Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case

Chronology
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Episode 77-78 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}})
Information
Title:	Distinguished Family's Consecutive Accidental Death Case
Japanese title:	名家連続変死事件 (Meika Renzoku Henshi Jiken)
Original airdate:	October 20, 1997 (Part 1) October 27, 1997 (Part 2)
Season:	3
Manga source:	Volume 15: File 10 (150) ~ Volume 16: File 3 (153)
English version
English title:	Mysterious Masked Murder
Dubbed episode:	Episode 80-81
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Heiji Hattori Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi Heizo Hattori
Case solved by:	Kogoro Mouri (via Conan) Heiji Hattori
Next Conan's Hint:	Fountain pen (Part 1) Mobile phone (Part 2)
Staff
Director:	Kenji Kodama
Organizer:	77 Kenji Kodama 78 Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Storyboard:	77 Kenji Kodama 78 Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Episode director:	77 Masato Sato 78 Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Animation director:	77 Akio Kawamura 78 Keiko Sasaki
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri Ryo Horikawa as Heiji Hattori Chafurin as Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi as Wataru Takagi, Cook, Next Conan's Hint Takehiro Koyama as Heizo Hattori Yonehiko Kitagawa as Dosan Nagato Kaoru Matsuno as Nobuko Nagato Keiko Aizawa as Yasue Nagato Kousei Hirota as Hideomi Nagato Ryouichi Tanaka as Mitsuaki Nagato Kousei Yagi as Kuranosuke Take Rica Fukami as Miyuki Hyuga Isshin Chiba as Medical examiner, Security guard A Yasuhiro Takato as Policeman, Security guard B Yukiko Iwai as Maid Naoki Makishima as Voice on phone
Music
Opening song:	Nazo
Closing song:	Kimi ga Inai Natsu

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Heiji Hattori Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi Heizo Hattori

Gadgets

Gadgets
Voice-Changing Bowtie Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Case

Situation

Part 1

Kogoro is recommended by someone to a wealthy family for a routine assignment; the leader of the clan, Dousan Nagato, wishes to find his first love before he dies. With the police roaming around the house, though, Conan begins to wonder if that's really all there is to it. His answer comes when suddenly, Heiji Hattori joins the group alongside his father Heizo, an old friend of the chairman who was supposed to take up the case, but recomended Kogoro instead... Bad thing, Heiji calls out to Conan by his actual name of "Shinichi Kudo" (not knowing that Conan hasn't told Ran and Kogoro about his identity), and they have to mae up a quick lie to cover up.

Nagato's secretary, Miyuki Hyuuga, is in the old man's room as well, and she gives Kogoro a brief rundown of the few data they have on the woman he's supposed to find. Her name is Kotomi Akagi, she's from Kanagawa, married a man named Kouhei Yamato and they had a child, but they disappeared mysteriously five years after the kid's birth.

The two daughters of the family, Nobuko and Yasue, come into the old chairman's room. Nobuko seems to really, really hate Miyuki, so much that when she replies to one of her questions before Nagato does, Nobuko slaps her, mocks her old fountain pen, accuses her of being a gold digger and storms off. The Chairman says she's just cranky since she's in her late 30's and, unlike her little sister and middle brother, she has no suitors; Conan thinks to himself that with such a bad personality, she'll never marry. Before leaving, Nagato asks Miyuki about something, and she mysteriously replies that it's okay since the "ring of fire" has already tied her and someone named Hideomi.

Soon, the mysterious Hideomi appears. He's the eldest son of the family, a novelist who covers his face with bandages after having suffered huge burns when he was in highschool, and his looks cause Heiji and Conan to freak out at first. He's joined by Mitsuaki, the husband of Yasue and an old family friend; a flippant comment by him makes Hideomi storm off angrily, and later he tries to pressure Nagato into giving him more control of the family business. At that moment Heizo Hattori excuses himself from the upcoming birthday party, and says Heiji will be able to help Kogoro better.

The family party is a rather small and simple one, and in the middle of it Nagato announces that Miyuki and Hideomi are getting engaged. Yasue, the butler Taki and Mitsuaki are pleased, but Nobuko storms off angrily; again, Nagato and Mitsuaki believe it's because this means she'll be the only unmarried one. Hideomi hasn't showed up, however, and Mitsuaki goes look for him.

