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| Jimmy Kudo | |
|---|---|
| Case Closed (Detective Conan) character | |
 Jimmy Kudo, shown in his regular form (top) and his "Conan Edogawa" form (bottom) |
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| First appearance | Roller Coaster Murder Case |
| Created by | Gosho Aoyama |
| Voiced by | Japanese: Kappei Yamaguchi for Jimmy Minami Takayama for Conan English: Jerry Jewell for Jimmy Alison Viktorin for Conan |
| Profile | |
| Nicknames | Savior of the Police Force Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era |
| Aliases | Conan Edogawa |
| Age | 17 as Jimmy, 7 as Conan |
| Gender | Male |
| Known relatives | Booker Kudo (father) Vivian Kudo (mother) |
| Catchphrase | One truth Prevails (真実はいつもひとつ Shinjitsu wa Itsumo Hitotsu?) |
| Names of Jimmy Kudo | |
|---|---|
| Common Japanese name | Shinichi Kudo |
| Kanji | 工藤 新一 |
| Revised Hepburn Romanization | Kudō Shin'ichi |
| Name in English version | Jimmy Kudo |
| Names of Conan Edogawa | |
|---|---|
| Common Japanese name | Conan Edogawa |
| Kanji | 江戸川 コナン |
| Revised Hepburn Romanization | Edogawa Konan |
| Name in English version | Conan Edogawa |
Jimmy Kudo, known as Shin'ichi Kudo (工藤 新一 Kudō Shin'ichi?) in the original Japanese anime and manga, is the main character of the anime and manga Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン Meitantei Conan). Viz romanized his original name as Shin'ichi Kudo while Shogakukan's website romanizes it as Shinichi Kudoh.
Contents |
Fictional character information
Early life as Jimmy Kudo
Jimmy was born to Booker Kudo and Vivian Kudo, mystery writer and former movie star respectively[1]. He was born on the 4th of May, but he repeatedly forgets his birthday every year[2]. Due to the influence of his father, and the generally laissez-faire environment at home, he has long been an preoccpuious reader[3], especially of mystery novels-- he finished the entire collection of mystery novels in his elementary school library during his elementary school years[4]. Also, Booker started to bring young Jimmy to crime scenes until Jimmy was in sixth grade[5]. This has caused Jimmy to have a perservation in crime and investigation, and for that reason, peers like Rachel Moore and Serena Sebastian called him a mystery geek (推理オタク suiri-otaku?) in passing[6]. His life between 6 to 16 is not well-documentated. During junior high school he was made a starting midfielder in the school's soccer team as a freshman in the school; the head of the soccer club fell in love with him, but he rejected due to his relationships with Rachel[7]. His parents moved to the United States when he was 14, while he was left in Tokyo[8]. As Conan he claimed he have learnt many skills when he was having a vacation with his parents in Hawaii, including shooting[9], operating a airliner[10], or driving a Ford Mustang[11], which has became a running gag among fans of the series[12]. At the beginning of the series, Jimmy is a 16-year old student at Titan High School (Teitan High School in the original Japanese versions) and is already a well-known detective, known as the saviour of the police[13]. At the same year he left the soccer club, even Rachel considered his soccer skills is national level, since he considered soccer as a way to train reflexes-- akin to his idol Sherlock Holmes' practice of fencing-- for his detective skills[14]; he aspires to be the Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era.[15] Shinichi is also known for his inability to sing[16]; but since he can still be able to distinguish different musical notes[17], by definition he cannot be said as tone deaf.
