Rum
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Rum | |
Japanese name: | ラム (Ramu) |
---|---|
Age: | unknown |
Gender: | unknown |
Occupation: | Black Organization second-in-command |
First appearance: | unknown |
Appearances: | Chapters: 33 Chapters: 3 Episodes: 24 Movies: 2 Openings: 3 Openings: 1 |
Japanese voice: | unknown (movie 20)[1] |
Rum (ラム Ramu ) is the second-in-command of the Black Organization and the second main antagonist in Detective Conan.
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Personality
- 3 Appearance
- 4 Abilities
- 5 Appellations
- 6 Plot overview
- 6.1 Scarlet Epilogue (Manga: 898, Anime: 783)
- 6.2 Scriptwriter Murder Case (Manga: 906-908, Anime: 792-793)
- 6.3 Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: 939-941, Anime: 843-844)
- 6.4 Kohji Haneda's Death Case (Manga: 950, Anime: 862)
- 6.5 Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: 951-953, Anime: 863-864)
- 6.6 A song named ASACA (Manga: 954-957, Anime: 866-867)
- 6.7 Curse of the Nue (Manga: 958, Anime: TBA)
- 6.8 Interchanged Betting Ticket Case (Manga: 975, Anime: TBA)
- 6.9 Burning Tent Murder Case (Manga: 987-989, Anime: TBA)
- 6.10 The Field Trip to Kyoto (Manga: 1005, Anime:TBA)
- 6.11 Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: 1008, Anime:TBA)
- 7 Non-Canon Plot Overview
- 8 Relationships analysis
- 9 Official suspects
- 10 Three descriptions for one person
- 11 Name origin
- 12 Quotes
- 13 In other languages
- 14 Trivia
- 15 Animal Crossing hints
- 16 Trivia
- 17 Gallery
- 18 See also
- 19 References
Background
Judging from Subaru Okiya's descriptions, Rum appears to have high rank in the organization and is very close to the boss. Later on, Ai Haibara remarks that Rum is second only to the boss of the Black Organization, suggesting that he/she is their second-in-command. While she had never met Rum herself, she had overheard other members of the BO give seemingly contradicting descriptions. Rum's identity, sex and mission are currently unknown.
Rum was involved with the death of Kohji Haneda, 17 years ago. Gin implies that it is an incident in which Rum had screwed up.
Personality
Appearance
Rum has a damaged eye which has been replaced with an artificial eye.[2] It is unknown which eye was damaged.[2]
Various Black Organization members have given conflicting accounts of his/her overall appearance and build. Some say Rum is a strongly-built man, some say he/she looks feminine, and some say he/she is an old man.[3] The conflicting descriptions of Rum's appearance suggests that he/she doesn't present himself to others in a straightforward fashion.
Abilities
Appellations
Plot overview
Scarlet Epilogue (Manga: 898, Anime: 783)
Shuichi Akai (as Subaru Okiya) calls Jodie Starling and Andre Camel to the Kudos' house. He informs them that the undercover CIA agent Hidemi Hondou reported to him that a new organization member is on the move. As she only sent three letters "RUM", Akai deduces that it was done in a hurry. He recalls having heard the code name a few times when he was still infiltrating the organization, and notes that the member seems to be really close to the boss. Akai also tells them to report this back to James Black, while emphasizing that their new threat is someone even more important than Gin.
Scriptwriter Murder Case (Manga: 906-908, Anime: 792-793)
Conan asks Haibara about Rum. She tells him that she never met Rum in person but has heard of the number two-ranked agent in the Organization. His/her characteristics differ depending on who is describing him/her. Some say he/she is a strongly-built man, some say he/she looks feminine, and some say he/she is an old man. Others believe that all of these are just descriptions of body substitutes Rum uses. Haibara also says there is one characteristic that is the same for all stories about Rum -- one of his/her eyes is damaged and has been replaced with an artificial eye.
