You, if you want it to be! We welcome everyone, from the uninitiated, to those who aren't caught up but want to be, to those who just want to go another round!
2. How can I participate?
Read the manga! Though, I guess that's obvious lol.
If you'd like, post using #DetcoBookClub or interact directly with our weekly posts!
Start up your own offshoot group with friends!
Really just whatever pleases you! We're just here to offer a framework, so what you do with it is up to you!
3. Are there any rules?
The only thing we ask is that you don't interact with our posts with spoilers for future chapters we haven't yet covered. We want this to be a space that's newcomer friendly, where spoilers aren't a concern. The tag is fair game though!
4. If the goal is to cover about a volume per week, why are the weekly chapters not simply organized by volume?
The short answer is "because reading it that way sucks, actually". The long answer is that each weekly set has been organized to cover a fairly consistent number of chapters each week, without leaving cases unfinished or hitting you with cliffhangers. Also, some consideration has been paid to keeping consecutive cases together where appropriate, such as when dealing with an ongoing plot thread.
5. What were the criteria for deciding which movies to include?
Movies that are directly referenced in canon
Movies that heavily inspired aspects of canon
Movies that focus on the Organization
Movies that expand upon motivations or characterization in a meaningful way
Conversely, movies that are either distinctly contradictory to or have no bearing whatsoever on canon have been omitted.
6. Why are there random Magic Kaito chapters in here?
Sometimes Detco does this thing where it simply assumes you've read Magic Kaito. We've inserted some chapters as the bare minimum necessary to prevent moments where you might otherwise lack context for who or what is being referenced.
That said, this book club is organized by Magic Kaito shills, and we encourage you to just read all of Magic Kaito anyway lol.
7. Is this book club language-specific?
Nope! Our Case Notes focus on presenting the context of the original Japanese text to an English speaking audience, but you are free to do your reading in whatever language suits you, from whatever source you choose.
8. The pace is too fast/slow for me. What can I do?
Go at your own pace! We want this experience to be stress-free and fun, so don't worry about falling behind. You can still participate however you like!
The same goes for jumping ahead of us! In fact, here's a spreadsheet with our full schedule. Go ham, at whatever speed suits you. You can even save a copy of it for yourself and use it as a reading tracker!
9. Where else can I find Detco Book Club?
Twitter
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If you have any other questions, our asks are open!
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We continue the trend of easy weeks with another easiest week yet! There are only a few notes here, focused mostly on references and other notes that focus on enhancing the experience, rather than more difficult language or culture reference.
1) Names!
Got some easy themes for each case, so let's just go in order.
Star Blade Case
As you might guess from a case about a movie series, the named characters in this case are all references to movie figures.
Bungo Tatei (建井文吾): Steven Spielberg, based on the Japanese pronunciation of Steven (スティーヴン, suti-vun) being similar to sounds in the Japanese order of the character’s name, Tatei Bungo.
Jouji Narukawa (鳴川丈治) Narukawa is a unique situation, in that technically only his last name was available in the manga. The anime staff gave him the very on-the-nose first name of Jouji, for George Lucas.
Ami (亜美): Amy Irving, Steven Spielberg’s first wife.
Fake Wedding Case
The various characters here are all very simple nods to various bells and whistles of a wedding, often by rearranging various sounds in their names.
Rei Masudo (益戸麗): Dress (doresu)
Masateru Taira (平正輝): Tie (tai)
Rinzou Gunji (郡司倫造): Ring (ringu)
Teigo Shimabukuro (島袋貞悟): Glove (tebukuro)
Fukuharu Karube (軽辺福春): Veil (be-ru)
Flipped Over Belongings Murde
We remain very on-the-nose in this case, where (almost) everyone is referencing writing and literature!
Ichimura (市村): Likely referencing Etsuko Ichihara (市原悦子), the lead actress in the suspense drama The Housekeeper Saw.
Novel (ノベル): Novel. Nice and easy.
The potential heroine of the supernatural mystery novel, Yako Hyakki (百鬼夜子), is an extremely on the nose reference to the Hyakki Yagyou (百鬼夜行), or a parade of youkai said to wander the streets at night.
Sonoko’s Handkerchief Murder
Conan gives us the reasoning for the two characters that have any overt references, but let’s break those down a little more.
Both names are based on somewhat uncommon surnames that, when written in kanji, look like Japanese dates. The matching surname pronunciations are based on associations that come from the old Japanese calendar.
Hozumi (八月一日): Written as ホヅミ by the character in katakana, because most people would read the actual kanji as “August 1st”. The name comes from the practice of plucking (tsumu) the ear (ho) of rice and offering it to the gods on this day in the old calendar.
Tatsuzou Watanuki (綿貫辰三): As a nonstandard surname, Watanuki can also be written as 四月一日, or April 1st. The name comes from the shift from winter to spring; the cotton (wata) stuffed into kimono to keep them warm could be removed (nuku) at the start of spring.
2) Remember Them?
The group the culprits belong to in Sonoko’s Handkerchief Murder is the Deisan-kai.
They’ve only been mentioned once previously as the yakuza group that Kiriko Busujima belongs to. She’s brought up in the Black Organization VS FBI Assassination Case as a mumber of the Deisan-kai’s leadership who put out a hit on Yasuteru Domon, the Black Organization’s target .
3) Culture
A small note here from the Sonoko's Handkerchief Murder that isn't strictly necessary to the case, but was a fun chance to talk about something nonetheless!
紅葉狩り (momiji-gari, lit. “red leaf hunting”), is the cousin to hanami, or cherry blossom viewing.
The English terms for the practice are “leaf peeping” or “fall color tourism”, and refer to the practice of traveling to more forested areas to observe and enjoy the way leaves change colors in autumn.
Though there are similar practices in parts of the US and Finland, in Japan, momiji-gari is usually done between mid October and early December. The large number of deciduous trees within Kyoto is at least said to be partially attributed to the love of momiji-gari.
The practice has been observed since the Heian period, when it also earned its name. So why is it leaf “hunting”? Because the observation and appreciation of leaves used to involve breaking smaller branches from trees and studying them up close - an act that is, in modern times, punishable by law.
4) Short & Sweet References
A lot of very obvious references this time around. Let's start with the most obvious of these!
It probably goes without saying that “Star Blade” is a reference to Star Wars. This case was published in August 2005, and features Star Blade VI; about three months earlier, in May 2005, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (the sixth film) had just released in theaters.
As for the featured characters, they’re all YAIBA references! It's a very simple mixing of syllables to create the Star Blade characters.
Dark Sashimu: Musashi Miyamoto
Bei Ju: Jubei Mitsuyoshi Yagyu
Kisasa: Kojiro Sasaki
Dark Takio: Soshi Okita
Though, as with all Yaiba references, it could just as likely be various historical references. These particular figures are from different eras, though, so I’m more inclined to think to think it’s “samurai names in YAIBA.”
And as a bonus, the theater the movie is playing at, "Tohho Cinemas," is an easy reference to the real life Toho Cinemas!
There are also three smaller references:
The “Akutayama Prize” (芥山賞) mentioned in the Flipped Over Belongings Murder is a reference to the Akutagawa Prize (芥川賞), a semi-annual award given to the best published story from a rising author.
One of the toys in the same case is clearly Kaito - the cat and the character. It’s a little hard to read, but the text at the bottom of the case it's in reads マジックカイト, or “Magic Kaito” in katakana.
“Red Leaves of Winter” (冬の紅葉, fuyu no momiji), the TV drama mentioned in Sonoko’s Handkerchief Murder, is a reference to the 2002 Korean drama Winter Sonata (rendered as fuyu no sonata in Japanese). The actual content of the drama seems to be at least partially inspired by the 1977 Japanese film The Yellow Handkerchief.
