Jimmy Kudo, known as in the original Japanese anime and manga, is the main character of the anime and manga Case Closed, known in Japan as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン Meitantei Conan). Viz romanized his original name as Shin'ichi Kudo while Shogakukan's website romanizes it as Shinichi Kudoh.

Fictional character information

Early life as Jimmy Kudo

Jimmy was born to Booker(Yusaku) and Vivian(Yukiko) Kudo, mystery writer and former movie star respectively. He was born on the 4th of May, but he repeatedly forgets his birthday every year. He is a genius savant, and even from a young age, was very intuitive and observant. In addition, his father often made him puzzles and games to help sharpen his mind even more as he grew up.

Due to the influence of his father, and the generally laissez-faire environment at home, he has long been an incessant and persistent reader, especially of mystery novels-- he finished the entire collection of mystery novels in his elementary school library during his elementary school years. Also, Booker started to bring young Jimmy to crime scenes until Jimmy was in sixth grade. This has caused Jimmy to have a love of crime investigation, and for that reason, peers like Rachel Moore and Serena Sebastian called him a in passing.

His life between ages 6 to 16 was not well-documented. During junior high school he was made a starting midfielder in the school's soccer team as a freshman. The head of the soccer club even fell in love with him, but he rejected her nicely due to the fact that he was secretly in love with Rachel.

His parents moved to the United States when he was 14 to pursue their own careers, while he was left in Tokyo.

At the beginning of the series, Jimmy is a 17-year old student at Titan High School (Teitan High School in the original Japanese versions). He is already a well-known detective who closed many difficult cases, and known as the savior of the police force. That same year, he left the soccer club, but even Rachel considered his soccer skills at national level. He told her that he liked to play because he considered soccer as a way to train his reflexes-- akin to his idol, Sherlock Holmes's practice of fencing-- for his detective skills; he aspires to be ''the Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era.

Jimmy is also known for his inability to sing; but since he can still distinguish different musical notes, by definition he cannot be referred to as tone deaf.

He apparently can speak English, where he conversed with and translated for an American diplomat.

As Conan Edogawa

At the beginning of the series, Shinichi (Jimmy) brings his best friend Ran (Rachel) to a local theme park called "Tropical Land," to celebrate her victory in the Metropolitan Karate Championships. He later ends up solving a murder case involving a decapitation that occurred on the train car of the "Mystery Coaster" that they had been riding on. As they are leaving, Jimmy witnesses a suspicious exchange between an unknown man and a person dressed in black in a secluded area just outside the park. He leaves Rachel, who heads home reluctantly, and goes off to find out what is going on. As he tries to listen in to the quiet conversation-- a blackmail over an arms deal that was apparently worth 100 million yen-- he does not notice an accomplice sneak up behind him. This accomplice, another man in black, attacks him by clubbing him on the head with a metal pipe, and then forces him to swallow a new experimental poison. They then leave him to die. This poison, known as APTX 4869, is extremely potent and designed to kill a person while leaving no traces of its existence in the victim after death. However, instead of killing Jimmy, a rare side-effect occurred. It slowly and painfully shrinks his body, reverting his appearance back to that of his six or seven year-old self. In desperation and confusion, Jimmy heads back to his house and runs into his next door neighbor and close family friend, Dr. Herschel Agasa. Dr. Agasa is a kind, but somewhat eccentric scientist, and although he is retired, he still likes to invent many odd things that later help Jimmy adjust to life as a little kid again while solving cases.

Jimmy tries to tell him what happened and eventually manages to convince him that he was shrunk by some men in black who attempted to kill him. Dr. Agasa tells Jimmy that he absolutely must keep his identity a secret, because if the wrong person/people were to find out about his predicament, these people, who he later finds out call themselves the Black Organization, would definitely come back and kill him, along with anybody associated with him-- including all his friends and family. They also both worry because there was no dead body recovered, so the strange men may come back looking for him due to that as well. Conan reluctantly agrees that until he learns more about them, it is best to keep anyone from finding out that he is really someone who is supposed to be dead. He especially does not want Rachel involved.

Rachel soon goes over to Jimmy's house (where Jimmy and Dr. Agasa were) looking for him because she is worried, and sees the little boy. She thinks that he is adorable and asks him what his name is. Jimmy quickly comes up with an alias, Conan Edogawa (江戸川 コナン Edogawa Conan) , after Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo. Dr. Agasa tells her that he is a distant relative whose parents were in an accident overseas and that it may be better if he stays with her, since he doesn't know much about taking care of kids. "Conan" then goes to live with Rachel and her father, Richard Moore (Kogoro Mouri), a private detective, and hopes that by living with a detective, he can stay on top of current cases and be able to gather clues about the "Black Organization". Unfortunately, Detective Moore is so incompetent that Jimmy usually has to solve the mysteries for him. Jimmy frequently knocks out Richard with a watch that shoots mini tranquilizer darts and uses his voice-changing bow tie to imitate Richard's voice. (These gadgets were made by Dr. Agasa for him, and he later amasses many more gadgets that help him out.) Because of this, Richard gets all the credit and quickly becomes famous for his incredible deductions. Cases also begin to pile up, which occasionally gives Jimmy a chance to gather hints on the Black Organization.

