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mrs-tsunderemeitantei · 3 years

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Wakasa Rumi Theory Series: Part 3 of 3

So this is it, the final part of my Wakasa Rumi Theory Series!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Here I'll be talking about the last two points in bold. Part 1 and Part 2 already covered points 1-3 and points 4-5.

Why I think she's Asaca

Her probable relationship to Haneda Koji.

How she became Amanda's bodyguard.

What might have happened on the day of Haneda Koji's murder.

How Haneda Koji's dying message directly refers to RUM as his killer.

Why Wakasa went on a hiatus for 17 years since the murder.

Reason behind Haibara liking Wakasa.

As usual, happy reading 😁💛

6. Why Wakasa went on a hiatus for 17 years since the murder.

Now this point will have so many things that will go into it, so hopefully no one gets lost along the way 🙌🏼

As per my theory in Part 2, I believe Wakasa had a full on confrontation with RUM after she found Haneda Koji dead. And now that she's also the lead suspect for a crime she didn't commit, the logical thing would be that she goes into hiding. The first case she was ever involved in (Chapter 968) foreshadowed the possibility of someone going into hiding for years. And after literally crossing paths with a dangerous BO member, she probably changed her appearance. This was also foreshadowed in the Pro-golfer murderer case that probably hints to the fact that she is in disguise or had plastic surgery altogether. That's why I'm not entirely sure if we can judge that she could be Atsushi's sister based on appearance (I talked about it in an ask here).

Now during the time she was in hiding, she could have still been trying to investigate the BO or trying to find a way to infiltrate it. During that time, she must have crossed paths with Kuroda 10 years ago. If they were both investigating around the same time, they could have very well crossed paths. Her reaction to meeting Kuroda the first time was just as triggered as when she saw Wakita leave the school, except this time, she wasn't as scared to talk back to Kuroda which implies she has interacted with him before and knows of him. At the same time, Kuroda's knowing smirk when he found out Wakasa was going on a camping trip. Implying it's not like her to go camping further strengthens that they met each other before.

Then, Kuroda must have fallen a victim to the accident that put him in a coma for 10 years. During that time, Wakasa must have trained even more and eventually joined some security or intelligence department like the PSB, FBI, CIA or MI6. I am drawing more parallels of her character based on Jodie who was very suspicious in the Vermouth arc but was in fact an FBI agent. Another such similarity is just like Jodie lived in a high rise apartment that Heiji noted is very expensive for an English teacher, Wakasa also lives in an expensive building. A pro-golfer even lived there so rent must have not been cheap.

So yes, my theory is Wakasa started working for some intelligence security department ever since Kuroda's accident and her main goal was to investigate the BO and steal information about them. If like Haibara she managed to hack into the BO's database, the following points would make sense:

She holds a very recent list of the APTX-4869 victims that has Kudo Shinichi on it.

She managed to find out about Miyano Shiho and 'Hell Angel'.

She could have discovered that Amuro is a BO agent which is why she fought him to retrieve the shogi piece, especially after Kobayashi-sensei introduced him as a private eye.

She described Karasu as someone that has 'Karasu' in their name as someone who is difficult to approach and a conspirator so it's very likely she tried to infilitrate the BO to get close to him.

The reason why she briefly triggered Haibara's BO sense was because she recalled her confrontation with Wakita while gripping the bishop and Uma shogi piece that refers to him in Haneda Koji's dying message.

Now coming onto the final point in this series:

7. Why Haibara likes Wakasa.

I don't know if I am entirely convinced it's because Haibara is in fact related to Wakasa or if her being Atsushi's sister bears any weight since we can't really judge by appearances if Wakasa did get plastic surgery or is sporting a disguise. But, let's backtrack a little. When Okiya Subaru was first introduced, Conan was incredibly trusting of what seemed to be a very suspicious character. Turns out this is because he was Akai in disguise and Conan was the mastermind behind this. Haibara may not be the mastermind behind Wakasa's situation but I'm guessing she knows something about her that we don't and it shall be revealed to us later.

And that's it! Omg I can't believe how long it took me to put this out. As exhausting as it was, it was so much fun to write 😂.

(In cased you stumbled upon this post first, these are the links for Part 1 and Part 2)!

