Kozaburo Hijikata

Kozaburo Hijikata is the main antagonist of the Detective Conan/Case Closed 2-part episodes "The Historical Actor Murder Case"/"Fame and Misfortune" He is a movie actor who best known for playing honorable samurais, However his action would be revealed, exposing him as a dishonorable samurai.

He was voiced by Kenji Utsumi, who also voiced Braiking Boss from Casshern Sins and Emperor Gore from Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo.

Biography

He first appeared (in disguised) at a Diner, where it was revealed that he is staring in a new crime drama series and wanted to Kogoro Mouri as his mentor due to not knowing how to play a detective since he is best known for playing samurais (despite his last two films bombing). After introducing himself to Ran and Conan, he was asked about the rumors about him and former actress Isami Nagakura (who is his wife) splitting up, only for him to explain that it was a rumor created by the media. He then invited the Mouri's and Conan back to his apartment, where they entered to the back, hoping not to see any reporters but luck would have it, there were no reporters and too the elevator to the fifth floor, but not before bumping into another fame actor; Hajime Okita, who Ran recognize. While in the elevator, Kozaburo give away some business cards of his to Kogoro.

Upon arriving at his apartment, Kogoro, Conan and Ran are amazed to encounter Isami, who greeted them as she was about to go out, but not before both her and Kozaburo had a bit of a hidden argument about the rumors being true and how she plans to take half his money when they get a divorce, with Isami revealing that he started it and that once they are split up, she might hook up with her boyfriend, who is revealed to be Okita (as the rumor stated that she and him were dating). Kozaburo then walked Isami to the front door as she reminded him of the meeting that all three of them were about to talk about.

Later he came to the living room with four teacups when he wanted to show the Mouris a model gun that he purchased for his role, which he couldn't find (due to Kogoro breaking the metal piece, believing it to be a lighter instead) He later took them of the balcony to see the view, only to see Isami falling backwards on a different balcony, which is revealed to be Hajime Okita's apartment. This causing him, Kogoro, Conan and Ran to rush to his apartment and after a few moments of him pounding on the door, Kogoro and the others deicde to head to the lobby and get the spare key for the room, with Kozaburo staying behind to make sure that Okita won't escape.

After a few minutes, Kozaburo, Kogoro, Conan and Ran burst into the room to find that Isami is dead, with Okita claiming that he had no idea that Isami was here, but Kozaburo yelled at him, telling him that he, the Mouris and Conan witness her dying in his balcony, but Okita claims she never saw her here. Later Megure arrived at the crime scene where Kogoro (in one of his failed deductions) explains what happened and that Okita killed Isami because of the rumors, which he denied that she never came to his apartment, but Kogoro still believes that Okita did it due to him being known to be play villains in his films. Because this, Megure plans to take Okita to the station, However Conan isn't convinced as earlier he remembered seeing Kozaburo smiling while he was crying over Isami's dead body.

Later as Kogoro is distracting the reporters (who somehow got wind of the incident), Kozaburo, Okita and Megure secretly sneaked past them, only for Conan (via Kogoro) to reveal that the true killer (and villain) is none other than Kozaburo. This however caused Megure to yell at Kogoro about this as he explains that Isami was found in Okita's balcony and how he was with Kogoro and the kids when it happened but Conan explains how he did it, even revealing that the death didn't happened on the fifth floor but rather the sixth floor of the apartment (due to Kozaburo owning both the fifth and sixth floors, with Okita owning the fifth room on the right side) and that, even revealing that rooms of both floors are exactly the same (with the tea cups found on the fifth floor table but not on the sixth floor).

However, Kozaburo denied the claim as there's no physical evidence linking him to the murder, until Conan had Takagi (who confirmed that rooms being the same) found the evidence needed to prove that Kozaburo's the murder; the metal piece of the model gun that Kogoro broke when he mistook it for a lighter and gun itself, where it was found on the sixth floor and not the fifth. With his crime now expose, Kozaburo revealed his motive of killing Isami (exposing him as the villain)

Turns out the rumors of the affair between Isani and Okita were true and that he killed her by strangling her neck in order to frame Okita for the crime and wanted to use the insurance money to rebuild his film studio. Just before he was taken away, he asked Kogoro how he figured out he was the murderer due to his careful plaining and Conan revealed that the ringtone from the phone in Okita's room was different than the one they heard in the empty sixth floor, with Kozaburo saying that he made sure the phone in the empty room sounded like Okita's, until Okita revealed that he bought a new phone the other day, which lead to Kozaburo's plan to fail. He was later seen taken away in by the police.

Trivia

• In the original dub, just before Kozaburo was taken away he revealed that this crime was also a bet, wanting to see that if he could fool the greatest detective in modern time, he would be considered a great actor and great detective of modern drama. While in the FUNImation dub, he claimed that because he's a actor, he wouldn't go to jail.