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Kanenori Wakita

2026-09-12T03:28:20Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Rum
| japanese-name = ラム (Ramu)
| english-name =
| image = Rum face.png
| age = > 67 56 as Kanenori Wakita
| gender = Male
| date-of-birth =
| relatives = Rum "senior" (father, deceased)
| occupation = [[Black Organization]] second-in-command Beika Iroha Sushi chef (as Kanenori Wakita)
| nicknames =
| aliases = Kanenori Wakita
| status = Alive
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 58#Foreign Suspect Case|File 607]] Anime: [[Clash of Red and Black|Episode 502]]
| appearances = {{:Rum Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 97]]
| cases-solved =
| footnotes =
| japanese-voice = [[Shigeru Chiba]]<ref>In movie 20 and episode 942, Rum is voiced by an unknown voice actor and was only given a computerized altered voice. The ending credits do not list a voice actor. The producers did this intentionally so that no one could look up what other characters that voice actor might play.</ref>
| english-voice = [[Chris Cason]] (Bang Zoom!) [[Alex Teixeira]] (Macias Group)
}}
{{nihongo|'''Rum'''|ラム|Ramu}}, alias {{nihongo|'''Kanenori Wakita'''|脇田兼則|Wakita Kanenori}}, is the second-in-command of the [[Black Organization]].

== Background ==
Rum is the second-in-command of the [[Black Organization]] and the close aide of [[Renya Karasuma]]. He inherited that codename from his father, who had served Karasuma for many years. About sixty-seven years ago, he was only a child. He was involved in the United States' [[Case from 17 years ago|murder case]] of [[Amanda Hughes]] and [[Kohji Haneda]] seventeen years ago. He changes his voice with a machine when he communicates with his subordinates. Currently disguised as Kanenori Wakita, he is a drifter arranged as sushi chef at Beika Iroha Sushi, the local restaurant which is just next door to [[Mouri Detective Agency|Mouri detective agency]] and one of [[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]]'s favourite hangout places, since the regular waiter was in an accident. He becomes Kogoro's second apprentice in order to get closer to him and extract information. He is interested in [[Shinichi Kudo|Shinichi]] and instructed [[Rei Furuya|Bourbon]] to gather information about Shinichi. He also considers [[Yusaku Kudo|Yusaku]] a threat to the organization and instructed [[Vermouth]] to investigate him.

== Personality ==
Bourbon describes Rum as exceedingly impatient. He is also a rude and intuitive person, taking an interest and investigating anyone that he deems suspicious and a threat to the organization or even to himself: e.g. he ordered to kill [[Rumi Wakasa|Rumi]] only because of his suspicious. He is a cigar smoker and has always wanted to try show at least once. As Kanenori Wakita, he is a true [[Wikipedia: edokko|edokko]] ("child of Tokyo"), hated betrayal and has the stereotypical personality: forward, confrontational, and fond of justice and sushi. He compares traitors to cheating fish-sellers. In contrast to his Kanenori's role, Rum's manner of speaking is more polite and formal.

== Appearance ==
[[File:EP864 Rum.png|thumb|right|200px|Rum's fake appearances.]]
Rum is an older bald man with a strong build, a fairly tall, fair skin tone, black eyes and white facial hair. He has damaged his left eye and replaced it with an artificial one. Just like [[Hyoue Kuroda|Kuroda]]'s, his artificial prosthetic eye is completely white. Prior to loss, his eye had a vertically slit-shaped pupil, like those seen in a snake. As Kanenori Wakita, he has a short black hair, a toothbrush mustache, prominent buck teeth, and soft medical gauze dressing over his left eye. He is right-handed. There are conflicting accounts of his overall appearance and build among the organization members, but he fabricated them to keep his identity a secret. Some think Rum is a strongly-built man, some say he looks feminine, and some say he is an old man. Seventeen years ago, Rum wore a black jacket with a fur collar, a striped shirt, a black hat, and a monocle over his left eye, which was attached to a chain under his jacket. In the present, he wears no monocle and hat, his black jacket has a regular collar, a shirt with a multicolored patchwork design, and a collar pin.

== Abilities ==
He has a keen sense of observation and relatively good deduction skills just like [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]], liking mystery since he was a child. He was also able to brainwash [[Curaçao]] and appoint her as his right-hand agent. He can quickly figure out tactical traps that are being used against him, allowing him to execute a strategic counterattack and utilize the situation to his advantage. He has skills in culinary arts, but can't safely wield the knife due to his injured eye. In conclusion, he is more intelligent than [[Gin]] and a master of disguise like Vermouth. He can speak English, which indicates that he's well educated. His left eye possessed something similar to photographic memory, that allows him to remember people's gestures and habits, to which he used the information gathered to blackmail big names in the political and financial world in order to make the organization grow bigger. He has had such eyes since he was young.

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Rum Uncle (''Oji-san'') Wakita Kanenori-san|Conan-kun}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|Rum|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Kogoro Mouri|Wakita-san|Mouri Kogoro Master Kogoro (''Kogoro-shishō'') Customer (''Okyaku-san'') Sleeping Kogoro-sama (''Nemuri no Kogoro-sama'') Kogoro-san Kogoro}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|Wakita-san|-}}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Renya Karasuma|file=Renya Karasuma 60px.jpg|-|Ano kata}}
{{appellations|Gin|Rum}}
{{appellations|Vodka|Rum}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Rum|Vermouth}}
{{appellations|Chianti|Rum Ramu-san|Chianti}}
{{appellations|Korn|Rum|Korn}}
{{appellations|Akemi Miyano|-|Miyano Akemi}}
{{appellations|Curaçao|Rum|Curaçao}}
{{appellations|Pinga|Rum}}
</tab>
<tab title="Law enforcement">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Rum|Akai Shuichi<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1147|The Crucial Moment of Chaos]]</ref>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|Rum}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Akai Tsutomu<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1150|File 1150 - The Pursuers of Chaos]]</ref>}}
{{appellations|Mary Sera|-|Mary Akai}}
{{appellations|Jodie Starling|Rum Wakita|Jodie Starling}}
{{appellations|James Black|Rum|James Black}}
{{appellations|Andre Camel|Rum|Andre Camel FBI brat}}
{{appellations|Hidemi Hondou|Rum}}
{{appellations|Rei Furuya|Rum|Bourbon}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Others">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Ai Haibara|Rum}}
{{appellations|Yusaku Kudo|Rum}}
{{appellations|Iroha Sushi Chef|file=Irohazushi Chef.jpg|Wakita That idiot|Boss}}
{{appellations|Yoko Okino|Wakita-san|Okino Yoko-san}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Haneda Kohji Mr. Haneda Haneda}}
{{appellations|Rumi Wakasa|Mr. sushi chef<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1149|The Fate Born from Chaos]]</ref>|Wakasa-sensei Rachel Asaka Asaka}}
{{appellations|Amanda Hughes|Rum|Amanda}}
|}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== Foreign Suspect Case (Manga: [[Volume 58#Foreign Suspect Case|607]], Anime: [[Clash of Red and Black#Friday the Thirteenth (Manga: 605-609, Anime: 501-504)|502]]) ===
[[File:EP782-6.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Rum vs. Akai and Camel.]]
Rum appeared in disguise as an old man during [[Shuichi Akai|Akai]]'s final loyalty test two years ago, while he was waiting for Gin to arrive in a warehouse. [[Andre Camel|Camel]] emerged from his hiding place to scare him away, thinking he was just an ordinary civilian, revealing that Dai Moroboshi was an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] spy.

=== Scarlet Showdown (Manga: [[Volume 85#Scarlet Showdown|896]], Anime: [[The Scarlet Return|782]]) ===
Camel is reminded of the old man.

=== Scriptwriter Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 86#Scriptwriter Murder Case|906-908]], Anime: [[Three First Discoverers|792-793]]) ===
[[Ai Haibara|Haibara]] visualizes his three [["The Criminal"|black figure]]s, just like Conan later in the anime version with fake eyes.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
Conan visualizes Rum as a black figure, just like his three black figures with fake eyes later in the anime version.

=== Interchanged Betting Ticket Case (Manga: [[Volume 92#Interchanged Betting Ticket Case|975-977]], Anime: [[The Tokyo-Style Detective Show Next Door|894-895]]) ===
Kanenori correctly guesses which horse Kogoro must have bet on to cause him to visit Beika Iroha Sushi and order the highest quality servings. He also deduces it is very out of character for Kogoro. Conan, worried about Rum, wants to know what happened to his eye. He turns out to be a fan of the famous Sleeping Kogoro and wants to know about his cases. Kogoro tells him about the recent [[A Cottage Surrounded by Zombies|zombie murder]], leaving out certain embarrassing details. A pickpocketing case then coincidentally falls into their laps. He challenges Kogoro to a deduction contest: a race to figure out which customer stole the lady's million yen winning ticket first. He cleverly and decisively comes up with excuses to keep all the suspects from leaving the sushi bar when they try to leave to avoid being accused. Although disappointed he won't get to see Kogoro in action, he is also first to propose a solution, which is very nearly close to correct, although he might have made his error in order to test Sleeping Kogoro in action. However, since he was mistaken, Conan darts Kogoro to put the case to rest decisively. He is impressed and asks to be Kogoro's disciple in exchange for discounts on sushi. Kogoro accepts, but it isn't clear if the response was serious.

=== Rumi Wakasa's Neighbor Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 92#Rumi Wakasa's Neighbor Murder Case|980]], Anime: [[The Woman with White Hands|896-897]]) ===
Kanenori is seen reading a Nichiuri newspaper, but it's not showed what article. He comments about Rumi that "this one is quick-witted".

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the murders case that occurred back at Kyoto is solved, Kanenori is seen reading an article that mentions Shinichi's involvement in the case and took an interest of his return. In the anime, this was adapted in the next case.

=== Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Missing Maria Higashio Case|1008]], Anime: [[Search for Maria-chan!|941-942]]) ===
Kanenori tried to visit Shinichi's [[Kudo Residence|house]] and is seen talking to [[Hiroshi Agasa|Agasa]], claiming that he came to deliver a sushi in his neighborhood, but couldn't due to a mass of paparazzi surrounding Shinichi's house. After he finished his conversation, he is seen reading an article in his phone, where the blogger who claimed that she saw Shinichi was nothing but an illusion, calming down the uproar about Shinichi. Rum sends an email to Bourbon, asking him to gather information about Shinichi, telling him to hurry up stating that "Time is money".

