Renya Karasuma

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Renya Karasuma
Profile
Japanese name:	烏丸 蓮耶 (Karasuma Renya)
Age:	unknown (thought to be dead)
Gender:	Male
Date of birth:	unknown
Relatives:	Mrs. Karasuma (mother, deceased)
Occupation:	Black Organization boss
Nicknames:	Ano kata (あの方 ,lit. "That Person") Boss (ボス ,Bosu)
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: File 300 Anime: Episode 219
Appearances:	Chapters: 5 Chapters: 1 Episodes: 7 Movies: 1 Openings: 2

Renya Karasuma (烏丸 蓮耶 ,Karasuma Renya) is the mysterious boss of the Black Organization, which they respectfully refer as Ano kata (あの方 ,lit. "That Person"), and the primary antagonist in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan.

Background

Renya Karasuma was a wealthy multi-millionaire who is the most powerful man in Japan. He is said to have died between forty and twenty years ago. When his mother had died, he inherited Sunset Manor (黄昏の館 ,Tasogare no yakata) from her and over time filled it with his crest which depicts a crow. Below are several examples:

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Villa junction

Flatware

Back door

Central tower knob

Dining room knob

Crow circle

He found a clue leading to a vast fortune left by his mother and supposedly hidden in that western-style manor house, but he was unable to solve it himself. Consumed by his own greed for the treasure, he came to hire people to solve the riddle for him, such as the archaeologist Kyosuke Senma, and then began killing them as motivation for the others to work faster. The Karasuma family had declined, and the house had fallen into other hands. Hardly anything has been touched since the incident and those murders were the cause behind the numerous old bloodstains all over in the house.

As the highest authority in the shady Karasuma Group (烏丸グループ ,Karasuma Gurūpu), where there are a lot of bad rumors going around about them, he directs the so-called Black Organization's activities and plans crimes to protect and advance its interests. He communicates to subordinates by text messages. His phone number, encoded as the famous children song Nanatsu no Ko, is #969#6261, purposefully made non-functional by Gosho Aoyama to prevent prank calls. Haibara warns Conan of the danger of calling it, likening it to Pandora's box. He is responsible for promoting agents and deciding on their alcoholic code names. The FBI think that only a few of the highest ranking executive agents like Gin or Vermouth could lead them to the elusive boss.

Personality

Renya Karasuma is described as a greedy, cruel and impatient man. He appears to be materialistic as he was driven by his own greed while searching for the hidden treasure inside the Sunset Manor. Furthermore, he seems not to value the cost of human life as he killed numerous people that he invited as motivation to find the treasure faster.

He is fairly ruthless, willing to dispatch senior agents who have been loyal to the Black Organization for many years for a single mistake. Vermouth says that he is always careful to the extreme, the type to ruin the plan by overthinking it. Somehow, he can maintain loyalty and unity within the code named ranks despite many agents disliking or even outright wishing to murder certain others. He is known to give permission to agents who wish to pursue certain secret missions, such as Bourbon and Vermouth's plan to make sure Shuichi Akai was truly dead.

He is especially close to Vermouth, who is described as his favorite, much to the chagrin of her enemies and those who mistrust her. He is also close to Gin, who often acts as an intermediary between he and other agents. Gin usually takes the lead planning role in assassinations that he has ordered. While most agents follow his orders, some agents have acted contrary to the wishes of him.

The FBI believed he was hoping to nip a potential obstacle in the bud because Yasuteru Domon, who is a politician hard on crime, may have a chance of becoming the next Prime Minister. He thought Akai could become a "Silver Bullet", someone who is especially dangerous to the Black Organization. In that regard, he's more like Vermouth than Gin who doesn't believe a single person who can take the syndicate down in one shot exists.

Appearance

Renya Karasuma has only appeared as an ominous silhouette: the hair extended to the neck, a large nose, and a somewhat obese body shape. He dressed in black with a white scarf, held a walking stick with a ball handle on his right hand with long nails, and on his left shoulder is a crow, which is also depicted on his crest.

Plot overview

The Gathering of the Detectives! (Manga: 299-302, Anime: 219)

Detective Oogami possessed by Karasuma.

