[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,113–File 1,115: The Butler, the Detectives, and the Danger on the Bullet Train

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,113–File 1,115: The Butler, the Detectives, and the Danger on the Bullet Train]

File 1113-1115 Review

Spoiler

 

This case (File 1113-1115) was a case that I could safely say was one of the best DC cases I have ever read.

For starters, it had a very unique story narrative, where it put Iori Muga on the center front as the protagonist "detective" of this case, while sidelining the actual main character (Conan) for majority of it (especially at the start). It was to me an extremely appreciated amount of spotlight and deep-dive into Muga's character, that Gosho has been hyping up so much since his introduction (through Animal Crossing hints). We got to get into his head and see his true level and capabilities as a detective, that was compared to Furuya's by Muga's former classmate, Kazami Yuya (File 1115).

This level of competence was obviously as I have been expecting (as someone who has been suspecting Iori Muga to be the true identity behind the disguises of Rum, the no.2 of the BO that earned the awe of Kudo Yusaku).

The biggest highlight of this whole case however goes to the awaited and thoroughly developed relationship between Muga and Momiji, where we learned how they met and why Muga decided to quit the Public Security and become Momiji's butler (File 1114).


It was such a wholesomely depicted encounter in Muga's life, that was teased to have been depressing when he worked undercover as "Sakakibara" (File 1090).


Iori Muga, who was officially revealed to have been a Public Security officer of the NPA, was tasked 3 years ago to secure the summer villa of the former prime minister (FPM), who was revealed to be Ōoka Momiji's grandpa, and by chance encountered thugs that gave him a large cut on his right arm (File 1114).

It was then revealed that the thugs, who had a grudge against FPM Ōoka, followed the FPM's car that was actually occupied by Momiji, who was on her way to check out the villa and who eventually ended up hiding in the storage floor where she coincidentally was encountered by wounded Muga.

This then lead to the heartfelt scene, where the hardened and semi-jaded Muga, who was used to tough out all the hardships that came with his work, get treated and taken care of with kindness for a change by the most unexpected seemingly weak person in he was supposed to protect. Momiji also added that beautiful reversed proverb ("even the smaller can serve as the bigger") to further justify her actions, which forever changed Muga's viewpoint in his life.

This meaningful scene lead to Muga realizing a more healing path for himself, where he serves as kind-hearted Momiji's butler (File 1115). This is evident just from how much Momiji meant for Muga as a hostage, for the thugs to use to manipulate him with, through out this case, and how he was ready to literally sacrifice his life to protect her by taking a knife for her (File 1115).

All of this masterfully written scenes of their relationship was topped off with not only Muga also in return being protected by the Hyakunin isshu deck that took the stabbing, as if to symbolize Momiji's love/passion keeping him alive, but also everything coming full circle with Momiji repeating her same beautiful reversed proverb (that she doesn't realize meant so much for him).

This case made Iori Muga instantly rise for me as a favorite on par with Momiji, if not beyond (if things continues as great as this). We got a lot of fanservice action-scenes and cute relationship dynamics between Muga & Momiji that really satisfied all my expectations.

Their Master-Butler relationship is definitely among the best of this whole series after this case, and I cannot wait to see where Muga's character development is gonna go from here on.

As for the other major scene of this case, we officially got the scene that Gosho hyped up was coming in Let's Talk Day 2023 between Amuro and a certain big figure... and it was revealed to be the mysterious Falcon Elder, that was recently introduced in File 1102.


The Falcon elder finally got some lines, and he ordered Amuro through a phone, that was left in the train that Amuro entered, to investigate Edogawa Conan (File 1115).

This scene was further meant to push the narrative that someone dangerous (potentially a BO/Boss figure) has set their eyes on Conan, since this was following the previous scene where the Falcon Elder cracked the phone with Conan & Jirokichi's face on it seemingly out of anger (File 1102).

This is however clearly setup to be one of Gosho's classic misleads, and it is at this point as good as confirmed that the Falcon Elder is rather FPM Ōoka (Momiji's grandpa). There are good amounts of hints from this case alone that supports this.

For starters, this case overall focused a lot on Momiji's grandfather and his power as FPM, which is conveniently set up right before the resolution where the Falcon elder reappears. This is similar to how the previous mysterious elder ("Vader"), who is most likely Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's father), showed up in the resolution (File 1096) just after Mary referenced the helpful father-friend benefactor (Kohji's father) who has been funding her and Masumi's livelihood (File 1095).

Secondly, Rei went to the train platform casually with Kazami (his public security coworker), as if his business wasn't with someone he would hide his true affiliations from (like the black organization). This basically debunks that the Falcon Elder is a member of the BO. On the other hand, it fits perfectly with that he was meeting with FPM Ōoka, who was using his connections with the Public Security (as confirmed in File 1088 & 1114) to assign one of their agents a personal task for his benefit.

Lastly, the train car (13) that Rei entered was empty and the Falcon elder was actually waiting in a second train next to it with his phone ready to call a phone left there for Rei. This phone was left in the exact same train car 13 that the Osaka & Ōoka duo came out of. The fact that the train car, with the drop-off phone, Rei entered was the same train car that the whole case was spent on with the Ōoka duo is more supporting clues to the Falcon elder being FPM Ōoka, who had Muga/Momiji drop off the phone in that train car for the assigned agent from Public Security to later find.

As for what FPM Ōoka is planning with his investigation on Edogawa Conan, I'm leaning towards it being tied to what I previously speculated regarding why he cracked his Jirokichi-Conan-displaying phone out of anger... that it's related to his rivalry with the Suzuki conglomorate (which Gosho confirmed was slightly richer than the Ōoka Group). Since Jirokichi has been profitting on Conan's "kid killer" title and boosted his publicity in the news because of it, it would make sense for a bitter rival of his to go after his assets/allies and in any shape or form to try to eliminate them (for example by bribary). With that in mind, FPM Ōoka could be trying to gain as much information on "kid killer" Edogawa Conan as possible to figure out his weakness, that he can exploit for his benefit instead.

Apart from that, there were very nice spotlights put on Heiji, Kazuha and Momiji, and they all felt like they showcased their own strengths, which was also another cherry on top to this whole case.

 

It was also nice to get a Conan and Muga team-up for the first time. This part of the case is something I could see carrying more weight/consequence in the plot down the line, especially if Muga ends up being the one Conan should've been hiding his capabilities from (as he has been doing with Wakita). It would also be quite a comedic irony that Conan is rather trying to earn Muga's praise instead (File 1115).

When it comes to where the story is currently heading, it seems like Gosho is settting up a big romance case, since he foreshadowed that Ran was looking into scenic spots and that Ran was planning to talk about something important with Kazuha (File 1113).

It's possible that Gosho could be setting up a ShinRan romance plot, where Ran could be planning some kind of event, like a double-date or/and a birthday celebration (since Ran is the one who invited Kazuha and was looking into scenic places).

Gosho also foreshadowed a potential Hyakunin Isshu competition case involving Momiji, that could be following this current shinkansen threat case, which could be the setting for an upcoming Heizuha romance plot (File 1113).

Considering that we have finally arrived at Volume 105 (another 5 volumes since the last big Rum development), the climax of Rum arc could be right around the corner following the 5-volume pattern. If we are getting a long Heizuha + ShinRan romance case, then it's possible that we could be intertwining it all with the main plot (since a ShinRan date could involve Shinichi's physical reappearance for Rum to discover and target) and transition it into a big Rum climax case that finishes off the whole Rum plot in the remaining 9 chapters of volume 105 (File 1116-1124).

Volume 105 keyhole is also most likely gonna finally feature Iori Muga after this recent case (which would be very timely if it's also the volume that contains the Rum climax and if it reveals that Muga indeed was the main antagonist of this arc all along).

 

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,110–File 1,112: Parents' Day]

12 hours ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

 

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Regarding Rachel/Rumi and Shiho/Ai... your train of thought prompts me to bring up a foreshadowing Gosho may have set up earlier in the Rum arc to hint to us about Rumi's motivations and intentions.

It first hit me from reading a thread on Tieba Baidu... a thread concerning File 906–File 908/Episode 792–Episode 793 (the case where Rum's eye injury was revealed for the first time).

The motive behind the death of that case... the victim, a screenwriter, killed herself and disguised it as a murder to expose a certain past killing committed by her and her former partners in crime, the three suspects, and get them arrested. She went so far because she felt remorse over a boy, Mamoru, who had been orphaned in one of her group's robberies. Even though they were strangers, she became close with the boy, talking to him often.

In the end, Shinichi/Conan and Shiho/Ai have this exchange about the victim:

 

File 908, Page 15, Panel 6

Shiho/Ai:

"But don't you think it's cruel?

Having Mamoru-kun be the witness in her suicide plot?"

 

File 908, Page 15, Panel 7

Shinichi/Conan:

"She was apparently being threatened... If she didn't want Mamoru-kun to find out she was part of that robber group, she should hand over the money and keep writing that story...
Or they would kill Mamoru if she didn't rejoin the group, things like that..."

 

File 908, Page 15, Panel 8

Shinichi/Conan:

"That's why she made Mamoru-kun into a witness. Because she was sure the police would protect him if he were a witness...

And then she intended to atone for her crimes by killing herself..."

 

File 908, Page 16, Panel 1

Shinichi/Conan:

"But that was a big mistake.

After causing the death of Mamoru-kun's parents, she also made the one and only friend which Mamoru-kun had made, disappear with her own hands..."

 

So your comment about Rachel/Rumi having some culpability in Atsushi and Elena's deaths really caught my attention.

Rachel/Rumi trying to protect Shiho/Ai to atone for playing a role in their deaths, rather than vengefully stalking her... a ruthless avenger being willing to sacrifice themselves for the child of the one they blame for their suffering... unintentionally furthering the cycle of misery in a fatalistic sense of atonement... this would definitely fit in line with Gosho's subversion tendencies.