=== Nagano Snowy Mountains Case (Manga: [[Volume 97#Nagano Snowy Mountains Case|1027-1031]], Anime: [[The 36-Cell Perfect Game|1003-1005]]) ===
Kanenori joins Conan, Kogoro, and [[Rei Furuya|Amuro]] to Nagano mountains after receiving a request about investigating a suicide case in an old church. He mention that he hated betrayal, like trader selling some old fish in a high price while they were on the train. Upon reaching the church they are joined by some people. It is soon revealed that someone has assembled all of them together keeping their identity secret. Next they are trapped inside the church and two of the people were killed. They team up with pairs to investigate the case and he pairs with Kogoro. He realize Conan and Amuro are working well as a pair along the case. He is also looking forward for Conan's future when he grow up. After they are rescue from the church, he introduce himself as Kogoro's apprentice along with Amuro to Nagano prefecture police inspector, [[Taka'aki Morofushi|Morofushi]].

=== Kogoro in a Dilemma (Manga: [[Volume 99#Kogoro in a Dilemma|1055-1057]], Anime: [[Yoko Okino and the Locked Attic|1059-1060]]) ===
Kanenori shows up at detective agency as he is impatient by waiting the sushi delivery ordered by Kogoro for [[Yoko Okino|Yoko]]'s visit with the strange mysterious coding of a murder case as Kogoro was stuck inside the toilet due to out of toilet paper in the bathroom. He has relatively good deductive ability by solving the mysterious coding with the murder case. After the resolution, he asks Conan whether he is concern of something which is missing like a shogi piece, which Conan denies.

=== FBI Serial Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 100#FBI Serial Murder Case|1061-1066]], Anime: [[The Black Organization's Scheme|1077-1079]]) ===
After several FBI members were killed as a result of the organization decoding their communications, the FBI planted a fake code. However, Rum was able to detect such fake code due to the difference in romaji writing. His subordinates were then able to counter trap and attacked the FBI members instead. Although the collaborative efforts of Akai and Conan managed to keep Camel hidden for a while, Rum figured out their strategy and instructed Gin to burn Umizarujima, successfully luring out him into the open. However, they were fooled into thinking to have successfully eliminated the FBI agent. Two years ago, when Rye's allegiance to the FBI was exposed, Rum sent a picture of Akai and Camel to [[Korn]], ordering him to assassinate the FBI agents once in sight. After the case, Rum was scolded by the boss, stating that their actions at Umizarujima stood out a bit more than they should have been. Despite receiving an earful, the boss was pleased with the recent turn of events, commending Rum and the others for successfully killing the man that the FBI desperately protected. Rum then puts on his disguise and drops off at Iroha Sushi, and is revealed to be Kanenori Wakita.

=== Shintoist Temple Case (Manga: [[Volume 100#Shintoist Temple Case|1067]], Anime: [[The Inauspicious Matchmaking|1085]]) ===

=== Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule (Manga: [[Volume 101#Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule|1071-1072]], Anime: [[Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule|1093-1094]]) ===
Kanenori delivers sushi to [[Teitan Elementary School]] for class 6-A's reunion. He shows to know [[Akemi Miyano|Akemi]] attended this school nineteen years ago, but muses to himself that a dead person would be unable to attend their reunion. His indirect presence heavily triggered Haibara's anxiety, causing Conan to rush outside the classroom. When he asked an upperclassman if any suspicious person passed by, he was informed that only pizza and sushi deliveries came near the area. Conan then dismisses his suspicion and concludes that Haibara must have been overreacting only, unaware of the fact that Kanenori is an undercover member of the organization. Rumi then menacingly watches Kanenori leaving as he delivered the sushi.

=== Kaitou Kid and the Siren's Splash (Manga: [[Volume 103#Kaitou Kid and the Siren's Splash|1100-1102]], Anime: [[Kaitou Kid and the Crown Trick|1150-1151]]) ===
Before the heist, Kanenori asked Conan if there was anything strange about the teacher who glaring at him while he was making deliveries. Conan chooses not to reveal anything to him, despite his observations, answering that Rumi was just a normal, clumsy teacher.

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103-1109]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1164-1167]]) ===
After Kanenori learns from Kogoro that Rumi is at a chess tournament in [[Haido]], Rum drives to the building without disguise. He parks his car on a street within sight of here. His two companions hack into the lobby security cameras and get video footage of Rumi. With a sinister grin, he orders the recordings to be sent to [[Chianti]] and Korn, but Wakasa outmaneuvered them and sniped them back. Rum regrets the failure, and wants to use APTX-4869 to turn back the clock to when his right eye still could see properly.

=== Parents' Day at Teitan Elementary School (Manga: [[Volume 104#Parents' Day at Teitan Elementary School|1112]], Anime: [[The Mystery of the Man-Eating Classroom|1170]]) ===
Rum is seen wondering why Rumi would remain at Teitan Elementary School.

=== Bar Hostess Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Bar Hostess Murder Case|1144-1146]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Video Gamer Locked Room Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Video Gamer Locked Room Murder Case|1147-1150]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1153]], Anime: TBD) ===

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== The Darkest Nightmare (Movie: [[The Darkest Nightmare|20]]) ===
Rum doesn't appear directly:
* Haibara visualizes his three black figures, and his artificial eye in her hallucination.
* Rum sends orders to Vermouth and Gin ordering them not to execute Bourbon and [[Hidemi Hondo|Kir]] because he received a new message, apparently from Curaçao but in reality from Agasa as instructed by Conan, that they weren't NOCs. He also orders them to retrieve Curaçao to verify if the message is authentic or not.
* When she finally regained her lost memory, Curaçao's flashback shows Rum speaking to Vermouth through a computer in an altered voice. In the past, Vermouth was about to execute Curaçao because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, but Rum's voice stopped her. He appointed Curaçao as his right-handed agent.
* Vermouth has a conversation with him during the ending credit, while she is in her car along with Kir. She lets Kir listen to what he has to say before hanging up.

=== Sleep (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 6#File 035: Sleep|35]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Twilight Job-changing (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 7#File 041: Twilight Job-changing|41]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Great Puppy Pometaro ~The Paw of Blue Sapphire~ (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 7#File 042: Great Puppy Pometaro ~The Paw of Blue Sapphire~|42]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Black Iron Submarine (Movie: [[Black Iron Submarine|26]]) ===
He orders his men to use a submarine to destroy the Interpol underwater facility, and also wonder about the boss whereabouts since he initially intended to use the AI system to locate him.

== Hints that Rum is Kanenori Wakita ==
<spoiler>
* He may be able to fit all three descriptions of Rum, even though it was revealed that they are just a rumor planted by himself so better conceal his identity. He wears a patch over his left eye, which may conceal a prosthetic, and has still it despite saying that it will heal. Both of the other suspects, Kuroda and Wakasa, apparently have their right eye blind/prosthetic, which is why he stands out among them.
* He has an interest in Sleeping Kogoro, just like Gin, while Wakasa and Kuroda personally have more interest in Conan. On top of that, since it was Sleeping Kogoro that solved the murder behind the occult detective who try to solve Kohji Haneda's murder case, it is only natural Rum's main focus and interest would be on Kogoro, because he wants to stop him from investigating the truth behind that murder at all cost. He took an interest in reports of Shinichi's return and even tried to visit his house.
* Wakita lied that he speaks old-Japanese accent like [[Genji Kojima]], who thoroughly nurture/build a habit to converse with this accent. This is heavily contradicted from the fact that Wakita uses modern Japanese language and terms in his conversations instead of the Edokko accents and terms he claimed to be from his first impressions. Hence, whenever Wakita asked Conan important questions related to the murder of [[Kouji Haneda]] (Shogi piece and [[Rumi Wakasa]]), the boy avoided giving straight answers that Wakita really wanted to know.
* Rum in text messages has twice used the English phrase "Time is money", which can be translated into Japanese as "時は金なり", whose Romanization "Toki wa kane nari" is an anagram of "Wakita Kanenori".
* He can be deceptive. As of now, he has yet to meet Haibara and communicate with her directly in any cases, making him the primary suspect to have a different response compared to Kuroda and Wakasa when seeing her later. However, in file 1072, Haibara felt the aura of organization and, at that time, Wakita was riding a motorbike passed Teitan Elementary School.
* Like Bourbon, whose workplace was just a floor under Mouri detective agency, his workplace is one of Kogoro's favourite hangout places, which is just next door to it. This in turn allows him to move around freely and observe Kogoro's or his associates' movement much closely, without the need of using complex disguise like Vermouth and raising any suspicions to almost anyone, since public would believe he is a normal sushi seller that goes around delivering it to customers when being compared to Wakasa and Kuroda. Even if there is no customers that ordered sushi for delivery, he can easily fake an order to his own shop, thus allowing him to leave it either way, just like when he can investigate Shinichi.
* When Amuro, Conan, Kogoro, and Wakita were on the train to Nagano mountain, he said that he hated betrayal, which seemingly meant he sensed that Bourbon betrayed him by sending him fake information about Shinichi's death. He completely snapped when the suspects started badmouthing Kogoro's actions after checking the victim's condition, something that Bourbon hinted afterwards that Rum is an impatient person. What's more interesting, after the whole case had been solved, Morofushi came to them and pretended he didn't know Amuro by shaking hands with Kogoro, asking him who these two men were, although Taka'aki had met him before when [[Hiromitsu Morofushi|Scotch]] was still alive. Presumably, Kuroda ordered Taka'aki calling him to help Amuro by acting as a stranger in front of Wakita, so that his true identity as an undercover agent working for the NPA could be hidden. Before leaving, Taka'aki didn't forget to mention a saying which was similar to "Time is money".
* In his debut, he even mentioned that he is a drifter, which may hint that he never stays in one place very long, so that he can go where ever the organization or boss needs him to be to investigate an important matter, and if necessary to take care of the problem, and then disappear quickly. A customer asked what happened to the regular waiter, and he answered that he was in an accident, which was probably arranged, so that he can have this job to spy on the Mouri detective agency, and in particular Kogoro. One of the suspects says he wants to go home to watch the episode of ''[[Kamen Yaiba#Trivia|Kamen Yaiba]]'' on TV where the boss' second-in-command would appear.</spoiler>

== Relationships analysis ==
=== Black Organization ===
==== Renya Karasuma ====
[[Renya Karasuma]] is his direct superior, meaning that the boss must trust him the most, enough to make him the new highest ranking executive agent after his late father's long service. He has Karasuma's support to do criminal activities, such as blackmailing big names in the political and financial world in order to strengthen their position. About forty-seven years ago, he appeared at the International Economic Forum's annual general meeting on behalf of Karasuma, who was absent due to poor health. However, he is scolded by Karasuma when his conspicuous actions can threaten the secrecy of the organization, for example by burning an island, instead of searching closely, to lure out their target. Even he has not seen Karasuma in a long time and has been trying to find out about his whereabouts.

