Hobgoblin2012

Why have you got the impression they can barely hold a proper conversation? That's an exaggeration imo. Just because their relationship is in a tense situation because Shinichi is "absent" and Ran is so nervous, doesn't mean they didn't communicate in normal circumstances. And it's impossible Shinichi doesn't know about her personality, they have grown up together after all.

Yes, if that's the case. But I think it's very sad when such a thing happens (when somebody gets over their first love) and I wouldn't certainly like this to happen in DC (but it's just my personal opinion; again, I don't want to sound arrogant or provoking/disrespectful).

Well, that's a disappointment to me... I thought Gin's only passion were contract killings, that he was impenetrable to things like sexual attraction.

I hope that if Yoko is the boss, her young age is fake like Vermouth's. For such an organization to have a boss that young wouldn't be really impressive imo. A real boss should be experienced and hardened by past battles with crime rivals, a person still that young on top of the whole thing would disappoint me. And (just my personal tastes) I don't really like the combination "physical beauty and being attractive" + "evil", because such villains usually rely too often on seduction and making people falling in love with them, and I like when the villains are heartless and asexual.

I discovered this series in 2010 or 2009 while searching on internet for information about Hayao Miyazaki's series "Future boy Conan", and found this other Conan in the results. I immediately became interested after reading it was a detective series which also contained a childhood friend romance sub-plot too, a nice combination in my opinion.

I agree with this. I admit I am a little biased in being too influenced by the hypothetical Conan/Ai pairing, it's just I am too sensitive about the "first love" argument, especially the "childhood" one that I consider my ideal. But by herself Ai is quite an interesting and nice character.

You are talking as if "virgin" was an insult. What are you, a macho? I won't continue this kind of discussion out of respect to the moderators. You make a fool of yourself alone.

Naive? Why? And even if it's true, so what? I don't really want to argue about that not to sound disrespectful, but that is often a good excuse for Hollywood-actor-style womanizers. I don't respect people who change their partners often except for reasons like if they cheated, committed a serious crime etc. I don't buy the argument of "freedom" and "I just feel like changing a partner not to be bored".

I agree that not everything should be unrealstic, but I can speak only for myself, and I think that specific kind of "non realistic" is a good thing. I mean, being forever faithful to the first love since childhood. I wish there was more of that in real life.

Detective Conan isn't really a realistic series in many aspects, not just that. And I disagree completely that "happily ever after" is boring.

Apart from the fact that some people want Shiho to be involved with Shinichi romantically at Ran's expenses, I don't have anything against her, would even liked her as a character quite a lot, if only those ideas of kicking out Ran and replacing her with Shiho as Shinichi's girlfriend were not so annoying. In my opinion, dumping the first love for somebody else is always a bad idea.

Don't worry, no need for apologies, you are entitled to your opinion. It's just I am too biased towards first love romances (childhood friends especially) and maybe am too blind to some of Ran's flaws. My point of view isn't perfect either. But I agree Gosho could have developed this romance a little differently, some situations border on grotesque maybe, so I understand what you mean.

What's selfish about that? She is in love and naturally wants it to be mutual. How is a person in love supposed to behave? Like a passive droid who isn't interested? I really don't understand this part of your post.

Even in case her love was one-sided (which in my opinion it is not), she has the right to fight for it and try to get Shinichi's attention. Or does a person in love have to be passive and not to try to make it become mutual, for some unknown reasons? And "dedicating your life to chasing her fans" is really upsetting (for me personally) because I don't really feel like it's a good thing I was born into a world where so many people hate childhood friend romances, which are the only romances that manage to touch my heart (all the others leave me cold like a fish). I mean, no offense please, I am not angry or belligerent, just sad.

I only hope the humor won't all be tsundere based like the moments where Kazuha beats up Heiji or Eri and Kogoro shout at each other, I think this one isn't funny any more.

That would be good too. At least, I would be really disappointed if the fact that Conan was Shinichi will remain a secret for Ran. In this case, their relationship would lack trust and honesty in some parts, imho.

I would prefer a "cliche" sugar-sweet happy ending for all the romantic pairings, but some great surprises and unexpected plot twists from the detective/mystery point of view, at least I hope I won't guess the boss correctly. And NO CLIFFHANGERS, IN ANY PART OF THE PLOT!!!

Well, I don't know if my reasons sound convincing enough, but I support Shinichi and Ran because they are each other's first love and have been close since they were little. They have already become an inseparable part of each other's lives, being close for so long, and I admire people who remain faithful to one single person forever. Also, the author shows that, in spite of everything, they continue to love each other and are never tempted to break up and get together with somebody else. Separating them would be just cruel in my opinion. As for Shiho/Ai, I think she might be a good friend for them. I am not sure Ai really loves Shinichi in a romantic way, although it's possible, but I am sure Shinichi doesn't feel towards her like that. If they got together, that would break Ran's heart (meaning their happiness would be based on somebody's unhappiness), while if Shinichi and Ran got together, who knows whether Shiho would really feel bad or would just say "oh well, I guess they know what they are doing" etc. I hope I didn't sound disrespectful towards the Shinichi x Shiho fans, I respect their points of view even though support a different pairing.

I am all for the Shinichi and Ran pairing. First love that lasts forever is my ideal, especially if the people have been close since childhood, which in my opinion is the most innocent period of people's lives. Childhood friends solidifying their innocent and tender bond with romantic love is one of the best things ever. I am always genuinely sad when a fictional or real "first love" couple breaks up and people move on to others. I hope this will never happen in DC. If Shiho was Shinichi's first love, I would have rooted for her (even though I would have liked Ran's character nevertheless). But it's Ran that Shinichi has grown up with and fallen in love with, so it's Ran I would like to be with him forever, so their bond formed when they were innocent children never breaks.

I admire Gosho's sincerity and honesty!

Curiosity: Do you think Rum will only be discovered at the end of the story along with the Boss (or shortly before) or will it happen halfway through the story and Rum will be removed from the scene by death or arrest and the Boss will have to search for another second-in-command for the rest of the story?

I re-read 38cutie's post several times, it doesn't state they won't kill just because they are beautiful. He/she only says they have repented and he/she is sure they won't kill again because they shed tears of remorse. The only thing pertaining to their physical appearance is that 38cutie defines them as "cuties" but he/she doesn't state that's the reason that guarantees they won't kill again.

Well, I read it in many articles, don't remember all the links, here are some examples: http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2715335.htm http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan http://www.japansubculture.com/child-pornography-pulling-profits/ Or this book: http://www.amazon.com/Tokyo-Vice-American-Reporter-Police/dp/0307378799/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

That's a great post, but I would like to disagree on 2 things: 1) The Boston bombers aren't like the culprits in DC, they killed innocents and the DC culprits kill really, really evil and dangerous people in most cases (whether it's justified or not is a different question) 2) Even though Japan has a low rate of "normal" crime, they allow the Yakuza to be legal and we all know the Yakuza deal in child pornography among other things. Not even Chapo Guzman in Mexico or Sergei Mikhailov in Russia can form a political party or a company openly called "Sinaloa cartel" or "Solntsevskaya bratva", while the Yakuza openly write the names of their syndicates like "Yamaguchi-gumi" on their office doors. There is no law like RICO, and it's not even considered a social disgrace to be a member of the Yakuza.

I understand, but I feel too sorry for all of them, I can't help it. And in many cases they have nothing to lose (the family has been killed for example) so they at least take revenge. If Conan at least criticized the crimes of the "victims" too, he wouldn't seem so hypocritical to me. Instead, they get a pass. Why? Just because they're dead?