Karasuma Group

Black Organization
Profile
Japanese name:	黒の組織
English name:	Black Organization
Boss:	Anokata
Active Members:	Gin Vodka Vermouth (Sharon Vineyard) Korn Chianti Bourbon
Deceased Members:	Akemi Miyano Tequila Pisco Calvados Rikumichi Kusuda Arrack (Conan Special) Yoshiaki Hara (Movie 5) Irish (Movie 13)
Former Members:	Sherry (Ai Haibara) Ki'ichiro Numabuchi Generic (Conan Special)
Undercover Agents:	Rye (Shuichi Akai) Kir
Extended Canon Agents:
Aliases:	The men in black
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: Chapter 1 Anime: Episode 1
Appearances:	Chapters: 232 Episodes: 90 Movies: 7 Specials: 1 Openings: 32 Closings: 2

The Black Organization (黒の組織 ,kuro no soshiki) serves as the main antagonist in the series. It is a secret syndicate that commits a number of crimes for various reasons which range from blackmail to robberies to assassinations. The members of the organization are given code names based on alcoholic beverages. The leader of the Black Organization is unseen and unheard of and is known only through text messages. Their boss's phone number follows the tune of the children song Nanatsu no Ko (七つの子 ,lit. Seven children); the number is #969#6261. The first members to appear were Gin and Vodka, who were responsible for Shinichi Kudo's transformation in the first place.

Members

Current

• Anokata: The leader of the black Organization. His identity, gender, age, and location are all unknown; only a few things are known about him. He is respectfully referred to as 'that person' (ano kata) by lower ranked members of the Organization.
• Gin: A high ranking BO executive official who seems to specialize in coordinating deals and assassinations. He is one of the most frequently reoccurring Black Organization characters. He is shown to be intelligent and very acute, and his long silver hair and sweeping trench coat give him a distinctive appearance. He forced the drug APTX 4869 on Shinichi, and his favorite car is the Porsche 356A.
• Vodka: One of Gin's lackeys and another frequently reoccurring Black Organization character. He wears a hat and sunglasses at all times. He is less intelligent compared to his boss Gin whom he often is seen working with.
• Vermouth (Sharon Vineyard/Chris Vineyard): A mysterious actress from America with exceptional disguise and voice changing abilities that allow her to pose as anyone. Like Gin she is a Black Organization executive member. She is hated by a number of the members of the BO, but due to the fact that she is their boss's favorite, she is untouchable and they are unable to do anything to her. It is unknown where her loyalty lies, as she often protects Conan and calls him a "silver bullet," implying that she believes him to be capable of bringing down the BO. She also does not seem to age.
• Kir: Operates under alias of Rena Mizunashi, a TV reporter. Her real name is Hidemi Hondou. Like her deceased father, she is actually a member of the CIA who infiltrated the BO. Her brother, Eisuke Hondou, was not aware of this since Hidemi pretended not to know him after she went undercover.
• Chianti: A professional sniper who has been seen to take orders from Gin. She has a fiery and impatient personality. She hates Vermouth.
• Korn: A professional sniper who has been seen to take orders from Gin. His speech is characterized by short phrases with many pauses.

Bourbon

A newly established organization member mentioned by Kir to Jodie Starling of the FBI. Kir said he has recently been dispatched to search for Sherry and to have great deduction and intelligence gathering skills. Gin has said that Bourbon hates Shuichi Akai much more than he does and that he is a man who follows his own rules, much like Vermouth. It has been hinted that Bourbon may be Subaru Okiya, but there is also speculation that Bourbon is disguised as scar Akai and is trying to find out if the real Akai is alive by appearing before the FBI agents and watching their reactions to him.

