50 Fun Facts About Detective Conan (Case Closed)

Conan's trademark glasses were borrowed from which superhero, a favourite of creator Gosho Aoyama?

Superman hides behind Clark Kent's glasses, and Aoyama, a fan, gave Conan the same disguise. The characters even discuss the trick in volume 24 of the manga.

Which honorary post did talk-show host Conan O'Brien hold for one day in Gosho Aoyama's hometown in 2018?

Mayor for a day, Conan O'Brien served hamburgers to the townspeople of Hokuei, which promotes itself as Conan Town. He had discussed the boy detective and the town on his talk show.

As an art student, Conan creator Gosho Aoyama painted backgrounds for which Tokyo Disneyland ride?

Pirates of the Caribbean was his part-time job while he studied at Nihon University's art college. He made his professional debut as a manga artist at 23.

Conan reached 100 volumes in 2021, a month after which manga whose author sent congratulations?

One Piece passed the milestone a month earlier, and its author Eiichiro Oda sent Gosho Aoyama his congratulations. Conan was already the first series in its magazine to pass 1,000 chapters.

Gosho Aoyama modelled the original Detective Boys trio on the children from which classic manga?

Doraemon supplied the template of a big tough guy, a thin boy and a cute little girl, though Aoyama gave his trio completely different personalities. He created them to help conceal Ai Haibara.

Which Black Organization member, the slow-witted partner of Gin, is always drawn wearing sunglasses?

Vodka never takes them off, so Gosho Aoyama says that not even he knows what the character's eyes look like. He designed the henchman in about 30 seconds.

Which famous anime thief met Conan in a 2009 television special and a 2013 crossover film?

Lupin III is the suspect Conan sets out to catch in the film, after a jewel called the Cherry Sapphire is stolen. The movie is a sequel to the earlier TV special.

In a 2015 Detective Conan film, Kaito Kid announces a heist of famous paintings by which artist?

Vincent van Gogh painted the seven Sunflowers that the film Sunflowers of Inferno gathers for one exhibition. In its story, one long thought lost in a wartime air raid resurfaces at auction.

Which Japanese mystery writer gave Shinichi Kudo the surname of an alias built from two authors?

Edogawa Rampo also created the sleuth Kogoro Akechi, the namesake of Kogoro Mori. His later books gave Akechi a club of boy detectives to lead.

Which item of Conan's outfit hides the gadget that lets him speak in Kogoro Mori's voice?

Bow tie gadgetry from his neighbour Dr. Agasa lets Conan impersonate anyone's voice. That is how the unconscious Kogoro appears to announce each solution.

Which accessory worn by Conan fires the tranquilizer darts that knock out Kogoro Mori?

Wristwatch darts have sedated Kogoro so often that he is famed as a brilliant detective who solves cases in his sleep. The same trick got a clumsy Gunma policeman promoted to inspector.

Where was Shinichi Kudo on a date with Ran Mori when he slipped away to follow two suspicious men?

A theme park date ended when Shinichi left Ran to tail the pair, sure they were up to no good. One of them attacked him and forced an experimental poison on him.

Ran Mori, who is terrified of horror films, is a regional champion in which martial art?

Karate beat judo and kendo, the only other martial arts Gosho Aoyama knew how to draw, because he thought it was cooler. Ran also captains her school team.

Heiji Hattori, the rival teenage detective who speaks in a Kansai dialect, comes from which city?

Osaka gave Heiji his dialect because Aoyama wanted a rival who spoke nothing like Shinichi Kudo. His editor at the time came from the city and supervised the lines.

When Kogoro Mori is unavailable, which wealthy friend of Ran does Conan knock out and impersonate?

Sonoko Suzuki has been used so often that she sometimes thinks she is a brilliant detective too. She is Ran's best friend and a huge fan of Kaito Kid.

Kogoro Mori, who is skilled in judo, held which job before he became a private detective?

