Difference between revisions of "User:Chekhov MacGuffin/Latest case"

From Detective Conan Wiki
m (note to self)
(Beta Speculation: Shiho's APTX 4869 version is contaminated with research from Silver Bullet)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
<!--This page is a personal page, please ask on the talk page before editing-->
 
<!--This page is a personal page, please ask on the talk page before editing-->
 
http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/5949-spoiler-discussion-file-948%E2%80%93950-the-clenched-scissors/#comment-369670
 
 
"Silver Bullet" is the name given to a mysterious drug created by [[Elena Miyano]] and [[Atsushi Miyano]] for the [[Black Organization]].
 
 
== Background ==
 
[[Elena_Miyano#Elena.27s_Mysterious_Death|In a tape left for Shiho]], Elena reveals she had been working on "a truly terrifying drug" the Miyano parents called the ''Silver Bullet''. It was something incredible enough that Elena said they were "putting their hopes on it",<ref name=821p7>Manga Chapter 821, pg 7: "Mystery Train 「Junction」"</ref> and Elena's lab mates had taken to calling it "a dream drug". It was important enough that Elena and Atsushi had to leave behind [[Shiho Miyano|Shiho]] and [[Akemi Miyano|Akemi]] in order to complete the drug.<ref name=821p7/>
 
 
After thinking about this message left by Elena, [[Ai Haibara]] expresses her resentment that she had only later realized that the drug was something that should have never been made.<ref name=821p7/>
 
  
 
== Speculation ==
 
== Speculation ==
=== "Silver Bullet" and "APTX 4869" are two names for the same project ===
 
:''See also: [[APTX 4869]]''
 
It is unclear whether Silver Bullet is the Miyano parents' personal nickname for what is currently called [[APTX 4869]], or if it was a closely related project they developed in parallel. Whatever the case, Silver Bullet and APTX 4869 are probably closely linked if not the same in-development drug. Haibara took over her parents' research after they died, with the APTX project named specifically. After watching Haibara shrink, Pisco, who knew about the project the Miyanos worked on, commented that Shiho's parents would be proud of the progress Shiho had made on the drug.<ref name=V24-11p9>Manga [[Volume 24]], File 11, page 9: "The White World"</ref> In addition, Haibara had earlier referred to APTX 4869 as a dream-like drug as well.<ref name=384p8>Manga [[Volume 38]], File 2, page 8: "The Old Picture"</ref> During her recollection of the tapes, Haibara was holding and considering the antidote to APTX 4869. She then regrets that she didn't understand the drug was something that should have never been made, strongly implying she worked on the same drug as well.<ref name=821p7/> Lastly, [[Vermouth]], who was in the Black Organization long enough to have heard the Miyanos use the name "Silver Bullet",<ref>Vermouth has been in the Organization at least 20 years dated by when she assassinated Jodie's father which is more time than the theoretical maximum 18 years the tapes could be recorded -- dated to Shiho's conception.</ref> may have given Conan the same nickname in reference to his deaged state caused by the drug.
 
 
== See also ==
 
* Other uses of [[Silver Bullet]]
 
* [[APTX 4869]]
 
* [[Prototype Antidote]]
 
 
== References ==
 
<References />
 
 
----
 
 
[[File:APTX 4869.jpg|thumb|right|250px|APTX 4869]]
 
'''APTX {{nihongo|4869|四八六九|Yon-Hachi-Roku-Kyū}}''', nicknamed "Prototype Detective" by members of the Black Organization, is a fictional toxin and derivative of an experimental formula of unknown purpose developed by [[Shiho Miyano]], which is used by the [[Black Organization]] as an untraceable, lethal poison. Right now, there is a [[prototype antidote]] for it made by Shiho.
 
 
== Description ==
 
[[File:APTX 4869 victim list.jpg|thumb|left|Haibara recalls [[List_of_Black_Organization_related_characters#APTX_4869_Victims|a list of all of the victims APTX was used to kill]]. Only Shinichi's death was unconfirmed.]]
 
