Difference between revisions of "Volume 31"

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(File 312 - Caught in a Net...)
(Naniwa Swordsman Case)
 
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| image              = Volume 31.jpg
 
| image              = Volume 31.jpg
 
| releasedate        = March 17, 2001
 
| releasedate        = March 17, 2001
 +
| chapters            = 307-317
 
| isbn                = 4-09-126161-2
 
| isbn                = 4-09-126161-2
 
| publisher          = [[Shogakukan]]
 
| publisher          = [[Shogakukan]]
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| prev-volume        = Volume 30
 
| prev-volume        = Volume 30
 
| next-volume        = Volume 32
 
| next-volume        = Volume 32
| footnotes          =  
+
| footnotes          =
 
}}
 
}}
 
Volume 31 was released on March 17, 2001 in Japan.
 
Volume 31 was released on March 17, 2001 in Japan.
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{{Char|Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya}}
 
{{Char|Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya}}
 
{{Char|Sango Yokomizo}}
 
{{Char|Sango Yokomizo}}
 +
{{Char|wikipedia:Leonardo DiCaprio|Leonardo DiCaprio|display=<font color="#00e">Leonardo DiCaprio (on TV)</font>}}
 +
{{Char|wikipedia:Kate Winslet|Kate Winslet|display=<font color="#00e">Kate Winslet (on TV)</font>}}
 
{{Char|Heiji Hattori}}
 
{{Char|Heiji Hattori}}
 
{{Char|Kazuha Toyama}}
 
{{Char|Kazuha Toyama}}
Line 46: Line 49:
 
}}
 
}}
  
== Pottery Class Case ==
+
== Chapters ==
 +
=== Pottery Class Case ===
 
{{ref anime|228-229|The Murderous Pottery Class}}
 
{{ref anime|228-229|The Murderous Pottery Class}}
  
=== File 307 - The Hidden Word ===
+
==== File 307 - The Hidden Word ====
  
 
The police are about to arrest Kikuyo, as they’ve found out she had bought a very expensive flat recently and may have killed her fiancé and future husband Motoo to get the latter’s life insurance premium. Before finding Motoo’s corpse with the others, she had previousky hidden it in the closet and pretended to go and fetch the first-aid kit to make people believe she couldn’t kill and hide Motoo in less than a minute. Mino confirms he saw Kikuyo trying to strangle Motoo, even though she claims it was a joke. Conan tranquilises Sonoko and discloses the truth : the only person who could have murdered Motoo was the one who last saw him and told Kikuyo to go and wait for him in the workshop, as it seems Motoo was pulling up his sleeves and preparing to go and help for ceramics as he was murdered.
 
The police are about to arrest Kikuyo, as they’ve found out she had bought a very expensive flat recently and may have killed her fiancé and future husband Motoo to get the latter’s life insurance premium. Before finding Motoo’s corpse with the others, she had previousky hidden it in the closet and pretended to go and fetch the first-aid kit to make people believe she couldn’t kill and hide Motoo in less than a minute. Mino confirms he saw Kikuyo trying to strangle Motoo, even though she claims it was a joke. Conan tranquilises Sonoko and discloses the truth : the only person who could have murdered Motoo was the one who last saw him and told Kikuyo to go and wait for him in the workshop, as it seems Motoo was pulling up his sleeves and preparing to go and help for ceramics as he was murdered.
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</spoiler>
 
</spoiler>
  
=== People ===
+
==== People ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{People|Muneyuki Mino|Muneyuki Mino manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Muneyuki Mino|Muneyuki Mino manga.jpg|
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{{EndBox}}
 
{{EndBox}}
  
== Fake Kogoro Mouri Case ==
+
==== ''Major events'' ====
 +
* Ran and Sonoko both want to make a piece of pottery for their respective boyfriends: Shinichi and Makoto.
 +
* Ran decides to not send Shinichi her pottery, while Sonoko gives hers to Makoto. While looking for chips, Conan finds the pottery, which says "I will wait for you, Shinichi," which gets Conan red-faced, and makes him happy for the rest of the day.
 +
 
 +
=== Fake Kogoro Mouri Case ===
 
{{ref anime|243-244|Kogoro Mouri's Imposter}}
 
{{ref anime|243-244|Kogoro Mouri's Imposter}}
  
=== File 308 - An Impostor Appears ===
+
==== File 308 - An Impostor Appears ====
  
 
An imposter impersonates Kogoro Mouri at a hotel where he is invited to investigate a case where a man is said to have committed suicide 4-5 years ago. Kogoro decides to play along and not reveal his identity. Later that night, the impostor is found hanged in his room.
 
An imposter impersonates Kogoro Mouri at a hotel where he is invited to investigate a case where a man is said to have committed suicide 4-5 years ago. Kogoro decides to play along and not reveal his identity. Later that night, the impostor is found hanged in his room.
  
=== File 309 - Truth of the Impostor ===
+
==== File 309 - Truth of the Impostor ====
  
 
Conan reveals that it is a murder and that it relates to the incident 5 years ago.
 
Conan reveals that it is a murder and that it relates to the incident 5 years ago.
  
=== File 310 - The Time of Lies ===
+
==== File 310 - The Time of Lies ====
 
 
Look at the Spoiler, who is the culprit?
 
  
 
<spoiler>
 
<spoiler>
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</spoiler>
 
</spoiler>
  
=== People ===
+
==== People ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{People|Yoshiro Onda|Yoshiro Onda manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Yoshiro Onda|Yoshiro Onda manga.jpg|
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{{EndBox}}
 
{{EndBox}}
  
== Netted Man Murder Case ==
+
=== Netted Man Murder Case ===
 
{{ref anime|246-247|The Mystery in the Net}}
 
{{ref anime|246-247|The Mystery in the Net}}
  
=== File 311 - Warm Ocean ===
+
==== File 311 - Warm Ocean ====
  
Professor Agasa takes the Detective Boys and Conan to the beach during school break, and Conan wishes he were in his true self in order to fully enjoy the beach and sun just like the other teenagers. Though, he seems to enjoy checking out female swimmers. Genta does the same, and Conan comments on the fact he particularly enjoys the girl behind them's swimsuit, and Ai thinks he's making a transposition and imagining Ran everywhere. Actually, the girl in question happens to be Ran, who had come with Sonoko at that same beach to enjoy free time. Ran says it's fine they all have fun together and Ai stares at her, wondering. They start to play ball together and suddenly Ran and Conan leave towards the beach as Ai is not feeling well, and was lied on a lounger, with fresh wet towels on her. Conan says to Agasa Ai got severe sunstroke due to sitting motionless in full sunlight at the water's edge while watching them. Ran rushes to them with a bucket of ice and water she had went and fetched at the beach's restaurant to help Ai feel fresher, and she is delighted to hear she is getting better. She tells Ai to tell her next time, whenever she doesn't feel well. Ran then leaves the three while Conan and Agasa comment to each other how caring and protective she is.
+
Agasa takes the Detective Boys to the beaches of Ito (a city in Shizuoka Prefecture) for vacation. Conan lies idly on the sea surface and complains that he cannot fully enjoy when trapped in such a small body. However, after accidentally bumping into two young adult girls’ behinds and not facing any consequences, he changes his mind. Genta pops up beside Conan and remarks that he clearly liked their bodies; Conan blushes and dismisses the idea, and points to another girl, whom he says he likes more. Haibara joins the conversation and determines that Conan feels attracted to that girl because of her resemblance to “someone” (i.e. Ran). Conan is about to object to this, but that girl turns around, and she turns out to be nobody but Ran. Initially, Conan is surprised to see her (and Sonoko) in Ito, but then he recalls that they did mention that they were going on a trip somewhere. Sonoko says with a degree of disappointment that they did not take Conan because a trip with him would invariably involve them in a murder case, but Ran tells Conan that it is fine, that the more people together the more fun. Conan again blushes slightly as Haibara watches this conversation unfold on the side.
  