In order to keep Conan's secret safe, Dr. Agasa enlists Conan at Teitan Elementary School, where Conan befriends three of his classmates, ), , and ). Together, they form the . Conan realizes that even though these kids are really kids, they are very astute and often help him solve difficult cases.

As the story progresses, Conan also befriends , who grew up within the Black Organization and is a former member of it along with her sister. Her real name is Shiho Miyano, and she is a gifted biochemist and creator of the APTX 4869 poison. She took the drug in an attempted suicide after her sister was murdered by the same men who attacked Jimmy and shrunk him while she was trying to arrange for herself and Shiho to leave the organization. The drug backfires on her too, and she becomes a little kid again as well. Through her child-like guise, she escapes the organization, and then Dr. Agasa finds her and takes her in to live with him. She proves to be a valuable ally to Conan and the gang as she continues her search for an antidote in addition to helping him gather information on the Black Organization in order to bring them down.

Jimmy/Conan has returned to his normal form several times throughout the series. First was during episodes 48-49 where he temporary returns to normal after drinking alcohol while infected with a cold. He quickly turns back into Conan after solving the case. The next time was during episodes 191- 193 (Files 3-7 volume 26), where he returns for about two days after taking the prototype antidote for APTX 2896. He solves two cases, and had an unfinished date with Ran in the restaurant where his father purposed to his mother. During files 647 to 654, Conan returns to his Jimmy self while helping solve a murder case. He accidentally took a prototype antidote for APTX 4896, mistaking it for a cold pill and became Jimmy again. After the case is solved, his time is up and he manages to hide in a bathroom stall from his friends. Though he returns to being Conan, Anita gives him a second antidote, giving Jimmy another 24 hours as himself. She warns him however that if he continues to take the antidote on a regular basis, it will be less effective each time and eventually he will develop immunity to it. However, it is implied that Jimmy has already developed some immunity, when he returns to being Conan after about 4 hours.

People who know Conan is really Jimmy

As of 2008, a total of 9 people knew Conan's real identity.

• Hiroshi Agasa found out that in volume 1, at the second chapter of the series. Shrunken Jimmy had to persuade Agasa that the child before him is Jimmy so that he could seek help.
• The Kudo couple, Booker and Vivian, heard that from Dr Agasa in volume 6, after finding the Kudo household empty.
• Harley Hartwell found out this fact in volume 13, as he found Conan speaking in Harley's voice after Harley regained consciousness from Conan's stun gun.
• Anita Hailey's deducion of that was mentioned in volume 18, after knowing Jimmy's body were never to be found and that APTX4869 had de-aged some of the guinea pigs in experiments.
• Eisuke Hondou found out in volume 61, after finding Conan's actions towards Ran is too similar to that of a boyfriend.
• Phantom Thief Kid found that out Detective Conan: The Last Magician of the Century; how he knew that was not given.

Deceased

• Akemi Miyano, Anita Hailey's elder sister. Conan told her that when Akemi was dying.
• Hiroki Sawada in Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street; how he knew that was not given.

Relationships

Jimmy/Conan's more known relationships are those with three females, Rachel Moore, Anita Hailey, and Amy Yeager.

Rachel Moore

Rachel Moore (Ran Mori) is Jimmy's childhood friend and canonical love interest.

They have known each other since as early as kindergarten and had been playmates since then, which caused some censure from Eva.

In junior high school, Jimmy turned down Asami Uchida, then the manager of the soccer team who admitted that she was interested in him, in favor of Rachel. Their classmates already considered them a married couple and jested about their platonic relationship now and then. There was even a time when he planned to admit his true feelings to Ran after he took a temporary cure for his condition, but he had to solve a murder in the restaurant he took her to, and then turned back into Conan before he could tell her anything. The waitress thought that he was going to propose. .

When Jimmy disappeared at Tropical Land, Rachel took in Conan from Professor Agasa, not knowing that Conan was actually Jimmy. Jimmy/Conan decided not to tell Rachel or anyone else about his identity in the fear that the Black Organization might hurt or kill her and her family if his secret somehow got out.

Knowing that Rachel misses him, however, Conan calls her over the telephone and imitates Jimmy's voice with the voice-changing bowtie, so that she is not worried about him. He convinces her that he is off solving a very difficult case and will return once the investigation concludes.

