Sara Talks Anime

Before I get to my regular coverage of this episode, I need to point out something that I noticed happened on the English subtitles for this episode that I haven’t seen occur in any other Detective Conan episode on Crunchyroll before this point in time. What I am specifically talking about is the subtitles for the little speech that Conan/Shinichi gives prior to the lyrics of the theme are out of sync on the version of the subtitles that Crunchyroll has. I don’t recall this happening on the DVD that I initially watched this episode on, so this is more than likely a Crunchyroll issue. Based on the Detective Conan World Wiki stating that the version of the speech used in this episode is a “variation” of the typical one used for the episodes that have Mune ga Dokidoki as the theme, this issue likely shouldn’t persist in the remaining 23 episodes that have this theme.

And just in case you’re someone who refuses to believe claims without evidence, here’s a screenshot to prove that the timing of the subtitles for the speech is in fact messed up.

Now, as regularly scheduled…

EPISODE 7: The Threatening Monthly Presents

Anime Original or Manga Sourced?: Manga sourced, Chapters 26 through 29

Is this my first time experiencing this story?: No

TMS is just doing anything to avoid touching any of the stories from Volume 2 at this point in time, huh? After all, this was pulled from the third volume of the manga, when we haven’t even touched Volume 2 yet. Did the person at TMS who was in charge of selecting which manga stories to adapt when someone who had learned from the folks at World Events Productions, hence why some of them are out of order?

…don’t answer that, by the way. I already know that the answer to that question is likely no.

Anyway, onto covering the actual case. The episode begins with Ran and Conan grocery shopping, and the Detective Boys joining them…for some reason. You know what, screw it, I’m dragging the Kogoro screenshot out of the archives!

During the grocery shopping, the Detective Boys ask Ran about Shinichi, and asking if the two were dating, causing Conan’s first slip of his identity in front of Ran at this point in time.

Now, of course, I can fully understand why this scene is here. The case that’s before this one that had a connection to this case via a letter hadn’t been adapted at this point, so they needed something to plant the seeds of doubt in Ran’s mind regarding Conan’s identity. Just…why did it have to be the Detective Boys?! Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do a scene with Ran, Sonoko, and Conan instead of trying to shove in the Detective Boys whenever they can?

But after that anime original scene, we get back to the Mori Detective Agency, where Ran remembers that it’s been a while since she’s heard from Shinichi, and since all she knew was that Shinichi was “on a case”, she was starting to wonder if he lost touch.

She can’t sit and wonder about that for too long, though, as there’s a visitor to the Mori Detective Agency…that also ends up causing a bunch of toys to topple into the room. As it turns out, it’s from a man who has been receiving weird packages every month, including this one. While the packages typically contain both toys and a million yen, the most recent one just had a million yen and a note. During this conversation, Conan picks up on the fact that the man is a surgeon because of the lines on his index fingers.

And this also forms a suspicion with Ran: was Conan actually Shinichi? This suspicion is temporary quelled by seeing Conan get scared by a jack-in-the-box, however, as it seems that Ran thinks that Shinichi wouldn’t be scared by something like that.

But after a bit of conversation, the crew goes to the hospital under the assumption that the culprit wants something different than they actually want, where we also find out that morning glories were getting sent to the hospital each year on the same day, leading Conan to believe that whoever is sending them has something important to do with the date.

After Kogoro manages to convince the surgeon to breach patient confidentiality, they get access to the patient records that the surgeon has, and at one point, Kogoro, the surgeon, and Ran go out to check out the painting that, according to their current information, the culprit is after.

Except Ran didn’t go to see the painting.

No, no, no. That’d be a rookie move. Instead, she stays behind to watch Conan at work, and seeing just how quickly he works. She ends up asking what Conan had figured out, with Conan providing his own theory. And when she compliments his deduction, she uses the Shinichi Kudo name instead of the Conan Edogawa name.

Though, thankfully, Conan seems to somewhat quell Ran’s suspicions again, though not to the same extent as he did earlier.

I can’t really say too much more about the case itself without veering too much into spoiler territory, however I will say that the ultimate resolution of who the culprit is ultimately made me feel a bit heart-torn when I initially watched this episode back when I was in middle school. I also read this case in the manga earlier this year via the VIZ Manga app. So, as this is my third time experiencing the case, while the impact is somewhat lessened due to the repetitions, I still believe that this case overall is very strong.

There is also a post-credits scene that is still important to bring up. Ran brings up one of her high school teachers, and Conan makes a comment with knowledge that only Shinichi would know. While Conan tries to quell these suspicions again, Conan has Agasa call the Mori Detective Agency with the Voice-Changing Bowtie to pretend to be Shinichi to get Ran off his trail again, and seemingly kill her suspicion for good this time…or at least until the next case where Ran suspects that Conan is Shinichi. Whenever that may end up being. Which I already know, but honestly, it’s more fun to make you guys think I don’t know. :]

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