Recap / The Kindaichi Case Files Kindaichi The Killer

"Kindaichi the Killer" is the tenth case in the File Series of The Kindaichi Case Files.

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Tropes include:

• Anger Born of Worry: After Akechi reveals Kindaichi's plan of Faking the Dead in front of Kindaichi's friends, Miyuki, who thought Akechi had shot him for real until only a minute ago like almost everyone else, responds by lashing out at him.
  Miyuki: Hajime-chan... you... you're... YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE!
• Billy Needs an Organ: This is the central issue for the culprit, as his daughter suffers from acute kidney failure. ^note  He donated one of his own for the kidney transplant operation years ago, but a mistake made by the hospital staff caused the operation to end in failure. This, in conjunction with his wife having been deceased since four years ago, meant the chances for another matching donor were bleak. Sometime later, a physician approached him, claimed to have found a way to find a matching donor, and asked for his help, and he agreed since all of his available options were tapped out and he was desperate. The approach said physician had in mind turned out to be an illegal human organ smuggling operation, which the non-fiction writer eventually found out and would have revealed in full. The culprit pleads with the writer not to reveal everything, but his pleas are rejected, and he kills the writer in a fit of rage when the writer unknowingly pushes his button once too many, setting the murder case plot in motion.
• Catapult Nightmare: This case arc starts with Kindaichi being about to be hanged, only for him to tumble out of his chair in the classroom and realize it was All Just a Dream he had while he was (yet again) Asleep in Class.
• Clear My Name: Kindaichi himself is saddled with the additional responsibility of trying to prove that he himself is NOT the murder, besides trying to find out who really killed the novelist and how the real culprit arrived and left without leaving evidence of their own presence behind, all while the police force are on his trail.
• Faking the Dead: Near the end of the case, Akechi shoots Kindaichi during a hostage situation. Akechi reveals the ruse once he's alone with the "corpse" and Kindaichi's friends, and Kindaichi explains it's the only way he can get the police heat off his back and investigate the initial crime scene more thoroughly.
• Frame-Up: Kindaichi himself is the target of this, and he spends much of the arc (five days in the In-Universe time span) trying to prove his innocence while evading the police that chase him.
• Fugitive Arc: Kindaichi himself is forced to be on the run through much of the case arc due to having to prove his innocence while the local police give Stern Chase after him as the result of the culprit framing him for the murders.
• He Knows Too Much: "She" in this case. The last victim in this murder case wasn't intended to be killed until she sees the culprit's face.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The culprit's murders of the message givers end up causing a Revealing Cover Up, which only serves to work against him in a Race Against the Clock that allows Kindaichi and the police to capture him, knowing he'd return to the scene of the initial murder for the manuscript. Kindaichi doesn't mince words when describing this irony.
  Kindaichi: He killed each of them to prevent the public from knowing the answer, and he got himself caught by us for the same reason! How pitifully ironic!
• Hypocritical Humor: When Itsuki requests Kindaichi's help in solving a code as the condition for a novelist's manuscript, Kindaichi shows reluctance initially and claims to be in need of studying. Miyuki, who sits beside him, isn't fooled, knowing Kindaichi is too much of an Apathetic Student to study.
  Kindaichi: Well, I need to study; I do have to take a college entrance exam next year...
  Miyuki: Since when do you study?
• Inspector Javert: The captain of the local police district plays this trope straight, as he sends the police after Kindaichi with the firm belief that he and he alone must be the culprit. Once the real culprit is captured, Kindaichi explains that he decided to run away from the police upon sensing the intention of the police captain, who can only curse at having been played for a fool this whole time and having nearly perpetuated a Miscarriage of Justice.
• Is That the Best You Can Do?: Played for Laughs. When Kindaichi reveals that the answer to the code the novelist set up is in the names of the message givers the culprit has murdered, Kenmochi tries to solve it — by lining up the names all in a row, which makes no sense to anyone. Akechi, clearly disappointed, says this trope word by word before decoding and revealing the answer.
• Last Request: The culprit's dying wish after he's Driven to Suicide is for his remaining kidney to be donated to his daughter, who has been suffering from acute kidney failure.^note  One of his kidneys had been donated to his daughter for a kidney transplant surgery years ago, but it failed due to a mistake made by the hospital staff.
• Lies to Children: After the kidney transplant operation is done, Itsuki tells the culprit's ten-year-old daughter that her father works overseas and, therefore, can't return home. When Miyuki and Kindaichi meet her, they play along because they can't bring themselves to reveal the Awful Truth any more than Itsuki can.
• Married to the Job: A tragic example. The culprit states, in his own admission, that he buried himself in his work in an attempt to fill the void that was left in the wake of his wife's death four years ago. Unfortunately, this caused him to fail to properly care for his daughter, whose acute kidney failure condition worsened faster than he realized.
