Shinichi Kudo

Shinichi Kudo
Profile
Japanese name:	工藤 新一 (Kudō Shin'ichi)
English name:	Jimmy Kudo
Age:	16-17, 6-7 as Conan
Gender:	Male
Height:	174 cm (5'8.5")
Weight:	Unknown
Date of birth:	May 4th
Relatives:	Yusaku Kudo (father) Yukiko Kudo (mother)
Occupation:	Teitan High School student Detective
Nicknames:	Detective Geek Detective of the East The savior of the police force Cool Kid/Cool Guy (Jodie Starling) Shin-chan (his mother) Silver Bullet (Vermouth) The Heisei Holmes Kudo (Heiji Hattori)
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: File 1 Anime: Episode 1
Appearances:	Chapters: 270 Episodes: 198 Movies: 28 OVAs: 12 Specials: 7 Chapters: 2 Episodes: 2 Openings: 58 Closings: 54
Cases solved:	750 (as Conan Edogawa) (one case solved by Ran) 60+ (as Shinichi Kudo)
Keyhole number:	Volume 1 Volume 62 (Shiragami-sama)
Actors
Japanese voice:	Kappei Yamaguchi Minami Takayama (young)
English voice:	Jerry Jewell
Drama actor:	Shun Oguri (1st) Junpei Mizobata (2nd)

Shinichi Kudo (工藤 新一 ,Kudō Shin'ichi) is the high school detective protagonist of the manga and anime Detective Conan. While on a date with his childhood friend and romantic interest Ran Mouri, Shinichi encounters two men from a secret criminal organization who force feed him a strange poison that causes his body to shrink back to first grade age. Shinichi takes up the alias Conan Edogawa and plans to use his immense skill as a detective to make Ran's bumbling private detective father famous in hopes that he will find a case involving the secret organization so he can expose its crimes and acquire an antidote that will turn him back into a teenager.

Viz romanized his original name as Shin'ichi Kudo while Shogakukan's website romanizes it as Shinichi Kudoh.

Background

Shinichi is a 16-year old (17, according to the anime) student at Teitan High School who has become famous for helping the Tokyo police solve murder mysteries. Shinichi was born to Yusaku Kudo, a mystery writer, and Yukiko Kudo, a former movie star.

The story begins when Shinichi takes his childhood friend Ran Mouri to a theme park, Tropical Land, to celebrate her victory in a recent karate championship. During the course of their visit, Shinichi ends up solving a murder case. He separates from Ran to follow a man in black, Vodka, who was blackmailing a company president. He didn't notice when another man in black, Gin, sneak up behind him and knocks him out with a baseball bat. Gin decides to test an experimental untraceable poison, APTX 4869, on Shinichi to ensure that his death couldn't be traced back to them. However, instead of killing Shinichi, a rare side-effect occurs: his body shrinks into that of his six year-old self.

Conan Edogawa, the "small" Shinichi

Conan Edogawa

After escaping from well-meaning but skeptical park security, with nowhere else to go Shinichi runs home. He there encounters into his next door neighbor and close family friend, Professor Agasa. He convinces Agasa of his identity and head inside Shinichi's home to discuss the next move. Agasa warns him that he must keep his identity secret because the Black Organization will kill him and others associated with him should they discover the truth.

Ran arrives to find out what happened to Shinichi, which forces him to come up with the alias Conan Edogawa from Arthur Conan Doyle and Rampo Edogawa and he pretends to be a distant relative of Agasa's, who places Conan in Ran's care. Ran's father Kogoro Mouri owns a Detective Agency, which will allow Conan to run into cases involving the Black Organization. He occasionally uses Kogoro, and Agasa, among others as a mouthpiece to solve crimes while searching for how to get his body back.

In the meantime, to protect his identity he is forced to play the part of a first-year Elementary student, enrolling as a student at Teitan Elementary. Three of his classmates, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko, befriend him and pull him into creating the Detective Boys, after which he tries to keep them out of trouble. Their group is later joined by the creator of APTX 4869, Shiho Miyano, shrunk down and using the alias Ai Haibara.

Personality

At the beginning of the series, Shinichi is already well-known as a brilliant young detective, the "Savior of the police force", for solving many difficult cases the professionals could not. He is extremely intelligent, and even from a young age was very intuitive and observant. Due to the influence of his father and the general laissez-faire environment at home, he has long been an incessant and persistent reader, especially of mystery novels. His father, Yusaku started taking Shinichi to crime scenes as a child, which inspired him to be a detective. Due to his bluntness and matter-of-fact manner, Shinichi can come off as rude and arrogant. However, he cares deeply about human life, unable to understand how any reason could be sufficient motive for murder, and is convinced that driving a culprit to suicide is no better than murder itself. The few times he has been too late to save a life haunt him throughout the series.

