Yusaku Kudo

Yusaku Kudo
Profile
Japanese name:	工藤 優作 (Kudō Yūsaku)
English name:	Booker Kudo
Age:	37-38
Gender:	Male
Relatives:	Yukiko Kudo (wife) Shinichi Kudo (son)
Occupation:	Novelist
Status:	Alive
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: File 51 Anime: Episode 43
Appearances:	Chapters: 59 Chapters: 3 Episodes: 38 Movies: 3 OVAs: 3 Specials: 1 Openings: 12 Closings: 3
Cases solved:	7
Keyhole number:	Volume 22
Actors
Japanese voice:	Hideyuki Tanaka
English voice:	Randy Tallman (1st FUNimation) John Swasey (2nd FUNimation) Keith Silverstein (Bang Zoom!)

Yusaku Kudo (工藤 優作 ,Kudō Yūsaku) is the father of Shinichi Kudo and, along with his wife Yukiko, is one of only a few characters to know he is Conan Edogawa. He is also a world famous novelist and the creator of the popular Night Baron series.

Background

Young Yusaku.

Yusaku Kudo was already noted for his sharp intellect and deductive abilities at a young age. He met Inspector Juzo Megure and became a good friend and valuable adviser to him in solving very difficult cases. While he often assisted the police, Yusaku's primary aspiration was that of a writer. Quickly attracting acclaim in his early twenties as a young novelist, he encountered the girl whom he resolved to marry: Yukiko Fujimine, an already famed and beautiful actress. While taking her out in an expensive restaurant to make his proposal, he was involved in a murder case which he solved brilliantly, and right afterward proposed to a startled Yukiko - which she accepted (twenty years later, his son Shinichi would become involved in a follow-up of the exact same case in the exact same restaurant, but unlike Yusaku he wouldn't be able to profess his feelings to his own love, Ran Mouri).

Yusaku's detective stories have won international acclaim, especially his novels involving the character called Night Baron, who has become a popular cultural item. He prefers to be known as a novelist, despite multiple demonstrations of a Mycroftian tendency to solve a case before Shinichi reaches the same conclusions (as in the OVA where Shinichi was trying to prove the alibi involving, supposedly, a black labrador dog). In the course of his career, he also encountered the first Kaitou Kid and struck a sort of competitive friendship with him; it is implied that Yusaku knew Kid's identity, but chose to chase Kid only during heists in order to foil the theft and no further.

After Shinichi becomes Conan, Yusaku learns from Agasa what occurred, and stages an elaborate false kidnapping to drive home to Conan what the stakes are if he is caught by the Black Organization. He offers to take Conan to a new life in America, but understands when Shinichi refuses due to a desire for independence and feelings for Ran - though Yusaku doesn't expect that resolve to last. He and Yukiko occasionally check up on Conan, but seem content to respect Shinichi's wishes to pursue the Black Organization without their help.

Personality

Yusaku Kudo possesses a very sharp intellect and observation skills, traits which his son inherited, though Yusaku's own abilities remain more well-honed. He demonstrates in multiple cases an ability to operate several steps ahead of both Shinichi and criminals, able to discern the truth with much few clues than his son. Despite this, he chooses to not get involved unless Shinichi/Conan appears unable solve the case alone in time to save the intended victim. His success as a novelist is to a large part based on his keen understanding of the criminal mind, as his most famous recurring character is a criminal. While he is an excellent author, he will occasionally blow off his editors in order to do other things, such as travel with Yukiko. He is very laid back and calm, never seen to lose his temper. Some might think him too laid back, as he often took his son to crime scenes before Shinichi was eleven, and showed no concern over six-year-old Shinichi dragging Ran and Agasa into a potentially dangerous area of town to investigate a code. The only time he has been shown to be caught off-guard or stressed by a situation is after the false kidnapping, when Shinichi, as pay-back for the prank, alerts Yusaku's editors to his location and they force him to make up for missing his deadlines. His less tolerable personality traits include a certain cockiness and a very bad touch at making humor.

