Kohei Sawaki

Sawaki initially presents himself as courteous, knowledgeable and professionally serious. Wine is central to his identity, and he has devoted himself to developing the refined palate required of a sommelier.

He is particularly sensitive about disrespect toward wine and his profession. After an accident causes him to lose his sense of taste, that pride becomes intertwined with resentment toward several people whom he believes have either ruined his career or shown contempt for wine.

Sawaki proves capable of patient deception and extreme vindictiveness. Rather than confronting the people he resents directly, he constructs an elaborate sequence of crimes around Kogoro's acquaintances so that suspicion will fall on another man.

Sawaki is a professional sommelier with extensive knowledge of wine, including vintages, storage and tasting. Before the events surrounding Aquacrystal, his livelihood depends heavily on his highly developed palate.

He is also physically capable and demonstrates considerable planning ability. Sawaki prepares traps, manipulates evidence, uses a crossbow, handles explosives and arranges attacks around the numerical values of playing cards. He is sufficiently methodical to include himself among the apparent victims, helping divert suspicion away from himself.

His crucial weakness is ageusia, the loss of his sense of taste following an earlier traffic accident. Conan confirms the condition by secretly putting salt into Sawaki's mineral water and observing that he drinks it without reacting.

Sawaki becomes involved when Kogoro Mouri's acquaintances appear to be attacked in descending numerical order. Because the kanji in Sawaki's name corresponds to eight, he appears to fit the same playing-card pattern.

At Aquacrystal, Sawaki joins Conan Edogawa, Kogoro and several other numbered guests. An arrow trap apparently targets him in the wine cellar, seemingly confirming that he is another victim of the mysterious attacker.

Conan eventually proves that Sawaki himself constructed the attacks. His actual targets are people against whom he holds personal grudges: Nana Osanai caused the accident that destroyed his sense of taste, Hiroki Tsuji humiliated him professionally, Katsuyoshi Asahi mistreated valuable wines, and Minoru Nishina wrote about wine despite lacking the expertise Sawaki believed the subject deserved.

Sawaki murders Jo Murakami and uses the recently released criminal's history with Kogoro as the foundation of his deception. He attacks additional people associated with Kogoro solely to make the playing-card sequence convincing and even stages an attack on himself. Conan exposes him at Aquacrystal before the plan can be completed.

Kogoro Mouri is a longtime acquaintance of Sawaki. [Sawaki exploits Kogoro Mouri's history with Jo Murakami to create the false impression that Murakami is attacking people associated with the former detective.](#spoiler)

Eri Kisaki also knows Sawaki through his longstanding connection to the Mouri family.

Conan Edogawa becomes suspicious of Sawaki's behavior at Aquacrystal. His observations concerning Sawaki's inability to taste ultimately provide an important clue to the sommelier's motive and identity as the attacker.

Nana Osanai has a hidden connection to Sawaki. She struck him with her car and fled the scene, causing injuries that eventually robbed him of his sense of taste. Sawaki later targets and kills her in revenge.

Hiroki Tsuji previously hired Sawaki's services. [Sawaki resents Hiroki Tsuji for humiliating him in front of guests and targets him by tampering with his eye drops before a helicopter flight.](#spoiler)

Katsuyoshi Asahi owns an expensive wine collection. [Sawaki despises Katsuyoshi Asahi's poor treatment of valuable wines and includes him among his intended victims.](#spoiler)

Minoru Nishina is a gourmet writer whose claims of wine expertise offend Sawaki. [Sawaki considers Minoru Nishina unqualified to write about wine and targets him as part of his revenge.](#spoiler)

Jou Murakami is the former criminal whom Sawaki uses as a scapegoat. [Sawaki murders Jou Murakami and constructs the numbered attacks so investigators will believe Murakami is seeking revenge against Kogoro.](#spoiler)