Police officer Kogoro served under Inspector Megure before going private. Gosho Aoyama chose that background because it made stories easy to set up.

What is the profession of Eri Kisaki, the mother of Ran Mori who lives apart from Kogoro?

Lawyer Eri still wears her wedding ring after ten years apart from Kogoro. She even gave her Russian Blue kitten a name based on his.

In the Americanized dub released as Case Closed, what first name is given to Shinichi Kudo?

Jimmy Kudo was the dub's choice, and the manga's American publisher adopted the same character names to keep print and screen consistent.

Kaito Kid, the gentleman thief and master of disguise, usually escapes from the police using what?

A hang glider carries him away after heists staged before large crowds. He looks so much like Shinichi Kudo that he can impersonate him without a mask.

Which food-loving first-grader is the self-proclaimed leader of the Detective Boys, Conan's club?

Genta Kojima can eat more than the rest of the club combined. His voice actor, Wataru Takagi, also plays Detective Takagi, who was named after him in an ad-lib.

Yusaku Kudo, Shinichi's father and creator of the Night Baron, is famous in which profession?

Novelist Yusaku writes detective stories, and his own deductions outshine his son's. He has often helped the police crack real cases.

Gosho Aoyama cites the samurai films of which director as an influence on Detective Conan?

Akira Kurosawa sits beside classic detective and gentleman-thief stories among his influences. Aoyama's own twist was to shrink a skilled detective.

In which city does Shinichi Kudo, briefly back in his teenage body, confess his love to Ran Mori?

London is where Shinichi finally tells Ran how he feels while restored to his original form. A prototype antidote lets him change back for a short time.

Ai Haibara, creator of the drug APTX 4869, went by which wine code name in the Black Organization?

Sherry was the young chemist's code name until she turned against the syndicate and swallowed her own drug. Instead of dying she shrank to a child, as Shinichi Kudo had.

Which café sits directly below the Mori Detective Agency and employs the kindly Azusa Enomoto?

Café Poirot is where Kogoro takes his coffee breaks. Azusa sometimes hands him small cases there, mostly about missing mobile phones.

Why does Inspector Megure of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police always keep his hat on?

It hides an old scar from a case twenty years ago involving a woman named Midori, who later became his wife.

The Fist of Blue Sapphire was the first Conan film set mainly in which other Asian country?

Singapore hosts the heist, centred on the Marina Bay Sands. Conan has no passport, so Kaito Kid kidnaps him and brings him along.

In the film The Phantom of Baker Street, Conan and several other children are trapped inside what?

A virtual reality game called Cocoon is seized by an artificial intelligence that threatens to kill the players for real unless one of them survives. Conan's stage features Jack the Ripper.

The spin-off The Culprit Hanzawa stars which recurring figure from the main Detective Conan series?

The shadowy black silhouette stands in for each unidentified culprit in the main series. The spin-off gives him a name, Makoto Hanzawa, and a new life in crime-ridden Beika.

Which company licensed the Detective Conan anime for North America in 2003 and released it as Case Closed?

Funimation gave the cast Americanized names that the manga's publisher later adopted. Its dub premiered on Adult Swim but was discontinued because of low ratings.

Detective Conan has been serialized since 1994 in which manga magazine published by Shogakukan?

Weekly Shōnen Sunday also carried Gosho Aoyama's debut story as a manga artist. The first chapters of Magic Kaito followed there shortly afterwards.

The names of Shuichi Akai and Toru Amuro both pay tribute to characters from which anime franchise?

Mobile Suit Gundam supplied the Red Comet nickname of Char Aznable for Akai and the hero Amuro Ray for Amuro. Aoyama even asked for Char's voice actor to play Akai.

While undercover in the Black Organization, FBI agent Shuichi Akai used which whiskey code name?

Rye was his cover until a fellow agent's slip exposed him as FBI. The syndicate came to regard Akai as its greatest threat.

