The villainous Akiko Hanai
Akiko Hanai (Mami Koyama) is the main villainess of "The False Kidnapping and Hostage Case", episode 1.25 of Case Closed (airdate July 22, 1996). She was the assistant of ruthless business mogul Katsuhiko Takei and was close to his daughter, Naoko, acting as a sisterly figure to the girl after her mother's death.
During the episode, Naoko was kidnapped and held for ransom, and was seemingly killed when the abductor panicked during the ransom dropoff and drove the van into the lake in a murder-suicide. When questioned by detective Kogoro Mouri with her boss present, Akiko revealed that she had invited Naoko to a movie the day she disappeared and expressed a belief that her abduction was her fault.
Later on, the kidnappers contacted Katsuhiko again, revealing that they were alive along with Naoko and demanding another ransom. This time, however, Katsuhiko was against going through with the demand, as paying the money would jeopardize his company. This sparked a heated argument between Katsuhiko and Akiko, culminating in Katsuhiko striking Akiko when she brought up his unscrupulous business tactics.
After Conan Edogawa was caught eavesdropping on the fight, Katsuhiko forced Akiko to lock him in her bedroom, where Akiko revealed that Conan reminded her of her deceased younger brother Masahito and promised to bring him food before she and Katsuhiko left. But once he was alone, Conan saw a diver's watch on Akiko's desk, leading to realize that it was Akiko who was responsible for Naoko's disappearance. He also discovered that Naoko had never been held hostage, and that Akiko had been posing as her during the botched ransom dropoff.
As Conan escaped and hurried to stop Akiko, the villainess shoved Katsuhiko to the ground when they reached the supposed ransom dropsite and revealed her motivation for staging Naoko's kidnapping: twenty years prior, Katsuhiko had taken over Akiko's father's company in a hostile takeover, resulting in him killing Naoko's mother and brother before committing suicide himself. Wanting to exact revenge on Katsuhiko for destroying her family, Akiko became his assistant to grow close to him before committing her crimes.
During her villainous reveal, Akiko dumped the fake money Katsuhiko had brought to give as a ransom on top of him before dousing the bills in gasoline, planning to set him ablaze. But before she could, Conan arrived and pleaded with her to stop, stating that killing Katsuhiko would result in Naoko losing her only family and that Masahito wouldn't want her to take her violent revenge. At that, Naoko surrendered and broke down in tears in Conan's arms as she bemoaned her brother's fate. In a post credits scene, Naoko was rescued and embraced Akiko as she was taken away by the police, with Akiko apologizing to Naoko for what she had put her through.
Trivia[]
- In the English dub, Akiko's name is translated to Elizabeth Cole and is voiced by Jennifer Hoiland.
- Mami Koyama also voiced evil kidnapper Semmerling from Riding Bean and re-appeared on Case Closed as recurring villainess Vermouth.
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