Case Closed/Characters/The Black Organization

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Mandatory naming note: All of the codenames are related to alcoholic beverages.

That Man/Anokata

The leader of the Black Organization.

Gin

Gin/Melkior

Voiced by Yukitoshi Hori (JP)

One of the Black Organization's most dangerous operatives (arguably the most dangerous one of those that have been introduced), and the one who is unknowingly responsible for Shin'ichi's current "vertically challenged" condition.

Tropes associated with him:

  • A Sinister Clue: He is left-handed.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Gin is the most dangerous agent of the Organization we have seen so far and also appears to be one of the highest-ranked, as most other members are shown to defer to him and he can threaten even Vermouth without repercussions.
  • Badass Longcoat and Badass Long Hair
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: In the beginning of the anime, it was later changed to silver to follow the manga.
  • But for Me It Was Tuesday: Makes a point of not remembering the faces of the people he kills. This occasionally becomes a handicap, such as when he doesn't remember Shinichi Kudo.
  • Career Killer
  • Cool Car: Drives a black vintage Porsche 356A.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy
  • Death Glare: In episode 176 (Corner of Betrayal Street), a driver attempted to call him out for jaywalking. It only took a brief moment of eye contact to end the argument before it even started.
  • The Dragon
  • Eyes Never Lie: Shinichi only had to look into his eyes to realize he was a cold-blooded killer.
  • Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Gin's eyes are narrow and often at least partially obscured by his black hat or his long hair. What's more, he has unique pupils: Most characters have either large, detailed anime pupils or just black dots, while Gin's pupils are small, devoid of highlights and drawn with an intermittent outline, giving him a very unnerving glare.
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: One of the most evil characters in the series and a regular smoker.
  • The Heavy: Because the Boss is never seen, Gin is the main antagonist in most confrontations with the Black Organization. For one arc, Vermouth took over this role instead.
  • Looming Silhouette of Rage: Before he strikes down Shinichi with a metal pipe in the first chapter.
  • Scars Are Forever: Gets a permanent scar when Shuuichi Akai grazes his cheek with a sniper bullet.
  • Slasher Smile
  • Smoking Is Cool
  • The Sociopath: Can kill without remorse and doesn't even remember many of his victims.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: After a certain period in the anime, to follow the manga's color scheme.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: He can predict his enemies' motives and actions and make accurate deductions from even the tiniest detail, but has no idea that one of his opponents is a genius detective in the body of a six-year old. This leads him to make several grave mistakes, such as not looking for his enemy in places where no adult could possibly hide.


Vodka

Vodka/Kaspar

  • Satellite Character: He is Gin's partner and is rarely seen doing anything on his own.
  • The Watson: An evil version. Since's he considerably less intelligent and of lower rank than his partner, Gin can explain his plans and those of the Organization to Vodka (and therefore the audience) without having to talk to himself.


Vermouth

Vermouth aka Chris Vineyard aka Sharon Vineyard

Voiced by Mami Koyama (JP)

  • Anime Accent Absence: For a supposedly American character, her Gratuitous English can get quite horrible.
  • Attending Your Own Funeral: In a flashback, Chris Vineyard is shown giving the eulogy at her mother, Sharon Vineyard's, funeral. They're both the exact same person.
  • Blondes Are Evil
  • Catch Phrase: "A secret makes a woman woman," spoken in the most godawful heavily-accented Engrish imaginable ("A secret makes a ooman ooman"). One kid even lampshades this in an episode. After he meets Vermouth, he is questioned by Conan, and replies that it was a woman who kept on repeating the word "horse" (uma).
  • Cain and Abel: Friends version, with Yukiko.
  • Dartboard of Hate: Shown to have one, with a picture of pre-Apotoxin Haibara tacked on the dartboard with a giant "X" drawn over her face.
  • Enigmatic Minion: Emphasis on the "enigmatic" part. This especially applies because of the unusual amount of interest Vermouth has in Shinichi, as well as the way she is clearly not always working in the Organization's best interest, and has some sort of hidden agenda.
  • Foreign Fanservice
  • Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Is seen lighting herself a cigarette when she's first revealed as a member of the Organization.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: She manages to shoot out the gas tank of a car with a small handgun while driving another car and looking in her rear-view mirror. As Akai remarks, she's very good.
  • Latex Perfection: She did, after all, train under the same instructor as the other two Masters of Disguise, Yukiko and Kaito.
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The series' prime example of Dark Feminity, especially when contrasted with Ran or Yukiko.
  • Master of Disguise: Learned from the master, Toichi Kuroba, the first Kaito KID.
  • Meaningful Name: Her codename alludes to her relationship with Gin, as mixing Gin and Vermouth is the recipe for that most famous of cocktails, the Martini. Her real name, Vineyard, might also hold significance, seeing how all female agents of the Organization have wine-based beverages as their codenames.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Sharon Stone.
  • Older Than They Look: Vermouth is shown in a flashback set at least twenty years ago. She looks exactly the same as she does now when she kills Jodie's father. She also is impersonating her own daughter, having first been Sharon Vineyard and then assuming the identity of Chris Vineyard as of Sharon's funeral.
  • Phenotype Stereotype
  • Secret Keeper: Down to her Catch Phrase. She is also one of the few people who know that Conan is really Shinichi, as well as Haibara's real identity.
  • Woman in Black: Wears black both in her secret and her public identity.