Which Black Organization member is really Sharon Vineyard, a famous American actress?

Vermouth is both Sharon and her supposed daughter Chris, and her appearance never seems to age. She keeps Conan's secret because Shinichi and Ran once saved her life.

Dr. Agasa, Conan's inventor neighbour, takes the Detective Boys on trips in which old car?

Volkswagen Beetle outings see the professor watching over the children. He also built the club badges that double as walkie-talkies and tracers.

The Conan film Crimson Love Letter enters Kazuha Toyama in a contest of which traditional card game?

Karuta, played with the Hyakunin Isshu poems, became the subject after Gosho Aoyama enjoyed the live-action films of the manga Chihayafuru. Kazuha's rival is a Kyoto high school champion.

Which singer earned a Guinness World Record in 2017 for her many Conan opening and ending songs?

Mai Kuraki had sung 21 songs for the anime by then, the most by one artist for a single series. Her first was Secret of My Heart in 2000.

Aoyama's editor disliked the name Conan because of an older anime and proposed which name instead?

Doyle would have avoided a clash with the hero of Future Boy Conan. Aoyama kept his choice, convinced his detective would overtake the older series.

In The Million-dollar Pentagram, Kaito Kid targets two historic swords kept in which Hokkaido city?

Hakodate is where the film places two wakizashi swords that belonged to Toshizo Hijikata. Heiji Hattori is in town for a kendo tournament when the thief's notice arrives.

Gin, the Black Organization killer who poisoned Shinichi Kudo, drives which classic sports car?

Porsche 356A was a deliberate choice: Gosho Aoyama gave the hastily designed villain specific tastes in cars and guns to make him look cooler.

Who was revealed in 2017 as the Black Organization boss whom underlings call That Person?

Renya Karasuma, described as Japan's richest and most powerful man, is said to have died 40 years before the story begins. He contacts his subordinates only by text message.

After faking his death, Shuichi Akai lives in Shinichi Kudo's house under which alias?

Subaru Okiya poses as an engineering graduate student whose apartment burned down. Conan gave him permission to stay in the empty Kudo home.

Rum, the Black Organization's second in command, was unmasked in 2020 as a chef of which food?

Sushi chef Kanenori Wakita was one of three suspects Gosho Aoyama named in 2018. His alias is an anagram of the Japanese saying that time is money.

Which liquor, drunk while he had a cold, first briefly turned Conan back into Shinichi Kudo?

Baijiu restored him just long enough to correct a deduction by Heiji Hattori. At their second meeting Heiji worked out who Conan really was.

Who thought up Shinichi Kudo's signature catchphrase, which declares that only one truth exists?

The anime's script writer devised the line, and Gosho Aoyama wrote it into chapter 95 of the manga at the same time.

Teen detective Masumi Sera learned which martial art from videos mailed by her brother Shuichi Akai?

Jeet Kune Do suits the girl Gosho Aoyama calls the ultimate tomboy. He created Masumi after a popular girl detective in an earlier case turned out to be the murderer.

In The Last Wizard of the Century, Kaito Kid plans to steal which newly discovered treasure?

A Fabergé egg draws the thief into his first film appearance. The movie was also the big-screen debut of Ai Haibara and Heiji Hattori.

Conan's basic outfit is something that boys wear for which Japanese childhood festival?

Shichi-Go-San clothes were familiar to Gosho Aoyama, who wore such an outfit himself as a child. He says the whole character design took him a single minute.

Nagano inspector Takaaki Morofushi, nicknamed Komei, often quotes from which Chinese classic?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms also gave him his nickname, after its famous chancellor. His childhood exploits inspired a novel that he keeps in his car's glove compartment.

Which voice actress, once married to creator Gosho Aoyama, plays Conan in the Japanese anime?

Minami Takayama is also the singer of the duo Two-Mix and the voice of Kiki in Kiki's Delivery Service. She and Aoyama were married from 2005 to 2007.