Chekhov MacGuffin

His wiki articleHis appearances in episodes and manga so you know which ones to watch/read In summary, he is a enigmatic guy who likes to stalk various main characters and smirk to himself mysteriously. Despite the stalking and the mysterious smirking, he never actually does anything bad and seems to be protecting Haibara. He randomly cameos a lot. He's very polite and kind to everyone, even to kids, except when he needs to kick someone's arse, and then he emits a dark aura that causes Haibara to be magnetically attracted to Conan's back. He's good at solving cases. He's left handed like Akai. He very well may be Akai. In fact, he probably is Akai.

<Gosho Science> Haibara never gave a definitive answer but she said that maybe it has to do with containing an enzyme that speeds up cellular metabolism. As to why it worked only once, presumably Shinichi built up an immunity after the first time he took it, and so it didn't work as he was healthy (and thus his immune system normal) </Gosho Science>

If knowing manga spoilers counts as inside information, the answer is no. Non-BO Plot upcoming yes.

His cases are overrated. I only liked the second one (Magician's meeting - Kid was mostly irrelevant) and third one (gathering of detectives), the rest are all either way too easy or japanese wordplay which is pretty much impossible for non-native speakers and not fun to try to solve (or a combination of both). Usually, the murder mysteries where Kaito takes second stage are better than the ones where the whole goal is catching Kid. As for Kaitou Kid being overrated, he does fulfill the role of real rival to Shinichi, and routinely partially succeeds at his crimes which is nice because Shinichi has recently (past 400 chapters or so) been portrayed as otherwise impossible to get the better of. The negatives concerning Kaito are that he has pretty much no character development, and will never have any direct relevance to the plot. Although I didn't particularly like Magic Kaito, I liked Kaito's interactions with the Nakamoris and the rest of his class as he attempted to pull off heists. That aspect doesn't exist in DC because Kaito isn't a character outside of his Kid role. It means he loses a lot of his charm. Plotwise, magical crying gem Pandora will never be incorporated into DC because it simply just doesn't match genres. Without Pandora, unless Gosho wants to write a new backstory, Kaito Kid has no reason to involve himself in anything plot related, unlike Hattori who is a friend to Conan. I used to want to see him taken down a few notches, but I realized that was merely a proxy for my real desire to see him actually do something interesting that develops his character. Getting caught would do that, but I don't really care at this point how it happens. Having likable cases would also help. Only Kuroba Toichi Kid and his past interactions with the adult characters like Sharon/Vermouth stands any chance of showing up in the plot. The problem is Toichi is rather dead, so his involvement, if there is any more, will be limited to flashbacks. ----- Summary: Kaito Kid is sometimes interesting, but he is unlikely to develop character-wise or plot-wise. He probably deserves about the same level hype as Hattori. As Kaito Kid seems to get more hype than that, he is overrated in my opinion. Kaito's cases are also mostly mediocre or worse.

Sera is shorter than Vermouth, but Okiya was looking at Sera from a distance and from an awkward angle with the kids as reference. Could he be confident he judged her height correctly?

I did some thinking about why Okiya (assuming he is Akai) would suddenly step up his protection of Ai after Sera appeared assuming Sera is his sister and also not a bad guy or part of the Black Org. Here are events from Okiya’s perspective: We know he's been tapping the Agasa house, at least since recently. Discussions about Sera that took place in Agasa’s house in the same vicinity as the overheard conversation include. 771 pg 10: Conan talks about how Sera seemed to know about him ahead of time. Haibara said “Then, that detective named Sera knew both your name and that you were a detective?” Conan confirms this but points out Sera seemed to throw the case on purpose for some reason. Haibara then began yelling that it was bad to use Kudo’s voice in front of someone suspicious like Sera. Conan then says Sera feels familiar and doesn’t feel like an enemy. 772 pg 4: Conan mentioned that Sera was involved with the current case and is over at the Mouri detective agency. Sera may be using an alias because her family name isn’t Akai. Okiya may not recognize it via listening device. (Though it could be possible Akai is using the alias or "Sera" has become the Akai family witness protection name) I also assume Akai would recognize Sera in person -- that is she isn’t using a disguise or drastically changed her appearance. Later, Okiya saw Sera outside of Agasa’s house talking with Mitsuhiko and Genta while looking up at it. I assume Okiya had been watching her. I also assume Okiya can’t hear what they are talking about. So why the extra protection? Five possibilities occurred to me: #1. Okiya can't be sure Conan and Haibara's Sera person that he overheard the discussion about via listening devices was in fact the person talking to Mitsuhiko and Genta. If Sera has been using an alias, this makes sense. #2. Okiya couldn't be absolutely sure if that person was his sister and not someone in disguise, #3. and even if that person was his sister, he couldn't be sure that she wasn't being watched or, #4. unaware of the danger of the Org, he is worried she might accidentally do something that would endanger Haibara and Conan's covers. #5. He thinks his sister may attempt a direct confrontation with either Haibara or Conan. He’s trying to head it off. #1: Okiya would want to step in because this means there could be someone threatening Conan's identity. #2: Okiya has already seen someone disguising as Akai wandering around town, so keeping that in mind, perhaps if someone in the Black Org has done some digging and found out about Akai's family, that person could be using their appearance to try to lure him out and gather information. I am specifically thinking Okiya suspects Vermouth, who knows about Conan and Haibara and might think they helped Akai fake his death and is trying to dig for info. I assume Okiya can't hear the conversation through the window, so he doesn't know what Sera is up to, only that she appeared in front of the Kudo residence all of a sudden and is talking to the DBs. #3 & #4: Sera probably came over on her own accord, and not knowing the danger, may not have taken proper precautions against making sure the BO don't find out who she is. Okiya is worried that something may have already happened. #5: This would imply Sera is very certain of her deduction or else her methods aren’t very subtle. I’m not sure if she thinks this strategy would work although she did want to meet Conan at the beginning of the Mouri agency hostage case. Also if he thinks Sera is going to do such a thing, he must also realize that the way he is following the DB isn’t exactly subtle and may put him on her radar. I still feel somewhat unsatisfied with this. I think more info on Sera or what Okiya knows is needed.

