Jimmy Kudo
Encyclopedia
Jimmy Kudo, also known as in Japan, is the protagonist
of Gosho Aoyama
's series Case Closed
, which is known in Japan as . A High-school Detective, he is forced to in ingest the lethal poison APTX 4869 after his encounter with Gin and Vodka. Due to a rare side effect, the poison shrinks him into a child and he adopts the pseudonym to hide from those who poisoned him. He moves in with his childhood friend Rachel Moore and her father Richard Moore as he awaits the day he can take down Gin and the syndicate he belongs to, the Black Organization.
Sherlock Holmes
as a protagonist. Gosho Aoyoma's idea was the cat would indicate the crucial evidence needed to solve the case; a performance the child-turned Kudo does to help those around with the investigation. Gosho revealed his editor was against the name Conan due to the protagonist from the anime series Future Boy Conan
, sharing the same name and had suggested to name him Doyle instead. Gosho stuck with the name Conan believing it would overtake the Future Boy series. According to Gosho, Kudo's catch phrase was thought of by the anime
series script writer and drawn into chapter 96 of the manga
at the same time. In the English localization, the catch phrase was translated as "One Truth Prevails".
Jimmy appears at the beginning of the series is a 17-year-old student at Teitan High School in Tokyo
. He was already well-known as a brilliant young detective who closed many difficult cases that the professionals could not. After a date with his childhood friend Rachel Moore at a theme park, Kudo leaves Rachel and follows Gin and Vodka suspecting they are criminals. Gin attacks Kudo and forces him to ingest the poison APTX
intending to kill him and leaves him for dead. However, instead of killing Jimmy, a rare side-effect occurs shrinking him into a young boy. With advice from Dr. Herschel Agasa, Kudo adopts the identity of Conan Edogawa, devised from the names of Arthur Conan Doyle
and Edogawa Rampo
in order to prevent Gin and his syndicate, the Black Organization from returning to kill him and those around him. Kudo pretends to be a distant relative of Agasa's and is placed in Rachel's care whose father, Richard Moore, owns a Detective Agency which may allow him to run into a case involving the Black Organization. As for Jimmy Kudo's disappearance, he convinces Rachel he is off solving a very difficult case and will return once the investigation is concluded.
As a child Conan is forced to attend Teitan Elementary where he forms a detective club the Junior Detective League with his school friends. Conan is forced to adapt to his new daily life and has become accustomed to attending elementary school and helping Richard solve crimes with the use of his gadgets invented by Agasa. The most prominent of these are: his bowtie, allowing him to impersonate anyone's voice; his customized glasses which allow him to track and listen through his covert listening device
s; his super sneakers which multiply his kicking force; his wrist watch stun gun allowing him to tranquilize Richard or a criminal; his Solar Powered skateboard and latest to his arsenal, the ball dispenser belt. Conan eventually meets Harley Hartwell, a detective from Osaka
who is seeking to challenge Kudo in a deductive battle. After drinking a Chinese Alcohol known as Paikaru while sick with a cold, Conan reverts back to a teenager and corrects a deduction made by Harley. In their second encounter, Harley is able to deduce Conan's identity as Jimmy Kudo. The series progresses and Conan befriends biochemist Shiho Miyano, a former member of the Black Organization and the inventor of APTX 4869. She took the poison to escape the organization and adopts the pseudonym Anita Hailey. She resides with Agasa and intends to help Conan take down the Black Organization She invents a prototype antidote to the APTX 4869 allowing Conan to temporarily become Jimmy again to which Conan uses when Rachel suspects his true identity. During the events of Holmes' no Mokushiroku, Kudo, while in his original form, confesses his feelings to Rachel.
Conan's investigation on the Black Organization leads him to discover the FBI's existence in Japan where they are also investigating on the syndicate. His collaboration with FBI agent Akai Shuichi allows them to capture the Organization's member Kir. They discover she is a CIA agent and returns her to the organization to spy from within.
series, Shōnen Sunday Original animations and the Magic Files, and is the protagonist in all Case Closed related video games. He is the protagonist in the novels of the series. In the 2006–2007 live action series, he is portrayed by Shun Oguri
as a teenager and Nao Fujisaki in child form. In the 2011 live action movie and series, Junpei Mizobata
portrays the teenage Kudo.
