Shinichi Kudo and the Kyoto Shinsengumi Murder Case

Kazuhiro Otaka
	Victim (suffocated); 29 years old; Birth date: February 24, 1981; Photographer;

Tsuneo Ukai
	47 years old; Office worker;

	Drama Special 4
	Information
Title:	Shinichi Kudo and the Kyoto Shinsengumi Murder Case
Japanese Title:	工藤新一京都新撰組殺人事件 ; (Kudō Shin'ichi Kyōto Shinsengumi Satsujin Jiken)
Original airdate:	April 12, 2012
Characters:	Shinichi Kudo ; Ran Mouri ; Kogoro Mouri ; Heiji Hattori ; Kazuha Toyama ; Wataru Takagi ; Miwako Sato
Cases solved by:	Shinichi Kudo (x2) ; Heiji Hattori
Cast:
	Junpei Mizobata as Shinichi Kudo ; Shiori Kutsuna as Ran Mouri ; Takanori Jinnai as Kogoro Mouri ; Tori Matsuzaka as Heiji Hattori ; Rei Okamoto as Kazuha Toyama ; Yuichi Tsuchiya as Wataru Takagi ; Natsuhi Ueno as Miwako Sato ; Kazuaki Hankai as Tsuneo Ukai ; Kazuya Kojima as Noboru Saginuma ; Kazuki Namioka as Kazuhiro Otaka ; Dante Carver as Edward Crowe ; Asami Usuda as Tsugumi Amano ; Aiko Sato as Chizuru Tachikawa ; Shunsuke Nakamura as Reiichi Sakuraba ; Mahiro Konno as Fumiko Sugita ; Shigemitsu Ogi as Yoshihiro Kashimoto ; Jun Itoda as Ryuji Iwasaki ; Mary Matsuyama as Momoka Hayashibara ; Tokuma Nishioka as Genichi Inukai ; Miyu Honda as Woman
Director:	Masato Ibe
Screenplay:	Takehiko Hata

Chronology
‹ A Challenge Letter to Shinichi Kudo ~The Mystery of the Legendary Bird~	List of Drama Specials	N/A

Shinichi Kudo and the Kyoto Shinsengumi Murder Case (工藤新一京都新撰組殺人事件 ,Kudō Shin'ichi Kyōto Shinsengumi Satsujin Jiken^?) is the fourth and final live-action drama special of the Challenge Letter to Shinichi Kudo. It was first aired in Japan on April 12, 2012. The special featured the cast from Challenge Letter to Shinichi Kudo, including Tori Matsuzaka and Rei Okamoto reprising their roles as Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama.

Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri are invited to the set of a jidaigeki in Kyoto. On their airplane ride to Kyoto, a murder mystery arises. As well, when they finally reach the set in Kyoto, they become involved in another murder mystery, where the high school detectives of the East and West Shinichi Kudo and Heiji Hattori compete to solve a murder at the Kyoto film studio. Will Shinichi Kudo be able to solve the mystery?

Cast

Characters

Plot

Prologue

In Kyoto, Heiji performs in a jidaigeki movie entitled "Ryoma's Holiday" as Shinsengumi captain Sōji Okita while Kazuha watches off on the sides. The shooting of the scene is going well until Kogoro overacts his role in the movie as a mere extra. After getting yelled at, Kogoro decides to appeal to the director for a larger role. Kazuha texts Ran and suggests that she and Shinichi should come visit and see how the film shooting is going. Ran shares this message with Shinichi and tells him they would get to travel to Kyoto on a plane, only for Shinichi to claim he isn't interested in movies. "You're interested in Hattori-kun's activities, aren't you?" Ran remarks. Shinichi denies Ran's claim as some of his junior year fangirls arrive requesting information about his latest case and wanting autographs. Shinichi tells the girls he'll sign autographs and give handshakes at a later time so the girls leave happily as Ran guilt trips him into finally accepting her request to go with her to Kyoto.

Case 1: The Locked Room Murder at 10,000 Meters

Anime Episode 162: The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case

Situation

A flight attendant shrieks as she discovers a dead body in the plane's lavatory. Hearing the scream, Shinichi heads to the back of the plane to ask the attendant what happened. Ran wakes up on the plane to find Shinichi isn't in his seat and begins looking for him. Detectives Takagi and Sato happen to be on board and begin their investigation and are told that only "a strange young man" has touched the body so far. Ran realizes the attendant must be referring to Shinichi and follows Takagi and Sato to the back of the plane.

Murder

Location: Luna Airlines Flight 576

Victim: Kazuhiro Otaka

Cause of death: Suffocation due to cervical spinal cord injury

Suspects: Tsuneo Ukai, Tsugumi Amano, Chizuru Tachikawa, Noboru Saginuma, and Edward Crowe

Photographer Kazuhiro Otaka was found dead in the plane's lavatory with an unusual scratch on his neck and a puncture wound just below his hairline.

