Headscratchers / Case Closed

Why exactly did Gin give the drug to Shinichi in the first place?

• Considering that the main deal about The Black Organization is that they always clean up their mess and never leave any traces, why take such a risk as using an untested drug on someone who knows about them? What if Shinichi would have survived without the side-effect? How exactly would they have benefited from risking that a well-known (albeit young) detective knows about the organization, the trade deal AND their new drug?
  • Gin says right when he poisons Shinichi why they're using that method. It's because the place is swarming with cops from the Mystery Coaster murder incident. They can't shoot him without drawing a swarm of cops down on them, and any other method (stabbing, beating him to death) would take too long and risk being seen. Giving him a poison pill and leaving is the best option.

Why is it that when Conan turns into Shinichi, he can go into public on his own pace while for Ai, she must go into hiding immediately after turning into Shiho? Surely enough they both have the same rate of danger if their appearance were known to public

• Unlike Shinichi, Shiho does not have any known associates who she can ask for help in keeping her involvement in anything secret. Even if she did, Shiho feared that person is Vermouth in disguise. Which is why, Shiho and even Conan always made an excuse to avoid involving the former in anything that can go public like newspapers or so.
  • It is even justified in the Mystery Train case. Just because of Mitsuhiko's foolishness for secretly recording Shiho and the ignorance of the Mouri's to publish it online, the BO prepared a plan to eliminate her once and for all, including anyone on board. The kids' innocent intentions to thank Shiho for saving their lives was reasonable but their actions ironically puts Shiho's life in danger because the BO members became aware of her decision to board the Bell Tree Express Train.
• Also, one of the first things Ai says is that the Organisation knows what she looked like as a child. She's not just hiding that she's alive, she's hiding from them what APTX actually can do.

During the time when Conan occasionally returned to Shinichi or he speak the truth through telephone, how is it possible that people were able to keep quiet about Shinichi's involvement with a case so easily? I can see the police can easily agree to that because it is in their line of duty to keep certain information confidential to preserve good image/avoiding risk and so on but when it comes to Shinichi's schoolmates, wouldn't there's a high risk of someone slipped out that information by accident even if they were warned beforehand?

• There is no doubt any of Shinichi's class or school mates could let the information of his involvement in a recent case slip out. However, since Shinichi's status of involvement in cases already dropped significantly and forgotten in public when he become Conan and Sleeping Kogoro rises in fame. No one would suspect Shinichi solved that case unless the public are aware Shinichi is Conan.
  • Though Yusaku had his worries in file 1005 becoming true in the chapter afterwards. Shinichi went on a school field trip to Kyoto as himself. He got involved in a murder case, where the victims and culprit are famous people. Shinichi solved it along with Heiji and Sera. While Shinichi did asked his school to keep quiet about his presence and involvement, he did not and could not ask passerby in Kyoto to do it. Hence, anyone nearby who recognised him from newspaper when Shinichi still have his fame would definitely post in online social media about spotting him in the vicinity of the occurred case. Because of that and factoring that his face was caught in the live footage of the second murder in broad daylight, mass media started coming to his school and house to get details about him.
  • It is a little strange the mass media in Osaka believe Heiji's statement that the Shinichi in the footage was Okita Soshi. While their face do resemble each other, Soshi's skin tone was obviously darker than the real Shinichi (but slightly fairer than Heiji) and his hair was longer and tied. On top of that, Soshi was a local and schools in Kyoto, not Tokyo. Soshi is also known as a strong kendo player of his own techniques. He never done anything like solving a case. The public might had believed that lie because Heiji explains further offscreen that people mistakes Soshi as Shinichi when they compared his skin tone with Heiji. Another excuse Heiji come up with could be Soshi wanted to imitate Shinichi by dressing up like him.

The FBI

• ...Couldn't Conan tell the FBI about being Shinichi Kudo? They're investigating the Black Organization anyway, he doesn't even keep up a childish facade and uses all his regular smartness when with them, and I can't see how it would hurt, only help. For that matter, couldn't there be some sort of exchange where Haibara gives the FBI info on the Black Organization if they promise not to arrest her? It just seems like Conan and Ai are sitting on all this information on the Black Organization while not bothering to tell the FBI any of it.
  • Because the Black Organization is dangerous. You're honestly telling me they don't obviously have spies in the FBI who could easily use such information to their advantage? No one, except those he absolutely trusts and wouldn't be put in danger by the information, can know about it. He is determined to keep Ran and everyone safe, and he'll lie to the freaking FBI to do it.
    • If the Black Organization had spies in the FBI, they would have overheard all those group meetings in the hospital where Conan discussed plans with Shuuichi and explained Kir was a CIA spy. I get the motive that Conan doesn't want to tell the FBI because the Black Organization makes fools of them periodically, but spies isn't the reason. At least not yet...
    • Plus, I think you're forgetting that one of the main rules of the series is that the characters are extremely bad at sharing information unless they absolutely have to. Conan lets Subaru Okiya live at his house because he knows that Okiya is Akai, and therefore completely trustworthy, but not only tells Ran to not talk about Shinichi around him, but shows remarkable hesitance to talk to him about it even after it becomes clear that Okiya has figured it out. Okiya, in turn, won’t tell Conan about his father’s involvement in the Kohji Haneda case unless Conan comes clean about his true identity - the one that he already knows about. They probably won't discuss it until at least the next BO case.
  • There's also the part where the FBI keeps records, and most other US agencies can access them (whether the FBI wants them to or not). ^note  The US law enforcement agencies are notorious in certain circles for poor cyber-security, and remember how easily the Russians accessed supposedly secure emails during the 2016 elections? Conan might trust Jodie-sensei, and her immediate superiors, but he's not going to trust everyone who can access the records down the line. He doesn't even know how close Jodie-sensei is to stumbling on at least some of the truth, given she knows that Sharon and Chris Vineyard have the exact same fingerprints, and she's not telling anyone that for very good reason. Remember, Conan's not just hiding his identity as Shinichi Kudo, he's hiding the fact that he's de-aged ten years. There are a great many people who would happily dissect him alive in Area 52 or equivalent if it meant some rich people got to be ten years younger, or even get another lifetime.

The main-character policemen work every single shift.

• Seriously, whether Conan and the gang call during the morning, afternoon, evening, or even midnight, Megure ALWAYS comes, accompanied by Takagi, Chiba, and the other people. It's almost like they're always there for plot convenience.
  • Only at first. By now the series has built a pool of around twenty policeman or so it pulls from to avoid repetition and to account for prefectures. Although Megure, Takagi and Sato still are there most of the time.
  • Takagi and Sato, even as Detectives, work all sorts of shifts (although yes, the timing is a bit too convenient). Megure has enough seniority to have more regular hours, so I suspect Megure's been instructed or has taken it upon himself to be the 'Kogoro and Conan specialist', given his past history as Mouri's superior when he was in the police force. There's something pretty strange about that pair, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's under quiet instructions to keep observing them to try and figure it out.
  • A small kernal of truth here. Homicide detectives, at least in the US, must respond to a call even if that call happens just as they are leaving to go home, or are at home and getting ready to sleep for the night. When a case is fresh, homicide investigators can work 12 or even 18 hour days, with some police stations having bunk rooms for officers working extended shifts. This is important as murder cases become more difficult to solve the more time passes.

A very specific and tiny thing that bugs me from volume 31.

• In the case with the fisherman they nabbed Noboru as the real murderer because he knew what time Aramaki died (around 8:00). However, Noboru set up the trick around 7:00 and then left the body there to just eventually drown. How could he have known what time Aramaki actually drowned? And why did he call Aramaki's cell phone three times?
  • He knows what time Aramaki drowned because he knows that the guy only drowned when the tide is up, and he knows when the tide is up (i.e. around 8:00). He called the guy's cell phone because it's natural to do so when the guy didn't show up for their meeting, as well as to make an alibi.

Heiji and Kazuha's relationship.

