The Akabeko and the Three Lucky Men

Episode 1102 (Int. Episode 1160)
Information
Title:	The Akabeko and the Three Lucky Men
Japanese title:	赤べこと3(さん)人の福男 (Akabeko to San'nin no Fukuotoko)
Original airdate:	November 4, 2023
Filler case:	#405
Season:	TBD
Manga source:	TV Original
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Sonoko Suzuki Wataru Takagi Kazunobu Chiba Kamen Yaiba
Case solved by:	Sonoko Suzuki (via Conan)
Next Conan's Hint:	Festival
Staff
Director:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto Nobuharu Kamanaka
Screenplay:	Akatsuki Yamatoya
Storyboard:	Hiroaki Takagi
Episode director:	Minoru Tozawa
Animation director:	Keiko Sasaki
Character design:	Masatomo Sudo Nariyuki Takahashi (sub-character) Hiroshi Ogawa (design works)
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Naoko Matsui as Sonoko Suzuki Wataru Takagi as Wataru Takagi Isshin Chiba as Kazunobu Chiba Yuji Ueda as Toshiharu Fukumoto Keiko Sakai as Hajime Fukura Taishi Murata as Junya Fukui Kaoru Morota as Motoko Bekobe
Music
Opening song:	Unraveling Love ~Sukoshi no Yūki~
Closing song:	…and Rescue Me
Chronology
Prev episode:	« Pride of the Immortal Man
Next episode:	The Teen Novel That Smells Like Guilt »
List of episodes

The Akabeko and the Three Lucky Men (赤べこと3(さん)人の福男 ,Akabeko to San'nin no Fukuotoko) is the 1102nd episode of the Detective Conan anime.

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Sonoko Suzuki Wataru Takagi Kazunobu Chiba Kamen Yaiba (book cover)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Stun-Gun Wristwatch Voice-Changing Bowtie

Case

Situation

Murder
	Location: Motoko's resting room Victim: Motoko Bekobe Age: 36 years old Cause of death: Strangulation Suspects: Junya Fukui, Toshiharu Fukumoto and Hajime Fukura The artist is found dead in her resting room after being strangled to death. Her dying message is the katakana word "Fuku", indicating that the culprit is probably named like that.

People

Motoko Bekobe
	Victim (strangled) 36 years old Akabeko artist Real name: Motoko Inaba

Junya Fukui
	27 years old Dancer Motoko's ex-boyfriend

Toshiharu Fukumoto
	39 years old Head of office Motoko's business partner

Hajime Fukura
	42 years old Akabeko craftsman Motoko's former coworker

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

The meaning of the dying message

The culprit is Toshiharu Fukumoto, as the dying message "fuku" originally intended to indicate the place of origin of the culprit, that Motoko knew beforehand: Toshiharu mentioned earlier that he is from Fukuoka Prefecture, indicating that he is involved in the murder. It turns out the dying message can also be read as "akabeko", that in Fukuoka dialect means loincloth. Sonoko asks the suspects to remove their pants, to discover that the 3 are using loinclothes, except that Fukamoto's is much longer that the other ones, and like that the murder weapon is discovered. Fukumoto trie to defend himself, but the decisive proof is a bloodstain on his loincloth that got there during the murder.

Motive

Fukumoto finally surrenders and explain his motive: the one who originally came up with the idea of Akabeko Art was Fukumoto himself 10 years ago back in Fukuoka, and he convinced Motoko to promote the idea, and finally both of them became succesful. Things were going good, and they almost got married. Until Fukumoto discovered that she signed a contract to start a new business without him. As he confronted her, Motoko replied that Akabeko art was hers, and that Fukumoto should be grateful of not being kicked out. Fukumoto finally snapped and strangled her to death. He is finally arrested

Aftermath

Ran, Sonoko and Conan are at Mouri Detective Agency, as Sonoko shows off her detective skills after solving the case. It turns out that Akabeko were originally children's toys to not get the smallpox disease nad protect them. Conan thinks that if only the akabeko had protected Bekobe and Fukumoto, this case wouldn't have happened.

See also

• Current Season