Shinichi Kudo

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Shinichi Kudo

Shinichi Kudo Profile.jpg

Profile
Japanese name: 工藤 新一
(Kudou Shin'ichi)
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
Statistics
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
Volume 62 (Shiragami-sama)
Actors
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.

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

Conan Edogawa, the "small" Shinichi
Main article: 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, the "Savior of the police force", for solving many difficult cases that the professionals could not.[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 as a child, which inspired him to be a detective.[8] 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,[9] and is convinced that driving a culprit to suicide is no better than murder itself. [10] The few times he has been too late to save a life haunt him throughout the series.

Besides his intelligence, Shinichi is an extremely skilled soccer player, having been professionally scouted at school but choosing 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.[1] Shinichi is also known for his inability to sing, but was revealed to have perfect pitch. [11] He is also shown to play the violin 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.[12][13] Shinichi 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

Main article: Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri
Shinichi and Ran

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.

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

Main article: List of characters who know Conan's 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.

Trivia

  • In Japanese etymology, the name Shinichi means "one truth", which Shinichi occasionally uses as a motto.[20]
  • Shinichi has been mentioned and parodied in many other anime series, including: Yakitate!! Japan,[21]Black Cat (manga)|Black Cat [22] Inuyasha,[23] Hayate the Combat Butler,[24] Proposal Daisakusen,[25], Sonic X, Crayon Shin-Chan, Kaiketsu Zorori, Eyeshield 21, Angelic Layer,[26] and Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei|Zan: Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei.[27].
  • He was used as a character to promote people to follow the law in Japan, due to the popularity of the series.
  • 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, Kudo ranked third.[28]
  • In a Newtype poll from 2001, Kudo ranked fourth in the category "Top 10 Most Popular Male Anime Characters in Japan."[29] In a Newtype Magazine poll from March 2010, Jimmy was voted as the ninth most popular male anime character from the 1990's.[30]
  • Shinichi, along with Heiji, Kaito and Saguru Hakuba, are sometimes referred to as 'The Four Geniuses' or 'The Gosho Boys' by fans. If Ai/Shiho is included, they are referred to as 'The Five Geniuses.'

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Episode 1: Roller Coaster Murder Case.
  2. ^ a b Aoyama, Gosho (1994-07-15). "File 2" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 59. ISBN 978-4091233714. 
  3. ^ a b Episode 2: Company President's Daughter Kidnapping Case.
  4. ^ Episode 4: The Coded Map of the City Case
  5. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-07-15). "File 1" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 5. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 12. ISBN 978-4091250452. 
  6. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2005-05-05). "File 10" (in English). Case Closed. 5. San Francisco: Viz Media. p. 163. ISBN 1-59116-633-0. 
  7. ^ a b Files 5-8, Detective Conan volume 55
  8. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2008-01-15). "File 5" (in English). Case Closed. 21. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 74, 78. ISBN 1-4215-1456-7. 
  9. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (200-02-18). "File 5" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 26. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 71. ISBN 4-09-125496-9. 
  10. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-08-09). "File 3" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 16. Tokyo: Shogakukan. ISBN 4-09-125046-7. 
  11. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2007-01-16). "File 4" (in English). Case Closed. 15. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0445-6. 
  12. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2008-01-15). "File 5" (in English). Case Closed. 21. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-1456-7. 
  13. ^ Files 743-752, Detective Conan.
  14. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2006-05-16). "File 7" (in English). Case Closed. 11. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0441-4. 
  15. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1998-01-17). "File 5" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 18. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 92. ISBN 4-09-125048-3. 
  16. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1994-07-15). "File 2" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 64. ISBN 978-4091233714. 
  17. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2004-09-07). "File 10" (in English). Case Closed. 1. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 180–182. ISBN 1-59116-327-7. 
  18. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (2006-01-10). "File 4" (in English). Case Closed. 9. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0166-X. 
  19. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1997-03-18). "File 4" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 14. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 60,67. ISBN 4-09-125044-0. 
  20. ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1996-18-01). "File 3" (in English). Case Closed. 10. San Francisco: Viz Media. ISBN 1-4215-0316-6. 
  21. ^ Yakitate!! JapanAnime Episode # 48,
  22. ^ Anime Episodes # 13 & 14
  23. ^ Inuyasha Anime Episode 128
  24. ^ Hayate no Gotoku# 30
  25. ^ Proposal Daisakusen Anime Episode # 10
  26. ^ Angelic Layer Episode 22
  27. ^ Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei|Zan: Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei Anime Episode # 8
  28. ^ "Which Anime Character Do You Wish You Could Be Friends With?". Anime News Network. 2007-02-28. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-02-28/which-anime-character-do-you-wish-you-could-be-friends-with. Retrieved on 2009-06-29. 
  29. ^ "Newtype top 10 Anime". Anime News Network. 2001-08-12. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2001-08-12/newtype-top-10-anime. Retrieved on 2009-06-29. 
  30. ^ "NT Research". Newtype, Issue 4 (Kadokawa Shoten). March 2010. 
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