The six greatest detectives Kogoro Mouri (along with Ran and Conan), Saguru Hakuba, Furuyo Senma, Shukuzen Oogami, Harufumi Mogi, and Ikumi Soda were called by Kaitou Kid to a mansion covered in blood in the isolated Nishitama mountains, an Inaka Village at 2 km from Okuno Dam, and while they were having their so-called "last supper" they were told by thier host that this mansion belonged to Renya Karasuma forty years ago and that there was a treasure hidden inside. The name Karasuma seems to trigger the guests attention.

Sunset Manor

At the end of the case it is revealed that Shukuzen Oogami had tracked down the house and started to look for the treasure two years, but he couldn't solve the riddle. He had put himself into massive debt to buy the house and was in serious trouble, but he was killed by his partner Furuyo Senma. Conan solved the riddle: using the clock in the dining room, a layer comes off the entire outer walls of the building, revealing solid gold underneath. Soda notes that it must be worth 100 billion yen, and that only Karasuma could do something on such a scale. Sunset being when the sky shines gold, it is literally a "Golden Manor". Kaitou Kid had come for Karasuma's treasure, but it was too big for him to carry away.

Oogami and Senma, who wanted to decipher the riddle and psychologically created another same tragedy, were all along possessed by Karasuma.

Stradivarius Murder Case (Manga: 470, Anime: 385)

Conan visualized him as a big criminal silhouette along with Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth, with evil aura in the anime version.

The Strange Family's Request (Manga: 479, Anime: 398)

Conan visualized him as a criminal silhouette along with Gin, Vodka, and naked Vermouth in the anime version. It'd be a bad idea to send a message to that address, but Conan is calm down sure he'll get his chance one day and he'll contact the boss.

The Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: 1008, Anime: TBD)

Yusaku Kudo and Subaru Okiya have come to the conclusion that the dying message left that the scene of Kohji Haneda's murder was actually a single name: "CARASUMA". Conan visualized him as a silhouette along with Gin, Vodka, naked Vermouth, Chianti, and Korn.

Non-Canon Plot Overview

Special Manga

Movie 3: The Last Wizard of the Century

While Conan chases down leads on their organization, he's constantly confronted by difficult cases. In the introduction sequence, one night at the Acropolis of Athens, he is suddenly stuck behind by a huge red demon with evil aura, of course the boss, as the heart of the Black Organization.

TV Special: Time Travel of the Silver Sky

A software created by Professor Agasa can give the identity of anyone in the world and tries to find out the identity of the boss, but eventually failed.

Special Manga: File 294

When Haibara reveals to Conan the Black Organization's plan to have complete control of the world, she visualized him as a criminal silhouette clutching a globe.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call Renya Karasuma	What Renya Karasuma calls them
	Gin	Ano kata	-
	Vodka	Ano kata	-
	Vermouth	Boss Ano kata	Vermouth
	Chianti	Ano kata	-
	Hidemi Hondou	Ano kata	-
	Rei Furuya	Boss	-
	Pisco	Ano kata	-
	Irish	Ano kata	-

Picture	Name	What they call Renya Karasuma	What Renya Karasuma calls them
	Conan Edogawa	Kuromaku (黒幕 ,lit. "Mastermind") Boss Karasuma Renya	-
	Hiroshi Agasa	Boss	-
	Kogoro Mouri	Karasuma Renya	-
	Yusaku Kudo	Karasuma Renya	-

Picture	Name	What they call Renya Karasuma	What Renya Karasuma calls them
	Shuichi Akai	Boss Target	Silver Bullet
	Subaru Okiya	Boss	-
	Jodie Starling	Boss	-
	James Black	Boss	-

Picture	Name	What they call Renya Karasuma	What Renya Karasuma calls them
	Kohji Haneda	Carasuma	-
	Furuyo Senma	Karasuma Renya Karasuma Renya	-
	Ikumi Soda	Karasuma	-
	Kyosuke Senma	Karasuma	-

Relationships analysis

Black Organization

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Rum

Rum is the second-in-command in the organization, meaning that he must trust him/her.

Gin

He trusts Gin enough to make him an executive agent, and for good reason: Gin is among the most loyal of the high-ranking Black Organization. Gin follows his orders closely and virtually never acts against the organization's greater interests, and in return he entrusts Gin to direct critical missions and key assassinations. He often issues orders to Gin directly by text message for him to disseminate to the others, and the two are implied to contact each other fairly often about instructions and suspicions. For this reason the FBI thought Gin would be able to lead them to the boss if they captured him.