I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did and I'm open to everyone's thoughts and opinions 😁 💛🖤

#dcmk #dcmk theories #dcmk character analysis #case closed #detective conan #wakasa rumi #rumi wakasa #wakasa-sensei #wakasa sensei #asaca #RUM #rum #Rum #Rum arc #RUM arc #Haneda koji #case from 17 years ago #dc character analysis

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justiceraffles · 3 years

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"Hey, what if MK was a horribly written telenovela with a poorly conceived mystery storyline that's tied together in the most precarious of ways with nonsensical plotpoints and was also endgame Hakukai" So here's the start to my Hakukai longfic! I have a lot of things to say about this story so I'll just ramble about it at length beneath the cut if anyone's interested in my nonsense notes. Otherwise,

Read Here

I've been working on this thing on and off for a year and a half now, it lives rent free in my head every day and has been editted, restructured, and rewritten a lot. I've been very apprehensive about sharing it. ...To be honest, I still am! It's a chaotic story where I just allowed myself to write the most self-indulgent thing I could muster. This entire plot is an amalmagation of random things and ideas I like. It feels like a niche concept that is very messy and ???¿¿¿¿??? why did I make this

But, I guess that also makes it a very "me" story, so having fun with it and writing something that just brought me joy is what matters most, ultimately.

(aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA)

I'm very thankful to everyone who has read the outline and concept for it or just listened to me ramble about the incoherent plot and characters or cheering me on when I've been kinda anxious about it— it's thanks to that support despite this being such a specific and ¿¿¿ idea that I've found the courage to actually share it. I'm very grateful and I hope you guys can enjoy something in it o)-(

So, about the fic,

It's a story about Hakuba! I think we are all well aware that jokes about his long absences and infrequent appearances are very commonplace (where in the world is hakuba saguru??? TT) and it unfortunately leads to him being forgotten and overlooked often. The initial concept that inspired this fic was "Hey, what if Hakuba stopped showing up for real?" and explore the implications this would have on the MK storyline (and Kaito, by extension). I wanted to make a plot where he was allowed to be the protagonist of his own story, highlight his worth as a detective, his role in the main narrative, and the depth of his relationship with Kaito. It's a Hakuba Saguru Appreciation fic, first and foremost!

So, the romance itself is very slow burn. There is a lot of plot, because I have a lot of fun with ridiculous, contrived stories haha. It takes a while for the story to be fully set up, and Kaito doesn't make a proper, official appearance until the end of Chapter 2.

Chapter 1 is rather lengthy and sets the context and plot from Hakuba's POV, Chapter 2 focuses on establishing where his relationship with Kaito (as well as Aoko and Akako) stands at the moment, and Chapter 3 onward starts seeing the first proper developments in the relationship.

It's a bit rocky at first and they have a lot of ups and downs but I promise they work it out (I promise!!! I swear!!!) I tried my best to maintain a balance between the fluffy and angsty moments, but I have to admit it's quite dramatic at parts lol I enjoy stupid, trashy drama a lot sometimes— this is the reason I'm calling it a bad telenovela.

Despite the fact that this is very plotty, their feelings for each other are the guiding force behind the storyline, and their relationship does take center stage later on. The romance is in no way secondary, it just takes a long while to fully develop. They most definitely get a happy ending, but you can expect this to be 95% pining.

The story starts out some years after the current events in the MK manga. Pandora hasn't been found yet, and KID is still active. On the other hand, the DC canon is used very loosely; the conflict has long since been resolved. The BO was taken down years before the start of this story.

The two plots aren't too deeply intertwined here, they just intercept at parts. References to DC events appear here and there and some elements and character interactions overlap, but they tend to be minor for the most part. This is primarily a MK story and I wasn't too worried about completely integrating both plotlines (or staying 100% accurate to the DC plot, for that matter).

Of course, because this is MK-centric, Aoko and Akako are involved with the overarching story and have major roles to play.

In terms of DC characters, Masumi, Shiho, Heiji and Shinichi play semi-prominent roles in the story. I've tagged Masumi from the getgo because she appears in the first chapter, but I'll add the others when I get to the little arcs they show up in. Save for some specific contributions they have, they aren't too deeply involved with the overall plot progression, but the interactions Hakuba has with them are important for his character development and his better understanding of his relationship with Kaito. Basically each of these characters gets some sort of little story arc in which they interact with/help Hakuba in some way. I arbitrarily chose who I wanted him to interact with, lol.

