#gosho there's so much potential in this

[etude-in-citrine]

Also I would also like to mention,

Hakuba kind of.. overstepped his boundaries. Literally in his very first appearance, he literally researches about Kid through his DNA and proceeds to stalk the dude to his private and school life, where he is completely Kuroba Kaito and no correlation to Kid. And yes, he does only subtly hint at it to Kaito and not blatantly reveal it, as overblown as fanfiction make it to be, it does not change how horrible Hakuba's first impressions was. Even if Hakuba does become an ally sort of character to Kaito as the manga went on, it doesn't change how Hakuba does own some information that can be used against him and I don't blame Kaito for constantly being on his guard. Because to Kaito, Hakuba has the power to blackmail him and drag his personal life (aka Aoko) if he so wishes and for an individual who is very cautious and cares very deeply about his privacy, Hakuba is pretty much a walking red flag.

In comparison while Shinichi does express many times that he wants to catch Kid, he never ever researches him outside of his heists. He respects his privacy and doesn't actually delve too much into it. It allows Kaito to be able to revel in their competition and rivalry because they're both in it for the fun (and their "totally safe" game of cat and mouse). And while Kaito does have a lot more information about Shinichi (his identity, his inner circle, and even his situation with his adversaries), Kaito never holds it against him and Shinichi is aware of that in some form.

It's why they're able to have the most chill conversations in bathroom stalls where Shinichi is able to just talk as himself with no pretenses and it allows Kaito to let his guard down and even spill some personal info because of this trust. If Shinichi really wants to, he can do some light research on him and be able to figure out his identity because Kaito has been more loose lip about his personal life too. But I think Kaito will be more okay with that because of this trust. It also helps that they're both in very similar situations so they can sympathize a lot better.

In summary, despite the imbalance of information holding they have, there's a stark difference to how it's utilized. Hakuba used it against him in their first meeting as Kaito, while Kaito has respected Shinichi's. Even though Hakuba has been acting more cordially and respectfully afterwards, it's clear Kaito does not see a friend in him (acquaintance at best I would say). While for Shinichi, they can be the biggest bastards to each other because they have an underlying unspoken trust in each other that developed after their meetings.

And guess who is KID's favorite

[raifuujin]

It's been more than 20 years and for some reason I feel that Gosho hasn't given Kaiao any development, how can more than 20 years pass and Aoko dynamics, relationship and feelings remain the same? At this point I feel like Gosho is just going to make them date because "they already liked each other" they remain in the same status quo

Hey, if we go by DC romance progress, they've been going too fast. We've already had suspicion of identity chapters, and that didn't happen until more than 400 chapters in DC. /j

Since heists have taken over any character development recently, I don't even know if Kaito and Aoko will even get any romantic progress. Maybe the actual identity confrontation will happen down the line, since that's thief drama, but atm, it really wouldn't surprise me if they only ask each other on a real date at the very end of the manga.

Like. I'm sure Gosho would love to make MK a love drama as well, but he writes MK so rarely, and usually as hype for something Kid related in other media. So the MK stories tend to be heavy on drama that can only take place at Kid heists. (To the point that the new chapters just. Use Kid as the plot device to show off a new character. Even Hakuba's never gotten so much 'look at this character being a detective' treatment in MK.)

-sighs- I just feel bad for MK as a series at this point. I like the characters, I like the general story idea, but. It's been going down a very steep hill with Gosho wanting things exciting, but not wanting any real progress in. Anything. But unlike old MK, the new stories aren't even nice standalone setpieces of story, they're... mundane. They could be high stakes, if you purely look at the scenarios on paper, but. We all know nothing's gonna happen to Kid. Nothing even happens to him when the actual bad guys show up, much less one-time antagonists.

We need actual character focus and development, not heist drama. Badly. Not even romance, though that'd be a nice change. Just any character expansion of our limited cast of characters. Gosho wants big, all the time, meaningless big stuff, when small would be so nice.

[rabbitsrants]

Could you tell me what's your opinion about kogoro,like you always appear like you hate kogoro that's why I wanted to know (whenever you mention him you tell that unbothered fuckin father) wanna know your opinion please answer my ask

fun question!

I LOVE KOGORO

with that being said, i have a very nuanced opinion on him

do i think he's a good detective, husband or father? NO, absolutely not. i don't even think he's a good guardian in regards to conan lol

kogoro can be very self-absorbed, impatient and superficial. his alcoholism and gambling addiction strain every aspect of his life, but kogoro doesn't seem to care enough to change

a few examples:

chapter 1

chapter 370

LIKE??? SHE HAS TO STUDY FOR HER MOCK EXAMS AND KOGORO CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO GIVE A FUCK LOL

initially, i blamed his attitude on his lack of success as a detective. but he shows signs of being irresponsible in his youth as well, despite working for the police:

chapter 572

even after shinichi saves kogoro's career and introduces him to a lot of fame, kogoro shows no willingness to change. he's chronically self-indulgent:

chapter 853

on top of that, the rare times that ran asks him to do something for her, he acts like it's a complete burden:

chapter 528

ran asks him to watch eri's cat while she's in school and kogoro tries to pass the responsibility on to conan

speaking of conan, kogoro repeatedly gets violent with him when he's investigating alongside him

chapter 12

the reason why it appears like i hate him is because my posts are mainly about shinran and interestingly enough, gosho decided to write kogoro as shinichi's polar opposite in a lot of ways. which he even admits in his own writing:

chapter 163

it's evidently a writing choice that gosho decided to go for on purpose. and i think that's fucking brilliant. think about it: ran growing up with an irresponsible, unreliable dad who often prioritizes drinking and gambling over his own daughter? and that same girl falling in love with a guy who's incredibly dependable, attentive, selfless and everything her father is not? IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

so whenever i analyze certain shinran moments, it becomes glaringly obvious to me that shinichi often acts like an anti-kogoro, so to speak.

