Ai Haibara
| Ai Haibara | |
| Japanese name: | 灰原 哀 |
|---|---|
| English name: | Vi Graythorn (movies) Anita Hailey (manga) |
| Age: | 18 (originally) 7 or 8 (as Ai Haibara) |
| Gender: | Female |
| Date of birth: | Unknown |
| Relatives: | Akemi Miyano (sister, deceased) Elena Miyano (mother, deceased) Atsushi Miyano (father, deceased) |
| Nicknames: | Haibara (by Conan) Ai-chan (by Ayumi) Ai-kun (by Professor Agasa) |
| Aliases: | Shiho Miyano (real name) Sherry |
| First appearance: | Manga: Chapter 16 (In a silhouette) / Chapter 176 (1st full appearance) Anime: Episode 129 |
| Appearances: | Chapters: 401 Episodes: 381 Movies: 26 OVAs: 12 Specials: 3 Episodes: 1 Openings: 50 Closings: 13 |
| Keyhole number: | Volume 18 |
| Japanese voice: | Megumi Hayashibara |
| Drama actor: | Kyoka Shibata (Ai) Yu Kashii (Sherry) |
Ai Haibara (灰原 哀 Haibara Ai), real name Shiho Miyano (宮野 志保 Miyano Shiho), is the inventor of the APTX 4869 poison that shrunk Shinichi Kudo into Conan Edogawa, and a victim of the poison herself. Formerly Sherry (シェリー ) of the Black Organization, she is on the run from them and lives with Professor Agasa. She is also one of few characters who knows Shinichi is Conan.
Contents
Background
Shiho Miyano and her older sister, Akemi, were born into the secret crime syndicate "The Black Organization". Of course, while Akemi lived a normal life, Ai was sent to America as a small child to go to school and was groomed to finish her parents research [1]. She was born to an English mother, Elena Miyano, and a Japanese father, Atsushi Miyano. Both of whom were members of the organization, and deceased. A prodigy, she was sent to the United States for education at a very young age, then later came back to Japan to finish her parents' secret project for the organization. Her nickname in the Organization is "Sherry", after the alcoholic drink.
Shiho was about 18 years old when she developed the experimental test compound for APTX 4869. She discovered that it could be used as a poison to kill without leaving any traces of itself in a body. In the manga, while researching its effects, Shiho noticed that a rare few of her lab mice had become younger after being given the drug instead of dying.
Meanwhile, the Black Organization started using APTX 4869 to commit untraceable murders. Unaware of the drug's rare side effect when they used it on Shinichi Kudo, the Organization orders a search for him because his body had not been found. Shiho searched Shinichi's house twice after he had been shrunk to confirm his death for the Black Organization. She began to suspect Shinichi's transformation after she searched his house for a second time and found that his clothes from primary school were missing. Shiho then confirmed him as deceased so the organization would not look into the matter further and kill him after all.
Her unhappiness over the Black Organization's usage of the APTX 4869 (for killing purposes), in addition to her open questioning over the murder of her sister, Akemi Miyano, resulted in her imprisonment and scheduled execution by the Black Organization. With no other way out, she took a pill of APTX 4869 to commit suicide.
Like Shinichi, she is one of the only two known rare cases who didn't die after taking the drug; but instead shrunk into a seven or eight year old girl. In her new smaller body, she escaped from the Black Organization and attempted to reach Shinichi's house, hoping he may be able to help her. Exhausted, she collapsed in front of Professor Agasa's house, who then found and adopted her.[2]
Ai Haibara
To prevent the knowledge of her transfiguration from being discovered, she and Hiroshi Agasa created her alias Ai Haibara (known as Anita Hailey - recently Vi Graythorn - in the English dub). As Ai Haibara, she attends Teitan Elementary School with Shinichi Kudo's shrunken form, Conan Edogawa. Following her first adventure with the Detective Boys in which they investigated the disappearance of a schoolmate's brother, she revealed her true identity to Conan and the fact that she had developed the APTX 4869.[3] At first stunned, then outraged, Conan protested her presence[4], but as time went by, he accepted Ai as a friend and fellow victim, though her cynicism and secretive air still rail him at times.
Eventually, Ai joined the ranks of the Detective Boys, and although she does not think too highly of her mates' immature antics, she has come to value them all as close friends.
Personality
Shiho has a sang-froid, mistrustful, sarcastic and cold attitude and often reminds others about the darker side of reality and human nature. As Ai Haibara she acts older than she is supposed to be, which the Shounen Tantei refer to her as "cool". But despite her jaded demeanor, she has shown to be kind and caring at occasion. She's a bit quiet, though this may be due to her caution to keep herself hidden from the Black Organization. She is sometimes cold and very analytical, but there are times where she softens her demeanor and reveals herself to be a true friend. In fact, she considers Conan and the Detective Boys as the first real friends she has ever had in her life.
