The Blind Spot in the Darkness

Chronology
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Episode 170-171 (Int. Episode 181-182)
Information
Title:	The Blind Spot in the Darkness
Japanese title:	暗闇の中の死角 (Kurayami no Naka no Shikaku)
Original airdate:	November 29, 1999 (Part 1) December 6, 1999 (Part 2)
Broadcast rating:	17.5% 17.9%
Manga case:	#67
Season:	4
Manga source:	Volume 24: Files 3-6 (234-237)
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Eri Kisaki Shinichi Kudo Tomoaki Araide Hikaru Yasumoto Detective Kojima Officer Tome
Case solved by:	Kogoro Mouri (via Conan)
Next Conan's Hint:	Fuse box (Part 1) Burn injury (Part 2)
Staff
Director:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto Kenji Kodama (chief)
Organizer:	Michiyo Sakurai
Storyboard:	Michiyo Sakurai
Episode director:	170: Hirohito Ochi 171: Kazuo Nogami
Animation director:	170: Atsushi Aono 171: Hirobi Muranaka
Character design:	Masatomo Sudo Kumiko Shishido (design works)
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Kappei Yamaguchi as Shinichi Kudo Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri Chafurin as Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi as Wataru Takagi, Next Conan's Hint Gara Takashima as Eri Kisaki Toshihiko Kojima as Yoshiteru Araide Kumiko Hironaka as Yoko Araide Hideyuki Hori as Tomoaki Araide Rin Mizuhara as Mitsu Araide Akiko Hiramatsu as Hikaru Yasumoto Keiko Sonoda as Masae Akiko Koike as Nurse Takashi Nagasako as Officer Tome, Detective Kojima
Music
Opening song:	Mysterious Eyes
Closing song:	Free Magic

The Blind Spot in the Darkness (暗闇の中の死角 ,Kurayami no Naka no Shikaku) is the 170th and 171st episode of Detective Conan anime.

Characters introduced

Tomoaki Araide
	25 years old Doctor

Hikaru Yasumoto
	22 years old Housemaid

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Detective Kojima Officer Tome Eri Kisaki Shinichi Kudo (voice/background)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Voice-Changing Bowtie Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Case

Situation

Part 1

Conan as Shinichi calls Ran but she's got something do and someplace to go. Conan muses that Ran must have something going on, something that's making her happy with anticipation.

Next, Kogoro Mouri gets Ran and Conan in the car and drives them to the office of his doctor, Yoshiteru Araide, who had insisted that he bring his family. While they're all in the doctor's home-based office, Ran asks the doctor's wife to use their bathroom. On the way there, she bumps into the doctor's young, altruistic, brilliant and very handsome son; she knocks a sheaf of papers from his hands, and experiences a significant touch from his hand to the top of hers when picking up the papers.

Later, after accepting an invitation to dinner there, both Kogoro and the doctor's wife Yoko cheerfully suggest that the son, Tomoaki Araide, and Ran marry. Logically, Conan gets jealous BIG time.

However, Yoshiteru gets electrocuted to death when taking a bath.

Murder

Location: Araide house bathroom Victim: Yoshiteru Araide Age: 51 years old Cause of death: Electrocution in bathtub Suspects: Yoko Araide, Tomoaki Araide, Hikaru Yasumoto, and Mitsu Araide Yoshiteru Araide leaves to take his habitual bath before dinner. A blackout occurs while Yoshiteru Ariade is in the bath. The maid Hikaru Yasumoto resets the circuit breaker once, and then once again when the lights go back out. Yoko Araide and Hikaru go to check on Yoshiteru... and find him dead in the full bathtub, with a submerged electric razor.

Conan is quick to discover the cause for Dr. Araide's death: his electric razor has fallen into the filled tub, electrocuting him. Though it seems that Dr. Araide must have dropped the razor himself, Conan notices that some things don't quite add up: Why was Dr. Araide sitting with his back to the mirror mounted at the end of the bathtub when he was shaving? And where did Hikaru get the burn mark on her arm? But what distracts Conan from the case is that Ran and Tomoaki seems strangely drawn to each other, and a disconcerting thought dawns inside him: Could Ran have become interested in Tomoaki now? He is a rather handsome and popular fellow, after all...

