Conan Edogawa
| Conan Edogawa | |
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| |
| Japanese name: | 江戸川 コナン (Edogawa Konan) |
|---|---|
| English name: | Conan Edogawa |
| Age: | 6-7[1] |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | Unknown[1] |
| Weight: | 18 kg[1] (39 lbs) |
| Date of birth: | May 4th[1] |
| Relatives: | Yusaku Kudo (father) Yukiko Kudo (mother) |
| Nicknames: | Cool Kid (Jodie Starling) Cool Guy (Vermouth) Silver Bullet-kun (Vermouth) Glasses Kid (Sonoko) Holmes' Apprentice (Apollo & Minerva Glass) |
| First appearance: | Manga: Chapter 1 Anime: Episode 1 |
| Appearances: | Chapters: 1114 Chapters: 6 Episodes: 1139 Episodes: 3 Movies: 29 Episodes: 5 OVAs: 18 Specials: 5 Openings: 60 Closings: 68 |
| Cases solved: | 583 (one solved by Ran) |
| Japanese voice: | Minami Takayama |
| English voice: | Alison Viktorin |
| Drama actor: | Nao Fujisaki Minami Takayama (voice) |
Conan Edogawa (江戸川 コナン Edogawa Konan) is the alias used by Shinichi Kudo in his shrunken form. Indeed, he took the appearance of a 7 year old boy after being forced to swallow a poison, a prototype called APTX 4869, by two men in black later revealed to be members of the Black Organization.[2] Besides his changed appearance, the poison did not inflict any other damage and therefore he still has the brain and mind of an adult. He's able to use his gifted powers of deduction to solve cases and eventually close in on the Black Organization in the hope of finding an antidote to the APTX 4869.
Conan is often treated as a separate character from Shinichi by fans, and often viewed as the main character of the series while Shinichi is viewed as a recurring character. He has become a popular figure in Japan and even appeared at numerous occasions in different anime series (i.e. mainly cameo appearances) as well as other medias.
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Personality
- 3 Appearance
- 4 Appellations
- 5 Plot overview
- 6 Relationships analysis
- 7 People who know Conan's real identity
- 8 Gadgets
- 9 Character popularity
- 10 Name origin
- 11 Quotes
- 12 Trivia
- 13 In other languages
- 14 See also
- 15 References
Background
Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo's alter ego. He did not exist prior to the chain of events, involving members of the Black Organization, that led Shinichi to transform back into a child.
The Transformation
At the beginning of the series, Shinichi brings his friend Ran to Tropical Land, a local theme park, to celebrate her victory in the Metropolitan Karate Championships. He later ends up solving a murder case there.[2] As they are leaving, Shinichi witnesses a suspicious exchange between an unknown man and a man in black in a secluded area just outside the park. As he leaves her to investigate, Ran feels like she's seeing Shinichi for the last time (which will happen to have been somewhat of a premonition). While spying on the suspicious men, Shinichi does not notice another man in black, who knocks him out from behind and forces him to swallow a new experimental poison known as APTX 4869. They then leave him to die. However, instead of killing Shinichi, a rare side-effect occurred. It shrinks his body back to that of his six-year-old self.[3] In desperation and confusion, Shinichi heads back to his house and runs into his next door neighbor and close family friend, Dr. Hiroshi Agasa. After a few attempts at proving he's in fact Shinichi, he finally succeeds in convincing the Professor. The latter warns him he must keep his identity secret as the Black Organization will kill him and others associated with him should they learn the truth.[4]
Taking a new identity
Shinichi comes up with the alias Conan Edogawa after Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo and pretends to be a distant relative of Agasa's who places Conan in Ran's care.[4] Ran's father Kogoro Mouri, owns a Detective Agency which may allow him to run into a case involving the Black Organization.
Creation of the Detective Boys
He is enrolled at Teitan Elementary to further protect his identity and makes friends with Ayumi Yoshida, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya, and Genta Kojima, who create the Detective Boys not long after.[5]
Solving cases
As Conan, Shinichi helps Ran's father solve cases by putting him to sleep and simulating Kogoro's voice using the special bowtie gadget Dr. Agasa made for him. By solving cases one after the other, he helps build up Kogoro's reputation who will later on be referred to as "Sleeping Kogoro". He also spends a good amount of time with his Detective Boys fellows and solves many small cases with them and sometimes in the company of Dr. Agasa. In some situations, when there's only Ran, Sonoko and himself, he will target Sonoko instead to solve the case at hand. Because of that, Sonoko eventually becomes another rather well-known "sleeping" detective though it's within a much smaller circle (the investigation team and her friends). In recent files Conan has solved the case as himself then claimed afterwards that 'Shinichi-niichan told him it'.