Ai says she stood in direct sunlight watching them, instead of resting under the parasol, because she got nervous and wanted to flee the ocean, and more especially dolphins, the princes of the sea, to whom not even dark and cruel sharks would be able to do the slightest harm. As Conan doesn't understand a single thing and replies dolphins can't really do anything in front of sharks, a lifeguard all of sudden loudly scolds the Detective Boys for getting into a small boat, since they might hurt people, and it's forbidden moreover. Another lifeguard comes along and tells them to excuse him as he was dumped by his girlfriend not long ago. On the beach, a fisherman called Aramaki says ironically that these lifeguards were former fishermen who are so bad at it that they now end up picking garbage up on the sand. Both lifeguards get angry at him and remind him of their meeting tonight at the hotel's Chinese restaurant at 8 PM.
+
The Detective Boys thus start playing beach ball with Ran and Sonoko. After a while of fun (at least for Sonoko), she notices that Ran is gone; Mitsuhiko informs her that since Haibara is tired, Ran and Conan have accompanied her ashore. It turns out that Haibara is not only tired; according to Conan’s diagnosis, she suffers from sunstroke, and thus needs to rest somewhere shelled from the sun and have freezing cold towels applied to various parts of her body. Ran comes with a large bucket of ice and asks Agasa how Haibara is feeling; Agasa replies that she will soon be fine. Ran happily says “fantastic!”, and tells Haibara in a friendly manner that whenever she feels unwell she should tell others about it. Haibara pretends to be exhausted and does not utter a word, and Ran, not let down by her lack of reaction, rejoins Sonoko to play.
  
At night, Ran, Sonoko and the others eat dinner together at that restaurant, and Ran asks why Ai isn't here with them. Sonoko tells her friend she developed a kind of maternal instinct for the kid, and Ran answers that Ai is somehow very shy and secretive, and she'd love to make more deeper acquaintance with her. She sometimes believe Ai hates her as she always avoids looking at her whenever she meets her. Though, Ayumi says it's impossible as Ai always tells Conan that "with such a 34C, she must never get bored", to which Ran answers by scolding Conan for discussing such things, as Ai and him are just kids. Ayumi adds that Ai said Sonoko was a rather "easy lay". Suddenly, the lifeguard who had told off the kids, Shimojo, turns up and asks Sonoko what time it is. He sighs in boredom and annoyance afterwards, knowing he arrived at least 45 minutes too early, since his watch was broken. Shimojo says he doesn't want to argue with Aramaki, rather wants to settle things with him as far as respect of nature is concerned.
+
Conan and Agasa ask why Haibara would, instead of keeping playing or returning to Agasa’s side, sit on the beach alone and expose herself directly to the baking sun (which then gave her sunstroke). Haibara, presently lying on a lounger with her eyes closed and her right hand pressing the towel over her head, responds that she feels that she has nowhere to hide. This puzzles her two companions greatly, and they think that she is referring to man-eating sharks. Haibara opens her eyes, and says woefully that what she is dealing with is a dolphin, the most beloved mammal in the seas, and that one cannot compare a shark (herself) that just escaped from the cold and lightless bottom of the ocean (the Black Organization) with a dolphin (Ran). Conan and Agasa do not understand what she is going through and cannot grasp her metaphors, so Haibara says that they can go rest if they wish to.
  
He then goes on explaining Aramaki is a crooked fisherman who constantly overfishes and scrapes the ocean floor with his nets with absolutely no concern for fishing limits and leaving some time to fish to breed anew. Yoshizawa, his friend, turns up and adds it's impossible to sue Aramaki as that portion of sea was declared decriminalised and thus Aramaki is completely within his rights, though immoral. Yoshizawa arrived just in time, but their other friend Nobutsugu is late, since he had been visiting his father's grave. Shimojo explains that today it will have been eight years that their three fathers, who went fishing together in the dead of a rather stormy night, died at sea. Sonoko wants to know more about it and has a few glasses with the lifeguards, till drunkenness.
+
Not far from where Haibara is lying, Sonoko gets into an argument with a local named Noboru Shimojo: Sonoko has found a boat and she is taking the remaining Detective Boys on a ride in it, which Shimojo deems dangerous for the many other tourists nearby. Ran and Yuta Yoshizawa (one of Shimojo’s friends) come to stop tension from building up, and Yoshizawa puts the boat away despite Ran’s offer to do it herself; he says that it is their duty as lifeguards.
  
Then comes Nobutsugu Nezu, who believes their fathers died due to Aramaki's "pirate ship" having had theirs sink into the ocean. None seems to believe that story, and Nezu, in anger, calls Aramaki and someone picks up at last, but nothing but the sound of waves can be heard. The lifeguards believe Aramaki went fishing before the appointment, and as the tide is high, they decide to wait and sleep it off before going to his house to meet him. Meanwhile, the corpse of Aramaki is found on a desert beach, pushed back by the waves, and trussed up inside a net.
+
A man (named Giichi Aramaki) lying on a lounger nearby and enjoying his drink overhears Yoshizawa’s words and comments scornfully that the reason why the likes of Yoshizawa and Shimojo have to make a living out of removing refuse on the beach and pretend to be “lifeguards” is that they are terrible at fishing, their main occupation. Shimojo is strongly irritated by these words, and accuses Aramakai of being the culprit behind their fishing problems. Yoshizawa calms his friend down, and reminds Aramaki of their meeting at Queen Hotel’s Chinese restaurant at 8 p.m. that night. Aramaki replies arrogantly that he will be there, and Sonoko and Ran, knowing that they have booked a table at that same restaurant for dinner, are suddenly at a loss (as they know that tension might arise between the two hostile parties).  
  
=== File 312 - Caught in a Net... ===
+
The night approaches quickly. Ran and Sonoko arrive at the Chinese restaurant, and they see that coincidentally, Agasa and the Detective Boys dine there as well. Ran, noting Haibara’s absence, asks where she is. Mitsuhiko and Genta say that Haibara is sleeping in her room and has no appetite for dinner, and Sonoko remarks that Ran seems to care a lot about Haibara. Ran explains that she just wants to talk to her, as, up to that point, whenever they see each other in the eyes Haibara would immediately turn away and look at something else. Ran then adds jokingly that Haibara might dislike her.
The lifeguards start looking for Aramaki and find him dead drowned on the shore. Inspector Yokomizo turns up with police, and starts investigating, constantly cut off by Conan, the DBs or Sonoko. Conan remarks it's weird Aramaki's body is covered in bruises, scars, and his clothes are completely damaged, while he is supposed to have died by drowning. Yokomizo checks Aramaki's phone and indeed notices the three suspects phoned Aramaki in the same exact order and at the same exact time as they said they had, and Ran and Sonoko confirm their presence to the restaurant, then they can't be the murderers, even though they resented Aramaki a lot. Conan doesn't get it why the phone was picked up only when Nezu called. They suddenly all spot the small boat in the distance and Yokomizo sends agents to recover it, while Nezu gets infuriated and scared at the scene, reminding him of how their fathers were similarly found on the shore dead drowned, especially his' who was found with a deep injury in the stomach.
 
  
Yokomizo confesses he can't swim and the DBs wonder how a policeman got to be selected to be an inspector if he can't even swim. In the boat, they find an empty bottle of sake, a sandal, and a button, along with seawater. The sandal and button are the victim's. Yokomizo believes Aramaki was inebriated by sake and then drowned by being tied and pushed into the sea. Yet Conan says it's strange then all this evidence wasn't discarded into the ocean right after, as the boat would certainly be found afterwards. Shimojo asks Yokomizo to tell them quickly about the time of the death, in order to be in the know and let them go home. Ayumi rushes to the sea to pick up a can who had been thrown away in the water, but the can is pushed back by the waves and starts rolling, and Ayumi slides over the watery sand. Mitsuhiko fears she has cut herself with tiny bits of shell, which is actually not the case hopefully.
+
At this moment Shimojo arrives at the restaurant. Since it is only 7:12 p.m., he can do nothing but sit down at the adjoining table and wait. Sonoko remarks that they should finish the dinner quickly and get out of the restaurant before an argument erupts, and Shimojo retorts by saying that argument is not what they are seeking, that they simply want to make Aramaki understand the rules of nature. He explains that local fishermen know that once the fish stock is depleted it will take ages for it to recover, for which they have put a cap on how many fish to catch each year; but Aramaki, being an outsider, either does not know this or does not care, and operates under the philosophy that the more fish caught, the better. Yoshizawa arrives at this moment and adds that the laws regulating the fishing industry are weakly enforced, because of which nobody can actually force Aramaki to stop his ecologically destructive activities. Shimojo asks Yoshizawa where their other companion is, and Yoshizawa responds that that person is visiting their fathers’ tombs and thus will be late. Sonoko asks them to tell her more, and the two fishermen recount that the fathers of all three died exactly eight years ago when they went fishing on the same boat and were overwhelmed by a rainstorm.  
  