Vodka

Vodka likely fears consequence to act without his permission, but it's Gin the true responsible.

Vermouth

Vermouth is known as his favorite member by the other members although the reason for the favoritism is unknown, and he allows her some degree of independence. Bourbon reveals that there is some sort of connection between Vermouth and the boss, implying that her relationship with the boss goes further than merely being his favorite member. Bourbon also notes that he has arranged for her secret to be revealed to the whole Black Organization in case something happens to him, and points out that the other members would be quite surprised if they knew the nature of the relationship. During an off-season Halloween party aboard a ship, discovered that Vermouth was up to something without the Black Organization's knowledge, he ordered Gin and Vodka to investigate. At the party, a man that Vermouth blackmailed to murder a director began screaming someone called Vermouth was to blame. Later, he sends a text message to Vermouth's cellphone informing her that her freedom was now being restricted and she was to return: "It looks like I have given you too much freedom. Come back to my side, Vermouth."

Chianti

Chianti likely fears him and, being a direct order from him, she must also bear Vermouth. For avenge Calvados' death, she would've killed Vermouth a long time ago for real, if she wasn't his favorite, but swears she'll definitely kill her. She seems envious for what Kir has used to make him let her join their four years ago.

Kir

He promoted Kir because she had uncovered a spy and confronted him. The spy, Ethan Hondou, overpowered and tortured her for information, but Rena Mizunashi remained silent. Although completely crippled, Rena bit Ethan's wrist to force him to drop his gun, and then killed him. The bite marks and Ethan's recording device coincided with her story, so he promoted her to the codename Kir in recognition of her loyalty and sheer savageness. In truth, he was fooled. Ethan Hondou was Kir's father and they both are CIA spies infiltrating the Black Organization. Rena had made a mistake and was about to be uncovered as a spy. Ethan, who had prepared appropriately ahead of time in case this happened, told Rena to tell the organization she discovered he was a spy and tried to confront him. Ethan then committed suicide after maiming himself and his daughter to make it appear like the story Ethan had just explained. He orders Kir to assassinate the politician Yasuteru Domon while holding an interview. After the Black Organization easily retrieved Kir from the FBI, Gin became suspicious of how ineffective the FBI's plan was and that Shuichi Akai did not made a strong move. Gin thought that Shuichi is hiding something and relays his doubt to him, who also agrees. He and Gin plan a test of Kir's loyalty. Meanwhile, an FBI agent becomes a suspect in a coincidental murder case. The Black Organization hears about it, and taking advantage of the FBI's distraction, Gin calls out Kir and tells her his order. In order to regain his trust, she is to call Akai out to meet with her and kill him. Kir meets with Akai at Raiha Pass and apparently kills him. However, he was fooled again. Akai and Kir conspired to fake Akai's death.

Bourbon

He dispatches Bourbon to search for the escaped scientist Shiho Miyano. However, Bourbon received his permission to execute a second, secret mission: verified Shuichi Akai's death by disguising as Akai and approaching his FBI colleagues. In truth, Rei has been persevering to turn in Shuichi to the organization to earn higher ranks to approach more closely to him.

Shiho Miyano

He orders the execution of Shiho Miyano after she boycotted the development of APTX 4869 and rebelled against the Black Organization. Before she could be even executed, Shiho manages to escape and he ordered the Black Organization to hunt her down and murder her.

Pisco

Gin relayed his orders to Pisco: silence Shigehiko Nomiguchi, a politician who was going to be arrested for bribery, and use APTX 4869 if it was necessary. After Pisco was accidentally caught on camera in the act of murder, showing him holding his gun in the newspaper, he direct ordered Gin to kill Pisco, which the latter does.

Rikumichi Kusuda

He sends Rikumichi Kusuda to Haido Central Hospital to act as a patient while searching for Kir, who is currently held captive by the FBI. Kusuda write to his e-mail adress.

Irish

He orders Irish to disguise himself as Kiyonaga Matsumoto, infiltrate into Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and retrieve a memory card with the personal information of all the Black Organization agents that have infiltrated various organizations, before the police catch the serial killer, who took it from their agent Masaaki Okakura he murdered without knowing what is on it, and find the card. When he discovers Conan's true identity, Irish plans to capture and bring the boy before him to discredit Gin, who killed Pisco, whom Irish respected like a father. Irish believes that he would definitely demote or have Gin killed for carelessly leaving Shinichi alive. However, because his cover was blown, Irish was killed by Chianti under Gin's orders before Conan can force him to reveal the boss' true identity.