Deceased

• Tequila: An agent with same rank as Vodka that seemed to primarily deal with with programmers. He was a giant man who spoke with an Osakan accent. He was unintentionally killed in explosion in Episode 54 and Manga Volume 12.
• Pisco: An elderly executive agent who was also the chairman of a car company. He was killed by Gin in Episode 178 after being caught on camera performing an assassination. He discovered Haibara was Sherry, but was unable to inform anyone before he was killed.
• Calvados: A sniper infatuated with Vermouth who shot himself after being crippled by Akai Shuuichi in Episode 345.
• Akemi Miyano: Miyano Shiho's older sister and Akai Shuuichi's girlfriend. She was a low ranking member of the Org and completed a billion yen robbery as part of an agreement to release herself and her sister from the Org. The Org reneged on the deal and she was killed by Gin in Episode 128 and in Manga Volume 2.
• Atsushi Miyano: Haibara's father and Elena's husband. He headed the APTX 4869 project before Shiho Miyano took over. Both he and Elena died for some reason which Pisco called an accident while Shiho was young.
• Elena Miyano: Haibara's mother and Atsushi's wife. She was of British origin and was known within the Organization as "Hell Angel". She worked the APTX 4869 project before Shiho Miyano took over. Both she and Atsushi died for some reason which Pisco called an accident while Shiho was young. She left some mysterious tapes for Shiho.
• Rikumichi Kusuda (Voice: Mitsuo Iwata): An agent sent to infiltrate Haido Central Hospital to discover the whereabouts of Kir. He killed himself when Akai was hot on his trail. (Episode 498)
• Ethan Hondou: A CIA agent who infiltrated the Black Org. He committed suicide to protect his daughter Hidemi Hondou from being uncovered as a CIA agent.
• Yoshiaki Hara (Voice: Koichi Hashimoto): movie only agent killed by Gin in Movie 5
• Irish: movie only agent killed by Chianti in The Raven Chaser.
• Arrack: (Conan Special: Volume 26 - Special Manga only) Suicide

Former

• Sherry (Ai Haibara): A high ranking biochemist who worked on APTX4869. She boycotted her work after her sister was killed and was awaiting execution. She escaped when she took an APTX4869 she had smuggled in with her and shrunk to her 6~7 year old body. She has been living with professor Agasa and has been working on an antidote to the APTX4869.
• Rye: The codename of Akai Shuuichi, he was an undercover FBI agent with the who infiltrated the Org. His allegiance was discovered and he was rejected by the Org. His prowess led the Org to view him as the FBI's trump card.
• Ki'ichiro Numabuchi: A serial killer whom was slated to be the original test subject for the APTX drug before he escaped. Later escaped and is now in custody for murders he has committed, mostly in fear of the B.O. sending agents after him.
• Generic: a non-canon special manga agent who is an old friend of Sherry who considers her as his sister. He used the Apotoxin medicine to shrink his own body and entered the school where Ai is. He lost his memory due to his own memory removal gas in Conan Special: Volume 26.

Organization chart

Boss File:Anokata 60px.jpg Anokata

High ranking agents Gin Vermouth Pisco (deceased)

Internal Division External Division Lab Research IT Research and Computer hacking General Homicides Theft Investigation Sherry (escaped) File:Atushi 60px.jpg Atsushi Miyano File:Elena 60px.jpg Elena Miyano Tequila (deceased) Yoshiaki Hara (deceased) Vodka Chianti Korn Ki'ichiro Numabuchi (disappeared) Irish (deceased) Calvados (deceased) Akemi Miyano (deceased) Rye (deceased) Kir (undercover) Rikumichi Kusuda (deceased)

Modus operandi

The Black Organization commits crimes such as illegal deals, blackmail, robberies, and assassinations to raise money for research. It tries to eliminate anyone who has knowledge of their existence and threatens to expose their secret, including members who have become a liability, such as Akemi Miyano. They will dispose of even senior members like Pisco without hesitation to protect their secrets. Haibara Ai thought Conan would be killed before he could be “studied” so it seems like the Org’s first priority is to stay hidden and then get on with research.

The Black Organization members all tend to wear black outfits, which Akemi says is supposed to resemble crows. So far, at least all senior members have been shown to carry guns and wear body armor under their clothing when out.

