Rube Goldberg Machine
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| Episode 1111-1112 (Int. Episode 1169-1170) | |||
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| Title: | Rube Goldberg Machine | ||
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| Japanese title: | ルーブ・ゴールドバーグマシン (Rūbu · Gōrudobāgu Mashin) | ||
| Original airdate: | January 20, 2024 (Part 1) January 27, 2024 (Part 2) | ||
| Broadcast rating: | 6.6% (Part 1) 6.2% (Part 2) | ||
| Filler case: | #410 | ||
| Season: | TBD | ||
| Manga source: | TV Original | ||
| Cast: | Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Misao Yamamura | ||
| Case solved by: | Misao Yamamura (via Conan) | ||
| Next Conan's Hint: | Yangnyeom chicken (Part 1) Scarf (Part 2) | ||
| Director: | Yasuichiro Yamamoto Nobuharu Kamanaka | ||
| Screenplay: | Akatsuki Yamatoya | ||
| Storyboard: | Mitsuko Kase | ||
| Episode director: | 1111: Yosuke Fujino 1112: Tazumi Mukaiyama | ||
| Animation director: | 1111: Kaoru Nagakawa Zi Dengjia Michitaka Yamamoto FALCO Suzuki Joji Yanase 1112: Kosei Takahashi Eiichi Tokura | ||
| Character design: | Masatomo Sudo Masanori Hashimoto (sub-character) Hiroshi Ogawa (design works) | ||
| Production cooperation: | 1111: Azeta Pictures 1112: Mouse | ||
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| Opening song: | Unraveling Love ~Sukoshi no Yūki~ | ||
| Closing song: | You & I | ||
Rube Goldberg Machine (ルーブ · ゴールドバーグマシン Rūbu · Gōrudobāgu Mashin) is the 1111th and 1112th episode of the Detective Conan anime.
Contents
Cast
Gadgets
Case
Situation
Part 1
A morning in the dreary-but-peaceful forest kicked off with a customary morning radio - Moriyama Shu's Morning Frolic. The shabby machine still managed to work despite its treacherous vicinity; it was being wrapped upon one of the trees: with an alarm clock assigned to six o'clock straight. If it was propagating the radio programme, six o'clock must have arrived. Whilst broadcasting the programme, the machine seemed to possess a built-in feature that automatically distributed some bird food at that time. With the food loaded onto the plate, two birds who were resting on the branches swiftly dashed towards it, seizing the first pleasure of the day. Just as the two birds were rejoicing over their "breakfast", an atrocious crow cropped up, brutally blasting them away. For some reason, the excessive force exerted by the crow on the plate of that radio machine led the plank to fall apart - this activated a pulley-like wheel, resulting in several dominoes to fall, overlapping each other; afterwards, it pushed a tiny marble to slide down a pre-prepared track, with all those momentum the ball gather along the long journey upon the track, it eventually rebounded at a metal can, bumping into a glass bottle which was attached with a rope; this then triggered a brick to be thrown onto a platform made out of wooden block, thereupon, the timber that were deposited on top of that platform fell accordingly, landing exactly at a lever device; finally, the axe that was originally quiet sitting on it ejected with a considerably amount of force. After all of those gimmicks, parts of a chimney fell abruptly from a nearby villa, this was followed by a tragic scream.
| Murder | |||||||||||
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Coincidentally, the Mouri family were lingering around the district as well. They were there because of Kogoro's affair: a client of his requested him to ascertain the identity of the intruder who has been on the rampage around his house; however, they managed to solve the mystery effortlessly, and the truth turned out to be that the intruder was merely a raccoon. As a result, they were on their way home, conversing jovially. After some minutes, they noticed Inspector Yamamura within a few miles, standing beside a huge mansion. Right after he saw them, he instantly waved at them. Kogoro thus inquired of him about what case he was investigating, and Yamamura responded that there seemed to be an accident that happened a while ago, with the outcome of having one deceased: a middle-aged man who got struck down by the fallen chimney pipe, when he was drinking coffee on the deck of the mansion. Ran remarked that she has seen the victim already on TV, and Yamamura uttered that the victim is named Kohei Inoue, who is the chairman of the chain restaurant "Cheom Cheom". Even though the situation at the crime scene made several people, including Yamamura, believe that the victim lost his life in a sorrow accident, but Conan, who has perceptive insight, immediately realised that it was actually a murder! He then pointed out that at one end of the chimenry pipe, which took Inoue's life, the interface was apparently dented. With this detail recognised, he surmised that it must have been caused by mankind.