• I mean, I know that it's a running gag, and I have laughed at it, but how oblivious can one guy be? He's in denial, oblivious to love, and etc. are all excuses, but come on. Gosho-sensei is just toying with us.
  • Yes, yes he is. Although as you said, Heiji is in blatant denial. He and Kazuha are both Tsundere for each other, and both type B, which is... complicating things even more.
  • Well, from the 'Heiji and Kazuha in Grave Danger' case (vol. 38:8-10, episodes 323-324)where they were kidnapped and locked in an attic together, it's implied that Heiji actually is aware of his affection for her, as, when he thought he was about to be shot, he said that his "last words really were for her," and when Kazuha later asked him if he'd ever tell her what he was going to say, he nods and says "until you're sick of hearing it." What I got from that is that he is, at least on some level, aware of his affection for her, but may be afraid of expressing it because he actually believes her tsundere act. Or is just extremely socially awkward in general.
  • maybe, subconsciously, Heiji's in denial because given the long-standing bonds between his and Kazuha's families, both personally and professionally, ^note  their fathers aren't just best friends but two of the top cops in Osaka. So if Heiji wants to follow in his father's footsteps, being hated by the powerful cop who blames him for breaking his little girl's heart would be beyond awkward and Japanese social expectations, ^note Dating casually isn't really a thing in Japanese society yet; dating is generally Serious Business to figure out a couple's compatibility for marriage once he and Kazuha actually become a couple it will be almost impossible for them to break up? At least not without turning his entire family's lives inside-out. Heiji simply isn't ready for lifetime commitment at seventeen - who is? (actually, this is one of my biggest peeves about Goshi-sensei's Childhood Friend Romance fetish. There's a reason high school relationships rarely last throughout adulthood)

While I've given up trying to understand the drug that shrunk Shinichi and Shiho, do their young bodies age as time go by or are their bodies perpetually stuck at that age/stage?

• According to the OVA, "Stranger in 10 Years," those two grow up just like other kids do. The only reason they never grow up in the main series is just like the reason why Ash Ketchem never physically grows up: the artist does not allow it.
  • Aside from the questionable accuracy of Anima OVA explanation, that particular episode is just something Conan dreamt up, so how do we know that would happen for sure? According to the WMG page, they most likely won't grow up- with the explanation that if the drug is not somehow in effect in his bloodstream, Conan would not keep reverting to his child state after taking the antidote.
  • Forget realism - according to Goshi-sensei, only one year has passed in-Universe (despite several different winters and summer vacations) Conan and Ai aren't growing up until Goshi-sensei decides they will.

The Other Wiki refuses to call this show by its most well-known title. That...still...bugs me. Freaking idiots.

• The rule they use is "the official English title," and the franchise has never been released in English as "Detective Conan." The Robert E. Howard estate being silly isn't their problem, and they need a definite rule. It's also why they use the names Sailor Moon and Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. Funnily enough, the articles on the various versions of the Ah! My Goddess franchise have different titles.
  • Actually, the rule was introduced after the fact to justify the article name. Originally, the rule that applied was in the Japan manual of style, which said that names are romanized according to the most common usage, not according to the official name, up until June 20 2008. Likewise, the guideline in the anime style guide did not require that the official name be used if some other name was more widely recognized.
    • I have defended the Case Closed name since 2007; even though my fandom was pre-Case Closed and was not even in an English-speaking country. Wikipedia, ofter all, is supposed to be for the random English speaker, not us. Judging by the number of bookstores carrying Case Closed manga in the US, I have to say your random English speaker would be more likely to have heard of Case Closed than Detective Conan. (Of course, if WP changed their definition of English speaker, I may change my stand.)
    • The point is that it is not defined as "what English speakers would have heard of". In fact, when it was defined as this, it was un-defined specifically so that the Detective Conan articles could be renamed. Even if you're right and this name does happen to be the one most English speakers have heard of, the rule now doesn't say to use the name English speakers have heard of; it says to use the official name regardless of how many or how few people have heard of it. The only reason nobody's renamed Angel's Egg to In the Aftermath yet is that nobody's gotten around to doing it.
    • Readers should get their own conclusion by reading the deliberations for the policy in dispute here.
    • I'll clarify: Right now, Wikipedia's policy is to use what English speakers would have heard of. However, at the point when the original question was posted, Wikipedia's policy had been changed to "official name, no matter what" and only in January 2009 was it changed back.
    • English speaker is not the same as American. There are English speakers in the rest of the world (That's right, Wikipedia, there is such a thing as "rest of the world"), including Japan itself.
    • "Detective Conan" is mentioned as the title of the series in Japan and other non-English speaking countries, so why does it matter whether it's the official title of the page or not? Besides they technically were using the official name anyway; it's just the official North American name.
  • Also, the series is officially called Detective Conan in some English versions outside the United States.
  • This troper would like to point out that, so far as this troper is aware, the change to Case Closed is officially for "unspecified legal reasons" and the popular belief that it has something to do with the Robert E Howard estate is unproven. At any rate Wikipedia has lots of stupid policies. It is, simply put, impossible to please everyone.
  • Wikipedia assumes that we all live in America. Enough said.
    • Considering that the article uses the American, Japanese, and official translation titles/names on the English pages for Conan, that's definitely not the case. If you were less bitter about this, you'd likely be less biased, too.
    • Oh yeah? Then why do they care about some stupid legal restriction in US? There are over a hundred other countries in the world, where Detective Conan is known as Detective Conan, and yet that name cannot be used. Wikipedia tells tall tales about being an international site, so why does a legal problem in one country need to be treated specially? Somehow that doesn't prevent Jimbo from spamming the whole world with his begging and personal appeals every year.
    • But why aren't the North American names used anywhere else? It's one thing for Conan to keep his first name in most languages, but Funimation probably wanted to pay respect to the characters' Japanese initials. Hence an overload of Dub Name Changes.
  • Ok, I might get some criticism for this but hear me out; how about we just combine those titles (Case Closed and Detective Conan) together? It would go something like this: Detective Conan: Case Closed or even Case Closed: Detective Conan, whichever sounds better. I felt both of those titles are still pretty said by anyone who seen the anime considering people still call it Case Closed while others called it Detective Conan so I figured since they're still called "Case Closed" and "Detective Conan", it's probably for the best to combine those two titles together.

Why does it seem that 'Ano Kata' is never seen?

• Because this is a mystery series. The identity of the boss is supposed to be a secret for now.
  • One theory is that it's Eri's cat
  • Also, 'Ano Kata' means 'That Person', a deliberately ambiguous phrase that doesn't even specify gender, let alone actual identity.
  • If they want to only maintain the suspense, they could use that bald black no-browed shaded figure that keeps popping up all the time.
  • Since Detective Conan is influenced by Sherlock Holmes, revealing the identity of 'Ano Kata' would end the series. 'Ano kata' would be professor moriarty to shinichis sherlock holmes, as in the books when professor moriarty is revealed in the book, it resulted in a sort of final battle for sherlock holmes. sherlock holmes is only brought back because of the popularity of the books. so to put it shortly, revealing who 'Ano kata' would bring the end to the series!

Bulletproof Glasses

• Reading the Goggles Do Something Unusual article, it occurs to me that eyeglasses made of bulletproof glass are, while potentially lifesaving, a bad idea. While getting a bullet and several shards of glass in your eye and face is definitely bad, the impact of the vast majority of bullets would still pop the lens entire out of its frame and into your eye. Resulting in red marks and potential bleeding from the frames digging into your face, a huge black eye at the very least, and quite possibly unconsciousness or at the least an eyeful of pain. Eye Scream material any way you slice it.
  • Anyway, the only time it was used, it deflected the bullet without damage.
    • Which still should have broken his little neck.
    • Artistic License – Physics. If the bullet had enough kinetic energy to break his neck, then the shooter would've likely had his arm broken due to that pesky Newton's Law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
  • I think this is a case where you just have to keep in mind the MST3K Mantra. I seem to recall cases in the show where bullet-proof vests provide an unrealistic level of protection as well.
  • Bullet proof eyeglasses are a bad idea, eh? Apparently, the bullet piercing a naked eye is preferable to red marks, frames digging into your face, a huge black eye, and an eyeful of pain. That's good to know.
    • Only that didn't happen, did it? The glasses managed to fully deflect the bullet without being damaged in any way. That in itself is a case of Artistic License – Physics.
  • Also, the frame itself was most likely strengthened as well, to prevent the lens to pop out.