And that brings us to the end of the week! Thank you as always for reading, and hope to see you next time.
Another nice and easy week! Probably one of our shortest in a while. But there's still some very silly things going on, so let's take a look at those.
1) Names!
Despite some of these cases not having many named characters in them, every case this week has something going on.
Cell Phone SOS Case
Though there’s only one named character here, it’s still a topical reference!
Mitsuru Osabe (長部満) is a reference to Oshamambe (長万部), a town in Hokkaido with a popular fishing spot.
Seashell Hunt Murder
Continuing our location-based references, the club members are named after famous clamming sites.
Tsuguo Ushigome (牛込嗣夫): Ushigome (牛込) Beach, Chiba.
Mitsue Yashima (八島光枝): Yashima (屋島) West Beach, Kagawa.
Takashi Mitsuse (三瀬隆): Funabashi Sanbanze (ふなばし三番瀬) Seaside Park, Chiba.
Shouko Hisazu (久津梢子): Kuzuma (久津間) Beach, Chiba.
Russian Blue Cat Case
Another one-name wonder!
The client, Kirishita (桐下), is loosely based on the Japanese word for “Greece” (girisha), due to the various Greek letters used in the phone message.
Technically, there’s also Goro, Eri’s cat. Goro is likely named after Kogoro, but Eri claims it’s from the phrase “ゴロゴロ” (goro goro), an onomatopoeic phrase for purring.
Sealed Window Murder
The four musicians are all references to The Beatles. Mostly, their first names are warped versions of the four Beatles’ members first names, following Japanese pronunciation.
Jun Makino (槙野純): John (jon) Lennon.
Tooru Tendou (天堂亨): Paul (po-ru) McCartney
Youji Kuramoto (倉本耀治): George (jo-ji) Harrison
Rinko Honari (保波倫子): Ringo Star
Plus, their band name, Dorcus, is a genus of stag beetle. So it’s a multi-layered pun!
2) Remember Them?
Two small callbacks this week.
Jugo’s mistaken name for Kogoro, the “Smoking Kogoro”, is a reference to his introductory case, the Chinese Restaurant Murder (Ch. 347-349).
Seeing a lot more footnotes recently! The villa Ran and Conan attempt to visit with Sonoko in the Sealed Window Murder is the very same one featured way back during the Bandaged Man Murder (Ch. 40-44).
3) Japanese Language Quirks
A couple of small topics and one slightly larger one. Let's get the smaller ones out of the way first:
愛好会 (aikoukai) is a club for people who have a shared love of something. The club in the Seashell Hunt Murder makes a pun out of this, transforming it into 愛好貝 - pronounced the same way, but replacing the last kanji with the kanji for “shellfish.”
甘い (amai) is a word of many meanings that are all, in some way, connected to the word “sweet.” There are associations between that and naivety, so amai can also be used to call something naive or simple. In the Sealed Window Murder, Yamamura says this case was “sweeter” (easier) than red-bean soup with honey. Which is quite sweet.
The larger topic this week is gyaru-moji, featured in the Russian Blue Cat Case. We'll talk about it in a little more detail later, but for now, let's take a look at the actual text message.
The case spends most of it time with Kogoro attempting to figure out an otherwise unintelligible garble of letters and characters from multiple languages. So instead of explaining Kogoro’s logic for each part of the message, let’s take a look at the whole thing and see what maps onto what.
As Sonoko so easily translates, and substituting kanji where they would normally be, the cellphone messages is おとーさんの誕プレ買いに行くの付き合って (oto-san no tanpure kai ni iku no tsukatte), which is “come with me to buy a birthday present for my dad.”
4) Culture
Two topics this week!
Golden Week (again)
The timing of the Cell Phone SOS Case is fairly important to figuring out aspects of its clues. We’ve touched on Golden Week before due to the timing of Shinichi’s birthday in The Time-Bombed Skyscraper, but as a reminder: Golden Week is a series of national holidays in late April and early May. Due to weekends and various laws about days between two holidays being counted as a holiday as well, Golden Week can be as short as a long weekend, or as long as 10-12 days.
One of the many holidays at this time of year is Children’s Day. Though generally associated with the health and happiness of all children nowadays, the source of this holiday is Tango no Sekku, a festival celebrating young boys. There are a number of symbols and events associated with the holiday, but one of the most colorful is the koinobori, or the carp streamers. These fish-shaped windsocks represent courage and determination due to carps swimming upstream, and represent the hope that kids grow up happy and healthy. But they tend to only be hung up for the week or so surrounding the Golden Week holidays; it was already just barely after Children’s Day in the case, but once it got past the weekend, it’s likely they would have started to be taken down en masse.
Gyaru-moji
So, we decoded that text message from the Russian Blue Cat Case earlier, but what even was that?
Gyaru-moji is an intentionally obfuscated writing system that was primarily used and popularized by young women, especially those involved in gal culture. What makes it unique to a number of other SMS languages, though, is that gyaru-moji is often much more difficult to type than the regular Japanese due to ① the number of characters from other languages that are involved (chiefly English and Greek, with some Cyrillic), and ② intentionally increasing the number of characters necessary by breaking up kanji and hiragana into parts, so doing so was often a sign of friendship. The grammar is sometimes warped a bit as well, so the entire system is truly unintelligible to those not in the know.
In 2005, when this case was published, about 80% of high school girls could read gyaru-moji, even if they couldn’t type it themselves. As a texting style, it was often used by middle and high school girls to near exclusivity, and largely abandoned after high school graduation. Boys, meanwhile, basically never used gyaru-moji.
As an example of what gyaru-moji tends to look like, this is a (probably) non-exhaustive list of some of the character substitutions and combinations for hiragana, specifically.
5) Detective References
The client in the Russian Blue Cat Case, upon seeing Goro, makes a reference to Mike-neko Holmes (Calico Holmes), with a picture of the first book in the series, Mike-neko Holmes no Suiri (Calico Holmes' Deduction )in the background. Mike-neko Holmes is an INCREDIBLY long-running novel series written by Jirou Akagawa that spans 42 novels and 14 short story collections between 1978 and 2025. These stories center around Holmes, a calico cat that was adopted by a bumbling detective and his sister that is either very smart, or just so happens to coincidentally point out items useful to the case at hand.
And then, later in the case, Kogoro claims that Goro is closer to Lupin than Holmes. Need I say more?
6) Short & Sweet References
The fishing spots mentioned in the Cell Phone SOS Case are all slightly modified versions of actual fishing spots.
Nakaarai (中荒): Ooarai (大洗), Ibaraki.
Kusarazu (久更津): Kisarazu (木更津), Chiba.
Komaezaki (桔前崎): Omaezaki (御前崎), Shizuoka.
The Russian Blue Cat Case also has a couple of small references.
The drama Yoko is in, “Blue Suspicion,” is also a reference to the romance TV drama “Red Suspicion” from 1975.
And then, there's Goro!
Though it probably goes without saying, Goro’s hat is a reference to Kaitou Kid, which makes the second hat Conan’s holding a reference to Hakuba!
The likely reason for this particular reference is due to the real-life circumstances surrounding Goro. About a month before this case was serialized, Gosho got married to Minami Takayama. They received a Russian Blue as a wedding gift that they named Kaito (not Conan - because, as Takayama so aptly put it, “I’m Conan!”).
The image on the cover of volume 51 is actually a picture of Kaito!
And that brings us to the end of the week! Thank you as always for reading, and hope to see you next time.
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The various characters of this case are all doing double duty. They both reference various ski resort locations, while also referencing various parts of any given resort.
Another minor phone-based technological aspect this week, in the Magazine Interview Murder. This aspect is getting a little rarer and rarer to see as time passes.