As Conan Edogawa
At the beginning of the series, after solving a murder at the theme park Tropical Land, where Jimmy brought Rachel to celebrate her victory in the Metropolitan Karate Championships, Jimmy witnesses an exchange between an unknown man and a person in all black. He is so focused on the exchange--a blackmail over an arms deal that worthed 100 million yen-- that he does not notice an accomplice sneak behind him. This accomplice, another man in black, hits him on the head and forces into his mouth a newly manufactured poison. This poison, known as APTX 4869, is designed to kill a person and leave no traces. However, instead of killing Jimmy, it slowly shrinks his body, giving him the appearance of a seven year-old boy.[18] In desperation, Jimmy finds the only person who may believe his story: his next door neighbor, close family friend, and an eccentric scientist Dr. Herschel Agasa. Jimmy manages to convince Dr. Agasa that he was shrunk and is determined to discover who the men in black are. However, Dr. Agasa tells Jimmy to keep his identity a secret lest the Black Organization come back and kill him, along with anybody who knows Jimmy's secret.[19] After Rachel asks for Jimmy's name, Jimmy fashions an alias, Conan Edogawa (江戸川 コナン Edogawa Conan) , after Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo. "Conan" goes to live with Rachel and her father, Richard Moore (Kogoro Mori), a private detective, and hopes that by living with a detective, he can stay on top of current cases and be able to gather hints about the "Black Organization".[20] Unfortunately, Detective Moore is so incompetent that Jimmy often has to solve the mysteries for him.[21] Jimmy frequently knocks out Richard with a dart shooting watch and uses his voice-changing bow tie to imitate Richard's voice.[22] Because of this, Richard gets the credit and quickly becomes famous. Cases also begin to pile up, which occasionally gives Jimmy a chance to gather hints on the Black Organization. In order to keep Conan's secret safe, Dr. Agasa enlists Conan at Titan Elementary School (帝丹小学 Teitan Shōgaku?), where Conan befriends three of his classmates, Amy Yeager (吉田 歩美 Yoshida Ayumi?)), George Kaminski (小嶋 元太 Kojima Genta?), and Mitch Tennison (円谷 光彦 Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko?)). Together, they form the Junior Detective League (少年探偵団 Shōnen Tantei-dan?)[23]. As the story progresses, Conan also befriends Anita Hailey (Ai Haibara), who is a former member of the Black Organization. Anita is the creator of the APTX 4869 who also took the drug to escape being murdered and proves to be a valuable ally as she continues her search for an antidote.
People knowing Jimmy/Conan's secret
Throughout the series, many people have managed to learn Jimmy's secret. People who know of Conan's true identity include Dr. Herschel Agasa[24], the Kudo couple (Booker and Vivian)[25], Harley Hartwell[26], Anita Hailey[27], Vermouth, Eisuke Hondou[28] and Phantom Thief Kid[29]. Both Akemi Miyano (Anita's elder sister)[30] and Hiroki Sawada[31] knew his identity too, but they had since deceased.
Relationships
Jimmy/Conan's more known relationships are those with two females, Rachel Moore and Anita Hailey.
Rachel Moore
Rachel Moore is Jimmy's childhood friend and canonical love interest. They have known as early as kindergarten[32] and have already been playmates at that stage, which caused some censure from Eva.[33] Jimmy has already claimed in junior high school that he had no interest Asami Nata, then the president of the soccer team, in favour of Rachel[34]. His classmates already considered them as a married couple[35]; should there not be a murder case, he could have proposed to Rachel in Volume 26[36]. When Jimmy disappeared at Tropical Land, Rachel took in Conan from Professor Agasa, not knowing that Conan is actually Jimmy. Jimmy/Conan decided not to tell Rachel about his identity in the fear that the Black Organization might harm Rachel if his secret is known[37]. Knowing that Rachel misses him, however, Conan calls her over the telephone and imitates Jimmy's voice with the voice-changing bowtie so that she is not worried about him[38]. He convinces her that he is off solving a very difficult mystery and will return once the investigation concludes.[39] Due to striking similarities between Conan and Jimmy as a child, Rachel often suspects Conan of Jimmy[40], but every time she does, Conan does something childlike to make her ignore the idea. Larger schemes, created by Jimmy and his friends, has been used to convince Rachel that Conan is not Jimmy. This usually follows an extremely long story arc.[41] In such arcs Conan tends to drop his guard in order to save someone or to fully investigate a crime. In more recent stories, Rachel becomes really sure of Conan's true identity and asks him to admit the truth. Sometimes, Jimmy feels that he cannot trick her anymore. Jimmy gets close to telling her, but then something usually happens which hinders him to do so. After his first encounter with Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori), Conan discovers the poison that was fed to him could temporarily be deactivated through drinking Chinese alcohol. He makes this discovery when he temporarily turns back into Jimmy after Harley gives Conan some Chinese liquor as some kind of cold remedy.[42] This is one of the three occasions when Jimmy turns back into his teenage form. Despite being separated from each other, Rachel and Jimmy still love each other and Rachel is always constantly waiting for Jimmy to return. Jimmy/Conan is not without sexual fantasies with Rachel; the most obvious example being his getting nosebleeds--manga shorthand for lust-- when Conan bathed with Rachel in an onsen[43].
Anita Hailey
Jimmy steadily begins to develop a relationship with Anita Hailey, whether is be platonic or romantic. He has told her that he doesn't want her to worry anymore because of the incident about the Black Organization from episode 269 -270 (to which her reaction is only "Baka" or "idiot") and episode 212, he seemed to be jealous about Mitsuhiko's crush on Haibara and told him that Haibara is not Mitsuhiko's type of girl. As for the first time they met, he didn't have any feelings for her until the time when she asked him why he didn't save her sister (Akemi Miyano), and seeing her tears made him never want to make her feel such a way again (it has been proved in most of the movie and episodes). Over time, Conan and Haibara's relationship has developed. This in turn causes Conan's feelings for her to develop as well. For example, in Detective Conan: Captured in Her Eyes when Haibara said that she wished to lose her memories and be with him forever, he almost opened up his feelings to her but stopped when she revealed that she was "just kidding". He promised to protect Haibara since episode 280 and there are some hints that he had a romantic interest in Haibara before the Hooligan Case (episodes 279-280).
