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Det. Conan Anime Cited in Korean Teen Killing's Aftermath
posted on by Egan Loo
The police in Seoul accused a gang of five teenaged dropouts of killing a fellow 15-year-old female gang member on June 12, and a boyfriend of one of the gang members allegedly suggested that they drain the body's blood to make disposal easier, in a manner inspired by the Detective Conan (Case Closed) anime. According to the police, the gang had kidnapped the victim, Kim Jeong, for four days before unintentionally killing her. The suspects' reported motive was the victim's gossip about the male gang leader's "very bad behavior." All of the suspects except the 19-year-old boyfriend (identified only by his family name Lee) are 15 years old.
Two English reports described the blood-draining's source of inspiration as manga, but Korean reports say the source was the Detective Conan anime which Lee had seen when he was in junior high school. (In the Korean language, the words for "anime" and "manga" are related.) In particular, the British website Metro included an image of an unrelated Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Tsumihoroboshi-hen manga volume in its article.
Sources: Today Korea, Kado, JoonAnge Daily, Metro
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