Art Museum Owner Murder Case
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| Episode 8 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}}) | |||
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| Title: | Art Museum Owner Murder Case | ||
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| Japanese title: | 美術館オーナー殺人事件 (Bijutsukan Ōnā Satsujin Jiken) | ||
| Original airdate: | February 26, 1996 | ||
| Season: | 1 | ||
| Manga source: | Volume 4: Files 1-3 (030-032) | ||
| English title: | The Art Museum Murder Case | ||
| Dubbed episode: | Episode 8 | ||
| English airdate: | June 3, 2004 | ||
| Cast: | Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Inspector Megure Detective Boys | ||
| Case solved by: | Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri | ||
| Next Conan's Hint: | Disposable camera | ||
| Director: | Kenji Kodama | ||
| Screenplay: | Kazunari Kouchi | ||
| Storyboard: | Ryo Yasumura | ||
| Episode director: | Keitaro Motonaga | ||
| Animation director: | Satoshi Ishino | ||
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| Opening song: | Mune ga Dokidoki | ||
| Closing song: | STEP BY STEP | ||
Cast
Case
Situation
Two security guards at the Beika Art Museum see a medieval suit of armor moving on its own. Ran hears the rumor and wants to visit the museum; when Conan and Kogoro mock her for believing it might be true, she forces them to come along for fear of her karate skills. While admiring a painting, Ran meets Ochiai, the curator of the museum, who explains his love for the art and then berates a museum worker named Kubota for not handling a painting properly. Another worker, Iijima, takes over the job before they are interrupted by the museum's new owner, Manaka, arriving with an architect. The museum will be demolished soon to make a casino, despite the sale having hinged on the promise to keep the museum open. After Kubota accidentally drops a helmet, Manaka mentions his plans to sell all the museum pieces, which frustrates Kubota enough to throw it down after, but Conan notices that Ochiai doesn't lecture Kubota this time. Conan, Kogoro and Ran visit the rest of the museum. As they are about to leave, Ran notices a previously closed gallery has reopened and convinces the other two to come along. In the "Hell Gallery" they first see a large painting of a knight having stabbed a demon in the name of justice. Ran then hears a dripping sound and turns to find that Manaka has been pinned to the opposite wall by a sword through the throat.
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Inspector Megure arrives to investigate, and he, Kogoro, and Conan check the surveillance cameras to see if the culprit was recorded. However, the murderer had been lying in wait in the guise of a knight's suit of armor.
The surveillance camera caught all of Manaka's brutal murder, multiple stabbings ending with him pinned to the wall and the knight walking away, towards the camera — exactly like, Kogoro and Conan realize, the painting in the gallery. Because the gallery was blocked off at 4 p.m. but re-opened by 5 p.m., and the video timestamps set the murder at about 4:30 p.m., Inspector Megure deduces that the murderer must be a museum worker. Conan also notices that Manaka tried to write something on a piece of paper between the first attack and his death; while he threw the pen away, the paper remains crumpled in his hand, and names Kubota as the killer. Kubota has no alibi as Ochiai had him doing a task in the office, where he was alone. He has motive because, as Iijima reveals, the owner wanted Kubota to repay the money he'd made selling pieces off secretly.
Conan finds a pen on the ground, which anyone in the museum could have forgotten on the table. It matches the video image and has ink, so Inspector Megure concludes that it was the pen Manaka used. Kubota is detained as they wait for the suit of armor to be found. Conan is unsatisfied with Kubota's apparent carelessness and why he would mirror a painting when he has no great love for art. He's also not sure if he's really the suspect. When Conan went back to the surveillance camera room, he lies the police officers that Inspector Megure needs help. When the police officers went out, he has now the chance to watch the surveillance footage one more time. He notices that Manaka looks shocked when he sees the paper he writes on, and realizes that the pen Conan found had its point retracted, when there wouldn't have been reason or time for Manaka to retract it before throwing it away. Conan tricks his way into re-examining the dying message, and finds inkless scribbles over the original writing. The police find the armor in Kubota's locker, but Conan has figured out the truth and knows the murderer's trick.
