- Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan episode ONE, 2016)
2016 and 2017 were crazy years. I graduated as a chef back then and have now moved onto university of applied sciences, and Detective Conan's anime (1996) got its 20th anniversary. To celebrate that the series got its 20th film, The Darkest Nightmare (2016), which was actually quite different from other Detective Conan films and I really did enjoy seeing it all, but also during those years we got the very beginning of Detective Conan fully remade into a one-hour and thirty minutes movie-length special with new scenes added to the story. That remake, Detective Conan Episode ONE: Chiisaku Natta Meitantei, was also written by the author Gosho Aoyama so it can very much be considered a canon remake that's done in the modern Detective Conan style. This post will be an overview and then review of the special and the post will be split into three parts because of it's enormous length of about 9000 words.
| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |
The Passage of Time - The Beginning of Detective Conan
It all begins as a woman walks into a laboratory. To the older fans of the series, we can easily see that this woman is the one known as Sherry. She's looking at corpses of lab rats that have died one by one until she sees something shocking; one of the lab rats has stayed alive from whatever she had put them through.
The scene transitions to the Beika Aquarium as our main character Shinichi along with Ran solve a case there; the case from episode 772: "The Kudo Shinichi Aquarium case." Shinichi says his legendary line: "We're like sharks. We pick up the scent of blood, proceed to the scene of the crime... and use every sense we have to draw out the culprit. And once they've taken bait, we sink our razor-sharp teeth known as "evidence" into them until they've given up. That's just what a detective does." And OPENING 1 Mune ga Dokidoki starts playing, instantly giving me nostalgic vibes. The Episode ONE opening also consists of all the scenes with Ran and Shinichi as children, taken from the manga.
The scene transitions once more. Under the pouring rain a man enters a pub where a man dressed entirely from feet to the head in black suit are sitting and drinking. The man who just entered decides to give an envelope to the man in black, known as Vodka, who doesn't even try to check the contents in the envelop. Then the man gets an envelop as well, filled with money which he counts. Happy with what he sees, the man asks Vodka what his next job is though he's in for a surprise as another man dressed up in black sits to the other side of him and tells him that there's a rat who's been talking about the organization walking about. The man starts to sweat but plays it off and takes a drink and asks what type of alcoholic beverage it is. The answer according to Gin is "Rum, Cointreau and a bit of lemon juice. X, Y, Z. It's a drink called "This is the End." " Then the man gets all shaken up and decides to quickly leave the pub and walk into the rain as he tells the men in black to call him when they have a job for him. As this situation goes on and he leaves there's a pretty nice raw pub song OST playing, giving off some nice atmosphere to the whole situation.
Outside, the man runs into his car and looks behind shocked until he calms down and starts car up - only for him to stop as he puts the car key to the start and he starts sweating bullets, gathers up his energy to start the engine, put his seat belt on and then go up in flames along with the car as an explosion happens right after the man thought he was safe.
The scene transitions to a morning day with slight amount of clouds and bunch of visible blue sky. Shinichi is sleeping overtime in his large house as the door bell keeps ringing; it's Ran and she's there to visit our main character. It's 11 a.m. and Shinichi wonders what she wants - they had planned to go to a certain place a while back but Shinichi had forgotten and decided to read mystery novels until late into the night. Then we get a nice scene with Ran washing the dishes after making the food and Shinichi reading the news and drinking coffee before they leave; Shinichi learns that the day when they left the Beika Aquarium a car near Beika Harbor had exploded the same night - and the case is still unsolved. We even get to see the whole article about the case which really brings some life to the whole ordeal. And then Ran and Shinichi head out to buy a mobile phone.
At the city park a boy with freckles on his face, a girl with a headband and a darker skinned somewhat overweight boy are playing football. These three are of course three of the future Detective Boys, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi and Genta. The scene about them playing football is calm and relaxing until Genta kicks the football far away - right to Shinichi Kudo who takes the ball and starts bouncing it on his legs and head. As Shinichi is a former soccer player, he knows how to do all these cool tricks. Ran ponders about why Shinichi quit the soccer club but then we get a scene about Shinichi idolizing a fictional character, Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Shinichi tells Ran that he only practiced soccer because Holmes practiced fencing. To Shinichi Kudo, Holmes is a superhero; "Holmes is a famous detective that everyone knows! He's incredible! He's always calm and collected, overflowing with intelligence and refinement... and his powers of observation and deduction are top notch! On top of all that, his violin skills match those of a professional!"
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| Wada Hina, a karate expert like Ran |
Then Ran's best friend, the girl-from-a-ridicilously-rich-family Sonoko Suzuki, the 2nd daughter and one of the heirs to the Suzuki Financial Group, makes her appearance as she narrates a cringe worthy line about love and rivalry between Ran and Hina, and most likely something about a love triangle with Shinichi thrown there as well. Then Sonoko suddenly grabs Ran by the arm and takes her to the Suzuki residence to enjoy a rare feast.