In 2006, the Japanese government used Conan in campaigns to help promote crime awareness among children. Targeting the same audience, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
used Conan and his friends in two pamphlets: one to promote the ministry's mission, the other to introduce the 34th G8 summit
held in the country in 2010. Conan and his friends were also featured in the sixth installment of the Anime, Heroes and Heroines commemorative stamp series issued by Japan Post
in 2006.
magazine Kudo ranked fourth and ninth in the 2001 and 2010 polls for most popular male anime character respectively. In the Animage
s Anime Grand Prix awards from 1998, Kudo was voted as the tenth most popular male anime character. Mania Entertainment rated Conan as the third greatest anime detective. Jimmy Kudo and Conan Edogawa were the second and third most popular characters in the series defined by a poll on ebooksjapan.jp.
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of Gosho Aoyama
Gosho Aoyama
, born on June 21, 1963 in Hokuei, Tottori Prefecture, Japan is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of the manga series Detective Conan .-Educational background:Aoyama was talented in drawing even at an early age...
's series Case Closed
Case Closed
Case Closed, known as in Japan, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since February 2, 1994, and has been collected in 73 tankōbon volumes as of September 2011...
, which is known in Japan as . A High-school Detective, he is forced to in ingest the lethal poison APTX 4869 after his encounter with Gin and Vodka. Due to a rare side effect, the poison shrinks him into a child and he adopts the pseudonym to hide from those who poisoned him. He moves in with his childhood friend Rachel Moore and her father Richard Moore as he awaits the day he can take down Gin and the syndicate he belongs to, the Black Organization.
Creation and conception
The idea that Jimmy Kudo would be turned into a child stemmed from the idea of a Tortoiseshell catTortoiseshell cat
Tortoiseshell describes a coat coloring found mostly in female cats. Cats of this color are mottled, with patches of orange or cream and chocolate, black or blue. They are sometimes called torties...
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
as a protagonist. Gosho Aoyoma's idea was the cat would indicate the crucial evidence needed to solve the case; a performance the child-turned Kudo does to help those around with the investigation. Gosho revealed his editor was against the name Conan due to the protagonist from the anime series Future Boy Conan
Future Boy Conan
is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot. The official English title used by Nippon Animation is Conan, The Boy in Future....
, sharing the same name and had suggested to name him Doyle instead. Gosho stuck with the name Conan believing it would overtake the Future Boy series. According to Gosho, Kudo's catch phrase was thought of by the anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series script writer and drawn into chapter 96 of the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
at the same time. In the English localization, the catch phrase was translated as "One Truth Prevails".
In the Case Closed manga and anime series
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He was already well-known as a brilliant young detective who closed many difficult cases that the professionals could not. After a date with his childhood friend Rachel Moore at a theme park, Kudo leaves Rachel and follows Gin and Vodka suspecting they are criminals. Gin attacks Kudo and forces him to ingest the poison APTX
Aprataxin
Aprataxin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the APTX gene.-Interactions:Aprataxin has been shown to interact with XRCC1, PARP1 and P53.-External links:**...
intending to kill him and leaves him for dead. However, instead of killing Jimmy, a rare side-effect occurs shrinking him into a young boy. With advice from Dr. Herschel Agasa, Kudo adopts the identity of Conan Edogawa, devised from the names of Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
and Edogawa Rampo
Edogawa Rampo
, better known by the pseudonym , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogorō Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the .Rampo was an admirer...
in order to prevent Gin and his syndicate, the Black Organization from returning to kill him and those around him. Kudo pretends to be a distant relative of Agasa's and is placed in Rachel's care whose father, Richard Moore, owns a Detective Agency which may allow him to run into a case involving the Black Organization. As for Jimmy Kudo's disappearance, he convinces Rachel he is off solving a very difficult case and will return once the investigation is concluded.
