DCUniverseAficionado

Thank you for putting in the spoiler box. Since Shuichi's comments in File 949, I've thought that, too. It's probably James who's supporting her, financially, given his comments in East vs. West (File 778–File 780/Episode 651). It's probably just a chance reference, since Masumi has her mother's surname—she's neither been adopted, nor taken on a fake name, like Artesia/Sayla. *takes a seat beside him... and also waits for the 'he's Rum cause his left eye was hidden' comments*

Please edit your post, and use a spoiler box for that.

Yeah, that's not just eschewing Kogoro—that's eschewing the whole "hide behind someone else" part.

And that disguise could be Post-Coma Hyoue.

Since he has a posse of super sleuths around him, now, he seems to be eschewing Kogoro more and more.

Except that requires the assumption that (if Mr. Akai is Post-Coma Hyoue) Post-Coma Hyoue looks like Mr. Akai. We don't know what Mr. Akai looks like, now—neither do we know what he looked like, 17 years ago. And another thing... if Mr. Akai shrunk due to APTX, then how old would he be, 17 years ago, just after he took it—according to you, that's when he took it, right?—and how old would he be, now? I doubt he'd be a kid—he'd be in his 20s or in his 30s, if he was an APTX victim, 17 years ago.

Nah, that was just a general statement, on my part. If he was at the Juke Hotel, 17 years ago, then I say he was Rum... but not Asaka. That was just my observation.

All this depends on whether he was involved with the BO before the murders of Koji Haneda and Amanda Hughes, or that case was what got him involved. We still don't know the specifics of the accident that put Hyoue in a coma (at this point, there are two theories for how Rum lost one of his eyes—one, Koji Haneda gouged one of Rum's eyes out with the scissors he also used to make his dying message, or two, Rum lost one of his eyes in the accident that put Hyoue in a coma). And the hair color change and apparent memory loss? I doubt that either or both of these suspicious points are just going to be revealed to be throwaway lines to mislead us—at least one, I think, will play a role, later on. At this point, does it matter whether people like it or not? People didn't like the idea of Rei/Tooru being a NOC. Because of the Bourbon arc, some now think that Gosho will go with the theory they don't like, and/or he will poorly execute either the theory they don't like, or even the theory they do like.

I'll amend two of these... Pre-Coma Kuroda = Rum or Post-Coma Kuroda = Rum and Post-Coma Kuroda = Papa Akai As I see it, if Asaka is Rum, Hyoue is not Rum.

Of course, this would fly in the face of the theory that Mr. Akai was involved with the BO beyond the murder of Koji Haneda and Amanda Hughes... and especially would fly in the face of the theory that he was a BO agent, himself (and fly even more so in the face of the theory that he's Rum).

But evidently, Shinichi/Conan needed Shiho/Ai to get those eye bags to notice this.

That's extremely unlikely. Would Mr. Akai know that these "horrible people" are based in Japan? We don't know. All we know is that he ended up apparently being killed by the BO because he got involved in a murder case of a Japanese man and an American investor on U.S. soil. We don't know if Mr. Akai was from a government agency, or if he was something like a private detective.

Yeah, this was even weirder. It's not even really that difficult of a fix. I guess when Gosho was hinting that she was related to other characters (Shukichi, Shiho/Ai), Gosho drew it like that.

I guess Gosho really wanted to emphasize a similarity of Shukichi, exclusively, from File 899 to File 905. It's pretty strange, though, that the Volume 85 and Volume 86 didn't fix her eyes.

You mean like Masumi's sheltering Mary?

So you think Hyoue is Mr. Akai?

So you think Koji Haneda is Shuichi's/Shukichi's/Masumi's father and Mary's husband?

Ah, Futurama... good times...

So now "ten years ago" is 2006-2009 (a.k.a. the late 2000s), and "thirteen years ago" is 2003–2006 (a.k.a. the mid 2000s), then? Well, that's her thing, then—actually staying with their mother. While doing so, she's had time to make friends with Ran and Sonoko and go out on her own. And what about those "innumerable" jumper suicides, and the fact she describes herself as a detective? She's the only one in her family who actually set out to be that. Shuichi's not an FBI agent because he just wanted to be, or was inspired to be one—their motivations are clearly different. And what about all her efforts to make Shuichi smile—upon meeting him, she wants to see him smile. Then, she wants to help out. And what about all that Yusaku gave to Shinichi? Doesn't that put him in the same boat? Just like Masumi gets showed up by Shuichi, Shinichi gets showed up by Yusaku. Shuichi (unintentionally) tells Masumi all this info, and Masumi wants to be a detective; Yusaku tells Shinichi all this info, and Shinichi wants to be a detective. The only difference between them is how determined Shinichi is to save everyone. Due to Shuichi's and her mother's influence, she was ready to let the bomber die (File 771–File 774/Episode 648–Episode 650). Thing is—Yusaku's barely around, and Shinichi's too prideful to ask him for help, bar a Scarlet Showdown-esque situation. Masumi's family is in very close proximity to her, and they've been focused on for the past 100+ files. She's not nearly as prideful as Shinichi—if she was, she wouldn't ask for help for a regular case. In the Bowling Alley Case (File 859–File 861/Episode 744–Episode 745), she reflects upon her deduction being wrong, in the prior case (File 856–File 858/Episode 740–Episode 741), but, ultimately, decides to do things herself... and Shinichi/Conan later gives her credit for the resolution of the case. Masumi can be as serious as Mary and Shuichi, but she also shows a playful, carefree side, like Shukichi—combined with her intellect, she's the best of both worlds, so to speak. I'd say that makes her unique.

It's Yusaku. Since when has he been portrayed any different? (Incidentally, when were the first smartphones available for purchase? Cause it looks like Yusaku and Yukiko have them) And explain why Shuichi saying, "Case closed!", is bad.

If you do that, you'd have to watch for possible contradictions (either from placing an earlier story later on, or placing a later story earlier on). I don't think it'd be possible—there'd be at least one major contradiction if you re-arrange too much... and the risk would only increase as the number of Manga Files and Anime Episodes increase.

That generally applies to File 2 in a 3 File case, as well, correct?

Well, Volume 91 will be out in December—I'm sure you'll be one of the first who'll be able to check on whether the Volume version of 969 Shukichi looks different from the raw release version (and upload the image, if there is a difference). It's strange that Shukichi's jaw is pointed in 972, even after all his prior appearances featured him with a square jaw. Yeah, Gosho just straight up revealed it. Still, this case will probably be (at least, this is my guess) 4 chapters, if not 5 (like Golden Apple (File 350–File 354/Episode 286–Episode 288)), so there's still time. Before the file came out, I thought those three would be suspects, but yeah—they're just not drawn right, for them. It's been awhile since we've had a case in which a car drove through railing and plummeted down... How convenient that it happens during this, of all cases...