before Conan is able to find out more information about the Black Organization. Though, prior to the meeting, Conan does manage to obtain information from their original contact's diary that reveal a bit of the Black Organization's dark intentions.

Vermouth closes in and the Miyano family

• Four Porsches (Manga: 420-422, Anime 338-339)
• Hidden Bathroom Secret (Manga: 423-425, Anime: 340-341)

Showdown with Vermouth and the FBI (Manga: File 429-434; Anime: Episode 345)

Many identities are finally unveiled: Vermouth is revealed to be Dr. Araide, Chris Vineyard, Sharon Vineyard, and the silver-haired serial killer in Shinichi's New York Case; Jodie Saintemillion is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent working towards capturing Vermouth, who killed her father when she was younger; Shuichi Akai is confirmed to be an FBI agent, and one with great skill too--enough to make the boss of the Black Organization believe that he is their Silver Bullet. Near the end of the episode, it becomes clear that Vermouth's purpose was to seek and eliminate Sherry, but her attempts are thwarted by several people: Shinichi/Conan, Jodie Starling, Shuichi Akai, and even Ran. When she becomes cornered, she takes Conan hostage and drives away into a forest. There, she sends a text message to her boss (still nameless), and to her surprise, Conan was recording the sound of the boss' number being dialed. In order to preserve the organization's secrecy, she sprays sleeping gas in the car, putting both herself and Conan to sleep. She claims that this would be a duel--whoever wakes up first will win. Vermouth does indeed wake up first, but does not kill Conan. Instead, she just crushes his recording device. Ultimately, the only clue Conan gained from this whole ordeal is the phone number that the boss uses; this is mentioned in episode 425 as well.

Although Vermouth often comes off as evil and malicious, her allegiance is rather ambiguous. She chooses to protect both Conan/Shinichi and Ran, most likely because they let her live back in the New York Case when she was disguised as the silver-haired serial killer. At the end of the episode, she could have very well killed Shinichi, but instead she lets him live and even drapes her coat over his sleeping body so he wouldn't get cold. She even kept her promise with Shinichi to stop her attempt on killing Sherry. For some reason, she seems to wish for the Black Organization to be taken down as well--for she believes that Shinichi Kudo is their true Silver Bullet.

Boss's phone number

• A Code of Stars and Tobacco (Manga: File 466-469; Anime: Episode 385-387)
• The Dissonance of the Stradivarius (Manga: File 470-474; Anime: Episode 385-387)

In Episode 394, Conan figures out the boss' number, but Haibara warns him not to call it because it is "Pandora's Box", Conan then thinks he can get Detective Takagi to figure out who the number belongs to. But then Haibara warns if he does, Detective Takagi will be killed.

Assassination plot with Chianti, Korn, and Kir (Manga: File 499-504; Anime: Episode 425)

Black Organization´s members.

In episode 425, the Black Organization introduces three new members, Chianti, Kir, and Korn, who first make their introduction in the 16th Opening episodes before their actual appearance in the series. Episode 425 is also the first to show the most Black Organization members in one episode. Chianti and Korn are introduced in the very beginning of episode 425 as highly trained assassins that Gin recruits after seeing their sniping skills. Kir is first introduced to Conan and the others as a news reporter (Rena Mizunashi) and a friend of Yoko Okino's, however, she is revealed as a member of the black corps later on. After encountering FBI during her mission, Kir tries to flee, but gets knocked unconscious and crashes, resulting in her getting taken by the FBI agents. In the manga, Heiji Hattori mentions she has been seen in Osaka before.

Eisuke Hondou and the captured Kir

In episodes 462-465, the Black Organization reveals some information about Kir and Eisuke's father. Eisuke appears to be linked to the Black Organization, as Conan notices similarities between him and Kir, and he also appears to be gaining info on the secret behind Kogoro's cases. In addition, Vermouth is revealed to be linked to another murder case. In the following episode 466, Conan tells Haibara and Agasa that the boy involved in the previous case told a mysterious man (unknown, but sometimes thought to be Rikumichi Kusuda, as they have the same outer appearance, though, his face is shadowed) that he had seen Kir before.

In episodes 484-485, Conan investigates more on Eisuke and belief that he and his father may have a possible link to Rena Mizunashi and the Black Organization. This later leads to further investigations in episode 491-494 with a possibility that Eisuke and Rena are related when they watch a video tape from years ago.

Bourbon, Subaru Okiya, and Scar Akai

Jodie calls Conan and tells him that Rena Mizunashi reported a new member of the Black Organization, Bourbon, is looking for Sherry. As Conan and Haibara investigate a normal case, Haibara feels that an organization member is around. The organization member which she felt is implied to be one of the innocent suspects, Subaru Okiya. Conan invites Okiya to live in the Kudo's house since Okiya's apartment was burnt. Okiya appears in other cases later on.

Bourbon and Vermouth aboard the Mystery Train (Manga: File 818-824)

In chapter 823, Bourbon is confirmed to be Tooru Amuro and Okiya to be Shuichi Akai.

Bourbon Returns

Contrary to Conan's expectations, Bourbon has decided to stay nearby because he has become interested in Conan Edogawa and Sleeping Kogoro.

See also

• Black Organization