Vodka

Vodka (ウォッカ Wokka) is a character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan. He is Gin's secretary and assistant. Like Gin, he was first introduced under the name of Kaspar in the English manga, but then was later renamed to Vodka.

Background
Vodka is a member of the Black Organization who is often seen by Gin's side. His official position is Gin's secretary, so he handles most of the research and information for the duo, such as setting up meetings (309-311), and relaying information to other members (54, 345). Vodka is often seen using some transport.

Personality
Vodka speaks and acts like a typical mafia or Yakuza type gangster, and he is just as ruthless a killer as his partner Gin. However, he is also more easy-going and trusting than the latter, thus making him more susceptible to traps Conan sets to apprehend the Organization. In addition, he tends to not perform well under stress without guidance from Gin or other characters, as exemplified in Sherry's Return when, distracted by Gin being sedated, he fails to realize Shiho is escaping and stop her before it is too late.

While his astuteness is largely overshadowed by Gin, Vodka can notice details that Gin does not, sometimes to the point of endangering Conan. An example of this would again be in Sherry’s Return, where Vodka noted Haibara’s partially consumed bottle of baijiu and the unfolded laptop containing data about APTX 4869. (She had left these behind in order to be able to climb through the chimney and successfully escape from the room before the two arrived). On the bullet train's dining car, Vodka spotted a piece of gum that Conan had previously planted; however, Vodka then confirmed it was just a piece of gum, apparently unaware of the tracker hidden inside. Another example occurred while Vodka was on the phone with Conan, who at the time was impersonating the Organization contact Suguru Itakura with his voice changing bowtie. During the conversation, Vodka heard the click of Agasa turning on the lights in the background, although Conan again alleviates his suspicions by telling him that the sound was just the wind blowing.

Shooting
Vodka is a fairly accurate shot with handguns. In Reunion with the Black Organization he pretty accurately shoots at adult height where Conan is standing behind the door. (Note that in the anime, Vodka is depicted as shooting wildly because the animators mistook the drawings of the muzzle flash for wall impacts)

Memory
Vodka apparently has a good memory. He could recall offhand the conditions, reasons, and circumstances of the Shinichi's death quite some time after the fact when Gin asked.

Plot overview
Vodka was the first Black Organization member introduced to the series.

Blackmail Transaction with a Company Owner (Manga: 1, Anime: 1)
Gin and Vodka blackmailed an unnamed company owner who had been smuggling guns for over 100 million yen in cash. After Vodka received the briefcase of cash, he returned the film evidence of the business' gun smuggling. Vodka may have intended to kill the man when the transaction was complete as he began to draw his gun, but it could also have been in response to the company owner's remark the Black Organization does even worse things than gun smuggling. The man escaped when Gin assaulted Shinichi who had been spying on the transaction and Vodka was distracted.

Manga Version
In order to free both her sister and herself from the Black Organization, Akemi Miyano accepts the mission to rob one billion yen from a bank. To increase the chances of her sucess, she hires a driver and a giant-like man as assistants. However, the driver, Kenzo Hirota, disappears with the cash after the robbery, forcing Akemi to search for him. She hires Kogoro under the alias "Masami Hirota", supposedly Kenzo's teenage daughter. Kogoro luckily manages to find Kenzo for Akemi; after she is left alone with Kenzo, she and their third partner kill Kenzo and stage his death as a suicide hanging after taking the money.

Anime Version
Akemi Miyano, works as a bank teller under the alias "Masami Hirota" to prepare for the upcoming robbery. With the assistance of Shirou Kaizuka (a racecar driver) and Kishi (one of the bank guards), Akemi steals one billion yen from a transport van. However, soon after the Black Organization murders Akemi’s two accomplices and a lipstick-smeared facemask is left at the crime scene in order to frame Akemi as the third robber (which she is), who killed her partners to keep all the money herself (which she didn't).

Main Story
Meanwhile, Gin and Vodka meets Masami, who call her Akemi Miyano. Gin asks where the money is. Akemi refuses to reveal the location without them giving up her sister, since she'd done the job on the condition that the two of them could leave after. Gin answers that her sister, as a "top brain" in the organization, is too indispensable to have ever considered giving up. Akemi refuses Gin offer of one last chance to reveal the money cache.

