Art Museum Owner Murder Case

Chronology
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Episode 8 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}})
Information
Title:	Art Museum Owner Murder Case
Japanese title:	美術館オーナー殺人事件 (Bijutsukan Ōnā Satsujin Jiken)
Original airdate:	February 26, 1996
Season:	1
Manga source:	Volume 4: Files 1-3 (030-032)
English version
English title:	The Art Museum Murder Case
Dubbed episode:	Episode 8
English airdate:	June 3, 2004
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Inspector Megure Detective Boys
Case solved by:	Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri
Next Conan's Hint:	Disposable camera
Staff
Director:	Kenji Kodama
Screenplay:	Kazunari Kouchi
Storyboard:	Ryo Yasumura
Episode director:	Keitaro Motonaga
Animation director:	Satoshi Ishino
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri Chafurin as Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi as Genta Kojima, Next Conan's Hint Ikue Otani as Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Yukiko Iwai as Ayumi Yoshida Tamio Oki as Ochiai Yuji Fujishiro as Kubota Kazuya Ichijo as Iijima Hajime Koseki as Manaka Isshin Chiba as Guard A Takumi Yamazaki as Guard B
Music
Opening song:	Mune ga Dokidoki
Closing song:	STEP BY STEP

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Inspector Megure Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima

Case

Situation

Two security guards at the Beika Art Museum see a medieval suit of armor moving on its own. Ran hears the rumor and wants to visit the museum; when Conan and Kogoro mock her for believing it might be true, she forces them to come along for fear of her karate skills. While admiring a painting, Ran meets Ochiai, the curator of the museum, who explains his love for the art and then berates a museum worker named Kubota for not handling a painting properly. Another worker, Iijima, takes over the job before they are interrupted by the museum's new owner, Manaka, arriving with an architect. The museum will be demolished soon to make a casino, despite the sale having hinged on the promise to keep the museum open. After Kubota accidentally drops a helmet, Manaka mentions his plans to sell all the museum pieces, which frustrates Kubota enough to throw it down after, but Conan notices that Ochiai doesn't lecture Kubota this time. Conan, Kogoro and Ran visit the rest of the museum. As they are about to leave, Ran notices a previously closed gallery has reopened and convinces the other two to come along. In the "Hell Gallery" they first see a large painting of a knight having stabbed a demon in the name of justice. Ran then hears a dripping sound and turns to find that Manaka has been pinned to the opposite wall by a sword through the throat.

Murder
	Location: Beika Art Museum Victim: Manaka Cause of death: Stab wound Suspects: Art Museum staff especially Kubota Manaka, the new owner of the Beika Art Museum, is found dead in one of the exhibit rooms. The murder scene is a tableau of Divine Punishment, a painting depicting a righteous knight who battled the devil and imprisoned it.

Inspector Megure arrives to investigate, and he, Kogoro, and Conan check the surveillance cameras to see if the culprit was recorded. However, the murderer had been lying in wait in the guise of a knight's suit of armor.

The surveillance camera caught all of Manaka's brutal murder, multiple stabbings ending with him pinned to the wall and the knight walking away, towards the camera — exactly like, Kogoro and Conan realize, the painting in the gallery. Because the gallery was blocked off at 4 p.m. but re-opened by 5 p.m., and the video timestamps set the murder at about 4:30 p.m., Inspector Megure deduces that the murderer must be a museum worker. Conan also notices that Manaka tried to write something on a piece of paper between the first attack and his death; while he threw the pen away, the paper remains crumpled in his hand, and names Kubota as the killer. Kubota has no alibi as Ochiai had him doing a task in the office, where he was alone. He has motive because, as Iijima reveals, the owner wanted Kubota to repay the money he'd made selling pieces off secretly.

Conan finds a pen on the ground, which anyone in the museum could have forgotten on the table. It matches the video image and has ink, so Inspector Megure concludes that it was the pen Manaka used. Kubota is detained as they wait for the suit of armor to be found. Conan is unsatisfied with Kubota's apparent carelessness and why he would mirror a painting when he has no great love for art. He's also not sure if he's really the suspect. When Conan went back to the surveillance camera room, he lies the police officers that Inspector Megure needs help. When the police officers went out, he has now the chance to watch the surveillance footage one more time. He notices that Manaka looks shocked when he sees the paper he writes on, and realizes that the pen Conan found had its point retracted, when there wouldn't have been reason or time for Manaka to retract it before throwing it away. Conan tricks his way into re-examining the dying message, and finds inkless scribbles over the original writing. The police find the armor in Kubota's locker, but Conan has figured out the truth and knows the murderer's trick.

People

Ochiai
	Beika Art Museum curator

Kubota
	Beika Art Museum staff

Iijima
	Beika Art Museum staff

Manaka
	Victim (stabbed) Beika Art Museum owner

Resolution

• Evidence
  • The security camera recorded Manaka as he seemingly waited for someone. Suddenly, with agility and precision, the relic knight behind him struck him with its sword. While it prepared to strike again, the owner barely managed to grab a painting tag, write something down and throw the pen away. The knight slashed and a final thrust ended his life.
  • Inspectors Megure and Kogoro found a museum staff's name, Kubota, written in the crumpled paper in Manaka's hand.
  • Conan also found the pen on the floor;
  • The bloodied suit of armor was discovered in Kubota's locker.
  • Conan noticed that the pen had its point retracted, the crumpled paper had inkless pen marks on it, and that the artwork tags were in the room, but the pieces weren't. Certainly, Kubota, who didn't seem to have a penchant for the arts, wouldn't have thought to protect those from being damaged.

• Conclusion

Manaka was scheduled to have a meeting with Ochiai, the art museum director. Little did the owner know that the director already staged his death. Ochiai dressed himself with the suit of armor, strategically placed the tag with Kubota's name written on it and the pen with which Manaka apparently used to write the note, then murdered Manaka medieval style.

But the little eye of justice had tricks of his own. Conan pulled an "innocent" act of wanting the directions to the toilet be written by Ochiai. And before the director knew it, he drew the inkless pen from his pocket.

• Motive

In the hopes of getting the art museum to stay opened, the previous owner who got bankrupt sold the museum to Manaka. Manaka, however, was consumed by his own greed and planned to convert the building into a casino.

Ochiai was not going to let it happen as he considered the artworks as his own. He killed Manaka to prevent the inevitable.

And as for Kubota, Ochiai thought it just right to punish the person who had been selling art relics and pieces secretly.

Manga to anime changes

• At the end of the case in the manga version, Kogoro Mouri is shown reading a newspaper article about himself because he helped the police solve the murder of the museum's owner. This marks the first claim to fame of Kogoro. In the anime version, this is replaced with a scene of the Detective Boys discussing about the aftermath of the museum, and their plan of investigating a case about a "moving skeleton" at night.

Dub changes

• The names of the characters in the Funimation Dub are:

• Ochiai - Mr. O'Donnell
• Iijima - Isaac

• While Manaka and Kubota retain their names in the English Dub, they are named Morrison and Kowalski respectively in the ending credits.

See also

• Season 1