Yusaku loves to read, and is the one who compiled the massive library of mystery fiction Shinichi read as a child. His love of Sherlock Holmes is briefly explored in the non-canon 6th movie, 'The Phantom of Baker Street', wherein Yusaku and Agasa helped develop one of the Cocoon VR modules as 19th Century London and included Holmes, Watson, and Irene Adler as non-playable characters modeled visually after Yusaku, Agasa, and Yukiko, respectively.

Abilities

Yusaku's most defining trait is his keen mind. Very well-read with advanced knowledge and understanding in a myriad of subjects, Yusaku has repeatedly proven to be immensely observant and analytical. He also shows equally sharp instincts, having an innate talent for seeing through deceptions factors that are out of place. While his son inherited this mindset, Yusaku has consistently been proven to be smarter than Shinichi, being able to solve cases much faster and efficiently with only a brief investigation or fewer clues. Yusaku is a world-renowned and best-selling novelist who won various awards for his mystery novels, especial the Night Baron series.

While not a skill he mastered, Yusaku showed some capable acting skills, able to effectively convince Rei Furuya that he was Subaru Okiya after his wife and son helped him with the disguise.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call Yusaku Kudo	What Yusaku Kudo calls them
	Yukiko Kudo	Yusaku Yu-chan	Yukiko
	Shinichi Kudo	Dad (Tou-san)	Shinichi
	Conan Edogawa	Dad (Tou-san)	Shinichi Edogawa Conan-kun
	Ran Mouri	Shinichi's dad (Shinichi no otou-san)	Ran-chan Mouri Ran Ran-kun

Picture	Name	What they call Yusaku Kudo	What Yusaku Kudo calls them
	Juzo Megure	Yusaku-kun	Megure
	Subaru Okiya	Kudo Yusaku-shi	That FBI agent
	Shuichi Akai	Yusaku-san	Akai-kun
	Rei Furuya	Kudo Yusaku	-
	Jodie Starling	-	Agent Jodie (Jodie-sōsakan)
	James Black	Yusaku-san	-
	Andre Camel	-	Camel-kun

Picture	Name	What they call Yusaku Kudo	What Yusaku Kudo calls them
	Kaitou Kid	-	Kaitou 1412 Kaitou Kid
	Toichi Kuroba	Kudo-shi Dear Yūsaku Kudō (letter)	-
	Masumi Sera	Kudo Yusaku	-

Plot overview

Conan Edogawa Kidnapping Case (Manga: 49-51, Anime: 43)

Yusaku and Yukiko reveal themselves to Shinichi. Yusaku created this scenario to test Shinichi's detective skills. Shinichi's parents are worried about him and want Shinichi to realize the danger of hunting the Black Organization. They also want Shinichi to go with them to America and have Interpol or another professional law enforcement try to find the Black Organization instead and have Shinichi give up as a detective because they know how dangerous it is. Shinichi refuses, however, because he wants to stay near Ran and look for the Black Organization too. Yukiko was angry as this, but Yusaku tells her they should respect Shinichi's decision and says mischievously that he had another reason to stay in Japan. Later on a plane, Yukiko began to worry about Shinichi, but Yusaku calmed her down and told her that Shinichi will be alright and believes that he will come back to them. People from Foreigner Magazine find Yusaku, who was surprised that they found him. He asks how they found him. The Foreigner Magazine people said that Shinichi told them. Yukiko wants Shinichi got them back this time and this forces Yusaku to work endlessly.

Desperate Revival: Shinichi's Return and The Promised Place (Manga: 258-260, Anime: 192-193)

It was revealed that Yusaku, after solving a crime in a high end restaurant, proposed to Yukiko 20 years ago. Shinichi attempted to confess to Ran in the same fashion, but shrunk to Conan before being able to do so.