 

Spoiler

Long time no talk 

 

I like your thought process on this, and indeed, it's in Gosho's character to pull this type of subversion. However, this very same twistful outcome could still be arrived at at the end of her character development journey, that we get to witness in-action through out the rest of the story (rather than her current mindset already being there). We have seen how she has been both ruthless/careless in her ways of accomplishing her goals (the risky reverse-psychology to save Ayumi, using Kobayashi as bait, potentially ready to use the teachers/kids as a shield), and that her head-space is in a state of hatred/pessimism (throwing away Ayumi's charm). I don't think we have any indications to her feeling any shred of remorse yet, since it seems she has let herself get consumed by her hatred.

 

However we have indications to her starting to let her emotional guard down (as seen with her crying/emoting for Ayumi to the point of swaying Ai into liking her) after having spent some time with DB. I think these smaller moments (that are likely to accumulate through out the rest of her story) has potential to be what makes her also re-evaluate her sins and her views on the innocent Shiho and lead to a redeeming sacrifice to protect the Miyano parents' remaining child. I think this angle is well foreshadowed with the Uematsu (Teitan Elementary principal) panel in Wakasa's intro (966), where he gave the wisdom outloud for Wakasa to hear that everyone must atone for their sins (which portrays it more as a foreshadowing towards Wakasa's journey to learn and adopt that mindset, rather than her already being in that remorseful state).

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,110–File 1,112: Parents' Day]

File 1110-1112 Review

There were multiple hints/developments regarding the main plot in this case.

For starters, we had Gosho finally giving us a clue to the state of the shrunkies body when it comes to aging. Conan questioned why he didn't grow a centimeter every time his height got measured (File 1110), which Haibara deflected to answer by playing it down.

 

This is as good of a confirmation as any that Conan, Haibara & Mary cannot age in their shrunken state like Vermouth, which not only implicates Vermouth further to have taken a variant of APTX in the past but also that the shrunkies have to take the antidote by the end of the series to regain a normal life back.

 

Another part that caught my interest is the fact that Gosho used specific yen numbers in association with Haibara & Maria in the case, that had interesting potential to be chapter easter eggs that could be serving as foreshadowing/references to Haibara & Maria. Haibara was gonna pay 258 yen & Maria was gonna pay 302 yen.

 

If you look up the which chapter these numbers correspond to, Haibara's is a reference to desperate revivial case, where she completed a prototype antidote for the first time and was questioned whether she was gonna take the antidote or not (File 258).

Spoiler

 

Maria's is a reference to Sunset mansion case, where the Boss of the organization Karasuma Renya was first introduced (File 302).

Spoiler

 

This is the second time Maria has been indirectly associated with the Boss of the black organization, seeing as her reintro (File 1006-1008) was the same case that revealed Karasuma Renya to be the Boss of the black organization.

Spoiler

 

It looks like it's by design that Gosho dropped these antidote easter eggs for Haibara, just after teasing the idea that Haibara can't age normally, as well as these continued Karasuma Renya easter eggs for Maria. It's hard to say in the current stage what future awaits Maria (especially if there is any connection to Karasuma), but there are handful of clues to that she is more than your average side character, just by the nature of her characterization (her name, english influence, being the next transfer student after Haibara).

 

The following chapter potentially gave us the awaited answers to the mysterious Kohji case uploader. Yusaku reveals the suspicions that Wakasa was behind the Kohji case info uploads, and that she monitored the IP address of PC:s that entered the website, which in turn lead her to Conan who used Agasa's PC (File 1111).

 

This part seemingly resolves the mystery behind the Kohji case uploader, however, it doesn't fully resolve/explain why Wakasa set her eyes on a random curious kid, or how she realized his true competence/value to the point of joining an elementary school. I think this part of Yusaku's suspicions could be complimented with the idea of Asaka having sources that directly confirmed Conan as a valuable asset/player against the organization (i.e Kir, if Asaka is a CIA agent).

 

Yusaku then started to warn Yukiko about the possibility of Asaka being the type who would go through any lengths to achieve her goals (File 1111), which Gosho seems to wanna emphasize a lot to clarify her character type, as seen even with Rum's subordinates mentioning her potentially using teachers and kids as shields from bullets (File 1112).

 

Yusaku then proceeded to analyze her motives for staying in Teitan Elementary for as long as she has, which was also questioned by Rum (File 1112), only to be revealed at the end of the resolution chapter that it'd because of her fixation on Haibara.

 

Regarding Wakasa's fixation on Haibara, we do know from File 1097 that she blames Haibara's mother for her life getting messed up.

Spoiler

 

After the reveal of her relationship with Amanda, it's pretty much confirmed that her hatred towards Miyano Elena is due to her being the creator of APTX poison that killed her mother figure. We still don't truly know how exactly the Miyano parents died, apart from the surface-level "lab fire accident" explanation, so there is still room left there for a hidden backstory where Asaka was involved in their death (soon after Haibara's birth 18 years ago, which could have been 17 years ago after the Kohji case).

 

In File 1070, we learned that Wakasa is aware of Sherry being the successor scientist behind the current APTX creations, and that she betrayed the organization.

Spoiler

 

However, Wakasa doesn't know if Haibara is continuing her research outside of the organization. It's therefore possible that her fixation on Haibara is due to her trying to find out if Haibara is creating more APTX poison or not, and whether she needs to do something about it (especially if she potentially did something to Haibara's parents in the past).

 

The rest of the case had very heartwarming stuff with the kids and their parents (especially Haibara & Agasa), including a unique twist where Haibara ended up becoming the culprit of a relatively harmless act, which was refreshing.

 

We also got to properly meet Maria's mother for the first time, who resembles her quite a lot (apart from having black hair like a full-blooded japanese).

 

We have had clues to Maria's foreign blood through not only her foreign name and light hair colour but also the showcased english influence when her grandma called the bird toy "bird-chan" (File 1007).

Spoiler

 

The fact that her mother doesn't seem to have foregin features could be an indication that Maria inherited the foreign characteristics from her father. There is therefore room for the possibility that Maria's father is an important foreigner/non-full-japanese character in the main plot. In which case, a mysterious foreigner-looking character that comes to mind that could fit that role is the driver of "Vader" (respirator elder), who recently got a keyhole feature for Volume 103.

Spoiler

 

Even if Vader ends up being Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's father), we have no guarantee that the driver is a good guy. For all that we know, the driver could be Maria's father who is connected/related to Karasuma Renya himself (which would explain the potential easter eggs to Karasuma in recent Maria cases).

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,103–File 1,109: The Watchtower Bishop and the Bloodstained Knight Enclose the Sharp-Eyed Devil]

File 1106-1109 Review/Discussion

 

These last 4 chapters of the chess tournament case, that effectively revealed everything about the day of the Kohji case 17 years ago, will go down as one of the best flashback stories in Detective Conan history. It left me personally speechless and overwhelmed in such a satisfying way, and although it felt like the end of an era within Rum arc (The Kohji case mystery), it propelled us forward to new potential storylines, as well as potentially leaving some bread crumbs of the Kohji case, for us to get excited about.

 

Spoiler

 

Kuroda Hyoue

Right from the cliffhanger of File 1105, we started off File 1106 with Kuroda revealing how Kuroda became a witness in the Kohji case. We got the official confirmation that he used to work in the same division as Furuya Rei in the NPA, Security Bureau's Security Planning Division. He had then revealed in File 1107 that he was gonna have a preliminary meeting with Amanda Hughes, which was later explained by Amanda to be about trying to take down the Black Organization, and Karasuma Renya along with it.

 

From the context clues given in this case, it doesn't seem like Kuroda was given any information ahead of time (like Amanda's suspected identities behind the black organization), which made Kuroda function well as a protagonist that we follow along to discover what had happened in the 17 year old case. The biggest reveal when it comes to Kuroda's character was that his mysterious accident that put him in a 10-year-long coma happened the day of the Kohji case, 17 years ago. This indirectly revealed that his teased work history with Iori (File 1090) would have only taken place max 3 years before Iori left the Public Security. This is because Iori and Rei had never met back then and Rei's earliest known activity with the NPA is 4 years ago (when he met Masumi in the train platform), while Kuroda woke up from his coma 7 years ago.

 

Haneda Kohji

As expected, Haneda Kohji got properly introduced to us, and he was revealed to be the same age as Shuukichi currently (28). Kohji had a very eccentric personality, that appealed to me a lot. He was goofy, but also at the same time very intelligent and level-headed under pressure. It was very nice to see those two sides contrasted well with each other, where he goes from crushing over Asaka (File 1106), to calmly assessing a situation and facing danger with a pokerface (File 1107). Due to stubbornly sticking to his motto ("stick to one's orginal plan"), he was willing to sacrifice his life for a stranger he just met (Asaka).

 

As for Kohji's dying message, it is now officially debunked that there was other additional messages apart from the hand-mirror message "CARASUMA", since we got the reveal that Kohji had given his bishop shogi piece to Asaka before facing Rum (File 1107), and Kuroda didn't find any other suspicious details in the crime scene (File 1108). Kohji's object imprint in the middle of his right palm from File 948 does therefore indicate an inconsistency, that might stem from Gosho changing his plans regarding how Asaka got the shogi piece (taking it from Kohji's corpse vs Kohji giving it to her).

 

How Kohji shocked Rum and effectively earned Rum's praise twice was the best part of Kohji's story. When Kohji revealed that he had seen Rum in an old article from 47 years ago, where Rum acted as spokesman for Karasuma Renya, it stopped Rum in the middle of his tracks and ultimately saved Asaka (File 1107). It was a very gripping way to reveal how Kohji knew that his killers were tied to Karasuma for his dying message, while also highlighting more similarities between him and Shuukichi, through their shared good memory, which would further explain why Haneda family would want to adopt Shuukichi to inherit Kohji's will.

