Chekhov MacGuffin

Google translator actually doesn't do that bad of a job, better than it does Japanese at least. I found that discussions are pretty easy to follow although some points don't come across quite correctly.

This is a first pass solution, and thus I probably messed up or ignored some things I shouldn't have. *Edit 4pm now updated with diagram* The murderer is is Karube Teigo, the architect. He used his collapsible umbrella to murder Hoshina Rukako. The handle part concealed the icepick-like blade, while the umbrella part was used to block the majority of the blood from splashing onto his clothes. After reassembling and collapsing the umbrella, he disposed of the umbrella down the well by using some contraption tied to the well and the tower clock. Why murder didn't occur until the third year The first clue is that the murderer sent the letter twice previously, but there is no indication of a countdown. This mean the circumstances weren’t correct for the murderer on Hoshino’s last two birthdays. It is raining this time which provides the excuse to have an umbrella. Karube Teigo has a foldable umbrella he kept with him and he even put it in his jacket while wet instead of checking it with the butler. Also the rain would hide string contraptions more effectively because people would be less likely to look up. Timeline of events After everyone cleared out of the clocktower, but before the party, Karube Teigo took the time to prepare the contraption/string trick at the well and the tower clock. The contraption works so when the tower clock strikes six, a string is cut or slips which causes the string that had been run through the well grating and then the balcony door to pull the umbrella that the culprit tied to it into the well. I imagine there is some weight dangling in the well which will cause the umbrella to be yanked at high speed, enough to throw open the unlocked, outward-facing door. I'll try to elaborate on the mechanics later. During the party, Karube Teigo took the time to touch Hoshina Rukako's necklace and apply luminescent paint. He also asks to examine Hoshina's pocketwatch. He had to set Hoshina's pocketwatch fast to ensure he has time between when she blows out the candles and the tower clock strikes six to attach the murderous umbrella to the contraption before it sets off. The butler says that Hoshina always times the blowing out of the candles with the first chime of the clocks. Ran points out that Hoshina was early, and the butler says the clock technicians assigned said the clocks went off at the correct time. This means Hoshina's pocketwatch, which was her reference, was fast. It is most likely the reason she was angry right before she was murdered because she noticed the clocks didn't go off properly according to her. When the butler turns the light out, Karube Teigo opens the umbrella and separates the handle which conceals an icepick like blade. When he does this, it creates a cloth friction sound like a lady's dress moving which Karube himself noted. In the process of getting close to Hoshina Rukako, the umbrella brushes up against Furugaki Rinsaku who mistook the springy feeling for a fat person's body passing him. The umbrella seems like a nimble person to Suou Chiaki because it is lightweight and easily moves. I hazard that Karube Teigo held the umbrella near his body with one hand to block the blood spatter and held the separated handle blade with the other, and he stabbed the blade through the umbrella into Hoshina Rukako's back. This resulted in the unusual parabola shaped boundary where the blood was blocked by the circular shape of the umbrella. He then closed the umbrella and reattached the handle which would get blood on his hands and cuffs, tied it to the contraption, and then positioned himself to kneel when the lights are turned on so he could explain the blood on his hands and cuffs. The contraption goes off right when the tower clock strikes six which pulls the umbrella through the door at high speed, flinging it open and leaving rubbed blood marks on porch from dragging. The umbrella is dragged through the grating into the well and the left over string either goes with it or is wrapped up into the gears of the tower clock somehow. The weather forecast said the rain should have stopped in the evening. Karube Teigo was counting on that to avoid questions about the absense of footprints, but it didn't turn out the way he wanted casting suspicion on the party members. Evidence There should be plenty of evidence such as fingerprints on the umbrella since Karube was not wearing gloves earlier. Karube also doesn't have the umbrella when he hits questioning despite putting it in his jacket earlier. Any remnants of string in the tower clock and the well and the pocket watch being fast will prove the mechanics of the trick. Karube hasn't washed his hands which have blood on them before he was questioned, so if he applied the luminescent paint with his bare fingers, the paint should show up among the blood with a black light; however, other people handling the necklace later might have paint on them as well. The same goes for Karube's fingerprints being on the pocketwatch because other people might have handled it. I still have to explain the positioning of the other suspects and why they have the bloodstains on certain parts of their body, but I imagine the umbrella probably protected them as well from most of the the blood splatter. I also need to prove that no one else could have committed the crime, but I think Karube is the only one who handled the pocketwatch before the crime with an umbrella and could set the previously precisely ontime pocketwatch fast. The mysterious bit is why Karube pressed for an investigation when he bothered to set up the trick in the first place. He did say that he wasn't keen that the ghost of his childhood friend could be made out to be the culprit. If he cared enough to murder someone, then perhaps he cares enough not to sully the name of his dead friend? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a potential string trick solution in the case of a deep well. The murderer attaches the umbrella in the dark to a loose bit of string flagged with a bit of luminescent paint on the end so he can see it. The string securely knotted to another bit of string connected to the clock gears/some other clock part and bearing the weight hanging in the well. The string is snapped by the at six precisely. The weight drags the umbrella and the bit of string attached to the clock tower into the well through the grating. This trick requires a different construct if the well is shallower than the clock tower is high to avoid leaving dangling string on the lawn or the roof.

