Snake
| Snake | |
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| Japanese name: | スネーク (Sunēku) |
|---|---|
| Age: | Unknown |
| Gender: | Male |
| Aliases: | Jackal |
| First appearance: | Magic Kaito Chapter 19 Anime: OVA 4 |
| Appearances: | Chapters: 6 Episodes: 3 OVAs: 1 Specials: 4 |
| Japanese voice: | Kouji Ishii (OVA 4) Houchu Ohtsuka (Magic Kaito Special) |
Snake (スネーク Sunēku) is a character from the Magic Kaito series. He is a codenamed agent in Magic Kaito's unnamed organization and the murderer of the first Kaitou Kid, Toichi Kuroba.
Contents
Background
Snake revealed himself to be the one who killed Toichi Kuroba eight years before the events of Magic Kaito. It seems that Toichi's death may have been mistaken for an accident, since Kaito was shocked to learn from Konosuke Jii that his father was murdered.
Jii had told Kaito that he dressed as the Kid in an attempt to lure out Toichi's murderer, suggesting that he perhaps knows something of Snake or the organization he works with.
Snake is searching for the Pandora Gem, which is said to grant immortality. He also intends to kill the Kaitou Kid once and for all, to stop him from getting in the way of his plans.
Personality and Skills
Snake is a good shot, but not very subtle. He prefers to hold people up at gunpoint, often while backed by a posse of underlings. Snake often shoots people for convenience rather than necessity, and does not bother silencing his weapon. His aggression is such that he is more than willing to chase Kaitou Kid around in a building with police in order to get at the thief and any gem he might have.
Appearance
Snake wears a dark overcoat and fedora, similar to Gin's and Vodka's. He is easily identifiable by his large horseshoe mustache.
Plot overview
Magic Kaito
Snake first appears in Volume 3 of Magic Kaito, "Blue Birthday," where he calls the Kid "Toichi" and shoots Kaito; only the latter's bulletproof vest saves his life. In the subsequent case, "Green Dream," Kid notes that suspicious men in gray coats are now present at all Kaitou Kid heists.
He next appears in Volume 4, pursuing the blue ruby known as the "Red Tear," owned by a family of British magicians known as the Hoppers. Kaito suspects that Snake believes the gem has a good chance of being the Pandora Gem. However, since Kaito's father Toichi was trained by James Hopper, grandfather of the current magician Jody Hopper, Kaito knew that the gem was actually a sort of photo album which, when illuminated, projected images of the Hopper family onto the walls.
When Snake arrived to steal the Red Tear, he had one of his men dress as the Kaitou Kid while he himself went backstage and nonfatally shot many in the magaician troupe in an attempt to get Jody to turn the gem over to him. He was about to shoot Jody but Kaito saved her life, then led Snake on a chase which ended in the latter falling out a window. Snake landed safely on an adjacent roof and presumably fled.
Detective Conan
Snake has had no canonical appearances in Detective Conan. On a related note, the Kaitou Kid's true motives for staging heists (to find the men in black who killed his father, and to destroy the eternal-life-serum they were after) have never been alluded to.
In OVA 4, "Conan, Kid and the Crystal Mother," 'Jackal,' as he is called, appears on a train to Osaka that the Queen of England is riding in, as well as Inspector Nakamori, Aoko Nakamori, Kaito Kuroba, Ran Mouri, and Conan Edogawa. Kid has issued a notice declaring he will steal a jewel known as the Crystal Mother from the queen, which is why Inspector Nakamori was put in charge of her escort. Kaito is there because he had asked Aoko if he could come (the reason being, of course, that he plans to steal the jewel as the Kaitou Kid). Conan and Ran are present because, according to Ran, Kazuha invited her to Osaka. Jackal's intention is to steal the Crystal Mother and kill Kid, as he has "deterred us too many times." He appears to be working with an assassin named Rose who plans to kill Queen Selizabeth.
While Conan and the young prince are discussing the possible location of the jewel, Conan catches Jackal listening in on their conversation. Jackal appears to be going for his gun inside his overcoat, but when he sees a 'kid' he hurriedly makes an excuse and walks away. Conan first wonders if Jackal was Kid in disguise, then quickly decides against it. However, he thinks "I've definitely seen that face before..." He later recognizes Jackal from Professor Agasa's computer as an internationally-known jewel thief. After taking out the assassin Rose he attempted to chase after Kid and Jackal, but Ran stopped him. Conan allowed her to drag him away, thinking "that guy should be able to take care of himself, right?"
Trivia
- The codename "Snake" may be a reference to the Snake in the Garden of Eden in Judeo-Christian tradition. The snake is the reason people are no longer immortal; he convinced Adam and Eve to eat the Apple of Knowledge of Good and Evil instead of the apple of the Tree of Life. Apples represent immortality in the culture of many ancient societies, particularly ancient Greek mythology. In this vein, the Pandora Gem, with its red hue, can be seen as a sort of apple.