• Meaningful Echo: The analogy comparing Kindaichi to a cockroach gets brought up under different circumstances in this case arc.
  • After Kindaichi slips from the police captain, Itsuki decides to get his friends together to help hide Kindaichi while Kindaichi tries to figure out who framed him for the murder and offers words of reassurance to Miyuki.
    Itsuki: He'll surely do something about this case, because he's persistent as a damn cockroach!
  • At the end of the arc, after Kindaichi succeeds in proving himself innocent, he and Itsuki have a discussion about the case, during which Itsuki apologizes for getting Kindaichi dragged into the mess since it was only due to Itsuki coaxing Kindaichi into helping him that Kindaichi was even involved in the first place.
    Kindaichi: Well, enough of that. I got off, didn't I? I'm like a cockroach; you can't get rid of me that easily!
    Itsuki: Y-Yeah, that's for damn sure.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Kindaichi mistakes Itsuki for a pedophile due to the scene that causes Kindaichi to draw such a conclusion being Not What It Looks Like.
  • As Itsuki takes Kindaichi and Miyuki to meet the deceased culprit's daughter, Itsuki acts unusually close with her, causing Kindaichi to insinuate in a whisper that Itsuki might be a pedophile. Itsuki is not pleased.
    Itsuki: (clenching his fist) What was that?!
    Kindaichi: (with bandages over his forehead) Ow, ow, it hurts!
  • After the visit, Itsuki declares to Kindaichi and Miyuki that he plans to adopt the culprit's daughter since she's now an orphan and Itsuki himself and the deceased culprit were old friends. Kindaichi insinuates once more that Itsuki might be a pedophile before the latter smacks Kindaichi on the head again.
• Most Writers Are Writers: The wealthy party host and the initial victim in this case arc is a best-selling non-fiction writer.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The culprit turns out to be an old friend of Itsuki's. When Itsuki rallies his friends to contact each other and help hide Kindaichi, the culprit does so in order to time his murders around the same time Kindaichi corresponds with the intended targets in order to make him out as the culprit while helping Kindaichi evade the police if need be until the real culprit could solve the code.
• Please, I Will Do Anything!: In the backstory, the culprit agreed to the "business proposal" of a doctor approaching him under the pretense of helping him to save his daughter because he was desperately out of options for a matching donor for a kidney transplant for his daughter. Said "business proposal" turned out to be for an illegal human organ smuggling operation.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The culprit helps Kindaichi evade the Stern Chase upon meeting him at one point, but that's solely to make sure Kindaichi isn't captured prematurely before the culprit can manage to solve the code that reveals the novelist's manuscript, as some of the people who are associated with the code are still alive when Kindaichi meets the culprit and the culprit has yet to know who the rest of them are.
• Race Against the Clock: After the killer realizes that he has accidentally caused a Revealing Cover Up via his murders, he then rushes to the room where the novelist was killed to retrieve the manuscript for the upcoming novel, knowing that many publishers would have solved the code and entered the room to get their hands on the manuscript the next day. Too bad for him Kindaichi manages to convince Akechi (and, by extension, the local police force as well) of his innocence and get them to help him set up a trap for him by then.
• Redemption Equals Death: The culprit is Driven to Suicide after coming to terms with the atrocities he has committed. He proves to be Not Afraid to Die in his final moments, however, by issuing his Last Request to Itsuki of donating his remaining kidney to his daughter and expressing calm at the thought of being with his daughter even after his death via the kidney transplant.
• Revealing Cover Up: The killer accidentally does this when he realizes that the real hidden code he was after laid in the names of the message givers he had been silencing — names which would be printed in order of death in the next newspaper, thus providing the necessary clues to everyone.
• Spit Take: Kenmochi spits out the mouthful of food from his mouth out of sheer shock from hearing the allegation of Kindaichi being the killer of the novelist. A Big "WHAT?!" soon follows.
• Spoiler Title: "Kindaichi the Killer". Guess who is the prime suspect in this case.
• Staged Shooting: Akechi shoots Kindaichi late in the case arc to help the latter for the trick of Faking the Dead in order to stop the police from continually chasing him.
• Stern Chase: As the local police captain is determined to capture Kindaichi after he's framed for the murders while Kindaichi himself is determined to prove his innocence, the constant cat-and-mouse chase ensues and goes on for five days before Kindaichi manages to get Akechi to help him by pretending to shoot Kindaichi.
• Suddenly Shouting: Miyuki expresses her Anger Born of Worry towards Kindaichi this way after Akechi reveals his trick of Faking the Dead.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kindaichi gets framed for a murder in this case. Akechi falls for the Frame-Up and says that, if Kindaichi's a murderer, it'd explain why he's been present when so many other murder cases took place.
• You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost: Kindaichi and Miyuki both behave this way to Saki at first due to the person they knew as Saki [Ruuta] being Killed Off for Real, before Saki formally introduces himself to them as the deceased Saki's younger brother named Ruuji.^note  This is manga-only, as the anime version of Ruuta Saki has survived the events that had his manga counterpart Killed Off for Real.