Shrinkage Insanity

• Besides when they first shrink, Shinichi looks like he's having a heart attack each time he goes back and forth by using the antidote or when it wears off. He's sweating profusely for no apparent reason, he's having difficulty breathing, and the clincher is he is clutching at his chest. The reason this bugs me is that Megure and Takagi didn't call a hospital when he did that in the middle of the case in the Beika Hotel. Are they that dumb as to not call a hospital when someone looks like they're having a heart attack? Or is it to avoid the whole "shrink-back-down-at-the-hospital-and-have-cover-blown" problem?
  • It's the 'he'll be discovered!' problem.
  • I think it's to illustrate that this is a very painful process?
    • Ran's grabbed a doctor on multiple occasions that Shin'ichi is going to turn back. Both times, he ended up being fine.
  • It's probably worth noting that Shinichi's like... seventeen during the story. Show a doctor a seventeen year old of average weight and build (more than that since Shinichi's an athlete) sweating, clutching his chest, and in pain, and their first instinct will be anything but heart attack. In short, it's really not realistic to assume that the young athlete is having a heart attack, and more likely that it's the flu or something.
    • It's actually pretty rare but it's Truth in Television that a teenager can suffer a heart attack, even if they're healthy.

A commonly raised one in Case Closed: Kogoro has been subjected to that tranquilizer needle for hundreds of times. And no side effects?

• Sort of like how every pulp hero (James Bond, for instance) can be knocked out with blows to the head hundreds of time and not end up like retired boxers. It's one of those general rules of fiction that one just has to forgive, like Instant Death Bullets.
  • True, but another way to look at the question is through a toxicology perspective. (There's a mystery writer's guide to poisons, so the symptoms of a poison actually make sense. It has sleeping agents as one of the categories under medical poisons.) So either Kogoro, using the idea that it could be toxic, would build up an immunity (like with cobra venom or Baigar, which is an antidote, ironically) or it would build up in his system and eventually kill him (like arsenic or lead). Now, he hasn't keeled over yet, so it may end up being the former. Now, that would be funny, and has been pointed out by other fans.
    • I think it has been brought up and I seem to remember Conan once commenting that it isn't quite as effective as it use to be.
    • It did happen once, but basically as a one-off gag. There was Snapback and it was never seen again. However, in the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan TV special, when Conan accidentally hit Zenigata with his needle, Conan was shocked to see the effect lasted for only about one minute. Perhaps Lupin has put Zenigata to sleep enough times he's built up an immunity? Or maybe Zenigata is just that tough.
    • It's possible that it no longer has any effect on Kogoro and the so-called "Sleeping Detective" is just playing along for the fame... and possibly out of curiosity. If he stopped pretending to go under, he might never figure out what Conan is doing.
    • Nah. Kogoro isn't that smart. If they pull an "Aunt May" retcon somewhere down the line, I'm going to be seriously annoyed. :P
    • Kogoro is that smart. He's just lazy. Like the main page says, he'll attach himself to his first theory unless It's Personal.
    • Read Ellen Brand's excellent An Unprofessional Opinion, and you'll see that it's not quite as far-fetched as you may like to believe.
  • Heck, forget that. Kogoro has been hit with the tranquiliser over a hundred times ... but how far has time advanced? By a few days maybe? That is a much bigger mystery than why he shows no side effects.
    • Nah. Kogoro would definitely not survived from that. Check this out for its scientific reason

Ventriloquism

• On a similar note to the above IJBM: Why does nobody ever notice that Kogoro's lips aren't moving?
  • Almost was in one of the episodes Detective Satou started to play with Kogoro's mouth.
  • Kogoro has that mustache - maybe it's thicker in "real life" than what's being portrayed by Aoyama's art. Or, alternatively, they don't notice because they're in a comic book and nobody's lips move. (Seriously. Once Korogo had his cheek pinched while unconscious and even then his non-moving lips went unnoticed.)
    • That wouldn't explain Serena or the wussy detective though...
  • For that matter, why does nobody notice Kogoro's voice is coming from behind his chair, or in a couple of cases from a micro-speaker in the middle of his forehead? Just a show, just a show, relax, relax...
    • Why does no one notice the times when Conan is standing in plain view speaking into his bow-tie?
    • That was actually touched upon - in one episode, Conan didn't have any of his usual dummies, so he had to use Dr. Agasa. He didn't tranquilize Dr. Agasa, just told him to move his mouth while Conan spoke for him. The other three kids in the group actually noticed Conan was talking into the bowtie, and asked why, causing a sudden out-of-character moment when Dr. Agasa said "Shoo!"

Convenient Wake-up Call

• I just don't get how Kogoro wakes up immediately after his "deduction" is done. I mean, Heiji woke up in the middle of Conan's deduction and confronted him about it. That's never happened to Kogoro as far as I know.
  • Heiji woke up that one time because Kogoro, in full clueless jerk mode, punched him on the top of the head. A similar thing happens to him later when Kogoro's unconscious body fell over and slammed his head against a sidewalk, waking him up.
  • And sometimes Kogoro doesn't wake up at all, and Conan sweatdrops when he realizes he forgot and left Kogoro sleeping there.

How did Heiji and Kazuha manage to get off that cliff without killing themselves? Especially since Heiji has a freaking arrow stabbed into his arm. I saw no trees they could safely fall into, no other branches to grab onto. And I'm pretty sure there was no river to fall into. I'm not even sure HOW the fall off that cliff worked.

• "Falling a huge distance is an excellent cure for otherwise fatal wounds - anyone who you see shot, stabbed, or mangled and then tossed off a cliff is guaranteed to return later in the game with barely a scratch."
• To be fair, they did sustain a lot of bruises and cuts. Heiji still has that scar from Kazuha. And I made a mistake, it wasn't his arm, but his hand. If they killed off Heiji, I'd be a mourning fangirl, so I guess I'll go with it.

How many frickin murders can one guy walk in on?

• I mean every single vacation, outing, trip, etc. turns into And Then There Were None. Are criminals trying to test their skills against Conan? And aren't guns hard to get a hold of in Japan? Why does every single guy on the subway have a semi automatic stashed in his/her pants?
  • It's actually a running gag in the series. Megure has actually said, "Not you again" when he sees Kogoro at another crime scene. Or something a long those lines. And the whole series requires you to suspend your disbelief. In Japan, the actual crime rate is quite low.
  • Here's a question, does Shinichi attract death, or does death attract Shinichi?
  • Also hilariously lampshaded when Heiji once told Kazuha to leave fast, because "he" (he was talking about Shinichi, Kazuha thought he was talking about Kogoro) attracts murder like a magnet. Cue someone discovering a dead body.
  • See Busman's Holiday and Mystery Magnet.
    • It's not only a running gag. If you can notice in some sentences the characters mention, you can notice that sometimes various weeks are spent between each case. The situation is that the manga/anime only shows that days when they had cases to solve.
    • Yes, but the characters don't seem to grow up despite that. Just how long would it take for Conan to move from 1st grade to 2nd grade?

Ran is a childhood friend. This means she knew Shinichi as a child. So shouldn't she recognize Conan as being a young Shinichi?