Prior to his transformation, Shinichi enjoyed being in the spotlight and was rather arrogant, reveling in making local headlines and receiving fan-mail. Throughout the series, Shinichi's predicament causes him to gain a sense of humility. Shinichi still keeps his flair for the dramatic (like his mother) that can be seen every time he sets out a deduction in pieces building to a climax.

Despite his popularity with the masses and his schoolmates, Shinichi has very few close friends. He is close to Ran and Agasa, and after deaging, he befriended Heiji, Haibara, and to some extent the other Detective Boys. Another reason for his lack of close friends was because his arrogant personality was a negative turn-off to many of his classmates and even teachers, making it hard to befriend him. Even with his close friends (one being older than him), Shinichi doesn't hesitate to call them "idiot", instead of calmly explaining his reason for doing or not doing something, sometimes causing arguments between him and Ran.

Shinichi also had a tendency, since elementary school, to have an air of being the "distant, cool guy". While he is a truly good and heroic individual, he doesn't make it known to others that obviously, and will make some "deductive reasoning" for why he did such a thing. His sensitive nature is also horrible, which was shown most prominently during the Holmes' Revelation Arc, when Ran started crying because she believed that Shinichi not telling her he was in London meant that he was indifferent to her feelings for him. However, instead of trying to comfort her, Shinichi repeatedly asked her about the strange woman she met, and told her to pull herself together.

Despite his intelligence, Shinichi is rather dense when it comes to love or romantic subjects, though perhaps not to the same extent as Heiji Hattori. He struggled to confess his love for to Ran, even after he knew her feelings (as Conan), and temporarily returned to his original body in the Desperate Revival Arc, he was about to confess to her, but chickened out at the last minute. After several failures, finally succeeded in London. However, he was revealed to be an amazing "wingman" in Episodes 253-254.

Appearance

Shinichi is a 174 cm (5'8.5") Japanese teenager with a thin, athletic build. He has pale skin and a dark brown/black hair with a cowlick in front and distinctive tuft in the back. Shinichi bears a striking resemblance to his father, Yusaku Kudo minus his father's mustache and round glasses. Shinichi has blue eyes in the manga (a trait shared by all the characters), and they are blue in the anime as well.

Shinichi is right handed and right footed, but he is good with both feet because of his soccer skills.

Shinichi often appears in his high school uniform, but he also wears a suit and tie or regular clothing depending on the occasion. When Conan turns back into Shinichi by using baijiu or a temporary antidote, Shinichi will wear whatever appropriately sized clothing he can find at the time. He was also very popular with the girls as he was handsome not to mention a high school detective.

Skills

See also: Conan's Skills

Detective skills

Shinichi is very skilled as a detective, often earning him comparisons to Sherlock Holmes. Shinichi has acquired various nicknames because of his prowess, such as the "Heisei Holmes" and the "Detective of the East". He has a keen eye for details, and can spot any unusual aspects in a case that most people tend to ignore or not take into account. In the english version his motto is "Only one truth prevails". He repeatedly demonstrates the ability to recall every detail of an investigation or other topics he cares about, and may have a photographic memory to manage such perfect recall so consistently. Shinichi's fastidious attention to detail allows him to notice minor inconsistencies in crime scenes and suspect testimony, and using astute logic he uncovers the reasons behind those inconsistencies in order to link them to the crime. Shinichi has extraordinarily broad and deep knowledge of many subjects and trivia that help him solve cases, something he likely acquired from incessant reading as a child. Only his father Yusaku Kudo, and the current Kaitou Kid, Kaito Kuroba, regularly surpass him.

Athletic ability

Shinichi playing soccer in middle school.

Besides intelligence, Shinichi also has an amazing athletic ability, partially derived from playing soccer, his favorite sport. Shinichi is an extremely skilled soccer player, having been professionally scouted while only in middle school, but he chooses to stay at the amateur level. He initially played to hone his reflexes and often juggles a ball to clear his mind, but he is also an enthusiastic fan of the sport in its own right. In order to defend himself and others from criminals, Shinichi has perfected a signature, powerful precision kick to knock out criminals using soccer balls or whatever substitute is handy. Shinichi's kick is accurate over long distances and he is capable of mentally reckoning the angle of impact necessary to rebound a soccer ball off a wall and strike an attacker from behind. He is also good at skiing and snowboarding.