As everyone's getting ready to retire for the night and Conan fails to get Heiji to tell him the actual reason why he's here, the butler receive a call from Mitsuaki. He tells Nagato that he hasn't been able to find Hideomi, but suddenly he starts screaming and caiming that he's being attacked. The screams come from the room beneath Nagato's and when Kogoro goes to the balcony to see what's going on, he and the others see a person with a bandaged face just like Hideomi's... with a knife in his mouth!

Miyuki stays in the balcony, and everyone else save for Nagato run off to see what's going on. Then they hear Mitsuaki scream again... and soon they find his lifeless body impaled in the fence!

Murder

Location: Nagato Household Spike Fence Victim: Mitsuaki Nagato Cause of death: Impaled in fence Suspects: Hideomi Nagato The butler Take receives a phone call from Mitsuaki, telling him he's about to be stabbed by someone. Everyone apart from the chairman and Miyuki rushs to the room below that they saw someone with a knife in his mouth walking toward the balcony. By the time they were able to enter the room, Mitsuaki's corpse is found pierced by the fence atop the wall outside!

Megure and his group arrive to the Nagato mansion, and Kogoro says he's sure Hideomi was both the killer and the bandaged man. Miyuki objects and says Hideomi would never do such a thing, despite Yasue's insistence that her brother is the killer; she adds that Hideomi has commited mistakes in the past, but would never do something like this.

Heiji says that all they saw was someone with a bandaged face, but there's no confirmation on him being Hideomi. They explain the situation to Megure and begin speculating about what could've happened, and soon they begin to interrogate the people around them starting with Miyuki, who explains that she was the last one to leave. Additionally, Conan notices a stabbing wound in Mitsuaki's hand, but the others believe it came from his hand hitting the fence as he fell on it.

The police also gathers evidence like a bloodied knife, bandages and a beanie hat, but there's no trace of Hideomi himself, and for worse no one has left the mansion so it's likely he's still hiding inside. Conan and Heiji realise that Ran and Chairman Nagato are alone in the man's suite and they rush there - and find Nobuko as well, taking care of her sleeping father.

Nobuko says that she was drinking and ranting to a friend over the phone, and isn't surprised at all with the idea of Hideomi being killed by Mitsuaki - in fact, she was expecting it to happen, since they had come to hate each other after being friends from childhood, thanks to a terrible incident. 20 years ago, there was a fire in a nearby inn; the highschool-aged Mitsuaki and Hideomi passed by, and despite Mitsuaki's objections, Hideomi went into the burning buildig to see if there were any survivors. He managed to rescue the little daughter of the owners of the lodge, but in exchange the once very handsome Hideomi was left with heavy scars on half his face, leading him to shut himself off the world and write his novels in his studio. She finishes the tale by revealing that the little girl is Miyuki Hyuga, whom she again accuses of being a gold digger who took advantage of Hideomi's frail mental state to seduce him and ultimately marry into the family.

Nagato wakes up and tells Nobuko to stop. After his declaration is taken and he has a small emotional/physical crisis, Conan finally gets Heiji to spill out the beans: the "childhood love" issue is just an excuse from Nagato to call up the Hattoris and Kogoro, since in reality many odd things have been going on in the mansion (noises, lost thigns, etc.). Heiji's dad at first wondered if there were thieves around, but now a murder has taken place, and Heiji thinks it's someone in the family. He and Conan also observe that the evidence was obtained too soon, and believe that the real culprit is trying to frame Hideomi for the murder of Mitsuaki.

On the second day of searching, Nobuko and Miyuki have a fight about Hideomi; Nobuko thinks Miyuki is implying that Hideomi didn't want to marry before his eldest sister did, and she gets so angry that she slaps Miyuki again, almost knocking her into the nearby and almost abandoned fountain. This causes her fountain pen (the last present that she got from her parents) to fall in the pond, and Miyuki desperately gets inside to retrieve it despite how dangerous it can be. The water of the pond is drained... and Hideomi's lifeless corpse is found there.

Suicide?
	Location: Nagato Household Garden Fountain Victim: Hideomi Nagato Cause of death: Poison Suspects: Kuranosuke Take, Miyuki Hyuga, Nobuko Nagato, and Yasue Nagato During Miyuki's argument with Nobuko, her fountain pen falls into the pool in the courtyard. When the water is drained to recieve the pen, Hideomi's body is found on the bottom of the pool! Is this a suicide?