Speaking of arbitrary decisions— Miss Masumi!!!! She's the first character that shows up in this and interacts with Hakuba. I understand this is probably a strange choice. Because I really wanted to flesh out Hakuba's detective methods and life in London a little more, I decided to use the very what if headcanon of Hakuba's maternal family and the Sera family being acquainted with each other. Like I said before, I didn't really want to connect DC and MK plots thoroughly, so the Akai family plotline isn't at all relevant here beyond a couple of passing mentions. I was mostly interested in Hakuba having an MI6 connection without the need of using another OC and I just wanted to imagine what a hypothetical dynamic between him and Masumi would be like.

And then, OCs. There's a couple of OCs with pretty major roles here as well. Really major— probably in equal measure to Aoko and Akako. I apologise in advance! I really needed them to properly build the detective/mystery aspect of the plot, and the more I wrote, the more they became involved with the story and relationship progression TT I really enjoyed writing them a lot, and I'm satisfied with how they turned out here. I understand OCs with prominent roles aren't everyone's cup of tea, though. Even though I enjoyed writing them, I'm a little self-conscious about how relevant they ended up being when they were originally just going to be there as a plot device to kickstart things ;;; Hopefully someone can find enjoyment in them nonetheless. They are most heavily involved with the story after the midpoint, but they appear all throughout.

I'm really nervous about the choices to have Masumi and major OCs in this story...I understand it is likely these things will make this story a little too niche. But!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Having fun with it is what matters most Raffles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get that through your thick skull!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, please expect the most convoluted explanation to Pandora. There is a lot of made up lore I had a blast writing but it's all probably needlessly complicated.

In summary, it's a detective story starring Hakuba that somehow ended up reading like a dramatic post-breakup/getting back together soap opera.

A significant portion of this has been prewritten, so my (ideal) plan is to have weekly or biweekly updates (but hmmmm let's see how long that lasts until I decide to scrap and rewrite everything out of embarrassment— this is very likely, I second-guess myself a lot)

I keep dragging it through the mud, but I've actually had a blast writing it, even though there's A Lot going on and I'm not very confident in it being decent enough to share.

With all that, I hope someone else can maybe find some enjoyment reading it.

#Refutation of time #my writing #DCMK #magic kaito #hakuba saguru #hakukai #sagukai #dcmk fanfic #this is the most rafflescore way to take over the MK plot #says my beta #ohdearohboyohgod #i need to pee #I have read the first chapter like 50 times over its not even funny #(passepartout voice)#GAAAAAAAAAAGH THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING

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anhed-nia · 4 years

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BLOGTOBER 10/14/2020: BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER FROM HELL

In the last couple of years, I've been paying a lot more attention to shot on video (or SOV) genre movies than I was ever compelled to do before. Platforms like the webzine Bleeding Skull and the restoration house American Genre Film Association have taken up the task of bringing this material greater attention, and treating it to the same kind of serious discussion that foundational film-based grade B-to-Z movies already enjoy. If I'm being completely honest, I don't always understand the appeal of these productions, which is part of the reason that the current SOV moment has me pricking up my ears. At the very least, I have a desire to understand it.

Not to suggest that I always find SOV production so impoverished. It is very often full of innovative special effects, envelope-pushing sex and violence, and bizarre narratives that a movie with more professional aspirations would never dare to attempt. Also, the umbrella term Shot On Video can include movies that were shot on smaller film formats, as long as a title demonstrates a certain style of grotty homemade charm and it arrived during the right era, it can be included in the SOV canon (as I’m seeing with BODYBUILDER now)--so this designation doesn't exclude the warm glow of film stock, which many of us prefer to the cold crunch of video. I like all this stuff as much as the next guy, but it feels like SOV movies are often regarded with a kind of uncritical indulgence, as if anything that is free from the oppression of the studio system--or even the basic production orthodoxy followed by the independents--is automatically a beacon of free-thinking, unfiltered personal expression...which is just not always an accurate description.