We’ve previously talked about answering machines - specifically older ones that still used physical cassettes - but one other aspect of answering machines that eventually developed was the ability to force calls to go to the answering machine automatically. On some models, like the one pictured in the case, this was as easy as pressing a single button on the machine.
Similar settings are obviously available nowadays on cell phones, with some of them allowing for much more granular control over your voicemail settings, but they generally don’t see nearly as much usage nowadays with the prevalence of instant messaging changing the culture around phone usage.
3) Japanese Language Quirks
Two very minor notes this week!
Goroawase (Again)
Number puns are just so easy to pull off.
Which is why Sato uses goroawase with her own name to convince one of the suspects that she has at least a passing interesting in rare or collectable bills. In her case, she claims she has a certain bank note with a serial number that ends in 385.
3: Mi, from the native Japanese pronunciation, mittsu
8: Wa, from hachi, since wa/ha can often be interchangeable in certain contexts.
5: Ko, from the borrowed Chinese pronunciation, go.
I'm Number One!
Conan uses a pun based on his and Heiji’s names at the beginning of the Snow Woman Murder.
Shinichi (新一) has the kanji for “one” (一), while Heiji’s uses the kanji for “next” (次), which can often mean “two” or “second” depending on the context.
So, Shinichi is inherently number one.
4) Culture
This is wear the bulk of this week's notes lies. There are three topics here; the first is from the Group Date Kidnapping, and the next two are from the Snow Woman Murder.
Group Dates
Goukon has a few standard translations people will use in an attempt to get the meaning of this word across, like “group dating”, “singles party”, or “mixer”. Depending on what you associate these words with, though, they don’t always get the job done.
合コン is a portmanteau of the words 合同 (goudou), which means “combination” or “union”, and コンパ (konpa), a casual drinking party held by university students to just hang out or make new friends.
A goukon, then, is a casual get-together organized by friends both to socialize and to find potential romantic partners. The most stereotypical way these are organized involves two people of the opposite sex gathering a set number of single friends each. The tables are usually organized so that men sit on one side and women sit on the other; this allows them to whisper (or text) amongst themselves as they discuss any potential dates across the table. But, as with Takagi and Sato in this case, desperate times may call for desperate measures, and people who are already taken may join to help fill out the numbers. Importantly, one-night stands or casual flings are usually not the goals of a goukon.
Bless You
While English (and many other languages) have a variant of “bless you” for sneezing, no such phrase exists in Japanese in the modern era. There used to be one, used as a warding charm of sorts out of a fear that your soul might exit from your nose (kusame kusame, from the word that would eventually mutate into kushami, or “sneeze”), but you’ll be lucky if people recognize that phrase today.
Instead, sneezes are associated with a superstition: if you sneeze, people are gossiping about you.
This probably started with some early literature. In the Manyoushuu, an eighth century literature compilation, there's a poem about a man believing his wife is thinking of him when he sneezes. This good connotation and the aforementioned negative ones combine together with the spontaneity of sneezes to give the impression of a supernatural cause.
That's why the superstition even goes so far as to dictate what kind of gossip might be going down based on how many times you sneeze. There are some variations of this, but one of the more common proverbs is 一そしり 二笑い 三惚れ 四風邪. “One is criticism, two is ridicule, three is love, and four is a cold.”
Woman of the Snow
The various stories about the yuki-onna as presented in the Snow Woman Murder don’t match any known myths, but there are some details that are shared. The yuki-onna is one of the most ubiquitous youkai in Japanese myth, meaning there are almost as many variations of the story as there are distinct regions in Japan. And, as with both major variations discussed, there are legends that paint her as vicious and out for her victims’ lifeforce; and some that paint her in more sympathetic or pitiable lights, like the water beggar of Tottori or the lunar princess of Yamagata.
One very specific variant, however, belongs to Lafcadio Hearn, known also as Yakumo Koizumi. He was a Greek and Irish writer, translator, and teacher, and one of the most significant figures in spreading Japanese culture and mythology to the English-speaking world via his books. One such book, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, includes his retelling of the yuki-onna myth.
In brief, Hearn’s version is the following:
Two woodcutters, the elderly Mosaku and his 18 year old apprentice Minokichi, traveled from their village one ordinary day to collect wood, as they usually do. One evening, while trapped by a snowstorm, they were visited by a woman clad entirely in white. Her icy breath killed Mosaku, but she spared Minokichi due to his youth; however, if he ever spoke of her to others, she would immediately kill him.
Eventually, Minokichi regained his ordinary life, collecting wood alone to support his mother. Years later, he encounters a woman named O-Yuki, who claims she is going to Edo to live with family after her parents passed. The two take a liking to each other - and Minokichi’s mother takes a liking to her as well - so they wed. They have ten beautiful children, but O-Yuki never seems to age despite this.
One evening, after the children had been put to sleep and O-Yuki began sewing, Minokichi commented that looking at her reminded him of an experience in his youth. She asks him to continue, and he recounts his encounter with the Woman of the Snow. O-Yuki flies into a rage, claiming that if it weren’t for their children sleeping, she would have killed him then and there. She then melted into mist and faded away, but not before warning Minokichi that she would come for his life if their children ever had any reason to complain about him.
5) Detective References
This isn’t the first time Edogawa Ranpo’s Detective Boys have been brought up, but this time Kobayashi feels the need to make it an even more diegetic reference in the Magazine Interview Murder.
As mentioned way back when, Kobayashi is the leader of this group of children who aid Kogoro Akechi in his detective work. The journalist himself also brings up Ranpo's stories when he originally brings the idea of the interview to Kobayashi.
6) Short & Sweet References
Got a few of these in the first two cases. So, in order...
Group Date Kidnapping
Prince Shoutoku, the historical figure featured on the bank note Sato mentions, was the original figure featured on the 10000 yen bill, which was introduced in 1958.
The “Jaguars” player Kiyomatsu (清松) mentioned on the TV schedule is a reference to professional baseball players Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原和博) and Matsui Hideki (松井秀喜). “Jaguars” was also the old name for the Hanshin Tigers’ second string.
Magazine Interview Murder
Koueikan, the publisher the culprit works for, is a pronunciation-based combination of Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan.
Touto Dome is a reference to Tokyo Dome, an indoor stadium that serves as the home of the baseball team the Yomiuri Giants. It being indoor means weather events and pollen concerns are (slightly) less of an issue.
The Loop Line being a reference to the Yamanote Line has been mentioned before. But Conan’s comment on the very regular schedule is largely just as true to life. It’s difficult to find examples of schedules back from the mid 2000s, but as far as the current train schedule is concerned, trains from 10AM to 3PM all run on a 60 minute cycle with trains every five minutes. The hours before and after this only have the most minor of variations to this schedule before deviating more significantly in the early morning and evening.
7) File That Away For Later
As minor as it seems… Ayumi’s little comment to herself that Kobayashi without glasses resembles Sato is, in fact, something that will come up later!
8) Food For Thought
While the Group Date Kidnapping is mostly focused on the Takagi and Sato romance subplot, it’s also the first time in a while the manga reinforces its own messaging about Conan’s priorities, this time applying them to police officers.
Sato praises Takagi for focusing not on the capture of the culprit, but on saving somebody that needed to be saved, even if they ARE the culprit.
This falls in line quite cleanly with some of the bigger takeaways Conan has had in his own experiences. If your desire to do your job (arrest a criminal/deduce a culprit) gets in the way of someone’s right to life, you’re no better than what you profess to be against.
And that's the end of this week! Thank you as always for reading, and hope to see you next time.