APTX is an abbreviation of "Apoptoxin," and, as the name implies, it involves the activation of [[wikipedia:apoptosis|apoptosis]]: the mechanism by which cells kill themselves. APTX contains ingredients which have other functions as well. It contains a component which activates [[wikipedia:telomerase|telomerase]]: an enzyme which lengthens the caps at the end of DNA whose length limits the number of times a cell can divide.<ref>Manga Volume 24, File 10</ref>
 
 
In practice, most of the time APTX 4869 works as a lethal poison. [[Gin]] says it can't be detected when used, possibly indicating it leaves few traces that forensic examination could uncover. However, as said by [[Ai Haibara]], a rare side effect can in fact de-age victims. When talking about her own and Conan's shrinking, she said that the side effect causes everything apart from the nervous system to revert back to a childlike state,<ref>“[Shrinking] is an unexpected side effect. The nervous system is unaffected, but everything else—bones, muscle tissue, internal organs, hair – reverts to a childlike state” (VIZ english version of the quote in volume 18 file 8.)</ref><ref>[[Episode 129]]</ref> but the adult personality and memories remain intact.<!--However, in very rare cases, it causes the apoptosis of non-neural cells only and the apoptosis stabilizes at some point, causing the victim's apparent age to be decreased while leaving higher thought processes, memory, and personality unaltered-->
 
 
[[Shinichi Kudo|Shinichi]], the series' protagonist, was forced by Gin and Vodka to take the poison with the intention of killing him silently due to the police being around in [[Episode 1]]. Later [[Shiho Miyano]], was set to be executed for being a possible loose end after Gin and Vodka killed her sister Akemi. Instead of letting herself be murdered, Shiho took her own poison intending to commit suicide; however, her body was reverted back to a childhood state like Shinichi's.
 
{{clear}}
 
 
== History ==
 
[[Atsushi Miyano]] and [[Elena Miyano]] joined the Black Organization as researchers thirty years before the present timeline and started developing APTX 4869. [[Vermouth]] may have hinted that there was an earlier project that the Miyanos assumed control over when they joined,<ref>“If you [Shiho] want to blame someone, blame your parents '''who took over''' this foolish research.” Episode 345</ref> perhaps the one Shiho implied was at least 50 years old.<ref>Manga [[Volume 19]], File 9 (189): "The Endangered Ball "; Episodes [[Episode 130|130]]-[[Episode 131|131]] "Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century."</ref> Regardless, the pair worked on APTX 4869 until they met their untimely deaths, leaving their daughter [[Shiho Miyano]] behind and the project in an unfinished state. Shiho was then groomed to take over their APTX 4869 research project. She was educated overseas in America before returning to Japan at or before she was 13. Shiho advanced the drug to the point where she observed at least one of her lab mice reverting in age. Sometime along the way, the Black Organization decided to use the incomplete form as a poison for stealthy murder. The drug was still considered incomplete by the time it was used on [[Shinichi Kudo]], but [[Pisco]] implied that Shiho had advanced it significantly since her parents' tenure. It is unknown if the Black Organization has found replacement researchers to continue work on the APTX 4869 project after Shiho's defection.
 
