MeiTanteixX

Wakita Kanenori...

I see now, thanks for the clarification! Well, Aside from the initial purpose of the horse in the Movie cover, he could have still used it in this latest chapter to reference the movie... ...ofc, as I mentioned, there's not much to back this up.

...to refer to horses?

Wakita Kanenori I see two possibilites for Wakita's character... There was so many similarites between his intro and Bourbon's, mainly because it's a restaurant setting involving a waitering detective. Beyond that however, I see one specific similarity, and that's the mention of alcoholic drinks. In Bourbon arc, it was mentioned that Amuro ordered Bourbon before, which was like Gosho's indication that this new character is Bourbon to us. Amuro also tried to deny that he is connected to spy-like behaviors, which again was Gosho's way of teasing us with the truth. In the latest chapter with Wakita however, we get the indirect mention of Rum. The Red Thread noticed that the horse that won is called "Pirate's Spirit", which refers to a pirate's alcohol, which is Rum. The way Wakita said that Kogoro chose such a weak horse(Pirate's spirit=Rum) looks like an indication to me that Gosho is saying Wakita has some form of rivalry/antipathy with Rum, or sees Rum as someone beneath him. Along with the fact that someone with an artificial eye doesn't use an eye-patch, unless they are ashamed to show it(which in that case doesn't make sense that he would openly offer to show his "damaged eye"), it seems more likely that he isn't Rum. (and let's not forget his "out-there-characteristics"). Here are the two possibilities: - Wakita is someone with a grudge against Rum(BO) who might be working with an agency, or is simply connected to one of Rum's victims. - Wakita is a BO member who underestimates Rum and sees himself as a rival I think the second option seems highly likely at the moment because of another possible hint from Gosho. The hint to him being a BO member could be Gosho's actual reference in this case to The Darkest Nightmare drawn cover art. Gosho most likely used the horse in the movie cover to make a reference in this chapter, which will potentially connect itself to the BO(the star of movie 20). Gosho might be implying that Wakita, who represents the "Darkest Nightmare" horse (that races with "Pirate's Spirit"(Rum)), will be another BO character that might be up to something that can be referred to as "the darkest nightmare"(like the movie), and I think that this might be related to Gin's suspicion on Kogoro. Wakita could be working with Gin to investigate Kogoro and see if he is worth eliminating, which could potentially endanger the Mouri(similar to the spies in the movie). Going back to Wakita's comment to Kogoro, maybe it's Gosho's way of saying that the boss chose Rum("Pirate's Spirit") over Wakita("Darkest Nightmare") as the second-in-command. In this case, maybe his code-name is a spirit that is from the "Dark spirit" category like "Brandy". Brandy is a distilled beverage that is classified as a hard liquor, which follows the pattern that all male members's have code-names that are hard liquors. Remember that this is just speculation based on Gosho's implications, that are open for many interpretations.

In the manga, he mentioned that he heard him say his name while being interrogated as a hostage of the bus hijack, by the police, and remembered it for some reason(the anime staff decided to pull off another "gin" situation and not explain it again). Maybe he noticed his attempt to take on the robber, before the robber was shot down with the tranquilizer, and found him interesting,...or maybe he... just me giving some explanation to plot convenience

That was Kir's call. She took the risk at hand and decided to go with Conan & Akai's plan, for the sake of her father's mission. The CIA doesn't seem to be involved in the decision making of the "fake death plan". Either way, it's not like the CIA can predict what happened.

What makes you think that his source wouldn't withhold info? The CIA still has protocols to follow and revealing top secret ongoing missions of active agents, like Kir, to outsiders(no matter who it is) is a very risky move that could potentially backfire to Akai's source. Giving out info on an inactive deceased former agent is not comparable to info on an active agent like Kir.

Just because Jodie said that she showed Akai the photo and that he said he was sure because he confirmed that Ethan is a CIA agent, in the same sentence, doesn't necessarily mean that Akai responded to her directly after she showed him the picture. Why would Jodie bother adding "and after waiting a couple of hours/days, he said he was sure...". To me, it naturally looks like she showed him the photo, he looked it up through his source, then gave Jodie the confirmation. Akai even confirmed this(like u mentioned) by saying that it was through Conan's help that they figured out that Ethan was CIA, which means that after Conan got the CIA lead and Ethan's photo and sent it to Jodie, that's when Akai had reasons to confirm the suspicion through his CIA source(not before that). If Conan's help was merely confirmation, then it's very exaggerated(a lie in fact) to say that Conan's help lead them to finding out that Ethan was CIA(since according to you, Akai somehow already had suspicions of Ethan being CIA).

As you can see in the image I showed, Jodie clearly said that she showed shuichi the picture of Ethan. That's a photo that Conan got while getting the info on the "company" conversation. That's a clear indication that he sent Jodie the photo, along with his CIA suspicion(which I think was the reason she came to Agasa's house to begin with). I think you are making hasty conclusions here. It was until after the whole coma incident happened that Akai got the CIA info. There was no way for him to change anything that has transpired in regards to whole hospital incident, and the whole "fake death" plan was not a forced decision, it was their own thought-out decision to get Kir back into the BO.