By adjusting the perspective to the case, Inspector Yamamura thus advanced on investigating some acquaintances of Inoue, and found out that there were four people who lived in the same mansion: Fuma Tanaka, the president and CEO of "Cheom Cheom"; Norihiro Shimada, an investor who invested on "Cheom Cheom"; Arata Kawamoto, another investor who has been friends with the victim since school; Nanako Inoue, the victim's second wife, meanwhile the person who discovered the body. In addition, everyone that Yamamura mentioned possessed an alibi, except Inoue's wife.
After hearing about the possible suspects in the case, Conan decided to look for some clues. He utilised his criminal tracking glasses and glanced around: he then noticed a wooden house with intricate types of objects and determined that it must have something to do with the crime. He also urged the others to tag along; as they arrived there, they saw the radio machine along with that fallen plate. Conan contemplated and gazed at the alarm display with the time "6AM". As Ran questioned him about the situation, he explained to her about the notion of the "Rube Goldberg Machine", which was basically a set of mechanisms that liaise altogether, performing a simple action but in countless different steps and fashions. He then deduced that most likely, the culprit also used this type of machine to set up this automated murder.
Puzzled, the four of them entered the mansion and began asking the victim's wife some questions. They then learned that the victim had always gotten the habit of drinking coffee in the morning, at the exact spot and time. Kogoro thus deduced that the culprit most likely took advantage over this habit, and devised this complicated mechanical trick, as it would work out quite impressively since the victim's lifestyle was rather fixed. Yamamura then exclaimed that this would make solving this case much easier since they could simply narrow down the suspect circle with only the personnel who knew this habit. However, the victim's wife's proceeding words splattered Yamamura's figments of fantasies - the victim just got to disclose this habit some months ago on the TV, so technically, most people would have known this habit he had.
The victim's wife, Nanako, accused the president of "Cheom Cheom", Tanaka, for this murder. So they visited the restaurant where Tanaka worked. Tanaka kept insisting on his innocence, and reluctantly denying the accusation. After some questioning, he revealed that he really did undergone some unpleasant arguments with the victim not long ago, but that was concerning the Yangnyeom chicken sauce: the restaurants sold yangnyeom fried chicken, and the meal had to be laced with a special sauce that is sweet and spicy. Tanaka then explained that the sauce that he currently uses was invented by the founder of the restaurant, and he had no access to the secret recipe. He begged the victim many times for this recipe, just in case something would happen to him, but his request was being remorselessly turned down by the victim, who was obstinately against offering the recipe to Tanaka.
After visiting the "Cheom Cheom" president, Tanaka, everyone decided to have a word with Kawamoto, an unemployed investor who was friends with the victim. In front of Inspector Yamamura, he justified his integrity by demonstrating to everyone that there was literally no reason for him to murder Inoue, as they were not at odds, or any of the kind. After some unproductive talks, Kawamoto introduced them to another person who has a relationship to the victim - the proprietress of Club Rokumaikai, Manami Teshima. He claimed her to be Inoue's mistress. Accordingly, hoping to gather some useful information, rushed to find her, and fortunately, she was also in the same resort area, so meeting her came very handy in this scenario. Yamamura began to ask her questions. Teshima declared that the victim helped her open the club she now owned. Seeing how close Teshima was to the victim, Kogoro proceeded with his inquiry, asking if she knew who would hold grudges against the victim. Teshima thus responded to him that she in fact could relate to a person - Norihiro Shimada, one of the investors in the "Cheom Cheom" restaurant. Evidently, he had just had a tremendous quarrel with the victim from a few days back, and it happened to take place within her club. Afterwards, the police brought to them some findings regarding this investor. This proved that Teshima was not lying to them: Shimada had a fatal argument with the victim with respect to some company management policy; however, Shimada went too far by pointing fingers at the victim and roaring cruel words such as "I'll kill you". With this piece of information, Kogoro speculated that most likely their fight had escalated into a murder.