Shinichi Kudo's Childhood Adventure (Manga: 570-573, Anime: 472-473)

10 years in the past Shinichi receives a coded message from a mysterious man at his school. Yusaku manages to give Shinichi a clue to the first code, setting him off on a Childhood Adventure. While Shinichi is gone, Eri Kisaki delivers a message from the police to Yusaku, thanking him for his efforts at chasing away a mysterious thief. Yusaku had been unable to receive the message due to disconnecting his phone, to work on his manuscripts. When Shinichi reached the end of the code trail, he came to the incorrect conclusion that his father, was the one who had made the code. In the present day, Conan solves the true code and realizes that it was from the original Kaito Kid (Toichi Kuroba) and was meant for his father to solve.

Yusaku Kudo's Cold Case (Manga: 812-814, Anime: 690-691)

10 years in the past Yusaku was called in to assist on a case where a man had died in a park leaving a bloody "death" kanji character next to it. The character caused fear of a possible serial killer. He solved the case instantly and turned to Megure and said that this case would never happen again. In the present day Ran Mouri, Sonoko Suzuki, and Masumi Sera stumble across a body that also has a bloody "death" kanji next to it. They meet up with Conan and Subaru Okiya at the Kudo home and go through Yusaku's files. A combination of information from the past and present lead them to the solution that Yusaku had come up with all those years ago. The death had been a accident, but the first person who discovered the body, a young boy, had accidentally created the character, by placing candy next to the body, so the blood would flow around it and shape into the 'death' character. Yusaku withhold the details, because he fear that the boy's actions would be misunderstood as a rude prank. Conan and the girls as well solve the new case and stopping the criminals. However this case had the consequence that Subaru discovered Conan's identity.

The Scarlet Return (Manga: 894-898, Anime: 779-783)

Bourbon manages to trick Andre Camel into revealing the last piece of information to prove that Shuichi Akai is still alive. This happens to occur on the same night that Yusaku had been nominated for a Macademy Award. When Bourbon arrives at the Kudo house to confront Subaru Okiya who he believed to be Akai in disguise, he is met with a "Subaru" wearing the Voice-Changing Face Mask. After Bourbon reveals the trick that allowed Akai to survive, he gets a call from his co-workers announcing that they had encountered Akai while trying to capture Jodie Starling and Andre Camel. Bourbon apologizes to the "Subaru" and leaves. Afterword it is revealed that this was a new plan orchestrated by Conan with Yusaku wearing the Subaru disguise. The Yusaku on the TV in the background, receiving a Macademy Award, was actually Yukiko Kudo also in a disguise.

The Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: 1008, Anime: 942)

Yukiko and Yusaku have returned to Japan and reveal to Conan that they convinced the blog owner to retract her claim in exchange for their autographs. They decide to remain in the country for the foreseeable future, in light of Yusaku's interpretation of Koji Haneda's dying message, which leads them and Conan to believe that Renya Karasuma is connected to the organization.

Black Bunny Club Murder Case (Manga: 1012, Anime: 954)

Yukiko and Yusaku interrupted Amuro's confrontaion with Akai for infiltrating the Kudo house. They invite him to have a tea.

Yusaku Kudo's TV Show Case (Manga: 1058-1060, Anime: TBA)

Yusaku decide to solve a serial murder case in a TV show but both Yukiko and Yusaku got food poisoning before the TV shoot. Later on, Kaitou Kid appears as Yusaku to return a favor for him of clearing his crime and cooperate with Conan to join the TV shoot. After the case, Conan realizes that the fake Yusaku is not Kid, but rather Vermouth to investigate Yusaku. However, Yukiko and Yusaku pretended to have food poisoning, as they saw through the Black Organization attempt to take them out. They plan with the FBI and pretended to get the symptoms of food poisoning to fool the Black Organization. Yusaku and Shuichi mention the only things left is to prepare the Black Organization's big move.

Relationships analysis

Yukiko Kudo

Not much is known about Yusaku and Yukiko's backstory before they get married. The most notable scene was from 20 years ago, when Yusaku and Yukiko met in a high end restaurant. Yusaku observed a murder crime, quickly solved it and suddenly proposed to a startled Yukiko, which she accepted. Despite occasional quarrels, they truly love each other and Yusaku fully supports Yukiko on her connections with the film industry after her retirement.

Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa

Shinichi is his son and learns detective work from him. Yusaku began taking Shinichi to crime scenes as soon as Shinichi was 7 years old. Overall, Yusaku is a better detective, both from his experience and his astute observations that Shinichi sometimes misses. Yusaku fully supports Shinichi's goal and gives him the needed independence to solve cases, only dropping hints or stepping in when it is absolutely necessary. Although Yusaku and Yukiko left their son in Japan 3 years ago when they moved to America, they still supported him financially and occasionally came back to Japan to check their son's wellbeing.

When Shinichi shrunk into Conan, Yusaku staged a fake kidnapping scheme with Yukiko and Professor Agasa to make Shinichi realize the danger of the organization Shinichi was trying to investigate. He offered to bring Shinichi to America, which Shinichi refused. Since then, he still acted the same way towards Conan as before and limited his involvement with Black Organization, only helping his son on a single case by disguising as Subaru Okiya to fool Tooru Amuro.

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. Yusaku placed 15th in the poll with 45 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.
• In honor of the release of the 800th manga chapter, Shonen Sunday held a popularity poll/contest containing 91 Detective Conan characters to choose from. Yusaku placed 17th overall with 76 votes.

Name origin

Yusaku's name comes from Shunsaku "Kudo" (protagonist of the TV Drama Tantei Monogatari (探偵物語^?, lit. Detective Story)) and actor "Yusaku" Matsuda (who portrayed Shunsaku Kudo).

Character inspiration

Gosho Aoyama was inspired by the fictional character Mycroft Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes' series to create Yusaku Kudo. He's smarter than Sherlock Holmes, the protagonist, which is also the same situation with Shinichi's father.

Different looks

Episode 43

Episode 418

Episode 621

Quotes

“	"You are going to regret it, if you underestimate girls."	„
— Episode 96, talking to Conan about Ran

Trivia

• Yusaku's relationship with his son can be compared to Mycroft, the older brother of Sherlock. Like Mycroft, Yusaku is considerably more intelligent than his younger relative, able to solve cases much sooner, yet has no personal interest in being a detective.
• Yusaku appears to be very near-sighted without his glasses, as Conan first noticed when using one of his pairs.
• His first name translates to, "masterpiece".
• He is right-handed
• Aoyama has stated in Super Digest Book 10+ that Yusaku and Yukiko met because Yukiko had been chosen to play the main character of a drama based on one of Yusaku's books.
• Yusaku's voice actor also starred a role as husband alongside Sumi Shimamoto in Rumiko Takahashi's work as Soichiro Otonashi in Maison Ikkoku.

In other languages

Language	Given Name	Family Name
Japanese	優作 Yūsaku	工藤 Kudō
Arabic	يوساكو Yūsāko	كودو Kōdo
Bahasa Indonesia	Yusaku	Kudo
Catalan	Yusaku	Kudo
Chinese	优作 Youzuo	工藤 Gongteng
English	Booker	Kudo
Filipino	Yusaku	Kudo
Finnish	Yusaku	Kudo
French	Yusaku	Kudo
German	Yusaku	Kudo
Italian	Yusaku (Yasuke in ep. 286)	Kudo
Korean	건 Gun	남 Nam
Spanish	Yusaku (anime), Yusuke (manga, file 218)	Kudo
Thai	ยูซากุ Yū-sā-ku	คุโด้ Khu-dô
Traditional Chinese	優作 Youzuo	工藤 Gongteng
Vietnamese	Yuusaku	Kudo

Gallery

• 

  Twenty years ago.

• 

  Ten years ago.

• 

  Yusaku responding to Toichi Kuroba's (Original Kaitou Kid) challenge saying "Yeah, Of course!".

• 

  Yusaku in the hall of Macademy Awards (Yukiko in disguise).

• 

  13 years ago.

• 

See also

• Characters