Conan asks the forensics to show him Aramaki's phone, completely scarred as well. Sonoko hints at the fact Aramaki might have been ensnared by a trick of the murderer that would prevent him from escaping when submerged by water. Suddenly, Conan figures out the truth. Meanwhile, Ai is waiting for everyone in the hotel room, eating crisps and watching TV, and complaining about their dawdling so much.
+
The two fishermen and Sonoko keep on chatting avidly and drink (although Sonoko is under 18) until the third fisherman, who is named Nobutsugu Nezu, arrives. He disputes Yoshizawa’s account of their fathers’ tragic end and says that their boat was actually sinked by Aramaki, whom he refers to as a “pirate”. It is now 8:40 and Aramaki still has not come, so Nezu decides to call him (the other two have already done so various times, but nobody picked up). This time the call is actually picked up, but nobody speaks, and the only thing that Nezu can hear on the phone is a noise resembling waves gently hitting the beach. Shortly after, Aramaki hangs up. The three fishermen, very unimpressed with Aramaki’s attitude, decide to set out to look for him. He turns out to be dead, with his body left in the waters of the intertidal zone and entangled by fishing net.
  
=== File 313 - A Courageous Decision ===
+
==== File 312 - Caught in a Net... ====
 +
 
 +
Sango Yokomizo arrives at the crime scene to investigate. His team determines that the victim was drowned, which prompts Conan to ask why the clothes on the body are torn and why there are bruises and scars on Aramaki’s body. Yokomizo removes Conan from the body, and tells a subordinate to untangle the body and carry it away for a posthumous medical examination, which will reveal approximately when he died. Yokomizo tells the three fishermen that they are all suspects, as they could easily kill Aramaki before heading to the restaurant (Yokomizo knows that the crime cannot be committed after that because Sonoko has confirmed to him that the three fishermen never left the restaurant before going on the search). He also finds it suspicious that they came to the deserted seaside to search for Aramaki, which prompts the fishermen to bring up their various phone calls. Aramaki’s call records (which somehow survived despite having been submerged in water) corroborate the fishermen’s assertions: that Yoshizawa called Aramaki once, at around 7 p.m., that Shimojo called him thrice, all at around 8 p.m., and that Nezu called him at 8:41 (i.e. shortly after he arrived at the restaurant). From these records, Yokomizo determines that none of the fishermen was able to commit murder: the last call being picked up necessarily means that either Aramaki was alive at the time or his murderer was near him. But none of the fishermen could kill him after 8:41, and at 8:41 they were all in the Chinese restaurant. Conan, unlike Yokomizo, still thinks that one of them murdered Aramaki, but recognizes that the call records present a huge logical obstacle.
 +
 
 +
At this point the rest of the Detective Boys notice that the boat that Sonoko found in the morning is now drifting in the sea and not far from the crime scene. Yokomizo orders his subordinates to retrieve it (Agasa says that he should help as well, and Yokomizo’s inability to come up with a good excuse for not helping prompts Ayumi to guess that he does not know how to swim despite having a “coral-like” hairstyle), and they find that the boat is partially filled with sea water and holds a large (and empty) sake bottle, a single sandal and a shirt button. Since there is a button missing on Aramaki’s shirt and he had only one sandal on upon death, Yokomizo deduces that the murder occurred as follows: the murderer made Aramaki drink, and when he was drunk carried him into the boat and entangled him with fishing net. The murderer met fierce resistance (which is why Aramaki’s body is full of injuries and the button and sandal are not on his body), but eventually he (or she) was able to overpower and successfully drown Aramaki. Conan disagrees; he says that under that scheme the murderer would throw the sake bottle etc. into the sea to destroy evidence. The other Detective Boys present argue that doing so would pollute the sea, Conan retorts that that is not his point, and the four kids start a heated quarrel. Yokomizo, unable to withstand this, picks all four up simultaneously, takes them before Agasa and orders him to never lose control or sight of them again. This fails at the very moment that they are dropped down; Ayumi, spotting a piece of rubbish floating on the sea surface, rushes there to pick it up (and Agasa does not even attempt to tell her to come back). On the way, she accidentally steps on something and is hurt. Mitsuhiko asks her whether she is ok, and Ayumi answers in affirmative, adding that there are a lot of seashells on the beach. This inspires Conan, who runs to a subordinate of Yokomizo, who shows him that there are a lot of scrape marks on Aramaki’s phone. After this, Conan seems to have a general picture of how the murder took place, but he feels that something is still missing.
 +
 
 +
Conan begins pondering what the last piece required to complete the puzzle can possibly be, but he is distracted by Sonoko, who suggests to Yokomizo that the boat is there to mislead the police and make them think that there was some sort of trick. According to her, the murderer simply entangled Aramaki and trapped him in the net, and left him at a suitable place such that during high tide he would be submerged and thus drowned. Yokomizo respectfully rejects her hypothesis, saying that the fishing net did not severely limit Aramaki’s ability to move and that he would be able to sit up during high tide to avoid being drowned unless he had been fed potent sleeping pills; Yokomizo thus fails to notice that Sonoko did make some valid points. Conan, on the other hand, feels enlightened by this flawed deduction, and immediately figures out the murderer and a way to make him admit guilt.
 +
 
 +
The last panels of this file depicts a slightly bored and tired Haibara watching TV and eating chips in a hotel room. She wonders why everyone else has been dawdling so much.
 +
 
 +
==== File 313 - A Courageous Decision ====
  
 
<spoiler>
 
<spoiler>
Conan figures out the culprit and decides to use Professor Agasa's voice to reveal the trick but remembers he forgot his voice changing bow tie at the hotel. Haibara arrives bringing with her Conan's bow tie. Conan tells Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta to collect some things. After the three brought them, Conan, as Professor Agasa, reveals the trick the culprit, '''Noboru Shimojo''' used to kill the man. The victim, covered in fishnet, was placed in the shore where the culprit dug a hole fit for a man. He then placed a boat with sea water on top of the victim to serve as a weight so that when the victim wakes up he won't be able to escape when the tides rises up. The killer placed false evidence on the boat so that the police would think that the victim was placed inside the boat before letting him drown. Shimojo confesses that he killed the man who was responsible for his, Yuta's and Nobutsugu's father's death and that he only gathered all his courage to bestow divine punishment upon the man. Ran then tells Shimojo that courage is a word that gives you the strength to do what's right and not to take someone else's life. Afterwards, Haibara comes up to Ran and introduces herself, has learned from Ran's words.
+
Conan is ready to deduce, but realizes that he does not have the voice-changing bowtie with him. Fortunately, Haibara shows up with it; she explains that instinct told her that Conan coming home late could only mean that there was a murder case that he must solve first. With the bucket, basin, sea star and seashell that the other Detective Boys have brought, Conan, via Agasa, announces that he will conduct an experiment, which he claims is analogous to what actually happened during the murder. Agasa digs a hole in the sand-filled basin to fit the dried sea star in (this corresponds to the murderer digging a hole on the beach to place Aramaki in it), and covers the sea star with the bowl-shaped seashell, with the side that used to contain the soft parts of the animal facing upwards (this corresponds to placing the boat directly on Aramaki so that its weight would prevent him from ever getting up; Conan also mentions that the boat was partially filled with water to increase the weight and to ensure that any struggle made by Aramaki to get the boat off him would be futile). Then, when Agasa pours water into the basin, the sea star is immersed and the seashell, whose density is less than that of water, starts floating on the surface and drifts elsewhere (this corresponds to Aramaki being drowned during high tide and the boat moving away from him). The murder has thus been executed without the murderer having to be with Aramaki right before his death. As for the call at 8:41, Yokomizo believes that it can be explained by the following: the deceased’s body, along with the phone, rolled over and over with the tide, meaning that the phone was regularly making contact with and banging on the seashells on the beach. So it was the seashells that “pressed” the button beginning and terminating the call, and its occurrence was purely coincidential and not designed by the murderer. Yokomizo reasons that the evidence supporting this conjecture includes the various bruises and scars all over Aramaki’s body and his heavily scraped phone.
 +
 