Aside from soccer, Shinichi exhibits a knack for handling firearms due to his father taking him to shooting ranges from time to time. During the Clocktower Heist, Shinichi is able to shoot and dislodge the support beam of a giant projection screen, which Kaitou Kid had placed in order to fool a crowd of onlookers, with a single shot from a moving helicopter. Additionally, in Movie 2 Conan shot a gun at Ran and the criminal holding her hostage with impeccable accuracy; in doing so, he reminds her of Shinichi.

Shinichi is nimble as well as strong. In the manga, he is capable of considerable acrobatics, jumping great distances and swinging from tree to tree to escape onlookers. The anime and movies augment Shinichi's athletic abilities in addition to what is shown in the manga. He has been able to skillfully dodge a kicking assault from an angry Ran, something very few have ever managed.

Music

Shinichi cannot sing on key in the slightest so he is often accused of being tone deaf. Despite being a hilariously awful singer, Shinichi has perfect pitch and can identify notes accurately even in difficult contexts like the sound of phone button presses forming a melody. Also, to be like his favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, he plays the violin. This was confirmed in movie 12 Full Score of Fear when he played "Amazing Grace" for Ran. However, he is stumped on what Ran meant when she said, "He has a funny habit when he plays."

Language

Shinichi is well-educated in English, as he once conversed with and translated for an American diplomat, and later solved a case in London without evidence of any language barrier. Shinichi also knows some German, at least how to count. Shinichi is not familiar with Italian. Shinichi seems to understand "Girl Writing", due to the fact that he had solved an e-mail cipher of a 2nd year high school girl quickly.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Conan Edogawa	Shinichi-niichan	Conan-kun Kid in the Glasses Me (ore) (secret)
	Ran Mouri	Shinichi Shinichi-kun (childhood) Deduction freak Kinichi-kun (one episode) Mystery Geek Deduction Nut Prince of Fools Detective Maniac Kudo-kun Shinichi-chan (once)	Ran Mouri (-san) (twice during the original Kaitou Kid flashback)
	Kogoro Mouri	Kudo Shinichi Detective Boy (Tantei-bōzu)	Kogoro-san Uncle (Ojisan or Otchan)

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Ayumi Yoshida	Shinichi-oniisan	Ayumi Ayumi-chan
	Genta Kojima	Shinichi-oniichan	Genta
	Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya	Shinichi-san	Mitsuhiko
	Ai Haibara	Kudo-kun	Haibara
	Hiroshi Agasa	Shinichi-kun Shinichi	Professor Agasa (Agasa-hakase) Professor (Hakase)

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Yukiko Kudo	Shin-chan Shinichi	Mom (Kāsan)
	Yusaku Kudo	Shinichi	Dad (Tōsan)
	Heiji Hattori	Kudo	Hattori
	Kazuha Toyama	Kudo-kun	Kazuha (also seen in Conan's thoughts)
	Sonoko Suzuki	Shinichi-kun Kudo-kun (sometimes when talking directly to him as seen in the 8th movie)	Sonoko
	Eri Kisaki	Shinichi-kun	Kisaki-san
	Masumi Sera	Kudo-kun Shinichi-kun Kudo Shinichi-kun	Sera Masumi (movie introduction)

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Gin	Kudo Shinichi Detective That dead brat	Gin
	Vodka	Brat	Vodka
	Vermouth	Silver Bullet Cool Guy	Vermouth
	Rum	Rum	-

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Juzo Megure	Kudo-kun Shinichi-kun	Inspector Megure (Megure-keibu)
	Ginzo Nakamori	Kudo Shinichi	Inspector-san (Keibu-san)
	Kiyonaga Matsumoto	Kudo Shinichi-kun Kudo	-
	Jodie Starling	Kudo Shinichi-kun	Jodie Starling (movie introduction)
	Subaru Okiya	Kudo Shinichi-kun	Okiya Subaru (movie introduction)
	Shuichi Akai	Holmes'Apprentice-kun	Akai Shuichi (movie introduction) Pierrot Pierrot Oni-san
	James Black	-	James Black (movie introduction)
	Andre Camel	-	Andre Camel (movie introduction)
	Hidemi Hondou	-	CIA staff (CIA kyokuin; movie introduction)

Picture	Name	What they call Shinichi	What Shinichi calls them
	Hideo Akagi	-	Akagi Hideo-senshu
	Naoki Uemura	-	Naoki-san Uemura Naoki
	Shizuka Hattori	Kudo Shinichi	-

Plot overview

Because the main plot revolves around the fact that Shinichi has become 'Conan' and is forced into hiding, Shinichi is rarely in the series as himself. However, Conan is frequently shown calling Ran using his voice-changing bow tie to sound like Shinichi and sending/receiving text messages from her with "Shinichi's" phone. In these instances, it can be said that the character of Shinichi, albeit in the body of Conan, is appearing, since these phone conversations and text messages allow Shinichi to be himself, however briefly. The below instances however, are actual appearances of Shinichi as well as flashbacks from before the series began.

