Shinichi Kudo
| Shinichi Kudo | |
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| Japanese name: | 工藤 新一 (Kudou Shin'ichi) |
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| English name: | Jimmy Kudo |
| Age: | 16-17, 6-7 as Conan |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | May 4th |
| Relatives: | Yusaku Kudo (father) Yukiko Kudo (mother) |
| Nicknames: | Detective Geek Detective of the East The savior of the police force Cool Guy (Jodie Starling) Silver Bullet (Vermouth) The Heisei Holmes |
| First appearance: | Manga: Chapter 1 Anime: Episode 1 |
| Appearances: | TV: 570+ Movies: 14 Specials: 12 Openings: 28 |
| Cases solved: | 583 (One episode solved by Ran) |
| Keyhole number: | Volume 1 |
| Japanese voice: | Kappei Yamaguchi Minami Takayama (young) |
| English voice: | Jerry Jewell |
| Drama actor: | Shun Oguri |
Shinichi Kudo (工藤 新一 Kudou Shin'ichi) is the protagonist of the manga and anime. Viz romanized his original name as Shin'ichi Kudo while Shogakukan's website romanizes it as Shinichi Kudoh. Shinichi Kudo was a well known High School Detective who helped solve cases which the police could not. One day, he investigates a suspicious man. Later he is attacked and forced to swallow a poison called APTX 4869 which turns him back into a child. Now he lives with his childhood friend Ran Mouri and helps her father Kogoro Mouri solve cases hoping that they will run into a case involving those strange men, part of the Black Organization, who forced him to drink the poison. He takes on the alias Conan Edogawa to keep his real identity secret from everyone (besides a select few) to protect his loved ones, particularly Ran.
Contents
Background
At the beginning of the series, Shinichi brings his friend Ran to a local theme park called "Tropical Land", to celebrate her victory in the Metropolitan Karate Championships. He later ends up solving a murder case there.[1] As they are leaving, Shinichi heads off alone to follow a suspicious man in black, Vodka, who was a suspect in the earlier murder. Shinichi witnesses a blackmail exchange between Vodka and a company president in a secluded area just outside the park, but is too engrossed to notice Gin, Vodka's partner, sneak up from behind. Gin knocks him out and forces him to swallow a new experimental poison known as APTX 4869, and they then leave him to die. However, instead of killing Shinichi, a rare side-effect occurs: his body shrinks into that of his six year-old self.[2] After escaping from well-meaning but skeptical park security, with nowhere else to go Shinichi heads home. He there runs into his next door neighbor and close family friend, Dr. Hiroshi Agasa, who 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.[3]
Conan Edogawa
Shinichi comes up with the alias Conan Edogawa from Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo and pretends to be a distant relative of Agasa's, who places Conan in Ran's care.[3] Ran's father Kogoro Mouri owns a Detective Agency, which may allow Conan to run into a case involving the Black Organization. In the meantime, to protect his identity he is forced to play the part of a first-grader, including enrolling as a student at Teitan Elementary. Three classmates befriend him and pull him into creating the Detective Boys,[4] after which he tries to keep them out of trouble between using Kogoro as a mouthpiece to solve crimes and searching for how to get his old life back.
Personality
At the beginning of the series, Shinichi is a 16-year old[2][5] student at Teitan High School. He is already well-known as a brilliant young detective who has solved many difficult cases that the professionals could not and, therefore, is known as the "Savior of the police force".[1] Shinichi was born to Yusaku Kudo, a mystery writer, and Yukiko Kudo, a former movie star.[6] 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.[7] Yusaku started taking Shinichi to crime scenes since sixth grade which inspired him to be a detective.[8] Besides his intelligence, Shinichi is an extremely skilled soccer player. At first, it was to hone his reflexes but he grew fond of the sport.[1] Shinichi is also known for his inability to sing, but was revealed to have perfect pitch. [9] He is also a skilled violinist in Movie 12, taking after his idol, Sherlock Holmes. He 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.[10][11]
Due to his genius and often blunt, informal approach, Shinichi can be rude and arrogant. However, he cares deeply about human life, unable to understand how any reason could be sufficient motive for murder,[12] and is convinced that driving a culprit to suicide is no better than murder itself. [13] He enjoys being in the spotlight, reveling in making local headlines and receiving fan-mail, and has a flair for the dramatic like his mother that can be seen every time he sets out a deduction in pieces building to a climax. Yet despite his popularity with the masses and his schoolmates, he has very few close friends — Ran, Agasa, Heiji, Ai, and to some extent the other Detective Boys (and if you're really reaching, Kaitou Kid).