 

Another interesting fact that had me lightly speculating was that Kohji revealed that he has a playmate that has transient amaurosis like Asaka (File 1106). Since we later got the easter egg that Kohji had faced Katsumata Chikara in his 4th title shogi match, it is possible that the playmate he was referring to was Chikara. While not a relevant fact in the grand scheme of things, since Chikara has been a recurring shogi player, Gosho could be fleshing him out like this as Shuukichi's current rival.

Rachel Asaka

This case had the most important development for Wakasa Rumi, as it officially revealed her whole backstory up to 17 years ago and the entirety of her relationship with Amanda. File 1106 revealed that her full name was Rachel Asaka, who became a bodyguard to Amanda following her father's footsteps and essentially had a mother-and-daughter relationship with Amanda. This history became a key factor in the confrontation between Amanda and Rum that followed. Wakasa's vision issue was also explained, as we found out that she had transient amaurosis, that causes temporary blindness.

 

Wakasa's glare towards Kuroda during Tent case (File 987-988) and her hidden scars (File 1005) were also officially explained. Wakasa had mistook Kuroda to be one of the BO members responsible for Kohji's and Amanda's death, and she had gotten the scars from the same accident that put Kuroda into a coma (File 1109).

 

This case also debunked the theory that Wakasa/Asaka is Vermouth in disguise, since we saw Asaka grieve over Amanda's death in File 1108, despite Vermouth having played a role in entrapping Amanda by calling off Amanda's SWAT team support after impersonating her (File 1107). This turn of events does however resurface the mystery behind Wakasa's BO affiliation and knowledge.

 

My current speculation behind Wakasa's current connection to the BO is that around 17 years ago, Asaka joined the CIA. There are a couple hints and easter eggs that has propelled me to this direction.

Amanda was revealed to have ties to both the FBI and CIA in File 948. Gosho had name-dropped both of these plot-relevant intelligence agencies in association with Amanda, and has just utilized Amanda's connection to the FBI director in this backstory to call for SWAT team. There is a high possibility that he has planned on also using Amanda's CIA ties in a similar way, but since Amanda is already dead, the only one who could use Amanda's CIA connection is her daughter, Rachel Asaka.

Rachel is a US citizen, which makes her eligible to join the CIA, and with her martial arts and weapon handling background she would have had a head-start competence to enter their training program with the help of Amanda's CIA contact. It's also in Rachel's interest to choose the CIA, since they handle foreign affairs, which would include where her mother's killers originate from (Japan). Since Asaka was shown to have an idea of who Amanda's killers were based on their previous attacks (File 1107), it is highly likely that Amanda revealed her suspicions to Asaka that they were tied to the japanese group Karasuma, as Rum feared. Even if she wasn't given any details from Amanda, she did hear Rum's voice as he spoke japanese (File 1108), which gives her an idea of where the enemy could be based. There is also Rachel's unresolved meeting with Amanda's other friend, Akai Tsutomu 17 years ago (File 1109). Since Tsutomu's wife Mary already investigated Karasuma Group in the past for her brother-in-law Miyano Atsushi (File 1011), we already have evidence to Karasuma Group being in Akai family's radar, so even if Amanda didn't share anything with Tsutomu, it wouldn't take Tsutomu and his promised intellect much effort to piece together Haneda Kohji's dying message that the culprit was Karasuma. In other words, at the very latest, Rachel could have found out about Amanda's killers' originating from Japan with Tsutomu's help, who she could trust.

 

Wakasa/Rachel being a CIA agent would explain how she got the latest update of the APTX4869 victim list where Kudo Shinichi is labeled as "dead" (File 1005), since the CIA has Kir as their mole in the BO who could share those sensistive BO intel. It would also explain how Wakasa found out about the latest events within the organization, like Sherry's betrayal, as well as Hell angel's research that gave birth to the poison that killed her mother (Amanda). There was even a parallel between Asaka and Kir in File 1108, where just like Kir in File 603, Asaka was also iconically transported unconscious in a car that is being chased by the Black Organization. This could have been an intentional setup by Gosho to hint to Asaka's current CIA affiliation.

 

Another character that Wakasa/Rachel has had multiple parallels with is Subaru/Akai Shuuichi. Both have been the main red-herring of being the main antagonist in their respective arcs, both saved Ayumi from the culprit in a similar way and both were suspected by Conan/Haibara while the other liked them. I have referenced them often in the past in association with the theory that Wakasa could be someone already established in disguise just like Subaru, but these parallels could also be indicating that Wakasa/Rachel is basically a female version of Subaru/Akai. Both lost their parent to the BO, both potentially joined American intelligence agencies (FBI & CIA) to investigate the BO and both are potentially star agents within their agencies who have made high-ranked BO members (Gin & Rum) as their archnemesis. Even this latest case had a resolution (File 1109) similar to the resolution of Black impact (File 504), where Asaka outsmarted the BO by shooting at them just like Akai.

 

Amanda Hughes

Amanda Hughes' focus and confrontation with Rum was probably my favorite part of this whole case. She was revealed to be even more important and powerful than originally established, since she was also running for president in an upcoming election (File 1106). Amanda has become one of the best backstory characters. She is a very kind and loving woman who sacrificed her life to save her own daughter. It was so satisfying to see her go out in her own terms by forcefully biting Rum's hand to ingest the APTX poison he had merely planned to lure Asaka with (Amanda's weakness) in order to capture her so he can have control over Amanda's power (File 1107). This could be viewed as another parallel between Asaka and Kir, since both their parent (Amanda & Ethan) commited suicide to save their daughter.

 

Among the most important revealing part in her dialogue with Rum was her history with Karasuma Renya. She revealed that she has met Rum when he was a child 67 years ago during Karasuma Renya's birthday party (File 1106). Amanda also got to learn about Rum's left eye's photographic memory, and how he has been using it to blackmail powerful people into doing the BO's bidding (File 1107).

 

This became relevant later to Amanda's dying message, as she used her lipstick-smeared wristwatch dial to indicate "watch out", and smeared the knight piece's eyes with lipstick in order to warn about the culprit's dangeorus eye ability (File 1109). The way she utilized the wristwatch in such a puny way reminded me of Policewomen murder case's dying message, where the victim used a "no parking" sign by itself in a puny way to hint to the culprit (File 1017). Chiba questioned whether the victim would use an object that way for a message, and while Conan agreed it seemed questionable, he reasoned that it would make sense to use it that way if the victim had nothing else to use.

 

Amanda's dying message does however leave you with oddities. Considering how thoroughly she used the wristwatch alone to indicate a message, it doesn't explain why she opened up the chessboard while creating the dying message. Compared to Kohji's dying message, Amanda's dying message is the one that leaves more questions to be answered. Just like how Amanda used the wristwatch in a puny way for a message, it's very likely that Amanda used the knight piece and the chessboard in a similar manner. Here is my current analysis on Amanda's dying message:

 

Rum

All the information we had gotten on Rum in this case was setup to have significance in it, like how we learned that his right eye also used to have the photographic memory ability (File 1107), only to later find out Rum has been planning on regaining that ability through the APTX research (File 1109).

 

When Rum revealed to Amanda, after feeding her APTX4869 poison, that "Rum" was a codename that he had inherited from his father, who had worked under the boss for many years (File 1107), it's highly likely that this was also setting up something very significant. If Amanda pieced together from those parting words Rum's real name, then it would immediately fit with my Amanda dying message analysis that the knight piece & chessboard are together spelling out MUGA (as in Rum actually being Muga in disguise).

My current Rum theory based on this codename inheritance revelation is that the Rum Amanda met 67 years ago as a child, who grew up to be a spokesman for Karasuma Renya 47 years ago in the international economic forum, is actually the father of Rum from 17 years ago. This would mean that current Rum who killed Amanda and Kohji 17 years ago is the second generation of Rum, who not only inherited his father's codename but has also been disguising as him for at least 17 years after being taught by Vermouth, who was revealed to have joined the BO back then (File 1107). In short, the Rum we have been seeing active until now, who lost his eye ability in his right eye, was Muga disguising as his father, after inheriting his father's codename "Rum".

 

If Amanda had learned through her influential position that Rum had a son named Muga, and that for example Rum's father wasn't someone special who had worked under Karasuma Renya for a long time, then she would have enough context clues to realize that her killer is not the Rum she knew, but his son Muga, the new Rum, in disguise. Since Amanda was told by Rum that a young woman with abilities to disguise and imitate voices joined the organization, it wouldn't be hard for Amanda to make the leap that the son could be using that woman's help to disguise as his father. As I mentioned previously, Rum's face since 17 years ago being a disguise would explain why he hasn't aged much in 17 years. Something that Muga shares in common with Rum is also those light eyebrows, which could be a genetic trait that passed on from father to son.

 

This case also hinted towards the explanation behind Rum's investigation of Kudo Shinichi's death. It's very likely that Rum has been interested in the research since 17 years ago, since he implied that he was testing APTX4869 on Amanda and Kohji to check whether it killed or not (File 1108). It's possible that Rum wanted to regain his photographic memory ability in his right eye since back then. Now, in the current time however, after Kudo Shinichi was exposed to the public in File 1005 (as well as after Rum potentially already confirming Shinichi's survival as Muga), he would have evidence to believe that Sherry's APTX doesn't always kill. If Rum also got ahold of Sherry's research papers that documented the de-aging result in one mouse (File 179), then it would explain why Rum is suspecting that de-aging is possible through APTX4869, that could "turn back the clock on his right eye".