Generic

He orders Generic to leave Sherry alone with her experiments and to make a new drug that controls memories. He planned to use this drug on all important people of the world, in particular the US president, ergo having complete control of the world. However, Generic escapes the Black Organization using the same method as Sherry.

Others

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Shuichi Akai

Capturing a high ranking member of the Black Organization who could lead the FBI to the boss was the goal of Shuichi Akai's spy mission. After three years of infiltration, he gave the undercover FBI agent the codename "Rye" and ordered him to work under Gin. The FBI's plan to capture Gin fell apart when Akai's true allegiance was uncovered due to a mistake made by Andre Camel. In the two years since the mission failure, he came to regard Akai could become the Black Organization's silver bullet.

Kyosuke Senma

Kyosuke Senma and his old daughter.

Kyosuke Senma was an archeologist who invited to his manor house forty years ago. He wanted Senma to find the treasure before he died of old age. It was a very well-paid job. His wife and then 23 years old daughter Furuyo received large sums of money, along with a letter from him, almost every day. But after six months, the money and letters suddenly stopped coming. Senma, who had never given their his address, vanished forever. Furuyo only found out the truth when she held his last letter, which she had kept as a memento, against a light. He had written a secret note by poking tiny holes in the paper left for her with a needle. He recorded the riddle of the treasure and wrote that many other scholars had been invited to the manor. He also wrote that Karasuma had begun to kill those scholars, one by one, as a warning to the others, and that even if he found the treasure, he too would be killed. She didn't tell the police about it because it was twenty years after the fact. Presumably a victim of his treasure hunting fanaticism, Senma did solve the riddle, and left a clue about it in a note letters written in blood on the piano, and Karasuma never activated the device clock because never knew the answer to the riddle: "I've finally gotten hold of the trump card that will decipher Karasuma's riddle. Kyosuke Senma."

Different looks

Conan vs. the demon boss (movie 3 introduction sequence).

Renya Karasuma visualized by Furuyo Senma (episode 219).

The boss as a big criminal silhouette with evil aura in the anime version (episode 385).

File:BossBlackshadow7.jpg The boss as a criminal silhouette (episode 398).

Speculation

The fact that his suppose 'death' should have occurred forty years ago could fit with Haibara's thought that Shinichi had gotten involved in a project that the organization had worked on for a half century, and that could be some unbelievable people.

Name origin

"Karasuma" is literally "crow circle", as his crest.

Trivia

File:Gent, Sint-Baafskathedraal B STB 434 Gent.jpg

Solomon and queen of Sheba.

• Gosho Aoyama got inspiration from Professor James Moriarty, the main antagonist in the Sherlock Holmes' series, to create the boss. Just like Moriarty, he doesn't show his face and works behind the scenes, only pulling the strings on the crimes from far away. Gosho tries to make it so that the boss is cold-blooded, won't leave a single scrap of evidence, and almost invisible. In addition to the author, only Minami Takayama and the anime production knew who was the boss.
• His role in the series is just like the enemy boss in the children's show Kamen Yaiba.
• The anime version big painting in his manor dining room is a Visita de la reina de Saba a Salomón replica, but with an inverted orientation. Solomon was the biblical most just and wise King of Israel, but in his old age, many years after the queen of Sheba's visit, became corrupt and idolatrous, so received divine punishment and his glorious kingdom falled. There is a possible parallel with that story, because Karasuma was also the most rich and powerful man in all of Japan, but eventually turned into a devil for his own selfish reasons. And lastly, the search for Karasuma's treasure is just like Solomon's treasures that are spread throughout the world.

In other languages

Language	Given Name	Family Name
Chinese	莲耶 Renya	乌丸 Karasuma
English	Renya	Karasuma
French	Renya	Karasuma
Galician	Renya	Karasumaru
German	Renya	Karasuma
Italian	Renya	Karasumaru
Japanese	蓮耶 Renya	烏丸 Karasuma
Spanish	Renya	Karasuma

See also

• Characters
• Black Organization