Key Points of Interest that I Found Significant

[Dus]

So neither the Fan Book nor the Conan Drill are a reliable source, you say? Well, many of the 'facts' seemed weird to me anyway, but wasn't Shogakukan the editor?

[Jd-]

So neither the Fan Book nor the Conan Drill are a reliable source, you say? Well, many of the 'facts' seemed weird to me anyway, but wasn't Shogakukan the editor?

The "Fan Book" in question is actually a book full of speculation at best. It's like those "unauthorized guides" that you'll see for certain series and such; it was not written or endorsed by anyone at Shounen Sunday, Shogakukan, or their management. As for the "Conan Drill" (which, while I'm not certain, I believe to be another unauthorized guide), I believe that the information was misinterpreted, mistranslated, misread, or misrepresented by those that have read it (if it is just not outright wrong, which I'm being optimistic about--I just hate to think all of the unauthorized guides are reprinting the same baseless information). But these guides are only good for giving you bad directions a lot of the time, so being skeptical is always your best bet.

Don't you think that if the names were actually in the anime & manga that we could... you know... just go get them and validate it? Unfortunately, they aren't there, which should be your first red flag.

---

EDIT: Here's a list of all the official, guidebook-like publications approved and/or written by Gosho Aoyama:

Detective Conan Mystery Museum (1997)
Detective Conan's Mystery Academy (1997)
Conan the Movie Perfect Guide (2001)
Decipherment of the Conan (2003)
Gosho Aoyama the Complete Color Works 1994-2002 (2003)
Love Conan (2004)
Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief (2004)
Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths Official Fanbook (2005)
Detective Conan 10 Years Cinema Guide (2006)
Detective Conan the Movie: All Character Record (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2008)
Love Conan the Movie (2009)

I can't guarantee this is all of them, but I believe it is most. I can say that if this "Conan Drill" had such big information, it would be mentioned everywhere, and yet I've never seen it mentioned much outside of spurious rumors in languages not in Japanese.

EDIT 2: I even just looked through all of the officially-sanctioned quiz books but can't find anything remotely close to "Conan Drill". The only thing outside of the above that qualify are the Super Digest books, which I can tell you do not include the information you're looking for. I'm not saying "Conan Drill" doesn't exist--I'm just saying it isn't official.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

The Conan Drill is on the sanctioned list. The full name is Conan Drill: Decipherment of the Conan (2003)

EDIT: Here's a list of all the official, guidebook-like publications approved and/or written by Gosho Aoyama:

Detective Conan Mystery Museum (1997)
Detective Conan's Mystery Academy (1997)
Conan the Movie Perfect Guide (2001)
Decipherment of the Conan (2003)
Gosho Aoyama the Complete Color Works 1994-2002 (2003)
Love Conan (2004)
Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief (2004)
Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths Official Fanbook (2005)
Detective Conan 10 Years Cinema Guide (2006)
Detective Conan the Movie: All Character Record (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2008)
Love Conan the Movie (2009)

That said, the mermaid case doesn't seem to be mentioned on the page in question, 261.

[Jd-]

The Conan Drill is on the sanctioned list. The full name is Conan Drill: Decipherment of the Conan (2003)

EDIT: Here's a list of all the official, guidebook-like publications approved and/or written by Gosho Aoyama:

Detective Conan Mystery Museum (1997)
Detective Conan's Mystery Academy (1997)
Conan the Movie Perfect Guide (2001)
Decipherment of the Conan (2003)
Gosho Aoyama the Complete Color Works 1994-2002 (2003)
Love Conan (2004)
Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief (2004)
Detective Conan: Strategy Above the Depths Official Fanbook (2005)
Detective Conan 10 Years Cinema Guide (2006)
Detective Conan the Movie: All Character Record (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2007)
Love Conan the Movie (2008)
Love Conan the Movie (2009)

That said, the mermaid case doesn't seem to be mentioned on the page in question, 261.

Yep, you're right about that, just confirmed it (EDIT: I meant to confirm the full title included Conan Drill). I'll go back to my earlier statement and say that I believe the information was misinterpreted, mistranslated, misread, misrepresented, or just straight up attributed where it was not to bolster an argument somewhere. I remember having parts of this book at some point; if you have it and can scan in the page, we can at least put the rumor to rest from here.

That "Fan Book" in question isn't authorized though, I can confirm that much with some level of confidence. I remember seeing a few pages from it--it's very obviously nothing official if that was the same book.

[Tanner-kun]

where can i read those guide books or whatever?

[skyechan]

(lots of talk regarding the guestbook from the Mermaid Case)

Can anyone with access to the Fan Book or the Conan Drill confirm that?

Pg. 261 of Conan Drill: The Decipherment of the Conan does seem to have something regarding names in File 281 as a side note on the page.  I cannot read kanji though so it's not very useful.  What I can read though simply seems to put out, "Could this possibly be Vodka's name?" or something to that extent.  The book from what I can tell isn't confirming or denying anything.  It reminds me of those odd questions you see on each of the manga files.