People

Tsugumi Amano
	27 years old Photographer

Chizuru Tachikawa
	29 years old Photographer

Noboru Saginuma
	30 years old Photographer

Edward Crowe
	42 years old Freelance journalist

Resolution

Show spoilers »

Evidence
- Shinichi suggests that the weapon that caused the puncture wound is probably something like an ice pick.
- Shinichi discovers an odor coming from the dustbin in the lavatory and concludes that Otaka was likely forced to inhale chemicals and knocked out.
- Because the plane hasn't landed yet, the murderer must still be on board.
- Shinichi remarks he read a newspaper article about Otaka about a year ago saying Otaka had won the Press Photo Award for a moving photograph he took at the scene of a fire.
- There are a few bloodstains against the wall of the lavatory where Otaka's neck was, but there's no blood on his clothing.
- There is an unusual scratch below the puncture wound on Otaka's neck.
- The insides of Otaka's pants pockets are soaking wet for some reason.
- Shinichi claims there are only four suspects because only four people passed by his seat to go to the restroom before the murder and he was wide awake.
- The negatives Otaka was carrying in his vest pocket are missing.
- The medicine Chizuru gave to Tsugumi for motion sickness didn't seem to effect her, but did effect Saginuma.
- Chizuru went to the restroom to check on Otaka and while Otaka didn't speak, she did hear Otaka reply to her question by knocking on the lavatory door. Chizuru knew that Otaka had to be in that particular lavatory because it was the only one marked "Occupied".
- Edward claims to have gone to Japan to buy artwork at an auction, but ended up not buying anything.
- Shinichi notes that Edward's cologne is extremely overpowering near his neck, but notices later that Edward doesn't seem to be wearing any near his wrists.
- Ukai claims that Saginuma's seat was empty during the time Ukai was pointing out Otaka to the flight attendant, but Saginuma claims to have been asleep the entire time.
- Saginuma's bag contains negatives of American Senator Dickson having an affair with a woman. Saginuma claims that Otaka's missing negatives contain the same images because they took the photos together and were planning on selling them to a newspaper.
- Despite searching all of the suspects' luggage, Shinichi, Takagi, and Sato are unable to find the murder weapon.
- Tsugumi suddenly flinches while she's reaching up for Otaka's luggage. When Takagi asks her what's wrong, Tsugumi says she just remembered that last week Otaka's bag had been slashed up with a knife, so she had bought him a new one for this trip.
- Shinichi discovers a cut up corner of a negative in the seat next to Saginuma's.

Alibis
- Tsugumi claims that Otaka was still in his seat when she returned from the restroom. She was feeling ill, so she rang for a flight attendant and asked for motion sickness medicine.
- Ukai confirms Tsugumi's story about the motion sickness medicine and that Otaka was in his seat. Ukai was on the opposite aisle because he felt restless, so he was just wandering around. Ukai during that time spoke with a flight attendant and pointed Otaka out as the man who woke him up with his rude loud voice. Ukai then went to the restroom afterwards.
- Chizuru woke up after the flight attendant spoke with Tsugumi about the medicine, but Otaka was gone by this point. Chizuru switched seats with Tsugumi in an effort to help Tsugumi's motion sickness. Chizuru points out Tsugumi to the flight attendant looking to being her the medicine. Out of curiosity, Chizuru goes to the restroom to check on Otaka.
- Edward doesn't remember what time he went to the restroom.
- Saginuma says he was asleep the entire time and never left his seat, despite Ukai's claims to the contrary.

Conclusion

Shinichi claims that Edward was the mysterious person who had answered Chizuru's knock as he was looking through Otaka's pockets for the negatives. While searching Otaka's pants pockets, Edward realized his cologne's smell would go onto the clothing. Edward then took a wet handkerchief in order to wash the smell out of Otaka's pockets. Edward's true purpose for going to Japan was to purchase the negatives of Senator Dickson's scandal. Edward went to the restroom in order to try to trade with Otaka for them, but Otaka was already dead. Edward was the person who responded to Chizuru's question by knocking on the lavatory door.

After clearing Edward and Chizuru from suspicion, Shinichi then points out Tsugumi as Otaka's murderer and that Tsugumi still has the murder weapon on her: the wire from the right side of her brassiere. Before murdering Otaka, Tsugumi was sitting next to Chizuru in her proper seat. Tsugumi then met Otaka at the restroom, forced him to inhale chemicals that knocked him out, and then used the sharpened end of the wire to pierce Otaka's cervical spinal cord, suffocating him. The end of the wire that wasn't sharpened caused the unusual scratch on Otaka's neck. To put suspicion on the negatives being the motive, Tsugumi used the scissors in her sewing set to cut the negatives into pieces and flushed them down the toilet. When Tsugumi returned to her seat, she purposely sat next to the sleeping Saginuma and put the eye mask, cap, and blanket on top of him to make him appear to be Otaka to the flight attendant and Ukai. This trick is proven by the fact that there's a piece of negative on the seat next to Saginuma. Tsugumi had reserved the seat next to Saginuma ahead of time and then cancelled the ticket before the flight to ensure the trick would work. The reason Saginuma didn't wake up despite Tsugumi putting the disguise on him was because she had given him a sleeping pill. The reason Tsugumi flinched when she reached up for Otaka's bag was because the sharpened wire pressed into her body as she raised her arm.

Motive

Tsugumi's motive for killing Otaka was because her older brother perished in the fire Otaka photographed and she later found out that Otaka had started the fire himself for the express purpose of winning the photo award.

Case 2: Kyoto - The Film Studio Mystery Case

Ran wakes up on the plane shouting, "That's totally sexual harassment!" having remembered Shinichi's first case and that he had touched her during that time. Embarrassed, Shinichi asks her what on Earth she's talking about all of a sudden. The other passengers look on as Ran shrinks back down into her seat in embarrassment and Shinichi tries to convince them nothing happened.