They then encounter a murder case where all three suspects happen to have characteristics like Rum's: Kuramichi Habanaka a 40 years old strong-built man, Ronpei Sakaba a 31 years old feminine-looking man, and Denji Shibakaru a 63 years old man.
Department Store Stabbing Case (Manga: 939-941, Anime: 843-844)
While not directly related to Rum's plot, this case showed how several different people could see the same person and describe them as completely different. The culprit in this case flees down the stairs past various people of different heights and past objects of different colors, which resulted in the Detective Boys giving contradicting eye witness accounts. To further liken the situation to Rum, Genta even claims that he saw the number two written on the culprits clothes. In addition this case had a secondary plot point involving mascara.
Kohji Haneda's Death Case (Manga: 950, Anime: 862)
After Conan and Subaru solve the murder of Kunihisa Hiyama, they realize they can solve the dying message of Kohji's case. They decipher the meaning of the missing letters on the mirror of Kohji Haneda's room. Kohji's dying message from 17 years ago was "ASACA RUM", so Rum might be involved in his death and the death of Amanda Hughes, a big fan of Koji's, along with the disappearance of Asaka, her bodyguard.
Since the dying message was "P T O N", the answer to it must contain all of the missing letters of "U MASCARA"
PUT ON MASCARA - P T ON = U MASCARA
U MASCARA - ASACA (for Asaka) = U M R
Which can be rearranged to make RUM
making the answer "ASACA RUM"
Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: 951-953, Anime: 863-864)
Conan decides that the missing bodyguard Asaka is most likely Rum.
After the case was over Masumi speaks to Mary and says that the only information that Gaito Hotta, the soul detective, had was that he believed Asaka to be a woman. He was going to pretend that he had summoned Kohji's spirit and have it say that a woman was going to kill him. According to Masumi, the culprit said that someone saw Asaka holding "that small mirror".
Conan considers that if Asaka is Rum, then perhaps what Haibara said about being feminine refers to looking girly on the outside but strong like a man on the inside. If Rum had been a bodyguard 17 years ago, then their age must be pretty high. Conan also ponders the possibility that Mary is Rum after having shrunken, being girly yet strong and older than she looks.
A song named ASACA (Manga: 954-957, Anime: 866-867)
Rokumichi Hado, a famous artist coming back from a seventeen year hiatus, announces a new song called "ASACA". Because of the spelling and the timing, Conan and Subaru go to the concert hall to investigate. There they encounter Bourbon and Vermouth in disguise as Azusa Enomoto who are trying to get in as well. Their presence suggests that the Black Organization decoded Kohji's dying message mirror and are investigating for the same reasons as Subaru and Conan. By the end of the case, both groups determine that the song being named "ASACA" is only a coincidence and not related to Rum or Kohji's murder.
Curse of the Nue (Manga: 958, Anime: TBA)
Conan inwardly comments about Vermouth and Amuro's presence in the last case. He states that they must have been there because they know about the code "ASACA RUM" that was left by Kohji Haneda 17 years ago. When Azusa mentions that she had seen two strangers approach the detective agency, Conan immediately assumes that it might have been Gin and Vodka, but it turns out to be Heiji and Kazuha instead.
Interchanged Betting Ticket Case (Manga: 975, Anime: TBA)
Burning Tent Murder Case (Manga: 987-989, Anime: TBA)
Kuroda is shown looking at the Kohji Haneda case on his computer. He seems to make some kind of connection between the case and Rumi Wakasa. This story incidentally, also reveals that Rumi cannot see with her right eye, squarely making her a candidate for Rum's true identity.
The Field Trip to Kyoto (Manga: 1005, Anime:TBA)
In the end of the case, the 3 Rum suspects, Wakasa Rumi, Kanenori Wakita and Hyoue Kuroda are mentioned in the side notes. All 3 suspects appear in the same page, and seemingly focusing on Shinichi's involvement in the case.
Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: 1008, Anime:TBA)
Rum sends an email to Bourbon, asking him to gather information about Shinichi, telling him to hurry up stating that "Time is money".
Non-Canon Plot Overview
Movie 20: The Darkest Nightmare
Rum doesn't appear in this movie directly:
- Haibara imagines his/her three silhouettes like in file 906, and his/her artificial eye.
- When she finally regained her lost memory, a Curaçao's flashback shows Rum speaking to Vermouth through a computer in an altered voice. 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/her right-handed agent.
- Rum sends orders to Vermouth and Gin ordering them not to execute Bourbon and Kir because he/she received a new message, apparently from Curaçao, that they weren't NOCs.
- Rum also orders them to retrieve Curaçao to verify if the message is authentic or not.
- Vermouth has a conversation with him/her by the end titles, while she is in her car along with Kir. She lets Kir listen to what he/she has to say before hanging up.
Relationships analysis
Black Organization
Renya Karasuma
The boss is his/her only direct superior.
Curaçao
Curaçao is a member who works as Rum's right-hand agent but has only appeared in movie 20. In the past, because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the Organization, Vermouth was about to execute her, but Rum's voice stopped her. Rum then appointed her as her right-hand agent. Presently, Rum charges her to break into Tokyo police headquarters and accesses classified secret files on spies planted in the Black Organization by many intelligence agencies.
Official suspects
File 1008 confirmed these three suspects: Kanenori Wakita, Rumi Wakasa, and Hyoue Kuroda.
Three descriptions for one person
Various members of the Black Organization all disagree about Rum's overall appearance. For this to be the case, Rum must not present himself/herself to others straightforwardly. There are several possibilities why this could be:
- Rum can disguise himself/herself well.
- Fairly straightforward as far as explanations go, Rum could appear to different agents with different faces and builds leading to confusion. Disguise is a potential skill Rum could have. He/she is the number two of the Black Organization and likely close to the boss, so he/she has a need for security and secrecy and is probably also multi-talented like most other code named agents. That said, there is currently no evidence that Rum has attempted a disguise or has been involved in any plots where disguise is necessary.
- He/she has features of all three types leading to different conclusions.
- Rum might have features of all three types of builds so that each witness comes to a different conclusion about his appearance depending on what they personally emphasize. As an example, Kansuke Yamato is a strongly built man, uses a cane like an old man, and his ponytail could give someone the impression he/she is feminine. If Kansuke tended to only appear to others in shadowed environments, then it's possible he/she could be mistaken for an old man or even a woman when viewed in profile.
- The confusion may not stem solely from appearance. In The Department Store Stabbing Case, the three detective boys give conflicting statements of the same stabber because they each saw different things depending on their vantage points and personal prejudices. Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 4 and Kobayashi-sensei's Love are cases with a similar theme. Similarly, members of the Black Organization with different backgrounds might come to different conclusions depending on the context they encounter Rum in.
- If members of the Black Organization only interact with Rum by video-phone conversation, they might come to different conclusions about his appearance depending on how he/she speaks. If Rum uses old style Japanese like an elderly person might, has a deep voice like that of a well built man, but is excessively polite and uses pronouns like watashi (私 ), then three different conclusions of his overall appearance can result.
- The code name Rum is shared by more than one person.
- Also self explanatory, but requires each Rum persona to have a fake eye - a pretty unlikely coincidence if each of their eyes was lost in a separate accident.
- In a postcard from Gosho in 2016 he said that Rum was one person.
- Rum uses body doubles.
- Rum using body doubles with different builds was suggested by Haibara to explain why different Black Organization agents had different impressions.[3] It does not explain the fake eye common between them, unless these doubles were required to wear one.