For an as yet unrevealed reason, nearly all the Black Organization's members (with the exception of the Anokata) use code names based on alcoholic drinks: hard liquors for men and wine or wine-based cocktails for women. Also it would appear the Organization is also fond of detective fiction and classic literature. Examples include the APTX 4869 pun on Sherlock, the computer password Shelling Ford- a prototype name for Sherlock Holmes, a computer virus called Night Baron named after character from mystery writer Kudo Yusaku’s novels, and mission codenames relating to the novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The organization often destroys evidence via fire or explosion and Haibara warns that they will not hesitate to kill the family and friends of a target to protect the secret of their existence. They seem to like to conduct business at the shipping yard, as the shipping yard has hosted multiple Organization appearances. They aren’t afraid of putting operatives in very public positions like famous actress (Vermouth) or television announcer (Kir).

Both Gin and Vermouth were shown to be resistant to Conan's tranquilizer needle and knockout gas respectively and then they both readily shot themselves in order to continue to stay awake. This may show that they have trained themselves to resist knockout effects to prevent capture and cope with pain.

History

The Black Organization’s main research project, of which APTX 4869 is a part, has been around for at least half a century. The org has historical ties to America before the current storyline. Evidence for this is the involvement of the FBI and CIA in counter operations. Also, Jodie mentions that her father in the FBI was investigating Vermouth as Sharon Vineyard 20 years ago.

Goal

As of now, the Organization's main purpose and goal still remain unknown. What is known is that they are recruiting talent is biochemistry and computer science and funding research using the proceeds from their crime. Currently, former agent Sherry, the CIA's undercover member Kir, and Black Organization related cases appear to be the only sources of information Conan can rely on to learn the true intentions behind the Organization.

It is known the Organization has involvement with computer viruses (Night Baron); however, the main purpose of their computer science research may be something other than virii and related to their biochemistry research. Whatever it is, it prompted the coerced programmer Itakura to say that he didn’t want to complete his program “for the sake of humanity”.

Quotes

"Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century." - Haibara

"We can be both God and Devil since we are trying to raise the dead against the stream of time" - likely Vermouth

"You can’t rush things. Humans can never go against the stream of time. If man forcibly tries to change that there will be punishment" – Haibara

"No, I can't finish it... I won't. That program must not be completed, not for the sake of my vision but for humanity" - December 22nd journal entry from Itakura's diary

Immortality/anti aging

One possibility is that the Organization's research, especially APTX 4869 development, is trying to create a therapy which will cause immortality or stall the effects of aging.

The anti-aging side-effects of APTX 4869 probably indicate main intent of the drug. It probably was just a useful side effect that it happened to leave no trace in the victim’s body, and was employed as a poison. Supporting this is Ai’s line, "Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century." APTX 4869 is the only known intersection between Shinichi and the B.O. Also, APTX4869 was called the "incomplete detective" which means its true purpose has not yet been achieved.
According to Haibara’s description about APTX 4869, it alters telomerase, a component limiting the number of times a cell can divide and therefore its lifespan, and “the reproductive potential” of cells.

In addition, Shiho Miyano’s name was on the raffle list for the immortality arrows in the mermaid case in Fukui. Also, for some reason Vermouth doesn't appear to age. Her apparent age hasn’t changed since she murdered Jodie’s parents twenty years ago

Raising the dead

There is a hint of possibility (through secret documents that Conan managed to obtain) that they are planning to "raise the dead" - an implication that they may intend to control biological life. The fact that Sharon Vineyard apparently remains ageless, and the original purpose of the APTX 4869 (as hinted by Ai Haibara herself), provide strong hints in that direction.

Plot Timeline

• This needs to be completely re-written*

The beginning

In episode 1, Gin and Vodka go on a roller coaster at Tropical Land to observe an individual that they have a transaction with (the man they have business with is to pay them, in exchange for proof of his weapon smugling). They are delayed as they are counted among as suspects in a murder case, which is solved by Shinichi Kudo. Later that night, Vodka completes the transaction, unaware that Shinichi followed him.