Personality
As Conan, Shinichi tries to behave like a child. He refers to Ran as "Ran-neechan" (nee-chan meaning older sister, a common nickname Japanese children give to teenagers and young adults they look up to), and refers to Shinichi as "Shinichi-niichan" (nii-chan meaning older brother). He also refers to Kogoro as "Oji-san" or "Occhan" (both meaning Uncle), although he also does this as Shinichi. As Shinichi, he refers to Conan as usually "Conan-kun" or the "Kid in the Glasses". Shinichi treats Conan as a seperate person completely, thinking for example, "changing back into Conan".
Conan remains very close to Ran, who in return is very protective of him. However, because Ran is unaware of his true identity, Conan often finds himself in awkward situations with her, such as when she confessed her feeling for Shinichi to him and when she made him bathe with her at a hot spring. Also, when Conan sees parts of Ran he not supposed to see, he has nosebleeds.
He will often speak in a child-like tone of voice when dealing with adults, but he often gets caught up in the current case and begins speaking like an adult and talk about things most children would be ignorant to. When this happens, he often tries to pass it off as "something [he] heard on TV".
Likewise, he makes no effort to hide his love for Sherlock Holmes and soccer, so if he talks about either subject in too much detail, he tries to escape suspicion by saying it was something Shinichi told him about. Although as the series has progressed the adults around him have become more used to his "being quite smart for a child", causing him to behave more like himself around them, he still tries to pass as a normal child. The only police officers with whom Conan can speak in a professional manner are the FBI, especially Jodie Starling, Shuichi Akai, James Black, and Inspector Kansuke Yamato of the Nagano Police, who all suspect that there is more to Conan than meets the eye.
His intelligence remains intact even though he is shrunk to a child. His intelligence is what it is deemed to be "Sherlock Holmes of 21st Century" His intelligence may even surpass a professional lawyer's level as Conan has disguised as Mouri Kogoro during court cases and help Eri Kisaki.
Conan tends to act more like himself around the Detective Boys, even to the point that they find it odd when he acts like a child around adults. He will often play games like baseball with the Detective Boys, but he is too used to soccer to perform well. He will even try using soccer techniques such as kicking in games that do not call for it. Because he is unfamiliar with popular games and TV shows, Genta and the others tend to think of him as dumb. This annoys Conan so much that he will secretly watch TV in the living room after Kogoro and Ran go to sleep to get more "practice" in.
It can be noted that Conan shows flexibility as the anime progresses. This is also mentioned in a non-canonical mention in Movie 13, when Ai remarks "Only Edogawa-kun and monkeys can climb a tree like that", and several other scenes.
Appearance
Conan has Dark Brown hair which mostly hangs downwards just above his blue eyes, but there are also a few strands that stick up at the front and back of his head. Conan's usual outfit consists of a blue suit jacket with a single button and a pair of shorts, even though he has taken to wearing more casual clothing as time goes on. He also wears a red bowtie and his dad's old glasses. Both these items were later specifically modified by Dr. Agasa to include a voice changer, microphone and homing device, to aid in Conan in his cases. His red runners have also been modified to harness electric and magnetic fields to stimulate pressure points on Conan's foot, greatly enhancing his kicking power.
Appellations
Although most people will call Conan by his name suffixed with -kun, or simply kid, a lot of the characters have different ways of calling him due to the special relationships they share. The following is a list of the different appellations for Conan (and the ones Conan gives in return) encountered in the series.
Plot overview
Initial pursuit
After Shinichi becomes Conan, he sets out to find the men in black almost immediately. At the suggestion of Agasa, he moves in with Ran and Kogoro, hoping that cases related to them come by. Pretty soon, a case involving a woman name Akemi Miyano (using the alias Masami Hirota) appears. Akemi robs a bank for the men in black in the hopes that they will free her sister from their organization. Conan is unable to realize the case's connection to the organization until after the men in black have shot Akemi and left her for dead for trying to double cross them. In her dying moments, Akemi warns Conan of the danger of the organization.[6]
Conan runs across the men in black again on a bullet train, this time learning their codenames: Gin and Vodka.