Akemi Miyano

Akemi Miyano / Kendra

Voiced by Sakiko Tamagawa (JP)

A rather sympathetic member of The Syndicate. Akemi is Ai Haibara/Shiho Miyano's dead older sister, having been murdered by the Syndicate.


Atsushi and Elena Miyano

Ai's and Akemi's parents who worked on the APTX 4869 project. They died shortly after Ai's birth, supposedly in an accident. Ai later took over their research, but its exact goal and purpose has not yet been revealed.

  • Emotionless Girl: Elena gave this impression to Agasa and others.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: We have not yet seen Atshushi's face.
  • Hidden Eyes: Elena's eyes are not visible beneath her reflecting glasses.
  • Hidden Depths: Ai has never known them, but after meeting Conan's loving mother Yukiko she becomes bothered by the fact that her own parents both had an extremely unflattering reputation. She later finds out they were better people than commonly thought:
    • Atsushi was rejected by the scientific community as a deranged mind, but Agasa claims he was an open and friendly man when he met him.
    • Elena was known as Hell's Angel in the Organization and appeared cold and unapproachable even to Agasa. Turns out she was also a warm and caring mother: Before she died, she recorded 20 tapes for Ai, one for each of her first 20 birthdays, so that Elena could be close to her daughter on her way to adulthood.
  • Ice Queen: Elena had this reputation even within an Organization full of unrepentant killers.
  • Mad Scientist: Atsushi's peers thought he was this. The fact that he was apparently brillant and immoral enough to join the most dangerous criminal organization in the world and take on their most important research project lends credence to this, but we ultimately don't know his reasons or the goal of his research yet.
  • Posthumous Character: Both of them died long before the present story. Elena left tapes to Ai, however, which may or may not turn out to contain significant secrets.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: In the few pictures we have seen of Elena, she sports these.

Tequila

Calvados

Pisco

Pisco aka Kenzou Masuyama


Chianti

Voiced by Kikuko Inoue (Japanese)

Korn

Irish

Kir

See Rena Mizunashi

Rye

See: Shuuichi Akai

Kiichiro Numabuchi

Kiichiro Numabuchi/Cornelius Graver

A certain Serial Killer who has some ties with the group...

  • Anti-Villain: Toyed with. While he has commited many crimes, the story often plays him up more as a frightened victim with animalistic reactions who kills when he cracks under pressure, rather than a fully malicious Complete Monster who kills For the Evulz. OTOH, Haibara openly says he shouldn't be pitied as he's just too crazy to handle and did kill others for the heck of it.
  • Beard of Sorrow: More like Beard of Psychosis.
  • Chekhov's Gunman
  • Friend to All Living Things: Having lived near a forest when he was a child, he likes animals quite a lot. Specially fireflies, whom Numabuchi considers "his friends".
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: We see him well-shaved and with short hair in an old photo. We "meet" him with a Beard of Sorrow and longer hair. And in his last appearance when he's in the forest with Mitsuhiko, his hair has grown past his shoulders.
  • Kick the Dog: In the Naniwa Murder case, he tries to stab Ran to escape when cornered. Conan took the hit for her and was barely saved due to a Pocket Protector that Heiji loaned him.
  • Knife Nut
  • Looks Like Cesare: Pale skin, black hair, hollow eyes...

Genta: So we have to search for someone who looks like a skeleton?

  • Pet the Dog: When finally caught by the police, he doesn't offer resistence and simply asks them to turn off their lights... since the fireflies will get scared. It turns out he wanted to see the forest of his childhood and the fireflies one last time before being executed for his deeds.
  • Psychopathic Manchild
  • Red Herring: Invoked: Yusuke Sakata wanted to use them as one by killing and then framing him for the murders that he commited, since Numabuchi was involved in his father's death.
  • Serial Killer
  • Psycho for Hire: Was supposed to be this in the Organization, but was just too psychotic despite his physical strenght and inhuman reflexes.. He was then slated to be the guinea pig for the APTX 4869, but that sent Numabuchi into a psychotic breakdown (again) and he ran away, killing several people in his crazy escape.
  • Villainous BSOD: Has many of these.