 

This case was a huge stepping stone for Conan, as he has now officially found out Wakasa's true identity, the history behind Kuroda's accident, the existence of Amanda's dying message, and a clue to Rum's past eye ability (File 1109). It's refreshing to see him talk it all through with Akai, but what's also refreshing is the fact that he finally got information on Tsutomu from Akai (File 1109), after failing to gain info since the start of the Kohji case mystery (File 949). It was also nice getting to see the complete Akai family 17 years ago and a tease of Tsutomu-Mary romance. Akai's explanation that Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's father) couldn't rely on the japanese police and had asked his friend Tsutomu for help is further cementing the likely truth that Vader (mysterious respirator elder), who thought that the police are fools, is actually Haneda Yasuharu.

 

As for what we can expect next, I think based on Gosho trackrecord with Rum developments (where they have taken place every 5-volumes since Volume 85), the next big Rum development (that is likely the climax of Rum arc) is gonna happen in 3-4 cases (within volume 105), so even if we take a breather in the next case, I think it will still have crucial main plot development that will be setting up the climax. We could be saving Wakasa-Tsutomu-Rum flashback and Kuroda-Muga flashback for the climax, but what we should be getting soon is what Gosho teased in Let's Talk Day 2023: that something big will come into contact with Amuro.

 

 

[Suspicious characters! Discussion about Hyoue Kuroda, Wakasa Rumi, and others.]

"Kuroda Hyoue = Akai Tsutomu" Theory (Updated to File 1102)

This is my current speculation on Kuroda Hyoue's identity, I will keep it updated as we get new developments.

I think that Kuroda Hyoue is indeed Akai Tsutomu's current identity. Kuroda shares many similarities with Akai Tsutomu and especially his son (Akai Shuuichi). They both have similar fashion sense, with a contrasting white-coloured tie to a dark shirt and a brown overlay, and when it comes to Shuuichi, we got visual cues where they not only stood the same way with hands in their pocket, but also demonstrated the same leg sweep technique (File 989 & 1016), which is most likely intended to indicate that they share the same martial arts (Jeet Kune Do) that Akai Tsutomu was revealed to have mastered (File 1099 & SDB 90+).

Spoiler

Kuroda was also especially interested in the Kohji case, to the point of seemingly noticing a dying message-like name in the news (File 980 & 987). This fits with Akai Tsutomu's interest, that started after Haneda Kohji's father (Haneda Yasuharu), who is Tsutomu's friend, requested that he solved his son's murder (File 1037).

Spoiler

Here is how I currently suspect he turned from a seemingly deceased MI6 agent from Britain to a member of the NPA's Public Security in Japan in the last 17 years.

 

We know from File 1048-1049 that Tsutomu had a confrontation with Vermouth 17 years ago after his investigation on the Kohji case, and that clash lead to him being presumed dead by the BO. We then learned in File 1099 that Wakasa and a "monster" (Rum) was involved in what potentially was that same incident that lead to his presumed death 17 years ago.

Spoiler

As I speculated before, I think that Tsutomu's investigation lead him to finding out that Kohji's dying message revealed "Karasuma" to be the culprit, and that the prime suspect Asaka is innocent. I think that Rum found out about Tsutomu's investigation and baited him to a location using Vermouth, who disguised as "the innocent bodyguard Asaka" and carried Kohji's shogi piece charm as proof to convince him. Before going to the meeting location, Tsutomu warned his family about making enemies with bad people and told them to move to Japan, so that his family's whereabouts aren't discovered (File 972), in case he doesn't survive the planned meeting with "Asaka" (similar to Mary's contingency plan of having Masumi contact MI6 about fake Tsutomu in case Mary didn't make it back in File 1049).

Spoiler

That lead to Tsutomu finger jabbing Rum's left eye (as hinted by Gosho in the OdaxAoyama interview and File 972) and ultimately getting defeated by Rum after letting his guard down around Vermouth (Fake Asaka/Wakasa).

Spoiler

I suspect that Tsutomu's confrontation with them lead to him surviving (like Mary) and changing his identity and appearance (likely through plastic surgery). Afterwards, to pursue the organization further, it makes sense that he would have moved to Japan, where the culprit(s) "Karasuma" originate from, just like the other overseas agents (i.e Hondou Ethan from the CIA). Just like Mary, who got ahold of a fake pass to fly to Japan (revealed by Gosho in SDB 100+), Tsutomu had also gotten ahold of a fake pass with the alias "Kuroda Hyoue".

Spoiler

I think that he then decided to investigate the Karasuma Group/Black Organization, by becoming a public security officer of the Japanese police (in order to extract information easier, as referenced in File 1033).

Spoiler

In order to get a pass into the police academy in Japan (disregarding of his blank background), I suspect that Kuroda/Tsutomu secretly relied on his relationship with the head of the Ōoka Group (who is currently retired) that was revealed in File 1088, similar to how his friend Haneda Yasuharu did in File 1039-1042.

Spoiler

The Ōoka family has been shown and hinted to have great influence and connections with people in high positions, like the Tokyo governor (File 992), making them more than capable of helping Kuroda/Tsutomu join the japanese police.

Spoiler

In other words, the same time as his eldest son started to work towards becoming an FBI agent 17 years ago (File 972), Kuroda started to work towards getting accepted by the National Police Agency (File 913). He then built himself up and became what I think is the backstage administrator of the NPA's security planning division (who recieves all the classified reports of their NOC:s), all within 7 years.

Spoiler

Seven years later (since his disappearance), Kuroda/Tsutomu has made a name for himself within the NPA and has diligently kept his safe distance from his family, but before the status quo with his family could change, an incident took place around 10 years ago, that lead to his 10-year-long coma (File 914). We recently learned that Iori Muga, the current butler of the Ōoka family, was a former coworker of Kuroda within the Public Security, who went with the alias "Sakakibara" while undercover, which was likely before Kuroda's 10-year coma (File 1090).

Spoiler

I think that what lead to Kuroda's burn-scar-causing and right-eye-losing incident 10 years ago was that Iori Muga (who is actually Rum's true appearance) deemed Kuroda as a threatening and formidable enemy to the black organization. He therefore secretly orchestrated the incident that made Kuroda fall into a coma. Kuroda's hair colour changed due to the stress of the incident (his hair was perhaps shaved off for surgery purposes and white hair grew instead) and he didn't wake up until 10 years later (File 914).

Spoiler

I suspect that when Kuroda/Tsutomu woke up from his coma, he suffered actual memory loss to an extent, which is why he was perceived to have become a different person (As Yui mentioned). This concept was already foreshadowed as a possibility through Vermouth's disguise cover story when she faced Mary as Tsutomu (File 1048).

Spoiler

This would also explain why Kuroda immediately reacted to Wakasa Rumi in the news in File 980, while also still acting unaware of her identity as if he is trying to confirm suspicions of her being a criminal tied to the Kohji case in File 987-989, despite potentially having met her 17 years ago as Tsutomu. The amnesia could have made him forget her potential role in his demise 17 years ago, but he still found her familiar enough to the point of investigating her and making the connection between her name and Kohji's dying message.

Spoiler

While he may have forgotten significant things from his life as Tsutomu, his goal to take down the BO and find out who Kohji's killer is hasn't changed. Although the NPA had him move to Nagano to ease back into his work (before he moved to Tokyo MPD as the new superintendent), I think they gave Kuroda permission to still keep his Backstage administrator role active and stay in contact with their NOC ("Bourbon"/Furuya Rei) by Kuroda's request (File 1017).

Spoiler

[Suspicious characters! Discussion about Hyoue Kuroda, Wakasa Rumi, and others.]

Boss Suspects' True Identities (Theory)

We have been introduced to two new mysterious old men so far that are framed to be Black Organization Boss suspects.

Spoiler

 

 

As previously mentioned, I suspect that "Vader" (the old man with the respirator) is Haneda Yasuharu, since he has both reasons to find the police incompetent (File 1090), due to failing to catch his son's killer, as well as for him to recognize Mary and protect her from getting exposed publically through the news (File 1096-1097), since he is Tsutomu's friend.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

As for the newly introduced Hawk Elder (who is clearly being framed to be Karasuma Renya through his Crow-resembling Hawk pet), he was revealed to have some kind of anger towards someone connected to the recent Kid Killer News with Conan & Jirokichi photo in it, since he used his staff to crack the phone showing it (File 1102).

Spoiler

After thinking through all the possibilities, I think it makes the most sense that Hawk Elder's true identity is the Ōoka retiree, Momiji's Grandpa who was acquainted with Haneda & Kuroda (who was also foreshadowed in File 1088).

Spoiler

He is the only mysterious rich old man that we haven't been introduced to. Also, in the M21 guidebook, Gosho revealed that the Ōoka family are a rich family just like the Suzuki's, only that Sonoko's uncle Jirokichi is slightly richer.

Spoiler

This could be setup and cause for some intense rivalry between Ōoka retiree & Jirokichi, where Ōoka retiree could be harboring ill feelings out of jealousy towards Jirokichi, who keeps getting more publicity and gaining more wealth. This would explain why he cracked his phone with Jirokichi's photo open out of anger (that is meant to mislead us into thinking his target was Conan).

 

To summarize my speculations, we now have three silhouetted rich old figures, and their identities are:

Spoiler

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,094–File 1,096: Haido Hotel Bombing Threat]

You are a true champ for consistently keeping DCW forum on a lifeline as new chapters release 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,088–File 1,090: The Sweet Trap Behind the Half-Opened Door]

On 3/20/2022 at 2:41 AM, Maxx said:

Very interesting, such a great reasoning work from yours! But you didn't tell much about Billy and Fusae Campbell, who was probably adopted in the Haneda family just like Shukichi!

