Volume 31

From Detective Conan Wiki
Revision as of 03:46, 8 November 2018 by Dark Blizzard (talk | contribs)
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

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

  • 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

    Look at the Spoiler, who is the culprit?

    People

  • Netted Man Murder Case

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    File 312 - Caught in a Net...

    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.

    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.

    File 313 - A Courageous Decision

    The three suspects lose patience as Yokomizo still doesn't get the exact time of the death from the forensics. Nezu says none of them could murder Aramaki since someone had to be there to pick up the phone, whereas they were all at the restaurant at that moment. Conan says he will use Agasa's voice to solve the case, instead of anesthetising Sonoko just like usual. However, he realises he left his voice-changing bowtie in their hotel room ; but Ai comes along and gives him the precious item, since she felt such a thing had happened and accounted for their being late. The DBs turn up as well with what Conan had asked them to fetch : a big basin and a bucket, a dried starfish and a big shell.

    People

  • 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

  • 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
    United States
    Vietnam

    See also

    Volumes of the Manga
    Volume 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106