Reiko Kujo
Reiko Kujo | |
Japanese name: | 九条 玲子 (Kujō Reiko) |
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Age: | 33 |
Gender: | Female |
Date of birth: | unknown |
Relatives: | unknown |
Occupation: | Public prosecutor |
Nicknames: | Madonna of Prosecutors |
First appearance: | Anime: Episode 264 |
Appearances: | Episodes: 7 |
Japanese voice: | Rica Matsumoto |
Reiko Kujo (九条 玲子 Kujō Reiko ) is a character in the anime franchise Detective Conan.
Contents
Background
Reiko Kujo is Eri Kisaki's beautiful and strong-willed rival in those courtroom battles where the two meet on opposing sides. She is a well known professional lawyer who has gathered a reputation as a successful, independent, feared and respected female prosecuting attorney in the Tokyo District Court, Criminal Division, Third courtroom, and, as a result of such, the nickname Madonna of Prosecutors (検察のマドンナ Kensatsu no Madon'na ). She lives alone in an apartment and, during her break, trains in a sport center with a tapis roulant.
She has studied law in an unknown university and became the substitute prosecutor of the Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office, working under Takeshi Nezu, of whom she was clearly in love but not reciprocated. Five years ago, her superior was the primary prosecutor in a case which started as an investigation into the Takeuchi Construction Company scandal, over some defective townhouse construction work, but they be to suspect it involved bribery on a political level and joined forces with the S.I.T. (Special Investigation Team), first division of the police headquarters for handling hostage situations such as kidnappings or hijackings, directed by his best friend, the chief inspector Kenzo Katsuragi. But then the key deponent of their case, the construction design office's manager, committed suicide and turned the case into a maze. They could have resolved the case on Hiroaki Takeuchi's testimony, but he suddenly changed his story entirely, which caused her to have no choice but to cease the prosecution. She sadly replaced her superior as the chief prosecutor, who ended up being happily reassigned elsewhere, in Tottori, in the form of taking responsibility, along with his wife Kayoko and their only child, where he died two years later, on November 27th.
Kujo first met Kisaki when the latter took up the defense of a murder suspect. She became determined to beat Kisaki's winning streak and thus further her reputation by defeating the one defender who had never lost a case. However, she was defeated.
Despite this defeat, with the help of Sasaki, her subordinate and the substitute prosecutor, Kujo vowed to humble Kisaki whenever a chance would present itself. However, she was always foiled by Conan's brilliance as a detective. In addition, a useful side effect of the confrontations between Kujo and Kisaki was that the latter's separated husband, Kogoro Mouri, would prepare to jump to his wife's defense in whatever way he could, even to the point of testifying as a witness in court.
Unlike Ran at their first meeting, Conan knows her very well because she's a close acquaintance of the Kudo family.[1] Although they haven't a close relationship yet, since all cases are solved by Sleeping Kogoro, she should note that Conan has a keen sense of observation, complimenting him during a check out on the crime scene for their next trial. However, as always, Kogoro contradicts her, because for his ignorance all he observed were useless things, and their conversation is interrupted by the victim's housekeeper, who is a key witness.
It's very clear that Sasaki, who is also very similar to her former superior, loves her. However, it's still unknown if she reciprocates his feelings.
Personality
Kujo is rather rash and eager to proclaim a defendant's guilt even with scant evidence at hand. Whether this stems from her personal drive to defeat Kisaki or from her profession is as yet unrevealed. The first time they meet the two women know each other by reputation. Whenever a case brings them together as opponents in the courtroom, Eri Kisaki and Reiko Kujo deal with each other on a strictly professional basis despite their intense rivalry. Each of them respects the other for her skills, however, and whenever a case turns against her, Kujo is fair enough to accept defeat and bring the true culprit to justice. Although some of these actions are dubious especially in the court, she remains professional and her relationship with Eri is cordial.
Kujo has a habit of twirling her pen around her finger when tense or in thought.
Appearance
Reiko is a very attractive woman, fairly tall, with light skin tone, dark violet eyes and a long black hair. Her eyes were green at her first appearance. Furthermore, she is usually seen wearing business suits whenever performing in the court. She is right-handed.
Her character design minorly changes for episode 489: no lipstick and slight hair alterations. Furthermore, her previous strong, capable, and domineering image is changed in a gentle and slightly sad side. However, in subsequent episodes, her original appearance has been restored.
Abilities
Intellectual abilities
Kujo is a calculating and intelligent individual who carefully analyses her case piece by piece and thoroughly examines the flow and situation of her prosecutions. However, she often lacks concrete evidence in her investigation which usually results a backfire whenever she states her conclusions.
Appellations
Plot overview
Courtroom Confrontation: Kisaki vs. Kogoro (Anime: 264-265)
Reiko investigates as prosecutor against Eri. The defendant, Shinji Usami, is said to have killed a man, Tsuyoshi Hirasawa, on whom he has a grudge for having slew his child Masaki by thoughtlessness. When Eri wants to take Kogoro as a witness, Kujo takes her away from her. In the end, as usual, Eri won the trial. It turned out that while Usami was involved in the crime in question, he was actually providing a cover for the true culprit, his ex-wife Masako Kameda, who was subsequently exposed and arrested.
Courtroom Confrontation II: Kisaki vs. Kujo (Anime: 297-298)
After Ran has invited her mother to a thermal bath, the next case is already waiting for her. As always, her rival Reiko Kujo is also represented. After several negotiations, the case is solved, thanks to Conan as Sleeping Kogoro.
Courtroom Confrontation III: Prosecutor as Eyewitness (Anime: 489)
She is the prosecutor against Hiroaki Takeuchi, a key figure in the Takeuchi Construction, who had been accused of hit-and-run incident with the death of a biker, Yasuyuki Matsukawa. However, the evidence suggests it was his wife, Mariko Takeuchi, who has committed the crime. Hiroaki calls her, telling to meet him, and he will tell her the truth. Accompanied by Mariko, she visits Hiroaki and sees him fall off his apartment balcony to his death.
Believing her questioning motivated his suicide, she quits her job as a prosecutor. But she learns from Eri the possibility it was a murder made to look like a suicide by Mariko. During the hearing, Conan tranquilizes Kogoro and, with supporting evidence, reveals Mariko to be the cause of the hit-and-run and that she murdered Hiroaki.
Due to this case, she has been given a six-month salary deduction as punishment and is on technical leave for a month, and Eri was grilled by the higher-ups as well. But, it looks like it's a good break for her. She hasn't been on vacation for a while now, then takes it nice and slow, having a safe trip and forgetting about the case. She's heading to Tottori. Her former superior's third anniversary memorial is coming up, so she plans to visit his grave, invited by her old friend Kayoko Nezu. She's back to her old self.
Courtroom Confrontation IV: Juror Sumiko Kobayashi (Anime: 606-607)
Different looks
Name origin
Her name comes from Sakurako Kujo (九条 櫻子 / Kujō Sakurako), one of the main protagonists in the manga series Beautiful Bones: Sakurako's Investigation, where Sakurako is an osteologist investigating the deaths of different unsolved case victims with her passion for necrology and her collections of human and animal bones.
In other languages
See also
References
- ^ The two photos in her apartment are about Kudo residence, but with an inverted orientation.