==== Gin ====
[[Gin]] knows Rum's true identity and that he works at the sushi restaurant with a silly pseudonym. Apparently, Gin trusts and follows his commands without questioning them or complaining about them. Although, he does get annoy when Rum get praise every time.

==== Vermouth ====
Rum suggested a level of trust in [[Vermouth]]'s judgement.

==== Chianti ====

==== Korn ====

==== Curaçao ====
[[Curaçao]] is a member who works as Rum's right-hand agent. In the past, because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, Vermouth was about to execute her, but he decided to appoint her as his right-hand agent.

==== Pinga ====
[[Pinga]] is the new right-hand of Rum after Curaçao's death.

=== Enemies ===
==== Amanda Hughes ====
About sixty-seven years ago, when he was only a child, [[Amanda Hughes]] met him as a guest at Karasuma's birthday party. Fifty years later, they met again at a hotel in the United States. Instead of become part of their family, she sacrificed herself to save her adoptive daughter and swallowed his drug developed by the organization, which led to her death. She left a dying message to warn about his eye's special ability.

==== Kohji Haneda ====
Seventeen years ago, [[Kohji Haneda]] met him at his hotel room, while hiding Amanda's bodyguard. Kohji knew he was associated with Karasuma and, refusing to tell about Asaka's whereabouts, he was beaten by one of their men and drugged by Rum, which led to his death.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:EP502-old man.jpg|Rum as old man (episode 502).
File:Rum Profile.jpg|Rum as black figure (episode 863).
File:EP894 Wakita.jpg|Rum as Kanenori Wakita (episode 894).
File:Rum true face.jpg|Rum's true face (episode 1079).
</gallery>

== Quotes ==
{{cquote|If there is such a thing as eyes that can identify a losing card, I'd really like to have them too. I'd be able to tell who the traitor is who's trying to pull one over on me. Like if a trader tries to fob me off with some old fish at a high price.|Kanenori to Bourbon, file 1027, page 3}}

{{cquote|Guess I really have no choice but to turn back the clock on this right eye that's only if that drug works as I imagine though...|Rum to himself at the end of [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|Chess Tournament Murder Case]] when he failed to assassinate [[Rumi Wakasa|Rachel Asaka]].}}

== Name origin ==
[[File:MyLum gag strip.gif|thumb|right|x200px|Lum Invader]]
"Kanenori Wakita" is a silly name and an anagram of "Toki wa kane nari", the Romanization into Japanese of his English catch phrase "Time is money" (時は金なり).

[[Gosho Aoyama]], as a [[crossover]] joke, has introduced [[Wikipedia: Lum Invader|Lum Invader]], the female protagonist from the manga ''[[Wikipedia: Urusei Yatsura|Urusei Yatsura]]'', as the Black Organization member Rum. He also showed Lum in a panel in file 906. Lum's name has a similar pronunciation to "Rum" because "R" and "L" sound the same in Japanese.

== Trivia ==
* Kanenori Wakita's character is a homage to one-eyed boxing coach [[:File:Danpei Tange.jpg|Danpei Tange]] from the 1968 boxing manga series ''[[Wikipedia: Ashita no Joe|Ashita no Joe]]''.
* Rum's car is a 1962 Black Bentley S3 "Standard Steel Saloon", with a crow as bonnet statue in the anime version, driven around by two organization members. He also uses a scooter to deliver sushi.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Black Organization]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]
* [[Wikipedia: Rum|Rum]] (alcohol)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Black Organization}}
{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rum}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Male characters]]
[[Category:Black Organization]]
[[Category:Detectives]]
[[Category:Murderers]]

[[ca:Kanenori Wakita]]
[[de:Kanenori Wakita]]
[[fr:Rhum]]
[[zh:胁田兼则]]

Kanenori Wakita

2026-09-12T03:27:41Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Rum
| japanese-name = ラム (Ramu)
| english-name =
| image = Rum face.png
| age = > 67 56 as Kanenori Wakita
| gender = Male
| date-of-birth =
| relatives = Rum "senior" (father, deceased)
| occupation = [[Black Organization]] second-in-command Beika Iroha Sushi chef (as Kanenori Wakita)
| nicknames =
| aliases = Kanenori Wakita
| status = Alive
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 58#Foreign Suspect Case|File 607]] Anime: [[Clash of Red and Black|Episode 502]]
| appearances = {{:Rum Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 97]]
| cases-solved =
| footnotes =
| japanese-voice = [[Shigeru Chiba]]<ref>In movie 20 and episode 942, Rum is voiced by an unknown voice actor and was only given a computerized altered voice. The ending credits do not list a voice actor. The producers did this intentionally so that no one could look up what other characters that voice actor might play.</ref>
| english-voice = [[Chris Cason]] (Bang Zoom!) [[Alex Teixeira]] (Macias Group)
}}
{{nihongo|'''Rum'''|ラム|Ramu}}, alias {{nihongo|'''Kanenori Wakita'''|脇田兼則|Wakita Kanenori}}, is the second-in-command of the [[Black Organization]].

== Background ==
Rum is the second-in-command of the [[Black Organization]] and the close aide of [[Renya Karasuma]]. He inherited that codename from his father, who had served Karasuma for many years. About sixty-seven years ago, he was only a child. He was involved in the United States' [[Case from 17 years ago|murder case]] of [[Amanda Hughes]] and [[Kohji Haneda]] seventeen years ago. He changes his voice with a machine when he communicates with his subordinates. Currently disguised as Kanenori Wakita, he is a drifter arranged as sushi chef at Beika Iroha Sushi, the local restaurant which is just next door to [[Mouri Detective Agency|Mouri detective agency]] and one of [[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]]'s favourite hangout places, since the regular waiter was in an accident. He becomes Kogoro's second apprentice in order to get closer to him and extract information. He is interested in [[Shinichi Kudo|Shinichi]] and instructed [[Rei Furuya|Bourbon]] to gather information about Shinichi. He also considers [[Yusaku Kudo|Yusaku]] a threat to the organization and instructed [[Vermouth]] to investigate him.

== Personality ==
Bourbon describes Rum as exceedingly impatient. He is also a rude and intuitive person, taking an interest and investigating anyone that he deems suspicious and a threat to the organization or even to himself: e.g. he ordered to kill [[Rumi Wakasa|Rumi]] only because of his suspicious. He is a cigar smoker and has always wanted to try show at least once. As Kanenori Wakita, he is a true [[Wikipedia: edokko|edokko]] ("child of Tokyo"), hated betrayal and has the stereotypical personality: forward, confrontational, and fond of justice and sushi. He compares traitors to cheating fish-sellers. In contrast to his Kanenori's role, Rum's manner of speaking is more polite and formal.

== Appearance ==
[[File:EP864 Rum.png|thumb|right|200px|Rum's fake appearances.]]
Rum is an older bald man with a strong build, a fairly tall, fair skin tone, black eyes and white facial hair. He has damaged his left eye and replaced it with an artificial one. Just like [[Hyoue Kuroda|Kuroda]]'s, his artificial prosthetic eye is completely white. Prior to loss, his eye had a vertically slit-shaped pupil, like those seen in a snake. As Kanenori Wakita, he has a short black hair, a toothbrush mustache, prominent buck teeth, and soft medical gauze dressing over his left eye. He is right-handed. There are conflicting accounts of his overall appearance and build among the organization members, but he fabricated them to keep his identity a secret. Some think Rum is a strongly-built man, some say he looks feminine, and some say he is an old man. Seventeen years ago, Rum wore a black jacket with a fur collar, a striped shirt, a black hat, and a monocle over his left eye, which was attached to a chain under his jacket. In the present, he wears no monocle and hat, his black jacket has a regular collar, a shirt with a multicolored patchwork design, and a collar pin.

== Abilities ==
He has a keen sense of observation and relatively good deduction skills just like [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]], liking mystery since he was a child. He was also able to brainwash [[Curaçao]] and appoint her as his right-hand agent. He can quickly figure out tactical traps that are being used against him, allowing him to execute a strategic counterattack and utilize the situation to his advantage. He has skills in culinary arts, but can't safely wield the knife due to his injured eye. In conclusion, he is more intelligent than [[Gin]] and a master of disguise like Vermouth. He can speak English, which indicates that he's well educated. His left eye possessed something similar to photographic memory, that allows him to remember people's gestures and habits, to which he used the information gathered to blackmail big names in the political and financial world in order to make the organization grow bigger. He has had such eyes since he was young.

