James Black

James Black
Profile
Japanese name:	ジェイムズ・ブラック (Jeimuzu Burakku)
English name:	James Black
Age:	unknown
Gender:	Male
Occupation:	FBI special agent
Status:	Alive
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: File 325 Anime: Episode 258
Appearances:	Chapters: 42 Episodes: 31 Movies: 5 OVAs: 0 Specials: 0 Openings: 15 Closings: 1
Keyhole number:	Volume 57
Actors
Japanese voice:	Iemasa Kayumi (Episodes 258~783; Lupin III vs. Conan Movie; Movie 18) Takaya Hashi (Movie 20, 24, 26; Episode 1077-1079)
English voice:	Taylor Henry

James Black (ジェイムズ・ブラック ,Jeimuzu Burakku) is a character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan. He is a high ranking agent in the FBI.

Background

According to James Black's own account, he was born in London, England, in the Marylebone district of Westchester City, the same district where the original Baker Street is located, before he moved to Chicago, growing up as a naturalized American citizen.

Black first met Conan, the Detective Boys, and Professor Agasa when he was visiting Japan to attend an animal show. They saved him from a crowd of reporters who mistook him for a famous American actor, the patron of the show. In fact, he was shortly afterwards kidnapped because of this, and it was thanks to Conan and the Tokyo police that Black was safely rescued from a dangerous hostage situation. At this time, Black developed a deep respect for Conan's intellect, calling him "Cool Guy".

Conan didn't meet up with Black again until he encountered Jodie Starling again while trying to save a popular politician from an assassination attempt by the Black Organization. It was at this time that Black's allegiance with the FBI was revealed; Black is in fact the head of operations on the hunt for the Organization in Japan, and ever since this revelation, he and his colleagues have worked closely with Conan whenever their common cause would bring them together.

Personality

Stoic and collected, James Black often lets his underlings, chiefly Jodie and Shuichi, take the initiative, knowing their capabilities, and for the same reason he listens to Conan's judgements as well.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call James	What James calls them
	Shuichi Akai	James	Akai-kun
	Subaru Okiya	James	Akai-kun
	Jodie Starling	James	Jodie-kun
	Andre Camel	James-san	Camel-kun Camel
	Hidemi Hondou	-	Mizunashi Rena
	Juzo Megure	James-san	Inspector Megure (Megure-keibu)
	Rei Furuya	-	Bourbon

Picture	Name	What they call James	What James calls them
	Akemi Miyano	-	Miyano Akemi Hirota Masami
	Rikumichi Kusuda	-	Kusuda Kusuda Rikumichi-san (first time) Kusuda-san
	Gin	-	Gin
	Rum	James Black	Rum
	Curaçao	-	Curaçao
	Chianti	James	-

Picture	Name	What they call James	What James calls them
	Conan Edogawa	James-san	Conan-kun Edogawa Conan-kun Cool Guy Baker Street Irregulars (collective)
	Ai Haibara	-	Sherry Baker Street Irregulars (collective)
	Ayumi Yoshida	-	Baker Street Irregulars (collective)
	Genta Kojima	-	Baker Street Irregulars (collective)
	Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya	-	Baker Street Irregulars (collective)

Picture	Name	What they call James	What James calls them
	Shinichi Kudo	James Black (movie introduction)	-
	Fujiko Mine	-	Mine Fujiko
	Yusaku Kudo	-	Yusaku-san

Plot overview

Kidnapped Tourist Case (Manga: 325-327, Anime: 258-259)

James is first seen getting mistaken by reporters for Randy Hawk, a rich person who sponsors zoos and animal shows. After Conan realizes that James wasn’t Randy Hawk, he and the detective boys save him by pretending that he is their grandpa. James decides to invite them out for lunch as gratitude for helping him but on the way to get his car, he gets kidnapped by some fake policemen who mistake him as Randy Hawk and are using him as a hostage for ransom. Before he got forced in the car, James left a clue for Conan to find him in a police car. After James is saved from the kidnappers, he disappears before the police can question him and meet up with Shuichi Akai, the man from the bus incident. It is revealed that James knew that the kidnappers were fake policemen due to them not asking for his name in the beginning. James asks Shuichi that since he called him if it is possible to get back with his “lover”, which Shuichi says yes too.

Murderer's Car Case (Manga: 435, 437, Anime: 346-347)

James sees Haibara deny the witness protection program and notes how similar her and Jodie was as a young age, as Jodie too had rejected the program and wanted to join the FBI in exchange for joining the program.