At a game convention, Conan meets a third man in black named Tequila, only to have him killed in an explosion meant for someone else.
Introduction of Ai Haibara
As the story progresses, Conan later befriends biochemist Ai Haibara. Ai Haibara grew up within the Black Organization and is a former member of it along with her sister.[7]
She is the creator of the APTX 4869 drug but took the drug in order to escape from the Black Organization. Conan has run into the Black Organization multiple times, but he fails in tracking them due to Gin's cleverness.
Meeting with the Organization
After Vermouth
The Phone Number of 'That Person'
After solving a case in a rich household, the culprit tells the phone number for the Leader of the Black Organization is the tune to the song of "Seven Children"
Returning Back To Shinichi
The First Comeback
Throughout the series Conan has returned back to normal. First he temporary returns to normal after drinking alcohol while infected with a cold.[8] He quickly turns back into Conan after solving the case. The next time was after taking the prototype antidote for APTX 4869.
Antidote Prototype
Ai has invented an antidote, just a prototype, for the APTX 4896 during later parts in the manga and anime, and Conan first used it in Volume 26 to conceal his identity, preventing Ran from suspecting he is Shinichi any further. Ai disguised as Conan and appeared in front of the reverted Shinichi, cancelling out all of Ran's suspicions.[9][10]
The antidote prototype was again taken, this time accidentally in place of cough syrup. It wore off 24 hours later, with Ai giving him another one to protect his identity. This time it wore off in a shortened 4 hours, once again interrupting the process of confession of feelings to Ran.[11]
During the Holmes' Revelation arc in London, Conan took an antidote so he can go overseas, because "Conan Edogawa" does not exist in real life, and has no passport. Soon in London, Ran deduces much quickly that Shinichi is in London too. She asks some Londoners about a Japanese boy, and they give her directions, without specifying it was actually a 7-year-old they saw. In a phone booth, Conan takes the pill originally meant for his return trip to Tokyo in order to conceal his identity from Ran. During this time, he manages to confess his feelings to her. Luckily for Conan, Ai asks Yusaku and Yukiko Kudo, his parents, to go to London and give him a 3rd pill, as she guessed he would have used his spare one for Ran.[12][13][14]
As much depicted in all the different times Conan actually uses the antidote, the effects last 24 hours, and a second pill will last for a much shorter duration, due to the fact that his immune system has registered the pill and will defend against it, thus allowing the pill to lose some of its effects. Since these 24-hour time limit and shortened time limit are always depicted in the times he uses the antidote, it much assumed that as long as Conan takes two or three only occasionally, the antidote will have the same effects.
Relationships analysis
Family & Friends
Ran Mouri
Conan and Ran share a brother/sister kind of relationship. He calls her Ran-neechan. Although Conan has yet to reveal his real identity to Ran, they do have a tight bond. They do a lot of activities together such as swimming, going to the movies or festivals, and more. It is even likely that Ran unconsciously knows that Conan actually is Shinichi, even though she seems reluctant to follow that notion. Ran told Conan that if only he is Shinichi on Episode 308.
Kogoro Mouri
Kogoro often seems to find Conan to be a nuisance when around or on a case as Conan would often do or say unexpected things and act out of his own will just as much as a child would do (often done on purpose by Conan to look this way). Although in most cases Conan merely sees Mouri as a drunk idiot, he often is impressed when Kogoro actually gets the case right, and will occasionally back off from the case when he sees that Kogoro is actually placing effort.
Yukiko and Yuusaku Kudo
Conan's parents, Yusaku and Yukiko, like to push their child towards becoming an even better detective. They enjoy giving out challenges and sometimes without letting Conan know who's giving them: they disguised once to simulate a case and force Conan to discover their identities by his own means.
Yukiko loves to meddle in Conan's (and Shinichi's) love life as she will often make allusions such as Ran being her possible future daughter-in-law or Ai and Ayumi having feelings for Conan. He doesn't usually pay much attention to them. Once she has mentioned that Ai has romantic feelings for him because she looked at him ten times, saying that the only time a girl would do that is if she likes the boy or the boy has something on his face. Conan simply pushes it off as Ai checking on her "lab mouse," but at night, in bed, Conan asks Ai if he has something on his face.
