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masterdetectivexx · 1 year

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Hi MTX, big fan of your work.

I was wondering if you have any thoughts about the recent case, especially with the 17 year old case being fully revealed. Plus how do you think all of this will lead to the climax of the Rum arc? Also, do you feel we may get the full flashback with Tsutomu and Wakasa from chapter 1099 soon or towards the climax of the arc?

File 1106-1109 Review/Discussion

These last 4 chapters of the chess tournament case, that effectively revealed everything about the day of the Kohji case 17 years ago, will go down as one of the best flashback stories in Detective Conan history. It left me personally speechless and overwhelmed in such a satisfying way, and although it felt like the end of an era within Rum arc (The Kohji case mystery), it propelled us forward to new potential storylines, as well as potentially leaving some bread crumbs of the Kohji case, for us to get excited about.

Kuroda Hyoue

Right from the cliffhanger of File 1105, we started off File 1106 with Kuroda revealing how Kuroda became a witness in the Kohji case. We got the official confirmation that he used to work in the same division as Furuya Rei in the NPA, Security Bureau's Security Planning Division. He had then revealed in File 1107 that he was gonna have a preliminary meeting with Amanda Hughes, which was later explained by Amanda to be about trying to take down the Black Organization, and Karasuma Renya along with it.

From the context clues given in this case, it doesn't seem like Kuroda was given any information ahead of time (like Amanda's suspected identities behind the black organization), which made Kuroda function well as a protagonist that we follow along to discover what had happened in the 17 year old case. The biggest reveal when it comes to Kuroda's character was that his mysterious accident that put him in a 10-year-long coma happened the day of the Kohji case, 17 years ago. This indirectly revealed that his teased work history with Iori (File 1090) would have only taken place max 3 years before Iori left the Public Security. This is because Iori and Rei had never met back then and Rei's earliest known activity with the NPA is 4 years ago (when he met Masumi in the train platform), while Kuroda woke up from his coma 7 years ago.

Haneda Kohji

As expected, Haneda Kohji got properly introduced to us, and he was revealed to be the same age as Shuukichi currently (28). Kohji had a very eccentric personality, that appealed to me a lot. He was goofy, but also at the same time very intelligent and level-headed under pressure. It was very nice to see those two sides contrasted well with each other, where he goes from crushing over Asaka (File 1106), to calmly assessing a situation and facing danger with a pokerface (File 1107). Due to stubbornly sticking to his motto ("stick to one's orginal plan"), he was willing to sacrifice his life for a stranger he just met (Asaka).

As for Kohji's dying message, it is now officially debunked that there was other additional messages apart from the hand-mirror message "CARASUMA", since we got the reveal that Kohji had given his bishop shogi piece to Asaka before facing Rum (File 1107), and Kuroda didn't find any other suspicious details in the crime scene (File 1108). Kohji's object imprint in the middle of his right palm from File 948 does therefore indicate an inconsistency, that might stem from Gosho changing his plans regarding how Asaka got the shogi piece (taking it from Kohji's corpse vs Kohji giving it to her).

How Kohji shocked Rum and effectively earned Rum's praise twice was the best part of Kohji's story. When Kohji revealed that he had seen Rum in an old article from 47 years ago, where Rum acted as spokesman for Karasuma Renya, it stopped Rum in the middle of his tracks and ultimately saved Asaka (File 1107). It was a very gripping way to reveal how Kohji knew that his killers were tied to Karasuma for his dying message, while also highlighting more similarities between him and Shuukichi, through their shared good memory, which would further explain why Haneda family would want to adopt Shuukichi to inherit Kohji's will.

Another interesting fact that had me lightly speculating was that Kohji revealed that he has a playmate that has transient amaurosis like Asaka (File 1106). Since we later got the easter egg that Kohji had faced Katsumata Chikara in his 4th title shogi match, it is possible that the playmate he was referring to was Chikara. While not a relevant fact in the grand scheme of things, since Chikara has been a recurring shogi player, Gosho could be fleshing him out like this as Shuukichi's current rival.

Rachel Asaka

This case had the most important development for Wakasa Rumi, as it officially revealed her whole backstory up to 17 years ago and the entirety of her relationship with Amanda. File 1106 revealed that her full name was Rachel Asaka, who became a bodyguard to Amanda following her father's footsteps and essentially had a mother-and-daughter relationship with Amanda. This history became a key factor in the confrontation between Amanda and Rum that followed. Wakasa's vision issue was also explained, as we found out that she had transient amaurosis, that causes temporary blindness.

Wakasa's glare towards Kuroda during Tent case (File 987-988) and her hidden scars (File 1005) were also officially explained. Wakasa had mistook Kuroda to be one of the BO members responsible for Kohji's and Amanda's death, and she had gotten the scars from the same accident that put Kuroda into a coma (File 1109).