Shiho is generally a loner and misses her older sister, Akemi, greatly (as witnessed in Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven where she would call her sister's old apartment just to hear her voice on the voicemail). Her greatest fear is being caught by the BO, and she is especially terrified of Gin. Smart, stubborn, and with a somewhat twisted sense of humor, she tries to keep Conan from doing reckless things that may give away their identity, though often she is surprised by his actions that usually result in his gaining the information he needs while also keeping their identities secret.
Taste for fashion
Ai seems to have some interest in fashion, as she has made repeated requests for a certain type of purse when asked to do something. In one of the cases for instance, in order to expose the identity of the person who hid the phone cables to cut off communications with the outside world, she was asked by Conan to fake an unbearable appendix pain, which she agreed to after jokingly requesting for a Sai Brand's wallet for her cooperation. She then started rolling on the floor and screaming for help. The culprit felt like he had no choice but to reveal the cable from his pockets and reconnect the phone to ask for an ambulance.[5]
Relationship analysis
Conan Edogawa
Ai Haibara seems to have somewhat romantic feelings for Conan/Shinichi, although she never truly admits to it. In the fourth movie, she says to Conan that she wished she could forget her memories about the Black Organization and the death of her sister and the pill, claiming that all she wants to be was a normal little girl and live together with Conan forever. But then as Conan was shocked by the words, Ai immediately said she was lying. Indeed, it is a mystery just exactly what she feels for him, whether friend or otherwise. It could be said that, because of their almost equal level of intelligence, she finds it easier to talk to him.
Ran Mouri
There are instances where Haibara will caution Conan from actions that involve Ran, though it's assumed this is due merely to the fact that she wants to keep her identity hidden. At one point, she was very cold and distant towards Ran, just like she was to most other people. Ran believed that it was because that Haibara had hated her.[6] However, later that day, Haibara finally properly introduced herself to Ran, and they slowly became friends. Haibara finds that Ran resembles her older sister, Akemi Miyano, so she takes special interest in protecting her.
These feelings began after Ran jumped through a slew of bullets from Vermouth to save Haibara.[7] Haibara immediately thought of her own sister, and began to treat and look at Ran as a spitting image of Akemi. Haibara also begs for Ran to stay at Agasa's house, during when she had learned that Korn, Chianti, and the rest of the Black Organization were lurking about, immediately thinking of her own sister's death, and wanting to keep Ran safe.[8]
Ayumi Yoshida
Haibara has tried to keep an emotional distance away from the rest of the Detective Boys since the beginning. However, over time, she can't resist their friendliness anymore and gradually warms up to them.
This is especially true in the case of Ayumi. At one time, Ayumi noticed that she called everyone by their first names except for Haibara and decided to try and call her Ai-chan, but without success. At the end of a case which involved a shattered friendship, Haibara told Ayumi that it was ok for her to call her Ai-chan. When Mitsuhiko and Genta tried to call her that, however, she told them that only Ayumi was allowed to call her by her first name.[9] On the whole, Ai seems to see Ayumi as a little sister, even going so far as to physically shield her from danger.[10]
Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya
Mitsuhiko develops heavy romantic feelings for Ai, and Ai is aware of this. Ai uses his feelings to her advantage when she needs him to do something, but she also does admire his courage during missions the Detective Boys must perform and respects his feelings enough as not to be truly exploitative.
Hiroshi Agasa
The relationship between Ai and Professor Agasa is rather unusual, if not humorous. Despite what their actual ages are, Ai often times acts more like a mother to the professor, constantly reminding him to watch what he eats. On several occassions, she has removed fattening foods from his reach[11], and is attempting to help get him into better shape. There's also been instances where she'll automatically step in front of Agasa in cases of danger.[12]
Out of all the people she's met, Ai seems most comfortable about acting herself with the Professor; which might be attributed to the fact that he was the one who found her after she escaped the BO, and took her in.
Name origin
According to Agasa, Ai's name comes from Cordelia Gray (the character 灰 in her name means "ash") and V.I. Warshawski (V.I. upside down = "Ai"). Although Agasa suggested she use the kanji 愛 (love) for "Ai", she preferred to use the kanji 哀 (sorrow).
Her US Manga name, Anita Hailey comes from:
- Anita- Anne Katherine Green (the first American Mystery Writer)
- Hailey- Hero (Though Anita didn't care much for the choice)[13]
References
- ^ File 384-386 Volume 38 File 2-4
- ^ Manga Chapter 179: The Girl Made Of Lies
- ^ Manga Chapter 178: Code Name Sherry
- ^ Manga Chapter 179: The Girl Made Of Lies
- ^ Episode 374-375: A Code of Stars and Tobacco
- ^ Episode 246-247: The Mystery in the Net
- ^ Episode 345: Head-to-Head Match With the Black Organization; Two Mysteries of the Night of the Full Moon
- ^ Episode 425: Black Impact! The Moment the Black Organization Reaches Out!
- ^ Episode 329-330: A Friendship That Can't Be Bought
- ^ Episode 375: A Code of Stars and Tobacco (Part 2)
- ^ Movie 9: Strategy Above the Depths
- ^ Movie 4: Captured in Her Eyes
- ^ Volume 18: File 179