I don't think it's Billy, since he does not have the same visible cheekbones like Billy’s. However, the fact that Gosho drew him and revealed him to have foreign features makes me believe he is being setup to potentially be relevant in the plot, along with the mysterious old man (who I suspect is Haneda Kohji's father, Haneda Yasuharu). I look forward to seeing more from those two, so I can develop some of my suspicions I currently have on him.

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:41 AM, Maxx said:

And do you really think Rumi could be Vermouth in disguise? With so many karate skills, with Bourbon, and so on? ^^ And Ai who finds her reliable and harmless?

I wrote about my Wakasa theory here.

 

Wakasa is hinted at practicing kick-boxing (since they had boxing vs kick-boxing easter eggs in Hatoyama farm case File 1054), and it's not that odd that Vermouth would have a kick-boxing training as an underworld figure who has to face a lot of danger. She has already been shown to have acrobatic skills (showing that she can really move her body effectively even when wounded, while she was disguised as the japanese serial killer in New York).

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:41 AM, Maxx said:

So that matches Ai's testimony with the three depictions

we learned that Rum's 3 inconsistent descriptions were deliberate rumors that Rum spread to hide his true appearance and identity and that only prosthetic eye was correct. The conclusion I came to from this vital information update is that Rum might possess mainly 1 of these 3 descriptions and that he spread the other 2 rumors along with it so that if by chance any member got a look at him and spread what they witnessed, the truth would be camouflaged among 3 indistinguishable rumors. Meaning that Rum (as a man) would mainly be either a “stocky man”, an “effeminate man” or an “old man”. In this case where Rum is actually Iori Muga in disguise, I think that Rum is a strong-built effeminate man who disguises as an old man, making his very appearance misleading just like the rumors he is spreading.

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:41 AM, Maxx said:

But could Mr. Karasuma actually have rejuvenated into Chikara Katsumata?

My personal theory about Karasuma Renya's form is this.

 

I don't currently see any big significant role planned for Katsumata Chikara, but I could see Gosho introducing a light connection to Haneda Kohji at best, since he seems to be around the same age Kohji would have been. At least we know from the recent intro of his daughter that Gosho hasn't forgotten about him.

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:41 AM, Maxx said:

did you know about the Seito Sakakibara case in Japan in the 1990s? That 13/14-year-old teen who murdered and butchered young children and who hated school and police? Iori could have been 13  back then in New York. Just like Ai, he was a young prodigy...in killing. He may have already been lying about his age to get hired by Amanda Hughes and stalk her unnoticed. 

I just read on it, I'm lowkey mind-blown by the similarities with Kohji case.

"Seito Sakakibara", an alias given to a teen killer who killed two kids in 1997..... from the time that Rum arc started, this real-life double-homicide case took place 17 years ago.

Wouldn't surprise me if he got inspiration from that incident (a teen killer), since I do believe Rum (Muga) was 18 when he killed Amanda and Kohji.

 

Thanks for reading my post and discussing with me

[Movie 25: The Bride of Halloween (ハロウィンの花嫁)]

2 hours ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

Apologies for the double post.

 

Info about the preview for Movie 26 is already out there:

  Reveal hidden contents

Gin's voice is heard.

"I wanted to meet you, Sherry..."

 

This holds so much promise for the rest this year and the next.

Spoiler

We might even finally get a whole Sherry-Gin-Vodka flashback case to when they visited mermaid island and wrote their name in the guestbook to serve as promo for the upcoming movie. Ofc, it goes without saying that we should get an official reveal to Gin and Sherry's history/relationship that has been teased since File 238-242, that is directly being referenced in the M26 teaser dialogue. Just a lot of great potential for the upcoming cases

 

[Suspicious characters! Discussion about Hyoue Kuroda, Wakasa Rumi, and others.]

On 3/10/2022 at 6:41 PM, Rosemary said:

 

  Hide contents

Yeah, Iori is suspicious. Now we have to wait and see if this goes according to your theory. 

 

BTW What are your thoughts on Iori-Kuroda connection?

 

 

I wrote about my thoughts on it here.

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,088–File 1,090: The Sweet Trap Behind the Half-Opened Door]

File 1088-1090 Review/Discussion

 

This case was just full of surprises and is showing in my opinion big potential for Rum arc yielding one of the most satisfying plot twists that could beat Vermouth arc's Araide twist.

 

To start off, we had the awaited comeback of the Ooka family, but with the very much unexpected reveal that Kuroda Hyoue has ties to the retiree of the Ooka family (Momij's grandfather) (File 1088).

This connection gave an implication to some kind of history between Kuroda and the former Ooka family head. This connection is already quite hintful, since we recently learned that Ooka family has ties with the rich Haneda family (File 1039-1042), and Kuroda has been hinted to have a particular interest in the Kohji case (due to him immediately thinking of that case just from seeing the "Wakasa Rumi" name and her stunt in the news) (File 987). Since the common link between Kuroda and Haneda is the Ooka, this further pushes the idea that Kuroda Hyoue could be Akai Tsutomu, who is confirmed to be a family friend of the head of the Haneda family (File 1037), Haneda Yasuharu. This could also mean that Ooka retiree is aware of Kuroda's true identity (a fellow friend of Haneda).

Then, we also get more hints on Iori Muga (who I have speculated to be Rum's true identity undercover), where he showed more Rum-like features; an old habit indicating that he has monocular vision (File 1089). Iori Muga has an old habit of turning his head often every he time gets off a car. This is a very common habit among people who only see through one eye, because having monocular vision means that your peripheral vision worsens, meaning that you have to compensate for the lack of full view with turning your head often. This was among the crucial awaited hints to point to Iori having a prosthetic eye (and by extension being the one who is going around disguised as Wakita Kanenori, Rum).

Finally, we have the most exciting part of this case, which is the resolution chapter, where we got a lot of context clues to Iori's history and Kuroda's relationship with him, as well as the big tease to a mysterious figure that is heavily framed to be the infamous Boss of the Black Organization.

 

To start off, we learn that Kuroda has been aware of Iori's old habit since way back and that Iori has explained it to him in the past as it being a habit to check his surroundings for any stalkers, as well as that Iori used to go by the first name alias "Sakakibara" (Ooka Echizen reference, likely full alias: "Takewaki Sakakibara") in the past while being undercover and working with Kuroda Hyoue (File 1090).

This was then followed by Conan connecting Kuroda's words of habit "inspecting" and "disinfecting" to being that of the Public Security and started suspecting that Kuroda and Iori are a part of it.

This reveal, that finally not only doesn't shy away from portraying Iori Muga as a main plot character but also reveals that he at least used to work undercover with Kuroda/the Public Security, is the most exciting part of this case, as it brings so much to discuss and has exciting possibilites for the future. For starters, this confirms one of my suspicions about Iori Muga. If Iori Muga had this familiar coworker-relationship with Kuroda Hyoue in the past, it would automatically mean that Iori is older than the age he claims to be (30 years old) as the butler of Ooka family, because Kuroda Hyoue has been in a 10-year coma (File 914). If Iori Muga was working with the Public Security under Kuroda's command 10 years ago, it would mean that Iori would have been 20 years old, which is abnormally younger than the average police officer (for reference, the prodigy Furuya Rei graduated police academy at the age of 22, and that's before entering the NPA). This means that Iori Muga is definitely older than 30 years old, which confirms the last key speculation of mine, which is that Iori Muga actually has an age that is competent enough to carry out the 17-year-old murder case of Haneda Kohji.

Secondly, among the biggest implications of this reveal is the fact that Iori Muga used to work undercover with Kuroda (which is heavily implied to be for the Public Security). This could be bigger than it seems, because if Iori Muga were to actually be Rum/BO, it would mean that Rum/BO had successfully infiltrated the Public Security over 10 years ago. The concept of BO members wanting to infiltrate governmental agencies was already foreshadowed properly in File 1049, when Vermouth was revealed to have been trying to impersonate Akai Tsutomu in order to infiltrate the MI6. If Rum had infiltrated the security police this long ago, then it's very likely that Rum was the one who ordered Vermouth to infiltrate the MI6 in the first place, in order to gain inside-intel on how much they know about the organization. This Iori Muga development could potentially be Gosho's setup to revealing what lead to the mysterious incident that put Kuroda Hyoue, a seemingly high-positioned NPA agent, in a coma. After getting close to Kuroda Hyoue, Muga could have learned of how much of a threat Kuroda is to the Black Organization and executed an order to eliminate him. This could be were Kuroda's and Wakasa's history comes into play. Wakasa (who I suspect to be Vermouth in disguise), who showed a big reaction to Kuroda's sudden appearance in burning tent case (File 988), could have been the one who Rum ordered to assassinate him in an orchestrated accident, which ultimately lead to Kuroda surviving but not posing a threat to the BO further. This would explain Wakasa's sinister behavior of trying to fish out information from Kuroda on why he is interested in her and how much he knows.

The next panels of this scene however arguably reveals the biggest indication on how dangerous this situation is. Kuroda Hyoue reveals that he has heard about Iori meeting Amuro and Iori essentially reveals that he has learned that Amuro, who he directly met during his own introduction (File 981), is a promising NPA agent that is restrained by his past.

This setup might have huge and dangerous implications, because if Iori Muga really is the main antagonist of this arc, then this would mean that he is now aware of that one of his subordinates (Bourbon) is a NOC for the NPA. This would mean that moving forward, Rum will have the power to directly destroy Rei's infiltration mission. However, if Rum were to act now on this powerful information, it could tip off Kuroda, who just now learned that someone outside of the "inner circle" knows about Rei's undercover mission, so perhaps this could be how Gosho could delay any immediate threat towards Bourbon's life. This however just further pushes forward the notion that we are gearing up for Rum arc's climax and that Gosho might start giving us continuous main plot progression in the upcoming cases. 

 

Finally... the most controversial cliffhanger scene takes place, where a mysterious old man, that is shadowed out and using a respirator, is revealed to be driving by all of them, showing very much intended similarities to the infamous Boss of the black organization (Karasuma Renya) and who is showing negative opinions on the police.

