Case Closed/Characters/Core Recurring Characters
Dr. Hiroshi Agasa
Dr. Hiroshi Agasa / Hershel Agasa
Voiced by Kenichi Ogata (JP) |
Mandatory Naming Note: "Agasa" is the Engrish pronunciation of Agatha Christie.[1]
- Absent-Minded Professor: Most Triumphant Japanese Example
- Big Fancy House: The mansion located next to the just-as-big Kudo home.
- Big Fun: A chubby old man with a heart of gold and a cheerful disposition
- Bunny Ears Lawyer
- Einstein Hair
- Friend to All Children
- Gadgeteer Genius: He made Conan all those
assistive technologygadgets. - Herr Doktor: Drives a German car, a Käfer. In the dub, he has a German accent.
- Nice Guy
- No Name Given: Averted, but not with a bit of Ass Pull. His given name, given as Hiroshi only later on, is an Alternate Character Reading of Hakase, the Japanese term for the title of Doctor, while devoid of the latter's connotations.
- Parental Substitute: For Shinichi, to a degree. Even moreso for Haibara, who lives in his house and unlike Shinichi, no longer has any real family. She grows to love him like a real father and often tries to protect him above anyone else. He's even her cellphone background picture! It turns out he knew her dead parents.
- Secret Keeper: With the distinction of being the first person ever who found out about Shinichi.
- Smart Ball: Pocketed it. Shinichi said he never invented anything useful right in the beginning, yet he eventually became one of the most Gadgeteer Genius in anime without any further explanation.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Fusae Campbell Kinoshita.
The Detective Boys/The Junior Detective League
The Detective Boys/The Junior Detective League
Consisting of Conan, Haibara, Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi, they are a Five-Man Band of kid detectives.
Mandatory Naming Note: Their group name comes from the group of the same name in Edogawa Ranpo's novels.
Tropes that are associated with them:
- Author Avatar: Gosho Aoyama has stated in an early interview that Mitsuhiko is modeled after his childhood self.
- Big Eater: Genta. Although he is fat.
- Cynthia Cranz: The ADR voice actor for Mitsuhiko (or Mitch, for that matter).
- Five-Man Band
- The Hero: Genta/Conan (Conan really does lead the investigations, but Genta insists on the credit.)
- The Lancer: Mitsuhiko/Haibara (Mitsuhiko before Haibara is introduced, then Haibara when she gains their trust.)
- The Smart Guy: Mitsuhiko/Conan/Haibara (Each have their moments.)
- The Big Guy: Genta, the tallest and strongest (and chubbiest) of them
- The Chick: Ayumi(That doesn't mean that she can't help thinking!)
- Sixth Ranger: Ran from time to time. Agasa fills this role occasionally as well.
- Limited Social Circle: They are rarely seen spending much time with classmates outside their group. Ayumi at least is once shown with a list of her other friends, though. Justified with Ai and Conan, who simply don't have any reason to make more friends at elementary school.
- Lovable Nerd: Mitsuhiko.
- Love Dodecahedron: Genta likes Ayumi, Mitsuhiko likes Ayumi and Ai, Ayumi likes Conan, Ai is believed to like Conan and Conan is Ran-sexual.
- First-Name Basis: Ayumi is the only child character who calls Haibara by her first name.
- Mike McFarland: ADR voice character for Genta (or George Kaminsky for that matter).
- The Other Darrin: For the first 3.5 seasons though, it was Dameon Clarke.
- Monica Rial: ADR voice character for Ayumi (or Amy Yeager for that matter).
- Oblivious to Love: Ayumi is blissfully unaware that Mitsuko and Genta both have a huge crush on her. Conan knows Ayumi likes him, but dismisses his mother's suggestion that Ai also has a crush on him as absurd.
- Snooping Little Kids: Without Ai or Conan, they are at most this.
- They Are All Grownup: OVA 9.
- Tag Along Kids
- Third Person Person: In later chapters, Ayumi constantly refers to herself as such.
- Token Loli: Ayumi. The only preteen girl that acts like one and is actually one.
Sonoko Suzuki
Sonoko Suzuki/ Serena Sebastian
Voiced by Naoko Matsui (JP)/ Laura Bailey (EN) |
The daughter of a very rich family, and Ran's best friend.
Tropes associated with her:
- Alliterative Name
- Alone with the Psycho: At least twice.
- Brainless Beauty: Borderline case.
- Bully Hunter: As a child, Sonoko used to defend Ran from bullies.
- Butt Monkey: She really has extraordinarily bad luck at times.
- Damsel in Distress: Catches the Distress Ball more than once.
- The Fashionista: Especially seen in one case where Sonoko identifies the victims as belonging to the ganguro fashion sub culture upon seeing their pictures. She even distinguished what kind of ganguro they were!
- Forehead of Doom
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: With all of her shallowness and childish fits, she really cares for Ran and her friends.
- Long-Distance Relationship: With Makoto, a famous karate champion.
- Plucky Girl
- Running Gag: Her bad luck with men, until she started dating Makoto.
- Goes into Not Funny Anymore in 153-154, where she goes boy-hunting in Izu (with Ran and Conan in tow)...and the attractive boy who showers her with compliments turns out to be the Ax Crazy killer of the week, driven by a hatred for blonde girls. She is rescued by Makoto, which marks the start of their relationship.