Transformations back into Shinichi

Roller Coaster Murder Case (Manga: 001-002, Anime: 001)

Shinichi appears to correct Hattori's deduction

Shinichi starts as himself in the Roller coaster murder case, but by the end he has been transformed into Conan, thus beginning the series' plot. Since then, Conan has temporarily turned back to Shinichi several times.

Great Detective of the West (Manga: 092-095, Anime: 048-049)

Shinichi's next real appearance after shrinking is in Volume 10, when a strange detective from Osaka named Heiji Hattori arrives at Mouri Detective Agency looking for Shinichi in order to determine which of them is the better detective. A strange combination of having a cold and drinking the baijiu that Heiji had brought along allows Conan to briefly grow into Shinichi once again. However, he develops an immunity to the alcohol and cannot replicate the transformation.

The Desperate Revival (Manga: 254-260, Anime: 188-193)

In Volume 26, Conan is able to become Shinichi using an Antidote (prototype) that Ai Haibara synthesized. As himself, he tries to surprise Ran by disguising himself as a character in her play, but is interrupted by a murder case and ends up revealing himself to his entire high school. Heiji Hattori covers for him and Shinichi is able to spend about 48 hours as himself, albeit with a brief collapse about halfway through. He turns back into Conan just as he seems to be about to confess his feelings to Ran.

The Murderer is Shinichi Kudo (Manga: 646-651, Anime: 521-523)

Shinichi's next appearance is not until Volume 62, when, while on a case with Heiji, Conan goes missing and 'Shinichi' seems to appear. The 'Shinichi' is actually someone who had gotten plastic surgery to look like Shinichi Kudo, and is actually trying to blame Shinichi for a murder. The real Shinichi hides in the forest until he can clear his name. Shinichi had been temporarily restored by another of Haibara's prototypes, but this time by accident; Agasa mistakenly gave them to Shinichi thinking they were cold medicine. After the case is solved Shinichi transforms back to Conan, but luckily, Haibara secretly followed him there and gives him another antidote, saving him from revealing his identity to Kogoro, Ran and Kazuha. While driving home from the case, the group is stopped by another murder which Shinichi and Heiji investigate together, despite increasing pangs that warn of his imminent reversion to Conan. After the case is resolved, Ran tries to stop Shinichi from leaving, saying she has something to tell him. Shinichi stops her, saying "According to my deductions, what you have to say and what I have to say are the same thing." Ran seizes his hand while he is transforming back into Conan, and though Haibara knocks her out with Conan's wristwatch, she refuses to let go of his hand. Haibara and Professor Agasa have to cut and re-pin Conan's shirt onto him because Ran is still clutching his hand and he refuses to pull out of her grip.

Holmes' Revelation (Manga: 743-751, Anime: 616-621)

In Volume 71, Conan, Ran, and Kogoro are invited to England by a rich, elite British woman, Diana Kingstone, after Kogoro finds her cat under the table in Café Poirot. However, since 'Conan Edogawa' doesn't have the proper credentials to fly internationally, Ai gives him a prototype pill so that Shinichi and Agasa can fly low-profile to England on the same plane that Ran and Kogoro are flying. Ai provides a second prototype pill for the return journey, but Conan uses it while Ran was pursuing him in London. During that trip, Shinichi answers Ran's hurt feelings over his behavior with the fact that he cares for her and that he likes her; unfortunately, before she could respond or confess in kind, Shinichi has to vanish and becomes Conan again. Luckily for Conan, Shinichi's parents appear because Ai had expected him to use the second pill, and they provide him with an extra antidote to let Conan return to Japan.

Flashback Appearances

Shinichi's first case (Manga: 204-207, Anime: 162)

One year ago, Shinichi solved his first case by himself on a plane flying to Los Angeles.

Golden Apple (Manga: 350 and 351-354, Anime: 286-288)

One year ago, Shinichi, Ran, and his mother went to New York City to see the play "Golden Apple". There, they encountered Sharron Vineyard and Shuichi Akai.