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.
Ran Mouri
Ran Mouri is Shinichi's childhood friend and canonical love interest. They have been friends and playmates since kindergarten[7][14], 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.[15] 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.[16] 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'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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]
Ai Haibara
Ai Haibara 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 and Gin, 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.
His parents
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. 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.
Professor Agasa
Although not related by blood, there's a strong family-like bond between Shinichi and Hiroshi Agasa. Dr Agasa was the first to know about Shinichi's real identity and was the one to tell him to keep it a secret. Most of the gadgets that Shinichi has where made by Dr Agasa to help him catch the criminals and solve the cases. Dr Agasa also knows about Shinichi's romantic relationship with Ran and sometimes teases him about it in front of her (when he can't do anything about it since he is Conan).
Heiji Hattori
Heiji is often referred to as Shinichi's detective rival from the West. Even though Heiji discovers Shinichi's secret, he decides to keep quiet (though sometimes he slips up and calls him Kudo in front of others). After Heiji realizes the truth they become close friends with a common interest in solving mysteries. They have solved many cases together, and Heiji is the person Shinichi turns to for advice or for confirmation regarding a deduction.
Kaitou Kid
Despite the fact Toichi and Shinichi only met once prior to Toichi's death, it's worth mentioning Toichi referred to Shinichi as his "older brother" and himself as the "younger brother". This is because of Yusaku, Shinichi's father, being the father of the name of 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.
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. Sharon Vineyard also knows, but for unknown reasons she has kept it a secret from the rest of the Organization. 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.
Name origin
In Japanese etymology, the name Shinichi means "one truth", which Shinichi occasionally uses as a motto.[20]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Episode 1: Roller Coaster Murder Case.
- ^ a b Aoyama, Gosho (1994-07-15). "File 2" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 59. ISBN 978-4091233714.
- ^ a b Episode 2: Company President's Daughter Kidnapping Case.
- ^ Episode 4: The Coded Map of the City Case
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-07-15). "File 1" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 5. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 12. ISBN 978-4091250452.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2005-05-05). "File 10" (in English). Case Closed. 5. San Francisco: Viz Media. p. 163. ISBN 1-59116-633-0.
- ^ a b Files 5-8, Detective Conan volume 55
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2008-01-15). "File 5" (in English). Case Closed. 21. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 74, 78. ISBN 1-4215-1456-7.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2007-01-16). "File 4" (in English). Case Closed. 15. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0445-6.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2008-01-15). "File 5" (in English). Case Closed. 21. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1456-7.
- ^ Files 743-752, Detective Conan.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (200-02-18). "File 5" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 26. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 71. ISBN 4-09-125496-9.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-08-09). "File 3" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 16. Tokyo: Shogakukan. ISBN 4-09-125046-7.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2006-05-16). "File 7" (in English). Case Closed. 11. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0441-4.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1998-01-17). "File 5" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 18. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 92. ISBN 4-09-125048-3.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1994-07-15). "File 2" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 64. ISBN 978-4091233714.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2004-09-07). "File 10" (in English). Case Closed. 1. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 180–182. ISBN 1-59116-327-7.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2006-01-10). "File 4" (in English). Case Closed. 9. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0166-X.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-03-18). "File 4" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 14. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 60,67. ISBN 4-09-125044-0.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1996-18-01). "File 3" (in English). Case Closed. 10. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0316-6.