- She's All Grown Up: In the Stranger of 10 Years Ago OAV, she's not only Older and Wiser but is almost as much of a Type 1 Ojou as Ayako.
- Shipper on Deck: For a long time she's a Shinichi/Ran anti-shipper since she believes he's not good enough for her and she can't stand seeing Ran suffering because of Shinichi - for all Sonoko knows he's enjoying himself while her best friend is having a bloody miserable time. She later mellows out on this.
- Spoiled Brat: Milder than other cases
- Spoiled Sweet: She's too flighty and childish to be The Ojou but doesn't flaunt her wealth around in an overly bitchy manner. In fact, she appreciates that Ran doesn't try to mooch off her.
- Sweet Tooth
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ran's girly girl, her older sister Ayako's tomboy.
- Actually, the Ran thing is more complex than that. Sonoko is less physically active and more boy-crazy/fashionista than Ran, but is also more outspoken and straightforward than her (Unless Ran's in tsuntsun more, yeah.) In fact, their friendship started when Sonoko protected Ran when they were children!
Yuusaku Kudo
Yuusaku Kudo / Booker Kudo
Famous mystery writer and Shinichi's father. Current lives with his wife Yukiko in Los Angeles.
Mandatory naming note: Yusaku's name comes from Shunsaku Kudo (protagonist of the TV Drama Tantei Monogatari aka Detective Tales) and actor Yusaku Matsuda (who portrayed Shunsaku Kudo).
- Always Someone Better: Among the few who can outsmart Shinichi/Conan on a regular basis.
- Badass Bookworm
- Brilliant but Lazy: He is supposed to be an even better detective than his son and has even outsmarted him a couple of times, he'd just rather work as a writer instead. His relationship with Shinichi is a very clear Shout-Out to Sherlock Holmes and his older brother Mycroft.
- Guile Hero: He's good at catching criminals because writing complicated and engaging novels from a villain's POV gives him insight on details and human psyche.
- Hot Dad: Age Shinichi up 20 years, add glasses and a Badass Moustache.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Can be pretty insensitive and an Insufferable Genius sometimes. Oh well, Like Father, Like Son.
- Secret Keeper
- Slap Slap Kiss: With Yukiko, at their worst.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky
- The Other Darrin: As Randy Tallman died working on most of the series' US run, Booker's role in Phantom of Baker Street was done by John Swasey.
Yukiko Kudo
Yukiko Kudo (nèe Fujimine) / Vivian Kudo
Voiced by Sumi Shimamoto (JP) |
Mandatory naming note: The name Yukiko Fujimine (藤峰) comes from Lupin III's Fujiko Mine and Fujiko's first seiyuu, Yukiko Nikaido. An alias she used once, Fumiyo (文代), comes from Fumiyo Akechi, wife of Edogawa Rampo's Kogoro Akechi.
- Adult Child: Often acts very, very childishly
- Let's Get Dangerous: Unless she needs to be serious
- Berserk Button: Do not alude to her age! And if you're Yusaku, do not flirt with women in front of her!
- Biker Babe: Catsuit included.
- Drives Like Crazy
- Hot Mom: Just as hot as Eri (who turns out to be her old sempai and friendly rival). Justified Trope, she and Yusaku were in their very early 20's when they got married.
- Idol Singer: Before marrying Yusaku, she was a famous teen actress and beauty queen.
- Master of Disguise: She has NOT lost her acting skills after retirement.
- Implied to have learned from the same master as Vermouth and to have studied with her.
- Princess Curls
- Secret Keeper
- Tsundere: Specially seen in a certain two-parter where it turns out she came to Japan alone after a fight with Yusaku. Once they get involved in a case which Yusaku resolves, cue to her hilariously refusing to come back to the USA with him.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: At one point, stuffed her son between her breasts to take him along for a bike ride.
Eri Kisaki
Eri Kisaki / Eva Kadan
Voiced by Gara Takashima (JP) |
Ran's mother and the estranged wife of Kogoro. She's a very successful attorney.
Mandatory Naming Note: The name comes from Ellery Queen; Kisaki means "Queen."
- Action Mom: Doesn't fight actively, but can defend herself when needed.
- Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Frequently with Kogoro. Pretty much whenever they meet, they spend the entire time nagging each other, but these episodes usually end with a clear indicator that they still care for each other. At one point, Kogoro even outright states that he cannot bear being seperated from Eri and asks her to come back, but she pretends she didn't hear him because she's not ready yet.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: She and Kogoro are an adult version of the trope.
- Hello, Attorney!
- Hot Mom: AND HOW. In her second appearance, she was introduced via having the Male Gaze fixed on her butt.
- Lethal Chef: The real (and pathetic) reason why she separated with Kogoro; the guy is just too honest to tell her that her cooking sucks without giving a damn for what she feels.
- Meganekko: Though harsher than the standard
- Teen Genius: She was one of the national top scorers when she was in high school, and actually turned down a Harvard offer because of Kogoro.
- Tsundere: She absolutely hates the drunkard, gambling and womanizing Kogoro but she keeps on listening on his recorded voice on the Walkman asking her to come home and start over.
- She even named her pet cat "Goro" after him.
- Well, Eri really loves Kogoro deep down, it's just she can't stand his drinking and womanizing. She is always ready to come back to him once he quits his vices and starts to act like a responsible husband.
- ↑ Japanese Language lack the Voiceless Dental Frictive consonant, i.e. the "th" sound. They pronounce the "th" as "s."