Part 2

While Kogoro, Megure, and Takagi test all possible scenarios, Conan discovers several clues missed by the police and adds them up to the solution of the case. And as usual, he stuns Kogoro to use him as a mouthpiece to deliver his conclusions. But poor Tomoaki vehemently protests the questionings, claiming that none of his family could have done such a thing.

People

Yoshiteru Araide
	Victim (electrocuted) 51 years old Local practitioner Tomoaki's father Married into the Araide family

Yoko Araide
	46 years old Yoshiteru's second wife Tomoaki's step-mother

Tomoaki Araide
	25 years old Doctor Yoshiteru's son

Hikaru Yasumoto
	22 years old Housemaid

Mitsu Araide
	74 years old Tomoaki's grandmother

Chiaki Araide
	Deceased Yoshiteru's first wife Tomoaki's mother Mitsu's daughter

Masae
	Yoko's friend

Tabuchi
	Teitan High School's basketball coach

Sugita
	Yoshiteru's patient Yoshiteru's secret lover

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

After setting up the trap at the bathroom, Conan successfully unveils the killer: Yoko Araide, planning to silence Kogoro with the same method she used to murder Yoshiteru.

• First, Yoko set up a timer somewhere in the house in advance to create a blackout during the time of murder.
• After Hikaru left for the breaker toward the end of the hall, Yoko switched from the house phone's main handset to the branch phone (which is wireless) and headed to the bathroom with a penlight while still talking to her friend. On the way, she used a mobile phone to call the house phone in order to temporary stop the conversation in order to carry out the murder.
• Once she arrived at the bathroom, Yoko distracted Yoshiteru by pointing the penlight at his face, using that moment to put the shaver's cord into the tub. She then told Yoshiteru to grab onto the metal bar for safety, left the bathroom, resumed her conversation, and quickly returned back to the kitchen and switched back to the main handset.
• Finally, Yoshiteru would then be electrocuted to death after Hikaru turned the breaker back on, creating a situation that every members of the household had solid alibis during the time of the murder, with Yoko herself planning to testify that she "never saw anyone heading to the bathroom".
• However, Yoko's plan ran into a problem because Hikaru took time during the blackout to go hide a broken egg custard cup in her room, making her unable to establish an alibi during the time frame.
• Since Hikaru had to use the time to rush to her room to the second floor from the garden in the middle of the house and then back to the breaker, she couldn't commit the murder, and neither did Mitsu who was injured from a cup's fragment that Hikaru dropped on the second floor, nor Tomoaki who was hugged by Ran during the entire blackout could do it either, all of which points to Yoko being the only person capable of murdering Yoshiteru.

Motive

Confronted with the tricks she had used, Yoko confesses. She explains that she murdered her husband because her predecessor and Tomoaki's mother Chiaki, who was also her best friend, had succumbed to depression, alcoholism and eventually committed suicide because of Dr. Araide's continuous acts of adultery. She didn't try to hurt Tomoaki not just because he was innocent, but because right before her death, Chiaki asked her to help him through his life.

Conclusion

Since the frail and gentle Hikaru had unintentionally caused her employer’s death and would understandably have blamed herself if she ever learned the truth, Conan (as Kogoro) and Yoko agree to change the details of the procession of events to "Yoko drugged Yoshiteru and used a timer to electrocute him to death, and used the blackout to retrieve the murder weapon", so that Hikaru would never be burdened by her conscience.

After Yoko's arrest, Tomoaki and Ran meet one last time. But contrary to Conan's fears, Tomoaki, who had listened into Yoko's confession and the agreement, is merely asking Ran to deliver his apologies to her father... and Ran then asks Tomoaki to borrow her the pretty sweater he is wearing, of which she knits a copy for Shinichi. Eri also asks Ran to give her two hand-knitted sweaters to somebody, which Ran gives to her dad and Agasa. Strangely, the one she gave to Kogoro has the same pattern as the one she gave to Shinichi/Conan.