• Shinichi spent heck of a while to persuade he has been de-aged. Do you readily believe anyone of your acquaintance was de-aged yourself?
• I'm pretty sure she did recognize Conan as being a young Shinichi. She even correctly came to the conclusion that Shinichi had been de-aged. Twice. Conan went through quite a bit before he was able to convince her otherwise.
• It has been ten years. The first time she took off his glasses, she only had a niggling feeling that she recognized Conan without them until finding an old picture of Shinichi and connecting the dots.
• On a similar note, the Failure Is the Only Option nature of Ran's obliviousness bugs the heck out of me. Granted, I can see how they would want to keep the same dynamic of the show going. And Ran learning the truth would lead to her having to confront various further unpleasant truths, such as the fact that she's said some very embarrassing things about her feelings toward Shinichi to Conan (and furthermore, the fact that Conan has been playing everyone for fools with his Sleeping Kogoro ventriloquist act for all this time even if "all this time" in the show's internal continuity is only "a few months". Boy, Conan is building up an impressive load of bad karma). But it all seems so artificial. Ran is a smart girl, she's put the clues together several times and only trickery on Conan's part has deceived her. What's more, practically everyone around them but Ran is starting to notice there's something weird about that kid. Inspector Kansuke Yamato from Nagano has outright said he thinks Conan is the one pulling the strings, and even Takagi once (when he thought they were both about to die) asked Conan who he really was. (To which Conan replied, "I'll tell you... in the next world.") How can they justify these people noticing and Ran not? She sees the kid all the time, after all. But even when she does notice Conan is particularly clever for his age, she tends to forget about it by the next episode.
  • She is in deep denial, very deep denial. She does notice Conan's not a normal kid, but does not acknowledge it intellectually. I suppose the idea of Shinichi turning into a child must be painful or something.
    • She does figure it out on at least two or three separate occasions , but each time Shinichi tricked her by using a body double or voice shenanigans (she never found out about his bow tie, it seems). Besides, as another poster mentioned, being de-aged is so weird in the Case Closed-verse that it's not surprising that most characters would never think of it or require very little evidence to abandon it as a possibility.
    • Furthemore, Conan isn't acting alone. Currently, he has been provided with fake, convincing parents (courtesy by Yukiko), a cemented status as a distant relative of the Kudo family, aknowledged many times by a fake Shinichi. Since APTX is too weird to be even accepted as a possibility, Occam's Razor kicks in. Basically, Ran is fed up with so many matching lies, coming from so many different people, that the fake theory ("Conan Edogawa is a distant relative of Shinichi Kudo, a mystery nut as his relative and he's in constant telephonic contact with him to share mystery-related stuff. His parents are always travelling abroad and they asked Agasa to provide for their young son, or find someone caring for the time being. Conan has something strange, but he may just be nutty as the rest of his mystery-obsessed relatives") is far more believable than reality ("Shinichi Kudo has being de-aged by a mysterious poison, and there are strange men from a strange organization following him in some kind of weird plot to find some kind of thing").
• Just a little nitpick thing, but if I was Conan after I solved a case I would just knock out the culprit and do a confession in the culprit voice. It would make things way easier, but I guess it's just ruleofdrama that the writers prolonged the reveal.
  • Thing is, making an accusation through the detective's voice gives the suspect a last chance to defend themselves, prove their innocence, or explain their actions. Japan isn't like America: they have a "guilty until proven innocent" system pretty much, and confession typically equals conviction. Besides which, doing things in such a way is something a villain would do, and Conan is not a villain. (An aside, this has nothing to do with the headscratcher of Ran not connecting the dots... shouldn't this be its own headscratcher entry?)
• I think it was volume 3 or 4 when she accused him of being Shinichi for the first time. About 50 volumes in, it was hinted that she knew but waited for him to tell her. As of now, the "Suspicion Arc" isn't moving forward, although there was potential foreshadowing during a case that involved DNA-analysis.
• In one of the latest cases, which involved an unsolved murder case, Ran reacted strongly to something Conan said. He was talking like Shinichi (well, he was pretending to be reading from a text Shinichi sent), and Ran grabbed him and said "C...Conan-kun, right?". This also happened in the Silver Witch case, only she didn't actually do anything then. I'm thinking eventually she won't be able to see Conan as anyone else but Shinichi, so it'll be impossible for Conan to keep it away from her.

Related to the above, how exactly is Ran knowing Conan's real identity endangering her more than everybody else who does know?

• Yeah. Everyone seems to think the Black Organization has some kind of "magical knowledge detector" where they will somehow know if she knows about their organization and will leave her alone if she doesn't. In actuality, it's more likely that they would just kill everyone and let Kami-sama sort them out.
  • Ran would insist on getting involved a lot more often if she knew what Shinichi/Conan was really involved in. Hell, last time she thought that Ai was in serious danger, she snuck into the trunk of someone's car and used her body to shield Ai from sniper fire. It may not be that she'd be in more danger than Asaga and company, but that Shinichi would do anything in his power to keep her from being in serious danger at all. Though it certainly is getting tired after all these years in reader-time.
  • While I agree that it would put Ran in a more direct line of fire, this point particularly annoys me too. While de-aging is, in fact, mind-boggling, Ran IS a very intelligent girl, and keeping her this oblivious just seems like a selective lobotomy at times. The BO has been shown to be ruthless when it comes to 'removing' witnesses; the first time Kir is introduced, just before Akai saves their collective butts, Gin orders Chianti to shoot Kogoro and Conan - who in that instant is just an innocent kid from their perspective, and who is merely talking to Kogoro through a window. Should Shinichi's identity be discovered, whether or not he has told Ran will become irrelevant, as Gin has happily shown he will kill anyone on the suspicion of a suspicion of knowing anything. More than likely, she and her father would be clipped without even knowing why.
• Considering how Heiji and Agasa both slip up quite a bit, it makes no sense why Ran would be in any more danger by knowing. Meta-explanation: Aoyama wants to have several plot threads to use. (Though he does already have many.) If she knows, Gosho loses the future use of any plot threads where she gets close to finding out, someone claims to be Shinichi's girlfriend, Conan dealing with something like bathing with Ran but she doesn't know it, and the whole long-distance-relationship thing. But, it does get tiresome after a while, because she won't find out, Shinichi's name will be cleared, Conan just gets really embarrassed, and Conan does something really sweet, respectively.
• As mentioned in this show's fanfic recommendations page, the fanfic The Mystery of Conan Edogawa by funvince does an excellent job of showing how a resolution to this situation really ought to play out.
• In summation: Status Quo Is God. It's especially sad because by refusing to let go of these possible plot threads (Ran almost finding out for the nth time etc.), Aoyama ignores the hundreds of new possibilities this reveal would open...
• The Organization has been known to target anyone who knows about them. Heiji has been lucky, and both the elder Kudos are out of the country much of the time. If Ran found out, the Black Organization may target her simply for knowing. After all, they tried to kill Shinichi when he saw one transaction, on the premise that he might become dangerous to them later. It isn't that he doesn't trust Ran to keep his secret, it's that he doesn't trust the Organization not to find out.
  • Sure but as suggested in one of the above paragraphs, Episode 425 (or manga volume 49) demonstrates that members like Gin are just as willing to kill someone merely for being an associate without being sure if they know about The Organization or not. As such, if they catch onto Conan, then really, Ran & Kogoro are going to be gunned down without being sure what they know or don't know. Really, if he wants to keep them out of the crossfire, the only real solution is to go to America with his parents and stay out of the Mouris' lives until The Organization is dealt with since his dad has connections in Interpol.
• Shin'ichi is notably proud and obsessed with having his plans go the way he needs them - evidenced whenever he doesn't tell Haibara anything about plans directly involving her. Shin'ichi started this series with the idea that he had stumbled and was simply going to be able to fold back into his life, and he continues forward repeating his mistake because he's got the wrong idea of how to fix it.
• Maybe it's because, as her long-time friend, Conan knows that Ran... well, is really bad at keeping secrets, and has some bad blind spots in her judgement. (I mean, she's completely convinced that her parents are in denial about their true love and will get back together if she just gives them a big enough push!) Conan isn't just worried about the Black Organization, he's not just undercover and hoping to go back to his life when it's all through. Conan will spend the rest of his life hiding a secret with the potential to change the world. Conan is living proof that someone has discovered a minor fountain of youth. The world is full of people who will kill and dissect him down to the DNA to reverse-engineer it. Not to mention full of people who wouldn't bother killing him first. What would Donald Trump, currently president of the USA, Commander-In-Chief of it's military, and capable of starting another world war, do to be ten years younger and healthier or have the chance to start his life again????