Gin in turn sneaks up behind the teen detective and knock him unconscious with a pipe. Vodka is about to shoot him, only for Gin to remind him that the police are still around and proposes to use an untested poison on him as it will leave no trace in an autopsy. They leave Shinichi for dead, unaware that the poison reverted his body to the age of a seven year old kid. The transformed Shinichi (now going by the name of Conan Edogawa) seeks to gain a lead on the two men.

Slow developments

In volume 4, file 033-035 (Manga Version Only), Conan encounters the two men responsible for his condition on the Shinkansen bullet train. After eavesdropping with the microphone, he learns their codenames (Gin and Vodka) and their plan to blow up the train. He fails, however, to apprehend them.

In episode 54, Conan encounters a tall, built member of the organization named Tequila. However, he is killed in an explosion before Conan could gain any information from him.

In episode 118, Conan encounters a member named Numabuchi who was hiding out. He tries to stab Ran, but stabs Conan instead. Mitsuhiko actually has an individual encounter with the runaway Numabuchi in episode 290, but Conan and the police arrive before he's capable of doing anything to him.

Akemi Miyano and Ai Haibara

In episode 128 (This particular incident occured much earlier in the manga continuity during Volume 2 File 13-16), the Black Organization planned a billion yen heist. Gin and Vodka were the members that made a plan to rob 10 billion yen. Conan stops them. After the episode, the organization mentioned member named Shiho Miyano, also known as Sherry, the creator of APTX-4869. After the organization killed Akemi Miyano, Shiho's older sister, the organization imprisoned Sherry. In order to escape, Sherry took her poison, and her body shrank. The organization found out that Sherry has betrayed them, so Sherry lives with Dr. Agasa under her alias Ai Haibara.

The first head to head battle

File:Sherry shot 1.JPG

Shiho shot by Gin.

In episode 176-178, Conan encounters Gin and Vodka again. Ai is kidnapped and confined to a wine cellar, but turns into an adult after the wine spills on her. Despite wearing glasses and janitor clothing, Gin and Vodka recognize her and shoot her repeatedly until Conan appears. He shoots Gin with his needle, but Gin doesn't fall asleep. He tells Ai to jump into the chimmey, and Vodka shoots at him, but he gets away. Gin purposely shoots himself in the arm due to trying to stay awake. Inside, Pisco almost kills her, but Conan rescues her after Pisco accidentally causes a fire. Gin kills Pisco for failure before he's able to tell him the truth about Shiho. Worried that the organization is after her, Ai decides to leave the city.

A new threat: Vermouth, and the carjacking incident

Aside from Gin and Vodka being the most recurring members, a female member introduced late into the series named Vermouth also starts to play a huge role in the series. She makes her first appearance in episodes 176-178, but her talents aren't revealed until episode 230. She disguises herself as a doctor named Araide and is one of the few characters that learns who Conan really is. In one episode she is saved by Ran and Shinichi from falling through a fire escape, and keeps his secret unknown from the rest possibly because of this reason. She disguises herself as two actresses, Chris Vineyard and Sharon Vineyard. It is noted several times in the series that she is a master of disguise, who trained with Shinichi's mother in the past.

Confrontation with Vodka?

In episodes 309-311, Conan manages to arrange contact with Vodka of the organization, and goes to confront him in a trap, however, Gin arrives and realizes it's a set up. He and Vodka leave before Conan is able to find out more information about the BO. Though, prior to the meeting, Conan does manage to obtain information from their original contact's diary that reveal a bit of the BO's dark intentions.