Gadgets
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For more details on this topic, see List of Hiroshi Agasa's inventions.
Conan has gotten many gadgets from Dr. Agasa to help him solve crimes even as a kid.
References in other media
Conan is one of the most well known characters in Japan. Some anime parodied, lampooned and even mentioned him. Some of them includes:
- Yakitate Japan. (Pierrot Bolneze, one of the bread judges of the show parodied him in episode 48. Kawachi reacts by saying that Conan has a huge ego).
- Black Cat. (Episode 13-14 of the show parodied the main plot of Detective Conan, with the titular character shrunk to a six-year old boy by an evil organization, but unlike Conan, he manages to turn back to normal. He is also shown wearing Conan's clothing, a further nod to the series.)
- Inuyasha. (Jimmy and Rachel made a brief cameo appearance in episode 128 while Sota Higurashi can be seen wearing Conan's clothing in episode 90 of the show).
- Hayate no Gotoku. Hayate no Gotoku (particularly the anime) makes constant references to Conan, the most frequent being the Conan statues scattered throughout Nagi's mansion. In episode 30, Nagi pretends to be Conan by wearing his glasses, parodying the speech before Detective Conan's opening credits, giving a "Next Nagi Hint", and solving a case using a voice-changing bowtie behind a sleeping Hayate.
- Proposal Daisakusen. (Briefly in episode 10, whilst trying on dresses and suits for Rei's wedding, Tsuru wears a suit like Conan's, to which after pointed out he responds, "Shinjutsu wa itsumo hitotsu!")
References
- ^ Case Closed, File 10, Volume 5.
- ^ Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper
- ^ Detective Conan, File 8, Volume 55.
- ^ Detective Conan, File 6, volume 55.
- ^ Detective Conan, File 5, Volume 21.
- ^ Case Closed, File 1, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed File 5, Volume 18.
- ^ Case Closed File 1, Volume 1.
- ^ Detective Conan: The Fourteenth Target
- ^ Detective Conan: Magician of the Silver Sky
- ^ Detective Conan: Countdown to Heaven
- ^ Traditional Chinese Uncyclopedia extended the parody that Conan has learnt to drive a Gundam in Hawaii.
- ^ Case Closed Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed File 1, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed, File 1, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed File 4, Volume 15
- ^ Case Closed File 5, volume 7
- ^ Case Closed, File 1, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed, File 2, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed, File 2, Volume 1.
- ^ This tradition orginates whenCase Closed, File 2, Volume 1.
- ^ Starting from Case Closed, File 5, Volume 3, or anime epsiode 6.
- ^ Case Closed Volume 6.
- ^ Case Closed Volume 1, File2.
- ^ Case Closed File 1, Volume 6.
- ^ Case Closed File 1, Volume 13.
- ^ Detective Conan File 8, Volume 18.
- ^ Detective Conan, File 621.
- ^ Detective Conan: The Last Magician of the Century
- ^ Case Closed File 7, Volume 2.
- ^ Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street
- ^ Detective Conan File 7, Volume 55.
- ^ Case Closed File 7, Volume 11.
- ^ Case Closed File 5, volume 18.
- ^ Detective Conan, File 5, Volume 26
- ^ Detective Conan, File 7, Volume 26
- ^ Case Closed File 2, Volume 1.
- ^ This starts from Case Closed volume 1; also mentioned in Volume 10, etc.
- ^ The first time occurs at Case Closed, File 10, Volume 1.
- ^ Case Closed volumes 3, 14 and 25-26, for example.
- ^ Case Closed volumes 25-26.
- ^ This encounter and discovery is at Case Closed Files 2-5, Volume 10.
- ^ Case Closed, File4, Volume 9.
Sources and external links
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| Main Characters | Jimmy Kudo · Rachel Moore · Richard Moore |
| Minor/Recurring Characters | Anita Hailey · Mitch Tennison · George Kaminski · Amy Yeager · Booker Kudo · Vivian Kudo · Hiroshi Agasa · Eva Kadan · Harley Hartwell · Kazuha Toyama · Serena Sebastian · Eisuke Hondou · Phantom Thief Kid |
| Black Organization | Gin · Vodka · Vermouth · Chianti · Korn · Tequila · Akemi Miyano |
| FBI and CIA | Shuichi Akai · Jodie Starling · James Black · Rena Mizunashi |
