Conan's true identity was even revealed right in front of Ran's eyes!
The biggest revelation of Detective Conan was unveiled in episode 96 - Two consecutive cases premiered on March 23, 1998. After solving a perplexing case, Ran took Conan to buy food to 'expose' him. By observing Conan's deductions and crime-solving methods, Ran affirmed that Conan is Shinichi. She even took off Conan's glasses to reveal his true appearance, resembling her childhood sweetheart.


While they were arguing, an important character appeared - Yukiko Kudo. Shinichi's mother helped her son out of the dilemma with a confusing 'mantra': 'Conan is the grandson of our family's uncle with the daughter of our grandfather's brother-in-law'.
At first glance, viewers might think Yukiko was giving a nonsense answer to fool Ran. However, upon closer examination, the convoluted statement is actually quite logical, simultaneously revealing Conan's true identity as Shinichi Kudo.

Let's analyze the statement into its components. Yukiko's uncle can also be considered as her aunt's family uncle. The daughter of this uncle would be Yukiko's aunt. The family uncle of this aunt is simply Yukiko's father. Lastly, the grandson of Yukiko's father is her own son, namely Shinichi.

In terms of wording, this verbose phrase by Yukiko will be expressed differently in each language. However, Aoyama's overall purpose here is that Yukiko does not hide the fact that Conan and Shinichi are one and the same in front of Ran, while nobody knows whether Ran understands it or not.

Initially, Yukiko's presence dispelled Ran's suspicions about Conan's identity, but that doesn't mean Ran has stopped pondering Shinichi. To this day, whether Ran (and Kogoro) knows Conan is Shinichi remains a big mystery yet to be revealed by the author.
Image: TMS Entertainment