The second head to head battle, and revealed allegiances

In episode 345, many identities are finally unveiled: Vermouth is revealed to be Dr. Araide, Chris Vineyard, Sharon Vineyard, and the silver-haired serial killer in Shinichi's New York Case; Jodie Saintemillion is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent working towards capturing Vermouth, who killed her father when she was younger; Akai Shuichi is confirmed to be an FBI agent, and one with great skill too--enough to make the boss of the Black Organization believe that he is their Silver Bullet. Near the end of the episode, it becomes clear that Vermouth's purpose was to seek and eliminate Sherry, but her attempts are thwarted by several people: Shinichi/Conan, Jodie Saintemillion, Akai Shuichi, and even Ran. When she becomes cornered, she takes Conan hostage and drives away into a forest. There, she makes a call to her boss (still nameless), and to her surprise, Conan was recording the entire conversation. In order to preserve the organization's secrecy, she sprays sleeping gas in the car, putting both herself and Conan to sleep. She claims that this would be a duel--whoever wakes up first will win. Vermouth does indeed wake up first, but does not kill Conan. Instead, she just crushes his recording device. Ultimately, the only clue Conan gained from this whole ordeal is the ringtone that the boss uses; this is mentioned in episode 425 as well, although its importance has not yet been revealed.

In Episode 394, Conan figures out the boss's number, but Haibara warns him not to call it because it is "Pandora's Box", Conan then thinks he can get officer Takagi to figure out who the number belongs to. But then Haibara warns if he does, officer Takagi will be killed.

Although Vermouth often comes off as evil and malicious, her allegiance is rather ambiguous. She chooses to protect both Conan/Shinichi and Ran, most likely because they let her live back in the New York Case when she was disguised as the silver-haired serial killer. At the end of the episode, she could have very well killed Shinichi, but instead she lets him live and even drapes her coat over his sleeping body so he wouldn't get cold. She even kept her promise with Shinichi to stop her attempt on killing Sherry/Shiho. For some reason, she seems to wish for the Black Organization to be taken down as well--for she believes that Kudo Shinichi is their true Silver Bullet.

The third head to head battle, and three new threats

In episode 425, the Black Organization introduces three new members, Chianti, Kir, and Korn, who first make their introduction in the 16th Opening episodes before their actual appearance in the series. Episode 425 is also the first to show the most BO members in one episode. Chianti and Korn are introduced in the very beginning of episode 425 as highly trained assassins that Gin recruits after seeing their sniping skills. Kir is first introduced to Conan and the others as a news reporter (Rena Mizunashi) and a friend of Yoko Okino's, however, she is revealed as a member of the black corps later on. After encountering FBI during her mission, Kir tries to flee, but gets knocked unconscious and crashes, resulting in her getting taken by the FBI agents. She appeared in the 17th Opening as part of Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth's group, and Opening 18 alone, which foreshadowed that, despite her injuries, she would play a huge role in the series(which she has during the course of the anime and manga). In the manga, Heiji Hattori mentions she has been seen in Osaka before.

Eisuke Hondou, and the captured Kir

In episodes 462-465, the BO reveals some information about Kir and Eisuke's father. Eisuke appears to be linked to the BO, as Conan notices similarities between him and Kir, and he also appears to be gaining info on the secret behind Kogoro's cases. In addition, Vermouth is revealed to be linked to another murder case. In the following episode 466, Conan tells Ai and Agasa that the boy involved in the previous case told a mysterious man(unknown, but sometimes thought to be Kusuda Rikumichi, as they have the same outer appearance, though, his face is shadowed) that he had seen Kir before.

In episodes 484-485, Conan investigates more on Eisuke and belief that he and his father may have a possible link to Rena Mizunashi and the Black Organization. This later leads to further investigations in episode 491-494 with a possibility that Eisuke and Rena are related when they watch a video tape from years ago.

Subaru Okiya, and "Bourbon"

Jodie calls Conan and tells him that she changed her number and cell phone. She also mentions that Rena Mizunashi reported a new member of the Black Organization (Code name: Bourbon) is investigating about Sherry (Ai Haibara). As Conan and Ai investigate a normal case, Ai feels that an organization member is around. The organization member which she felt is implied to be one of the innocent suspects, Okiya Subaru. Conan invites Okiya to live in the Kudou house since Okiya's apartment was burnt. Okiya appears in other cases later on, including at the Haido mall where the rest of the Black Organization gathered to chase a rumored sighting of a scarred Akai Shuichi. Despite the apparent implications, Bourbon's true identity and Okiya's true motivations remain unconfirmed.