This case also debunked the theory that Wakasa/Asaka is Vermouth in disguise, since we saw Asaka grieve over Amanda's death in File 1108, despite Vermouth having played a role in entrapping Amanda by calling off Amanda's SWAT team support after impersonating her (File 1107). This turn of events does however resurface the mystery behind Wakasa's BO affiliation and knowledge.

My current speculation behind Wakasa's current connection to the BO is that around 17 years ago, Asaka joined the CIA. There are a couple hints and easter eggs that has propelled me to this direction.

Amanda was revealed to have ties to both the FBI and CIA in File 948. Gosho had name-dropped both of these plot-relevant intelligence agencies in association with Amanda, and has just utilized Amanda's connection to the FBI director in this backstory to call for SWAT team. There is a high possibility that he has planned on also using Amanda's CIA ties in a similar way, but since Amanda is already dead, the only one who could use Amanda's CIA connection is her daughter, Rachel Asaka.

Rachel is a US citizen, which makes her eligible to join the CIA, and with her martial arts and weapon handling background she would have had a head-start competence to enter their training program with the help of Amanda's CIA contact. It's also in Rachel's interest to choose the CIA, since they handle foreign affairs, which would include where her mother's killers originate from (Japan). Since Asaka was shown to have an idea of who Amanda's killers were based on their previous attacks (File 1107), it is highly likely that Amanda revealed her suspicions to Asaka that they were tied to the japanese group Karasuma, as Rum feared. Even if she wasn't given any details from Amanda, she did hear Rum's voice as he spoke japanese (File 1108), which gives her an idea of where the enemy could be based. There is also Rachel's unresolved meeting with Amanda's other friend, Akai Tsutomu 17 years ago (File 1109). Since Tsutomu's wife Mary already investigated Karasuma Group in the past for her brother-in-law Miyano Atsushi (File 1011), we already have evidence to Karasuma Group being in Akai family's radar, so even if Amanda didn't share anything with Tsutomu, it wouldn't take Tsutomu and his promised intellect much effort to piece together Haneda Kohji's dying message that the culprit was Karasuma. In other words, at the very latest, Rachel could have found out about Amanda's killers' originating from Japan with Tsutomu's help, who she could trust.

Wakasa/Rachel being a CIA agent would explain how she got the latest update of the APTX4869 victim list where Kudo Shinichi is labeled as "dead" (File 1005), since the CIA has Kir as their mole in the BO who could share those sensistive BO intel. It would also explain how Wakasa found out about the latest events within the organization, like Sherry's betrayal, as well as Hell angel's research that gave birth to the poison that killed her mother (Amanda). There was even a parallel between Asaka and Kir in File 1108, where just like Kir in File 603, Asaka was also iconically transported unconscious in a car that is being chased by the Black Organization. This could have been an intentional setup by Gosho to hint to Asaka's current CIA affiliation.

Another character that Wakasa/Rachel has had multiple parallels with is Subaru/Akai Shuuichi. Both have been the main red-herring of being the main antagonist in their respective arcs, both saved Ayumi from the culprit in a similar way and both were suspected by Conan/Haibara while the other liked them. I have referenced them often in the past in association with the theory that Wakasa could be someone already established in disguise just like Subaru, but these parallels could also be indicating that Wakasa/Rachel is basically a female version of Subaru/Akai. Both lost their parent to the BO, both potentially joined American intelligence agencies (FBI & CIA) to investigate the BO and both are potentially star agents within their agencies who have made high-ranked BO members (Gin & Rum) as their archnemesis. Even this latest case had a resolution (File 1109) similar to the resolution of Black impact (File 504), where Asaka outsmarted the BO by shooting at them just like Akai.

Amanda Hughes

Amanda Hughes' focus and confrontation with Rum was probably my favorite part of this whole case. She was revealed to be even more important and powerful than originally established, since she was also running for president in an upcoming election (File 1106). Amanda has become one of the best backstory characters. She is a very kind and loving woman who sacrificed her life to save her own daughter. It was so satisfying to see her go out in her own terms by forcefully biting Rum's hand to ingest the APTX poison he had merely planned to lure Asaka with (Amanda's weakness) in order to capture her so he can have control over Amanda's power (File 1107). This could be viewed as another parallel between Asaka and Kir, since both their parent (Amanda & Ethan) commited suicide to save their daughter.

Among the most important revealing part in her dialogue with Rum was her history with Karasuma Renya. She revealed that she has met Rum when he was a child 67 years ago during Karasuma Renya's birthday party (File 1106). Amanda also got to learn about Rum's left eye's photographic memory, and how he has been using it to blackmail powerful people into doing the BO's bidding (File 1107).