Heiji's Memories (Manga: 518-521, Anime: 490)

During a call to Conan, Heiji talks about a brilliant detective kid he met at a skiing trip during middle school, 3 years ago. That kid was actually Shinichi, who he competed with to solve the mystery.

Challenge from the original Kaitou Kid (Manga: 570-573, Anime: 472-473)

A flashback revealed that 10 years ago, as first-graders, Shinichi and Ran had been given a riddle by the original Kaitou Kid, Toichi Kuroba.

Memories of Light Blue (Manga: 882 and 883-884, Anime: 772-773)

During an aquarium visit with Conan and the Detective Boys, Ran remembers going to the aquarium with Shinichi almost a year ago. After solving a murder case there, it is revealed how Shinichi came to promise Ran their trip to Tropical Land.

Ran GIRL/Shinichi BOY (Manga: 921-924, Anime: 853-854)

13 years ago Ran and Shinichi meet for the first time in pre-school.

Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: 972-TBD, Anime: TBD)

10 years ago Shinichi and Ran encounter the Akai family at the beach.

Non-Canon Plot Overview

Transformations back into Shinichi

Movie 7: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital

In Movie 7, Heiji was injured and Kazuha kidnapped; her abductors threatened to kill her unless Heiji showed up for her. Believing Heiji to be unable to do so, Conan contacted Ai and asked if there was any way for him to briefly become Heiji. Ai gave him medicine to simulate the effects of a cold, then he drank some Baijiu which had changed him in his and Heiji's first manga appearance. Conan became Shinichi for approximately an hour, but according to Ai he was extremely weak and sick for the entire time.

OVA 9: The Stranger from Ten Years Later

In OVA 9, Conan takes another prototype antidote. However, it proves less effective than the prototype he used during the Desperate Revival arc; Conan became Shinichi, but only for a few hours, and remained in a feverish state, unable to wake up until he had reverted back to Conan. During his time unconscious, he had a vivid hallucination that he had grown to age 17 again as Conan and that Ran, aged 27, was about to marry Tomoaki Araide.

Flashback Appearances

Kaitou Kid's Clock Tower Heist (Manga: MK 23-24, Anime: DC 129, MK 06)

The first meeting of Shinichi and the current Kaitou Kid, Kaito Kuroba.

Relationships analysis

Since Shinichi is not featured as prominently as Conan throughout the series, only a few of his relationships with other characters have been substantially explored.

Family & Friends

Shinichi and Ran

Ran Mouri

Ran Mouri is Shinichi's childhood friend and canonical love interest. They have been friends and playmates since kindergarten, though Shinichi's tendency to drag Ran along into minor trouble caused some censure from her mother. Shinichi has liked Ran since at least the first year of middle school, and turned down any other potential love interests as a result, but she has never realized this. Shinichi was similarly oblivious to Ran's regard until Ran confessed to Conan that despite his faults, which she is well aware of, she has liked Shinichi for some time. He is very protective of her, and has been amazed by her various skills and kindness on more than one occasion. Shinichi has since confessed his feelings to Ran in the non-canon 4th movie 'Captured In Her Eyes' (which Ran mistook as his attempt to get her memories back), and made attempts to say something during temporary cures in the manga and anime, but cases always seem to interfere until the cure runs out. Shinichi since then has finally canonically confessed to Ran in the case in London. Ran has yet to verbally return his confession, but Shinichi is confident he now understands how she feels already.

Shinichi Kudo somewhat and somehow confesses his feelings for Ran to her under the Big Ben in London, during the Holmes' Revelation Arc.

Shinichi's initial disappearance troubled Ran to the point of insomnia and nearly going to the police. Since then, Shinichi sometimes calls Ran over the telephone and imitates his normal voice with the voice-changing bowtie so that she doesn't worry about him. He convinces her that he is off solving a very difficult case and will return once the investigation concludes. In reality, he is the brain behind her father's rapid rise to fame as a detective.

Shinichi/Conan is not without sexual fantasies regarding Ran, the most obvious evidence being his nosebleeds or blushing when he sees her in a bathing suit, or when Ran pulled him into an onsen with her. For her part, Ran often blushes when thinking of Shinichi, especially when Sonoko teases her about their relationship. Her attitude towards Conan is one of more open, sisterly affection, such as giving him hugs or holding his hand. Shinichi has some concerns of bodily harm should Ran realize that not only has he been lying to her, but they've shared a bed and taken a bath together.