Conan's mother helped him out once to keep his secret identity from being exposed to Ran by creating an alibi for him.
Professor Agasa
Conan treats Agasa as a member of his own family, like an uncle. Due to the fact that they both share the secret behind Shinichi's transformation and knowledge about the Black Organization, Conan often comes to him when in trouble or seeking for help. He was the one who created most of Conan's gadgets, including his power shoes and tracking glasses.
Heiji Hattori
When they first meet, Conan and Heiji seem bound to become lifelong rivals. However, after discovering Conan's real identity, Heiji starts to act almost like an older brother towards him. Since then the two have become rather close friends, though Conan often seems to find Heiji more of an annoyance then anything, due to his dangerous habit of calling Conan 'Kudo' when others are present.
The Detective Boys
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. both victims of the APTX 4869), she finds it easier to talk to him.
Ayumi Yoshida
Conan grows to respect the little girl in his class for her sharp wit and observational skills, along with the other members of the Detective Boys. Although Ayumi clearly seems to like Conan, the latter does not return her feelings.
Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya & Genta Kojima
Mitsuhiko sees Conan as a model, someone he looks up to. Genta, and more so Mitsuhiko, are often impressed by Conan's vast knowledge and incredible deduction skills.
They both become quite jealous of Conan whenever Ayumi shows gestures of affection towards him (usually a small kiss on the cheek). They would run after Conan shouting how "unfair" it is.
Law enforcement
Police
With the exception of a few inspectors, most listen to the little clues that Conan points out. After a while, Conan gets the attention of the whole Tokyo police department for noticing things even pros miss.
FBI
The FBI is one of the few minority that Conan acts normally around. Conan seems to place trust in the FBI, and occasionally help in their operations.
Jodie Starling
Jodie nicknamed Conan "Cool Kid" and Conan (despite being wary when he first met her) now places complete trust in Jodie. Jodie has also called Conan, informing of a new BO member, Bourbon.
Shuichi Akai
Akai has been shown to respect Conan's detective skills. It may not take long before Akai figures out Conan and Shinichi are one and the same. Conan once says to Akai, "I'm glad you're an ally."
The Black Organization
Gin and Vodka
Even though Gin and Vodka do not yet know who's stopping their operations, Gin has been shown to be curious who "that guy" is, "that guy" being Conan. Gin has tried to catch a glimpse of Conan's face in a helicopter in The Raven Chaser, but failed after Conan successfully downed the helicopter. Conan seems to have a very bitter hatred towards them, and this only increases as more people are targeted by the BO.
Vermouth
Vermouth seems to has great personal interest in Conan, constantly calling him as the Black Organization 'Silver Bullet'. She also often protects Conan probably because when she was disguising as a serial killer in New York, she was saved by Conan (Shinichi at the time) and Ran. Conan does not, however, seems to react strongly when she is mentioned. He also seems to consider her less of a threat, and may or may not know that Vermouth knows his identity.
Others
Kaitou Kid
Before being shrunk, Shinichi had encountered Kid once during the Clock Tower heist, though they did not meet face-to-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.
In the movies, it is implied that Kid knows Conan's identity; he even helps Conan maintain his cover by disguising himself as Shinichi so that a suspicious Ran would stop suspecting Conan. However, this has not been confirmed by Gosho Aoyama, nor has it been implied in the manga.
People who know Conan's real identity
There are only a few characters in the series who know Conan's real identity. None of them have ever 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 of the Black Organization also knows about Conan's secret. Later in the Episode 508 of the Anime, Eisuke Hondou confirms Conan's identity as Shinichi Kudo straight from him.
The 3rd, 8th and 14th movies also demonstrate that Kaito Kid apparently knows Conan's identity and acts to protect it. However, this has yet to be backed up by the original artist, Gosho Aoyama, in the manga or (as would follow) the anime main series.
Gadgets
Character popularity
- 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. Conan placed 3rd in the poll with 866 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.[15]
- 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.[16]
Name origin
- Gosho Aoyama (and Shinichi, in the story) got the name 'Conan Edogawa' from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the famous Sherlock Holmes stories, and Edogawa Ranpo, a Japanese mystery fiction writer.
- Fun fact: The author known as Edogawa Ranpo got this pen name from a transliteration of "Edgar Allan Poe." Pronouncing Poe's name in a Japanese accent sounds like 'Edogawa Ranpo.'