 
== Name origin ==
 
APTX 4869 is a pun on "Sherlock Holmes". 4869 can also be pronounced <!--The 8 is read with yattsu's "ya", not hachi's 'ha". That makes the katakana シャロク Sharoku -->"Shi-Ya-Ro-Ku" (シャロク ''Sharoku'')<ref>Manga [[Volume 24]], File 10 (241), Page 11: "The Bullet from the Past"</ref>, which translates into Sherlock. Adding to the pun, the password for the APTX data is "Shellingford"<ref>Manga [[Volume 24]], File 10 (241), page 11: " The Bullet from the Past". This has been confirmed to be spelled as "Shellingford" in the original Japanese.</ref>, an unintentional misspelling of "Sherrinford", which was the name Arthur Conan Doyle called his detective character before deciding on "Sherlock".<ref>"The name comes from Arthur Conan Doyle's earliest notes for A Study in Scarlet, which gave the great detective's name as "Sherrinford Holmes" and that of his medical companion as "Ormond Sacker"." {{cite web|url=http://www.sherlockian.net/societies/baringgould.html|date=2010|accessdate=2012-01-28|publisher=Chris Redmond|title=Sherlockian.Net: William S. Baring-Gould}}</ref> The password and the pun name seem to be related to why several members of the Black Organization call APTX 4869 the "incomplete detective",<ref name="239p4">Manga [[Volume 24]], File 8 (239), pg 4: "The Black Burial Ranks ". Gin is conversing with Pisco and tells him, "Of course, it's up to you if you use the 'Incomplete Detective' or not...". Earlier on the phone, Gin had mentioned it was fine if Pisco used the drug which both Haibara and Conan took to mean APTX 4869.</ref><ref name="241p11">Manga [[Volume 24]], File 10 (241), page 11: "A Bullet from the Past". Haibara tells Conan that "the members of the Organization sometimes gave this uncompleted drug a nickname... 'the Incomplete Detective'."</ref> implying APTX 4869 is not finished yet.
 
 
== Antidote ==
 
:''Main article: [[Prototype antidote]]''
 
[[File:APTX 4869 given to Shinichi.jpg|thumb|150px|Gin poisons Shinichi.]]
 
Throughout the series there are several instances in which the APTX was temporarily neutralized and Shinichi and Shiho were returned to their actual age forms. The main ingredient for this reversal is a component found in [[baijiu]], which Haibara has already incorporated in a prototype antidote for the APTX.<ref name="TGDOTW">Manga [[Volume 10]], Files 4-5 (092-095): "The Great Detective of the West"</ref>
 
 
It is notable that in the instances where Shinichi or Shiho were successfully changed back, the recipient was suffering from a common cold while the component was ingested, indicating that the immune system somehow has to be taxed for the antidote to work.<ref name="TGDOTW"/><ref name="241p">Manga [[Volume 24]], File 10 (241): "The Bullet from the Past"</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 26]], Files 2-4  (255-257): "School Play Case"</ref> The only apparent [[canon]] exception was Shinichi's reversion in the London arc. While not canon, ''[[Crossroad in the Ancient Capital]]'' uses this idea as Conan is given a pill to give him the symptoms of a cold, while drinking baijiu.
 
  
Conan and Haibara briefly reverted to their true age while having rum cake (thought to contain among other things [[baijiu]]) in the live action drama ''[[Shinichi Kudo Returns! Confrontation with the Black Organization]]''.
+
=== Shiho's APTX 4869 version is contaminated with research from Silver Bullet ===
  
== Speculation ==
+
It is known that the [[APTX 4869]] of 17 years ago was used for murder<ref>[[Kohji Haneda]]'s murder</ref> and that Shiho's current version of APTX 4869 is being used for the same purpose.<ref>Gin's attempted murder of Shinichi, Pisco's backup murder plot</ref> It is unlikely that the generally cautious Black Organization would use a custom drug for murder if they knew it had a chance of shrinking the victim and leaving them alive. It also doesn't make much sense that they would kill people using an in-development drug which Haibara explicitly stated was not created for murder<ref name="179p9">Manga [[Volume 18]], File 9 (179), page 9: "The Girl Made Of Lies"</ref> and which [[APTX 4869#Original intent|is suspected to have]] a somewhat miraculous end goal such as deaging, rejuvination, or immortality.
  