This old man, who majority are speculating to be Karasuma Renya, is in my opinion a very on-brand red-herring/mislead of Gosho's to make the reader believe it's the main antagonist of this whole series. This old man has very stereotypical features and elements to him that signals the reader that this could be the boss, like for example that he is driving a retro car like Gin, using a respirator for life support (which is what people would imagine for an old man who is 140+ years old and is supposed to be dead) and who is showing a bad opinion about the police (the "good guys"). This is however done without any explicit evidence to that he really is BO-affiliated. This is a classic Gosho mystery-writing move, where he frames characters strategically to seem one way without definite evidence for the sake of his iconic twists. I think that the timing of this tease rather suggests that it could be one other powerful/rich figure that was active and teased in the previous Ooka/Heiji case and who has good reason to dislike the police, Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's father). Haneda Kohji was revealed in the previous Ooka/Heiji case (File 1042) to be the son of a very rich/powerful family. This is just in time to fit with this mysterious rich old man. We also know that Haneda Yasuharu was revealed to have asked for his friend Akai Tsutomu's help in order to solve the murder of his son (File 1037), which indirectly reveals that he didn't find the police competent enough to handle his son's case. This perfectly fits with the mysterious old man's negative opinions on the police, who failed to solve his son's murder.

Now, here comes an exciting prospect to this setup. For Gosho to use Haneda Yasuharu as a mislead of being the Boss of the BO ("Bad guy"), it would mean that he is planning for the twist that he is actually a "good guy". However, that framing alone doesn't seem complete when you consider his writing of previous overarching mysteries. Gosho usually uses his framed characters in pairs of "framed good" vs "framed bad". Examples:

Vermouth arc: Jodie, Akai, James (framed as a "bad guy") vs Araide (framed as a "good guy")

Bourbon arc: Subaru, Masumi (framed as a "bad guy") vs Scarred Akai, Amuro (framed as a "good guy")

 

So, what immediately comes to mind is that what Gosho is actually setting up with the mysterious old man is for him to be the "bad guy" to someone he is very clearly trying to portray as the "good guy" in this chapter, Iori Muga. I have speculated that Rum (as Iori Muga) is actually trying stay close to the Haneda family, and by extension Haneda Yasuharu, through the Ooka family in order to monitor their activities partaining to his crime 17 years ago, especially due to Haneda Kohji case info being uploaded online constantly. This portrayal of the old man, who most likely is Haneda Yasuharu, just fits like a glove with this new portrayal of Iori Muga, since we could see them framed as each other's enemies. So, when compared with the examples mentioned above, this time it could be:

Rum arc: Mysterious old man (framed as a "bad guy") vs Iori Muga (framed as a "good guy").

This could be Gosho's strategic plan to subvert the readers' expectations by essentially flipping the script right on its head, which in my opinion shows great potential to beating the big twist of the very-beloved Vermouth arc.

 

Overall, this case just set the bar high for what Rum arc could give us in its climax, and I have never been more excited for the future of Detective Conan.

 

[Suspicious characters! Discussion about Hyoue Kuroda, Wakasa Rumi, and others.]

On 12/18/2020 at 5:44 PM, Rosemary said:

 

  Hide contents

 

This is a good theory if it turns out to be true. I've read it thoroughly and actually liked it but I have three concerns regarding Iori being RUM. First would be his age, he is 30 that makes him 13 years old around kohji murder case( considering his mentioned age true). Being no. 2 of the organisation or even being given the task to kill a person at such an age is unacceptable for me. Second would be his prosthetic eye, we haven't seen any indications that imply any of Iori's eyes being fake and the third would be how does he manage to be a butler in Ooka family and work at iroha sushi at the same time.

Although we can not ignore his impatience( RUM's trait) and Ooka family's relations with haneda family.

 

 

On 12/18/2020 at 12:25 PM, MeiTanteixX said:

 

Rum having a monocular vision habit of turning his head often

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Spoiler

Looks like we finally got the indications to one of his eyes being a prosthetic eye (File 1089)

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

3 minutes ago, Kurara-chan said:

RUM is changing his face and name did this mean disguise or did he actually take a plastic surgery? 

It's framed to be a disguise. Still up in the air what extent of disguise it is though.

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

On 1/1/2021 at 7:14 AM, Shreevatsa said:

When will the next file be released? 

January 27th. Spoilers can be expected at earliest 22nd. Preview for the next case will officially release 20th, and leaks for the preview will drop at earliest 15th.

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

17 hours ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

 

Well, that would certainly tie into BO origins (especially if Renya Karasuma is the current Vermouth's father).

The culprit of the Mermaid case had been pretending to be an old woman, just as her mother had. Goshō could go for a straight parallel and have the current Vermouth's mother have undertaken such duplicity when she was Vermouth, herself.

I suppose a counterpoint to there being a tradition of Vineyards disguising themselves as a single figure would be that the current Vermouth went to Toichi Kuroba to learn about the art of disguise, thus potentially implying she didn't have such high quality SFX/makeup skill beforehand, thus potentially implying the Vineyard family didn't have such high quality SFX/makeup skill beforehand... but as we saw with the Mermaid case, you don't have to be as good as the Kuroba family at it to pull such deception off.

Was seeing it more as a one-time codename transfer, but yeah, I guess that's possible too.

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

47 minutes ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

So at just 18, he was the 2nd in command? Does the inherited codename possibility come into play? Does his predecessor have a role to play in all this?

Right, that's the conclusion based on the theory. As Gosho said in SDB Black+ (in regards to very young age of codenamed members):

"what of it? (laughs)"

Could be, though I'm not really sure if Gosho plans on using that concept for Rum specifically anymore (since my original Wakita theory got debunked). Perhaps it's planned for Sharon/Chris ("mother" passing on the codename "Vermouth" to "daughter").

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

1 hour ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

 

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Chikara had no name box, yet still gave his name. To me, that's more understated and less obvious than a "???" name box.

 

But it's not just that one line from him that's the basis, right? It's also that taking notice of Shinichi/Conan moment.

 

My response to that is that Chikara's a 50-year-old shogi player who's good enough to be a match for Kōji's heir (Shūkichi)—someone with that occupation and talent could very well have been at Juke Hotel 17 years ago for that tournament. Being a butler of a family who has ties with the Haneda family isn't much of a counter-weight.

 

If Muga is Rum, then is he like Vermouth? Does his physical appearance not reflect his true age? Or is he actually in his mid 30s, and was in his late teens at the time of the Kōji case?

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Didn't know we were comparing Chikara with Muga, but sure, I can play along.

It's certainly a reasonable prediction/suspicion, but far from a confirmed link. Chikara seems to be around Kohji's age, so the likelihood of them crossing paths are certainly high, but that doesn't confirm that Chikara had a chess interest on the side like Kohji, let alone that he participated in chess tournaments, or that he participated in that specific tournament from 17 yrs ago in a foreign country. So on that note, this very much established fact that Oooka & Haneda are connected is imo more than enough counter-weight (despite not being intended as such when I wrote it). 

I lean towards "no" until there is actual indications of that like in Vermouth arc (where they introduced a senior "Vineyard" for that sort of reveal). Would be no point in the whole "hiding 5 years from your age" angle if it's all fabricated (due to halted aging). I'm rather leaning towards Muga basically being a "Kyogoku Makoto" 17 yrs ago.

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

13 hours ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

Indeed, the exploration... the search of "wherein lies true nirvana"... kudos (*rimshot*) if you know where that line is from.

Unfortunately not ^^;

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Which brings me to the point of which cases. Sure, the concept of Muga actually being 35 has a basis, but that case's only connection to Muga is that it's a direct continuation of a doubleheader of cases (909–912, 913–917/808–809, 810–812) that happened to feature Heiji, (in which, yes, there was a moment where Shinichi/Conan thought of Kansuke as a model for Rum). But are those two connections really enough for you to go, "yep, that's no coincidence"? Because for me, I'd need more to be confident in that as you seem to be.

The point was rather that I have enough other reasons to suspect him as Rum, that these little nuggets only serves as more assurance, rather than the backbone of it all.

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Story reasons:

- Alerting unique intro (friday 13th, never-done-before name-box), where he gets a full-on introduction (unlike his master) where a BO member (Bourbon), that Rum gets very involved with in the future, is present, as well as direct references to Wakita's (Rum's) intro, as a result of replaying the same case format (blood missing on suspects), through Conan ("Not again", as if replaying Rum's intro once more) and Takagi.

- Unresolved mysteries surrounding his characterization, where there's no expected explanation to his stealthy nature, skills, unique knowledge and strength for someone who is framed to be "just an irrelevant butler".

- Thematically fitting the leftover suspect role based on the 3 main Rum descriptions ("effeminate man"), that Rumi couldn't fill, as well as shown to be "exceedingly impatient" (counting seconds) as Rum was described to be, while also being revealed to have a link to the Haneda family (the family of the man who caused Rum's 17-year-old mess-up) through the Oooka household.

- Activities matching Rum's interest (involving himself with Kudo Shinichi)

- Conveniently fitting way where the dying message could implicate him as Kohji's killer and a Karasuma.

 

Outside of story reasons:

- Gosho constantly shows interest and hype for him, despite his "irrelevant" limited appearances (Animal Crossing / Sherry's soliloquy)

- Gosho used him "randomly" for comparison with Akai's age, along with Amuro (two major main plot characters), despite being just recently introduced (in Let's Talk Day 2017)

- Gosho called him "Sebastian" (in Animal Crossing for File 1002), which while on the surface looks like a Black Butler reference (due sharing the same VA) is from a Sherlockian perspective a Moran (Moriarty's no.2 / Rum parallel) reference.