Rachel is no fool however, and due to striking similarities between Conan and Jimmy as a child, she often suspects Conan of somehow being Jimmy. However, every time she does, Conan does something childlike to make her ignore the idea. Later, larger schemes created by Jimmy and those who know his secret have been used to convince Rachel that Conan is not Jimmy. These include pre-recorded messages from "Shinichi" played over the phone in addition to other more and more complex tricks that they pull off. This usually follows an extremely long story arc. In such arcs Conan tends to drop his guard in order to save someone, or to fully investigate a crime. Jimmy hates having to lie to her, and it takes a huge emotional toll on them both, but he loves her too much to let the Black Organization get anywhere near her.

In more recent stories, Rachel becomes positive of Conan's true identity and asks him to admit the truth. Sometimes, Jimmy feels that he cannot trick her anymore. Jimmy gets close to telling her, but then something usually happens which hinders him to do so. After his first encounter with Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori), Conan discovers the poison that was fed to him could temporarily be deactivated through drinking a very high proof Chinese alcohol called Paikaru. He makes this discovery when he temporarily turns back into Jimmy after Harley gives Conan some of the liquor as a kind of cold remedy. This is one of the three occasions when Jimmy turns back into his true form. Despite being separated from each other, Rachel and Jimmy still love each other very much and Rachel is always constantly waiting for Jimmy to return and remains faithful to him.

Jimmy/Conan is not without sexual fantasies regarding Rachel; the most obvious example being his getting nosebleeds or blushing--manga shorthand for lust-- when he sees her in a bathing suit, or when Rachel pulled him into an onsen with her.

Anita Hailey

Anita Hailey (Ai Haibara) is the third girl that seems to have somewhat romantic feelings for Conan/Jimmy, although she never truly admits to it. Indeed , it is a mystery just exactly what she feels for him, whether friend or otherwise. It could be said that, because of their almost equal level of intelligence, she finds it easier to talk to him. She is the second confirmed victim of the APTX 4869, having taken it in an attempted suicide, but instead suffering the same affects as Jimmy;Dr. Agasa found her outside Jimmy's house, hoping to find him sympathetic to her cause. Adopted by Dr. Agasa, she lives with him and subsequently also attends Teitan Elementary School with Conan, Amy, Mitch and George. In many dangerous cases, Anita is saved by Conan as well. On a few occasions, she has expressed her feelings to Jimmy for him, but immediately plays it of as a joke, to which Jimmy responds to in confusion. There are also times when her expression reveals a want for Jimmy to do something or not do something she knows he will do, generally having something to do with Ran. She has also been encouraged and even saved by Conan on many an occasion.

Amy Yeager

Conan grows to respect the little girl in his class for her sharp wit and observational skills, along with the other members of the Junior Detective League. However, his other classmates, Mitch and George each have an obvious crush on her, while she is enamored by Conan- a fact that the other two boys are often not happy about. Conan however, does not feel the same way that she does, as he loves Rachel. As such, Amy's love goes unrequited constantly.

Gadgets

Conan has gotten many gadgets from Dr. Agasa to help him solve crimes even as a kid.

References in other media

Conan is one of the most well known characters in Japan. Some anime parodied, lampooned and even mentioned him. Some of them includes:

• Yakitate!! Japan. (Pierrot Bolneze, one of the bread judges of the show parodied him in episode 48. Kawachi reacts by saying that Conan has a huge ego).
• Black Cat. (Episode 13-14 of the show parodied the main plot of Detective Conan, with the titular character shrunk to a six-year old boy by an evil organization, but unlike Conan, he manages to turn back to normal. He is also shown wearing Conan's clothing, a further nod to the series, as part of the joke Minami Takayama also plays kid Train.)
• Inuyasha. (Jimmy and Rachel made a brief cameo appearance in episode 128 while Sota Higurashi can be seen wearing Conan's clothing in episode 90 of the show).
• Hayate the Combat Butler. Hayate no Gotoku (particularly the anime) makes constant references to Conan, the most frequent being the Conan statues scattered throughout Nagi's mansion. In episode 30, Nagi pretends to be Conan by wearing his glasses, parodying the speech before Detective Conan's opening credits, giving a "Next Nagi Hint", and solving a case using a voice-changing bowtie behind a sleeping Hayate.
• Proposal Daisakusen. (Briefly in episode 10, whilst trying on dresses and suits for Rei's wedding, Tsuru wears a suit like Conan's, to which after pointed out he responds, "Shinjutsu wa itsumo hitotsu!").
• Sonic X. In the first episode to feature Team Chaotix, Vector dresses as different detectives, one of them being Conan (wearing matching glasses).

References

External links

• Case Closed Jimmy Kudo page
• Case Closed Conan Edogawa page