Part 2

Hideomi's corpse is pulled out of the water, and Yasue mourns him heavily. The forensic expert says Hideomi's been dead for at least two days, so Megure thinks that he might have killed Mitsuaki and drowned himself immediately afterwards. There's a flaw in that theory, however: Hideomi's death was caused by poisoning, NOT by drowning. Since there were many stones in his pockets, they wonder if Hideomi first took poison and then threw himself in the pond, the stones pulling his body to the bottom so he wouldn't be stopped or found. Nobuko adds that, by the time Mitsuaki married Yasue, Hideomi never managed to see him as his brother-in-law, even when he didn't openly object to their marriage.

A letter is found in Hideomi's clothes, and it's a suicide note directed to his girlfriend Miyuki. It's a short one, where he apologizes for not being able to marry her after his sins and says only death can cleanse him. The cops bring more evidence: they found some strands of Hideomi's hair in the bag, the blood in the knife matches Mitsuaki's, and the big stab in Mitsuaki's corpse matches the knife blade.

Miyuki offers to go look for Hideomi's papers to compare the handwriting and somberly goes inside the house, ignoring how Ran offers her the pen. Nobuko tearfully says that Miyuki has only brought misfortune to the Nagatos and again calls her gold digger, but Ran goes look for her; she, Conan and Heiji find poor Miyuki kneeling on the door to Hideomi's studio, sobbing her heart out. The boys convince Ran to leave her alone and Heiji says he'll give her the pen later; she isn't convinced, but gives in and Heiji is surprised at how old it is, and on something else.

Once Heiji and Conan are alone, they comment on how nothing really makes sense. Hideomi's actions contradict themselves, and for worse the suicide note is very ambiguous - they wonder if Hideomi was first forced to write it and then killed, but they decide against it as the pond looked almost completely untouched until they got there.

Heiji interrogates the guards and they tell him that no, no one has left the grounds. One of them, however, says that Mitsuaki approached them right before the birthday party and his own death, telling them to look for Hideomi and then hanging around the pond.

In the meantime, Conan goes ask the household staff and specially the cooks. They say that Hideomi would lock himself in his studio to write and ate very few, but lately his appetite was better and he was more docile than usual when his sister Yasue helped him change his bandages. They also tell him that one of his bedsheets is missing..

Heiji and Conan check on the balconies, and notice odd marks on their bottoms. Then they get into Nobuko's room when she's not there, and Conan answers a phone call (using his bowtie to sound like Nobuko) that confirms her alibi. They manage to sneak into Hideomi's room, full of unused and dust-covered books, and listen to the messages in his telephone - which get them back on their tracks.

Checking on Mitsuaki and Yasue's room, the boys find more things... but then Ran and Miyuki come on in, and they're almost found out. Heiji quickly sends Ran to a nearby convenience store and before taking off with Conan, they say that in one hour, everyone should gather in Miyuki's room. Soon they 'tranquilize' Kogoro to use him to expose the case, but when Conan snoops aroud looking for the last piece, he checks on something else he has found and he turns somber.

People

Kuranosuke Take
	72 years old Butler to the Nagato family

Dosan Nagato
	60 years old Chairman of Nagato Financial group

Miyuki Hyuga
	26 years old Personal secretary to the Chairman

Nobuko Nagato
	39 years old Dosan's eldest daughter

Yasue Nagato
	32 years old Dosan's second daughter

Hideomi Nagato
	Victim (poison) 36 years old Dosan's eldest son Novelist

Mitsuaki Nagato
	Victim (impaled) 36 years old Yasue's husband; took Nagato name President of Nagato Construction

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

When everyone is gathered in Miyuki's bedroom, Conan-as-Kogoro announces that he's found out who killed Mitsuaki AND threw Hideomi into the pond. The phone rings and Conan/Kogoro tells him to pick it up...

The one at the other side if Heiji, who says he's in the room below and suddenly starts screaming about how someone is attacking him. Megure decides to help him, but Conan/Kogoro says that's how the killer drew everyone outside the room by fooling them into thinking there was a killer. Soon, a person with a bandaged face climbs up the balcony - and it's Heiji. He says that the call, the knife and the bloody bandages were actually used by Mitsuaki, in an attempt to frame Hideomi. As added touches, Mitsuaki's blood was spilled by himself on the bandages, having taken some of it out with a syringe, and he put on a swimming cap under the beanie hat to not get his hair in it. All of this was found in Mitsuaki and Yasue's suite, and was a plan by Mitsuaki Nagato to kill his father-in-law and frame Hideomi for it.