If Ran knew such a secret, she would have to tell someone, just to relieve the pressure. Who are the three most likely candidates, with Shinichi out of her life? Her parents and her other best friend. Eri would be scared shitless by the implications, and immediately start researching and reaching out to others to try and protect Ran. At the very least, she'd write some kind of legal brief. Anyone suspects, they just have to break into her office and search her records. Kogoro? Ha! He'd dismiss the whole thing as Ran's imagination and ramble on about his daughter's crazy conspiracy theory to anyone in earshot the next time he got drunk (which seems to be at least three times a week) or share it with the next pretty lady he's trying to hit on (which happens every other week). How long would it take for that kind of delicious rumor, even if it's just a delightful 'what if', to reach exactly the kinds of people Conan needs to be frightened of? Then her other best friend... well, Sonoko Suzuki not only doesn't give a fig about Shinichi's welfare, but is pretty much a personification of 'privileged', who's wealth means that she's never had to face real consequences or payment for anything. Her biggest issue in her entire life, as far as we can tell, is not having a boyfriend. When her petty jealous behavior accidentally got her targeted by a Serial Killer, her future boyfriend charged in to save her like something out of a martial arts rom-com. One of her closest relatives is Jirokichi Suzuki, a man who's spent his whole life and tens of millions of US dollars being THE BEST at any flashy hobby that has caught his attention, and even setting up a museum partly to show off his trophies! Who spent probably at least a million US just to try and outwit Kaito Kid because he was offended that Kaito Kid's antics pushed his latest achievement to page 2 in the newspapers. If Sonoko told him "Ran's crazy idea", what lengths would an immensely rich, narcisstic, Determinator go to to get extra youth and health?

Where do Conan and Haibara get the extra mass when they turn back to normal? Where does the extra mass go when they get shrunk down? (Sorry, I was reading the Headscratchers.Resident Evil page and wondered about this series.)

• Hammerspace
• Not sure about the first, but as for the second, it appears that at least some of the mass from the dying cells is released in gaseous form. The first time the drug is used, they show a sort of vapor around the body, presumably being produced by the body. So the drug must produce a lot of heat and evaporate the dead cell mass, and it escapes out the pores. Not sure if that would account for ALL of it, but that's at least one exit.
• Conan's first transformation says "it feels like his bones are melting". Heat could be used for evaporation of the dead cell mass, but it may also be produced by the sheer energy required to reshape the form of the body - i.e. it may not be evaporation through pores so much as it is high speed deconstruction and reconstruction, with the discarded materials evaporating from the surface of the new skin. Also, it's implied that Haibara's research was for the creation of a pill for longevity or immortality rather than death, so it's plausible that one of the effects of the APTX is an accelerated healing factor that prevents the enzymes and the brain from breaking down due to the heat. The reason it's usually a poison is probably because the destructive and healing parts of the medicine just don't manage to work in tandem every time, with only a low probability for a successful reaction that just happened to come out in Haibara and Conan's favour.

Shouldn't Ran have graduated by now? High school in Japan is only three years, and I'm pretty it's been that long, since we've seen three winters go by.

• Ahem. Comic-Book Time. Never mind Ran, if the series had been running on real time, Conan would have aged from a little kid to an adult by now.
  • Concur. Readers of this series are trained to ignore Comic-Book Time as Word of God confirmed its existence.
  • For what it's worth, the author has started lately to slip in more mysteries where the dates and seasons are more concrete. Starting from chapter 709, the individual cases seem to take Conan and co. from October through the new year and into Spring.
  • When Shinichi shrunk to Conan, he was about 17 years old. Conan is about 6 years old. With loads and loads and loads of filler episodes (The main story is about Shinichi versus the BO. All other investigations are fillers.), suppose it takes 12 years (in the story's timeline) for Conan to finally turn into Shinichi permanently, does Shinichi now become 29 years old?

Why was the Professor's nifty-neat micro-miniature cellphone disguised as a clip-on girl's earring? What would a male elementary school student be doing with a clip-on girl's earring in the first place?

• The series started in 1997 and cellphones weren't big yet. However, despite Comic-Book Time and Anachronism Stew, it's all been but ditched for normal cellphones.
  • I'm aware of that—in fact, I'm the one who wrote the majority of the Time Marches On entry for Conan. That's not what I was wondering. What I was wondering was why the Professor thought that a clip-on girl's earring would be nicely inconspicuous for an elementary school boy to carry around. Then again, given that it is the Professor we're talking about, maybe that fact is explanation enough by itself.
  • In chapter 882 of the manga, it's made clear that about a year has passes since before Shinichi got turned into Conan.
  • maybe it wasn't actually intended to be disguised that way to start? It's been awhile since I've seen this item in the manga, but it looks more like a car alarm to me. Maybe it's meant to be clipped to a jacket collar or worn as a pendant, but something went wrong with the speaker (remember, it's a prototype) so it could only be used properly if it was right next to the ear?

Why don't people recognize Kaito Kid as Kaito Kuroba? All he did was put on a top hat and monocle. You'd think Inspector Nakamori would realize it since Kaito is Aoko's best friend and all.

• He did (though he needed to unmask him to do it), but KID reacted by staging an alibi (a date with Aoko) while getting unmasked * again* in another location, this time appearing to be Aoko. Nakamori remembered that KID is a master of Latex Perfection and decided that KID only looked like Kaito the last time to mess with him. See the Magic Kaito IJBM for more on this subject.
  • Also, while I can't speak for Magic Kaito, as far as Detective Conan is concerned, Kaito always stands with his back to the moonlight so that the reflection makes it hard to see his face correctly. (Conan comments on it the first time they meet.)

So Conan and co walk around running into dead bodies all the time, solving crimes, etc. Usually, they just check for a pulse and then go "Well, that sucker's dead, let's figure out who did it." Why don't they try administering aid?

• Okay, Clean Pretty Reliable is stretching plausibility a bit, but you'd think they'd at least make the attempt, especially when the victim was injured only moments before. I mean, I've only ever had Basic Aid Training, and I know that much... Maybe the heroes are just used to people being dead/unsaveable, so after a while they just got out of the habit?
  • They have actually applied first aid to victims several times through the series, generally successfully. Conan's pretty extensive knowledge of first aid has been enough to get the adults around wondering where did this kid learn all that. Of the top of my head, i remember an episode where a teacher of Ran is poisoned with cyanide during her wedding. Conan saves her life with a can of soda and a bottle of milk, then calls for an ambulance. And then finds the would-be murderer.
  • I remember one of the cases where they opened a cupboard only to see someone collapse, and guess what? Conan immediately says, "Alright, let's check everybody's alibis." Yes, that's right. He doesn't scream the victim's name, he doesn't declare the victim dead, he doesn't ask for ambulance and police, he doesn't even say let's find out who killed him. He goes straight to investigating the case. I guess the author didn't want to waste a few frames to say the same things over again.

The Stun-gun Wristwatch only works once per episode. Why Conan doesn't just carry a package of spare needles and go "chotto toilet!" at the first convenient moment to reload isn't really clear.

• Because he might forget about them, and Ran might find them in his pants pocket when she picks up his laundry? And then...
  • It appears to me that many of Conan's gadgets are only serviceable by Agasa. Remember in the (manga's) Ten Billion Bank Heist case, Conan lost track of Akemi because his spying goggles ran out of power and he has to charge it batteries at Agasa's.
    • I agree, but in this specific case, wouldn't it look incredibly weird at home, if Conan used a recharger on his glasses? Not to mention that it would seem suspicious if he could see perfectly without his glasses. Maybe Kogoro would buy that it's a toy Agasa gave him, but Ran?
• Maybe a whole watchmaker toolset along with proper procedure and precaution is required to reload it. At Agasa's home, it's nothing weird to think of because he conducts experiments and create inventions all the time. Like loupe, mini screwdrivers etc. Something that elementary schooler isn't supposed to take with him here and there...
  • On top of that, its too conspicuous for Conan to bring in those things with him at Ran's home. It's already troublesome enough that Conan is freeloading at Mouri's residence, carrying those conspicuous looking items would definitely make them questioned him. Although mystery books does not bother them because they just thought he was a another Holmes otaku/freak like Kudo Shinichi.

Conan always seems to stumble upon crimes as they happen. Alternatively, everywhere he goes, somebody dies. It's as bad as Murder, She Wrote.

• Not much they can do about that. It's a genre convention.
  • Yeah, but at least most other fictional detectives become involved in a crime after it's committed.
  • It is obvious. Pick up any case from the series, any case. The scenario before the crime is critical to solving the case. Unlike a real life detective, Conan cannot rely on testimonies and other means to inverstigate the background of the crime. The meitantei has to be present in first person at the crime scene to pick up the subtle clues. It is a mediocre detective story.

What will Conan's mother say to her friends, when they discover that she, in fact, doesn't have another son?

