Ai Haibara
| Ai Haibara | |
| English name: | Anita Hailey |
|---|---|
| Age: | 18, 8 (as Ai Haibara) |
| Gender: | Female |
| Date of birth: | Unknown |
| Relatives: | Akemi Miyano (sister) Elena Miyano (mother) Atsushi Miyano (father) |
| Nicknames: | Ai-chan (by Ayumi), Ai-kun (by Professor Agasa), Haibara (by Conan) |
| Aliases: | Sherry |
| First appearance: | Manga Chapter 176 Anime Episode 129 |
| Appearances: | TV: ? Movies: Movie 3-12 OVAs: 6 Openings: 21 |
| 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". 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 alcohol.
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.
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 escapes from the Black Organization and collapses in front of Shinichi's house, hoping he may be able to help her. She was then found and adopted by Hiroshi Agasa.
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 in the English dub). As Ai Haibara she attends Teitan Elementary School with Shinichi Kudo's shrunken form, Conan Edogawa.
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 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, however, there are times where she softens her demeanor and reveals herself to be a true friend. She is 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 my 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. Ai also has to have some interest in fashion, as she had made repeated requests for a certain type of purse when asked to do something.
Relationship Analysis
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.
- Ai Haibara and Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya
Mitsuhiko seems to have 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.
- Ai Haibara and 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.[1] However, later that day, Haibara finally properly introduced herself to Ran, and they slowly became friends. Haibara believes that Ran looks a lot like 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 and hold her down to the ground, as if to take the bullets for Haibara.[2] Haibara immediately thinks of her own sister, and begins 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.[3]
- Ai Haibara and Ayumi Yoshida
- Ai Haibara and Hiroshi Agasa
The relationship between Ai and Professor Agasa is a 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, 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.[4] 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 (I = "Ai"). Although Agasa suggested she use the kanji 愛 (love) for "Ai", she preferred to use the kanji 哀 (sorrow).