 +
Conan agrees with Yokomizo’s deduction and adds that the items abandoned in the boat reflect the murderer’s attempt to mislead the police by making them think that the murder happened inside rather than under the boat. He then declares '''Noboru Shimojo''' to be the murderer. Shimojo demands incriminating evidence, but Conan has none, making Shimojo yell at Agasa satisfyingly that the only thing that they know for sure is that he was in the restaurant when the murder occurred. Conan asks whether anyone can prove that, and Shimojo impatiently yells that Agasa himself can. Conan then claims that Agasa has a bad memory and does not remember when that was. Upon hearing this, Shimojo explodes and screams furiously and aggressively that when Aramaki died at 8 p.m., Agasa was in the restaurant with him. Yokomizo interjects and asks Shimojo how he knew that Aramaki died then, and Shimojo claims that he has overheard the conversation of Yokomizo and a subordinate, but Yokomizo says that the coroner was not that specific in his (or her) estimate. Shimojo, now panicking, says that Yokomizo must be joking, because a more exact death time can be determined by looking at the livor mortis and the degree of stiffness of the corpse. Conan replies that making an inference based on these features requires the corpse to be under a set of specific conditions clearly not satisfied in this case. He then reiterates his belief that Shimojo is the murderer, which crushes Shimojo’s final defense, and he kneels down on the beach, murmuring that his two fishermen friends should thank him for avenging their fathers. He recounts that by interrogating one of the crew members of Aramaki’s boat, he was able to learn the truth behind their fathers’ premature death. It was a day with heavy rain and a treacherous storm, but Aramaki still sailed to fish. The three fishermen’s fathers, who also made a living by catching fish, knew of the danger that a raging sea posed, and thus followed Aramaki in an attempt to convince him to come back. Aramaki thought that they were just being annoying, and ordered his crew to charge at the three fathers’ little boat (which was no longer under their control because the furious waves had engulfed the rudder); this threw them into the turbulent sea. Aramaki then refused to save them and came back on his own. Shimojo continues to say that he initially thought of contacting the police, but Aramaki, who knew which crewmember had spilled his misdeeds to others, pushed him into the sea on a voyage which only the two of them went on.
 +
 
 +
The story is now over, and Shimojo falls into silence. Nezu breaks the silence and tells Shimojo seriously that even though Aramaki committed heinous crimes, murdering him is still unjustified, because that makes Shimojo essentially the same as Aramaki. Shimojo does not understand why Nezu would criticize him, and says savagely that he has sacrificed his future to kill their shared enemy, and that what he has done is a brave act which does not deserve such disapproving attitudes. Ran, who has been listening silently and attentively since the beginning, finally speaks up. With some grief on her face and with a very heavy heart, she tells Shimojo that he is completely wrong, as “bravery” only applies when someone dares to fight for a rightful cause, and can never be the justification of a murder. Shimojo is left completely speechless by her words, and leaves with the police without uttering anything further. As he is escorted away, a sorrowful and peaceful smile emerges on his face.
 +
 
 +
The sun has now risen. Seagulls congregate around Ran as she tells Sonoko that she thought that Shinichi would have said the same. Haibara approaches her, and Ran’s words still echo in her head. She stops right before Ran emotionlessly, waits for a few seconds, and extends her right hand: “my name is Ai Haibara, nice to meet you.” A dozen of gulls spiral around them as Ran smiles and extends her right hand towards Haibara too.
 
</spoiler>
 
</spoiler>
  
=== People ===
+
==== People ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{People|Noboru Shimojo|Noboru Shimojo manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Noboru Shimojo|Noboru Shimojo manga.jpg|
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{{EndBox}}
 
{{EndBox}}
  
== Naniwa Swordsman Case ==
+
==== ''Major events'' ====
 +
* Haibara acts incredibly quiet around Ran. Ran believes that Haibara may hate her.
 +
* When Genta asks Conan which girl's body attracted him more, Conan points out that the only decent one was that of the girl behind him. The girl turns out to be Ran. Haibara expresses sadness towards Conan's feelings for Ran, revealing possible feelings she herself has for Conan.
 +
* At the end of the episode, Haibara formally introduces herself to Ran, showing that she will not hide from her anymore.
 +
 
 +
=== Naniwa Swordsman Case ===
 
{{ref anime|263|The Osaka Double Mystery - The Naniwa Swordsman and Toyotomi's Castle}}
 
{{ref anime|263|The Osaka Double Mystery - The Naniwa Swordsman and Toyotomi's Castle}}
  
=== Characters introduced ===
+
==== Characters introduced ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{NewChar|[[Soshi Okita]]|Soshi Okita.jpg|
 
{{NewChar|[[Soshi Okita]]|Soshi Okita.jpg|
Line 178: Line 204:
 
{{EndBox}}
 
{{EndBox}}
  
=== File 314 - The Naniwa Swordsman ===
+
==== File 314 - The Naniwa Swordsman ====
  
=== File 315 - The Invisible Swordsman ===
+
Conan, Ran and Kogoro are coming at last to Heiji's place in Osaka to enjoy time and dinners together, and also to meet Heiji's parents. Meanwhile, Heiji hopes to win a kendo competition, a sport in which he excels, and especially to defeat famous Soshi Okita from Kyoto Senshin High School, who injured his neck with a special blow last year. He says he wants to win the tournament notably to declare his love to Kazuha, as an anwser to the "love injury" Kazuha made to him (Vol. 28). Some time after, Heiji overhears a violent argument between a drunk kendoka named Tarumi and his team from the University of Shinnai, who calls him a loser as he always do everything to throw a wrench in their gears. As Hakamada, the team captain, harshly looks down on Tarumi, the latter says he has nothing to lose (he was fired from his job) and will soon "let the cat out of the bag", adding he will kill Hakamada some day.
  
=== File 316 - The Swordsman of Justice ===
+
Afterwards, the team worries about Tarumi's absence and they start looking for him in the whole Naniwa sports hall, only to find him dead in a warehouse, covered in blood, probably stabbed with a sabre. They go and get the police, ambulance and also their team captain to come to the warehouse. Hakamada arrives first with the rest of the team, along with Heiji who had eavesdropped their conversation, only to note there's absolutely no corpse, no blood and no sabre in the warehouse. Some sports hall employees come along and tell the group a mysterious man has just called them, asking them to tell the Shinnai team to go to the swimming pool's changing rooms to find Tarumi there. They indeed find the corpse of their mate there, drenched under a hot shower, near the sabre.
  
=== People ===
+
As the police arrive, Heiji wonders how the corpse came to be transported from the warehouse to the changing room without people's notice. He starts calling "Kudo" to get some help to solve the murder, but eventually hangs up when he hears Kazuha say Kudo will solve the matter in a flash, which makes Heiji angry and wanting to solve it by himself, before Shinichi/Conan's arrival in Osaka.
 +
 
 +
==== File 315 - The Invisible Swordsman ====
 +
 
 +
Heiji decides to investigate the case, and accordingly his kendo team must try and win the tournament without their champion, which will be quite hard. Heiji tells Otaki Tarumi’s mates could be suspected, since a demonstration sabre was stolen today, and the murderer seemed to know very well how to use a sabre, and where all the rooms and storage rooms of the sports hall are, not mentioning the previous argument. Though, Heiji can’t find any evidence, neither how the corpse was transported to the changing room. Hakamada says someone stole his kendo plate, which is not so important in the end, because the tournament is over for them. Kazuha end Heiji’s team feel tense as they watch Okita knocking down and taking out their kendokas one after the other during the matches. Therefore, Kazuha starts running and searching for Heiji everywhere in the hall.
 +
 
 +
Heiji has Doguchi, one from the Shinnai team, own up to the fact that Haori, their manager, and also Tarumi’s ex-girlfriend, who started dating Hakamada, eventually left them after the « affair ». Heiji can’t get more information as he is distracted by two kendokas talking about Okita’s moves, and Doguchi escapes his grip. Heiji asks the kendokas if they saw any suspicious person during the murder, and they reply they indeed saw a tall kendoka in full wear carrying another one's wear in a kendo bag. Heiji understands that only Hakamada could do it, as he is strong enough to carry a corpse in a bag, and he could have hid behind the storage room's pommel horse after his murder, waiting for his mates to leave. However, Heiji immediately rules out this possibility, given Hakamada couldn't be sure if one of his mates would remain in the room waiting for the police to come, or not. Hakamada comes up to Heiji and threatens him saying things will go worse for him if he keeps harassing his childhood friend Doguchi, who doesn't stand the sight of blood and wouldn't harm a fly.
 +
 
 +
As Conan, Ran and Kogoro are about to turn up momentarily, Heiji realises some mannequins could have been used, and he rushes to the storage room, opens the pommel horse, and finds out the truth.
 +
 
 +
==== File 316 - The Swordsman of Justice ====
 +
 
 +
Kazuha goes on looking for Heiji, and ends up coming across Ran, Kogoro and Conan, telling them Heiji is investigating a murder, which arouses Conan's curiosity. She brings them to the pool's changing room, while the murderer stares at them and leaves towards the storage room with a kendo bag. Once there, he takes a bloody towel out of the bag, along with a bottle of water. Meanwhile, Otaki explains Mouri and co the whys and wherefores of the case, and Conan stands thinking deeply. He then deduces who the murderer is and the trick he used.
 +
 