Also, regarding the book's legitimacy: it's legitimate from the standpoint that Shogakukan is the publisher and Shounen Sunday put the book together.  As for whether everything in it is absolutely end-all-be-all truth is beyond me; again, I can't read kanji worth a darn.

If it helps at all, this is the entire text that appears on the front cover:

Weekly Shounen Sunday Special Compilation - Official Book
Conan Drill
Decipherment of The CONAN
(Compilation) Shounen Sunday Special Compilation Project

(週刊少年サンデー特別編集 オフィシャルブック
コナンドリル
Decipherment of The CONAN
[編] 少年サンデー特別編集プロジェクト )

[Abs.]

Oh, I see.  It's on the leftmost margin there

[Jd-]

Also, regarding the book's legitimacy: it's legitimate from the standpoint that Shogakukan is the publisher and Shounen Sunday put the book together.  As for whether everything in it is absolutely end-all-be-all truth is beyond me; again, I can't read kanji worth a darn.

It's all right--we've already established that it's authorized. I am still surprised that the crazy Engrish title is the secondary title, though. After reading the English on the raws of the recent files, I am not surprised at the actual Engrish, at least.

[skyechan]

Oh, I see.  It's on the leftmost margin there

Yeah, took me a bit to spot it too. It really is just a minor side note! lol.

[Abs.]

Yup anyway my thoughts on the matter haven't changed from what I posted in the thread Chekhov linked before

[Dashin]

Hey, the name "Uozuka Saburo" (魚塚 三郎) is clearly readable near "Miyano Shiho" in the manga and the anime!

Spoiler:

You can also read the name Doi (土井) clearly to the left. The name bellow Doi (only readable in the anime) begins with Na (è

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Hey, the name "Uozuka Saburo" (魚塚 三郎) is clearly readable near "Miyano Shiho" in the manga and the anime!

Spoiler:

You can also read the name Doi (土井) clearly to the left. The name bellow Doi (only readable in the anime) begins with Na (菜).

Spoiler:

To the right of Saburo, on the other hand, you can read what could be the kanji for "Kuro" (黒) on the top, in the anime, and you can read what might be the kanji for "sawa" (澤) in the manga (though you can't read Kuro, here). The name, Jin or any other, doesn't show up in any of them.

Just remember the anime version doesn't count, only what you can read in the manga. The animators aren't well known for getting subtle details right in the Vermouth arc.

[Dashin]

I don't think totally discarding that is right, either. They might be getting some details wrong (I'm not sure which ones are you referring to, though). But I don't think it's impossible for Aoyama to suggest the anime staff to include something, and I don't think it's impossible for the anime staff to check stuff up, like if the names in the manga had any relevance. Also the mistakes during the first couple of seasons can't be taken into consideration, I think, shice they probably made all the changes on purpose since they didn't know for sure if the anime was going to be a hit or if it was going to continue beyond a couple of seasons, even if the manga was. After episode 100 everything has been pretty much a literal adaptation, hasn't it?

I also have to agree that Ootaki looks really similar to Vodka. Does Vodka speak in a kansai-ben? I can't remember.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Somewhere there was a list of everything the animators messed up. I forget if it was on Holmes forum of here. The most obvious thing they missed was the pictures of Vermouth's pictures on Jodie's wallboard. In the manga you can see Jodie took pictures of Vermouth's pictures so they didn't quite match up at the edges. If the thread is on DCTP and not somewhere else, I'll try to track it down.

[Jd-]

I have no opinion about Uozuka Saburo because I've never heard of it mentioned as the name of Gin nor Vodka. I haven't read the topic in full and admittedly don't keep up nearly as much as I once did several years ago, but I imagine what happened is that people actually translated "Uozuka Saburo" for themselves and it replaced Kurosawa Jin because it was actually readable. Pure speculation; just a wild guess.

That doesn't say Kurosawa, by the way. We scanned in the volume version and enlarged it as much as possible to make 100% sure (it's of greater quality than the one above) and it was not Kurosawa nor was it Jin. I even asked the translator if it was just an eccentric or archaic way of writing it, and he said it was positively not "Kurosawa" and it was his opinion that someone had made it up. To be honest, though, my opinion on the entire matter is very fuzzy considering this was quite a while ago.

One thing I don't see people mention often: Why on earth would we assume these are their real names? If I were signing a guidebook that would be linked to me, I would certainly use an alias, and not one I had used before, either.

I don't think totally discarding that is right, either. They might be getting some details wrong (I'm not sure which ones are you referring to, though). But I don't think it's impossible for Aoyama to suggest the anime staff to include something, and I don't think it's impossible for the anime staff to check stuff up, like if the names in the manga had any relevance.

I'd say that's fair enough. I've always contended that he would have to mention some of the finer details that will play into some of the deductions later (such as something revolving around Okiya's identity).