=== Original intent ===
+
This contradiction can be explained by the Black Organization mistakenly operating on the assumption that Ai recreated her parents' [[APTX 4869]] (which may have been tested in the past and found to kill exclusively). It is known that a lab fire destroyed most of Elena and Atsushi's drug project research. Ai had to piece their research together from fragments. It is certainly possible that damage from the fire destroyed certain context clues that would allow Shiho to figure out which research belonged to the APTX 4869 drug, and which belonged to Silver Bullet. In resurrecting her parents' work, Shiho mixed the research together. This hybrid is the modern [[APTX 4869]].
At first, it was revealed by Gin that the APTX 4869 was a poison to kill people who know too much about the Black Organization. He used Shinichi as a guinea pig. Shiho Miyano said that she didn't intend to create a poison,<ref name="179p9">Manga [[Volume 18]], File 9 (179), page 9: "The Girl Made Of Lies"</ref> which suggests that APTX 4869 was originally developed with a different goal in mind. It probably was just a useful side effect that the current prototype kills while leaving no trace in the victim’s body, and was thus employed as a poison - a usage which Haibara detests.<ref name="179p9"/> Additionally, APTX 4869 is nicknamed the "''incomplete'' detective" by the Black Organization,<ref name="239p4"/><ref name="241p11"/> which means its true purpose has not yet been achieved.  
 
  
==== Immortality/anti-aging ====
+
Perhaps because the project took the name [[APTX 4869]] rather than [[Silver Bullet]] and for the most part has similar deadly results, most of the Black Organization seems to have assumed that it is the same drug as before. Their ignorance can an least be partly explained by Shiho hiding certain results so that even executive members of the Organization were not aware APTX 4869 could cause de-aging.<ref>Shinichi's survival for sure, and possibly the one shrunken mouse which was tested. The most significant proof is that no one has figured out Shiho shrank to escape her handcuffs and the locked room. Someone aware of shrinking results could easily extrapolate what happened.</ref> It is possible Shiho may misinformed the Organization about the status of her recreation project, not having realized she had mixed the research until after the Organization intended to use it for killing.  
One possibility is that the goal of the APTX 4869 is to develop a therapy which will cause immortality, stall or reverse the effects of aging, or extend a human's lifespan. The de-aging effect that occurred when Shinichi and Haibara took APTX 4869 probably indicates the main intent of the drug's development. After [[Pisco]] saw Haibara shrink back to her child form, he commented that he was impressed she had developed the drug to that point, implying that deaging is in the right direction.<ref name="242p9">Manga [[Volume 24]], File 11, page 9: "The White World"</ref> Supporting this is Haibara’s line, "Kudo-kun? You would probably never even dream that you are already part of a project the Black Organization has been working on already for half a century."<ref>Manga [[Volume 19]], File 9 (189): "The Endangered Ball "; Episodes [[Episode 130|130]]-[[Episode 131|131]]</ref> APTX 4869 is the only known intersection between Shinichi and the Black Organization; meaning that Shinichi's de-aging made him relevant to the Black Organization's project.  
 
  
According to Haibara’s description about APTX 4869<ref name="241p"/>, APTX 4869 activates [[wikipedia:telomerase|telomerase]], an enzyme which can increase the number of times a cell can divide, and therefore affect a cell's lifespan and “reproductive potential”. The goal of this might be to revert all non-neural cells to a "youthful", high reproductive potential state. [[Vermouth]]'s unnatural youth is another indicator that the Black Organization may be involved in research towards extending lifespan, halting aging, or rejuvenating the body.  
+
This mix-up explains certain conversations, such as the one with Conan about APTX 4869's history which implied the existence over another drug beyond APTX 4869.  
  