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Rum Uncle (''Oji-san'') Wakita Kanenori-san|Conan-kun}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|Rum|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Kogoro Mouri|Wakita-san|Mouri Kogoro Master Kogoro (''Kogoro-shishō'') Customer (''Okyaku-san'') Sleeping Kogoro-sama (''Nemuri no Kogoro-sama'') Kogoro-san Kogoro}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|Wakita-san|-}}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Renya Karasuma|file=Renya Karasuma 60px.jpg|-|Ano kata}}
{{appellations|Gin|Rum}}
{{appellations|Vodka|Rum}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Rum|Vermouth}}
{{appellations|Chianti|Rum Ramu-san|Chianti}}
{{appellations|Korn|Rum|Korn}}
{{appellations|Akemi Miyano|-|Miyano Akemi}}
{{appellations|Curaçao|Rum|Curaçao}}
{{appellations|Pinga|Rum}}
</tab>
<tab title="Law enforcement">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Rum|Akai Shuichi<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1147|The Crucial Moment of Chaos]]</ref>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|Rum}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Akai Tsutomu<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1150|File 1150 - The Pursuers of Chaos]]</ref>}}
{{appellations|Mary Akai|-|Mary Akai}}
{{appellations|Jodie Starling|Rum Wakita|Jodie Starling}}
{{appellations|James Black|Rum|James Black}}
{{appellations|Andre Camel|Rum|Andre Camel FBI brat}}
{{appellations|Hidemi Hondou|Rum}}
{{appellations|Rei Furuya|Rum|Bourbon}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Others">
{{appellations/head|Rum}}
{{appellations|Ai Haibara|Rum}}
{{appellations|Yusaku Kudo|Rum}}
{{appellations|Iroha Sushi Chef|file=Irohazushi Chef.jpg|Wakita That idiot|Boss}}
{{appellations|Yoko Okino|Wakita-san|Okino Yoko-san}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Haneda Kohji Mr. Haneda Haneda}}
{{appellations|Rumi Wakasa|Mr. sushi chef<ref>[[Volume 108#File 1149|The Fate Born from Chaos]]</ref>|Wakasa-sensei Rachel Asaka Asaka}}
{{appellations|Amanda Hughes|Rum|Amanda}}
|}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== Foreign Suspect Case (Manga: [[Volume 58#Foreign Suspect Case|607]], Anime: [[Clash of Red and Black#Friday the Thirteenth (Manga: 605-609, Anime: 501-504)|502]]) ===
[[File:EP782-6.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Rum vs. Akai and Camel.]]
Rum appeared in disguise as an old man during [[Shuichi Akai|Akai]]'s final loyalty test two years ago, while he was waiting for Gin to arrive in a warehouse. [[Andre Camel|Camel]] emerged from his hiding place to scare him away, thinking he was just an ordinary civilian, revealing that Dai Moroboshi was an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] spy.

=== Scarlet Showdown (Manga: [[Volume 85#Scarlet Showdown|896]], Anime: [[The Scarlet Return|782]]) ===
Camel is reminded of the old man.

=== Scriptwriter Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 86#Scriptwriter Murder Case|906-908]], Anime: [[Three First Discoverers|792-793]]) ===
[[Ai Haibara|Haibara]] visualizes his three [["The Criminal"|black figure]]s, just like Conan later in the anime version with fake eyes.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
Conan visualizes Rum as a black figure, just like his three black figures with fake eyes later in the anime version.

=== Interchanged Betting Ticket Case (Manga: [[Volume 92#Interchanged Betting Ticket Case|975-977]], Anime: [[The Tokyo-Style Detective Show Next Door|894-895]]) ===
Kanenori correctly guesses which horse Kogoro must have bet on to cause him to visit Beika Iroha Sushi and order the highest quality servings. He also deduces it is very out of character for Kogoro. Conan, worried about Rum, wants to know what happened to his eye. He turns out to be a fan of the famous Sleeping Kogoro and wants to know about his cases. Kogoro tells him about the recent [[A Cottage Surrounded by Zombies|zombie murder]], leaving out certain embarrassing details. A pickpocketing case then coincidentally falls into their laps. He challenges Kogoro to a deduction contest: a race to figure out which customer stole the lady's million yen winning ticket first. He cleverly and decisively comes up with excuses to keep all the suspects from leaving the sushi bar when they try to leave to avoid being accused. Although disappointed he won't get to see Kogoro in action, he is also first to propose a solution, which is very nearly close to correct, although he might have made his error in order to test Sleeping Kogoro in action. However, since he was mistaken, Conan darts Kogoro to put the case to rest decisively. He is impressed and asks to be Kogoro's disciple in exchange for discounts on sushi. Kogoro accepts, but it isn't clear if the response was serious.

=== Rumi Wakasa's Neighbor Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 92#Rumi Wakasa's Neighbor Murder Case|980]], Anime: [[The Woman with White Hands|896-897]]) ===
Kanenori is seen reading a Nichiuri newspaper, but it's not showed what article. He comments about Rumi that "this one is quick-witted".

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the murders case that occurred back at Kyoto is solved, Kanenori is seen reading an article that mentions Shinichi's involvement in the case and took an interest of his return. In the anime, this was adapted in the next case.

=== Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Missing Maria Higashio Case|1008]], Anime: [[Search for Maria-chan!|941-942]]) ===
Kanenori tried to visit Shinichi's [[Kudo Residence|house]] and is seen talking to [[Hiroshi Agasa|Agasa]], claiming that he came to deliver a sushi in his neighborhood, but couldn't due to a mass of paparazzi surrounding Shinichi's house. After he finished his conversation, he is seen reading an article in his phone, where the blogger who claimed that she saw Shinichi was nothing but an illusion, calming down the uproar about Shinichi. Rum sends an email to Bourbon, asking him to gather information about Shinichi, telling him to hurry up stating that "Time is money".

=== Nagano Snowy Mountains Case (Manga: [[Volume 97#Nagano Snowy Mountains Case|1027-1031]], Anime: [[The 36-Cell Perfect Game|1003-1005]]) ===
Kanenori joins Conan, Kogoro, and [[Rei Furuya|Amuro]] to Nagano mountains after receiving a request about investigating a suicide case in an old church. He mention that he hated betrayal, like trader selling some old fish in a high price while they were on the train. Upon reaching the church they are joined by some people. It is soon revealed that someone has assembled all of them together keeping their identity secret. Next they are trapped inside the church and two of the people were killed. They team up with pairs to investigate the case and he pairs with Kogoro. He realize Conan and Amuro are working well as a pair along the case. He is also looking forward for Conan's future when he grow up. After they are rescue from the church, he introduce himself as Kogoro's apprentice along with Amuro to Nagano prefecture police inspector, [[Taka'aki Morofushi|Morofushi]].

=== Kogoro in a Dilemma (Manga: [[Volume 99#Kogoro in a Dilemma|1055-1057]], Anime: [[Yoko Okino and the Locked Attic|1059-1060]]) ===
Kanenori shows up at detective agency as he is impatient by waiting the sushi delivery ordered by Kogoro for [[Yoko Okino|Yoko]]'s visit with the strange mysterious coding of a murder case as Kogoro was stuck inside the toilet due to out of toilet paper in the bathroom. He has relatively good deductive ability by solving the mysterious coding with the murder case. After the resolution, he asks Conan whether he is concern of something which is missing like a shogi piece, which Conan denies.

=== FBI Serial Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 100#FBI Serial Murder Case|1061-1066]], Anime: [[The Black Organization's Scheme|1077-1079]]) ===
After several FBI members were killed as a result of the organization decoding their communications, the FBI planted a fake code. However, Rum was able to detect such fake code due to the difference in romaji writing. His subordinates were then able to counter trap and attacked the FBI members instead. Although the collaborative efforts of Akai and Conan managed to keep Camel hidden for a while, Rum figured out their strategy and instructed Gin to burn Umizarujima, successfully luring out him into the open. However, they were fooled into thinking to have successfully eliminated the FBI agent. Two years ago, when Rye's allegiance to the FBI was exposed, Rum sent a picture of Akai and Camel to [[Korn]], ordering him to assassinate the FBI agents once in sight. After the case, Rum was scolded by the boss, stating that their actions at Umizarujima stood out a bit more than they should have been. Despite receiving an earful, the boss was pleased with the recent turn of events, commending Rum and the others for successfully killing the man that the FBI desperately protected. Rum then puts on his disguise and drops off at Iroha Sushi, and is revealed to be Kanenori Wakita.

=== Shintoist Temple Case (Manga: [[Volume 100#Shintoist Temple Case|1067]], Anime: [[The Inauspicious Matchmaking|1085]]) ===

=== Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule (Manga: [[Volume 101#Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule|1071-1072]], Anime: [[Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule|1093-1094]]) ===
Kanenori delivers sushi to [[Teitan Elementary School]] for class 6-A's reunion. He shows to know [[Akemi Miyano|Akemi]] attended this school nineteen years ago, but muses to himself that a dead person would be unable to attend their reunion. His indirect presence heavily triggered Haibara's anxiety, causing Conan to rush outside the classroom. When he asked an upperclassman if any suspicious person passed by, he was informed that only pizza and sushi deliveries came near the area. Conan then dismisses his suspicion and concludes that Haibara must have been overreacting only, unaware of the fact that Kanenori is an undercover member of the organization. Rumi then menacingly watches Kanenori leaving as he delivered the sushi.

=== Kaitou Kid and the Siren's Splash (Manga: [[Volume 103#Kaitou Kid and the Siren's Splash|1100-1102]], Anime: [[Kaitou Kid and the Crown Trick|1150-1151]]) ===
Before the heist, Kanenori asked Conan if there was anything strange about the teacher who glaring at him while he was making deliveries. Conan chooses not to reveal anything to him, despite his observations, answering that Rumi was just a normal, clumsy teacher.

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103-1109]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1164-1167]]) ===
After Kanenori learns from Kogoro that Rumi is at a chess tournament in [[Haido]], Rum drives to the building without disguise. He parks his car on a street within sight of here. His two companions hack into the lobby security cameras and get video footage of Rumi. With a sinister grin, he orders the recordings to be sent to [[Chianti]] and Korn, but Wakasa outmaneuvered them and sniped them back. Rum regrets the failure, and wants to use APTX-4869 to turn back the clock to when his right eye still could see properly.

=== Parents' Day at Teitan Elementary School (Manga: [[Volume 104#Parents' Day at Teitan Elementary School|1112]], Anime: [[The Mystery of the Man-Eating Classroom|1170]]) ===
Rum is seen wondering why Rumi would remain at Teitan Elementary School.