Case 146: Ch. 511-514 (Volume 50, Files 1-4)
Case 147: Ch. 515-517 (Volume 50, Files 5-7)
Case 148: Ch. 518-522 (Volume 50, Files 8-11; Volume 51, File 1)
*Content Warning: Though Detective Conan engages in levels of suicidal imagery, real or simulated, this first case of this week includes imagery associated with self-harm in bathroom settings. Though the actual act itself is not shown, there is minor imagery of the aftermath. If these are triggers to you, please take care while reading through this case; if necessary, please do skip it. If you have other triggers you would like for us to warn for, please let us know, and we can and will include similar warnings in the future.
It's a new arc this week, and we hit the ground running! Though we're a little lighter on actual trivia or language notes, there's a lot of plot and character set up and pay off going on, so let's touch on some of that as well.
1) Names!
As always, let's go one case at a time.
Black Organization VS FBI Assassination Case
We start big this week with some introductions to a number of new Organization members via their codenames.
Chianti: A type of Italian red wine made in Tuscany, primarily from Sangiovese grapes. Historically, the wine is put into squat bottles that are partially covered by a woven straw basket.
Korn: A colorless German liquor made from fermented cereal grains. Only five grains are used to make korn, with most varieties using either rye or wheat grains. Another characteristic to korn is that food colorings, sweeteners, and other flavorings are not permitted.
Kir: A French cocktail made with crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) and white wine, usually in a ratio of 1 to 9. The beverage is named after Mayor Félix Kir, who used a wine from his local area of Burgundy in a drink he offered to diplomatic guests.
As has been consistent so far, women in the Organization seem to have names based on drinks that are primarily wine, while men are named after hard liquor.
As for Kir, we also have a name for her: Rena Mizunashi (水無怜奈). Her name has a very clear reference hidden within it, but we’re going to hold off on discussing that just yet.
As for the potential targets in this case… this is a rare case where it’s a little difficult to ascertain if the three of them actually have a unified theme.
Which means the only name worth truly mentioning here is Yasuteru Domon (土門康輝), the Organization’s mark.
As discussed by Conan, the “DJ” clue leads to him believing that Yasutueru is their culprit due to having a kanji associated with earth, 土, in his name.
Missing Classmate Case
There aren’t many names in this case, but the few that are there are all references to cats!
Shouko Amemiya (雨宮祥子): American Shorthair, abbreviated in Japanese as amesho-.
Bungo Hirayama (平山文吾): Himalayan.
Miike (三池): A calico cat, called miike neko in Japanese.
Locked Car Murder
The culprit-victim couple both have names that hint to the “supposed” manner of the culprit’s death: the charcoal brazier.
And then we also have a new recurring character: Eisuke Hondou (本堂瑛祐)。
Both his first and last name have separate references.
Eisuke: Named after Eisuke Kaito, a Japanese mystery author who won the Edogawa Ranpo Prize for mystery literature in 1967.
Hondou: From James Bond, rendered as bondo in Japanese.
2) Redrawn
Another few redraws this week, as Conan's reaction to the Boss's email keeps haunting him.
Did you think we were done with this Halloween Party Murder (Ch. 429-434) Vermouth redraw? Because it still haunts Conan.
These two shots are from Shinichi’s poisoning in the first chapter, and Haibara’s warning in Three Instruments (Ch. 475-478).
Haibara’s flashback to Ayumi is from the Butt Mark Slasher Case (Ch. 435-437).
3) Remember Them?
As you'd probably expect for a big plot-heavy week, there were a lot of callbacks to various previous events.
Calvados was a fellow sniper that Vermouth took with her in the finale of her arc. Akai broke both of his legs in the climax of the Halloween Party Murder, and then Calvados took his own life.
In another rare appearance of a footnote, the “panda car” refers to James’ very first appearance in the American Tourist Kidnapping (Ch. 325-327), in which the black and white police cars were a key clue.
The bug Gin says Sherry planted on him before actually refers to the bug that Conan planted in his car all the way back in the Hotel Party Murder (Ch. 238-242).
Hikaru, who had been watching over Shouko at Araide's hospital, is the first other character we’ve seen from Araide’s introductory case, the Blackout Murder (Ch. 234-237). If you’ll recall, she was the one that pulled the breaker that indirectly killed Araide’s father.
4) Japanese Language Quirks
Two someone more minor notes, both of which from from the inaugural case of this arc.
Vane/Vain
A probably obvious note is the vain/vane puzzle. This would work just as well in English, given Conan had heard this information audibly via a bug, but as a Japanese reader, the information is originally presented in katakana as ベイン (bein).
This then leads to what word this might be in English, with vain being the initial guess, followed by vane.
The “vane” Conan specifically catches onto is the stabilizing feather on an arrow. This clues him into the location for the next assassination attempt: 鳥矢町, Toriya-chou, which is literally written as “bird arrow town”.
My Enemy, My Lover
When Akai aims his shot at Gin, he calls him his “darling lover”... sort of.
The Japanese word for lover, koibito, is being used as the pronunciation over 宿敵 (shukuteki), which roughly means “arch-rival” or “long-time enemy.”
So Akai’s being a little cheeky.
5) Culture
One very minor note this week, but I thought it was interesting enough to expand on just a little - especially as this wouldn't be the first time we talked about cards, card suits, and tarot.
We've talked about more literal symbols before, such as in the Sunset Mansion Case. This time, though, the big clue focuses on more mystical associations in tarot readings and astrology.
Diamonds: Earth.
Spades: Air
Clubs: Fire
Hearts: Water
As previously discussed, diamonds’ association with earth helps them hone in on who the target is.
6) Short & Sweet References
There are a surprising number of these this week, including those that are actually discussed within the manga.
Black Organization VS FBI Assassination Case
There are a number of TV references. Nichiuri TV being in Shiodome is a reference to the Yomiuri TV building being in the same area. Yoko’s Four-Minute Cooking is also a reference to Kewpie Three-Minute Cooking, a short segment on Nippon TV.
A multi-tiered discussed reference for EddyP, the first location codename. Eddy refers to the first name of Edward Hyde from Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But Hyde can also refer to Hyde Park, a historic park in London - which is, as previously discussed, a very on-the-nose source of the name Haido Town.
The yakuza group, the Deisan-kai, is another reference to Shounen Sunday via reversing the syllables in "Sunday."
Missing Classmate Case
Yet ANOTHER Shounen Sunday nod, via the convenience store the kids visit.
Yumi’s dogs, Suta and Hachi, are a reference to Starsky & Hutch (rendered sutasuki- and hacchi in Japanese).
Locked Car Murder
The game Conan and Ran played, Bundori Street, is a reference to Itadaki Street. Itadaki sort of means “give me, please”, whereas bundori is more like “hand it over!”
The book in the victim’s car, Dandy Joker, is a reference to the 1997 novel Lady Joker.
7) File That Away For Later
There's a lot of set-up going on this week. Without getting too into the weeds, let's just mark two specific points of interest.
Not long after Shinichi told his phone number to Ran, we have hard confirmation that Conan is not just using someone else’s phone, but actually now HAS two phones on his person, seemingly at all times. Conan’s is differentiated by the little soccer charm hanging from it.
Vermouth asks Kir a very cryptic question right before they begin their Plan B mission, knocking her fist against her bike as she does so. Kir seemingly understands exactly what Vermouth was trying to ask her, but… what was it?
8) Food For Thought
Meanwhile, these cases are also following up on some character work in the last two arcs.
Haibara
Now that we’ve worked through some of Haibara’s biggest insecurities, we’re starting to see her be a lot more proactive and generally less overtly pessimistic.