I'm familiar with, and often guilty of this attitude as regards independent and regional movies of the pre-video era; it's like, why bother criticizing something whose flaws are so plain, when it's so much more fun to discuss its hidden virtues? But I feel like SOV production faces a challenge that is unique to the time of its origins. By the 80s and 90s, the archetypal horror fan had been born: a connoisseur who became erudite through the miracle of home video, who writes and enjoys xerox-and-staple zines involving a mix of crude punk humor and intellectual analysis, who knows and repeats every line of every one of their favorite movies, no matter how badly you might want them to stop. Nerddom is great because it keeps alive wonderful things that would otherwise die from mainstream neglect, and it is terrible because it can have a calcifying effect, turning everything it consumes into a cliche of itself through rote repetition and imitation. The double-edged sword of production by and for nerds makes its mark on a lot of SOV output, and the recently exhumed BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER IN HELL is no exception. This movie was made with the passion that only a real nerd can sustain, shot and edited between 1995 and 2009 with no guarantee that anyone would ever see it. That's a pretty exciting proposal, but in practice, BODYBUILDER is not as weird as one might expect.

The lone 8mm creation of producer-director-writer-star Shinichi Fukazawa is equal parts fabulously original, and disappointingly familiar. Also known as "The Japanese Evil Dead", BODYBUILDER describes one terrifying night in a haunted house in which a demonic presence pits a group of young people against one another in a fight to the death. Fukazawa makes a handsome leading man and he knows it, punctuating the proceedings with regular inserts of himself smoldering and mugging in his best imitation of Bruce Campbell. Many of the makeup designs are as familiar as the plot, and the laudable no-budget special effects have some of that same "necessity is the mother of invention" quality that one associates with EVIL DEAD. While I certainly identify with Fukazawa's passion for the often imitated, never duplicated Sam Raimi classic, I wish I could tell him how much more valuable are his own signature innovations. The title BLOODY MUSCLE BODYBUILDER IN HELL is the best thing about the movie for sure, and it points to the second best thing about the movie: that Fukazawa is a bodybuilder, and this is a key part of his character. I'm so much less interested in him twirling a shotgun and slinging catch phrases like "Groovy", than I am in him flexing his considerable muscles, posing with obvious pleasure, and swinging a barbell like a bo staff to crack some zombie skulls.

So BODYBUILDER is kind of a mixed bag, and the 62 minute movie can drag surprisingly, because of a peculiar feature: It's essentially very competent. A lot of the writing is fairly typical of mid-grade supernatural thrillers, and the slow burn tour of the sinister house before the shit really hits the fan is, like, fine. It reminded me of a sound bite from Brian Eno in which he complains about the volume of perfectly-good music that people submit to him all the time; something that is just-fine can be intensely boring, much less stimulating than something that is interestingly bad. This is not to say that I would prefer that Fukazawa make more of a fool of himself for my amusement; it's just that the movie feels less alive when it most resembles what more people would consider a "real movie", following certain foregone conclusions about how these things are structured. BODYBUILDER succeeds more when it is unbeholden to conventions, serving up a feast of inventive FX solutions, and bathing its beefy hero in a halo of neon fog as he discovers the secret anti-demon weapon he's been questing for all along: his own muscles. Obviously I didn't love this as much as some viewers will, but it definitely earned my respect with its unique qualities, and despite my ambivalence for this kind of thing in general, I'm deeply grateful that folks like Wild Eye Releasing are out there, sharing the joy of discovery with us all.

#blogtober #2020 #sov #bloody muscle bodybuilder from hell #the japanese evil dead #evil dead #shinji fukasawa #horror #possession #demon #grudge #zombie #8mm #asako nosaka #masaaki kai #masahiro kai #aki tama mai

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risingmoonyue · 5 years

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“Shinichi” Being “Conan”

(Consider this a part two to The “Conan is Shinichi” Issue~)

I think we can all agree that Shinichi kind of does a horrible job being Conan, especially at first. He gets a lot better, but he still tends to stick out. He acts younger than he is, he got himself stuck acting saccharine sweet towards any and all adults, and he tends to slip up, though he has gotten better as the manga and show goes on.

Which like, kudos to Kudo for putting together something plausible spur of the moment and sticking to it pretty well, but it could be better. What could he do? Well, let's look at his back story first.