The goal of the antagonists in ''[[Magic Kaito]]'' is pursuing immortality, via the [[Pandora Gem]], but it is unclear whether if the [[Magic Kaito Organization|organization in Magic Kaito]] is the same one as the Black Organization.
+
{{quote|'''Haibara:''' And the fact that <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Kohji Haneda]]'s] name was on the [[List of Black Organization related characters#APTX 4869_Victims|list of victims]] who were given [[APTX  4869]], I'd say there's a good chance that [[Asaka]] was one of the members of the Black Organization!<br>
 +
'''Conan:''' I don't get it. Kohji Haneda was killed 17 years ago. Then why is his name under mine in the list?<br>
 +
'''Haibara:''' Perhaps the person who compiled the list wasn't going by chronological order. Maybe it was sorted by blood type or something.<br>
 +
'''Conan:''' Wait a minute, so the drug that I was forced to take existed 17 years ago? And you are its creator? How old are you really?<br>
 +
'''Haibara:''' How rude. I've told you before. I am 18 now. Perhaps it was an early prototype of a drug made by my parents. The information for the drug that I created was mostly taken from the burnt remains of the data that my parents left behind.<br>
 +
'''Conan:''' Burnt remains? What do you mean?<br>
 +
'''Haibara:''' Well, the research lab that my parents worked in caught fire, and along with them, most of their research materials were burnt. I heard from the other members of the Organization that it was an accident.<br>
 +
''Well, what I was really ordered to make was another drug, however...<!-- SPIMER EXACT TRANS FOR THIS ONE LINE-->''|Manga [[Volume 89]], File 11 (948), Pages 3-4: "The Clenched Scissors"}}
  
====Raising the dead====
+
In this conversation, it makes the most sense that the Black Organization was hoping that Shiho would not work on the prototype APTX 4869 used to kill in the past and instead recreate her parents' final project [[Silver Bullet]] which seems to have fallen through (perhaps by catching fire) before being completed. They gave these orders unaware that Ai actually did what they wanted her to do, which in turn explains why Ai said that she did not intend to create a murder drug<ref name="179p9"/> and protested that the drug was used for killing. Instead, the Black Organization seems to mistakenly believe that Shiho had reassembled the prototype APTX 4869 of the past.
The original purpose of APTX 4869 might be to raise the dead. Once when Conan asked Haibara directly what APTX 4869 was meant to do she replied, "It's a nostrum to raise the dead. I wonder if that answer is satisfactory?"<ref name=384p8>Manga [[Volume 38]], File 2, page 8: "The Old Picture"</ref> The context of the comment, however, makes it unclear if she was merely bluffing to provoke Conan into revealing that he had been looking into the Black Organization behind her back, rather than making a serious statement of the purpose of the drug.
 
  
=== "Silver Bullet" and "APTX 4869" are two names for the same project ===
+
<font color="#333333">This type of development would be so very in character for Gosho, since it involves a significant degree of failing to share information and lots of secret keeping between supposed allies.</font>
:''See also: [[Silver Bullet (drug)]]''
+
<References/>
In a flashback, Shiho recalls the end of [[Elena_Miyano#Tapes_left_for_Shiho|the recorded message]] left by [[Elena Miyano|her mother]] which revealed Elena had been working on "a truly terrifying drug" the Miyano parents called the ''Silver Bullet''.<ref name=821p7>Manga [[Volume 78]], File 4 (821), pg 7: "Mystery Train 「Junction」"</ref> It is unclear whether Silver Bullet is the Miyano parents' personal nickname for what is currently called APTX 4869, or if it was a closely related project they developed in parallel. Whatever the case, Silver Bullet and APTX 4869 are probably closely linked if not the same in-development drug. Haibara took over her parents' research after they died, with the APTX project named specifically. After watching Haibara shrink, [[Pisco]], who knew about the project the Miyanos worked on, commented that Shiho's parents would be proud of the progress Shiho had made on the drug.<ref name="242p9"/> In addition, Haibara had earlier referred to APTX 4869 as a dream-like drug,<ref name=384p8/> the same expression Elena's labmates used to describe Silver Bullet.<ref name=821p7/> During her recollection of the tapes, Haibara was holding and considering the antidote to APTX 4869. She then regrets that she didn't understand the drug was something that should have never been made, strongly implying she worked on the same drug as well.<ref name=821p7/> Lastly, Vermouth, who was in the Organization long enough to have heard the Miyanos use the name "Silver Bullet",<ref>Vermouth has been in the Organization at least 20 years dated by when she assassinated Jodie's father which is more time than the theoretical maximum 18 years the tapes could be recorded -- dated to Shiho's conception.</ref> may have given Conan the same nickname in reference to his deaged state caused by the drug. On the other hand, [[Shuichi Akai]] also has the nickname Silver Bullet, but no apparent connection to the drug other than dating Akemi Miyano, the sister/daughter of the drug's creators.
 