Vermouth
As readers, we’re also given much more insight into her thoughts in these aspects. She overtly works with Jodie and Conan to figure out who the Org’s target is, and where he’ll be, because Ayumi has pushed her forward. She keeps Ran at Agasa’s place because she still sees shades of Akemi in her (and Ran earnestly responds to Haibara’s wish to remain in a way that surprises her even more). She still has her secrets, but she’s far more cooperative now.
Since we’re given so much screen time from the Organization’s point of view at the beginning of this arc, we now have even more concrete examples of how Vermouth reacts to Conan’s involvement - which is to keep the Organization not just away from him, but away from those he’s closely associated with.
Kogoro being Ran’s father likely also had something to do with it, but Gin suspecting Kogoro due to a bug Conan planted probably has just a little more to do with it.
It’s also worth noting Gin’s reaction to Vermouth’s attempts to keep the organization away from Kogoro. Even if he isn’t 100% accurate in his assessment, he very easily picks up on Vermouth’s attempts to divert their attention as something born from personal investment. He’s dropped it for now, but he still seemingly has his sights set on Kogoro as a suspicious figure.
Akai
We’re gonna bring back Akai’s use of the word “lover”, because it has been brought up a couple of times so far.
When we first discover Akai and James are acquainted in the latter’s intro, Akai speaks awfully scathingly about a lover who’s jilted him - someone he intends to get some revenge on.
But then, there are also more somber mentions of a lover who died, and how it’s affected Akai’s mood, making him somehow even more distant with his fellow FBI members.
Since Gin is very much still alive, we have to assume this second “lover” is a second person. But who are they, exactly?
And that brings us to the end of this week! Thanks as always for reading, and hope to see you next time.
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We've once again reached the end of another arc! This one was much smaller, but no less important. So in addition to the usual notes, let's briefly take a look back at this transitional arc.
1) Names!
As always, let's go case by case.
Deduction Magic Murder
As is probably expected by now, the characters here all have names themed after famous magicians.
Mr. Masakage (Mr.正影): Mr. Maric, a Japanese magician.
Dougo Hoshikawa (星河童吾): The two kanji in the middle of Dougo’s name are the kanji for kappa, a mythical creature. But what’s important here is that it’s also the Japanese approximation of David Copperfield.
Riki Handa (範田力): Hand Power (力=power), one of Mr. Maric’s most famous tricks.
Tenko Himemiya (姫宮展子): Princess Tenko (姫=princess), a pop singer turned illusionist.
Mari Masakage (正影満里): Mari Asakaze, Princess Tenko’s old stage name.
Over the Phone Murder
Though we don’t get any full names in this case, the names we do get are all puns based on various bugs.
Miyama (見山): Miyama stag beetle
Yanuma (矢沼): Siebold’s dragonfly, called oniyanma in Japanese.
Bitou (尾藤): Beetle.
Kanou (嘉納): Mosquito, called ka in Japanese.
Evil Spirit Murder
The characters in this case are all named for the rokuyou, calendar labels indicating which days are lucky or unlucky. We’ll go over the details of these later, so for now, let’s just mark which days everyones names reference.
Some of these references are a little more involved than usual, since they involve taking kanji apart or putting pieces of separate kanji together.
Kenzou Akatsuka (赤塚賢造): 赤口 (shakkou) and 先負 (senpu). For the latter, 負 is created using the little roof on 塚, and the bottom half of 賢.
Masashi Watabiki (綿引勝史): 友引 (tomobiki) and 先勝 (senshou).
Namika Senzaki (先崎波花): 先勝 (senshou), 先負 (senpu), and 仏滅 (butsumetsu). The last one is a bit complicated; the water radical 氵 from 波 is combined with both a homophone of 花 (ka, or 火) and the bottom part of 茂 (from Shigeko, her mother’s name) to form the kanji 滅.
Shigeko Senzaki (先崎茂子): 先勝 (senshou), 先負 (senpu), and 仏滅 (butsumetsu).
Yasue Kunitomo (国友安栄): 友引 (tomobiki) and 大安 (taian).
Toshimichi Sekiguchi (関口俊道): 赤口 (shakkou), due to an alternate pronunciation of those two kanji being “sekiguchi.” 仏滅 (butsumetsu), due to the two parts making up 仏 being found in 俊.
Atsuhiro Kunitomo (国友淳大): 友引 (tomobiki) and 大安 (taian).
2) Remember Them?
Two references this week! Both of them can be found in the Deduction Magic Murder.
Kazumi Sanada is a magician that, as Ran mentioned in her phone call to Kogoro, that we’ve seen twice before! The first time we met him was as a suspect in the Magician’s Suicide Case (Ch. 131-133). The second time was as a hired hand by Sonoko’s mother in Kaitou Kid and the Black Star (Ch. 156-159).
Ran comparing the current predicament to “the case with Dr. Araide” is a callback to Araide’s introductory case, the Blackout Murder (Ch. 234-237), in which Araide is freed from suspicion because Ran clung to him during the blackout. As an aside, this particular reference has a footnote in the Japanese release!
3) Of The Times
Quite the minor one, but in the Over the Phone Murder Haibara calls Conan "Heisei Holmes."
It's been a while since we've heard that nickname, but we’re still very much in the thick of the Heisei Era.
Specifically, this chapter was published in Heisei 16 (2004), so we’ve got a while left until the era changes.
4) Japanese Language Quirks
Quite a few of these this week! So let's go one case at a time.
Deduction Magic Murder
First, while trying (and failing) to cut ingredients for dinner, Conan and Heiji have an extended conversation based on wordplay.
The core of this conversation is the word 切れる (kireru), which has multiple meanings depending on the context. The two meanings we’re concerned with, though, are “to cut” and “sharp-minded.”
Heiji says he can’t kireru the ingredients like he can with his deductions, so he starts the pun by connecting the two meanings to each other.
Conan continues the wordplay by saying that deductions need to be properly connected, so maybe it’s actually a good thing he can’t "cut."
In this case, Ran also catches on to Heiji being jealous, but there are a lot of words to describe that emotion. The word Ran uses is 妬く (yaku)... but it’s a homophone with 焼く, which has various meanings associated with burning, including a sunburn or tan. In fact, the word for jealous can even be written with the same kanji!
But since Kazuha isn’t even remotely thinking about that kind of thing right now, she thinks Ran is talking about his skin color, since it’s likely commented on quite a lot.
Over the Phone Murder
All of the wordplay in this case relies on viewing Japanese characters at odd angles.
The first is Agasa and Haibara’s code, マルムシニテント (marumushi ni tento).
The Detective Boys spend a while trying to guess what this phrase might mean, but the actual answer involves flipping the text on its side and either reflecting it in a mirror or looking at it from the back.
That creates ムラマツリノトリイ (mura matsuri no torii), or “the village festival’s torii gates.”
The second major code of the case is the victim’s dying message, originally parsed as “teiu.” From this, Sonoko refers to the murder as the っていうか殺人事件 (tte iu ka satsujin jiken), or the “''more precisely' murder incident,” due to the “te iu ka” grammar structure serving as a clarifier of sorts.
As with Agasa’s code, Sonoko parsed this dying message wrong due to seeing it on the other side of a window, and written to the side because of how the victim died. The victim had actually written かのう (kanou), the last name of the culprit, in hiragana.
Finally, there’s the clue for the clue, or how Conan was able to connect Agasa’s quiz with the dying message. Agasa had been trying use various animals to come up with his code, and Haibara misread one of them, leading to them coming up with their game.
The word Haibara thought she saw was サンソ (sanso), written in katakana. 酸素 is “oxygen,” and not exactly the kind of word or kanji you’d normally be teaching first graders.
As it turns out, though, she actually misread a reversed and flipped キリン (kirin), or giraffe!