- Gosho revealed that he always planned to introduce an Oooka to Kazuha's "Toyama" in the manga (before M21 story was planned), and he fully created Iori Muga from scratch. On the topic of the movie... a pretty obvious tell/trope is there to that there is more that meets the eye with him.

 

 

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Volume 101: File 1,070–File 1,080

Volume 102: File 1,081–File 1,091

Volume 103: File 1,092–File 1,102

Volume 104: File 1,103–File 1,113

Volume 105: File 1,114–File 1,124

 

My assumption is that there's at least one fairly pertinent development every 25 Files/3 Volumes (and by extension, every 50/75/100 Files). Assuming we're not launching into a big continuation after the 6 File case we just had, it'll probably be around 1,100 that we get another development/revelation.

Sounds quite likely and promising ^^

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

48 minutes ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

Just like that blogger lied about being 5 years younger than she actually was (918–920/814–815) is actually Goshō telling us there will be someone 5 years older than they claim to be? Since we're on foreshadowing like this...

For instance, now that we have the full context of the Vermouth arc, we now know the Mermaid case (279–283/222–224) was foreshadowing that Chris Vineyard and Sharon Vineyard were one in the same. 

And now we have a culprit who lied about being 5 years younger than they actually are... so therefore a major character in the arc will also claim to be 5 years younger than they actually are? Is it a truly that simple? What makes this true foreshadowing instead of coincidence? And what would be an example of an actual coincidence that could be mistaken as true foreshadowing from this current arc?

That is a part of the fun to explore, wouldn't you say? 

I almost wanted to bring up Shiragami case as an example of a coincidence, until I realized that the whole "two of the same person, where the real one is disguised as someone else" is straight up the whole Scar Akai & Subaru plot in Bourbon arc 

I do think however that relying on gimmicks and concepts that Gosho has demonstrated within cases of the arc in question serves as the most reliable approach in figuring out Gosho's mystery (based on his mentioned track record), regardless if it ends up being true or coincidence.

 

In this case however, I dare say that there are more than enough reasons for this special butler with a unique name box intro to be the man to suspect as being Rum, and by extension, the one who would need this conveniently fitting "name box deception" concept that Gosho used in this arc (that conveniently would make him the same age as the first person Gosho portrayed to be the one who comes the closest to being Rum, Kansuke).

 

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I always did think the Rum arc would provide quite an opportunity to subvert the Bourbon arc (Agasa's mug trick from the file Rum was first mentioned in being an early potential sign of that)—now that Goshō's revealed that the suspect who shares many similarities with Bourbon is indeed Rum, all before we've gotten into the other suspects and the Kōji case, it seems only natural he would have twists at the ready, twists that would likely involve Rum.

Now, as for predictions for when the "main event" could happen, I'm looking at it happening in another 5 volumes, seeing as there is now a pattern for major progressions/developments every 5 volumes (Vol 90: "ASACA RUM" [First Rum development since Kir's message], Volume 95: "CARASUMA" [Boss reveal & major ShinRan development), and finally Volume 100: first Rum reveal [Camel faking his death]). I could therefore see Volume 105 being our next landmark for major developments (like for example, Heizuha confession / Rum climax [true identity] / Kohji case reveals [i.e dying message continuation]).

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

2 hours ago, DCUniverseAficionado said:

Yeah, it's like Black Impact or Mystery Train in that way... sure, there was a confrontation, and we did get new info and confirmations, but this was no Rotten Apple, Clash of Red and Black or Scarlet Showdown—the Kōji case didn't come up at all... and many of the important players of this arc weren't even referenced in passing—the Rum arc equivalent of such arc-climactic cases is still to come.

I wouldn't personally go as far as using Mystery train as an example, since it still fullfilled the purpose of a climax, where it not only revealed the identity of the titular antagonist, but also built it up properly through the involvement of the relevant players and lead it to a resolution of the antagonist's activities up to that point (revealing Bourbon's disguise stunts and his goals) as well as resolving one of their goals (Sherry). This FBI serial murder case only revealed 1 thing... Rum's fake identity... and left everything else still pending a resolution (unlike Mystery Train).

 

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It may be as simple as Rum truly being an old man and counting on assumptions that he'd never show his face to do the work for him... but since the truth of the Kōji case, as well as the truths of Rumi, Hyōe and Tsutomu have all yet to be revealed, it seems unlikely Goshō single out Rum to be the only one without a twist amidst all the revelations and twists that are to come—it seems unlikely he'd play it straight with Rum from now, onwards, and have him being Kanenori as the sole twist.

Still feels like a stretch, since not that many seems to even know of the extent of Rum's secretive nature to begin with. Rye had only heard the name a few times, Sherry had only picked up the same rumors that most BO members have, and not even Vodka/Chianti knew that those rumors were created by Rum himself for the same purpose that he is hiding his voice. If even these codenamed members didn't know this, I don't think that Rum could, or even should, safely assume that the average BO member would expect for Rum to not show his face at all, after they're already mislead into thinking that people have seen his face (due to the existing rumors).

 

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Given the context of this arc, this must be a major operation to flush out the NOCs within the BO. And who knows? We may also get additional revelations about how Hiromitsu's/Scotch's cover as a NOC was blown, and that event may prove to be key information. After all, given how important Hiromitsu/Scotch is to Rei/Bourbon, how his death ultimately drove the events of the Bourbon arc, and how he was referenced in the very file Rum was first mentioned in as one of the three NOCs that drive the BO's internal perception that they have a spy problem (the motivation behind a big event intended to deal with such an infestation), it doesn't seem likely to me the ASACA song case (954–957/866–867) was the last time we'll see him in DC (and that's saying nothing of how Gosho has him on the brain after working on Wild Police Story). Also, Taka'aki/Kōmei has now been brought into the main plot (and bringing Kansuke and Yui with him, by extension), so we'll need to see just how he's going to factor into this arc's endgame. Maybe how Hiromitsu's/Scotch's cover was blown can give us additional details about Rum's identity and/or the Kōji case.

It is quite alarming that we get the big Morofushi highlight in the same case as Rum seemingly looking into Bourbon's loyalty. If not Rum, I still hope that we get any kind of explanation as to how Scotch got exposed. Would definitely tense-up the drama between Bourbon and Rum if Rum, the fellow disciple under the same "teacher," was responsible though.

 

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Well, we now know that Kanenori/Rum is driven to Iroha Sushi by a chauffeur and bodyguard (of course, we don't know if it's every time, some of the time, or if this was a rare exception to how Kanenori/Rum usually arrived). It'd be quite the dramatic irony for Rum, after serving Momiji, to then lounge and sit back in a fancy car as she would, on his way to another service job, of all things. (btw, you mentioned on DCTP that he could potentially have two phones like the butler culprit from 1,009–1,012/952–954... if Muga was Rum, he'd have three—the black phone with a white square (his phone as Kanenori Wakita), the black phone without a white square (his phone as Muga Iori) and a white phone (the phone he used to call Gin and the other BO members in 1,061–1,066)... for comparison, Rei/Bourbon has only one phone, which he uses for both BO and NPA business—a white phone with a black spade).

Indeed, he would technically have three in total. Was mainly looking at it as "the butler" (Iori) being foreshdowed to have an additional phone used for yet another active fake role, so basically two phones representing two fake identities.

 

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Yeah, and I like how the old man from CoRaB being Rum ties Rum and the Akais further together.

Seemed like that was intended to be the actual highlight twist/reveal of this BO case, whereas the Wakita reveal was merely, as you had mentioned before, the beginning of sorts (like Vermouth/Kir during Reunion/Black Impact), or as I put it, a "surface reveal". Essentially, this is where the build-up towards a proper climax starts.

[Suspicious characters! Discussion about Hyoue Kuroda, Wakasa Rumi, and others.]

"Rum = Iori Muga / Wakita Kanenori" Theory Summary (Updated to File 1115)

Rum bending his knee for his "old man" disguise (like Kid)

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Rum carrying two phones (like Fukamachi)

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Rum having a monocular vision habit of turning his head often

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Rum's history

Muga inherited his codename "Rum" from his father, who has served the boss for roughly 50 years. Muga is disguising as his father since at least 17 years back after being taught by Vermouth, to maintain his father's influence and control in the organization, without being judged for his young age as the new second-in-command.

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Rum's goals

Most likely to find and eliminate the one who is behind the "Haneda Kohji murder case" info leaks online that highlights his 17-year-old screw-up (the dying message that exposes the Boss' surname "Karasuma"), as well as anyone that actively investigates that case.

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His first move was most likely to watch/surveillance the actions of Haneda Kohji's noble family as "Iori Muga" (Butler of the Oooka family), using the Oooka's close connection to them (since the Haneda family seemingly rely and trust the Oooka household), since they would naturally be the first suspects behind the leaks.

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His second move was to investigate the famous detective Mouri Kogoro, who got involved with the "Soul Detective" Hotta Gaito's Kohji case investigation (File 951-953), as "Wakita Kanenori" (old mystery-loving sushi chef), using Iroha sushi restaurant that is next-door to Mouri Detective Agency as a means to get close to him in order to verify if he is investigating the Kohji case and eliminate him if necessary (File 975-977).

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Timeline speculation on Rum's relevant actions as "Iori Muga" (True appearance) & "Wakita Kanenori" (Fake appearance)

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File 981-983:
Rum coincidentally finds Bourbon in Cafe Poirot while tailing Heiji, leading to him becoming suspicious of his closeness to Kogoro, as well as trying to flee from a potential crime scene to avoid further involvement and contact with Bourbon (in his true appearance).

File 1002-1003:
Rum appears to help Momiji, and then is absent for a moment before getting a chance to see Shinichi. After Shinichi and Heiji leaves with Ayanokoji, Rum appears and by chance misses Kudo Shinichi.