=== Bar Hostess Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Bar Hostess Murder Case|1144-1146]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Video Gamer Locked Room Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Video Gamer Locked Room Murder Case|1147-1150]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1153]], Anime: TBD) ===

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== The Darkest Nightmare (Movie: [[The Darkest Nightmare|20]]) ===
Rum doesn't appear directly:
* Haibara visualizes his three black figures, and his artificial eye in her hallucination.
* Rum sends orders to Vermouth and Gin ordering them not to execute Bourbon and [[Hidemi Hondo|Kir]] because he received a new message, apparently from Curaçao but in reality from Agasa as instructed by Conan, that they weren't NOCs. He also orders them to retrieve Curaçao to verify if the message is authentic or not.
* When she finally regained her lost memory, Curaçao's flashback shows Rum speaking to Vermouth through a computer in an altered voice. In the past, Vermouth was about to execute Curaçao because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, but Rum's voice stopped her. He appointed Curaçao as his right-handed agent.
* Vermouth has a conversation with him during the ending credit, while she is in her car along with Kir. She lets Kir listen to what he has to say before hanging up.

=== Sleep (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 6#File 035: Sleep|35]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Twilight Job-changing (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 7#File 041: Twilight Job-changing|41]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Great Puppy Pometaro ~The Paw of Blue Sapphire~ (Hanzawa the Criminal: [[Hanzawa the Criminal Volume 7#File 042: Great Puppy Pometaro ~The Paw of Blue Sapphire~|42]], Anime: TBD) ===

=== Black Iron Submarine (Movie: [[Black Iron Submarine|26]]) ===
He orders his men to use a submarine to destroy the Interpol underwater facility, and also wonder about the boss whereabouts since he initially intended to use the AI system to locate him.

== Hints that Rum is Kanenori Wakita ==
<spoiler>
* He may be able to fit all three descriptions of Rum, even though it was revealed that they are just a rumor planted by himself so better conceal his identity. He wears a patch over his left eye, which may conceal a prosthetic, and has still it despite saying that it will heal. Both of the other suspects, Kuroda and Wakasa, apparently have their right eye blind/prosthetic, which is why he stands out among them.
* He has an interest in Sleeping Kogoro, just like Gin, while Wakasa and Kuroda personally have more interest in Conan. On top of that, since it was Sleeping Kogoro that solved the murder behind the occult detective who try to solve Kohji Haneda's murder case, it is only natural Rum's main focus and interest would be on Kogoro, because he wants to stop him from investigating the truth behind that murder at all cost. He took an interest in reports of Shinichi's return and even tried to visit his house.
* Wakita lied that he speaks old-Japanese accent like [[Genji Kojima]], who thoroughly nurture/build a habit to converse with this accent. This is heavily contradicted from the fact that Wakita uses modern Japanese language and terms in his conversations instead of the Edokko accents and terms he claimed to be from his first impressions. Hence, whenever Wakita asked Conan important questions related to the murder of [[Kouji Haneda]] (Shogi piece and [[Rumi Wakasa]]), the boy avoided giving straight answers that Wakita really wanted to know.
* Rum in text messages has twice used the English phrase "Time is money", which can be translated into Japanese as "時は金なり", whose Romanization "Toki wa kane nari" is an anagram of "Wakita Kanenori".
* He can be deceptive. As of now, he has yet to meet Haibara and communicate with her directly in any cases, making him the primary suspect to have a different response compared to Kuroda and Wakasa when seeing her later. However, in file 1072, Haibara felt the aura of organization and, at that time, Wakita was riding a motorbike passed Teitan Elementary School.
* Like Bourbon, whose workplace was just a floor under Mouri detective agency, his workplace is one of Kogoro's favourite hangout places, which is just next door to it. This in turn allows him to move around freely and observe Kogoro's or his associates' movement much closely, without the need of using complex disguise like Vermouth and raising any suspicions to almost anyone, since public would believe he is a normal sushi seller that goes around delivering it to customers when being compared to Wakasa and Kuroda. Even if there is no customers that ordered sushi for delivery, he can easily fake an order to his own shop, thus allowing him to leave it either way, just like when he can investigate Shinichi.
* When Amuro, Conan, Kogoro, and Wakita were on the train to Nagano mountain, he said that he hated betrayal, which seemingly meant he sensed that Bourbon betrayed him by sending him fake information about Shinichi's death. He completely snapped when the suspects started badmouthing Kogoro's actions after checking the victim's condition, something that Bourbon hinted afterwards that Rum is an impatient person. What's more interesting, after the whole case had been solved, Morofushi came to them and pretended he didn't know Amuro by shaking hands with Kogoro, asking him who these two men were, although Taka'aki had met him before when [[Hiromitsu Morofushi|Scotch]] was still alive. Presumably, Kuroda ordered Taka'aki calling him to help Amuro by acting as a stranger in front of Wakita, so that his true identity as an undercover agent working for the NPA could be hidden. Before leaving, Taka'aki didn't forget to mention a saying which was similar to "Time is money".
* In his debut, he even mentioned that he is a drifter, which may hint that he never stays in one place very long, so that he can go where ever the organization or boss needs him to be to investigate an important matter, and if necessary to take care of the problem, and then disappear quickly. A customer asked what happened to the regular waiter, and he answered that he was in an accident, which was probably arranged, so that he can have this job to spy on the Mouri detective agency, and in particular Kogoro. One of the suspects says he wants to go home to watch the episode of ''[[Kamen Yaiba#Trivia|Kamen Yaiba]]'' on TV where the boss' second-in-command would appear.</spoiler>

== Relationships analysis ==
=== Black Organization ===
==== Renya Karasuma ====
[[Renya Karasuma]] is his direct superior, meaning that the boss must trust him the most, enough to make him the new highest ranking executive agent after his late father's long service. He has Karasuma's support to do criminal activities, such as blackmailing big names in the political and financial world in order to strengthen their position. About forty-seven years ago, he appeared at the International Economic Forum's annual general meeting on behalf of Karasuma, who was absent due to poor health. However, he is scolded by Karasuma when his conspicuous actions can threaten the secrecy of the organization, for example by burning an island, instead of searching closely, to lure out their target. Even he has not seen Karasuma in a long time and has been trying to find out about his whereabouts.

==== Gin ====
[[Gin]] knows Rum's true identity and that he works at the sushi restaurant with a silly pseudonym. Apparently, Gin trusts and follows his commands without questioning them or complaining about them. Although, he does get annoy when Rum get praise every time.

==== Vermouth ====
Rum suggested a level of trust in [[Vermouth]]'s judgement.

==== Chianti ====

==== Korn ====

==== Curaçao ====
[[Curaçao]] is a member who works as Rum's right-hand agent. In the past, because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, Vermouth was about to execute her, but he decided to appoint her as his right-hand agent.

==== Pinga ====
[[Pinga]] is the new right-hand of Rum after Curaçao's death.

=== Enemies ===
==== Amanda Hughes ====
About sixty-seven years ago, when he was only a child, [[Amanda Hughes]] met him as a guest at Karasuma's birthday party. Fifty years later, they met again at a hotel in the United States. Instead of become part of their family, she sacrificed herself to save her adoptive daughter and swallowed his drug developed by the organization, which led to her death. She left a dying message to warn about his eye's special ability.

==== Kohji Haneda ====
Seventeen years ago, [[Kohji Haneda]] met him at his hotel room, while hiding Amanda's bodyguard. Kohji knew he was associated with Karasuma and, refusing to tell about Asaka's whereabouts, he was beaten by one of their men and drugged by Rum, which led to his death.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:EP502-old man.jpg|Rum as old man (episode 502).
File:Rum Profile.jpg|Rum as black figure (episode 863).
File:EP894 Wakita.jpg|Rum as Kanenori Wakita (episode 894).
File:Rum true face.jpg|Rum's true face (episode 1079).
</gallery>

== Quotes ==
{{cquote|If there is such a thing as eyes that can identify a losing card, I'd really like to have them too. I'd be able to tell who the traitor is who's trying to pull one over on me. Like if a trader tries to fob me off with some old fish at a high price.|Kanenori to Bourbon, file 1027, page 3}}

{{cquote|Guess I really have no choice but to turn back the clock on this right eye that's only if that drug works as I imagine though...|Rum to himself at the end of [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|Chess Tournament Murder Case]] when he failed to assassinate [[Rumi Wakasa|Rachel Asaka]].}}

== Name origin ==
[[File:MyLum gag strip.gif|thumb|right|x200px|Lum Invader]]
"Kanenori Wakita" is a silly name and an anagram of "Toki wa kane nari", the Romanization into Japanese of his English catch phrase "Time is money" (時は金なり).

[[Gosho Aoyama]], as a [[crossover]] joke, has introduced [[Wikipedia: Lum Invader|Lum Invader]], the female protagonist from the manga ''[[Wikipedia: Urusei Yatsura|Urusei Yatsura]]'', as the Black Organization member Rum. He also showed Lum in a panel in file 906. Lum's name has a similar pronunciation to "Rum" because "R" and "L" sound the same in Japanese.