“Conan” is a distant relative of Agasa and Yukiko who was sent out to live with Agasa after his parents got in an accident. Since Agasa couldn't take care of him at the time, he was trusted with the Mouris. Later, his parents are better but busy so he gets to stay longer.

So, let’s go through this one by one, then analyze his personality after.

XXX

“ ‘Conan’ is a distant relative of Agasa and Yukiko”

“Since Agasa couldn't take care of him at the time, he was trusted with the Mouris”

So, in their fabricated backstory, he is very, very distantly related to Agasa and Yukiko. Very distantly. Another thing I’ve seen around, and I’m not sure if it’s canon or just fanon since my (very) light research didn’t give me anything, but a lot of people say “Conan” is from America. So let’s just roll with it and assume that it is canon--and if it’s not, its a fun revision that can be used to help his backstory.

Making Conan a distant relative not only gives them a reason to know Conan beforehand (and a reason for Conan to trust him), but gives a reason for Conan to be put where he was. “Conan” knows Agasa, so he was sent there to stay. He also “knows” the Kudos, which means he “knows” Shinichi, which means he’s undoubtedly “heard” about Ran and the Mouri family by association, which gives a reason as to why Conan would so easily stay with their family--beyond, you know, being a “six” year old and actually being the sixteen year old best friend of Ran.

Now for the “America” portion of this. This excuse actually has the potential of being Conan’s saving grace in this whole backstory. While he could have been a primarily Japanese family, most kids in America either grow up mostly using English or Bilingual so they can translate for parents. Of course, we know his parent, both as Edogawa and Kudo probably know English, but the point is if he was really from America then he has a good excuse for the times he may slip up--being more familiar with people “Conan” doesn’t know and not using honorifics (“honorifics are weird, in America we just call each other by our first names or by Mr or Ms”), certain behaviors not usually associated with kids (“But everyone does that in America!”), being a nosy little snot (“In America people tell me being curious is a good thing”)--you know, stuff like that. Attribute strange behavior to a mixture of foreignness and being related to two very strange families.

Plus, if he was “raised” in America, he has an excuse to be fluent in English. It wouldn’t even matter if it was accented, because his family is clearly Japanese, and he’s fluent in that too. Saying things in English would just help affirm to other people (admittedly, probably not Ran when she’s in a suspicious mood) that Conan was not raised in Japan. His slips would be covered, and people don’t get confused why a six year old understands English, especially since he’s clearly a very smart boy, even when pretending to be a kid.

“his parents got in an accident”

“Later, his parents are better but busy so he gets to stay longer”

This was given as the reason for “Conan” originally being with Agasa, as well as the reason “Conan” didn’t recognize his mom--after the accident she plumped up and he didn’t recognize her. Of course, if you’ve seen that case, you know it was actually Yukiko pretending to be a BO member (which was a jerk move), but at the time he didn’t realize that, and acted accordingly. Not a whole lot to discuss about this excuse, it’s pretty solid beyond “Conan” never mentioning how he misses his parents, or wondering how they’re doing, even after his “mom” finally visits.

XXX

So now we move onto his personality.

“Conan” tends to act differently depending on who he’s with, which makes sense, because being in a deep cover role nonstop has to be tiring, especially to someone who very clearly isn’t an actor (in the conventional sense) and values truth and life as much as he does.

There are three main personalities we see: the first is the one he tends to show those older than his physical age, especially the ones who either don’t know how smart he is or are getting a little closer than Conan is really comfortable with. The second is the one he shows to the Detective Boys most often: sarcastic, tired, and that older brother who’s trying really, really hard to control these crazy kids he accidentally created, but they Do Not Listen. He still acts younger than his sixteen/seventeen, but he is much calmer and more mature than he is in the first personality. The third is when he just acts like himself. This one, his true personality for lack of better words, is the one that shows up when he either slips up (on a case or in some nostalgic moment usually) or is talking with someone “in the know,” like Haibara or Hattori. He also acts much closer to his third personality with Kaito KID.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move through this tangles web of Oof and see how “Shinichi” could act better as “Conan,” or at least excuse his behavior around people.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be good to keep the saccharine kiddy act forever. People are going to start realizing he acts different; the Detective Boys have, and it irks them. So if someone asks him about it, what could he say that excuses his two “public” personalities?