 +
<spoiler>
 +
 
 +
The murderer goes on "cleaning" the pommel horse with the towel, but is interrupted by Heiji who says to him his doing is pointless, as none would have more reasons to believe Tarumi was killed here even though he's doing it. Then, Heiji reveals that culprit to be '''Takashi Kotegawa'''. Kotegawa got Tarumi drunk and probably put some sleeping product into Tarumi's alcohol bottles. Then, he discreetly brought Tarumi to the storage room and covered him in red painting, and did the same to a sabre he put next to him. He then joined the other members of his team and pretended to look for Tarumi with them. When they found him, he first proposed to go and call the emergency services, and told Omotani to go and fetch police, knowing it would take at least 10 minutes. He also knew that Doguchi would leave the place as he can't stand the sight of blood, and would have probably gone and fetched Hakamada, which would also take some time as Hakamada has a rather unremarkable build. None saw the trick as the storage house is dark, and they were very tense back then. Kotegawa pretended then to go back into the storage room alone to check Tarumi's body while allegedly phoning, but actually he put the sabre between his hands and woke him up, showing him "what he had done" : inside the pommel horse was the "corpse of Hakamada", actually a mannequin clothed with full kendo wear and covered in red painting, and who had Hakamada's stolen plate on it, to make Tarumi believe he had indeed killed Hakamada during a drunk fit of anger. Kotegawa carried on his lie and proposed to cover for Tarumi by diverting attention while Tarumi would take off his "bloody" clothes, and put on another full kendo wear, and also put his bloody clothes into a kendo bag. Then, he would walk up to the pool's changing room where Kotegawa would join him afterwards. Kotegawa also told him to put the sabre back in his sheath and to bring it with him to the changing room.
 +
 
 +
Kotegawa pretended to stay at the storage room to check the pommel horse, but actually he just cleaned the red painting and went afterwards to the changing room where he really murdered Tarumi with the sabre. He then took off Tarumi's full kendo wear and left him under a hot shower, hoping this would clean both blood and red painting. Afterwards, Kotegawa left the sabre there, put the full bloody wear into the kendo bag where Tarumi's first one was, and hid the bag somewhere, then went back to the storage room to alledgedly check Tarumi's absence with the others. Kotegawa did all that to pretend someone had killed Tarumi in the storage room and then taken his corpse to the pool's changing room. Before turning on the shower, Kotegawa mopped uo some of Tarumi's blood with a towel and intended to come back later on not to clean the pommel horse but actually to add some of Tarumi's blood on it, and then cleaning it again, to make it believe he really had been killed here, and that the culprit had taken the body to the pool to put it there, after cleaning the pommel. He also intended to remove the mannequin from the inside of the pommel, and to clean everything, in case the police ever had a look into it. Heiji tells Kotegawa actually a true blood splatter and a wiped or cleaned one don't have the same reaction and appearance to luminol, and the forensics will quickly figure out what really occurred. The unquestionable evidence is the bloody towel he has in hand, and probably Tarumi's bloody clothes and kendo wear in the bag.
 +
 
 +
Kotegawa admits he killed Tarumi, because the latter was an out-of-control and immoral kendoka who would often violently fight against other practitioners, to the point he killed a young freshman kendoka, and had it posed as an accident. Usually, Hakamada would be the one who stopped him from going too far, but he was away that day, and Tarumi then told everyone to keep it silent, swearing he would expose them all to the police if he ever were to be arrested, as they were unable to stop him while they should have. Fearing he might lose his job, Kotegawa silenced Tarumi, and he tells Heiji he actually stole two sabres earlier today, and, saying this, slashes Heiji's right cheek with the other sabre. Meanwhile, Conan fears the murderer might have come back to the storage and confronted Heiji, and he rushes there with Kazuha. Heiji manages to block Kotegawa's blow with his cellphone, saying Kotegawa won't fool anyone any longer now if he kills him, but Kotegawa answers actually the cops would just think the killer is the same, and would never suspect him as he couldn't transport the corpse, since he was seen by many people while Tarumi was the one walking to the pool. He is about to kill Heiji but the latter avoids it and jumps over the sabre which gets stuck in the pommel, and Heiji quickly grabs the sabre's sheath, all the while showing his "Hattori" plate to Kotegawa, who can't believe he is Hattori, the skilled practitioner of Kaiho High School. Kazuha's charm is hanging around the sabre, meaning Heiji can't lose, and indeed Heiji knocks Kotegawa out with a "Ura no Sukey" technique. Conan and Kazuha arrive...a little too late.
 +
 
 +
Kazuha grabs Heiji's arm and tells him to hurry before the Kaiho team loses but...it's too late as well. Though, Heiji says he lost the tournament but won the duel, which Conan doesn't understand.
 +
 
 +
</spoiler>
 +
 
 +
==== People ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
{{People|Soshi Okita|314-316 Okita manga.jpg|
+
{{People|[[Soshi Okita]]|314-316 Okita manga.jpg|
 
* Kyoto Senshin High representative}}
 
* Kyoto Senshin High representative}}
 
{{People|Atsushi Tarumi|Atsushi Tarumi manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Atsushi Tarumi|Atsushi Tarumi manga.jpg|
Line 201: Line 253:
 
* 22 years old
 
* 22 years old
 
* Fukusho (Vice-captain), Shinnai University}}
 
* Fukusho (Vice-captain), Shinnai University}}
{{clear}}
 
 
{{People|Masamichi Hakamada|Masamichi Hakamada manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Masamichi Hakamada|Masamichi Hakamada manga.jpg|
 
* 22 years old
 
* 22 years old
Line 207: Line 258:
 
{{EndBox}}
 
{{EndBox}}
  
== Tiger Scroll Case ==
+
==== ''Major events'' ====
 +
Heizo punches his own son, to anger him into working harder on the case, and to have him try and confront the criminal.
 +
 
 +
=== Tiger Scroll Case ===
 
{{ref anime|263|The Osaka Double Mystery - The Naniwa Swordsman and Toyotomi's Castle}}
 
{{ref anime|263|The Osaka Double Mystery - The Naniwa Swordsman and Toyotomi's Castle}}
  
=== File 317 - The Ruler's Palace ===
+
==== File 317 - The Ruler's Palace ====
  
=== People ===
+
After the Naniwa case, Heiji and co are having a delicious dinner at the Hattori's, where they also meet Ginshiro Toyama, Kazuha's father. Kazuha zonks out from exhaustion, given she spent the afternoon running in search of Heiji. Heizo says his son is good at investigating, but not as much as Kogoro, which means for Heiji that he still cannot hold a candle to Kudo. Ginshiro says Heiji is the spitting image of his friend Heizo when he was younger. Heizo tells Toyama to go easy on alcohol, but the latter says it's not a problem as Heizo will "drive them home". Heizo understands it as Toyama wanting to discuss a very important matter with him one to one. Indeed, in Heizo's car, Toyama tells his old friend that Kazuha is a big girl now and he doesn't think of another perfect future husband for her than Heizo's son. Kazuha pretends to sleep but actually overhears their conversation. Heizo sternly tells his friend to stop beating around the bush, and Toyama comes to the real issue, revolving around the Osaka Castle Case of 13 years ago, during which a wholly burnt corpse, unable to be identified, had been found in the castle's moat. Toyama shows Heizo the burnt piece of earthenware they had found inside the victim's inner pocket, and says he now makes a connection with a more recent case during which a corpse was found too, in the castle's eastern ramparts, with quite the same piece on him, featuring the "848" number. Toyama believes the two pieces are the same and have a kind of mysterious relationship, and thinks their first theory may turn out to be true after all, the "incredible treasure left by the mortals".
 +
 