File 1005:
Rum sees Kudo Shinichi in the headlines and becomes suspicious of his alleged death.

File 1008:
Rum makes an attempt to get close to the Kudo mansion in order to investigate Shinichi himself, but fails due to the media's gathering. Rum then sees a suspicious redaction from the blogger, and realizes (after having already confirmed with Momiji that Shinichi was indeed involved in the Kyoto case) that there is a cover up and orders Bourbon by message to investigate Kudo Shinichi, knowing that he works in Café Poirot under Mouri's home, where Ran (Momiji's friend who is Kudo Shinichi's classmate) lives and can easily get info for him. The reason for ordering Bourbon could both have been to lighten the load for himself (as someone working with 2 active identities) and also so he can test Bourbon's loyalty (due to being close to someone that he suspects is investigating the Kohji case).

File 1011-1012:
Rum gets impatient and stresses Bourbon. He then gets some kind of intel reply from Bourbon (maybe the fact that Kudo Yusaku came to Japan) that is suspiciously lacking.

File 1027-1031:
Rum decides to take the opportunity to investigate Bourbon (as a potential traitor) after finding an opening to join in on Mouri's case, by looking into his relationship with Kogoro. Instead however, he notices that Conan, who is smart for a kid, is closer with Bourbon than initially perceived (during the Cafe Poirot case).

File 1039-1042:
Rum tells Momiji to involve Kudo Shinichi in her challenge to Heiji, in order to start investigating him himself once more (after not getting anywhere with Bourbon's help), but then starts noticing that Conan is close with Shinichi too. He then starts observing Conan more closely (to the point of later noticing a shift in his expression) and even rushes Momiji (by telling her about Heiji's romance plans) into offering him for Kudo Shinichi to rely on so he can directly converse with him and figure out his whereabouts, but fails.

File 1055-1057:
Rum continues his Kogoro investigation, and while solving the case also relies on and acknowledges Conan's capabilities (after having observed him with Bourbon and Heiji in the past) and decides to test his Kohji case knowledge by referencing the missing shogi piece from Kohji's crime scene discreetly, in case Conan, the smart kid, got involved with Kogoro's potential Kohji case investigation, but fails to get a revealing reaction.

File 1058-1060:
Rum sends Vermouth instead of Bourbon to verify whether Kudo Yusaku is an active threat towards the organization (due to his son's involvement), but still gets no helpful information.

File 1062-1066:
Rum leads and supports his BO subordinates to hunt and kill an FBI agent on the run. He learns that it's André Camel, who he once encountered 2 years ago while testing Rye's loyalty (similarly to how he is currently testing Bourbon's loyalty) while disguised as an old man.

File 1088-1090:

Rum reunites with his former coworker Kuroda Hyoue, who he worked with from 7 years ago (after Kuroda's coma) until 3 years ago while infiltrating the public security, and reveals while talking to Kuroda that he has officially found out about Bourbon's true identity of being an NPA undercover agent.

File 1100-1109:

Rum suspects Wakasa to be the bodyguard Asaka that he failed to eliminate 17 years ago, after she glared suspiciously at him (File 1072), and tries to gain information by asking Conan about her, but fails to get a helpful answer. He later hears about her going to a chess tournament with the kids, and makes an assassination attempt with Chianti and Korn's help, but gets outsmarted by her and confirms that she is indeed Asaka. Rum then considers de-aging his right eye to when it had a photographic memory ability using APTX4869, that he suspects has a de-aging side-effect, which is making his pursuit of the APTX4869 victim Kudo Shinichi all the more a priority.

File 1113-1115:

Rum witnesses Conan's true mature capabilities and competence on par with Heiji (a high school detective) after getting a chance to join in on Conan's and Heiji's plan to outsmart criminals, which further puts Conan's childish oblivious answer regarding Wakasa into question.

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,061–File 1,066: The FBI Serial Murders]

Detective Conan File 1061-1066 Review/Discussion

The information in File 1065, followed by File 1066 reveal drastically changed my viewpoints on Rum and the road map to Rum's resolution.

Starting from File 1065, we learned that Rum's 3 inconsistent descriptions were deliberate rumors that Rum spread to hide his true appearance and identity and that only prosthetic eye was correct. The conclusion I came to from this vital information update is that Rum might possess mainly 1 of these 3 descriptions and that he spread the other 2 rumors along with it so that if by chance any member got a look at him and spread what they witnessed, the truth would be camouflaged among 3 indistinguishable rumors. Meaning that Rum (as a man) would mainly be either a “stocky man”, an “effeminate man” or an “old man”.

 

Then came the 2 vital information that connect with File 1066, which is that Rum has changed his face and uses a silly name.

 

Here is where the major shifts starts, since we get what is in my opinion undeniable indications that Rum is indeed Wakita (amongst the 3, as SDB BLACK+ indicated, without foulplay).
Rum was seen silhouetted mentioning in his recurring polite speech style the "nostalgic story" from 2 years ago during Rye's exposure,...

 

...which was soon after followed by an old man sitting in the same car as Rum, recalling the same incident that Rum did, being revealed to be the old man from that Rye loyalty test incident and is shown to clearly possess the one feature that is true about Rum, a prosthetic eye (depicted/revealed in the same way as Kuroda's), and that old man is revealed to be Wakita Kanenori without a wig, moustache, buckteeth and eyepatch.

 

 

If that wasn't enough, we got another File 1008 situation, where the side-note of File 1066 states that he is "the man with the silly name" (despite the story not even clearing up directly how "Wakita Kanenori" is a silly name), which is essentially handing out the confirmation to the reader that Wakita Kanenori is Rum (similarly to how we got a Boss identity confirmation in the side-note without the story directly addressing it as such).

 

That being said however... We ended File 1066 with Team Conan just starting to learn about the new hints "changed his face" and "uses a silly name", just before the aforementioned reveal. We got no sign of resolution whatsoever to the Rum mystery. And when it comes to build-up towards the mystery climax, we had none of Gosho's traditional case setup where all the suspects/players in the overarching mystery comes together as the titular antagonist's goals takes the spotlight and the detective (Conan) has pieced the mystery behind antagonist's identity together.

 

To me, this was the biggest indicator that Wakita being Rum is being treated as nothing more than just a "surface reveal" to a more crucial twist/reveal regarding Rum that is being saved for Conan to solve, leading to a future proper Rum mystery resolution (like the Halloween ship case and Mystery train case).

This reveal also surfaced another important indication, that further supported this notion. Rum's old man appearance was used completely undisguised/unaltered as he directly approached a potential traitor (Rye) 2 years ago, which is contradictory to the established behavior/M.O of Rum, where he not only conceals his voice with a voice changer, but even goes as far as to spread misleading rumors of himself, all in order to hide his identity. This further makes it seem like the old man appearance is nothing more than a disguise from the very beginning, which further goes in line with the established information in File 1065 that Rum has changed/disguised his face. So despite Rum seemingly looking to be an “old man” (as according to the descriptions), the truth is still very much likely to be far from that with the new info from Vodka (like for example, an “effeminate man” who has disguised his face).

Therefore, I'm seeing this as merely the beginning towards a real Rum climax, where Rum's/the old man's real identity and face is gonna be revealed (which might happen during the "main event" that Gin foreshadowed in File 1062).

 

Basically, we have resolved the "Bourbon arc"-formulated part of the story, and are potentially venturing into the "Vermouth arc"-formulated part of the story.

This is where I’m seeing Iori Muga, the "exceedingly impatient", seemingly english-influenced effeminate butler with a polite speech style, fitting in as the end-goal twist of being Rum’s true identity (through Kohji’s dying message) for Gosho. 

There naturally will rise questions of how he manages his time as a butler for the Oooka household (to surveillance the Haneda family that the Oooka are connected with) and as a sushi chef (to watch over the detective who might be investigating the Kohji case), but due to lack of information on both ends (Wakita's and Iori's work schedules), it's something left to explore. Iori Muga could have been given the free time by Momiji (who is clearly portrayed to respect him and his input) to be able to spend those days in Tokyo disguised as “Wakita Kanenori”, as far as we know.

 

Overall however, I truly enjoyed this case as a whole. File 1066 was definitely my favorite chapter of this case and I'm very happy about the twist (and especially its delivery) that the old man from Kir arc was Rum all along. It made this whole “BO vs Camel” focus way more worth spending time on, and I can only look forward to what’s in store in the actual “main event”. 

[MeiTanteixX's Gallery]

Wakita Kanenori

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,058–File 1,060: Kaitō Kid's Live Deduction Show]

Locked room murder trick deduction v.2 (File 1059)

(joint work with Ned)

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Upon further inspection, it's most likely the tongs rather than the spatula:

 

[[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 1,058–File 1,060: Kaitō Kid's Live Deduction Show]

Locked room murder trick deduction (File 1058)

 

Basically, the idea could be to utilize weight in order to turn the thumbturn lock from a 45 degrees position to a complete 90 degrees (horizontal) position. By adding enough weight for it to start turning clockwise slowly, you might have enough time to close the door before it fully turns horizontal and locks up.

 

In the first case and second case, there were bags involved with weights on them (big lotion bottle in Atsumi's and a lot of trash in Taiji's). To camouflage the bags on the floor, the culprit messed up the bathroom and apartment.

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In the third case however, there was no bag, however, we were made aware of that Koretsuga had a lot of kitchen utensils hanging up the wall, possibly to make note of that they all have holes in them. This could be were a string could fit in, where it replaces the bag's effect of combining all their weight around the thumbturn lock. The culprit might have tied the string as a lasso in order to pull the knot out from below the door after locking the door in order to untie it and remove the string. When the police later opened the door, the utensils could have been pushed to the side (like in Atsumi's case), making their awkward placing from the string pull disappear.

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