There are a few excuses I can think of:

One: “Conan” was nervous because he really wanted Ran and everyone else “Shinichi-niisan” told him about to like him so be acted really, really nice, and after a while it became habit because “he” was afraid they would be mad at him.

This one works because it takes childish insecurities and a childish idea mixed with childish immaturity to create a reason that could realistically have come from a kid, especially a kid around new people that they’ve heard a lot about from someone they “admire”. I’m not sure how many of you guys have been around kids, but let me just say: they come up with crazy ideas, and they can be pretty quick on the uptake. They are also unendingly stubborn when they want to be.

Two: “Conan” was treated weirdly by adults in “America” for being so smart, so he decided to hide it with excuses like “I saw it on TV” and acting really childish.

Like I said before, kids are more perceptive than we give them credit, so this is a reasonable excuse. If a kid decided all these adults were treating him weird because they acted more mature than other kids their age and because they were really smart, I really wouldn’t put it past a kid to try and act differently so they would be treated more like everyone else.

Three: Combine One and Two.

This is honestly the most plausible excuse for me, because it gives “Conan” a personal stake in trying to act childish (Ran and others liking him) and a reason for thinking the way “he” does (people treating him differently back in “America”). This excuse gives him an extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is when someone is motivated by outside factors like money, requirements, or praise. This type of motivation is especially common in younger people, from kids to young adults, while intrinsic motivation (being motivated by internal factors like working because its fun) is more common in those in their late adulthood.

XXX

So, that’s all I’ve got for now. My hand is cramping, my brain is squeezed from writing three pages of amateur analysis, and five bucks says I’m going to look at this in five minutes and want to change or add something.

If there is anything I’ve forgotten, gotten wrong, or just something y’alls want me to discuss more about, let me know!

Actually, just let me know your thoughts in general. Please.

#dcmk #detective conan #edogawa conan #kudo shinichi #hiroshi agasa #kudo yukiko #mouri ran #haibara ai #hattori heiji #personality study #cover stories #analysis #less psych lingo this time #I sill see my psych student-ness in here #my writing #give me feedback please

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backtodc · 6 years

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As fun as it is to throw salt at Gosho I think this could be a good time to talk about some good DC cases. So, which are your top ten cases so far?

Hmmm, this took some thought–presented chronologically because I couldn’t pick preferential order XP

Billion Yen Robbery (013-016): Even disregarding its long-term impact on the plot, this case on its own had a good twist in how Akemi disguised herself and the lies she told to track down her robbery partners. I’m always a fan of people, rather than going for big heavy-duty disguises, just using little details of makeup and presentation to completely change their appearance. Ran’s big heart was evident in this case and how strongly she felt about “Masami”‘s safety after just meeting her twice, and this one also what is still one of my favourite ninja-Ran moments to date. Potential kidnapper/murderer across the street? Maybe we should call the police, or run down the stairs OR I GUESS WE COULD JUMP OUT OF A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW AND CHASE HIM ACROSS THE STREET AND DO A FLYING KICK TO DESTROY HIS CAR WINDOW AND ALSO HIS NOSE

Akemi’s death opens up a shitton of plot, and, despite how it gets slightly overused later on (not quite to “did you know Bruce Wayne’s parents got murdered” levels but definitely a biiiiit overused) it’s still one of the most genuinely tragic deaths, especially since Shinichi admitted his real name to her to try and offer her some comfort as she died. TEARS Q_Q

A Haunted Mansion Murder Case (017-019): The case that introduced the Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta. I always think of this one quite fondly. It had a genuinely creepy atmosphere–the “haunted” mansion looks the right side of cliche-creepy, especially once it turns out there’s actually someone around, and honestly I can forgive the incidents of the kids wandering off alone and vanishing because they’re six, of course they’re gonna do silly shit like wander off alone in a haunted mansion. And the truth of the matter is something that’s vanishingly rare in Detective Conan, something I wish we saw more often: a crime of passion.