In the Suzuki residence, Sonoko's parent's, Tomoko & Shiro Suzuki, are having a meeting with two rich-looking people, an older man, Sewa Takanori who is visiting the Suzuki's along with his wife. Sonoko's father, Shiro, explains to Sewa that Ran's father, Kogoro, is an ex-cop and now a detective so the man could talk to Kogoro about what they had been discussing with the Suzuki's but he declines and then Shinichi butts in to ask what the problem is. According to Sonoko's father Sewa and his wife are about to arrange a party but as Shiro is in the plans of arranging an opening day of his jewel exhibit consisting also of Sonoko's Uncle Jirokichi's "Black Star"-jewel (we know who's going there; see Magic Kaito episode 6: Black Star) at Beika Museum the very same day, the Suzuki's don't have time to attend, and the reason why Sewa needs help from someone is because he's gotten a threatening letter which is ordering him to cancel the party. The letter says that if the party is held, someone will lose their life.
That's when Sonoko takes the stage and introduces Shinichi, who's right next to her, as a very valid candidate to take Kogoro's place - Sonoko even says that Shinichi might do a better job than Ran's old man! Shinichi also tells that he can help but Sewa declines and is about to leave with his wife, but the wheelchair he's bound to goes out of control! Shinichi jumps in but Ran quickly brushes him out of the way to help Sewa and grab the falling vase, but Sewa seems to be angry at Ran or his wife.
This whole ordeal seems suspicious to Shinichi and Sonoko's father, Shiro, is worried about his suspicious gaze towards Sewa, but the situation calms down as Ran gets a present from Tomoko Suzuki; a new super lightweight karate suit without baggy sleeves created by the Suzuki Financial Group's fabric manufacturer (Even though Shiro Suzuki is overweight, he's a fan of martial arts). The karate suit even has "Shinichi LOVE" imprinted on it - by the proposition of none other than Sonoko herself. Sadly Ran cannot use the lucky suit in her regional karate match due to regulations on many things during the matches - uniforms included.
The long day is heading towards its end and Shinichi and Ran missed their chance to get her a new phone that Shinichi promised to purchase her because of the Beika Aquarium incident. Ran heads home and Shinichi promises to buy her a phone some other time. Even though it's getting really late Ran suddenly realizes she forgot her wallet at the Kudo residence so they have to head back. After finding her wallet she goes to say bye to Shinichi who is immersed in crime novels at the house's libary.
At this point I believe it's good to take a break from this overview in order to explain something about our main character. Shinichi Kudo's parents are extremely famous and often spend their time overseas throughout the series; it's been three years since they moved away and Shinichi lives alone in the Kudo residence, but his parents do visit him often. His mother, Yukiko Kudo, is the famous ex-actor Fujimine Yukiko who always pampers her son, and his father, Yusaku Kudo, who's first name translates into "masterpiece," is one of the world's most famous mystery authors; he's even the author of books that have gotten adaptations in which Yukiko has acted in lead roles during her hey-day's. Even though Yusaku is near-sighted, as unlike Shinichi who plays to need glasses as Conan, Yusaku does need them, Yusaku is very keen-eyed when it comes to crimes and has helped the police to solve many hard-to-solve cases. What makes Yusaku notable however is that it wouldn't be hard to say that he's the smartest character in the entire Detective Conan universe. He is in fact so good at what he does that he might, in mere moments with far less information than others, solve what takes other characters exponentially longer to figure out. Because of Yusaku's influence Shinichi has gotten into mystery novels and because of that the Kudo Residence's library that Yusaku used to use as his work space when his son was a young child is a multi-story room filled with nothing but thousands of crime and detective fiction novels that Shinichi has also read throughout the years.
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| Shinichi's father, Yusaku Kudo |
While in the library Ran brings up Shinichi's parents and then teases him about how his own mother must have been Shinichi's first love but Shinichi gets flustered and remembers back to the kindergarten days when he met Ran who hated him back then. But before Shinichi gets to answer Ran a large explosion-like sound can be heard from outside the building and Shinichi immediately knows who it was. Professor Agasa, his neighbour, destroyed his building once again and as he gets hurt Shinichi and Ran go to his house and Agasa explains that he's made a Personal Mobility Rocket that he's going to use to get rich. Keep wishing, Professor.
At the same time Mouri Kogoro, Ran's father, is at their home, the Mouri Detective agency, at night, and talking on the phone in an aggressive manner as he's trying to do important things like drinking beer and solving magazine games. The one Kogoro is shouting at over phone is Eri Kisaki, Kogoro's wife who is also Ran's mother. Kogoro and Eri are always bickering which is why they're not together during the beginning of the story. Ran's mother, Eri, is also a known lawyer. This time Eri is calling Kogoro to tell him to get his shit together because he hasn't worked at all the whole month; as Kogoro is a private-detective, he needs requests. Which he never gets before he becomes the sleeping Kogoro in the future. Then Eri and Kogoro get into more arguments as Ran arrives home and goes to make some food.