You are looking for Boy Shinichi's Adventure Chapters 570-573, Episodes 472-473.

Thanks for pointing out the title was off. I was thinking anime for some reason. Nice analysis. Assuming non flashback character appearances, 1 is liable to happen. 2 I doubt they will ask. They may comment on it, but I think it will be played for gags at best. 3 For sure. It will be awkward because Hattori keeps calling Conan "Kudo". Sera may overhear. 4 I can't believe I didn't think about this. I think there is a very decent chance of suspicion arc development in the chapter. The girls go and talk as usual. Kazuha lets it out that she knows Shinichi, possibly by asking Ran about London or something related to Heiji. Sera is part of the conversation or overhears and then asks some questions. Either the topic of the omamori comes up or Ran thinks about it. If the case involves fingerprints as a part of the solution, then that might also induce Ran to consider some more. Plotwise, this stands the chance of being a major development. 5 Don't think so. As far as Camel goes I see a few potential reasons for him to be there. I am assuming Sera's appearance isn't simply flashback, and Sera and Camel meet. The first is Camel thinking Sera looks familiar. The second is Sera can watch Camel interacting with Conan and confirm her suspicion that Conan is familiar with FBI people. The third is establishing if Sera recognizes Camel and thus knows about the FBI. Additionally we may also get her reactions and thoughts about Camel in particular who got Akai into trouble and the FBI generally. Basically she could try to hide from Camel, or she could just not talk to him, or freely converse. This will give clues about her identity (FBI agent, high school girl, Org, whatever). It may may also go towards explaining how Sera acquired the info in the first place that Conan was someone of importance. It may also reveal if Sera knows why the FBI are in Japan and what they are working on. The fourth is Camel can relay any info to Conan that Jodie or others have found related to recent events, scar Akai, etc.

This one has Camel in it it though. He's usually funny. Hopefully Sera interacts with him a bit. If so, I bet Camel will think she is familiar somehow. This case looks like it takes place in a restaurant {hanging lamps, benches, and food). We just had Ramen Ogura so I hope this one's a bit different than the standard "someone's food gets poisoned somehow" case. Edit: nevermind it is a "someone's food gets poisoned somehow" case, only with connections to Kansai. Finally Heiji is already announcing who the culprit is. This means his deduction is premature, or Gosho actually decided to be awesome and let Heiji beat Conan for once (hah), or this is a two part case and we may be up for a four part related case following it.

Just thought I would give this a kickstart because there seems to be some interesting info coming out about the next file. Courtesy Conan#1 from the DCTP spoiler cbox File 778 spoilers said appearing characters are コナン(Conan), 毛利 蘭(Ran), 服部平次(Heiji), 和葉(Kazuha), 世良(Sera), 目暮(Megure), 高木(Takagi), キャメル捜査官(Agent Camel), ファミレスで毒殺騒動わ世良が東と西の探偵対決でどっちが上かはっきりさせたらどうかって言う We also have this picture (I forget who posted it first but also from DCTP spoiler cbox) http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=1091548012 According to red Orchid's translation, Heiji is saying "I know who the culprit is" Edit Hadaa's translation: http://forums.dctp.ws/index.php?topic=6269.msg501864#msg501864

I think the coffee stain on the rug with a mark in the general shape of an ear was good enough as proof. Conan was just over doing it. I doubt police are going to take Ayumi's earprint; the testimony will suffice. The police aren't going to accept an excuse that there was another kid who spilt coffee on their ears and left a mark on the rug. As I linked earlier, there are people looking into ears and earprints for identification. http://www.forensic-evidence.com/site/ID/ID00004_4.html http://www.forensic-evidence.com/site/ID/IDearCamera.html

The DB can't interact with an 18 year old easily because they won't be around each other much. The law is still a problem; as an adult, she risks prosecution. She could avoid it with a plea bargain, but she would have to face the Org again in court, and she risks being a target for any leftover Org agents/their friends who want to kill her out of revenge or before she can testify. That won't be nice. Also her adult life is already associated with all the bad stuff that's happened. She's already got a clean start as a child, why does she need to be an adult? The only potential reason I can see is that she likes Shinichi, but she knows Shinichi and Ran aren't going to separate, so there is no reason to put herself through extra sadness by becoming an adult to be around someone who won't love her back.

They're isn't anything left for her as an adult except possible prosecution for being an accomplice to the Org. Her family is dead, and she had few friends. As a child she has friends (DB, Shinichi), a family (Agasa), and a new life that isn't full of murder, suspicion, and constant vigilance. She's changed to a happier, warmer person because of it, and she enjoys her life as a child despite the inconveniences of retaking elementary school

They are allies, both working for the same government for the same ends and all. It is true the CIA might decide not to include some lower group of FBI agents in their intelligence briefings, which doesn't mean they aren't allies. The CIA isn't going to kick Rena though for getting found out by the FBI; it was bad they weren't coordinating in the first place.IdentityUnknown said everything else I wanted. I have trained him well.

Yes, but Haibara won't.

The best part was in his introduction chapter James asked if the DB had seen the long haired man he was supposed to meet with. I don't know who could read that and not think Gin. Then we find out Akai cut his hair...