 +
The day after, Kazuha takes Conan, Heiji, Ran, and Kogoro to Osaka Castle, and shows them around the same way as Heiji did when they first came to Osaka (Vol. 19). Heiji remarks it, and finds Kazuha's plan to visit the castle boring, he wishes they had gone visiting the Osaka Prefectural Police instead. Kazuha says the Castle has always remained very beautiful, and an old man named Arihiro Kasuya tells her the history of the castle : its building in 1599 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, its rebuilding in 1629 by Ieyasu Tokugawa, its new third tower built in 1931 by the inhabitants of Osaka, and finally its refurbishment not long ago. Kasuya says Toyotomi is his thought leader, and he explains he wears the badge emblem of Ieyasu because he is part of a game trip called "Hideyoshi's 8 Days/Hide Days", during which 5 selected fans of medieval Japan and Hideyoshi, from the Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto regions, are playing roles every day, embodying one of Japan's great unifiers and characters among Hideyoshi, Nene, Ieyasu, Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi, with some certain duties to perform according to each. Heiji and co meet the other players : Toshiaki Fukushima as Mitsuhide, Maho Katagiri as Nene, Shigehiko Wakisaka as Nobunaga, and Yuji Kato, who plays Hideyoshi, but who's not here at the moment, as he told his comrades he suddenly needed to be alone for a moment, after a sudden phone call. Heiji and co leave them together to go and visit the castle. Meanwhile, Kato, in the bathroom, is reading with excitement a scroll where the Japanese ideogram character for "dragon" is featured, commenting about his prayers to find the glorious light being granted at last, thirteen years after.
 +
 
 +
Heiji yells at Kazuha for losing her wallet though she has a well-closing handbag, and forcing them to visit the castle backwards as a result, and she answers Heiji rushed her a lot and she ended up losing it then. As it starts raining, Ran takes an umbrella out of her bag and they all shelter under it. Conan hints at the fact Kazuha may have forgotten her wallet at the shop where she's bought a disposable camera not long ago, and she and Ran go and check for it. Kogoro, Conan and Heiji meet the four travellers again, who are worried since Kato is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, an explosion occurs and someone is burning on the roof of the castle, falling from the balcony onto the floor. Heiji and Conan rush to rescue him while Kogoro calls the paramedics. The victim grabs Ran's umbrella to show Heiji something, and dies afterwards.
 +
 
 +
==== People ====
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{BeginBox}}
 
{{People|Arihiro Kasuya|Arihiro Kasuya manga.jpg|
 
{{People|Arihiro Kasuya|Arihiro Kasuya manga.jpg|
Line 239: Line 299:
  
 
== Cover in other countries ==
 
== Cover in other countries ==
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31cc.jpg|150px|thumb|left|China]]</div>
+
<div><ul>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31fi.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Finland]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31cc.jpg|150px|thumb|left|China]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31f.jpg|150px|thumb|left|France]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31fi.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Finland]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31g.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Germany]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31f.jpg|150px|thumb|left|France]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31ce.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Hong Kong]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31g.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Germany]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31bi.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Indonesia]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31ce.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Hong Kong]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31i.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Italy]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31bi.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Indonesia]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31k.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Korea]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31i.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Italy]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31ct.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Malaysia (Chinese)]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31k.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Korea]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31m.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Malaysia (Malay)]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31ct.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Malaysia (Chinese)]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31n.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Norway]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31m.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Malaysia (Malay)]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31cw.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Rep. of China (Taiwan)]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31n.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Norway]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31sw.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Sweden]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31cw.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Rep. of China (Taiwan)]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume 31e.jpg|150px|thumb|left|United States]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume2_34sp.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)]]</li>
<div class="left">[[File:Volume31v.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Vietnam]]</div>
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31sw.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Sweden]]</li>
{{clear}}
+
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31th.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Thailand]]</li>
 +
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume 31e.jpg|150px|thumb|left|United States]]</li>
 +
<li style="display: inline-block;">[[File:Volume31v.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Vietnam]]</li>
 +
</ul></div>
  
 
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
 
* [[Manga]]
 
* [[Manga]]
 
* [[Volume 31-40]]
 
* [[Volume 31-40]]
* ''[[Detective Conan]]''
+
* [[Detective Conan]]
 +
 
 +
{{Volumes}}
 +
 
 
[[Category:Volumes]]
 
[[Category:Volumes]]
 +
 
[[de:Band 31]]
 
[[de:Band 31]]
{{Volumes}}
 

Latest revision as of 12:57, 20 October 2022

Volume 31

Volume 31.jpg

Information
Release date: March 17, 2001
Chapters: 307-317
ISBN: ISBN 4-09-126161-2
Publisher: Shogakukan
English release date: September 15, 2009
English ISBN: ISBN 1-4215-2199-7
English Publisher: Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Detective 31.jpg
Toyama no Kin-san
Keyhole 31.jpg
Ginshiro Toyama
Aoyama's death & Conan side images
Aoyama 31.jpg
ConanSide 31.jpg
Chronology
Prev volume: « Volume 30
Next volume: Volume 32 »
List of chaptersList of cases

Volume 31 was released on March 17, 2001 in Japan.

Cast

Gadgets

Chapters

Pottery Class Case

File 307 - The Hidden Word

The police are about to arrest Kikuyo, as they’ve found out she had bought a very expensive flat recently and may have killed her fiancé and future husband Motoo to get the latter’s life insurance premium. Before finding Motoo’s corpse with the others, she had previousky hidden it in the closet and pretended to go and fetch the first-aid kit to make people believe she couldn’t kill and hide Motoo in less than a minute. Mino confirms he saw Kikuyo trying to strangle Motoo, even though she claims it was a joke. Conan tranquilises Sonoko and discloses the truth : the only person who could have murdered Motoo was the one who last saw him and told Kikuyo to go and wait for him in the workshop, as it seems Motoo was pulling up his sleeves and preparing to go and help for ceramics as he was murdered.

People

  • Major events

    • Ran and Sonoko both want to make a piece of pottery for their respective boyfriends: Shinichi and Makoto.
    • Ran decides to not send Shinichi her pottery, while Sonoko gives hers to Makoto. While looking for chips, Conan finds the pottery, which says "I will wait for you, Shinichi," which gets Conan red-faced, and makes him happy for the rest of the day.

    Fake Kogoro Mouri Case

    File 308 - An Impostor Appears

    An imposter impersonates Kogoro Mouri at a hotel where he is invited to investigate a case where a man is said to have committed suicide 4-5 years ago. Kogoro decides to play along and not reveal his identity. Later that night, the impostor is found hanged in his room.

    File 309 - Truth of the Impostor

    Conan reveals that it is a murder and that it relates to the incident 5 years ago.

    File 310 - The Time of Lies

    People

  • Netted Man Murder Case

    File 311 - Warm Ocean

    Agasa takes the Detective Boys to the beaches of Ito (a city in Shizuoka Prefecture) for vacation. Conan lies idly on the sea surface and complains that he cannot fully enjoy when trapped in such a small body. However, after accidentally bumping into two young adult girls’ behinds and not facing any consequences, he changes his mind. Genta pops up beside Conan and remarks that he clearly liked their bodies; Conan blushes and dismisses the idea, and points to another girl, whom he says he likes more. Haibara joins the conversation and determines that Conan feels attracted to that girl because of her resemblance to “someone” (i.e. Ran). Conan is about to object to this, but that girl turns around, and she turns out to be nobody but Ran. Initially, Conan is surprised to see her (and Sonoko) in Ito, but then he recalls that they did mention that they were going on a trip somewhere. Sonoko says with a degree of disappointment that they did not take Conan because a trip with him would invariably involve them in a murder case, but Ran tells Conan that it is fine, that the more people together the more fun. Conan again blushes slightly as Haibara watches this conversation unfold on the side.

    The Detective Boys thus start playing beach ball with Ran and Sonoko. After a while of fun (at least for Sonoko), she notices that Ran is gone; Mitsuhiko informs her that since Haibara is tired, Ran and Conan have accompanied her ashore. It turns out that Haibara is not only tired; according to Conan’s diagnosis, she suffers from sunstroke, and thus needs to rest somewhere shelled from the sun and have freezing cold towels applied to various parts of her body. Ran comes with a large bucket of ice and asks Agasa how Haibara is feeling; Agasa replies that she will soon be fine. Ran happily says “fantastic!”, and tells Haibara in a friendly manner that whenever she feels unwell she should tell others about it. Haibara pretends to be exhausted and does not utter a word, and Ran, not let down by her lack of reaction, rejoins Sonoko to play.

    Conan and Agasa ask why Haibara would, instead of keeping playing or returning to Agasa’s side, sit on the beach alone and expose herself directly to the baking sun (which then gave her sunstroke). Haibara, presently lying on a lounger with her eyes closed and her right hand pressing the towel over her head, responds that she feels that she has nowhere to hide. This puzzles her two companions greatly, and they think that she is referring to man-eating sharks. Haibara opens her eyes, and says woefully that what she is dealing with is a dolphin, the most beloved mammal in the seas, and that one cannot compare a shark (herself) that just escaped from the cold and lightless bottom of the ocean (the Black Organization) with a dolphin (Ran). Conan and Agasa do not understand what she is going through and cannot grasp her metaphors, so Haibara says that they can go rest if they wish to.