The scene then transitions to the men in black, Gin and Vodka, driving Gin's Porsche 356A through the highway in the darkness of the night. Vodka ponders why the company president they'll be meeting in the near future chose a very specific place - of course the Tropical Land amusement park - as a place or their meeting. Gin assumes the company president might think that the men in black won't cause problems there due to the place being crowded. Vodka then wonders that the meeting at the Tropical Land might be a trap and reminisces how one of the men in black, Bourbon (who is their greatest intel gatherer), has said that the company president has been hanging around with some suspicious people. Gin then gives Bourbon praise but tells Vodka that they'll be beating the enemy at their own game once they know what they are up to.
Note: all these people with alcohol -brand code names (Gin, Vodka, Bourbon) are part of the unknown organization nicknamed the men in black that this overview often mentions.
The days go by and during one day the Regional Karate Tournament which Ran intends to win finally happens. Ran makes it to the finals and Sonoko and Kogoro are happy and Kogoro brags how Ran's inherited her strength from him (fair enough Kogoro is stronger than most people). Then Eri says that she hopes Ran won't become like Kogoro but there's nothing to worry about as she also inherits Eri's will and smarts.Nearby the tournament arena Shinichi is on the phone with inspector Megure and decides to head to a crime scene. Then Mouri Ran and Wada Hina start to fight in the finals with a lot of karate action shown. Ran falls down once, then twice, until Sonoko gets pissed and starts to shout and give Ran motivational speeches. At Wada Hina's side the karate group consists of men who laugh at Sonoko - well, all except one of them known as Makoto Kyogoku (see DC Episode 153).
Ran gets up and sees Shinichi apologize to her from afar as he heads to a crime scene. This gets Ran very mad.
Under the thunderstorm and lightning, Shinichi arrives at a large manor. The owner of the residence is none other than the man in a wheelchair that Shinichi met at Suzuki family residence. The one who was there with his wife and talked about getting a threatening letter because of the party, man named Sewa.
Then inspector Megure explains that a murder has happened and Shinichi walks into the room telling them that he already knows who the murderer is. Sewa then soon remembers Shinichi.
That is when the first scene of the series happens as Shinichi walks towards the old man, Sewa, who's bound by a wheelchair.
In the mansion there was a murder which happened in the mansion's third-floor's guest room while rest of the people in the building were right in the middle of a party. The victim was identified as the president of Beika Bank, a middle-aged man named Yamazaki. Yamazaki was stabbed while laying on a bed and the murder scene was a locked room as the key to the room was in Yamazaki's pocket. The only way inside the crime scene room was through a balcony window that's visible straight from the courtyard. That means that the culprit had to have sneaked through the balcony, killed the sleeping Yamazaki who was tired from the party and then the culprit must have also left through the way they came from. However the problem is that there were no footprints under the window and all the rooms around the guest room were locked up, meaning the culprit had no way to jump from nearby. So Shinichi comes to one conclusion; the culprit jumped to the balcony from after entering from a window about five meters away and then walked through the foothold and jumped to the balcony; making the culprit someone who knew the construction of the mansion well and someone who could move freely around the mansion during party without raising suspicions. There's no one else but the master of the house, Sewa Takanori himself. Shinichi tricks Sewa to fall from his wheelchair and then stand up as he remembered that Sewa used his supposedly-broken leg to stop the wheelchair back in the Suzuki residence. That means the leg was healed a long time ago and he was only pretending to be unable to move for some reason. After Shinichi catches Sewa, he poses for the cameras in the iconic scene seen in all the Detective Conan movies and the next day his face is on the newspapers.
"HIS NAME IS KUDO SHINICHI, With reasoning skills rivaling those of an adult, Top-Ranked Crime Solving High School Detective Solves Mystery Behind A Locked Room Murder" - words like that are all over the front pages of the news as Shinichi walks home the next day and listens everyone talk about how awesome he is - nothing else could make Shinichi happier than everyone praising him! That's something to brag about. Then Ran appears and tells Shinichi how she's annoyed because Kogoro doesn't get cases because everyone talks about Shinichi always. Shinichi answers her that it's not because of him but because of Kogoro's lack of talent as a detective to which Ran answers with a heavy fist that pierces through concrete walls.Ran and Shinichi walk through the roads and Shinichi brags about all the fan letters he'd gotten from girls. Though the one he likes the most is obviously Ran herself. The scene with him looking at Ran without any background music playing is pretty neat.
I found the last scenes interesting: Ran tells Shinichi that if he keeps poking his nose in of these days he'll be in serious danger, to which Shinichi answers with a nonchalant "maybe." Then Shinichi tells Ran that he doesn't want to write about detectives but he wants to be one who solves all the suspensful cases. Obviously this scene is going to be used for when the eventual transformation happens.
Then they remind each other about meeting at Tropical Land amusement part at 10 o'clock the nect day. At the same time we can see Yusaku and Yukiko in a car filled with books in disguises; they don't want to ruin Shinichi's and Ran's time together as they seem happy walking outside, so for now they're going to leave without meeting Shinichi.
Click to continue to part two of my Episode ONE overview.
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