At the same time, within Shimada's lodging, a sense of malice was lurking in the room... Just as Shimada was taking a shower, there was a black silhouette acting suspiciously within his house.
Back to Kogoro's end, Conan looked up Shimada on the internet and found out that he was previously a passionate member of the Rube Goldberg Machine Club from the Haido University; and according to the website Conan searched, Shimada was precisely the president of the club that year, which could testify his ability of making Rube Goldberg machines. This did not wash up his innocence but seemed to append a further evidence for him being the murderer. While Yamamura and Kogoro were discussing and considering talking with Shimada, Conan strolled out and peered at the frozen lakes, where the snow was ubiquitous. Teshima showed up behind him and talked with Conan proactively. She told Conan that if he genuinely solved this puzzling Rube Goldberg Machine case, she would love to treat Conan a meal at her club, and Conan chuckled. All of a sudden, Kawamoto interrupted their conversation and started to overwhelm her with harsh words. Teshima, on the other hand, obviously was unwilling to back down, and stuck him with even more aggressive sentences - she declared that Kawamoto had a motive to kill the victim since Kawamoto nearly married Nanako, so in a way, Inoue "stole" a girl out of Kawamoto. Nevertheless, Kawamoto then began to suspect Teshima as the culprit simultaneously, since she had some affairs with Shimada as well, apparently.
- Conan constructed a suspect relationship chart in his mind
Conan heard all of that, and timely, Ran came to pick him up because Kogoro and Inspector Mamamura decided to pursue the prime suspect they currently had, Norihiro Shimada. They went to his lodging community but heard the news that Shimada was out. Conan thus began investigating Shimada's house alone, trying to dig up some valuable clues. He approached his house from the back side, where those big windows were installed. He noticed a pair of footsteps leading to that glass door upon the huge window. Conan was able to enter Shimada's house through that glass window. Within his room, there was an opened liquor and some left-over yanghyeom chicken on the table, and on the floor, right next to Shimada's bed, Conan found a sheet of paper that had the structure of the Rube Goldberg machine drawn on it. Conan promptly understood it was the plan for the complex Rube Goldberg mechanism they saw this morning. This further suggested that it was Shimada who plotted this murder, since he was quite into the Rube Goldberg machine itself.
Yamamura, Kogoro, and Ran got to Shimada's room too. Conan received another prominent clue from Yamamura: Shimada was sketching that Rube Goldberg machine plan in a public area and was apparently showing off to other people, and numerous witnesses could verify this fact. This precisely matched the tossed Rube Goldberg Machine plan paper in Shimada's house.
Yamamura then received a phone call from an anonymous user. The content of this call was that they saw Shimada buying mitarashi dango at a certain outlet mall; although this statement was doubted by Kogoro, they still attempted to go around and search for him. But then, Yamamura received another phone call, informing him that Shimada was also seen in a shop, eating tenzaru soba; but after some time, another phone call claimed Shimada to be buying homemade sausages in a shopping centre. This made Yamamura and Kogoro question the validity of the eyewitness information. With this predicament, they have been mandering around the area like a manipulated marionette. At last, Yamamura was told that a body was found, under the bridge that they were about to cross, and judging by the body's clothes and appearance, that was definitely Norihiro Shimada.