Maybe you are thinking of the Yakuza.

Not quite. I could pull Abs. on this one for the original Japanese if you like, but looking at quite a few different subs and translations later, they all say same thing with slightly different wording. Haibara says Conan is involved in a project the Organization began over fifty years ago. That doesn't mean Conan was involved fifty years ago; it means the project is over fifty years old and Conan is a part of it, not implying Conan was involved from the start.

Conan said he was letting Kid go because his mother is a fan of Ryoma, but the real reason he let Kid go is probably because Kaito Kid was doing the "right" thing by exposing the forgers. It's strongly hinted at that Phantom Lady is Kaito's Mom. "Well then... I guess neither of us are a match for our mothers..." Manga-wise it hasn't been stated who Kaito's mom is, but in the anime she is Kuroba Chikage.

[citation needed]

Nope, it's a good translation. Haibara's quote at the baseball game hostage case V-19 file 9 is:"Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already a part of a project the Black Organization has been working on for over half a century...." It's a hint to the purpose of the Organization's research and that APTX 4869 is supposed to be doing something closer to shrinking people rather than killing people. The logic behind this is the only known connection between Shinichi and the Black Organization is the APTX 4869 they forced him to take. Haibara is implying that by surviving and shrinking, Kudo has become part of the research project even if no other members of the B.O. but Shiho know about it.

He/she could have aging problems like Vermouth.

Pretty much what everyone else said about the fanart. For all other needs, there are plenty of free image hosting services that can do exactly what you are suggesting minus the commenting. I would think the best course of action would be to make a gallery of pictures outside the site via imageshack or something similar and then directly link to the gallery in a fanart thread (e.g. My Conan art collection). The site moderators don't need to mind everyone's galleries. Another way to go about it would be to make a list of links to art you like or something like that.

Dus is a mod there. I have been thinking about posting in wiki suggestions about linking the English and German articles together like Wikipedia's "see this article in another language" feature.

There is a German DC fansite by the way. http://detektivconan-forum.com/ Say high to Dus for me if you visit. That said, please enjoy your stay here at DCW and feel free to check out the wiki!

Assuming you speak Japanese rather well, have you read the Conan Drill? If so, can I please pester you with questions?

I added a bunch of the weight and height measurements to various characters which came from the official guidebook Conan Drill. I am pretty sure I put the reference next to all the ones I added. Hattori Heiji's height and weight were not listed in Conan Drill.

This is getting silly. Welcome to DCW. Do take a gander at the awesomeness that is the DC wiki while you are here.

Welcome to DCW. That Gosho has managed to write over 200 cases with no repeats which for the most part are entirely solvable. For Vermouth I'm thinking 70-85 based on the assumption Vermouth is Sharon's mom as well per reasons I gave in the Vermouth thread in general discussion. Gin, I'm thinking about Akai Shuuichi's age, so between 25 and 30 inclusive. Kogoro. Two days ago.

The person 200 meters behind Korn was Akai in his truck. (V58-6 or chap 603 pg 8)

I think DCTP has sprung a leak somewhere. Now I just need to figure out how to convince you all to edit the wiki.