== Trivia ==
* Kanenori Wakita's character is a homage to one-eyed boxing coach [[:File:Danpei Tange.jpg|Danpei Tange]] from the 1968 boxing manga series ''[[Wikipedia: Ashita no Joe|Ashita no Joe]]''.
* Rum's car is a 1962 Black Bentley S3 "Standard Steel Saloon", with a crow as bonnet statue in the anime version, driven around by two organization members. He also uses a scooter to deliver sushi.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Black Organization]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]
* [[Wikipedia: Rum|Rum]] (alcohol)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Black Organization}}
{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rum}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Male characters]]
[[Category:Black Organization]]
[[Category:Detectives]]
[[Category:Murderers]]

[[ca:Kanenori Wakita]]
[[de:Kanenori Wakita]]
[[fr:Rhum]]
[[zh:胁田兼则]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:26:03Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
{{appellations|Rum|Mary Akai}}
|}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

[[ca:Mary Sera]]
[[de:Mary]]
[[fr:Mary Sera]]
[[zh:赤井玛丽]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:24:28Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
|}
{{appellations|Rum|Mary Akai|}}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

[[ca:Mary Sera]]
[[de:Mary]]
[[fr:Mary Sera]]
[[zh:赤井玛丽]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:21:22Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
|}
{{appellations|Rum|Mary Akai| }}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

[[ca:Mary Sera]]
[[de:Mary]]
[[fr:Mary Sera]]
[[zh:赤井玛丽]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:20:06Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
|}
{{appellations|Rum|Mary Akai|-}}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

[[ca:Mary Sera]]
[[de:Mary]]
[[fr:Mary Sera]]
[[zh:赤井玛丽]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:18:13Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
|}
{{appellations|Rum|Mary Akai}}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

[[ca:Mary Sera]]
[[de:Mary]]
[[fr:Mary Sera]]
[[zh:赤井玛丽]]

Mary Sera

2026-09-12T03:12:41Z

Ysp602720:

{{SpoilerWarningArticle|This article contains significant '''[[Glossary#Spoiler|spoilers]]''' about major events concerning this person. It is likely you will be spoiled if you have not read all the manga released to date. To find out what pages will be safe for you to read, please consult our [[Glossary#Spoiler|wiki spoiler policy]].}}
{{InfoBox Char
| name = Mary Sera
| japanese-name = メアリー世良 (Mearī Sera)
| english-name =
| image = Mary Sera Profile.jpg
| age = Looks approximately middle school aged according to Conan Real age is 53<ref>Akai is 32 (SDB90+ Q4) so add 17 years on that at reasonable minimum.</ref><ref>'''Chapter 1037:''' Mary was 36 eighteen years ago.</ref>
| gender = Female
| date-of-birth =
| occupation = MI6 agent Housewife
|status = Alive (shrunk) Dead (for the Black Organization)
| relatives = [[Tsutomu Akai]] (husband, deceased) [[Shuichi Akai]] (first son) [[Shukichi Haneda]] (second son) [[Masumi Sera]] (daughter) [[Elena Miyano]] (younger sister, deceased) [[Atsushi Miyano]] (brother-in-law, deceased) [[Akemi Miyano]] (first niece, deceased) [[Shiho Miyano]] (second niece)
| nicknames = Sister from outside the domain
| first-appearance = Manga: [[Volume 83#Red Tragedy|File 875]] Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|Episode 756]]
| appearances = {{:Mary Sera Appearances}}
| keyhole = [[Volume 83]]
| japanese-voice = [[Atsuko Tanaka]] (Episode 756~1046; Movie 24) [[Takako Honda]] (Episode 1144 onwards)
| english-voice = [[Amber Lee Connors]] (Bang Zoom!)
| cases-solved = 1
| footnotes =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Mary Sera'''|メアリー世良|Mearī Sera}}, also known by her marriage name as {{nihongo|'''Mary Akai'''|赤井メアリー|Akai Mearī}}<ref>'''Chapter 1037'''</ref>, appears as a middle-school age girl with blonde hair who has been hiding in various hotels in Tokyo with [[Masumi Sera]]. Despite her appearance, she is actually a middle-aged woman; She is the wife of [[Tsutomu Akai]], and the mother of [[Shuichi Akai]], [[Shukichi Haneda]], and Masumi Sera. She is a member of the British [[Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6.

== Background ==
[[File:Ep 995 Mary's flashback.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Masumi thinking back to her mother's transformation]]Mary Sera's full background is currently unknown. She met and married [[Tsutomu Akai]], and bore three children, [[Shuichi]], [[Shukichi]], and [[Masumi]]. Her husband left, at some point before Masumi was born, to investigate the double murder of [[Kohji Haneda]] and [[Amanda Hughes]], which got him tangled with the [[Black Organization]].

Later on, Mary learned that her husband was apparently roaming London and immediately travelled there, taking Masumi along as added insurance.<ref name="ch1049">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1049: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> Leaving her daughter in their hotel room, she left to meet Tsutomu at their favorite meeting place at Vauxhall Bridge. There she was trapped and forced to ingest the [[APTX 4869]] by [[Vermouth]],<ref name="ch1048">[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, chapter 1048: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> causing her age to be regressed. She returned to Masumi hours later in the body of a middle-school child.<ref name="ch1025">[[Volume 96#TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case|Manga volume 96, chapter 1025: "TV Drama Filming Site Murder Case"]]</ref><ref name="ch1049" />

Right after her return, Mary and Sera watched a recording of a TV broadcast featuring [[Conan Edogawa]]'s involvement in the attempted blackmail of Minerva Glass<ref>[[Volume 71#Following Holmes|Manga volume 71, file 743]] to [[Volume 72#Following Holmes|volume 72, file 752]]: "Following Holmes"</ref> and immediately recognized him as [[Shinichi Kudo]], whom they [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|had encountered ten years ago]].<ref>[[Volume 99#Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case|Manga volume 99, file 1050: "Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case"]]</ref> She returned to Japan with Masumi in order to find out about the existence of an antidote to the APTX 4869, to which they think Shinichi has access, using Masumi as a proxy. She also has an interest in the death of [[Kohji Haneda]] and the identity of the missing bodyguard [[Asaka]].<ref>[[Volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|Manga volume 90: "Soul Detective Murder Case"]]</ref>

== Personality ==
Mary seems very mature and direct, especially when speaking to Masumi. She seems hesitant to trust others at the moment and is being extremely cautious about who knows about her. Currently, because of her cautiousness, she and Masumi have been moving from one hotel to another to keep their location hidden.

She is proud of her British heritage.

Like her eldest son, she also seems to be clumsy at recognizing the motives behind the feelings of others and how to interact positively with others. In dealing with her children, Mary seems to be strict and cold, treating her children more like coworkers than a family. Shukichi seemed to be more nurturing to Masumi than her mom. When Mary was 10 years younger, she came to physical blows with her eldest son Shuichi since he lied to her about his reasons to study in the USA and planned to join the FBI and investigate her husband's incident. They both went as far as attacking each other's faces, leaving black eyes. She also thought Shuichi, who is a rather cold person as well, would make a good replacement father figure for Masumi and Shukichi. However, soon after, she realized that Shuichi was driven by the same sense of curiosity as his father and he would go his own way. To her daughter Masumi, she acts secretively by hiding a lot of important information from Masumi, such as turning off the TV during Shukichi's shogi match, and possibly some other whereabouts of the Black Organization and the Akai family overall. Her continued mistrust of Conan is another example of her general denseness at understanding others, since it is long past the point where she should be able to tell that Conan's motives and pursuit of justice are genuine.

But she does express joy at Shukichi becoming the seven-crowned shogi master. It indicates that she does care for her children. Additionally, when Mary easily sees through Vermouth's disguise of Tsutomu, she appears genuinely distraught at the fact that her husband is apparently dead and even cries and didn't seem to be concerned about her fate as long as Masumi remains safe, showing regardless of her tough attitude, she truly cares for her family. The apparent death of Tsutomu may have contributed to her hardened personality.

== Appearance ==
[[File:Mary different eyes.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mary's two different eye patterns.]]
Mary is a girl of middle school age (12-15) with blonde, curly, neck-length hair. She has eyes similar to those of [[Masumi Sera]] and [[Shuichi Akai]]. In her appearance in File 877, she was shown wearing a high-neck pleated top, hoodie jacket, and hat. Like all the other manga characters, the color of her eyes is supposed to be blue, as seen in the keyhole of manga volume 83. She had a well-endowed adult body when young Shinichi and Ran met the Akai family on a beach in the past.

In her varying appearances, Mary's eyes have been drawn slightly differently. In her original and current chapter appearances she seems to have an extra lash on the top of her eye, where as in the Pool case and [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]]'s comparison of her and [[Ai Haibara|Haibara]]'s eyes in the Department store case she does not have that extra lash.

== Abilities ==
[[File:Mary skills.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Mary's hiding abilities.]]
Mary seems to know about several types of wire taps. When she and Masumi find Conan's wire tap in their room, she says that she hasn't seen that type before. She also describes the components of it such as its battery life and performance. She spoke in a similar fashion about Conan's voice changer after she got a chance to use it herself.

She has demonstrated the ability to hang from a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She has the strength to vault back up on to the balcony, much like [[Vermouth]] did in the New York case.

10 years ago, she already had the ability to fight well enough that she landed a "knife-hand strike" to her son Shuichi's face, who at the time had already been practicing Jeet Kune Do. In the present, even with her small body, she was able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service".

== Appellations ==
{|
| style="vertical-align:" |
<tabs jsId="nicknames">
<tab title="Relatives">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Tsutomu Akai|-|Tsutomu-san<ref name="file974">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 974]]</ref> Husband (''Shujin'')<ref name="file972">[[volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|File 972]]</ref> ''Ano hito'' (literally "that person", but the intended meaning is "husband")<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Shuichi Akai|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file972" /> Mother (''Haha'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shuichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Subaru Okiya|-|Brat of the FBI (''FBI no kozo'')}}
{{appellations|Shukichi Haneda|Mom (''Kāsan'')<ref name="file974" /> Mom Mary (''Mary-kāsan'')<ref name="file972"/>|Shukichi<ref name="file974"/>}}
{{appellations|Masumi Sera|Mama<ref name="file953">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)]]</ref> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Masumi<ref name="file953"/>}}
{{appellations|Kohji Haneda|-|Kohji<ref name="file952">[[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|File 952: In the Suspicious Next Room (Volume 90)]]</ref> Haneda Kohji<ref name="file952"/>}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Protagonists">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Conan Edogawa|Mary<ref name="file930">[[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|File 930: Excessive Seasoning (Volume 88)]]</ref> That girl (''ano shōjo'')<ref name="file930"/> The little sister from outside the domain (''ryōiki-gai no imōto'')|Edogawa Conan<ref name="file903">[[Volume 85#Poolside Case|File 903: The Corpse in the Pool (Volume 85)]]</ref> This boy (''kono shōnen'')<ref name="file903"/>}}
{{appellations|Shinichi Kudo|-|Kudo Shinichi}}
{{appellations|Ran Mouri|That girl (''ano ko'')}}
|}
</tab>
<tab title="Black Organization">
{{appellations/head|Mary}}
{{appellations|Vermouth|Mary Akai|Witch of a thousand faces (''sen no kao wo motsu majo'')}}
|}
</tab>
</tabs>
|}

== Plot overview ==
=== The Red Woman Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83#The Red Woman Murder Case|875]], Anime: [[The Tragedy of the Red Woman|756]])===
[[File:Another person with eye bags appears.png|thumb|left|200px|Mary on Masumi's phone.]]
Masumi asks Conan to find her cellphone by calling it with his. When he does he notices the call background screen is a child with eye bags similar to those of [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]]. He remarks that the girl looks similar to Masumi. Earlier in the case she only mentioned having two brothers; a mother; and a father, so Conan suspects Masumi was intentionally trying to show him the child for some reason.