As a child Conan is forced to attend Teitan Elementary where he forms a detective club the Junior Detective League with his school friends. Conan is forced to adapt to his new daily life and has become accustomed to attending elementary school and helping Richard solve crimes with the use of his gadgets invented by Agasa. The most prominent of these are: his bowtie, allowing him to impersonate anyone's voice; his customized glasses which allow him to track and listen through his covert listening device
Covert listening device
A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and in police investigations.A bug does not have to be a device...
s; his super sneakers which multiply his kicking force; his wrist watch stun gun allowing him to tranquilize Richard or a criminal; his Solar Powered skateboard and latest to his arsenal, the ball dispenser belt. Conan eventually meets Harley Hartwell, a detective from Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
who is seeking to challenge Kudo in a deductive battle. After drinking a Chinese Alcohol known as Paikaru while sick with a cold, Conan reverts back to a teenager and corrects a deduction made by Harley. In their second encounter, Harley is able to deduce Conan's identity as Jimmy Kudo. The series progresses and Conan befriends biochemist Shiho Miyano, a former member of the Black Organization and the inventor of APTX 4869. She took the poison to escape the organization and adopts the pseudonym Anita Hailey. She resides with Agasa and intends to help Conan take down the Black Organization She invents a prototype antidote to the APTX 4869 allowing Conan to temporarily become Jimmy again to which Conan uses when Rachel suspects his true identity. During the events of Holmes' no Mokushiroku, Kudo, while in his original form, confesses his feelings to Rachel.
Conan's investigation on the Black Organization leads him to discover the FBI's existence in Japan where they are also investigating on the syndicate. His collaboration with FBI agent Akai Shuichi allows them to capture the Organization's member Kir. They discover she is a CIA agent and returns her to the organization to spy from within.
In other media
Jimmy Kudo has appeared in every featured films of the series, both the original video animationOriginal video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
series, Shōnen Sunday Original animations and the Magic Files, and is the protagonist in all Case Closed related video games. He is the protagonist in the novels of the series. In the 2006–2007 live action series, he is portrayed by Shun Oguri
Shun Oguri
is a Japanese actor, director and voice actor.-Career:Born to a theater director father, Tetsuya Oguri, and having an actor brother, Ryo Oguri, Shun Oguri started his acting career quite early in his life...
as a teenager and Nao Fujisaki in child form. In the 2011 live action movie and series, Junpei Mizobata
Junpei Mizobata
Junpei Mizobata is Japanese actor, best known as Saga Kazuma in Hanazakari no Kimitachi e. He also appears in the drama Akai Ito as Atsushi Nishino .-TV shows:* Detective Conan - Kudo Shinichi...
portrays the teenage Kudo.
In 2006, the Japanese government used Conan in campaigns to help promote crime awareness among children. Targeting the same audience, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The is a cabinet level ministry of Japan responsible for the country's foreign relations.The ministry is due to the second term of the third article of the National Government Organization Act , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Establishment Act establishes the ministry...
used Conan and his friends in two pamphlets: one to promote the ministry's mission, the other to introduce the 34th G8 summit
34th G8 summit
The 34th G8 summit took place in on the northern island of Hokkaidō, Japan from July 7–9, 2008. The locations of previous summits to have been hosted by Japan include: Tokyo ; and Nago, Okinawa . The G8 Summit has evolved beyond being a gathering of world political leaders...
held in the country in 2010. Conan and his friends were also featured in the sixth installment of the Anime, Heroes and Heroines commemorative stamp series issued by Japan Post
Japan Post
was a government-owned corporation in Japan, that existed from 2003–2007, offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. It had over 400,000 employees and ran 24,700 post offices throughout Japan and was the nation's largest employer. One third of all Japanese...
in 2006.
Reception
In the survey "friendship" developed by rankingjapan.com in which people had to choose what anime character they would like to have as a friend, Kudo ranked third. In NewtypeNewtype (magazine)
is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...
magazine Kudo ranked fourth and ninth in the 2001 and 2010 polls for most popular male anime character respectively. In the Animage
Animage
is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally renowned manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...
s Anime Grand Prix awards from 1998, Kudo was voted as the tenth most popular male anime character. Mania Entertainment rated Conan as the third greatest anime detective. Jimmy Kudo and Conan Edogawa were the second and third most popular characters in the series defined by a poll on ebooksjapan.jp.