5) Geography
Using the clue on the watch, and the knowledge that they went out to Suruga Bay, Conan is able to give fairly specific coordinates for the shipwreck, as coordinates are given in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
Latitude: N34 45
Longitude: E138 30
6) Culture
The big note of this week, as implied above, is the use of the rokuyou from the Evil Spirit Murder.
六曜 (rokuyou, lit. “six days”) is a superstition of sorts that’s said to have come from China that can still be found on some modern commercial calendars in Japan. A series of six labels repeat in a cycle indicating whether or not any given day is lucky - and if so, in what way. And as with superstitions the world over, these labels are often used to dictate when important events, like weddings and funerals, should be held. One might assume these labels have connections to Buddhism, but these are decidedly agnostic labels (especially as Buddhism generally rejects forms of fortune telling).
The rokuyou was originally designed around the old Japanese lunisolar calendar, however, which meant it was very predictable. Certain months would always begin on certain rokuyou days, meaning it was a very regular pattern. But where the pattern starts would change at the beginning of each month, despite having 30 days a year (aka, divisible by six).
The adoption of the Gregorian calendar meant the previously regular pattern was no longer regular, making it feel more mystical.
As for the actual designations, they go in a fixed order. Starting with the usual designation for New Year’s Day:
先勝 (senshou): “Early victory.” Lucky in the morning, but not in the afternoon. A great day to deal with sudden or urgent business. First day of the first and seventh months in the old calendar.
友引 (tomobiki): “Pulling friends.” Generally lucky all day, but unlucky at noon. Also considered a good day for trials and lawsuits. Funerals are often avoided, since you could “pull friends” into the afterlife. But it’s the second most popular day for weddings. First day of the second and eighth months of the old calendar.
先負 (senpu): “Early failure.” Lucky in the afternoon, but not in the morning. Avoid making hasty judgments on this day. First day of the third and ninth months of the old calendar.
仏滅 (butsumetsu): “Buddha’s death.” A completely unlucky day. Some interpretations are that things breaking can signal something new, so it’s an even better to start something new than taian. But it’s usually avoided for everything except funerals. First day of the fourth and tenth months of the old calendar.
大安 (taian): “Great ease.” A very lucky day. Many people will schedule important deliveries, such as for vehicles, or begin construction on new buildings on this day. It’s also the most popular day for weddings, with many places having taian days booked months in advance. First day of the fifth and eleventh months of the old calendar.
赤口 (shakkou): “Red mouth.” Unlucky all day, except for at noon. The “red” kanji gives this day a “death” connotation; avoid all things associated with death, like knives or fire. First day of the sixth and twelfth months of the old calendar.
7) Short & Sweet References
The Deduction Magic Murder opens with a water escape trick, which has Heiji and Conan talking about Harry Houdini.
Harry Houdini’s "Chinese Water Torture Cell" is probably his most famous trick. A combination of his basic water escape trick, the “Milk Can Escape,” and his suspended straitjacket escape trick, it was also probably his most dangerous trick - though, through some miracle, it wasn’t the cause of his death.
As with the performance in this case, the “performance” part of Houdini’s trick relied heavily on audience participation, largely via stress. He would invite audience members to hold their breath, would display an axe at the ready, have his assistants lower and raise the curtains to give a view of him struggling beneath the water, and more.
Looking Back: Dial Tone Trauma Response
Rather than being a fully fledged arc, this arc (called the Cell Phone Arc by most, but we prefer “Dial Tone Trauma Response” for probably obvious reasons) is a transitional series of chapters connecting us from one major plot thread to the next. Most cases in this arc featured a cell phone in some capacity as a central component - both as a reflection of Conan’s current mental state, but also perhaps as a way to prime us for something...
1) Publication Breakdown
Publication Date: June 2003 - October 2004
Chapters: 61
Cases: 16
Shounen Sunday Covers: 6
Most Recent Canon Adaptation: A Code of Stars at Tobacco (Ep. 374-375, Aired October 2004)
Adaptation Of: Cigarettes Code Murder (Ch. 466-469, Serialized January - February 2004)
Movies Released: 1
Fewer covers for a much shorter arc. As is starting to become common, Conan features on the cover whenever movie news is on the horizon (2004 Issue 15) or when the movie is in theaters (2004 Issue 21).
The following two issues are an anime special focusing on manga with currently airing adaptations, and their big summer issue.
2) The Boss's Email
The main takeaway from this mini-arc is that Conan now technically knows how the members of the Organization contact their boss. The number itself, #969#6261, roughly maps onto the first line of the song Seven Children, a Japanese children’s song about a crow. It’s also worth noting that this email address being decidedly impossible in real life was an intentional choice on Gosho’s part, as he didn’t want to be the reason someone was getting a bunch of random messages.
But this revelation is accompanied by another one that reaffirms something we already know: Haibara knows a lot more than she lets on. She implies to know exactly who that email leads to - and that it’s a figure that would bewilder the authorities, should they find out as well.
3) Phone Numbers
Most cases in this arc deal with cell phones in some capacity, and this is just as true for the mini “suspicion arc” Ran goes through. The result is a major change to the status quo: Ran can now freely contact Shinichi, whether it be through text messages or phone calls.
Which also mean, as we’ve also already seen, that Shinichi has another chink in his armor that he has to worry about: making sure he, as Conan, can create a convenient excuse to get away if and when Ran tries to call him.
And thus we close the book on this arc! Thanks as always for reading, and hope to see you next time - when we hit the ground running on the new arc!
The boy is back in this week's movie! It's nowhere near as trivia heavy as the last movie, but there's still plenty of interesting behind-the-scenes info.
1) Canonized Info
This movie continues the “Kid and Conan figure things out about each other” saga by being the first time Conan realizes Kaitou Kid is seemingly able to disguise himself as Shinichi with minimal effort - no mask required.
For fairly obvious reasons, he never had the time or the opportunity to confirm as much at the end of The Last Wizard of the Century.
2) In Parallel
Movie 8 Release: April 17, 2004
Manga Chapter: Kaitou Kid and the Three Instruments (April 14 - May 12, 2004)
Anime Episode: Kaitou Kid’s Miraculous Air Walk (April 12, 2004)
It was a veritable Kid festival! As per usual, Kid movies tend to coincide with major developments in the manga or with his appearance in either Detective Conan or Magic Kaito.
This movie’s release is particularly Kid-focused with the adaptation of Kaitou Kid and the Ocean’s Miracle as a one hour special.
3) Behind The Scenes
In the opening sequence, Conan was originally going to give chase by going down the elevator and chasing Kid via his skateboard. But Yukihiro Shibutani, the art director, suggested an air chase instead.
The above chase takes place in Shiodome, an area in Tokyo that is also the location of Yomiuri TV and Nippon TV, the broadcasting stations for Detective Conan. The animation producer for the movie, Masayuki Nishimura, was able to get access to and film areas usually off-limits in those buildings, including the roof, to get footage for the movie.
The scenario for the film had been largely set in stone by the time the film crew had to find a place for the plane to land in Hokkaido. After about a month and a half of research and coordination with staff in Hokkaido, they finally found Sakimori Pier in Muroran, Hokkaido. Though it was down to the wire, Mitomu Asai, the associate producer, refused to allow a lie.
While producer Michihiko Suwa was in Hokkaido, there happened to be a storm. While waiting it out, he thought over how Conan might handle a similar situation.
To aid in the realism of the movie, the staff spoke with an actual makeup assistant, who showed them how she organized her own heavy makeup bag.
The production staff were the ones that suggested putting Kaitou Kid in the movie, to which Gosho readily agreed, while also suggested they do a locked-room murder.
Kid disguising himself as Shinichi was also Gosho’s suggestion; he thought Kid teasing Ran would be amusing. Kid and Shinichi are similar, he says, but Kid’s more of a lady-killer.