Quotes
General
| “ | Edogawa Conan, tantei sa | „ |
| “ | Shinjitsu wa itsumo hitotsu! | „ |
Specific
| “ | Ran, If we die, we die together... | „ |
| “ | (Talking to Haibara) After all, I'm the guy who's been breaking her heart by making her wait an eternity... even though I'm always by her side. | „ |
| “ | (Talking to Haibara) I'll protect you... | „ |
Trivia
- Conan has been shown (more prominently in the manga) to have perfect pitch. In Episode 11: The Moonlight Sonata Murder Case, he knows that the piano is in tune and deciphers a message at the end just by listening to the notes that are played. In the twelfth Detective Conan movie Full Score of Fear, Haibara directly described Shinichi Kudo as perfect-pitched at the last scenes. He also manages to replicate and sing dial tones for a phone, showing that the reason he can't sing, instead of him being tone-deaf, as most think, is because he simply doesn't have relative pitch.
- Conan's bad singing came to light as a joke after the anime began airing because Conan's voice actress Minami Takayama is a well-known singer. In Volume 15 of the manga, Takayama herself is kidnapped and Conan, who sounds similar to her, tries to take her place at a concert. However, Conan learns that despite having similar voices, they sound completely different when it comes to singing.[17]
- The Japanese word 'konnan' (pronounced the same as 'Conan') means 'difficulty' or 'distress.'
- Conan has been noted to using the expression "Ah-le-le?", something that is usually said by Japanese gradeschoolers. The expression was even said by Kogoro in Episode 317 out of irritation to Conan.
- Conan/Shinichi and Ran share the same blood type.
- Conan's first videoke scene spotted at Episode 81,As on that episode his voice actress Minami Takayama voiced him and Takayama herself too.
- He owns two cellphones, the one he uses as Conan and one that he uses as Shinichi. He is also shown using different kinds of cellphones throughout the series.
In other languages
| Language | Given Name | Family Name |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
コナンConan | 江戸川Edogawa |
 English |
Conan | Edogawa |
 French |
Conan | Edogawa |
 Spanish |
Conan | Edogawa |
| Spanish Latin America |
Conan | Blasi |
 Italian |
Conan | Edogawa |
 German |
Conan | Edogawa |
 Vietnamese |
Conan | Edogawa |
 Arabic |
كونان Konan | أدوجاوا Edojawa |
  Korean |
코난 Konan | 애도가와[18] |
 Chinese |
柯南 Kenan | 江戸川Jiang hu chuan |
 Thai |
โคนัน khonạn | เอโดะงาวะ Xedoangāwa |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Conan Drill Page 38
- ^ a b Episode 1: Roller Coaster Murder Case
- ^ Volume 1, File 2, page 59: "The Great Detective Turned Small"
- ^ a b Episode 2: Company President's Daughter Kidnapping Case.
- ^ Episode 4: The Coded Map of the City Case
- ^ Volume 2, Files 13-16: "The Missing Man"
- ^ Volume 18, File 178: "Code Name Sherry"
- ^ Episodes 48-49: Diplomat Murder Case.
- ^ Episodes 191-193: The Desperate Revival.
- ^ Volume 26, Files 256-258: "Concealed Truth"
- ^ Volumes 62-63, Files 647-654: "The Lost Memory"
- ^ Episode 616-621
- ^ Volume 71, Files 743-751
- ^ Volume 72, File 752
- ^ "『名探偵コナン』 人気投票結". eBookJapan. 2011-05-12. http://www.ebookjapan.jp/ebj/special/conan/vote_kekka2.asp. Retrieved on 2011-05-15.
- ^ "名探偵コナン「キャラクター人気投票」". www.conan-movie.jp. 2011. http://www.conan-movie.jp/camp_chara/camp15th_res.html. Retrieved on 2011-08-12.
- ^ Volume 15, Files 144-146: "Their Voices Are Alike!?"
- ^ In the Korean version, Conan was never given a last name, possibly because his original last name, Edogawa, has 4 syllables, where all last names in Korean must be one syllable.
| Detective Boys | ||
|---|---|---|
| Members | Conan Edogawa • Ai Haibara • Ayumi Yoshida • Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya • Genta Kojima | |
| Guardians | Hiroshi Agasa • Sumiko Kobayashi • Rumi Wakasa | |
| Gadgets | Detective Boys Badge • Wristwatch Flashlight | |
