The Enigmatic Drug From Japanese Anime 'Detective Conan:' The Mystery Behind Apotoxin

By Santiago Alonso via El Planteo. 

Twenty-three years ago we were all more innocent, streaming did not exist on a massive scale and the only way to access Japanese animation was through television or through VHS brought from Spain, whose distribution did not pay royalties.

Thanks to the screen of the now defunct Argentinean channel Magic Kids, Japanese tanks such as Dragon Ball Z, Ranma ½, Escaflowne, B't X, Slayers and the one that concerns us today: Detective Conan, arrived from Japan.

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Erroneously promoted by that channel as a "fun animated series for kids", the show presented a boy with high abilities to solve mysteries, including murders.

In this way, high voltage contents were shown on the screen: dismemberments, blood and even adultery situations. However, the main trigger of the series is related to a drug, which justifies the existence of Conan and, therefore, the name of the work.

This anime and manga classic has been published for decades. It passed 100 volumes in the comic, more than 1000 chapters of its regular series on Japanese TV and 25 feature films for cinema (number 26 called "The Iron Submarine" is scheduled for April this year in Japan), many of which were released locally in Latin America, in some cases with Spanish dubbing, in others, with subtitles in selected theaters.

It also has a small town named after him, recently visited by comedian Conan O'Brien, who joked about the similarities between him and his oriental counterpart.

What Is Detective Conan?

Detective Conan introduces us to Shinichi Kudo, a 17-year-old boy with an amazing deductive ability, a faithful emulation of the great Sherlock Holmes who can solve mysteries that no one else can even analyze.

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Together with his girlfriend Ran Mouri, they decide to go to an amusement park for an afternoon of fun. But Shinichi's vocation is stronger and he leaves his friend to follow a clue, which leads him to witness a bribe between gangsters.

Far from being able to find out more, he is caught by two imposing men in black for being where he shouldn't be and seeing what he shouldn't be seeing. As a result they beat him to decide on the fly his possible fate: slow and painful death. One of them opens a box containing a poisonous pill, makes Shinichi swallow it and he feels that his minutes are numbered. Apotoxin is already in his body and will kill him in a matter of minutes. Goodbye Ran, goodbye mysteries.

However, by a twist of fate, the substance does not kill him, but reduces his bones and physiognomy to return to the appearance of a 9-year-old boy.

From there he will begin a dizzying race to find out who the members of the Men in Black Organization are, how to regain his original form, and protect both Ran and his friends in the process. Since only a few will know the truth, Shinichi adopts the name Conan Edogawa and goes to live with Ran and his father, a former cop-turned-private detective named Kogoro Mouri, under the guise of being a distant relative.

"My name is Bobby Jackson. I am 17 years old, recognized as the best of detectives. But some men forced me to take a drug. That's how I became Conan Blazy. Despite being a child, my intelligence is that of a normal young man and for me there is no difficult case to solve," says the Latin intro in the voice of actress Marcela Bordes.

This opening along with the version in our language of the theme song "Mune Ga Doki Doki Doki". The first 52 episodes were aired on the show El Club del Anime. The rest of the continent continued to watch the series on local TV stations, and therein lies a fuller explanation of the importance of Apotoxin.

Drugs In Detective Conan

In the third season, a 7-year-old girl named Ai Haibara appears, who surprises for her abilities similar to those of Conan. Her origin is similar in that she is another "reduced youth". In this case, Shiho Miyano, none other than the creator of APTX-4869. That is, Apotoxin.

Miyano was a scientist who worked directly for the Men in Black Organization and when she wanted to leave, the mafia took the life of her sister.

With no more will to live, she takes her own invention in order to commit suicide. Naturally, the same thing happens to her as to Conan and being a master of deception, she manages to stay at the house of scientist Hiroshi Agase, a lifelong friend of Shinichi. Eventually, Haibara will join the League of Detectives and develop temporary antidotes that will allow both her and our protagonist to return to their normal state, but they will only be flashes until the definitive cure is found, which is the great mystery hidden in this series.

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The escalation of the conflict is so great that, at this point, the FBI is involved in the trail behind the organization, interacts directly with Conan and the name of the mastermind behind this group is known.

Apotoxin, The Drug In Question

This drug has the particularity of having been gestated to be an untraceable poison. It involves the direct and lethal action of apoptosis, capable of causing cells to commit suicide. On the other hand, it has telomerase components, a substance that prevents growth by plugging the DNA.

Conan And Marijuana?

The anime production company TMS not only develops episodes and movies, but TV specials that are, in its native country, quite an event. Unlike the regular broadcast, which is 22 minutes, the specials can last up to two hours on the channels where it is aired (YTV, Animax and NTV).

In episode 219 (two hours long) titled "The Detective Meeting: Shinichi Kudo vs. the Thief Kid", Conan, Ran and Kogoro are invited to an important mansion to, along with many of their colleagues, unravel a mystery. Far from promising something uplifting, the invitation turns into a threat: if they fail to solve a case posed by a mysterious host, they all die.
It is in that framework, in which the story of something that happened in that majestic place 40 years ago is told. The place belonged to Karasuma Renya, the most powerful man in all of Japan and (spoiler: the mind behind the Organization) who threw a party.
In the middle of the night, two men asking for asylum offer as a reward, marijuana cigarettes in exchange for being able to spend the night there. The guests start smoking and getting upset, killing each other. In this way, the two men were able to steal the riches that were there, from jewelry to money.

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The result that night was eight dead and ten seriously wounded. But Conan could do better and revealed who was behind this macabre invitation, something that is part of his DNA because, as he says in the intro, "there is only one truth".

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