Gosho’s favorite scene is Kid’s escape from the plane. He provided detail storyboard instructions for the scene, including the note that the cut of him flying off to the side in a blur was similar to “Nausicaa flying outside on her Mowe.”
The plane was originally going to land on the highway, but they changed it to give Kid a larger role. The idea of Kid dragging along a large number of police cars is similar to something he’d wanted to do in the manga as well.
A key aspect of the murder - pinching one’s nose when the pressure in the cabin changes - is an idea that Gosho suggested since he’s often susceptible to such changes. But the use of the NATO Phonetic Code was a suggestion from scriptwriter Kazunari Kouchi.
4) Remember Them?
Since they managed to land the plane in Hokkaido, it only makes sense that Hokkaido police would arrive at the scene.
Nishimura is back for the first time since his debut in the North Star Murder (Ch. 215-218), though only in a small cameo at the very end of the movie.
5) Redrawn
During the big romantic climax of the movie, there are a number of flashbacks to significant moments in the manga focused on Shinichi’s few reappearances so far.
Since we’re presented this rare opportunity, let’s take a look at what these shots looked like in their original anime adaptations! In chronological order…
Diplomat Murder Case - Part 2 (Ep. 49)
Desperate Revival - The Knight in Black (Ep. 191)
Desperate Revival - Shinichi’s Return (Ep. 192)
Desperate Revival - The Promised Place (Ep. 193)
6) Of The Times
The major reason Conan was able to figure out Kid was disguised as a security guard was based on the size of his baton. But just two and a half years after this movie came out, in November 2006, the regulations surrounding batons were changed for police officers, which also led to a change to the maximum specifications for batons and other weapons of self-defense that security guards could carry on them.
The specs Conan gave - no more than 60cm long, 3cm in diameter, and 320 grams - were greatly expanded. Batons could now be up to 90cm long with a maximum weight of 460 grams, with the maximum allowable weight increasing with certain length tiers.
Outside of these changes, they’re still made with aluminum alloy, have some kind of cross guard, and are usually extendable. Other minor adjustments, like an improved grip and slightly wider diameter, make them easier to wield.
7) Technology
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet, officially known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, is a series of code words used to say the letters of the English alphabet. These code words are significantly distinct from each other to prevent confusion, and were standardized in the mid-1950s to prevent miscommunication through the static of radio communication.
Numbers are subject to this code as well. Though they largely follow the English terms for the letters, the pronunciations are exaggerated in some cases to prevent confusion - such as “niner” being used to distinguish it from “five.”
Pilots use this code for call signs, weather reports, aircraft registration numbers, and more.
8) Geography
The bridge Megure, Shiratori, and Takagi stopped to admire was Hakuchou Bridge. The road over the bridge is a bypass that splits from National Route 37, allowing easier and quicker access to parts of Muroran.
As an aside, Megure makes a pun of the bridge’s name!
Hakuchou is written as 白鳥, or “white bird.” Those kanji can be alternatively pronounced as “Shiratori”!
9) Japanese Language Quirks
There are two big ones, both of which focus on certain phrases or idioms.
Quiz
As always, the requisite movie quiz - delivered by Kid this time - is based on wordplay, in addition to some knowledge of Napoleon.
Two Japanese people have apparently built homes on Napoleon’s land. Which two people is it?
Fuyuno
Furuno
Fukano
A quote often attributed to Napoleon is “the word ‘impossible’ is not in my dictionary”, which is rendered in Japanese as:
我が辞書に不可能という文字がない
waga jisho ni fukanou to iu moji ga nai
The bolded words above are, in order, dictionary and impossible. But if you replace them with plot of land and Fukano…
我が地所に深野という文字がない
waga jisho ni fukano to iu moji ga nai
You get “the name Fukano is not on my land”!
Wisdom
Another quote winds up fumbled, this time by Sonoko. The phrase that she attempts to quote is the Japanese equivalent of “two heads are better than one.”
三人寄れば文殊の知恵
san’nin yoreba monju no chie
Monju is Manjushri, a Bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom. The literal meaning of the Japanese phrase is “even three people can match Manjushri’s wisdom.” But Sonoko misquotes it as:
三人寄れば真珠の知恵
san’nin yoreba shinju no chie
The literal meaning of which is something akin to “even three people have a pearl’s wisdom.”
10) Gosho Frames
Gosho didn't do too many key frames in this movie. The ones he did do, though, focused on Kaitou Kid.
So let's also take some time to highlight Atsushi Aono's frames for this movie, which are quite easily mistaken as Gosho's frames if you aren't as familiar with what to look for.
Ran's frame is seemingly entirely done by Aono; Shinichi and Conan, meanwhile, had their expressions altered slightly by Gosho, bringing them away from the outright upset expressions in Aono's initial draft and closer to a soft surprise.
And that brings the movie to a close! Thank you as always for reading!
Did you hear the news about Viz releasing English omnibus volumes of Detective Conan with original character names and title starting next year? I jumped out of my seat when I heard, I got so excited.
Also thank you for this wonderful blog! I am very behind, but have been going back and reading earlier posts as I attempt to catch up. The trivia is really fun. <3
Yes! We'd always talked about Viz doing something about the localized names, and it kept coming up when TMS started taking more steps to shift the branding away from Case Closed. Imagine our surprise when they actually did it!
Just changing the names alone is a huge undertaking, and they may even take the opportunity to do another round of proofreading, so I'm not surprised the books won't be out until next year. But it's an incredible extra addition to the anime's 30th anniversary efforts and the new dubbing endeavor for overseas English fans, so I'm incredibly excited to see them come out nonetheless.
And thank you for reading through the posts! Some of the trivia can be a little difficult to put together, but I always have fun once it's in a presentable format. If even one person learns a little something new, then that's all I can ask for <3 Hopefully they help make a reread a little more fun.
A couple interesting topics this week, including the reappearance of phone tech that totally and utterly dates a case! So let's dig into some of that.
1) Names!
As always, each case has something going on.
Kaitou Kid and the Three Instruments
The characters featured in Three Instruments are under slightly unique circumstances. Though the victim and Kichiemon are named in the manga, the three treasure hunters are not… in the manga. The anime gives them names that match with the victim’s to create a consistent theme: gemstones.
They’re easier to understand in Japanese name order, so I’ve kept them that way.
Sutou Unzo (須藤雲造): Stone (suto-n)
Akutsu Sarina (堆沙利奈): Accessary (akusesari-)
Senju Eri (千住えり): Jewelry (jueri-)
Tamai Teruhisa (玉井照尚): Jewel (宝玉, hougyoku)
Samizu Kichiemon (三水吉右衛門): In addition to needing the kanji for “water” (水) for the case’s main puzzle, Kichiemon is a reference to Tanaka Hisashige, a man of many talents and educational pursuits who was also called “Karakuri Giemon.” (からくり儀右衛門), due to Giemon being his childhood name.
Suspicious Cell Phone Murder
In line with the focus of the case, the characters in the Suspicious Cell Phone Murder all have names based on various cell phone carriers. And to hit that point home, their last name Kariya is a play on the word carrier!
Tomoko Kariya (狩谷伴子): NTT DoCoMo.
Daisaku Kariya (狩谷大策): KDDI.
Shigehide Kariya (狩谷滋英): J-PHONE. The kanji of Shigehide’s first name can be pronounced jie, which is similar to the English letter J. Nowadays, J-PHONE is Softbank.
Tsugutaka Kariya (狩谷嗣貴): Tu-ka (pronounced tsu-ka-), a carrier that eventually merged with KDDI.
Eisuke Kariya (狩谷叡祐): au. The kanji of Eisuke first name can be pronounced au.