Bullet Train Case (Manga: 33)
The anime episode with this plot was reworked so that the two "men in black" are simply lookalikes of Gin and Vodka, not the men themselves. As a result, this section summarizes only the manga events. Gin and Vodka board a bullet train to complete a transaction: selling information about gold for 400 million yen. They arrange the meeting place to be a dining car on the second floor of the bullet train. On the way to their seats, Gin and Vodka coincidentally encounter Conan. However, neither of them recognize that he is actually Shinichi Kudo, because they are unaware of the rare shrinking effect of APTX 4869. Vodka simply orders Conan to get out of the way and they take their seats, which are very near the Mouris', without paying further attention to him. When Gin and Vodka go to make the transaction, Conan plants an eavesdropping bug in the seat ashtray. Once they return, he overhears them discussing how the black briefcase they exchanged for 400 million yen has no information about gold, but is a bomb their client is sure to set off without meaning to at a specific time. Conan also learns their codenames at this time. They leave the train at Nagoya station, before the explosion is set to occur when the client dials a specific phone number as instructed to learn how to open the case; the number is actually the bomb activator. It is unknown if Gin, Vodka, or the Organization know that Conan was the one who found the bomb and kicked it off the train just before it exploded.

Game Company Murder Case (Manga: 114-116, Anime: 54)
At the Mantendo Convention, Conan encounters the man code-named Tequila. Tequila appears at the Mantendo Corporation convention to buy a list of the best programmers in the world from one of the company employees, Hideaki Nakajima.[3] The exchange occurs by the two men bumping into each other in the hallway and exchanging claim tickets for the convention hall's coat-check area. Tequila uses the claim ticket to obtain Hideaki's company briefcase; however, both men are unaware that Hideaki's ticket was previously switched with that of his co-worker with the intention of killing him via a briefcase-bomb. When Tequila opens the briefcase, the explosion kills him.

Meanwhile, Conan sees Tequila again on their way back, trading tag 98 for a Mantendo-employee briefcase. Conan is curious, but decides it's not his problem until he overhears the man start a phone-call with Vodka by identifying himself as Tequila and ask Vodka to tell Gin that he promise to meet both of them later. ===The University Professor Murder Case (Manga: 179-180 and 181, Anime: 129)=== Masami Hirota, age 61, was a Nanyo University professor. Akemi Miyano had contact with and was probably close to him because she borrowed his name when coming up with an alias. Shiho mistakenly sent him an APTX 4869 disk when it was mixed up for a disk of Akemi's pictures Shiho was sending back via the professor's address. The Black Organization intended to kill Masami Hirota, but he was killed by an unrelated person first. Vodka disguised his voice and left a message on his answering machine pretending to be from "Kuro Life Insurance" so he could try to set up a meeting.

===Reunion with the Black Organization (Manga: 238-242, Anime: 176-178)===

=== Vodka's rendezvous with Suguru Itakura (Manga: 380-382 and 381, Anime: 309-311) === Ran tells Conan that Akai is an FBI agent causing Conan to wonder what the FBI are doing in Japan. Conan heads to Agasa to analyze the data from Itakura's disk and learn that the Black Organization were going to Itakura's cottage to retrieve the program he was working on. Conan and Agasa head to Itakura's cottage in an attempt to intercept the email the email the Black Organization would send in order to trace them. However, the email was programmed to be deleted if the correct password was not typed and subsequently causes the Black Organization members to believe Itakura is in the cottage. Vodka phones the house and believing Itakura is in the cottage, to pick up the phone.

Once arriving at their destination point, Conan reveals that the two people are the jewelry robbers. Conan reveals that they hijacked a car as evidenced by the man's inability to handle the foreign car and how coins were found in the ashtray yet the man is a smoker. Conan apprehends the two culprits and proceeds to the subway. Once there Conan places the CD containing the program the Black Organization wants and places it in a coin locker with a check sticking out of the prearranged locker. Vodka arrives and takes the CD but is stopped by Gin who revealed that there is tape on the CD which means that someone was trying to get his fingerprint. Gin finds a tracker device. He places his hand on the case to find out its warm meaning the one who set up the disk is nearby. Conan manages to hide in a coin locker and passes out due to the lack of oxygen; He is found by Haibara the next day.