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Part 2
Having identified the victim as Norihiro Shimada, Conan and the majority began to scrutinise the crime scene. Inspector Yamamura initially thought that Shimada most likely committed suicide, probably due to the timidity and panic he possessed at that time. Jumping off the bridge seemed rather justifiable for this consequence. Notwithstanding that, Conan did not feel convinced at all. He inspected scrupulously at Shimada's dead body and found out a relatively useful clue: the scraf that the deceased wore was assuredly the off one out. The reason that this notion arose from Conan's mind was that, except for this scarf, other clothes that the victim had seemed quite worth a fortune (expensive brands). Conversely, the scarf that the body had is a fairly cheap and crude one, more commonly found in society, simply.
With this perplexity in mind, Yamamura was instructed to take off that scraf of the body. And what was beneath the scraf was... a noticeable mark caused by trangulation. Despite Yamamura thinking it would be plausible for the victim to strangulate himself while jumping down the bridge, Kogoro cut the non-sense out immediately and confidently procliamed that this could be treated as murder from now on.
After finishing checking the body out, Kogoro, Ran, and Conan stayed at the police station and attempted to unravel some of the mysteries. All of a sudden, Yamamura entered the room and handed in a piece of paper - it was the prenuptial contract signed by Kohei Inoue and Nanako Inoue. It was written clearly on the paper that if Kohei died before Nanako, all of his heritage would be transferred to Nanako, including that secret recipe for Yangnyeom chicken sauce. However, if Nanako acted unloyal to Kohei, she would not get a tinge of this legacy; precisely, all of them would be granted to an animal welfare society. Then here came the contradictory part: the entire contract was invariably limiting the freedom of Nanako, whereas there were no words stating the consequences if the other party, in this case, Kohei, would undergo, if unloyalty was manifested. As a result, Kogoro concluded that this was typically what we would call an "one-sided" contract, basically being unfair to Nanako. Conan also offered that by talking with the suspects, he learned that Nanako actually knew the presence of Kohei's mistress, thus in a way she could hold grudges against her husband.
Conan then reviewed that photo taken a few years back, concerning the Rube Goldberg Machine Club at Haido University, where Shimada was present. He finally realised that one of the girls who appeared in that photo was, in fact, Teshima. He was able to confirm this due to the moles on her face. Therefore, when Kawamoto was scolding Teshima, the remark "you and Shimada go way back" rang true. Though he still could not understand why she would conceal that information from everyone when accepting their inquiry.
Kogoro sighed and remarked that all of the suspects and clues seemed to all connect to each other, forming a sort of chain. Just like the Rube Goldberg Machine. Meanwhile, Conan thought that even though they really looked like they were all connected, some parts just detached somehow. Puzzled, he thought profoundly and had a slight epiphany in his mind. He then whispered towards Yamamura for some requests. However in the name of Shinichi Kudo. Hearing that it was the renowned detective "Shinichi" who asked for some assistance, Yamamura implemented it instantly. When he gave the results to Conan, Conan understood everything and smirked with his utmost confidence.
Conan began to set things up, and Yamamura, on the other hand, gathered all of the suspects at the police station. After declaring that they had identified the culprit for this serial murder case, everyone was dumbfounded. "Great detective Kogoro Mouri is here... but," Yamamura uttered. "the greater detective Kudo..." Just as he was about to say the famed name of "Kudo Shinichi", Conan perceived that it would be unsuitable for him to continue this sentence, as, for both, it would shatter Kogoro's vanity, and would make Ran feel confused. So right in time, Conan tranquillized him and took over this awkward speech, "Kudo Shinichi won't be solving this case either." Yamamura was fully in the coma.
People
Resolution
Trivia
- The "Rube Goldberg machine" referred to in the title originates from the American cartoonist, Rube Goldberg's works. This term manifests mechanical combinations that are designed to be overly complex and complete simple actions in a circuitous manner.