Motoka Aida (相田素花): iMode Mail, an email service previously offered by NTT DoCoMo.
Jewelry Robber’s Suicide Case
Though there are very few named characters in this case, they all also have names that are very on the nose: moving companies!
Sakanobu Nekota (猫田栄信): A double reference to Kuroneko Yamato and Sagawa Express, mail and parcel delivery companies that also offer moving services.
Atomura (後村): Art Moving Company
Isaka (伊坂): Sakai Moving Service
2) Remember Them?
The somewhat embarrassing message Ran remembers sending Shinichi is from the Meaning of X Murder (Ch. 338-340).
3) Redrawn
Par for the course for the last few weeks, there are quite a few.
Once again, Haibara thinks back to when Ran saved her during the Halloween Party Murder (Ch. 429-434).
Ran’s memory of the School Play Murder (Ch. 255-257) is less a straightforward redraw, and more a condensed reimagining of Shinichi’s reveal.
Ran thinks back on a number of embarrassing moments between her and Conan. In chronological order:
Kidnapped Daughter Case (Ch. 2-5)
Bandaged Man Murder (Ch. 40-44)
Kogoro’s Class Reunion Murder (Ch. 84-86)
Fake Kogorou Mouri Murder (Ch. 308-310)
4) Of The Times
Ahh, cell phones. Here we are again.
Just when we thought we wouldn’t have to talk about cell phones anymore, the Suspicious Cell Phone Murder dates itself hard with how the characters within the case discuss cell phones.
This case was published in May 2004. Eisuke began living in hiding about twelve years ago, or in 1992. To illustrate this point, let’s bring back a chart from all the way back in Week 9.
In 1992, cell phones were practically non-existent in terms of individual use. But just a few years later, they became common enough that those parts of this case wouldn’t be usable as part of the mystery. It’s the kind of tech advancement unique to the early-mid 2000s that simply couldn’t be written today.
In other trivia: it took until the advent of touchscreen phones until they began locking people out for too many incorrect passcodes!
5) Japanese Language Quirks
There are a couple of interesting notes this week. Let's start with the big one from Three Instruments.
Water and Water and Water Water
Kichiemon’s hints leading to the location of the diamond rely heavily on water imagery. The first hint encountered on the stone lantern is largely self-explanatory when Conan dissects it later, but it’s important to note one portion of it: the “place closest to the sun”, or Mercury. In Japanese, Mercury is written as 水星, or “water planet.”
As for the secondary hint: the gravestone in the basement tells anyone lost to offer the sacred treasures to Kichiemon. Each treasure has a kanji written on it, and “offering” them to Kichiemon adds the water kanji, 水, from his first name to those kanji, creating a more concrete clue for where the diamond is located. This is especially obvious because the name of the water radical, sanzui, is written as 三水 - aka, the kanji for Kichiemon’s first name, Samizu.
It should be noted that the water radical can look decidedly different than its full kanji form. It’s often rendered as 氵 in other kanji.
Stone: 炎 (flames) + 水 = 淡 (freshwater)
Mirror: 永 (eternity) + 水 = 泳 (swim)
Sword: 竜 (dragon) + 水 = 滝 (waterfall)
Then, the following case, Suspicious Cell Phone Murder, has two more small language notes.
First, Kogoro uses a fake name. Mouri (毛利), Kogoro’s actual last name, actually sounds quite distinct from Mori (森), the name he uses here.
Then, we have some good old fashioned goroawase as Ran tries to guess the password on Conan's phone.
4 = Ho (similar enough to foa, the Japanese approximation of “four”)
0 = O (shape)
6 = Mu (a pronunciation of 6)
2 = Zu (similar enough to tsu-, the Japanese approximation of “two”)
Combine it all and you get Hoomuzu, or “Holmes.”
6) Culture
It's been a while since we've had to do a slightly deeper dive on some topics! In order of appearance:
Diamonds
Due to their stand-out hardness, among other unique properties, diamonds have always stood out in some capacity. Three Instruments discusses diamonds via terms related to them, so let’s look at those in more detail.
Adamas (ἀδάμας): This term is from ancient Greek and meant “unconquerable” or “untameable.” It eventually shifted into meaning any particularly hard stone or metal, taking on a life of its own via the term “adamant” and shifting meaning slightly throughout the ages. The English word “diamond” also ultimately comes from this word; now that “diamond” is associated with the hardest gemstone, adamant and related terms get used in more poetic or fantastical ways.
Kongouseki (金剛石): Nowadays, many of the most common gemstones are simply known by their English names in Japan, diamonds (sort of) included (usually via the term daiya). But their old Japanese name is kongouseki. Kongou is the Buddhist concept of the indestructible truth, and is associated with other images of strength or indestructibility like the vajra. The Deva Kings Conan speaks of, the Niou, are also called 金剛力士 (kongou rikishi), and are manifestations of the holder of the vajra, Vajrapani. In terms of modern translation, while kongouseki is strictly “diamond,” kongou on its own opens the word up to associations with adamant in addition to the above Buddhist connotations.
Three Sacred Treasures
The Three Sacred Treasures (三種の神器, sanshu no jingi), also called the Imperial Regalia, refer to three objects - a mirror, a magatama, and a sword - that are associated with the divine right to rule in Japan. When Confucianism made its way to Japan, each treasure also took on one of the three primary virtues.
Yata no Kagami: The eight-span mirror. Embodies wisdom.
Yasakani no Magatama: The grand jewel, or string of jewels. Embodies benevolence.
Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Formally known as Ama-no-Murakumo no Tsurugi. Embodies valor.
According to the legends surrounding them, these three treasures all ended up in the possession of Amaterasu. When her brother, Susanoo, upset her, she shut herself away in a cave, sinking the world into darkness. Other gods came together to scheme a plan to get her to come out via the mirror and magatama, hanging them up as decorations. When Amaterasu saw her own face, she was distracted enough to be coaxed from the cave.
Susanoo, meanwhile, had defeated the eight-headed serpent Yamato-no-Orochi and acquired the sword from its tail. In a gesture of reconciliation, he offered the sword to Amaterasu. She then gave these treasures to her grandson and legendary ancestor to the imperial line, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, when Amaterasu sent him to pacify Japan.
Chapatsu
The first tangible clue that the real writer in the Suspicious Cell Phone Murder is a fish out of temporal water is his utilization of chapatsu (茶髪, lit. “brown hair”) as a signifier of delinquency. It should be noted that the term chapatsu, especially where dyed hair is concerned, can cover a slightly wider spectrum of colors, from dark blonde to dark brown, and can often include red or ash undertones.
Due to a sweeping majority of native Japanese people sporting black to very dark brown hair, dyed hair stood out. Hair dying has been around in Japan for a very long time, but it was mostly in the context of dying gray hair black. Contact with various European traders introduced the Japanese people to more varied hair colors - and more options for dying, used often out of admiration for foreigners or due to an inferiority complex.
The style was practically a synonym for juvenile delinquents in the 1980s, but the development of gyaru culture led to a wider acceptance of the style, with the word chapatsu itself becoming far more frequent by about 1994. Namie Amuro, the biggest inspiration for the gyaru style, also led to hair dying becoming more widely accepted during her peak of popularity in the mid-1990s.
7) Short & Sweet References
This week I gotta rectify a little something: Ran's phone strap!
This particular charm is actually first visible in the Fake Kogorou Mouri Murder, back in Week 30. This little mascot sea cucumber is actually a YAIBA reference!
Namako-Otoko, or Sea Cucumber Man, is a minor character and oni that eventually joins Yaiba’s side in the manga.
And that brings us to the end of this week! Thank you as always for reading, and hope to see you next time!
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