Manga to anime differences

The first season of Detective Conan, featured The Organization scarcely, due to the writers wanting to down play their presence. Two of the episodes at least, were altered heavily in light of it:

Episode 5, The Shinkansen's Bomb Case: The episode has Conan running into lookalikes of the men who drugged him. Volume 4 of the manga, however, it is the same guys. In fact, that story has him learning their code name (Gin/Vodka in the Japanese Version, Melkior and Kaspar in the English Version), which creates a continuity error in Episode 54, Game Company Murder Case, when Conan recognizes their names when Tequila speaks to them, despite the fact that he had never heard their names (in the anime) before that point.

Episode 13, The Strange Person Hunt Murder Case: In the episodes end, Masami runs into the criminal in charge the recent murders. She survives a gunshot wound thanks to Conan. The manga version, which is in Volume 2, the masterminds are Gin and Vodka.

Masami is actually Akemi Miyano, and stole the yen to buy her sister out of the organization. Upon refusal to give the location Gin (who has an idea where it is) shoots her. Conan arrvies shortly to try helping Akemi. He gives her his real name, and before dying she tell Conan the location of the yen. (note that in the manga she was killed early on in the 2nd volume of the manga)

The anime had to do a similar story in Episode 128 The Black Corps One Billion Yen Robbery Case in order to repair the storyline.

Trivia

• According to the English-language Case Closed Volume 1: The Secret Life of Shinichi Kudo, Gin's real name is "Kaspar" and Vodka's real name is "Melkior". In the English manga, these are explained as specific brands of the relevant drinks.

• Gin can't seem to remember faces he encounters or kills, which explains that he doesn't remember Shinichi.

• Members seem to get along fairly well most of the time. Gin and Vodka have a particularly close rapport. Gin is annoyed by Vermouth's teasing, but when on business they seem to get along alright. Chianti holds a hateful grudge against Vermouth because she believes Vermouth led Calvados to his death, indicating that Chianti has some sort of relationship with the deceased agent. Korn appears to be anti-social.

• Vermouth knows Conan's intentions but does not really try to rat him out to the Organization when having the chance. Due to Shinichi having saved her life when he and Ran had visited New York.

• Vermouth is the only living member of the organization who learned that Ai Haibara is Shiho Miyano and Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo. Pisco also knew Ai's identity, and unlike Vermouth, would've revealed it to Gin if he hadn't been murdered by him first.

• Although Vermouth's true appearance is a young woman, confirmed by Shuichi Akai in episode 345, it still does not explain why she does not appear to age--the very question that she never answered when Jodie confronted her about it.

• According to the Organization only the "Silver Bullet" can defeat/kill them, Vermouth believes that Conan/Shinichi is their "Silver Bullet". However everyone else thinks Akai is their greatest threat.

• So far, the youngest member still in the Organization is revealed to be Kir at age 27. Sherry is actually much younger, as her age was revealed to be 18, and her sister is in her early twenties.

• Episode 129 indicates that the organization has a numberous amount of members. Later episode 502 shows that these members can include old members in their 70's or 80's. Episode 557 also shows that the organization has access to a large quantity of armory and sends a large amount of it's members depending on the mission.

• Episodes 462-465 marks the first 4-part episode dealing with the BO without it being aired as a special (However, international airings outside Japan have separated each 2hr special dealing with the BO into 6 separate parts).

• Episodes 491-504 marks the longest BO arc to ever air, consisting of more than ten parts.

• During the course of the series, almost every member had some kind of individual contact with Conan/Shinichi; Gin in the episode 1 and episode 178 when Conan shoots him with his needle while hiding, Vodka during the course of episodes 309-311, Vermouth in episode 345, Kir in episode 425, Akemi Miyano in episode 128, Pisco in episode 178, Tequila in episode 54, Numabuchi Kiichiro in episode 118 and briefly in 290, and Kusuda Rikumichi in episodes 496-497.

• Opening 29 shows a faceless organization member aside the current members. this member is possibly Bourbon, however, his identity is still unknown.

See also

• Characters