===Disguised as Zombie in Halloween Party (Manga: 429-434, Anime: 345)=== Vermouth sends a signed off-season Halloween party invitation to Kogoro Mouri and to Conan addressed for Shinichi Kudo challenging them to solve a murder on the ship. Conan asks Haibara who is still sick about the name Vermouth, and learns from her reaction that it is the codename of one of the Black Organization members.

Agasa’s house is still bugged and Conan takes advantage of that to manipulate Vermouth into believing he is going to go to the party. Conan knows at this time Vermouth wants to avoid catching him up in her plan to capture Sherry because of the events at New York in the Golden Apple case.

Gin has been ordered by the boss to look into Vermouth’s movements related to the Halloween party and tells Vodka to board the ship and investigate. He has no idea what Vermouth is doing but tells Vodka to kill her if she does anything weird even if she in the boss’s favorite.

The invisible man gathers the party guests to the bow of the boat and reveals his identity as Shinichi and declares werewolf as the murderer. Vodka is very surprised and remembers that Gin had killed Shinichi in Tropical Land. The Shinichi present at the boat is then revealed to have been Heiji Hattori in disguise. ==='''Black Impact! The Moment the Black Organization Reaches Out (Manga: 499-500 and 501-504, Anime: 425)'''=== ===Clash of Red and Black (Manga: 595-597 598-608 and 609, Anime: 495-504)===

The Jet-Black Mystery Train (Manga: 818-824, Anime: 701-704)
Vermouth is on the phone with Gin. Vermouth passes on the information that Bourbon came across, which is that Sherry was hiding in Gunma and was going to travel on the Bell Tree Express, a train own by Suzuki family which hosts a special mystery onboard. Vermouth recalls her encounter with Conan and her promise to let Sherry go. She justifies the upcoming attack on Sherry as Bourbon's job and asks Gin not to interfere before the train reaches its destination.

At the Bell Tree Express, there's an unexpected murder case. Etsuto Murobashi, a passanger room B car 7, was killed in a sealed room (8B). Jirokichi is very angry and calls a meeting with the Nagoya Police directing them to restore his and their honor by capturing the murderer post haste. Gin and Vodka watch the pep rally from behind a column on the Nagoya platform. Gin receives an text from Vermouth that Sherry is indeed boarded the train.

Gin
Vodka is a subordinate of Gin's and they frequently work together as a team, or are seen communicating with one another by phone. Vodka shows Gin absolute respect, using honorifics[3] while speaking with Gin rather than just simply using his codename. Gin in turn values Vodka for his obedience. Gin views and treats Vodka as an "inexperienced little brother".

Tequila
Vodka and Tequila are approximately equally ranked. Both are Gin's subordinates.

Sherry
Vodka is acquainted with Shiho Miyano.

Vermouth
Throughout the series, Vodka has not been shown as having any negative emotions regarding Vermouth, unlike other members of the Organization (like Chianti and Korn). Vodka and Vermouth have been seen along on missions sometimes, but in general they don't pay much attention to each other. She does tease Vodka about his lack of literary knowledge when he fails to understand how Haido Park could be a place most suited for hunting.

Character popularity
eBookJapan held a character popularity poll from April 12, 2011 to May 12, 2011 in which readers of Detective Conan (international included) could vote for their favorite character. Vodka placed 25th in the poll with 10 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.

Name origin
Vodka is the name of a type of wine made by the distillation of converted substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits or sugar.

Vodka's English dub name, Kaspar, is the name of one of the three Magi in Christian tradition. In accordance with that theme, Gin's English name, Melchior, is also the name of one of the Magi.

Trivia

 * Vodka was the first Black Organization member to appear and speak. In the first episode of the anime, he rushed towards the roller coaster yelling, "Move it! Move it! We were here first!". His bulky body blocked Gin from view for a few seconds, who was walking right behind Vodka. Gin remained silent as they boarded the roller coaster and only uttered his first words after the murder took place.
 * Vodka has never been seen taking off his hat or sunglasses. His eyes were shown only during episode 345.