This became relevant later to Amanda's dying message, as she used her lipstick-smeared wristwatch dial to indicate "watch out", and smeared the knight piece's eyes with lipstick in order to warn about the culprit's dangeorus eye ability (File 1109). The way she utilized the wristwatch in such a puny way reminded me of Policewomen murder case's dying message, where the victim used a "no parking" sign by itself in a puny way to hint to the culprit (File 1017). Chiba questioned whether the victim would use an object that way for a message, and while Conan agreed it seemed questionable, he reasoned that it would make sense to use it that way if the victim had nothing else to use.

Amanda's dying message does however leave you with oddities. Considering how thoroughly she used the wristwatch alone to indicate a message, it doesn't explain why she opened up the chessboard while creating the dying message. Compared to Kohji's dying message, Amanda's dying message is the one that leaves more questions to be answered. Just like how Amanda used the wristwatch in a puny way for a message, it's very likely that Amanda used the knight piece and the chessboard in a similar manner. Here is my current analysis on Amanda's dying message:

Rum

All the information we had gotten on Rum in this case was setup to have significance in it, like how we learned that his right eye also used to have the photographic memory ability (File 1107), only to later find out Rum has been planning on regaining that ability through the APTX research (File 1109).

When Rum revealed to Amanda, after feeding her APTX4869 poison, that "Rum" was a codename that he had inherited from his father, who had worked under the boss for many years (File 1107), it's highly likely that this was also setting up something very significant. If Amanda pieced together from those parting words Rum's real name, then it would immediately fit with my Amanda dying message analysis that the knight piece & chessboard are together spelling out MUGA (as in Rum actually being Muga in disguise).

My current Rum theory based on this codename inheritance revelation is that the Rum Amanda met 67 years ago as a child, who grew up to be a spokesman for Karasuma Renya 47 years ago in the international economic forum, is actually the father of Rum from 17 years ago. This would mean that current Rum who killed Amanda and Kohji 17 years ago is the second generation of Rum, who not only inherited his father's codename but has also been disguising as him for at least 17 years after being taught by Vermouth, who was revealed to have joined the BO back then (File 1107). In short, the Rum we have been seeing active until now, who lost his eye ability in his right eye, was Muga disguising as his father, after inheriting his father's codename "Rum".

If Amanda had learned through her influential position that Rum had a son named Muga, and that for example Rum's father wasn't someone special who had worked under Karasuma Renya for a long time, then she would have enough context clues to realize that her killer is not the Rum she knew, but his son Muga, the new Rum, in disguise. Since Amanda was told by Rum that a young woman with abilities to disguise and imitate voices joined the organization, it wouldn't be hard for Amanda to make the leap that the son could be using that woman's help to disguise as his father. As I mentioned previously, Rum's face since 17 years ago being a disguise would explain why he hasn't aged much in 17 years. Something that Muga shares in common with Rum is also those light eyebrows, which could be a genetic trait that passed on from father to son.

This case also hinted towards the explanation behind Rum's investigation of Kudo Shinichi's death. It's very likely that Rum has been interested in the research since 17 years ago, since he implied that he was testing APTX4869 on Amanda and Kohji to check whether it killed or not (File 1108). It's possible that Rum wanted to regain his photographic memory ability in his right eye since back then. Now, in the current time however, after Kudo Shinichi was exposed to the public in File 1005 (as well as after Rum potentially already confirming Shinichi's survival as Muga), he would have evidence to believe that Sherry's APTX doesn't always kill. If Rum also got ahold of Sherry's research papers that documented the de-aging result in one mouse (File 179), then it would explain why Rum is suspecting that de-aging is possible through APTX4869, that could "turn back the clock on his right eye".

This case was a huge stepping stone for Conan, as he has now officially found out Wakasa's true identity, the history behind Kuroda's accident, the existence of Amanda's dying message, and a clue to Rum's past eye ability (File 1109). It's refreshing to see him talk it all through with Akai, but what's also refreshing is the fact that he finally got information on Tsutomu from Akai (File 1109), after failing to gain info since the start of the Kohji case mystery (File 949). It was also nice getting to see the complete Akai family 17 years ago and a tease of Tsutomu-Mary romance. Akai's explanation that Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's father) couldn't rely on the japanese police and had asked his friend Tsutomu for help is further cementing the likely truth that Vader (mysterious respirator elder), who thought that the police are fools, is actually Haneda Yasuharu.

As for what we can expect next, I think based on Gosho trackrecord with Rum developments (where they have taken place every 5-volumes since Volume 85), the next big Rum development (that is likely the climax of Rum arc) is gonna happen in 3-4 cases (within volume 105), so even if we take a breather in the next case, I think it will still have crucial main plot development that will be setting up the climax. We could be saving Wakasa-Tsutomu-Rum flashback and Kuroda-Muga flashback for the climax, but what we should be getting soon is what Gosho teased in Let's Talk Day 2023: that something big will come into contact with Amuro.

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