Trivia

• This episode's character's names are associated with light.
  • Yoshiteru Araide - Radiance
  • Yoko Araide - Sun
  • Tomoaki Araide - Dawn
  • Hikaru Yasumoto - Light
  • Mitsu Araide - Light
  • Chiaki Araide - Sparkle

BGM listing

Part 1

#	Song Title	Romaji	Translation	OST
1	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes
2	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
3	新一の名推理	Shin'ichi no Meisuiri	Shinichi's Great Deduction	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
4	昼下がりの天使たち （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Hirusagari no Tenshitachi (Mantenrō Vājon)	Early Afternoon Angels (Skyscraper Version)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
5	想い出 （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Omoide (Mantenrō Vājon)	Memories (Skyscraper Version)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
6	謎解き （その１）	Nazotoki (Sono 1)	Riddle Solution (Part 1)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
7	緊迫	Kinpaku	Tension	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
8	真相究明	Shinsō Kyūmei	Investigating the Truth	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
9	悪のテーマ （パート２）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 2)	Theme of Evil (Part 2)	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	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic

Part 2

#	Song Title	Romaji	Translation	OST
1	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes	Mysterious Eyes
2	謎解き (その２)	Nazotoki (Sono 2)	Riddle Solution (Part 2)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
3	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
4	悪のテーマ （パート２）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 2)	Theme of Evil (Part 2)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
5	事件解明 （オリジナルver.）	Jiken Kaimei (Orijinaru ver.)	Case Clarification (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
6	推理 （オリジナルver.）	Suiri (Orijinaru ver.)	Deduction (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
7	少年探偵団のテーマ （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Shōnen Tanteidan no Tēma (Mantenrō Vājon)	The Detective Boys' Theme (Skyscraper Version)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
8	犯人からの電話	Hannin Kara no Denwa	Phone Call From the Culprit	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
9	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
10	陰謀 （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Inbō (Mantenrō Vājon)	Conspiracy (Skyscraper Version)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
11	怪人包帯男２	Kaijin Hōtai Otoko 2	The Mysterious Bandaged Man 2	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
12	挫折	Zasetsu	Frustration	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack
13	蘭のテーマ （優しさver.）	Ran no Tēma (Yasashisa ver.)	Ran's Theme (Gentle ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
14	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic	Free Magic
15	毛利小五郎のテーマ （ファンキーver.）	Mōri Kogorō no Tēma (Fankii ver.)	Kogoro Mouri's Theme (Funky ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
16	蘭・愛のテーマ	Ran・Ai no Tēma	Ran's Love Theme	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
17	別居の真相	Bekkyo no Shinsō	The Truth Behind the Separation	Detective Conan "The Fourteenth Target" Original Soundtrack

In other languages

Language	Title	Translation
Arabic	اللحظات المظلمة	The Dark Moments
Catalan (Catalan dub)	Un angle mort en la foscor	A blind spot in the darkness
Catalan (Valencian dub)	Angle mort en la foscor (1a part) Angle mort en la obscuritat (2a part)	The blind spot in the darkness (Part 1) The blind spot in the gloom (Part 2)
Chinese (Simplified)	黑暗中的死角	The blind spot in the darkness
French	Un Bain néfaste	The Harmful Bath
Galician	Cegado na escuridade	Dazzled in the darkness
German	Dunkel wars...	'Twas Dark...
Italian	Assassinio al buio	Murder in the darkness
Spanish (American dub)	Punto ciego en la oscuridad	Blind spot in the darkness
Spanish (Castilian dub)	El ángulo muerto en la oscuridad	The blind spot in the darkness
Thai	มุมอับในความมืด	The blind corner in the darkness
Vietnamese	Điểm mù trong bóng tối	The Blind Spot in the Darkness

See also

• Season 4