    Not far from where Haibara is lying, Sonoko gets into an argument with a local named Noboru Shimojo: Sonoko has found a boat and she is taking the remaining Detective Boys on a ride in it, which Shimojo deems dangerous for the many other tourists nearby. Ran and Yuta Yoshizawa (one of Shimojo’s friends) come to stop tension from building up, and Yoshizawa puts the boat away despite Ran’s offer to do it herself; he says that it is their duty as lifeguards.

    A man (named Giichi Aramaki) lying on a lounger nearby and enjoying his drink overhears Yoshizawa’s words and comments scornfully that the reason why the likes of Yoshizawa and Shimojo have to make a living out of removing refuse on the beach and pretend to be “lifeguards” is that they are terrible at fishing, their main occupation. Shimojo is strongly irritated by these words, and accuses Aramakai of being the culprit behind their fishing problems. Yoshizawa calms his friend down, and reminds Aramaki of their meeting at Queen Hotel’s Chinese restaurant at 8 p.m. that night. Aramaki replies arrogantly that he will be there, and Sonoko and Ran, knowing that they have booked a table at that same restaurant for dinner, are suddenly at a loss (as they know that tension might arise between the two hostile parties).

    The night approaches quickly. Ran and Sonoko arrive at the Chinese restaurant, and they see that coincidentally, Agasa and the Detective Boys dine there as well. Ran, noting Haibara’s absence, asks where she is. Mitsuhiko and Genta say that Haibara is sleeping in her room and has no appetite for dinner, and Sonoko remarks that Ran seems to care a lot about Haibara. Ran explains that she just wants to talk to her, as, up to that point, whenever they see each other in the eyes Haibara would immediately turn away and look at something else. Ran then adds jokingly that Haibara might dislike her.

    At this moment Shimojo arrives at the restaurant. Since it is only 7:12 p.m., he can do nothing but sit down at the adjoining table and wait. Sonoko remarks that they should finish the dinner quickly and get out of the restaurant before an argument erupts, and Shimojo retorts by saying that argument is not what they are seeking, that they simply want to make Aramaki understand the rules of nature. He explains that local fishermen know that once the fish stock is depleted it will take ages for it to recover, for which they have put a cap on how many fish to catch each year; but Aramaki, being an outsider, either does not know this or does not care, and operates under the philosophy that the more fish caught, the better. Yoshizawa arrives at this moment and adds that the laws regulating the fishing industry are weakly enforced, because of which nobody can actually force Aramaki to stop his ecologically destructive activities. Shimojo asks Yoshizawa where their other companion is, and Yoshizawa responds that that person is visiting their fathers’ tombs and thus will be late. Sonoko asks them to tell her more, and the two fishermen recount that the fathers of all three died exactly eight years ago when they went fishing on the same boat and were overwhelmed by a rainstorm.

    The two fishermen and Sonoko keep on chatting avidly and drink (although Sonoko is under 18) until the third fisherman, who is named Nobutsugu Nezu, arrives. He disputes Yoshizawa’s account of their fathers’ tragic end and says that their boat was actually sinked by Aramaki, whom he refers to as a “pirate”. It is now 8:40 and Aramaki still has not come, so Nezu decides to call him (the other two have already done so various times, but nobody picked up). This time the call is actually picked up, but nobody speaks, and the only thing that Nezu can hear on the phone is a noise resembling waves gently hitting the beach. Shortly after, Aramaki hangs up. The three fishermen, very unimpressed with Aramaki’s attitude, decide to set out to look for him. He turns out to be dead, with his body left in the waters of the intertidal zone and entangled by fishing net.

    File 312 - Caught in a Net...

    Sango Yokomizo arrives at the crime scene to investigate. His team determines that the victim was drowned, which prompts Conan to ask why the clothes on the body are torn and why there are bruises and scars on Aramaki’s body. Yokomizo removes Conan from the body, and tells a subordinate to untangle the body and carry it away for a posthumous medical examination, which will reveal approximately when he died. Yokomizo tells the three fishermen that they are all suspects, as they could easily kill Aramaki before heading to the restaurant (Yokomizo knows that the crime cannot be committed after that because Sonoko has confirmed to him that the three fishermen never left the restaurant before going on the search). He also finds it suspicious that they came to the deserted seaside to search for Aramaki, which prompts the fishermen to bring up their various phone calls. Aramaki’s call records (which somehow survived despite having been submerged in water) corroborate the fishermen’s assertions: that Yoshizawa called Aramaki once, at around 7 p.m., that Shimojo called him thrice, all at around 8 p.m., and that Nezu called him at 8:41 (i.e. shortly after he arrived at the restaurant). From these records, Yokomizo determines that none of the fishermen was able to commit murder: the last call being picked up necessarily means that either Aramaki was alive at the time or his murderer was near him. But none of the fishermen could kill him after 8:41, and at 8:41 they were all in the Chinese restaurant. Conan, unlike Yokomizo, still thinks that one of them murdered Aramaki, but recognizes that the call records present a huge logical obstacle.

    At this point the rest of the Detective Boys notice that the boat that Sonoko found in the morning is now drifting in the sea and not far from the crime scene. Yokomizo orders his subordinates to retrieve it (Agasa says that he should help as well, and Yokomizo’s inability to come up with a good excuse for not helping prompts Ayumi to guess that he does not know how to swim despite having a “coral-like” hairstyle), and they find that the boat is partially filled with sea water and holds a large (and empty) sake bottle, a single sandal and a shirt button. Since there is a button missing on Aramaki’s shirt and he had only one sandal on upon death, Yokomizo deduces that the murder occurred as follows: the murderer made Aramaki drink, and when he was drunk carried him into the boat and entangled him with fishing net. The murderer met fierce resistance (which is why Aramaki’s body is full of injuries and the button and sandal are not on his body), but eventually he (or she) was able to overpower and successfully drown Aramaki. Conan disagrees; he says that under that scheme the murderer would throw the sake bottle etc. into the sea to destroy evidence. The other Detective Boys present argue that doing so would pollute the sea, Conan retorts that that is not his point, and the four kids start a heated quarrel. Yokomizo, unable to withstand this, picks all four up simultaneously, takes them before Agasa and orders him to never lose control or sight of them again. This fails at the very moment that they are dropped down; Ayumi, spotting a piece of rubbish floating on the sea surface, rushes there to pick it up (and Agasa does not even attempt to tell her to come back). On the way, she accidentally steps on something and is hurt. Mitsuhiko asks her whether she is ok, and Ayumi answers in affirmative, adding that there are a lot of seashells on the beach. This inspires Conan, who runs to a subordinate of Yokomizo, who shows him that there are a lot of scrape marks on Aramaki’s phone. After this, Conan seems to have a general picture of how the murder took place, but he feels that something is still missing.

    Conan begins pondering what the last piece required to complete the puzzle can possibly be, but he is distracted by Sonoko, who suggests to Yokomizo that the boat is there to mislead the police and make them think that there was some sort of trick. According to her, the murderer simply entangled Aramaki and trapped him in the net, and left him at a suitable place such that during high tide he would be submerged and thus drowned. Yokomizo respectfully rejects her hypothesis, saying that the fishing net did not severely limit Aramaki’s ability to move and that he would be able to sit up during high tide to avoid being drowned unless he had been fed potent sleeping pills; Yokomizo thus fails to notice that Sonoko did make some valid points. Conan, on the other hand, feels enlightened by this flawed deduction, and immediately figures out the murderer and a way to make him admit guilt.

    The last panels of this file depicts a slightly bored and tired Haibara watching TV and eating chips in a hotel room. She wonders why everyone else has been dawdling so much.

    File 313 - A Courageous Decision

    People

  • Major events

    • Haibara acts incredibly quiet around Ran. Ran believes that Haibara may hate her.
    • When Genta asks Conan which girl's body attracted him more, Conan points out that the only decent one was that of the girl behind him. The girl turns out to be Ran. Haibara expresses sadness towards Conan's feelings for Ran, revealing possible feelings she herself has for Conan.
    • At the end of the episode, Haibara formally introduces herself to Ran, showing that she will not hide from her anymore.

