Blogpost 3: Small But Terrible

Cute, small, attractive, harmless, clever, shrewd, innocent, short-tempered, frank, ignorant and curious over things, concern only in playing and have a tendency to quarrel over petty things such as toys – are often description about children. And because of these, they are sometimes underestimated.

I have this experience of being underestimated when I was a kid and even now I am still experiencing it. I am often underestimated because of my height. I admit that I am small for my age but I can perform all things that my age-mates can do. My height is not a hindrance for me to achieve my goals in life.

Moving on, in the anime series Detective Conan, Conan Edogawa is often underestimated because of his child-like figure not knowing that he is the prodigious young detective Shinichi Kudo. But behind his child-like figure, there remains all Shinichi's detective skills such as the ability to remember every detail of an investigation, photographic memory in recalling such subordinate facts, being meticulous to details allows him to notice minor contradicting testimonies and arrangements in crime scenes and using logic in order to connect such inconsistencies to the crime scenes.

Conan Edogawa is known by the most characters as a 7-year-old child. In relation to that, I have made research about characteristics of a school-age child in order to compare Conan with a typical child. I saw this article "General Characteristics of the School-age Child" by F. P. Hughes at the website education. According to the article, child's thinking is becoming more structured, more orderly and more logical. He/ she is also more socially involved with age-mates than before and the peer group provides support that formerly offered only by the family.

"They become eager to be productive, to achieve a sense of mastery and a feeling of accomplishment." - F. P. Hughes

I can say that Conan has only a body of a child but with a mind of a high school prodigy that can solve complicated criminal cases. On the other hand, having a child's body is somehow advantage to him because Conan can attract less suspicion while examining crime scenes, get away with exploring people's personal stuffs and ask innocent questions without setting suspects on guard.

I have also read an article entitled "5 Characteristics of a Private Detective" by Dillion J. at the website ezinearticles. I read this article because I am so curious if Conan really posses detective's traits. And according to this article, it requires a special kind of person to be a detective. The person should have these five characteristics: a) self-starter- a person should have initiative and can work alone for long periods of time; b) determined- he/ she should have firm intention to finish and complete task and to deliver information as soon as possible; c) outgoing- he/ she should not be shy to ask questions to a lot of people and willing to step out of his/ her comfort zone to be able to get the information needed; d) compassionate- he/ she should have sympathy with his/ her clients situations especially when in suffering or weakness and lastly; e) tactful- he/ she should be tactful and have a sense not to offend and hurt anybody's feelings.

"Private detectives have certain uniqueness about them. Their job is to find out information in a secretive way, and to not draw attention to themselves." - Dillion J.

Conan Edogawa is really a detective and has a unique characterization. He possesses the characteristics stated in the article such as readiness to initiate actions, determined to invest thoroughly and succeed in his search for the Black Organizations, not timid in the presence of others by asking innocent questions, compassionate to the individuals he talk to and people around him, and diplomatic and know how to communicate with others effectively. Even though he is small, he use this positively and I can say that he is terrible. Terrible in a manner that he can do impossible things. He is a certified small but terrible.

As a whole, looks can be deceiving and we should be wise enough to know what is really behind this appearance. And remember this famous quote: "Don't judge a book by its cover.".