• She made up a story about Conan being her second son (which is actually more beleivable (too bad Conan can't use that)), what will happen when if they ever confront her about it
  • She could say she was just kidding and switch to their original cover story. Her story about Conan being her second son actually almost did screw him over when the officer in charge of that case showed up again, but Conan changed subjects quickly and it wasn't brought up again.

How does Ran's hair work?

• The spike appears to switch sides, making the actual shape of her bangs unclear.
  • Two words: Artistic License.
  • Actually there's a whole page dedicated to the phenomenon: it's called Cheated Angle.
• In the early chapters, Ran actually has wavy hair like her father. The spike is just a wave that has become flattened and abstracted over time.

Why haven't Kogoro's parenting skills been questioned yet?

• I mean, the guy not only yells at, but he also throws and even punches Conan. I know that sort of thing happens in anime a lot, but Kogoro's reasons for doing it are really petty.
  • As someone who visits Japan on a yearly basis, I know first-hand that abuse of that kind—especially to boys—isn't nearly as frowned upon as one might think. This consitutes as normal, if not a little excessive, behavior.
    • Now if he were doing it to Ran, people would look at him funny. Not only is abuse okay if it's female on male, but it's also okay if it's male on male, too. Even in America, people are more likely to sound an alarm if the victim is a female.
    • The whole 'teachers dress as a monster and appear on the doorstep to abduct children' tradition that is totally condoned and Nightmare Fuel for most of the kids involved, as the parents just stand by as the 'oni' drag the kids away. Coming from a different culture myself, I did not find it funny when I saw it.
    • I asked my friend from Japan about this. Like you mentioned above (the normal but excessive bit) it was considered normal - but she pointed out that it's exaggerated for humour, and even compared it to Homer choking Bart.
  • To answer your question, see if you are under the belief that we all live in America. Your American culture does not apply everywhere.
• I'm actually surprised you haven't mentioned the alcoholism.
  • Again, Values Dissonance. The Japanese not only LOVE to drink alcohol but being seen drunk in Japan isn't AS badly seen as in America, considering that social drinking allows people to be more open with their thoughts and feelings in the middle of a very traditional and emotionally-constipated society and is an extremely important activity in the workplace. See this article, i.e. Kogoro can get away with drinking so much because, well, everyone does it and it's a deeply ingrained social costume in Japan. It'd be weirder if he didn't get drunk atleast once.
    • I think one other reason they overlook Kogoro's alcoholism is because of what kind of drunk he is - from my friend's experience (who is Japanese and is actually from Japan), angry or violent drunks are rare, while not entirely unheard of.
• YMMV: In several occasions Goro has shown to care deeply for Ran and Conan, going full Papa Wolf whenever they're threatened. I remember a case in which the trio was running in a Speed-like rigged car, with tampered brakes and explosives set to activate whetever the car decelerated. With a suprising cool, Goro made sure Conan and Ran were put to safety, then risked his own life to defuse the bomb. He's simply a rough man, but his heart is in the right place.

Why did Gin act so out of character with Conan in the locker

• this one has been bugging me forever. Vodka is easily fooled into thinking nobody is there, but Gin being Gin is smart enough to check the lockers. When he reaches the absolute final one, he opens it slightly, and then decides its foolish. he already checked every other one! You already started opening the VERY LAST one! He's not someone to make that kind of mistake. it might be just WMG, but i think he had to know Conan was there.
  • If he hadn't the story would end right there. The author wants to keep this going forever.
    • It does seem to make some sort of logical sense; Gin known they have a very cunning person investigating them (As cunning as a meitantie, he says to Vodka not five lines later) and Vodka's information says only two drunks and a kid entered the building. It stands to reason that he will think one of the adults set it up, not a child, and 'an adult would never fit into these lockers', somehow means that he HAD considered the child, but dismissed it as an idea that didn't fit who he thought was looking into the BO.
    • Then Gin shouldn't have opened the lockers on the first place. The fact that he actually opened lockers one by one meant that he was positive of the idea. That's beyond consideration; that's an action. It's just some kind of Ass Pull Gosho does to run the story.
    • Gin was pulling the lockers open out of a wounded ego ("I'm wrong?! I'm never wrong! Here, I'll find our little mastermind in these ridiculously tiny lockers! You'll see!"), not out of logical consideration. He caught himself just before he opened the last one, and realized how stupid and bigheaded he was being. And since his worth in the Black Organization seems to come primarily from his cold, calculating, and utterly amoral nature, it's not much of a stretch to say that he was legitimately ashamed of letting his emotions take hold of him like that.

How much more time does the author need to get on with it?

• It has been over 750 chapters now. Conan cannot reveal his identity until he defeats the BO (or so we are told). Yet he seems content playing with the Detective Boys, and using Professor Agasa's inventions to solve cases. Meanwhile, what is the BO doing? Do they still want to find Shinichi? Do they know that Conan is Shinichi? Let's see. Kogoro became a famous detective in a short period of time after being considered thoroughly lazy, if not incompetent. Turns out Conan moved into his house at about the same time. Then there is the well known Sleeping Kogoro routine along with Kogoro "forgetting" about the case afterwards. How long would it be before someone at a dangerous criminal organisation puts two and two together? Heck, a high school detective named Hattori Heiji was suspicious after just one incident, and confirmed it in the next one.
  • Regarding what the BO is doing, it's pretty simple. They do not have time to bother checking Shinichi's associates about Shinichi himself. They are busy people who got more important things to do than going around confirming Shinichi is truly dead and... NO. They do not know Conan is Shinichi because they did not know that the drug they use on him can turn de-aged him into a child. They only thought APTX 4869 were lethal and untraceable poison.
    • FYI, Haibara Ai/Miyano Shiho already mentioned that some time afterwards (after Conan move in to Mouri Residence), the BO sent her with a squad to confirm on Shinichi's death by inspecting the Kudo residence. Shiho did found out a child's cloth was stolen and did not tell anyone in the BO about it while officially dismisses his status as death. Hence, there's no reason for them to go and find him unless there are official news of Kudo Shinichi suddenly emerged out of nowhere.
  • There is nothing weird about Kogoro suddenly becoming famous because Kogoro was in fact, a competent police detective before becoming a private detective. People usually will dismiss it as he started being serious about his work field again and had a different method of trying to present his serious image to public. Eventually in time, the BO would find it suspicious but... there is no need for them to be suspicious about it. Even if they did, what would benefit them from suspecting Sleeping Kogoro? He was not or hardly try to get involved with BO related business so there's nothing wrong with letting him off the hook.
    • And FYI, the only time they began to have suspicions of him was because he coincidentally the last person who come into contact with Hondou Hidemi/Mizunashi Rena/Kir when they lose contact with her AND when they heard he got involved with the murder case of Hotta Gaito, the occult freak who was investigating Haneda Kouji murder case from 17 years before that Rum and Karasuma Renya supposedly got involved. So the main point is, they only cared about suspecting someone when they learn that someone try to catch the tail of the BO. How Kogoro get his fame would not matter.
  • Supposedly he wants to try to wrap it up in the next five years.
  • That is assuming he wants to end it. Ever.
  • He'll probably end it when hes made enough money from it, or is bored and wants Kaitou Kid to be his flagship. But since CC is more popular, he'll milk the hell out of it. Its the japanese way
  • There's no reason why he cannot make money by having Shinichi solve all these cases. Just finish off with this stupid Black Organization thingy, bring Shinichi back to normal, and continue solving cases from there. Anyway, the whole BO thing isn't getting anywhere.
    • Conan is not aging up to a teenager any time soon—the premise is already extremely similar to The Kindaichi Case Files (a much more popular "high school detective" series), and Aoshima is smart enough to not tip that sacred cow. Japanese manga series are designed to run until they stop being popular, so Conan can be stuck in the first grade for the next ten years if fans keep supporting it.
    • Fact check: Kindaichi Case Files is not "much more popular." It's actually less popular. Average sales for each Detective Conan volume are 1,5 million copies per book, while Kindaichi's sales only are 1,3 million copies per book.
• Yeah, I'm wondering why they can't just end the main story in the manga and let the anime (which has discrepancies preventing it from fully being canon to the manga anyway) be the source of Conan Cash. Doraemon as I heard gave a finale type movie while letting the show do it's own thing cause. As long as the anime continues with cases, I can't imagine that portion of the fan base would care if the manga folded anyway. And it's not the first animated property US or Japan to have different continuums in the same franchise (DB, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Tenchu and so on)

How did Kaitou Kid survive in Movie 3?