    Naniwa Swordsman Case

    Characters introduced

    File 314 - The Naniwa Swordsman

    Conan, Ran and Kogoro are coming at last to Heiji's place in Osaka to enjoy time and dinners together, and also to meet Heiji's parents. Meanwhile, Heiji hopes to win a kendo competition, a sport in which he excels, and especially to defeat famous Soshi Okita from Kyoto Senshin High School, who injured his neck with a special blow last year. He says he wants to win the tournament notably to declare his love to Kazuha, as an anwser to the "love injury" Kazuha made to him (Vol. 28). Some time after, Heiji overhears a violent argument between a drunk kendoka named Tarumi and his team from the University of Shinnai, who calls him a loser as he always do everything to throw a wrench in their gears. As Hakamada, the team captain, harshly looks down on Tarumi, the latter says he has nothing to lose (he was fired from his job) and will soon "let the cat out of the bag", adding he will kill Hakamada some day.

    Afterwards, the team worries about Tarumi's absence and they start looking for him in the whole Naniwa sports hall, only to find him dead in a warehouse, covered in blood, probably stabbed with a sabre. They go and get the police, ambulance and also their team captain to come to the warehouse. Hakamada arrives first with the rest of the team, along with Heiji who had eavesdropped their conversation, only to note there's absolutely no corpse, no blood and no sabre in the warehouse. Some sports hall employees come along and tell the group a mysterious man has just called them, asking them to tell the Shinnai team to go to the swimming pool's changing rooms to find Tarumi there. They indeed find the corpse of their mate there, drenched under a hot shower, near the sabre.

    As the police arrive, Heiji wonders how the corpse came to be transported from the warehouse to the changing room without people's notice. He starts calling "Kudo" to get some help to solve the murder, but eventually hangs up when he hears Kazuha say Kudo will solve the matter in a flash, which makes Heiji angry and wanting to solve it by himself, before Shinichi/Conan's arrival in Osaka.

    File 315 - The Invisible Swordsman

    Heiji decides to investigate the case, and accordingly his kendo team must try and win the tournament without their champion, which will be quite hard. Heiji tells Otaki Tarumi’s mates could be suspected, since a demonstration sabre was stolen today, and the murderer seemed to know very well how to use a sabre, and where all the rooms and storage rooms of the sports hall are, not mentioning the previous argument. Though, Heiji can’t find any evidence, neither how the corpse was transported to the changing room. Hakamada says someone stole his kendo plate, which is not so important in the end, because the tournament is over for them. Kazuha end Heiji’s team feel tense as they watch Okita knocking down and taking out their kendokas one after the other during the matches. Therefore, Kazuha starts running and searching for Heiji everywhere in the hall.

    Heiji has Doguchi, one from the Shinnai team, own up to the fact that Haori, their manager, and also Tarumi’s ex-girlfriend, who started dating Hakamada, eventually left them after the « affair ». Heiji can’t get more information as he is distracted by two kendokas talking about Okita’s moves, and Doguchi escapes his grip. Heiji asks the kendokas if they saw any suspicious person during the murder, and they reply they indeed saw a tall kendoka in full wear carrying another one's wear in a kendo bag. Heiji understands that only Hakamada could do it, as he is strong enough to carry a corpse in a bag, and he could have hid behind the storage room's pommel horse after his murder, waiting for his mates to leave. However, Heiji immediately rules out this possibility, given Hakamada couldn't be sure if one of his mates would remain in the room waiting for the police to come, or not. Hakamada comes up to Heiji and threatens him saying things will go worse for him if he keeps harassing his childhood friend Doguchi, who doesn't stand the sight of blood and wouldn't harm a fly.

    As Conan, Ran and Kogoro are about to turn up momentarily, Heiji realises some mannequins could have been used, and he rushes to the storage room, opens the pommel horse, and finds out the truth.

    File 316 - The Swordsman of Justice

    Kazuha goes on looking for Heiji, and ends up coming across Ran, Kogoro and Conan, telling them Heiji is investigating a murder, which arouses Conan's curiosity. She brings them to the pool's changing room, while the murderer stares at them and leaves towards the storage room with a kendo bag. Once there, he takes a bloody towel out of the bag, along with a bottle of water. Meanwhile, Otaki explains Mouri and co the whys and wherefores of the case, and Conan stands thinking deeply. He then deduces who the murderer is and the trick he used.

    People

  • Major events

    Heizo punches his own son, to anger him into working harder on the case, and to have him try and confront the criminal.

    Tiger Scroll Case

    File 317 - The Ruler's Palace

    After the Naniwa case, Heiji and co are having a delicious dinner at the Hattori's, where they also meet Ginshiro Toyama, Kazuha's father. Kazuha zonks out from exhaustion, given she spent the afternoon running in search of Heiji. Heizo says his son is good at investigating, but not as much as Kogoro, which means for Heiji that he still cannot hold a candle to Kudo. Ginshiro says Heiji is the spitting image of his friend Heizo when he was younger. Heizo tells Toyama to go easy on alcohol, but the latter says it's not a problem as Heizo will "drive them home". Heizo understands it as Toyama wanting to discuss a very important matter with him one to one. Indeed, in Heizo's car, Toyama tells his old friend that Kazuha is a big girl now and he doesn't think of another perfect future husband for her than Heizo's son. Kazuha pretends to sleep but actually overhears their conversation. Heizo sternly tells his friend to stop beating around the bush, and Toyama comes to the real issue, revolving around the Osaka Castle Case of 13 years ago, during which a wholly burnt corpse, unable to be identified, had been found in the castle's moat. Toyama shows Heizo the burnt piece of earthenware they had found inside the victim's inner pocket, and says he now makes a connection with a more recent case during which a corpse was found too, in the castle's eastern ramparts, with quite the same piece on him, featuring the "848" number. Toyama believes the two pieces are the same and have a kind of mysterious relationship, and thinks their first theory may turn out to be true after all, the "incredible treasure left by the mortals".

    The day after, Kazuha takes Conan, Heiji, Ran, and Kogoro to Osaka Castle, and shows them around the same way as Heiji did when they first came to Osaka (Vol. 19). Heiji remarks it, and finds Kazuha's plan to visit the castle boring, he wishes they had gone visiting the Osaka Prefectural Police instead. Kazuha says the Castle has always remained very beautiful, and an old man named Arihiro Kasuya tells her the history of the castle : its building in 1599 by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, its rebuilding in 1629 by Ieyasu Tokugawa, its new third tower built in 1931 by the inhabitants of Osaka, and finally its refurbishment not long ago. Kasuya says Toyotomi is his thought leader, and he explains he wears the badge emblem of Ieyasu because he is part of a game trip called "Hideyoshi's 8 Days/Hide Days", during which 5 selected fans of medieval Japan and Hideyoshi, from the Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto regions, are playing roles every day, embodying one of Japan's great unifiers and characters among Hideyoshi, Nene, Ieyasu, Nobunaga Oda and Mitsuhide Akechi, with some certain duties to perform according to each. Heiji and co meet the other players : Toshiaki Fukushima as Mitsuhide, Maho Katagiri as Nene, Shigehiko Wakisaka as Nobunaga, and Yuji Kato, who plays Hideyoshi, but who's not here at the moment, as he told his comrades he suddenly needed to be alone for a moment, after a sudden phone call. Heiji and co leave them together to go and visit the castle. Meanwhile, Kato, in the bathroom, is reading with excitement a scroll where the Japanese ideogram character for "dragon" is featured, commenting about his prayers to find the glorious light being granted at last, thirteen years after.

    Heiji yells at Kazuha for losing her wallet though she has a well-closing handbag, and forcing them to visit the castle backwards as a result, and she answers Heiji rushed her a lot and she ended up losing it then. As it starts raining, Ran takes an umbrella out of her bag and they all shelter under it. Conan hints at the fact Kazuha may have forgotten her wallet at the shop where she's bought a disposable camera not long ago, and she and Ran go and check for it. Kogoro, Conan and Heiji meet the four travellers again, who are worried since Kato is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, an explosion occurs and someone is burning on the roof of the castle, falling from the balcony onto the floor. Heiji and Conan rush to rescue him while Kogoro calls the paramedics. The victim grabs Ran's umbrella to show Heiji something, and dies afterwards.

    People

  • Cover in other countries

    • China
    • Finland
    • France
    • Germany
    • Hong Kong
    • Indonesia
    • Italy
    • Korea
    • Malaysia (Chinese)
    • Malaysia (Malay)
    • Norway
    • Rep. of China (Taiwan)
    • Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
    • Sweden
    • Thailand
    • United States
    • Vietnam

    See also

    Volumes of the Manga
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