Shinichi and Ran appear to share a close empathic link due to their strong feelings for each other, making each of them feel the other's worry and agitation in times of extreme danger.

Yusaku and Yukiko Kudo

Yusaku and Yukiko Kudo are both aware that Conan is in fact Shinichi. His parents are even more famous than he is, with Yusaku being a famous mystery novelist and Yukiko being a retired actress who remains partially involved in the industry. They currently live in the United States and travel extensively, having left Shinichi in Japan on his own when he was fourteen. Though he sometimes finds his parents' carefree ways to be annoying, he loves them dearly. Yusaku is also a detective with the same keen eye for details, and similarly to Holmes' brother Mycroft, Yusaku always seems to solve a case one step ahead of his son.

Hiroshi Agasa

Although not related by blood, there is a strong family-like bond between Shinichi and Hiroshi Agasa. Agasa was the first to know about Shinichi's shrunk predicament and was the one to tell him to keep it a secret. Most of the gadgets that Shinichi has were made by Agasa to help Shinichi catch the criminals and solve the cases as Conan. He also knows about Shinichi's romantic relationship with Ran and sometimes teases him about it in front of her (when Shinichi can't do anything about it since he is Conan).

Heiji Hattori

When they first meet, Conan and Heiji seem bound to become lifelong rivals, especially after Kudo beats Heiji in their first case. Even though Heiji discovers Shinichi's secret, he decides to keep quiet (though he often slips up and calls him Kudo in front of others). After Heiji realizes the truth, the two have become best friends, and consult one another on cases, developments concerning the Black Organization, and even their "girlfriends". They have solved many cases together, and Heiji is the person Shinichi turns to for advice or for confirmation regarding a deduction. Heiji has, on several occasions, declared himself to be Shinichi's best friend or brother.

Heiji still maintains some of his original feelings of rivalry, and gets annoyed if anyone claims Shinichi is better (or even equal), and will often go to great lengths to show that the "west" (Osaka) is better than the "east" (Tokyo). Shinichi usually starts off acting like he is disinterested in the frivolous competition, but may then become competitive himself if Heiji starts "winning" or someone bruises his ego. Others, like Ran and Kazuha, see them both as equally skilled detectives.

Sonoko Suzuki

Sonoko and Shinichi have known each other since childhood. Sonoko finds Shinichi's obsession with mysteries annoying and considers him to be an arrogant showoff. That being said, she acknowledges his knowledge and intelligence. Sonoko enjoys teasing him about his relationship with Ran, calling them husband and wife or boyfriend / girlfriend. Shinichi finds her attempts at attracting boys to be rather irritating. Sonoko is one of the few people who calls Shinichi by his first name with kun. Shinichi also calls Sonoko by her first name without including any honorific.

Detective Boys

So far, Shinichi did not canonically meet the detective boys before becoming Conan. In the non-canonical animated special, OVA Magic File 2, four years prior to him becoming Conan, a thirteen-year-old Shinichi came across the Detective Boys, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi, while they were still three years old. He needed their help in confirming a client's alibi. Also, in the first live action drama and the first episode of the anime, the Detective Boys are seen sneaking into Tropical Land for treasure. Ran then says, pointing to the children, "It was like that last time, huh?" to Shinichi.

Ai Haibara

Ai Haibara, a defector from the Black Organization who was shrunk with the same poison as Shinichi, is the third girl that seems to have somewhat romantic feelings for Conan/Shinichi, although she never truly admits it. Indeed, it is a mystery just exactly what she feels for him, whether friendship or otherwise. Some people, such as Conan's mother, have stated that she has feelings for Conan. It could be said that, because of their almost equal level of intelligence as well as similarities in their pasts (i.e. they're both victims of the APTX 4869), she finds it easier to talk to him. She loves to tease him or otherwise insult him, pointing out his weakness.

Law enforcement

Juzo Megure

Inspector Megure has worked together with Shinichi to solve many cases. During Shinichi's first case on the plane, Megure mentions that he has not seen him since he was in his 6th year of Elementary school. Megure seemed irritated that Shinichi was poking his nose into a murder case. Since then, because Shinichi has proven himself solving cases one after the other, Megure has grown to respect Shinichi and his deductive abilities, thanking him for his assistance.