Black Organization vs. FBI (Manga: 502-504, Anime: 425)

James picks up Jodie and Conan from his car and pursues the Black Organization to stop their assassination plans. With help from Conan, James is able to catch Kir and chases her but due to an accident, Kir goes into a coma and has to be brought to the hospital. After Conan realizes that the Black Organization are about to target Kogoro, James drive to the detective agency and arrives just in time for Conan and Shuichi to save Kogoro from them.

Giant Hammer Case (Manga: 550, Anime: 462)

James asks Jodie whether Rena Mizunashi has regained consciousness yet, to which Jodie says that she hasn’t. James is worried that the longer it takes for her to wake up, the likelihood of the Black Organization rises as well.

Relationships analysis

Colleagues

Jodie Starling

Jodie and James hold a close subordinate relationship and James is shown to trust Jodie's judgement deeply and recognizes her strengths and weaknesses. He is close enough to Jodie to understand her thoughts, mainly as shown when he cautions Camel not to speak too much about Akai in front of her, understanding that Akai had been more than a mere FBI colleague to Jodie. The two have been acquainted prior to the series at least 20 years ago following the death of Jodie's father. Due to his respect for his deceased friend and concern for the girl's safety, James consistently tried persuading Jodie to join the Witness Protection Program, though the latter constantly refused over and over until a point at time in which she made a deal with James to join the Witness Protection Program under the promise that she be guaranteed a position in the FBI when she grew older. Despite often taking over the role of giving out orders, Jodie holds deep loyalty to James, whom she has shown to somewhat view as a father figure.

Shuichi Akai

While their relationship is not shown as much as Jodie's, it is shown that James holds high regard in Akai's abilities and respects and trusts him deeply and vice versa. James has also noted Akai's habit of performing missions on his own and planning things without informing him or Jodie, but does not appear to bear a grudge because of it. He also appears to be knowledgeable of Akai's loner personality coming from Akemi's death, showing that he understands Akai quite well despite not having interacted with him much. James had shown to have taken Akai's death hard (though not to the same extent as Jodie), but is still able to maintain his composure despite the obvious tragedy. Later on, it was revealed that Black was in on the ploy to fake Akai's death, which would explain his maintaining his composure. A major hint to this is provided in the movie Dimensional Sniper, where Subaru Okiya (apparently Shuichi's undercover identity) is shown to be in secret contact with Black.

Speculatively, James Black's English background may have assisted the young British-Japanese Shuichi Akai in fast-tracking his way to a US citizenship and then enrolling in the FBI.

Curiously, James correctly identified Sera Masumi, Akai's younger sister, as being female, when almost every other person in the cast initially mistook her for a boy. James denies having seen her before, but it may also be related to any connections he had with Akai's family in the past.

Andre Camel

While their relationship is even less shown than Akai's, it is shown that James still trusted and respected Camel. The two were shown spending time as friends along with Jodie at a liquor store at one point, where Camel's less-than-sensitive personality causes Jodie to storm out of the store, with James later cautioning Camel to not mention Akai's name in front of Jodie, knowing that she had taken his death particularly hard, having viewed him as more than a mere FBI colleague.

Others

Conan Edogawa

James is one of the few adults that views Conan as an equal and the even fewer few that seemingly knows his true identity due to being part of the FBI. As such, James holds high regard in Conan's abilities and trusts him deeply. He also has the habit of calling Conan, "Cool-guy".

Name origin

Haibara notes that James Black's name is similar to James Bond, and both are British as well. Conan points out that there is another British man with a similar name: James Moriarty.

Different looks

Episode 258

Episode 495

Episode 563

Episode 1077

Quotes

“	As expected of the child that you have your eyes on. It almost makes me want to scout him for the bureau.	„
— Episode 425

Trivia

• In James' first appearance, he was blond.
• James likes Fujiko Mine.
• James is completely unrelated to, however he deeply resembles the suspect, Edward Crowe from the episode The Locked Room in the Sky: Shinichi Kudo's First Case, although they are both English Speaking, and possibly British.
• According to Gosho in JUSTICE PLUS Super Digest Book, he was aware of Sera Masumi when she visited the FBI and he saw her.

In other languages

Language	Given Name	Family Name
Japanese	ジェイムズ Jeimuzu	ブラック Burakku
Arabic	جيمس James	بلاك Black
Catalan	James	Black
Chinese (Simplified)	詹姆斯 Zhānmǔsī	布莱克 Bùláikè
French	James	Black
Italian	James	Black
Thai	เจมส์ James	แบล็ค Black

See also

• Characters
• Federal Bureau of Investigation