Revision as of 23:55, 10 May 2017


Speculation

Shiho's APTX 4869 version is contaminated with research from Silver Bullet

It is known that the APTX 4869 of 17 years ago was used for murder[1] and that Shiho's current version of APTX 4869 is being used for the same purpose.[2] It is unlikely that the generally cautious Black Organization would use a custom drug for murder if they knew it had a chance of shrinking the victim and leaving them alive. It also doesn't make much sense that they would kill people using an in-development drug which Haibara explicitly stated was not created for murder[3] and which is suspected to have a somewhat miraculous end goal such as deaging, rejuvination, or immortality.

This contradiction can be explained by the Black Organization mistakenly operating on the assumption that Ai recreated her parents' APTX 4869 (which may have been tested in the past and found to kill exclusively). It is known that a lab fire destroyed most of Elena and Atsushi's drug project research. Ai had to piece their research together from fragments. It is certainly possible that damage from the fire destroyed certain context clues that would allow Shiho to figure out which research belonged to the APTX 4869 drug, and which belonged to Silver Bullet. In resurrecting her parents' work, Shiho mixed the research together. This hybrid is the modern APTX 4869.

Perhaps because the project took the name APTX 4869 rather than Silver Bullet and for the most part has similar deadly results, most of the Black Organization seems to have assumed that it is the same drug as before. Their ignorance can an least be partly explained by Shiho hiding certain results so that even executive members of the Organization were not aware APTX 4869 could cause de-aging.[4] It is possible Shiho may misinformed the Organization about the status of her recreation project, not having realized she had mixed the research until after the Organization intended to use it for killing.

This mix-up explains certain conversations, such as the one with Conan about APTX 4869's history which implied the existence over another drug beyond APTX 4869.

Haibara: And the fact that [Kohji Haneda's] name was on the list of victims who were given APTX 4869, I'd say there's a good chance that Asaka was one of the members of the Black Organization!
Conan: I don't get it. Kohji Haneda was killed 17 years ago. Then why is his name under mine in the list?
Haibara: Perhaps the person who compiled the list wasn't going by chronological order. Maybe it was sorted by blood type or something.
Conan: Wait a minute, so the drug that I was forced to take existed 17 years ago? And you are its creator? How old are you really?
Haibara: How rude. I've told you before. I am 18 now. Perhaps it was an early prototype of a drug made by my parents. The information for the drug that I created was mostly taken from the burnt remains of the data that my parents left behind.
Conan: Burnt remains? What do you mean?
Haibara: Well, the research lab that my parents worked in caught fire, and along with them, most of their research materials were burnt. I heard from the other members of the Organization that it was an accident.
Well, what I was really ordered to make was another drug, however...

Manga Volume 89, File 11 (948), Pages 3-4: "The Clenched Scissors"

In this conversation, it makes the most sense that the Black Organization was hoping that Shiho would not work on the prototype APTX 4869 used to kill in the past and instead recreate her parents' final project Silver Bullet which seems to have fallen through (perhaps by catching fire) before being completed. They gave these orders unaware that Ai actually did what they wanted her to do, which in turn explains why Ai said that she did not intend to create a murder drug[3] and protested that the drug was used for killing. Instead, the Black Organization seems to mistakenly believe that Shiho had reassembled the prototype APTX 4869 of the past.

This type of development would be so very in character for Gosho, since it involves a significant degree of failing to share information and lots of secret keeping between supposed allies.

  1. ^ Kohji Haneda's murder
  2. ^ Gin's attempted murder of Shinichi, Pisco's backup murder plot
  3. ^ a b Manga Volume 18, File 9 (179), page 9: "The Girl Made Of Lies"
  4. ^ Shinichi's survival for sure, and possibly the one shrunken mouse which was tested. The most significant proof is that no one has figured out Shiho shrank to escape her handcuffs and the locked room. Someone aware of shrinking results could easily extrapolate what happened.