Others

Kaitou Kid

Despite the fact Toichi and Shinichi only met once prior to Toichi's death, it's worth mentioning that Toichi referred to Shinichi as his "older brother" and himself as the "younger brother". This is because Yusaku created and thus was the father of the moniker Kaitou Kid, Toichi's secret identity. Toichi's son and successor, Kaito, has also only crossed paths with Shinichi as Shinichi once, during the Clocktower heist. Kaito thought Shinichi made the heist harder (and thus less boring) in Saguru Hakuba's absence, and Shinichi found Kid's intention of 'stealing' the Clocktower in order to save it from demolition to be fairly admirable. Notably, neither of them saw the other's face.

In their next encounter, however, after Shinichi had become Conan, Kid disguised himself as Ran in order to steal the Suzuki Black Star pearl. When Conan cornered him on the Suzuki cruise ship, Kid suggested that he'd stolen all of Ran's clothes to impersonate her, and left her naked on the deck. While this ended up being a bluff, Conan was shocked and infuriated. In subsequent encounters between Kid and Conan, Conan displays a much more intense desire to capture Kid. In several instances he appears to be able to 'sense' Kid's presence; knowing Kid is close by often causes Conan to behave far more frenetically. However, in several instances, beginning with the "Big Adventure in the Eccentric Residence" case, when Kid does Conan/Shinichi a favor, such as saving Genta's life in the aforementioned case, Conan reciprocates by halting his investigation just shy of capturing Kid, thereby allowing him to escape unhindered.

People who know Conan's real identity

There are only a few characters in the series who know Conan's real identity and none have betrayed Conan's identity to date. The main characters to know the secret are Hiroshi Agasa, Conan's parents, Heiji Hattori and Ai Haibara. Vermouth also knows, but she has kept it a secret from the rest of the Organization to protect Shinichi because he had saved her life in New York. Eisuke Hondou, the younger brother of C.I.A. agent Hidemi Hondou, also knows and keeps Conan's secret. Kaitou Kid also knows Conan's identity in the movies, though it is not clear whether he knows Conan's secret in the actual anime and manga. However, Kid seems to know there is something unusual about Conan, as whenever he tries to publicly steal he usually reveals that he only wants to compete with Conan as thief and detective. Ran gets suspicious on occasion, but so far Conan has managed to trick her into thinking Conan and Shinichi are two different people. Finally, Subaru Okiya has seen Conan use Shinichi's voice with his bowtie voice modifier. Since Subaru Okiya is actually Shuichi Akai in disguise, this means that Akai knows about it as well.

Character popularity

• In a Newtype poll from 2001, Shinichi ranked fourth in the category "Top 10 Most Popular Male Anime Characters in Japan." In a Newtype Magazine poll from March 2010, Shinichi was voted as the ninth most popular male anime character from the 1990's.

• In the survey "Friendship" developed by rankingjapan.com in which people had to choose what anime character they would like to have as a friend, Shinichi ranked third.

• eBookJapan held a character popularity poll from April 12, 2011 to May 12, 2011 in which readers of Detective Conan (international included) could vote for their favorite character. Shinichi placed 2nd in the poll with 1,425 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.

• Shinichi placed 1st in the results of a poll ranking the top 3 "ikemen" ("good-looking men") of the series aired during the promotional special for The Lost Ship in the Sky.

• In honor of the release of the 15th movie, Quarter of Silence, the official Conan movie website held a popularity poll for the top 10 Detective Conan characters. Shinichi/Conan placed 1st out of 10 with 30.46% of the votes cast.

• In honor of the release of the 800th manga chapter, Shonen Sunday held a popularity poll/contest containing 91 Detective Conan characters to choose from. Shinichi placed 4th overall with 1,443 votes.

Name origin

Shinichi's given name is a pun on "one truth". The "ichi" (一) means "one" and "shin" can be read as truth (真), however the kanji actually used for "shin" (新) in Shinichi's name means "new". Shinichi's family name "Kudo" comes from the fictional detective Shunsaku Kudo created by Nobumitsu Kodaka. The ON-readings of the kanji for "Kudo" mean "craft" or "construction" (工) and "wisteria" (藤). "Shinichi" may also have come from "Shinichi Suzuki", a famous violinist. Shinichi Kudo plays violin.

Character inspiration

Shinichi's design was based off of Conan's. Gosho said Shinichi's hairstyle was designed in about one minute. He smoothed Yaiba's hair and added a tuft modeled after the apostrophe hairstyle of Kabu from Sally the Witch. The tuft on hair on the top of Shinichi's head comes from the character Shichimi in Niji Iro Tōgarashi. Shinichi's speech habits were meant to be slightly rough like Joe from Ashita no Joe and Touch.

Different looks

Shinichi's "Before" Manga Appearance Volume 1.