=== Romance Novelist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 83|876-878]], Anime: [[The Romance Novel with the Unexpected Conclusion|759-760]]) ===
[[File:Unknown child and Masumi.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mary and Masumi.]]
[[File:EP763-1.jpeg|thumb|right|200px|Masumi tells Conan about Mary.]]
When Ran, Sonoko, and Conan visit Masumi's hotel room, Mary is shown opening Masumi's door as Conan, Masumi, Sonoko, and Ran rush to investigate a crime. It is implied she was hiding in Masumi's bedroom while the other three were in the dining area because Masumi asks Conan not to enter her bedroom. Mary later goes downstairs to the scene of the crime where she is seen by Conan. At some point off screen Conan leaves behind a bug in Masumi's room. After the case is solved, Mary finds the bug, crushes it and examines it with Masumi. Mary comments on the quality of the performance of the bug itself and that she has never seen one like it. When Masumi asks if Mary has taken a liking to Conan, she says that it is still early to trust him, and asks Masumi to introduce her as "{{nihongo|the little sister from outside the domain|領域外の妹|ryōiki-gai no imōto}}", should Conan ask.

=== Shogi Tournament (Manga: [[Volume 85#Shogi Tournament|899-902]], Anime: [[Taiko Meijin's Match of Love|785-786]]) ===
[[File:Mary & Masumi.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Mary and Masumi in the bedroom.]]
Mary is interested in [[Shukichi Haneda|Shukichi]]'s shogi match. When Masumi returns to the hotel room in the middle of the case while Mary is napping, she turns on the TV and sees the shogi match. Later, after the case is solved, Masumi enters the room for a second time to see Mary turning off the TV. Presumably she saw the end of the match and was happy at Shukichi's victory, as was Subaru Okiya, whose identity was revealed in the case before this one, to be Shuichi.

=== Poolside Case (Manga: [[Volume 85|903]]-[[Volume 86|905]], Anime: [[The Mystery Sinking in the Midsummer Pool|787-788]]) ===
[[File:Ran and Unknown Child.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ran sees Masumi and Mary.]]
Mary is waiting for [[Conan Edogawa|Conan]] to visit her and [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] in their hotel room. She expresses her still-lingering concern of trusting Conan, even though she thinks he is bright enough. Mary does comment that if anything were to go wrong, they would have to move hotels again. Her talk with him alone is put on hold, however, because [[Ran Mouri|Ran]] and [[Sonoko Suzuki|Sonoko]] have invited themselves in accompanying Conan in order to enjoy the hotel's pool. As Conan, Ran, and Sonoko head back home after the case is solved, Ran turns around and sees Masumi talking to her. Ran gets the feeling that she has seen that child before.

=== A Killer in Ramen Ogura (Manga: [[Volume 88#A Killer in Ramen Ogura|928-930]], Anime: [[Ramen So Good, It's to Die For 2|827-828]]) ===
[[File:Conan and the handkerchief.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Conan with the handkerchief.]]
[[Masumi Sera]] is at Ramen Ogura with Conan, Sonoko and Ran. [[Katsumasa Ogura]] asks Masumi (mistakenly calling her "Mari") if she's going to take the same food to her apartment again. Conan implies that Masumi could be giving food to someone she's letting stay in her apartment, making a clear reference to Mary, but she jokes saying that it's for her secret boyfriend. At the end of the case it is revealed that Ogura had found a handkerchief that Masumi had left behind that said "Mary" on it in English. Ogura had confused the English name with the Japanese name "Mari". Conan believes that the handkerchief may be related to the child as well.

=== Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: [[Volume 89#Department Store Stabbing Case|939-941]], Anime: [[The Detective Boys in a Grove|843-844]]) ===
[[File:Haibara and Mary EP844.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Conan makes a connection between Mary and Haibara due to some remaining makeup.]]
Conan wonders why Sera is in Japan and thinks it has to do with Mary. Conan's worked out her name and noticed her resemblance to Sera but also to someone else. At the end of the case Haibara tried to wipe some of the makeup off of her face in the bathroom, but she missed some just below her left eye. The left over makeup made it look like she had the same eye bags as Shuichi, Masumi, and Mary. This causes Conan to make a connection between her and Mary.

=== Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: [[volume 90#Soul Detective Murder Case|951-953]], Anime: [[The Spirit Detective's Murder|863-864]]) ===
[[File:Mary is Masumi's mother.jpg|thumb|right|200px|"Mama?!"]]
[[Kogoro Mouri|Kogoro]] is put in contact with a Soul Detective who wishes to reveal some information about the [[Kohji Haneda]] case. When Conan and Kogoro go to meet with him at the hotel, they find him dead and that [[Masumi Sera|Masumi]] and Mary are presently staying in the next room. During the investigation Conan runs into Masumi's hotel room and checks the balcony as that is the only place a person would hide. However, Mary has hidden herself by anchoring herself and hiding by hugging the wall underneath the balcony. Conan takes a picture of a car parked on the ground floor below the balconies and decides to take a snapshot of the underside of the balcony, just to be certain. Masumi rushes to interrupt him on some pretense. Conan then drops his voice-changer on his way back inside. Mary picks it up, and later uses it in place of Conan to solve the case. When the culprit tries to flee by leaping over the balcony of the murder room over to their room, Mary takes him down single handedly using skills comparable to that of the secret service. Masumi rushes after Conan who has followed the suspect, calling out "Mama". Once Conan has left, Mary and Masumi discuss what information the Soul Detective had, which was that before Kohji's death, Asaka was seen holding a hand mirror and thinks that it means that Asaka is a woman. Mary warns Masumi about Conan saying that "true identity is unknown, gives off a bad feeling like a demon" (暗がりに鬼を繋ぐが如く), and that he is not the same boy they met 10 years ago. Conan looks at the photo he took of Mary and theorizes that Mary could have been Asaka. Later Gin uses the same demon line that Mary used to refer to Kogoro.

=== A Chance Meeting at the Beach (Manga: [[Volume 92#A Chance Meeting at the Beach|972-974]], Anime: [[The Wizard of the Ripples|881-882]]) ===
[[File:Mary Masumi Shuichi at beach.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A flashback to 10 years ago at the beach.]]
10 years ago at a beach somewhere in Japan, Shuichi reunited with his family after his 7 years in the US. Mary had an off-screen fight with him where they both managed to injure each other's eye. Through out the case Mary warns him to stop investigating the disappearance of [[Tsutomu Akai|his father]]. She also tells both Shuichi and Masumi not to do things that got them involved in the case, because there are people out there that are after them.
{{clear}}

=== Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: [[Volume 95#Crimson School Trip Case|1005]], Anime: [[The Scarlet School Trip|928]]) ===
After the case is solved, Masumi calls Mary and informs her about the drug that will return her back to normal, after witnessing Shinichi's appearance. Mary ordered Masumi to find [[Ai Haibara|the developer]] of the drug and obtain it. Once she succeeds, Mary declared that they will stop running from hotel to hotel and counterattack.

=== Antique Facet Case (Manga: [[Volume 98#Antique Facet Case|1038]], Anime: [[The Antique Tray Can't Be Hidden|1020]]) ===
At the end of the case, Sera asks her mother about her "50:50" catchphrase, Mary revealed that it is a line that her husband used to say and her son Shuichi inherited from him. Mary asks Sera if she can gets her hands on the drug, which the latter told her that it is difficult for the moment since [[Subaru Okiya]] is standing in her way. Mary asks her if he is such a noteworthy person, however, Sera is more concerned about whether Subaru is her brother Akai or not, since he's using the same "50:50" catchphrase as her brother.

=== Sisters' Birthday Party Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 98|1047]]-[[Volume 99|1050]], Anime: [[The Birthday Party of Divine Punishment|1045-1046]]) ===
Mary receives a call from Masumi, informing her that Conan brought the antidote that can returns her to her orginal body, and it is blue and white compared to the drug she was forced to take, which is red and white. Mary ordered her daughter to steal the antidote if possible. Later, Mary calls her daughter, asking if she was able to get the antidote, which Masumi responded that she was involved in a poisoning murder case. Hearing about poison, Mary started to remember her shrinking moment. Several months ago, Mary was supposed to meet her husband at Vauxhall Bridge in London, [[Tsutomu Akai]] appeared in front of her, however Mary realised that he isn't her husband after giving him false information about her daughter. Tsutomu is revealed to be [[Vermouth]] in disguise, who intended to poison her with [[APTX 4869]]. Vermouth feeds Mary the drug with her mouth directly, which is created by her [[Elena Miyano|sister]]. Mary then jumps into the river due to the effect of the drug being very instant. After Mary shrinked, she returned to Sera, explaining to her the whole situation. Later, Mary and Sera witnessed Conan proclaiming himself as Holmes' apprentice during [[Holmes' Revelation|Minerva's match on TV]], and remembered the same proclamation of Shinichi 10 years ago. The two realised that Conan is Shinichi who shrunk the same way as Mary, however, he has a way of returning as Shinichi to board a plane to London. Since then, Mary ordered Masumi to get closer to him, in order get their hands on the antidote.

=== Serial Hotel Bombing Case (Manga: [[Volume 103|1094-1096]], Anime: [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case|1144-1145]]) ===
After luring Conan to their current hotel to get their hands on the APTX antidote, Sera and Mary get involved in the resolution of a serial bombing case. However, they are discovred by an unknown man, who is the driver of an unknown old man, to the hotel and triggers a fire alert, forcing the building's evacuation. As Sera and Mary try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, they are nevertheless spotted by the unknown old man.<ref name="File 1096">Manga [[Volume 103]], [[Volume 103#Serial Hotel Bombing Case|File 1094-1096]]</ref>

=== Chess Tournament Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 104#Chess Tournament Murder Case|1103]], Anime: [[The 17-Year-Old Truth|1167]]) ===

=== Blackmail Journalist Murder Case (Manga: [[Volume 108#Blackmail Journalist Murder Case|1151-1153]], Anime: TBA) ===
Mary's cough is getting worse, though she seems unbothered even with Sera prodding her. While Sera is at tea with Conan, Ran, and Sonoko, they encounter Toyama Ogasawara, whom Sera remembers had taken a photo of her and Mary during the [[The Hotel Serial Bombing Case]] after the fire alarm forced the hotel's occupants outside, and tries to meet him again to do something about it, but Ogasawara is killed before she has the chance to. Later, Ogasawara's photo, which captured multiple major scandals that were the center of his murder case, is published posthumously. The photo included Sera trying to hide Mary in the crowd. Unfortunately, this photo causes both her identity and her predicament to be correctly identified by [[Rum]].