The only clue they had to Ethan being a CIA agent was his mention of "company" during his conversation with his colleagues. As soon they got their suspicion of him being an CIA agent, that's when there was a reason for Akai to use his connections to the CIA to get a confirmation + background info on Ethan Hondou, a deceased former agent. I don't think that the CIA would, or even could, risk their active agent's(kir's) life by sharing the crucial info of her mission outside of their work-space, and it's not like Akai was asking for more than just info on Ethan(accoding to Jodie).

I see, well...considering that she was tied to the BO in someway, she had to have been an investor either way(seeing as she had the means to invest).

It was implied here... Anyone that can back-up this claim?

We have enough indications to assume that she was investing to the BO. First of all, why would a random investor be targeted by the BO. That by itself ties her to them in some way. Secondly, Haibara already mentioned that unbelievable people would be caught if the police took charge against the BO,... someone with FBI/CIA connections is an unbelievable person to be caught(not really, because corruption exist everywhere). Thirdly, Haibara even confirmed the existence of investors who invested to the research,....Amanda happens to be an investor. Lastly, having some ties to the FBI/CIA automatically doesn't make you a good person(so that assumption needs more support). That doesn't necessarily mean she is completely on the BO side either. I'm guessing her ties to the FBI/CIA leaked to the BO and she got targeted because she couldn't be trusted anymore. Who's is also very close friends with an FBI agent, who originates from Britain, but lived in America his whole life. From Akai's CIA connections(intel source) and Subaru's interrupted comment("not FBI, but rather..."), and also from the vague indications that the Hondou and the Akai family might be connected, I have enough implications to assume that Tsutomu was a CIA agent.

After the flashback case, I'm now leaning more towards that Rumi is Asaka, Tsutomu was the CIA agent that investigated Amanda's connection to the BO(her investment), but ended up getting involved in Rum's confrontation with Kouji. A quick follow-up prediction... This might've lead to Rum fighting Tsutomu, but ended up being forced to flee, and Tsutomu tried running after him, but lost him and had to then hide(he couldn't risk that a BO member infiltrated the CIA and would kill him the first chance they get to silence him). He then sent the message to Mary for the family's safety's sake. Kouji then left his dying message and died, and Rumi who failed to protect Amanda came to Kouji's room and took pictures. The hand-mirror was originally given to Kouji from Rumi(which is why she was seen with it). When Amanda met Kouji before her death, maybe that was when Kouji offered her "Asaka"(Rumi), and the maybe Asaka never confronted Rum because he secretly poisoned Amanda with the SB-prototype through her drink(?). Rumi now wants revenge for her beloved Kouji and is testing Conan to see if he is capable to be involved and know something. The CIA/FBI and Mary later found out that there was blood traces of Tsutomu(as a result from his fight with Rum) and they wondered what happened with his body(assuming that Tsutomu died). Here's an interesting follow-up.... Later,...Maybe Tsutomu changed his identity and was able to fake his background, with Ethan's help, to become Kuroda Hyoue and join the NPA. 7 years later(10 years ago), he finally meets Rum again with his new identity, and clashes with him, which lead to the accident that took both Kuroda's and Rum's eye. Kuroda falls into a Coma and 10 years later, he is the superintendent of the first division. This is the impression I'm getting from Akai's and Mary's conversation, as well as Tsutomu's message...

Future Shuukichi, who lost his Shogi career and became a private detective

lol, there was some confusion in G+ about it looking like Akai's eye again

Detective Conan FILE 972-973 Review/Discussion!

Bourbon told her that Akai's sister was in Japan, and that she might become an obstacle in catching Sherry. With that information, Vermouth just needs to improvise and act like her brother, simple as that.

Aaah, so it had a purpose in the case itself... hmm, so either Gosho thought it would be interesting if he did a flashback-follow-up from that statement, or we are looking too much into it.

I have to reread that chapter(I don't remember him saying that) but I'm definitely on board with this theory.

Can't argue with that

You forgot about the time period of him bringing his car outside Agasa's house. In the Anime(I know, it's not reliable, but who knows if Gosho was involved :P) they had those extra scenes with Subaru waiting outside the Agasa house with his earpiece on(that might've been intentionally planted through Gosho's request). ...I almost made that same mistake but Subaru doesn't know that Conan is Shinichi at that time(in other words, Yukiko's son). That very true... I guess one tends to assume by the first implication and forget which facts hasn't been confirmed yet. I still think though that Mary and Sera came together(through James help) since Mary would need someone to cover for her when arriving to Japan(or staying home)). I wish Gosho would just realize that there are far better mysteries to strecht out and tease us with than the whole mid-bro "mystery". I hope we are in for a surprise with the Beach flashback(maybe that it's not kichi, and that all of this "mid-bro tease" was for the purpose of tricking us now).