Spoilers follow for both parts, the staged curse, the earlier disappearance and the culprit.
The Urashima Taro display is Takeshi Yamaoka’s attempt to direct suspicion toward his sister-in-law Nishino. That does not clear her of every crime: the solution identifies her as responsible for the deaths of Takeshi’s brother Kazuo and cafe owner Hitomi Togashi. Understanding the ending means separating the person who arranged the apparent curse from the person hiding the older crime.
The Glassy Water’s Surface (Part 1) and The Glassy Water’s Surface (Part 2) are international episodes 1232–1233 (Japanese episodes 1174–1175). The two-part mystery is anime-original and takes Conan, Ran and Kogoro to a coastal town in northern Kyoto.
A body returns from the sea in the shape of a legend
Three men searching for Takeshi hear the melody associated with Urashima Taro. A small craft drifts toward them carrying his body: his hair is white, a turtle shell is attached to his back, and a tamatebako, the box associated with the folktale, completes the display. It looks as though an old story has materialized in the harbor.
The lawyer Ooi brings the case to the Mouri Detective Agency. At the coast, their client Tsuji describes the discovery and the relationships surrounding Takeshi. Conan immediately treats the curse imagery as something a person has arranged, rather than an explanation for the death.
Ooi reports that Takeshi died from neurotoxin poisoning. His white hair is an effect created with hair wax, not evidence of sudden aging. The theatrical details can therefore mislead twice: they invite a supernatural explanation and encourage everyone to assume that the person responsible for the display must also be the obvious murderer.
The town’s disputes give several people a possible grievance
A fisherman often argued with Takeshi. Their conflict includes an aquaculture venture involving oysters and yellowtail that Takeshi opposed; the venture nevertheless went ahead and made money. The fisherman also describes an off-limits island with a memorial to fishermen. The dispute supplies a possible grievance, while the island becomes a place that needs investigation.
Nishino runs an inn and was married to Takeshi’s brother Kazuo, whose disappearance hangs over the family. Takeshi blamed her for what happened to his brother, and their hostility was widely known. Her husband’s insurance money may make her look suspicious, but she has a firm alibi for the day of Takeshi’s death.
Togashi, who runs a cafe, is Takeshi’s former girlfriend. Their separation sits against the town’s conflict between fishing and tourism, although its precise cause is not clear. She follows the investigators and offers to help, still intent on doing something for the man she once loved. Another figure also follows the investigators, adding to the sense that their movements are being watched.
The priest at Urasawa Shrine explains that the turtle shell and boxes belong to the shrine. Two tamatebako, one large and one small, were stolen during an intrusion three days before the incident. The larger box has been recovered, but the smaller one is still missing. The legend’s props have a traceable, ordinary origin.
Togashi finds something worth killing to conceal
That night, Togashi calls to say she has found decisive evidence. The call is interrupted by the sound of an attack. Searching for her, the group finds a phone playing the Urashima Taro tune by the sea and her body in the water nearby. The repeated melody makes the two deaths appear to belong to the same curse.
Inspector Fumimaro Ayanokoji arrives aboard a Kyoto Prefectural Police patrol boat, accompanied by his familiar chipmunk. Examination establishes that Togashi was killed by a blow. Meanwhile, Conan and Ran investigate the local tradition and learn that its figure, Urashimako, differs from the more familiar version of Urashima Taro. The legend needs to be understood locally, even as the deaths require a human explanation.
The next day, arrows drawn in chocolate syrup help retrace Togashi’s movements. Rain begins to wash them away before the route can be followed to its end. At the same time, the stolen box is found at Nishino’s home with a poisonous frog inside. It is an incriminating discovery, but it does not remove her alibi for Takeshi’s death.
The island separates Takeshi’s plan from Nishino’s secret
Conan goes with Ayanokoji to the restricted island, where they find a hut. The investigation uncovers preparations for the disguise, including hair-coloring work. Back on the mainland, the explanation delivered through Kogoro identifies Takeshi himself as the planner of the Urashima display, designed to connect his own case with Kazuo’s disappearance and point blame toward Nishino.
The revelation concerns who staged the curse; it should not be treated as proof that Nishino killed Takeshi. His reported poisoning and the later discovery of his preparations leave the precise way he completed the plan unclear. What the reconstruction does establish is that his grief and isolation after losing Kazuo drove the attempt to make Nishino appear responsible.
Nishino is nevertheless hiding Kazuo’s death. Her inn is a designated important cultural property, and the explanation links their relationship to Kazuo’s interest in that property. His body has been concealed inside the wall of the open-air bath on the first floor. The earlier disappearance is therefore a separate crime, not merely background to Takeshi’s accusations.
Togashi had seen Nishino speaking to Kazuo’s hidden body. That discovery explains the second murder: she was killed to keep what she had learned from coming out. The repeated folktale imagery could draw attention away from the practical reason someone needed her silenced.
The syrup clue and the escape bring the case to an end
Chocolate syrup on Nishino’s heel links her to Togashi’s trail. Kogoro’s explanation predicts that Togashi’s fingerprints may remain in that syrup; it is a proposed evidential check, not a reported completed laboratory match. Keeping that distinction matters when weighing the clue against the hidden body and the reconstruction of Togashi’s discovery.
Nishino smashes glass with a vase, makes for the first-floor open-air bath and attempts to escape on a board. Conan stops her. The conclusion strips away the apparent curse by separating three things that initially seemed inseparable: Takeshi’s staged accusation, Kazuo’s concealed death and the killing of the woman who found that secret.
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