== Non-canon plot overview ==
=== Dimensional Sniper (Movie: [[Dimensional Sniper|18]]) ===
Mary is only shown twice at dawn under her hotel bed's blankets.

=== The Scarlet Bullet (Movie: [[The Scarlet Bullet|24]]) ===
Mary is shown working with her daughter Masumi to find a VIP from England who was kidnapped. She is seen attacking Subaru (Shuichi Akai) landing a few clean blows before running disappearing. She is also seen towards the end of the movie as she hides in Subaru’s car and waits for him to jump in. She points the gun to his head and threatens him and the FBI as they risked the life of an important VIP.

== Relationship ==
=== Tsutomu Akai ===
Tsutomu is her husband, who she lost around 17 years prior to the series. In his last message, he advice them to hide in Japan and think of him as dead due to that he has made himself some enemies. Although much of their relationship remains unknown, she knew her husband enough to easily see through Vermouth's disguise and in contrast to her distant and hardened exterior, the fact that Tsutomu was possibly dead was enough to cause her to cry, showing she cared deeply for him.

=== Shuichi Akai ===
Shuichi is her oldest son. She didn't approve at first of his decision to join the FBI and investigate his father's death, but eventually she gave him her blessing.

=== Shukichi Haneda ===
Shukichi is her second-oldest child and youngest son. It's not certain how she feels of him, but she keeps track of his Shogi-career and seemed happy when he became the seven-crowned king.

=== Masumi Sera ===
Masumi is her only daughter and youngest child, who was born after the family moved to Japan. Currently the two of them switch between hotels to hide themselves. Mary cares for Masumi, but doesn't trust her entirely (probably due to her extreme youth).

=== Kohji Haneda ===
Mary reacted to Kohji's name when she heard Kogoro mention it. It's possible that the Akai family, including Mary, might know Kohji in person.

=== [[Elena Miyano]] ===
In [[Volume_99#File 1049 - It's Unbelievable!|File 1049]], the flashback shows that Vermouth forced Mary to drink [[APTX-4869]] and said "How is it? The feeling of leaving this world with this poison your younger sister created", which officially confirms that Mary and Elena are sisters.

== Plot Exposition ==
=== Hints that Mary is the Akai family mother ===
These were the hints that fans used to determine that Mary was the Akai family mother prior to the end of the Soul Detective Murder Case where Masumi called Mary "mother"<ref>File 953</ref>, and the flashback to Shinichi and Ran meeting the Akai family on a beach.

* Mary shares a resemblance to [[Shuichi Akai]] and [[Masumi Sera]], and it was known from Masumi's earlier testimony that Akai family's mother also passed her looks into Shuichi and Sera.
* Mary is unusually mature while talking to Masumi. She gave Masumi instructions despite Masumi being apparently older and a skillful detective in her own right.
* Mary was happy when [[Shukichi]] (who was later revealed to be the middle brother of the Akai Family) won his 7th Shogi title.

* Mary seems to have some knowledge abut wiretaps, she also demonstrated the ability to a balcony by a thin rope/wire and hug the wall like a ninja. She was also able to take down a fully grown man by herself. Conan described the damage as "a copped blow to a vital spot, similar to the techniques used by the secret service." A normal middle school girl wouldn't be able to do this.

=== Mary is an adult shrunken by APTX 4869 ===
Mary acts like an adult despite having the appearance of a middle-school aged female. When Masumi and Mary speak, the speech honorifics are not those appropriate for an elder Masumi talking to a younger girl. Instead, they appear to indicate the two are on equal levels, or even reverse with Mary expressing greater seniority. In addition, Mary's voice actor in the anime, [[Atsuko Tanaka]], has a deep and sultry voice which is often used to portray mature female characters.

The secrecy surrounding Mary, as well as Masumi's attempts to get her to trust Conan, whom Masumi knows is a shrunken Shinichi, might be indications that Masumi is trying to get the child help about an [[APTX 4869]] problem. This plot point is finally canonized in manga chapter 1049, when a flashback reveals a fateful confrontation between Mary and Vermouth which resulted in Mary getting force-fed the APTX.<ref name="ch1049" />

=== Mary is the sister of Elena Miyano ===
This very popular fan theory<ref>According to polls at DCW as of Sep 10, 2015, the most popular choice for her true identity is APTX-dosed Akai family mother</ref> was born after Gosho hinted that two mother characters are sisters.<ref>[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=316639 Leaked interview notes from the May issue of the magazine 「ダ・ヴィンチ」 (da Vinci) with the fans/reporters/whatever, leaked April 15, 2014] "Two mothers will also be revealed as being sisters, etc.…… A lot of things are connected together. This is bad, I'm talking too much. Well, please look forward to the manga.</ref> After it was confirmed the sisters were not the previous most popular choice [[Yukiko Kudo]] and [[Chikage Kuroba]], and that the Akai family mother was one member of the sister pair,<ref>[http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=12439&p=842050#p842050 Super Digest Book 70+: Gosho Aoyama's Interview] "Are Yukiko and Sera's mum sisters?" 
Answer : The sister isn't Yukiko but... 
</ref> fan suspicion fell squarely on Elena Miyano as the other mother. After all, both women are British. Gosho has given evasive answers when asked about Elena and the Akai family mother being related, which is his habit when a fan theory is correct but he can't admit to it.<ref>When answering fan questions, Gosho often bluntly says "no" if a guess is wrong. If it is correct and would spoil a mystery, Gosho's habit is to be vague and avoid giving a firm answer rather than lying or giving in and revealing the truth. After narrowing down the choices, fans started trying to trap Gosho. 
[http://www.detectiveconanworld.com/forum/topic/1555-translating-interviews/?p=361432 Conan Super Digest Book SDB 80+]
 
Q5: Are Elena Miyano and Shuichi Akai's/Sera's mother sisters? 
A: Eh? Why's that? 

Q62: Are Sera and Haibara cousins? 
A: Stop asking in a roundabout way, I'm not going to get tricked! (laughs) </ref>

=== Mary is a British SIS/MI6 Agent ===
Mary is British and has several unusual skill sets that match those of other spy-like characters in ''Detective Conan''. Mary has knowledge of incapacitating martial arts that can bring down adult men despite her size<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, extraordinary flexibility and climbing skills that allowed her to hide below a balcony like a ninja<ref>Soul Detective Murder case</ref>, and knowledge of listening devices and hidden microphones.<ref>Romance Novelist Murder Case</ref>

Because of her British nationality, the theory that she is a member of the British [[Wikipedia:Secret Intelligence Service|Secret Intelligence Service]], often known as MI6, has gained traction in many Detective Conan fandoms. In chapter 1049, that detail is inserted into ''Detective Conan'' canon when in a flashback Vermouth expresses regret that she cannot disguise herself as Mary to infiltrate MI6 for the time being when she is forced to assassinate the latter.<ref name="ch1049" />
== Speculation ==
At the time Mary was introduced, her relationship to Masumi Sera was unknown. Masumi testifies that she has two older brothers: [[Shuichi Akai]] and an unknown brother (later revealed to be [[Shukichi Haneda]]) living in Japan.<ref>Manga [[Volume 82]], File 11 (872), pg 3: Red Woman. "We're three siblings: My two oldest brothers and me, their little sister!" </ref> She says her father is dead, and her mother lives overseas in America. Masumi says she doesn't have any more relatives close enough to depend on.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 4 (876), pg 3: "The Romance Novelist"</ref> Masumi only started claiming to have a "younger sister from outside the domain" after the unknown child coached her to use that cover story if Conan asked about her.<ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 6 (878), pg 16: "The Phone, the Sea, and I" She requests Masumi call her the younger sister from outside the domain if Conan asks</ref><ref>Manga [[Volume 83]], File 7 (879), pgs 2-3: "Detective's Master" Conan asks about the girl and Masumi uses the "younger sister from outside the domain" explanation as she was instructed. Conan notices the discrepancy between this and her earlier statements which didn't mention a sister.</ref><ref>[[Episode 759]] 1min 41sec Crunchyroll translation: "If she has two brothers and doesn't know of her relatives, then who is that young girl I saw on her phone that looks just like her?"</ref> She is currently being financially supported by a friend of her father's. If Masumi has told the truth, minus what she said about having a "younger sister from outside the domain", that leaves relatively few options for Mary's identity assuming the child is related by blood somehow to Masumi. In file 972, Mary is revealed to be the Akai family's mother.

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths=200px perrow=5>
File:756 23.jpg|Mary's original appearance in the anime adaptation of the case (episode 756).
File:Mary original appearance.jpg|Mary as she originally appeared in file 875.
File:2014-06-08 00.25.28.jpg|Mary in file 899.
EP1019 3.jpeg|Mary 17 years ago
EP881 8.jpeg|Mary 10 years ago
Keyhole_83.jpg|Mary as child in keyhole
</gallery>

==Trivia==
*In File 1038 its reveal that like Shuichi and Tsumotu, she uses the phrase “It was 50:50 so we’re both to blame”.
*It is revealed in many manga panels that Mary is left-handed, just like her son.
*According to Super Digest Book plus 100 Mary had her MI6 colleagues create a fake passport for her.

== See also ==
* [[Characters]]
* [[Akai family]]
* [[Unsolved Mysteries]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Rum arc}}
{{Characters}}
{{APTX 4869}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Sera Mary}}

[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Female characters]]
[[Category:Characters who know Conan's identity]]
[[Category:Martial artists]]

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