Your work on the DCWiki has not gone unnoticed. Your monopolization of the recent changes page was stunning to behold. And carpet crawler, it wasn't pointless at all. No description is better than some description and more people edit when something is there to edit vs. nothing at all.

I already know you, but welcome to DCW.

It was a special for the promotion of the 14th movie. I suppose it is possible there may be more episodes, although there are no more planned that I have heard about.

Maybe she has lucky genes or she's dying her hair the natural shade to avoid the salt and pepper look? Also, if Fusae is with Akai as has been speculated based on the similarities to the two people asked to follow Yukiko and the detective boys (Gosho did make the effort to draw non-generic shadow people for this) then probably not. Fusae does appears to age normally (as she was seen 10 years ago and 40 years ago). That could be simulated with masks and makeup, but someone impersonating Fusae with a disguise wouldn't know about the "I think Ginko leaves are pretty" quote of Agasa's made behind the school 40 years ago sans people around, or even who Agasa is. Also someone impersonating Fusae wouldn't go through the effort of waiting from dawn till dusk at a certain spot for someone after not seeing them for forty years. If you look at is from the perspective that Fusae is disguised as Sharon then why does Vermouth have no reactions to Agasa throughout the entirety of the Vermouth arc? If she really felt something about Agasa, why wasn't his picture up there on her dartboard along with Conan's and Ran's? Also Ai was there when Agasa and Fusae met. She had no reaction even though we know she can sense Vermouth in disguise. If Vermouth is Fusae, then Billy, her accompaniment, is probably also Black Org which should have triggered Ai as well.

http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/939-glaxo-smith-kline-famvir-glucophage-fur-insulin-abhangiger-diabetes/ Someone put it out of its misery, please. Seriously, who would actually buy pharmaceuticals from a manga forum?

I think you are misunderstanding. Vermouth as Sharon knew she was being investigated for her past crimes by the FBI. By switching to Chris she has a clean record again. She knew perfectly well who Jodie was, but didn't know her past. In V42-9 on page 2, Vermouth says, "This is Japan. Let's follow its customs and speak in Japanese. The FBI's star investigator Jodie" . This doesn't make much sense and I don't see how it is relevant to the point I made. The argument I put forth was that the way Sharon appeared, her mother died in a fire on the day of her debut, is very similar to the way Chris appeared, Sharon died and Chris suddenly quit her secretive private lifestyle after that. Basically that would hint that Vermouth was Sharon's mom as well and is actually a lot older than 50. The reason Vermouth might have switched from Sharon's mom to Sharon could be because of investigative pressure or her disguise skills back then weren't as good (she hadn't learned from Toichi yet) and she needed to switch to someone with a more youthful face. You are misunderstanding Sharon's words. Basically she said that Chris had an easy time breaking in because Sharon was already an actress and had the connections. We also know from other character's commentary that Chris Vineyard is a superstar and very popular. She's not just a pretty face, she acts well too. Also, plenty of actors in real life break into acting without familial connections, so Sharon breaking in on her own power isn't that hard to imagine, especially since she is a Black Org agent and could very well have tapped the Black Org's power to help. Hidemi easily became a television personality and she had no prior background. The Org might have helped, but Sharon had the Org to help her too. APTX 4869 was only known to work as a poison and was called the incomplete detective because it didn't work as intended. Vermouth must have used something else because it doesn't make sense for her to try to commit suicide. There was extensive debate about the existence of Sharon's daughter at DCTP. After pages of debate and going back to the japanese, there was no evidence other than Sharon's word that she had a daughter who was a separate existence from her. Basically the reader is forced to take it on Akai, Jodie, and Conan's good word that they didn't botch their investigations. Yukiko's words in the NY case, if you look at a good translations, don't imply direct knowledge of Chris, only what she has heard through Sharon.

The prosecution can have expert witnesses testify. As long as the police dig up conclusive evidence that demonstrates her involvement, then they have the ability to prosecute.

I generally like most cases where Conan is out of action because it means other characters are highlighted and they get the chance to show their intelligence/quick thinking/dumb luck whichever is appropriate.