Heiji and Conan/Kogoro add that Mitsuaki didn't act alone, but had an accomplice who would keep everyone downstairs while he killed Nagato. Said accomplice, however, turned on him and killed him. And their identity? Miyuki Hyuga, who pushed him off the balcony. They added that Mitsuaki didn't mean to use the knife; his killing weapon would've been the grappling hook, which he'd use to strangle Nagato to death, and which Miyuki had used in secret in other balconies (source of the noises heard in the last days, and the marks on the underside of the balconies; Nobuko didn't notice since she was drunk, but Nagato did and that's why he called the Hattoris and Kogoro).

Megure asks if Miyuki also murdered Hideomi. Conan/Kogoro says that no, she didn't: Mitsuaki was her only target and victim, and the letter was truly by Hideomi - who wrote it before he died, which took place before Mitsuaki's death. Hideomi's body wasn't placed inside the pond right away, but was buried for some time by Miyuki and Mitsuaki, who used some holes in the garden for that. Mitsuaki was also the one who took Hideomi's body, wrapped in the lost bedsheet, and put it in the pond, which is when he was spotted by the guards. The "Hideomi" that was seen in the balcony was either Miyuki or Mitsuaki, wearing his clothes and covering their faces with his bandages.

Ran objects to all of this, specially when Conan/Kogoro says Miyuki lured Mitsuaki with a plan to kill Nagato and frame Hideomi, since Hideomi saved her as a child. Instead of replying, Conan/Kogoro asks Miyuki where's her watch, and before she can reply he says she lost it when Mitsuaki tried to grab her arm before being pushed off the balcony. As a corollary, they mention the stab wound Mitsuaki had in his hand... coming from Miyuki stabbing him so he'd release her, and doing so with her old fountain pen. Heiji claims that he tried to use the pen before giving it back to Miyuki, but the tip was bent and unusable - which surely happened when she used to to stab Mitsuaki's hand and throw him off.

Heiji says that Miyuki's reason to do this is because it's a sure thing that the fire that destroyed the Hyuuga inn, killed her parents and disfigured Hideomi... was caused by Hideomi and Mitsuaki themselves. (Also explaining why Hideomi refused to fix his face, surely out of guilt for what he had done to Miyuki and her family). He and Conan/Kogoro speculate that Miyuki provoked Nobuko into beating her up near the pond, so Hideomi's corpse would be found.

When everything is revealed, Miyuki says that she did it because she didn't want to leave Hideomi alone in the cold water. Then, Miyuki grabs the thermos that Conan had seen around and her lighter, intending to join Hideomi in death. She confesses and confirms what Heiji and Conan/Kogoro had said, admitting that she couldn't forget Mitsuaki (for being so flippant about the murder of her parents) and Hideomi (for not confessing his guilt), but adding that she still fell in love with Hideomi after what he did, since he saved her as a little girl and then dedicated his life to be kind to her... but then he couldn't resist his guilt anymore and commited suicide, leaving her alone. She concludes that now it's time for her to die.

Miyuki's suicide attempt fails because Conan, having discovered the gasoline earlier, replaced it with water. Miyuki has a screaming breakdown, crying and shouting about how she wants her fire to burn like Hideomi's did and join him in death, and has to be restrained. As she cries and calls out for Hideomi, Heiji asks Conan why didn't he let Miyuki kill herself like she wished; Conan says that's because a detective who doesn't stop a suspect's suicide is not better than a murderer, and then recalls the Moonlight Sonata case and how he couldn't stop Seiji Asou from joining his family in death.

Chairman Nagato arrives to the scene, and speaks to Miyuki to talks out of suicide by saying that her mother wouldn't do such things if she was alive. He says that the fountain pen Miyuki treasures so much is actually something he gave to Miyuki's dead mother, the aforementioned Kotomi Yamato nèe Akagi, who surely gave it to her husband Kouhei at some point. He adds that Miyuki is still young and full of life, so she should live for both Kotomi's and Hideomi's sake...

In the nearby train station, Conan tells Heiji that he had deduced the bond between Miyuki's mom and Chairman Nagato almost at the start, as well as how he saw Miyuki as a surrogate daughter. Heiji is mad because Conan didn't tell him and again calls him Kudo - and this time, almost in front of Ran.

Trivia

• Conan makes a reference to his past failure to stop a suicide in "Moonlight Sonata Murder Case" when telling Heiji that letting a person commit suicide when it can be stopped is the same as killing the person oneself.

Manga to anime changes

• In the manga, Conan replaced the gasoline that the killer intended to use by emptying the geyser. In the anime, he replaced the gasoline with water.