Shinichi's "After" Manga Appearance Volume 84.

Shinichi's "Before" Appearance (Episode 1; Movies introduction: 1-7)

Shinichi's "Middle" Appearance (Episode 192)

Shinichi's "After" Appearance (Movie introduction: Movies 8-15)

Shinichi's Appearance in Magic Kaito 1412 (Episode 6)

Quotes

General

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

—Shinichi, quoting Sherlock Holmes from The Sign of the Four, ch. 6

In detective work, there's no winning or losing...there's no being superior or inferior...That's because...there is always one and only one truth.

—Episode 49, talking to Heiji

One truth prevails!

—One of Shinichi's catchphrases.

The only ones who can miss a kick draw are those who have the courage to kick it.

Zero is where everything starts! Nothing would ever be born if we didn't depart from there...And nothing would ever be achieved!

—Episode 621

A trick is nothing but a puzzle mankind came up with. If you use your head, you can uncover the logical answer.

—Episode 191, talking to Heiji

It's always the little things, that we overlook, that are the most important.

The strong one doesn’t win. The one who wins is strong.

Specific

You're a troublesome case, you know! With these unnecessary emotions entering me like crazy... Even if I were Holmes it is impossible to solve! The heart of the girl whom one likes... How can one read such personality! (お前は厄介な難事件なんだよ！余計な感情が入りまくって、例え俺がホームズでも解くのは無理だろうぜ！好きな女の心を…正確に読み取るなんてことはな！！) (Omē wa yakkaina nan jiken'na nda yo! Yokeina kanjō ga hairi makutte, tatoe ore ga hōmuzu demo toku no wa muridaro ̄ ze! Sukina on'na no kokoro o...Sei kaku ni yomitoru nante koto wa na!!)

—Shinichi confessing to Ran in London., Episode 621

Serial killer: Why did you save me?

Shinichi: Is a reason necessary? I don't know why you would kill someone, but as for saving someone...A logical mind isn't needed, right?

—After rescuing the serial killer, NY Case., Episode 288

A detective who corners a culprit with their reasoning...and drives them to suicide in front of himself is no different than a murderer.

—Conan/Shinichi Telling Heiji why letting the criminal commit suicide is wrong., Episode 78

Because I love you. I love you. In this world, more than anyone else.

—Conan/Shinichi to Ran in Movie 4, Captured in Her Eyes, replying Ran on why he keeps protecting her.

Quotes about Shinichi

You're gonna be a great detective.

—Akimoto to Shinichi.

Trivia

• Shinichi has been mentioned and parodied in many other anime series. See this wiki page for more information.
• He was used as a character to promote people to follow the law in Japan, due to the popularity of the series.
• Shinichi seems to have plane narcolepsy, as mentioned in Episode 162 and Chapter 204. This shows up when he is Conan as well.
• Shinichi, along with Heiji Hattori, Kaito Kuroba and Saguru Hakuba, are sometimes referred to as 'The Four Geniuses' or 'The Gosho Boys' by fans.

In other languages

Language	Given Name	Family Name
Japanese	新一 Shin’ichi	工藤 Kudō
Arabic	سينشي Sēnshi	كودو Kōdo
Bahasa Indonesia	Shinichi	Kudo
Catalan	Shinichi	Kudo
Chinese	新一 Xīnyī	工藤 Gōngténg
Danish	Shinichi	Kudo
English	Jimmy	Kudo
Finnish	Shinichi	Kudo
Filipino	Shinichi	Kudo
French	Shinichi	Kudo
German	Shinichi	Kudo
Italian	Shinichi	Kudo
Korean	도일 Doyle	남 Nam
Malay	Shinichi	Kudo
Mongolian	Шиничи	Күдо
Russian	Синьити	Кудо
Spanish	Shinichi	Kudo
Spanish Latin America	Bobby (anime dub, 1-123) Shinichi (anime dub, 124+)	Jackson (anime dub, 1-123) Kudo (anime dub, 124+)
Swedish	Shinichi	Kudo
Thai	ชินอิจิ Chi-nxi-ci	คุโด้ Khu-dô
Traditional Chinese	新一 Xīnyī	工藤 Gōngténg
Vietnamese	Shinichi	Kudo

Gallery

• 

  Baby Shinichi. Ten Planets OVA.

• 

  Shinichi and Ran before grade school

• Vlcsnap-2013-11-06-19h00m20s6.png

  Shinichi's body begins to shrink again

See also

• Characters
• Conan Edogawa
• Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri
• Shinichi Kudo Appearances
• Kudo family