- The convoluted mechanical tricks rendered as the main theme of the case, in fact resemble a type of mystery school named Shinhonkaku Detective Fiction (新本格派推理):
- The case character Norihiro Shimada (島田 典弘)'s surname, was obviously inspired by the renowned mystery writer, Soji Shimada (島田 荘司 Shimada Sōji), a mystery writer who has written several Shinhonkaku mysteries;
- Likewise, the guest speaker that appeared on the radio goes by the name "Mitarashi Dango-san". The surname Mitarashi is exactly the surname of the fictional detective that Soji Shimada created, named Kiyoshi Mitarai (御手洗 潔 Mitarai Kiyoshi).
- Just like other episodes written by Yamatoya, many of the names featured in this episode have some relation to horse racing:
- Norihiro Shimada (島田 典弘) comes from Japanese jockey Norihiro Yokoyama (横山 典弘 Yokoyama Norihiro);
- Fuma Tanaka (田中 風馬) comes from Japanese jockey Fuma Matsuwaka (松若 風馬 Matsuwaka Fūma);
- Arata Kawamoto (河本 新) comes from Japanese jockey Arata Saito (斎藤 新 Saitō Arata);
- Manami Teshima (手島 まなみ) comes from Japanese jockey Manami Nagashima (永島 まなみ Nagashima Manami);
- Nanako Inoue (井上 奈々子) comes from Japanese jockey Nanako Fujita (藤田 菜七子 Fujita Nanako);
- Kohei Inoue (井上 浩平) comes from Japanese jockey Kohei Matsuyama (松山 弘平 Matsuyama Kōhei).
- "Morning Frolic" radio show, "Lokomaikai" club, and "Taigen" investment fund, all are names of horse.
- The children program mentioned by Conan refers to PythagoraSwitch, an educational program produced by NHK. During the beginning and ending of each episode, and between each segment, there are Pythagorean Devices (ピタゴラ装置 Pitagora Sōchi). "Pythagorean device" is the equivalent Japanese colloquialism for the American "Rube Goldberg machine".[1]
- During the joke card segment of Episode 1111, Kogoro is about to say "Pythagorean device", but Conan stopped him.
- Nanako Inoue's car is a grey Mini Cooper S (3rd generation). The license plate is 新宿 300, め 38 • 11 (Shinjuku 300, Me 38 • 11).
- The police car Ran and Kogoro take to save Nanako is a Toyota Crown GRS180. The license plate is 草津 840, ほ 62 - 27 (Kusatsu 840, Ho 62 - 27).
Gallery
Quotes
- Yamamura boasting himself:
I'm not a detective anymore. I'm an inspector.
(刑事じゃありません、警部です。)
- Manami Teshima (to Conan Edogawa):
Perhaps this series of cases itself is like a Rube Goldberg Machine. Like falling dominoes and rolling balls, hatred and sadness chain together like overlapping elements, leading to deaths. Please, little detective. Stop this Rube Goldberg Machine before things get worse.
(この一連の事件も、ルーブ・ゴールドバーグマシンみたいなものかもしれない。倒れるドミノや、転がるボールのように、さまざまな要素が重なり合うように、憎しみや悲しみが連鎖し、そして人が死ぬ。お願いよ、小さな探偵さん。これ以上酷いことになる前に、このルーブ・ゴールドバーグマシンを止めて。)
- Yamamura mispronouncing Rube Goldberg Machine:
Wait, look at this. They're plans for a Rube Girlfriend Machine.[N 1]
(ほら、これを見てください。ビービブーブブビンゴマシンの設計図ですよ。)
In other languages
| Language | Title | Translation |
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 Arabic |
آلة روب غولدبيرغ | Rube Goldberg Machine |
 French (Subbed) |
La machine de Rube Goldberg | The Rube Goldberg Machine |
Footnotes
Notes
- ^ Language localisation. The literal translation is "Beep-Boop-Bingo Machine" instead of "Rube Girlfriend Machine".