Dub changes

• The names of the characters in the Funimation Dub are:

• Kuranosuke Take - Butler Weathersbee
• Dosan Nagato - Gerard Duford
• Miyuki Hyuga - Nancy Nesbit
• Nobuko Nagato - Zelda Dufour
• Yasue Nagato - Zoe Dufour Gray
• Hideomi Nagato - Roland Dufour
• Mitsuaki Nagato - Mitchell Gray
• Akagi Kitomi - Catherine Kline
• Yamada (The person who called Dosan, only to get the answering machine) - Stanley Evans (The person who called Gerard, only to get the answering machine)

• In the Funimation Dub, the clip played from "Moonlight Sonata Murder Case" contains voice over from the episode, whereas the original Japanese Version has the clip done without dialogue.

BGM listing

Part 1

#	Song Title	Romaji	Translation	OST
1	謎	Nazo	Mystery	Nazo
2	蘭のテーマ （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Ran no Tēma (Mantenrō Vājon)	Ran's Theme (Skyscraper ver.)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
3	昼下がりの天使たち （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Hirusagari no Tenshitachi (Mantenrō Vājon)	Early Afternoon Angels (Skyscraper ver.)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
4	毛利小五郎のテーマ（ファンキーver.）	Mōri Kogorō no Tēma (Fankii ver.)	Kogoro Mouri's Theme (Funky ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
5	謎解き （その１）	Nazotoki (Sono 1)	Riddle Solution (Part 1)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
6	事件現場 （謎ver.）	Jiken Genba (Nazo ver.)	Scene of the Case (Mystery ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
7	コナンの危機	Konan no Kiki	Conan's Crisis	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack Super Best
8	忍び寄る影	Shinobiyoru Kage	Creeping Shadow	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
9	犯人のアジト （忍び込みver.）	Hannin no Ajito (Shinobikomi ver.)	The Culprit's Hideout (Creeping In ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
10	悪のテーマ （パート２）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 2)	Theme of Evil (Part 2)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
11	事件現場 （オリジナルver.）	Jiken Genba (Orijinaru ver.)	Scene of the Case (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
12	推理 （オリジナルver.）	Suiri (Orijinaru ver.)	Deduction (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
13	君がいない夏	Kimi ga Inai Natsu	The Summer Without You	Kimi ga Inai Natsu

Part 2

#	Song Title	Romaji	Translation	OST
1	謎	Nazo	Mystery	Nazo
2	名探偵コナン・メインテーマ （摩天楼ヴァージョン）	Meitantei Konan・Mein Tēma (Mantenrō Vājon)	Detective Conan Main Theme (Skyscraper ver.)	Detective Conan "The Time-Bombed Skyscraper" Original Soundtrack
3	犯人のアジト （忍び込みver.）	Hannin no Ajito (Shinobikomi ver.)	The Culprit's Hideout (Creeping In ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
4	事件現場 （オリジナルver.）	Jiken Genba (Orijinaru ver.)	Scene of the Case (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
5	サスペンス～危機感	Sasupensu ~ Kikikan	Suspense ~ Impending Crisis	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
6	怪人包帯男２	Kaijin Hōtai Otoko 2	The Mysterious Bandaged Man 2	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
7	沈む夕陽	Shizumu Yūhi	Depressing Sunset	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
8	陰謀	Inbō	Conspiracy	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 3
9	事件解明 （オリジナルver.）	Jiken Kaimei (Orijinaru ver.)	Case Clarification (Original ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
10	悪のテーマ （パート１）	Aku no Tēma (Pāto 1)	Theme of Evil (Part 1)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
11	沈む夕陽 （アコースティックver.）	Shizumu Yūhi (Akōsutikku ver.)	Depressing Sunset (Acoustic ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2
12	名探偵コナン・メインテーマ （ヴォーカル・ヴァージョン)	Meitantei Konan・Mein Tēma (Vōkaru・Vājon)	Detective Conan Main Theme (Vocal ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 1
13	君がいない夏	Kimi ga Inai Natsu	The Summer Without You	Kimi ga Inai Natsu
14	それいけコナン （超早ver.）	Soreike Konan (Chōhaya ver.)	Let's Go Conan (Very Fast ver.)	Detective Conan Original Soundtrack 2

In other languages

Language	Title	Translation
Vietnamese	Vụ án những cái chết hàng loạt của một gia đình danh giá	Distinguished Family's Consecutive Death Case

See also

• Season 3