• I can only guess that he turned in time to let it go through his monocle, but not penetrating his eye.
• This was some magic bullet since it hits Kid's monocle breaks his hang glider and hurts the dove he had with him.
• The bullet seems to have been deflected by the monocle, which shatters, and flown off in another direction. How much of Kaito's 'death scene' is actually real is in question since Conan (who couldn't see the monocle shatter) finds an intact monocle less than a minute after watching him go down, implying that he's put a plan into motion almost immediately.

How does Sonoko and Kogoro manage to fall perfectly every time they're hit with the tranquilizer dart?.

• The incident that comes to mind is The Hot Chocolate Trap, where after Conan hits Sonoko with the tranquilizer dart, she twirls around, seemingly drunk, and manages to fall perfectly on the chair with her head bent down. And Kogoro too, manages to fall sitting up. Wouldn't they at least sometimes fall facedown?
  • They don't. Which is why Conan sometimes had to "fix" their position first before announcing that he'd solved the case.
• It's worth a note that their falling is sometimes made deliberately bizarre in the anime just to make fun of this.

American jurisdiction

• Black Organization is an international organized crime. CIA is an external spy agency; wouldn't they fit better to investigate BO than the FBI?
  • It's a common mistake that manga writers make, not being from America and everything. Series like Death Note have made similar errors.
    • In defence of the author's decision, this troper proposes this theory: The BO's criminal activities were first noticed by the FBI, such as Jodie's dad, whose only lead was Vermouth, an "American Actress" with ties to an "underworld"; only later did they realize that they were dealing with a global-scale, SPECTRE-esque organization, so they send troops (James Black, Jodie, Akai. Camel et al) to Japan to dig deeper. Do not forget that CIA IS very much involved as well, what with the "Kir" arc and all. The real problem is that whether the FBI had bitten off more than they could chew. This troper also guesses that the Grand Base of the BO would be located in America, maybe New York, and that's where the Final Showdown would take place.
  • Outside of the US, nations don't like the CIA. It is a spy agency after all. But FBI= police (or so we think) most of the time, and that does not trouble foreign governments that much.
    • Yup. Conan even briefly lampshades this when he hears about Eisuke's dream to be a CIA agent like Mr. Hondou, snarking that Eisuke is basically dreaming of being Uncle Sam's lapdog.
  • Well CIA IS spy agency, not the criminal investigative one. And US laws allow American law enforcement agencies to act abroad. FBI even has an office in Tokyo at US Embassy.

Bullet wounds and injuries

• In volume 24, we have this chapter involving TBO's plans of assassinating a politician. Conan and Ai snuck in the party and after an ensuing chaos, Ai gets locked up in a room and changes into Sherry to escape from the roof. She's then shot by Gin a few times, and fell of the chimney to get away from them. On top of that they have to escape from Pisco through a burning chamber. She gets fever (though mostly caused by reverting back into Ai the liquor effects wears off), taken to hospital, and a few panels later she is already walking around, albeit with bandages and crutches. Now compare this with the case where Conan gets shot in vol. 25 - 26. He gets shot once, but then managed to bleed himself half to death, requires blood transfusions, and stays hospitalized for a few days. Now I understand that in Ai's case, the time where she gets treated is cut off, and there's probably a period of time where she needs to recover before she can walk, but it does bother me that Conan's bullet wound is depicted to be much more fatal, when Ai's circumstances seemed to be much worse.
  • I always thought that the bullets grazed Ai's leg, cheek, and shoulder, while Conan got one straight in the abdomen where vital organs are located, so that may be part of the reason why.
  • Also, if I'm remembering the incident where Conan was shot correctly, didn't he spend a considerable time afterwards bleeding out while the Detective Boys tried to shake the bad guys? At least with Ai, she got shot, got away, and (likely) was treated not long after. Conan got shot, was moved and carried for a while, passed out from blood loss, and THEN got treated.
  • APTX-4869 is speculated by many in the fandom to have been originally an immortality project. It's entirely possible(though unconfirmed) that the process of changing from child to adult and such actually has the potential to heal injuries to a degree, albiet very painfully. Considering that they spontaneously gain and/or lose mass when changing, this would be the least implausible thing happening.

The Locked Room Murders

• So, when they discover a murder, and then realize that the room the murder was committed in was locked, why does there have to be some fancy trick as to how the room became locked? Can't they just expect that the murderer killed the victim, with some fancy trick, and then simply left the room, but locked the door before he left? I mean, lots of doors have locks on them that you can open with a key. Isn't that how normal people lock their front doors. Lock them before they leave, and then close the door? Or lock it with the key from outside after they went out of the house. I understand that not all doors can be locked like this, but surely there has to be some case where you can do that. Why does there have to be a trick all the time? It annoys me everytime I see a locked room murder.
  • It also depends on where the key(s) is/are. If the only key to a locked room is in the room itself, then it is kinda hard to lock a door from the outside.
  • Get another key made before hand, and then leave the original in the room?
    • That would require a copy or the original key itself.

Are Yaiba, Detective Conan, And Magic Kaitou in the same universe?

• No, they are officially not. Gosho Aoyama himself declared all of the crossovers of Detective Conan as "dream sequences" - he did so while talking about the crossovers with Lupin III and Yaiba and on the bonus pages of the MK Treasured Editions that readers should "accept [Magic Kaito and Detective Conan] as parallel universes". (More about that here - especially "Volume 1/The Scarlet Temptress" and "Volume 3/(Extra Chapter) Yaiba vs. Kaito!".) He also clarified that there won't be further entanglements between the Black Organization and Kaitou Kid. So, in summary, Gosho Aoyama obviously really likes his crossovers and does them alot, but he doesn't consider them canonical.
  • Then what the hell is Kaitou Kid doing in that Bourbon showdown in the express train?
    • Considering how long this series has gone on, I wouldn't be surprised if Aoyama changed his mind on that stance, especially considering the train showdown.
    • In relation to the above WMG about how long the series will be, if the series goes on for long enough that Kaitou Kid will be permitted to have more bigger plot relevance in Conan's battle against the BO, I will gladly follow this series for another ten/hundred years.
    • I think recently in one of the Gosho's postcards, he stated explicitly that Kaitou Kid will not play a role in the final showdown of Conan vs BO, so Kaitou Kid's involvement remains very unlikely.
  • In the German version of the Kaitou Kid manga, it is stated in Gosho's notes that Kaitou Kid from DC should be seen as an alternate version of Kaitou Kid from MK, while Shinichi Kudo from MK should be seen as an alternate version of Shinichi Kudo from DC (i.e. "parallel universes"). This may be a mistranslation or misinterpretation on my part though... Interestingly, the fact that Aoyama does not cearly state that DC Kid is definitely a different Kid from MK Kid or that Kid is completely non-canonical to DC would imply that he wants to be able to change his mind in future (i.e. nothing is set in stone). That, or he just doesn't want to think about it too much and wants to make everything up as he goes along. Who knows.

Glasses without lenses

• In episode 2, Conan removes the lenses in his father's glasses before he puts them on. He goes lens-less until episode 5, which in-universe was about five days. How come no one noticed that he was just wearing frames?
  • He avoided light.

How come nobody questions some of Kogoro's deductions?

• On several occasions, Kogoro somehow knows things that he couldn't have seen - how does nobody realize "Wait, Kogoro, how'd you know that?" or "Wait, when did you come across that?" Some of these occasions where Conan's knowledge leaks into what Kogoro could possibly see are at the very least justified ("Conan, didn't you hear something?")

Are these criminals really arrogant or just very stupid?