There’s no clever trick to the murder: the son, Akio, just loses the rag under a torrent of verbal abuse and smashes his father’s head in with a candlestick. There’s no clever trick to the cover-up, either; his mother messed with the crime scene a bit and reported it as a robbery, and given that the family’s obviously very wealthy, money probably changed hands if any investigating officer did think to suspect anything other than a robbery. All she’s thinking about is protecting her son from the consequences of his crime; all he can think about is his guilt and horror over the murder he committed. The case goes from genuinely creepy to honestly tragic. It’s a proper emotional story, and at no point do any six-year-olds have to witness a human corpse, which I’m always in favour of. And I like Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and I’m glad they were introduced shut the fuck up

The Hatamoto Family Case (020-025): This was another case with good creepy atmosphere, a solid closed circle situation, classic big fucked-up family situation but at the heart of it, Natsue and Takeshi are a genuinely sweet couple who really don’t deserve all this bullshit and you spend the case really hoping for them to be safe and things to turn out okay for them, the traumatic deaths of several close relatives aside. The murderer is pretty sad, though I feel like Gosho intended him to be more sympathetic than he actually was–he certainly could’ve done with less abuse from his grandfather and been allowed to emotionally invest in his art more, but the cousins thing aside, murdering multiple people over a girl you’ve never even approached marrying somebody else with whom she’s had an actual relationship and is in love with is… not sympathetic. But I’m also glad that the nice chef uncle came out alright too, and that all three of the sympathetic family members reappeared in later cases since they were all very likeable characters.

Moonlight Sonata (062-067): This one sticks in a lot of people’s minds, and I think it’s for the same reason that the haunted mansion case sticks in mine; atmosphere. This is another one with a good, genuinely creepy atmosphere from the immediate sense of “small town with a dark secret” we get as soon as the Mouri Detective Agency arrives on the island. Gosho was very good at building these atmospheres once upon a time, I would’ve liked to see him write a horror manga. The case is deeply tragic from start to finish, from the murders of the Asoh family, to the fact that Seiji/Narumi got the idea for the “curse” from playing a funeral song for a man who’d just had a heart attack after admitting to murdering their family, to the complex nature of Dr Asai’s grief and guilt that they felt the need to avenge their family but simultaneously called for a detective in the hopes that they’d be stopped, to their suicide at the end because they can’t live with what they felt obligated to do. There are Gosho’s usual… issues… with gender, and given the bigotry that became obvious later he probably had no clue at all what he was doing with Dr Asai’s gender, but I feel like they weren’t handled unkindly for an AMAB character living as a woman? I could be wrong and I wanna open this one up to the trans folk in the audience because I’ve never found a trans fan’s commentary on Dr Asai and how they think they were handled, but goddamn I still cry thinking of their suicide at the end and I appreciate that this was a one-off case that had a visible long-term emotional impact on Conan.

Magic Lovers’ Murder Case (192-196): As well as being an interesting murder involving some quite sympathetic characters, this is a really good case for seeing what Kaitou Kid’s like under the mask (or was like; I feel like he’s lost depth since this?) as expressed through Katsuki Doito. He came along to investigate suspicious user activity, but he joined the magic-lovers’ forum because he is a nerd for stage magic and stage magicians and enjoys nerding out about stage magic and stage magicians. He gets to unapologetically fanboy over his late father with other magicians, with is pretty goddamn cute imo. He also gets to show off knowledge and fondness for other magicians, and his knowledge of magic tricks is useful in solving the case, even though, by his own admission, he’s no detective, and it led to tragedy. We don’t really see how Kid felt about being unable to prevent that murder, since he was still being played as pretty mysterious at the time, but it was a good choice for his second appearance in DC imo since it cemented him as Not A Bad Dude. Also, Conan gets to be one of Those Shonen Protagonists by running across a burning bridge, which, y’know, is always cheesy, but also always kinda cool (the artwork was particularly effective imo)

Twilight Mansion (299-302): I genuinely enjoyed the gathering of the knock-off famous detectives and was pleasantly surprised by Hakuba’s appearance (back when I still held out hope that that kind of thing meant that Kid would get more involved in the plot). The mansion itself is actually quite gorgeously designed and rendered, especially at the end when the exterior crumbles, and again, DAT CREEPY ATMOSPHERE. I guess it’s officially plot-important now, too, which I just wanna say, I officially called nine years ago, but also I was hardly the only one calling BO involvement with Karasuma.

