Okay, I need to actually watch this series... more than five episodes
this time.

Yes. Yes you do. There's a REASON this series has been running for ten years
and is wildly popular. ^_^

For real. The concept behind this is worth a few good chuckles
(at least I have some idea what the series is about).

Glad you liked it. ^_^

Oh, and double bonus points for the dialog, which was very well done.

*bows* I do try.

"Agasa-hakase got the drop on us again. We need to be more careful,
guys. I
think they're starting to catch on. If Shinichi figures it out, we'll
ALL be
in trouble."

As in Shinichi will be upset at them? Or as in his secret identity being
public knowledge will force the hand of his assailants?

As in Shinichi can be downright scary when you get on his bad side.

"Mou, Shiratori," Satou Miwako admonished, though she was chuckling
slightly. "We don't really need to get into another round of examples
of
Reasons To Avoid Pissing Kudou-kun Off. We go over that every other
time we
do this."

Here's a key "I'm lost" point. Who is Kudou?

Conan. His real name is Kudou Shinichi.

"Hai. It's becoming harder and harder to fake being tricked, and the
schemes
Shinichi and hakase come up with are getting more and more ridiculous.
And
that's not even counting that idiot Kaitou Kid butting in."

Now there's superheroes involved?!

K.K.: (Ultraman costume) Kaito Kid, AWAY!

Heh! No, not a superhero. Kaitou Kid is a jewel thief who featured in a
previous short manga series by the author of Meitantei Conan, and who is a
frequent recurring character IN Meitantei Conan, as Conan and company
occasionally get involved in trying to capture him.

(He's not a Bad Guy, despite being a thief. He's very much Lupin III-esque,
in fact.)

"That certainly fits what we know about him," Megure agreed, rubbing
his
chin thoughtfully. "What bothers me is that we're never able to
outright
expose Kid as a fake when he's disguised as Kudou-kun."

... I'm really lost now.

K.K.'s secret identity?

Shinichi's character design was more or less ripped wholesale from the
character design for the main character of Aoyama's earlier Magic Kaitou
manga. Thus, Kuroba Kaito--the civilian identity of the internationally
famous jewel thief Kaitou Kid--looks almost exactly like Kudou Shinichi,
making it ridiculously easy for him to show up pretending to BE Shinichi.

(For more information on Kaito/Kid, see Wikipedia.)

"God, I hope not," another female voice put in airily. "I'd hate to
think
I've spent forever mooning over a clone of Ran-chan's husband."

"SO-NO-KO..."

Before Ran could finish her threat, a short man in a white uniform dashed
into the room and deposited a small frozen treat in her hands, then
dashed out without a single word.

Ran: (looking at the treat) Sno-cone?

*whistles innocently*

*GROAN* BAD! NO BISCUIT!

One slim eyebrow arched, she stood, arms folded. "If too many people
get too
curious about these men, they'll disappear completely. If that happens,
it's
possible Shinichi-kun will never be able to return to normal and seek
justice against them. I can hardly blame Yusaku-san and Yukiko-chan for
being skittish."

Now this makes sense.

Yep. That's why so many people are busting their asses to keep Conan's true
identity a secret from pretty much everybody.

"I don't know," Kogoro rumbled. "If it were Ran, I'd want every police
officer in Japan and probably the entire JSDF hunting those bastards
down."

What? These aren't the Goons we're talking about, are they?

Yeah, that's kind of what he's getting at--if the same thing had happened to
Ran, he'd be bitching and screaming to get thousands of men trying to find
the guys responsible.

Instead of, y'know, one shrunken detective, one shrunken chemist, one old
crackpot inventor, a mystery writer, and a retired actress.

"Ano...do we have any new information on Haibara-san?" Mitsuhiko asked,
flushing slightly.

Satou couldn't hide a smile as she replied, "We actually did find a DNA
profile match. There's a 99% probability she's related to the deceased
female member of that gang from the billion yen robbery. Unfortunately,
we
can't find any records for either that aren't complete forgeries."

Maybe... she likes her privacy?

Maybe she'd have a one-way ticket to jail waiting for her if anybody knew
who she was, assuming she didn't find a bullet in her head before the cops
could even get to her?

"Can we even be sure that girl's like Kudou?" Kogoro asked. "She could
just
be a really weird creepy little girl."

"No...she's involved too deeply in Shinichi's mess to be normal in any
way,"
Ran replied.

Now, here I'm too clueless to really catch the implications of what Ran's
saying.

No surprise there. People who've only seen a few episodes and only know the
basics of the series aren't likely to be aware of Haibara Ai's *existence*,
let alone her exact circumstances. I really suggest reading Wikipedia's
entry for the full details--as well as several fansites--but here's the
basics:

Haibara Ai is the disguised, shrunken-to-a-child form of Miyano Shiho, the
chemist who created the poison which turned Kudou Shinichi into Edogawa
Conan. She was formerly a member of the Black Organisation, with the
codename 'Sherry', but after they murdered her elder sister, she turned
traitor--and they chained her up in a boiler room to torture her to death.
She took her own poison to kill herself before they could start in on her,
and was "lucky" in that she's one of the people who gets shrunk by the drug
instead of dying from it. Since her child-sized wrists could slip out of the
handcuffs, she escaped, and made her way to the only person who could help
her--Kudou Shinichi, or rather, Edogawa Conan. Since then, she's been living
with Agasa-hakase and trying to develop a permanent antidote to her own
poison.

"You've been inside her lab?" Ran asked sharply.

"Un. I kinda snuck in..." Mitsuhiko flushed.

<flashback>
Mitsuhiko: (horrible disguise) Uh, pizza delivery boy!
</flashback>

*snrk*

"Well, I think I found the name of the drug that shrank Kudou-senpai
and
Haibara-san," the thin boy replied hesitantly. "The name
'Apoptoxin-4869'
was all over all her notes."

"4869...that's the same as the passcode for Shinichi's mobile," Ran
mused.

4869 = Shinichi?

Nope. 'Sherlock'. It's a strange little game that's explained in episode 400
of the anime; you use the numbers on license plates to make up words. This
game is how the Apoptoxin was given its numeric designation by Aoyama:

4869 = shi hachi roku kyuu = shi-ha-roku-kyuu=shyaarokku=Sherlock.

"Like 'Edogawa Conan' isn't a dirty, underhanded little lying sneak?"
Ran
retorted archly.

Conan: (thinking) I can't reveal myself to Ran... she's gonna be sooo
pissed at me for lying to her for two hundred episodes...

Try 450. :P And it's not even finished yet...

I'm better off
facing the evil gang of international criminals as a kid with no backup.

That's actually pretty much the train of thought going on in his head most
of the time...

<snip>

Aww... kinda sweet at the end.

So... yeah, good. Very good. Enough to inspire me to think seriously of
maybe considering watching some of the series some day.

It's certainly readily available in a variety of ways. :)

================================
Please do not stare at my crotch.
              ~~*~~
The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com



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