No, I don't mean because they have one very obvious thing that Shinichi always finds. (A lot of detectives in real life would probably not make the connection for awhile.) I mean so because these guys have planned the murder for awhile... yet even when they know that their new guest in the group is a famous detective who has solved some rather difficult cases, they commit the murder anyway. Are they so arrogant to think "I can fool Mouri!" or just stupid enough to think that maybe they should try to wait for a better chance when Mouri (And by extension, Shinichi and Ran) isn't around, giving them more time to clean up any evidence that they would leave behind in haste? I know that criminals aren't always smart, but some of these premeditated murders actually are quite brilliant and would probably stumble a lot of real life detectives. I recall at least one dubbed case where the culprit commits murder RIGHT in front of Mouri's eyes. Seriously? You just spoke to that detective... and you're committing murder in front of his eyes? How stupid are you?

• Arrogance and/or desperation. They believe no one is smart enough to solve their crime, and/or they feel that if they don't commit the crime when they planned, they'll never have the guts to do it ever again.
• Some of the cases try to justify it (weakly) by saying that the killer had already done something irreversible to set up their alibi, and thus have a very limited window to commit the murder without looking suspicious. And at least one guy (the actor with the twin apartments) admitted he deliberately invited Kogoro over because he wanted to see if he could, in fact, outwit a professional detective.
• You have to be a) arrogant b) stupid or c) desperate to actually resort to murder in the first place.

About the charter cruise murder...

• ...Who was driving the boat?! The captain is never mentioned.
  • The murderer was the captain! No, wait, that wasn't the resolution...

"That person"

• So each and every time Conan puts all the clues together and finds out who the culprit in the case of the week is, he says "That person is". I get the reason for it from a writing perspective. They don't want reveal the culprits identity or else the list of suspects will get smaller and thus the audience will find out who it is before Conan reveals it. What I don't understand is why can't they use other, less awkward sounding gender-neutral terms such as "they" or "them"?
  • Odd translation, not a fault of the original phrasing, but of converting it into English.
  • Yeah. In Japanese, the phrasing "that person" is very common, and sounds natural. But in English, it sounds weird. And "they" would actually be worse—the readers might think that it referred to multiple people. And it'd sound just as unnatural, considering that we English-speakers just don't use "they" about people whose gender we know. It's an unsolvable problem. In English you just don't use gender-neutral terms the way you do in Japanese. So keeping it gender-neutral is always going to sound awkward.

How exactly did they register Conan and Ai into primary school?

• In this troper's country, in order to register someone into schools, you will need to present their birth certificate, which also has information on the contact information of the parents as well as which hospital the child was born in. However, it seems that Conan and Ai who both popped out of nowhere can attend schools without trouble.
• Yes, one can say they are registered by their guardians (Mouri and Agasa) but for someone to be a legal guardian, they need to show the relevant paperwork for it as well (proof of relationship with the child, legal papers allowing the guardian to take over custody signed by lawyers and parents) - both of which were nowhere to be found.
• Agasa is the person most likely to have forged their papers. Alternatively, a contact of his did.
  • It would have to be a contact, as when Conan attempted to go to London, Agasa pointed out that they would have to forge passports to let Conan Edogawa go, since 'Conan' does not exist. He then expressed his disdain for the idea of forgery. However, maybe Agasa was hesitant then, because passport control is probably checked more thoroughly than a birth certificate...
• Adults Are Useless, perhaps.

Who is Rum?

• So far most (new) characters introduced as Rum suspects have been written off. Is it possible that Rum is actually a character that's been in the series for a long time?
  • Someone once suggested that Saguru Hakuba might be Rum. The person that suggested that was kidding, because Hakuba being Rum is really stupid and ridiculous, but... What if that's what we're supposed to believe?
  • I've heard someone suggest Yoko Okino, but it can't be her... Right?
• Nope. Aoyama had confirmed that only among these three people (Kuroda Hyoue, the Managing Officer of MPD, Wakasa Rumi, Teitan Elementary School Teacher and Wakita Kanenori, the sushi chef) is definitely Rum because all three of them apparently had one of their eyes (whether left or right is unknown) being prosthetic.

Why are all the culprits perfect actors?

• In many real-life murder cases, all the suspects claim to be scared that they might be the next victim, but one of them doesn't say it with any real feeling. That's because he's the murderer, and he's making a poor attempt to pretend that he's innocent. But in the world of Detective Conan, that never happens. The suspects in Conan's cases always manage to act the role of an innocent bystander perfectly, with just the right amount of feeling to be convincing—even without any prior acting training whatsoever! Why is that?
  • They also come up with intrincate plans that can fool the entire police force (sometimes on the fly!) in their very first attempt. Perhaps people in the Detective Conan verse are just born with innate talent for crime?
    • Aoyama had already mentioned that he will make the suspects less suspicious as possible. Which is why you won't even noticed or ever thought a very nice looking person is in fact the true culprit for that case while the bad guy got killed, you tend to say they deserved it. It's a different story if you are used to this kind of pattern and noticed subtle behavior of some people has the intention to hide something.

Why would you film a trailer?

In chapter 931, a movie director goes to a house to film a movie trailer there. But... trailers just consist of pieces of the movie, right? To film a trailer separately from the movie seems weird.

• A case of setting up a Never Trust a Trailer? To avoid the potential Trailers Always Spoil?
• I haven't read this chapter, but maybe the director doesn't have the financing for the movie together yet, or wants to get a budget increase? The trailer is a proof of concept/potential advertising to show what he needs the money for?

The London Arc plot hole?

- In the London arc where the characters go to London as pointed out above in relation to registering Conan and Ai despite lack of documentation in school. Shinichi has to use a temporary antidote to fly to London as himself as it would be impossible for him to get a passport under the Conan Edogawa persona due to lacking those and professor Agasa refused to create a forgery. This raises all kinds of questions for how the Black organisation don't know he is still alive. Admittedly they are not currently looking for him. But if they ever have cause to look further into this then there is clear proof just for example passport logs of Shinchi Kudo who the BO believe to be dead flying from Japan to the UK , Visa's in relation to immigration, and also Airports are covered with security cameras. Even if they don't figure out Shinichi and Conan are the same person, then at the very least Ran, Kogoro and Agasa and other associates and friends of Shinichi will be targeted by the BO

Ran scared of ghosts

Why does she keep believing every ghost story she hears about? She has been on site for multiple moments of 'ghosts' or 'spirit animals' appearing, and every single one of them turned out to be a Scooby Doo thing where a person was simply using paper, shadows or other means to fake it. Ran has had it proven to her so many times that ghosts don't exist in this universe, so why does she keep screaming about the tiniest mention of some ghost story in the next chapter? This goes beyond a character flaw/phobia and into flanderization.

• I have a Bachelor's degree in Physics, a Bachelor's in Mathematics, and have seen in all my life zero legitimate proof of ghosts and ghouls being real. However, I'm currently reading this page at 3AM cause I watched too many ghost stories tonight. Fear isn't rational. And just cause she was shown that this particular supernatural event was a hoax doesn't necessarily mean it's always going to be a hoax. It would probably be more believable if we see her start talking about how there must be a trick or that ghosts aren't really (her trying to talk herself out of her fear), but her fear is pretty much her being a human. She's afraid of a thing, and when that thing gets triggered, she stops thinking logically.

The detective boys

• Why do these kids parents still allow them to hang out with Conan and Agasa after being involved with several different cases? If every time my kids hung out with someone they found a corpse, then they wouldn't be hanging out with those people anymore.

Say that by the time we know who is exactly Rum from either Hyoue, Wakasa or Kanenori. What kind of danger specifically would happen to Conan or Ai or anyone related to these two? And if Rum apparently is more dangerous than Gin, what kind of threat that he/she can impose of to them?

Conan and the Akai brothers

So in the Shogi Player Serial Murder Case, Shukichi goes missing after trying to confront the killer on his own. After hearing about this, Conan immediately reports the incident to Shuichi. However, I don't recall either brother ever telling Conan about their siblings—and even though Shinichi has met the family before, as Conan, he shouldn't be aware that the two men even know each other. Did I miss a scene in between the chapters or did Conan make a major slip-up by telling Shuichi about his younger brother's predicament?

Conan in the hospital in the bombed skyscraper

In the movie, Conan hits his head when the bomb goes off after he managed to get it away from civilization, and wakes up in a hospital with the detective boys,Kogoro,the professor, and the police. How did he end up there and how did they all know what he was doing? Last time I checked, Conan was all alone when he got knocked out.