Major spoilers for File 1122. The Azure Throne case is solved, Kaito Kid (Kaitou Kid) escapes in the Shinichi Kudo disguise, and Saguru Hakuba comes close to Conan’s secret without reaching the correct conclusion.
Hakuba correctly traces the deductions back to Conan, but he interprets the chain as Shinichi instructing Conan and Conan instructing Kaito Kid.
The murder is solved in the file; possible future consequences for Hakuba and Conan remain speculative.
File 1122, “Sleuth,” was serialized on November 29, 2023, in Weekly Shōnen Sunday Issue 1. This article reviews that case conclusion and its unresolved identity questions.
Detective Conan 1122 “Sleuth” – Spoiler
The chapter opens with “Shinichi” announcing that he has solved the mystery and launching into a deduction show.
At the same moment Saguru Hakuba indicates he, too, has reached the truth—and, after getting Conan’s consent, begins his own presentation.
File 1122 Spoiler ① – Shinichi’s Deduction Show
“Shinichi” (in reality Kaito Kid in disguise) recaps the entire case for everyone.
Kid placed a special lens in front of the security camera so that the exhibition-room door appeared closed even when it opened.
The murderer anticipated Kid’s camera trick. If Kid could enter without appearing on the footage, the apparent absence of footage showing Kichida returning to the room would also seem unsurprising.
Conclusion: the victim, President Kichida, was killed before Kid ever arrived and his body was staged on the throne.
File 1122 Spoiler ② – Who Walked Out of the Chamber?
The camera recorded an apparent President Kichida rejoining the group and giving an OK sign to department head Masuo Kase. If Kichida was already dead, that figure needed another explanation.
The protective outfit exposed little beyond the eyes and mouth. Glasses and a beard helped the double imitate Kichida’s appearance.
In the footage, the disguised president stands in front of the chair and body area, blocking the relevant view. He deliberately waits until the door closes.
Flow of events:
The killer enters among the employees and shoots Kichida. After the killing, he returns to the room alone and stages the body on the throne.
The disguised killer rejoins the employees and leaves with them, relying on Kid’s anticipated camera trick to conceal the staging.
File 1122 Spoiler ③ – Identifying the Killer and Moving the Body
The hand-clasp habit in the surveillance footage differs from Kichida’s usual pose in photographs and matches secretary Kyuya Kamiji’s photograph. Kid-as-Shinichi uses that comparison to identify Kamiji as the killer.
The body still had to be moved to the throne during the brief interval in the footage, described in File 1121 as less than ten seconds.
The explanation is a fireman’s carry.
Kamiji is a former firefighter, so the carry explains how he could move Kichida quickly. Hakuba demonstrates it by lifting Kid-as-Shinichi over his shoulder. The hand-clasp comparison identifies Kamiji; the carry explains the timing.
File 1122 Spoiler ④ – Motive for Murder
Kamiji was having an affair with Kichida’s wife, Satsuki.
Kichida had discovered the affair and threatened to divorce Satsuki and dismiss Kamiji after the Kid operation.
Kamiji lured the president to karaoke the night before to wreck his voice, making it easier to pass as Kichida during the final inspection.
File 1122 Spoiler ⑤ – Hakuba Corners Kaito Kid
After the case is solved, Hakuba still has Kid-as-Shinichi in a fireman’s carry. He knows the disguised man is Kid and plans to take him to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, but Kid escapes his hold.
Outside the chamber Kid, still in Shinichi’s guise, apologizes to Ran.
Ran recognized the impersonation because Kid-as-Shinichi indicated his left cheek for a kiss, whereas the earlier kiss had been on the right cheek. Kid escapes from her as well.
File 1122 Spoiler ⑥ – Hakuba’s Final Deduction About Conan
Ran is disappointed that Kid said such things while pretending to be Shinichi.
Conan is alarmed when Hakuba explains that he was feeding deductions to Kid.
Hakuba reassures her: those words actually came from the real Shinichi.
He then explains:
Conan fed instructions to Kid via microphone.
Hakuba’s explanation is that Conan received Shinichi’s deductions by phone and then passed them to Kid.
Hakuba concludes that Conan was simply relaying Shinichi’s reasoning—allowing Conan’s secret identity to survive by a hair’s breadth.
Finally Hakuba muses:
Hakuba: “Solving mysteries is all detectives know how to do.” (unofficial translation)
With that, the Kaito Kid and the Azure Throne arc comes to an end.
Detective Conan 1122 “Sleuth” – Review & Theories
The Kid-versus-Hakuba mini-arc ends with File 1122. Hakuba comes close to Conan’s secret in this case, but his final explanation misses the identity connection.
Here are the key takeaways.
File 1122 Review & Theories ① – Hakuba’s Deduction Misses the Real Secret
That final twist was wild:
Hakuba manages to trace Kid’s deduction chain back to Conan, but then assumes the sequence is Shinichi → Conan → Kid rather than the unthinkable truth.
From Hakuba’s viewpoint, a phone relay offers an ordinary explanation. A child being the teenage detective may seem much less obvious.
Heiji had met Shinichi before and experienced being put to sleep while Conan used a voice-changer. That experience may have been a major contributing factor in his discovery of Conan’s identity, rather than the sole proven reason.
That comparison helps me understand Hakuba’s mistaken explanation; it does not establish every reason for either detective’s conclusion.
For now he remains Kid’s rival, not Conan’s ally; let’s see how long that lasts.
File 1122 Review & Theories ② – Ran’s Kid-Busting Instincts Keep Leveling Up
Ran caught Kid just by noticing he pointed to the wrong cheek for a kiss—another example of her uncanny “boyfriend radar.”
Ran has recognized Kid posing as Shinichi in movies, too. Those are separate movie examples. The cheek clue in this manga case may suggest growing familiarity with his impersonation, but the films do not prove a manga development.
Finishing with Shinichi’s real words was a beautiful touch; kudos to Aoyama-sensei for that bittersweet payoff.
File 1122 Review & Theories ③ – Still No Progress on the Mysterious Elder Subplot
I hoped the stern-looking old man from the earlier Kid case would reappear, but File 1122 brings no progress on that thread.
So far we have two elderly figures:
- The cane-wielding man who smashed a phone after reading a Conan article.
- The elderly man who hired Amuro to investigate Conan.
Whether these figures are the same person is unclear. A connection to Renya Karasuma is also not confirmed; the unresolved hints remain frustrating.
Further reading (contains spoilers): Saguru Hakuba's identity and detective rivals and when Kaito Kid learned Conan's identity.
Comments