Most of all, in general, I just really like watching and reading things involving skilled people being very competent at what they do, so the fact that ALL of the gathered detectives (save that one dead one) figured out what was up and were able to communicate and come up with a plan without revealing themselves to the brilliant detective BEHIND the whole thing, and the execution of that plan, were all very, very good and I liked it. I might reread this one right now, actually, while I’m thinking about it, I really do enjoy it top to bottom.

Golden Apple Case (350-354): PEAK interesting backstory on the part of Vermouth and Yukiko, a reasonably interesting murder, Yukiko’s RAD driving scene, and one of my favourite Ran moments ever. The confrontation with the serial killer/Vermouth is tense as hell, and the fact that Ran reacts instinctively to save his life and just can’t bring herself to drop him and let him die, to be responsible for a death, no matter whose, is a very powerful statement on the integrity of her character. She’s just to her core, and Shinichi does steal the moment a bit by helping her pull the serial killer up and getting the really good “you might need a reason to kill, but you don’t need a reason to save a life” line, but this still feels entirely like a Ran moment for me. We find out later that this incident had a profound effect on Vermouth, too, and is possibly the entire reason she’s hiding Shinichi’s secret from the BO and explicitly the reason she doesn’t want Ran to come to harm. Shame we haven’t had much Vermouth character development in a while because this stuff was JUICY.

Two Cases Under One Moon (429-434): An ICONICALLY good Bo-fightin’ case where everybody involved is putting in Maximum Effort. Heiji puts on an extremely good show as a fake Shinichi (the boy’s an extreme drama queen and Heiji does that very well), Yukiko’s disguise skills are valuable and well-used, we finally get the revelation that Vermouth has been Dr Araide for a while AND that she’s maybe immortal (…not… that we’ve gotten ANYTHING on that since..) AND we get the VERY interesting nature of her feelings concerning Shinichi and Ran. Also, we get Ran so concerned about Ai’s wellbeing that she hides in a car boot and then jumps into gunfire in order to protect her, GOD that’s SUCH a good Ran moment. Shinichi, Jodie and Akai all also get to be very brave and very smart and very badass, and ugh really I just wanna go back to everything about Vermouth in this case and explore more of that forever. Please. Also more Jodie, whose backstory we finally got in this case after revealing that she’s not Vermouth. What is it with interesting women disappearing as soon as their backstory is out MOVING ALONG

Clash of Red and Black (595-609): This case is a cracking case. This one was long and complicated and many-layered and everybody involved was on their highest gears and it was great. Akai and Conan work as a fantastic team and Conan gets free reign to do some very good detective work for the FBI (I still believe he told Akai who he was during this case, it would make sense and undercuts how concerned I am with all of these grown adults letting a six-year-old run all around an active incident). We get a good look at the incredible power and cruelty of the Black Organization when they cause immense collateral damage just to flush the FBI out. We get the story on both Akemi and Akai’s relationship AND the Hondo family, and OH BOY THE HONDO FAMILY.

It’s also one of the most interesting Eisuke cases, imo, where not only does he do some solid investigation to find Mizunashi Rena, we get a glimpse of some real deep trauma over losing his last family member that’s driven him to be willing to attack Rena with scissors out of desperation to get answers about what happened to his father and sister. I mean, I am most definitely not advocating stabbing coma patients, but for Eisuke a lot of the trauma of your whole beloved family dying or disappearing was just implied and not explored, and then he got booted from the series immediately after things got interesting with him, so bleh. We also barely see Hidemi after this, and ?????????? because she’s a CIA agent who’s in DEEP to the BO after surviving a HORRIFYING situation where she has to proudly boast of murdering a man who was secretly her FATHER, who SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT HER… why are we dicking around so much with Mystery Family instead of exploring this one??? This case is kind of the last hurrah for anything interesting happening with the Hondos so I love it for that.

And I love the complicated counter-bluff involved in delivering Kir back to the Black Organization without looking like they were delivering her. Again, this was apparently in exchange for her assisting the FBI and she barely appears after this…? Nope this isn’t about salting at Gosho moving on

The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love (804-808): I love this one solely and 300% for the part where Miwako Sato jumps out of a helicopter, shoots a noose off of her boyfriend’s neck, grabs him, wraps her coat around him to protect them and knocks both of them out of the range of a bomb blast at the last second, like the goddamn action hero that she is.

So in no particular order, those are my top ten: how about the rest of you?

#peggaboo #detective conan

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