Contradictions about the fake eye
It is particularly odd that the Black Organization members are unanimous about Rum having a fake eye while disagreeing about obvious appearance facts that are typically the first to be noticed. Prosthetic eyes are usually subtle, as shown in the picture on the right, and can be easily mistaken for some other type of ocular problem such as lazy eye. That implies there is some distinct reason why everyone agrees that Rum has a prosthetic eye while disagreeing about other obvious facts. There are several possibilities why this might be:
- The prosthetic eye Rum uses when talking to other members of the Black Organization is very obviously fake
- While such an obvious fake eye would be detrimental in public because it would draw attention, Rum may prefer using a non-subtle prosthetic when in the presence of the rest of the Black Organization. For instance, Rum could use an obvious fake for the purposes of intimidation or to draw attention away from the rest of him/her so that he is not well remembered. Rum could also use a mechanical gadget in place of his/her eye that augments his/her vision.
- Rum's prosthetic eye is a rumor everyone knows.
- One possible reason everyone agrees about Rum's fake eye is because it is an oft-circulated fact that he/she has one. Perhaps there is some tale about how he/she lost it that gets passed from member to member. In this case, it wouldn't even matter if Rum actually had a fake eye so long as everyone was inclined to say that he/she did.
Name origin
Quotes
In other languages
Trivia
Animal Crossing hints
In two promotional messages sent out through the video game Animal Crossing: New Leaf for Nintendo 3DS sometime around or slightly before September 3rd 2014[7], Gosho said:
- "Actually, Rum has already appeared lol"[8]
- Please note that Gosho, as a crossover joke, has introduced a character named Lum Invader from another manga as the Black Organization member Rum. Gosho also showed Lum in a panel in file 906 and referenced the earlier gag in the concurrent Sherry's soliloquy. Gosho may have been intending to mislead fans with this animal crossing by exploiting the ambiguity between Rum and Lum.
- "Kan-chan is not Rum ^^"[9]
Taking these hints at face value, Rum has appeared at or before File 906.
Trivia
- His/her role in the series recalls second-in-command of the boss in the children's show Kamen Yaiba.[10]
Gallery
See also
- Characters
- Black Organization
- Rum (Alcohol)
Rum arc topics | ||
---|---|---|
Main interest | Renya Karasuma • Rum • Case from 17 years ago | |
Potential suspects | Hyoue Kuroda • Rumi Wakasa • Kanenori Wakita | |
Connections | Kohji Haneda • Amanda Hughes • Tsutomu Akai • Asaka | |
Related Articles | APTX 4869 • APTX 4869 Victim list • Rum arc timeline | |
Cases of interest | The Scarlet Return • Three First Discoverers • Just Like a 17 Years Old Crime Scene • Soul Detective Murder Case • The Stage of Betrayal • Mystery of the Burning Tent • Search for Maria-chan! • The 36-Cell Perfect Game • The Spark That Fell on the Ranch • Yusaku Kudo's Detective Show • The Black Organization's Scheme • Akemi Miyano's Time Capsule • Kaitou Kid and the Siren Splash • Chess Tournament Murder Case |
References
- ^ Rum was only given a computerized altered voice, and the movie credits does not list a voice actor. They did this intentionally so that no one could look up what other characters that voice actor/actress might play in the anime series.
- ^ a b Manga Volume 86, File 4 (908), pg 16
- ^ a b Manga Volume 86, File 2 (906), pg 3
- ^ File 953: As If Connecting with a Demon in the Darkness (Volume 90)
- ^ A TV commercial trailer of The Darkest Nightmare
- ^ a b c d File 950: The Clipped Letters (Volume 90)
- ^ This blog post with links to screenshots was made September 3, 2014
http://sky969blue6261.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-115.html
Comments on the blog discussing the hint are time stamped at the same date, September 3 2014, so it is unlikely that the old entry was updated. - ^ じつは もうラムは でてたりしてw
Translated by Alaktorn
Rum has appeared - ^ カンちゃんはラムじゃないって(^^
Translated by Alaktorn
Rum is not Kansuke - ^ Manga Volume 92, File 7; anime TBD.