examples i already mentioned in my acts of service post: kogoro refusing to help ran - shinichi stepping up as a result in chapter 457 and 716.

additional examples:

chapter 192

kogoro drops off ran at this weird, isolated mansion for a meeting that sonoko arranged with a bunch of strangers online and he feels off about the whole thing and i'm like YES LOVE THAT, SHOWING GREAT PARENTAL INSTINCTS

he even warns one of the guys and i'm like YEAH YOU'RE BEING A GOOD DAD, LETS GO KOGORO

naturally, shinichi feels weird about the situation as well, so he insists on staying with his girl, even though it's already been discussed that he's too sick:

so, despite the fact that a) kogoro feels like something is odd about the meeting, b) he warns the guy to leave ran tf alone... HE STILL LEAVES HER AT THE MANSION UNPROTECTED

and i'm like... WHY????? and gosho immediately answers my question:

LIKE????????????????????? talk about bad parenting lol

anyway, turns out something about the meeting was indeed off and ran is potentially in danger. both shin and kogoro lose their shit:

but there's a key difference between kogoro and shinichi and i feel like gosho wrote this difference on purpose - nothing, and i mean absolutely NOTHING will ever stop shinichi from trying to keep ran safe:

ONE MORE EXAMPLE

chapter 347-349

the case barely even begins and shinichi immediately observes that ran isn't feeling well:

he even tries to convince her to ditch dinner and go back home:

when shit starts hitting the fan and ran is getting incredibly dizzy, kogoro doesn't even notice:

again, maybe i'm reading too much into it, but i think the fact that gosho depicts kogoro's ignorance in this situation is 100% by design and as a result shinichi gets to be the anti-kogoro again:

throughout the whole case shinichi worries about ran and tries to take care of her. which is very impressive considering that ran constantly tries to downplay her symptoms:

examples like this occur way too often for me to write them off as a coincidence. we're clearly dealing with a pattern. how could i not point that out in my analysis? especially when shinichi's unwavering loyalty towards ran is something that she gushes about constantly?

with all that being said, just because i regurarly point out kogoro's flaws as a dad, doesn't mean i hate him. it's just that i aim to reach a full, comprehensive conclusion with every analysis i write and that entails important details like the glaring differences between shinichi and kogoro regarding their treatment of ran.

i still adore kogoro. cause like i said, there's nuance. i feel like there's a lot of hidden depth behind kogoro's character that i wish gosho explored more:

he's smarter than people think

chapter 11

HE'S THE FIRST PERSON TO QUESTION CONAN'S REAL IDENTITY, EVEN BEFORE RAN:

chapter 165

to everyone's suprise, kogoro deducts that eri lost her wedding ring and he goes out of his way to find it for her:

there are more examples of him showing decent detective skills during certain cases but this post is already long enough lol so i'm not getting into that

he can be very idealistic

chapter 86

him holding an old and dear friend accountable for murdering someone:

chapter 376

him doing the same again with a childhood friend:

HE HAS HIS MOMENTS, OKAY?!

chapter 266

I LOVE IT when kogoro shows his vulnerable side, i find it so heartwarming:

chapter 986

OR HIS BADASS SIDE (this is him protecting eri from a guy who's about to sexually assault her)

WHAT A KING

and even though i shit on his parenting a lot he can be very endearing at times! examples:

chapter 207

his reaction to ran dreaming about the one time that shinichi asked her to give him her bra (it was for a case lol)

chapter 254

MY FAVORITE KOGORO MOMENT:

it's a small but incredibly touching gesture and i love him so much for moments like this

chapter 255

HE CAN BE SO SUPPORTIVE AND SWEET

chapter 765

even though i criticized him for his treatment of conan earlier, shinichi and kogoro have their moments as well. the ramen case is one of my favorite moments between them, it's just so wholesome!

this case is giving dad and son-in-law eneregy!

to sum up my very long response: kogoro is an overall shitty person but he can be very smart, idealistic and sweet and i wish gosho explored those aspects of his character more, cause i feel like he gets sidelined a lot. he often uses kogoro for comedic relief which is fair to a certain extent cause kogoro is HILARIOUS and makes me laugh all the time but gosho keeps giving the bigger and more meaningful plotlines to characters that I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT (looking at you amuro) and i think that's a fucking shame cause kogoro has a lot of potential

hope that answers your question! :)

visit the shinran library for more

[coffeeviolinist]

Y’know I was staying silent about this before but I’m just going to come out now and say it: the way Azusa is written these days makes it really, REALLY hard to like her.

And that sucks because I used to love her when she was just a fun background character working a minimum wage job who happened to pop up every once in a while. Unfortunately, that isn’t how she’s being written these days.

Sure, she’s still sweet and all. But a big part of her character these days is being Amuro’s not-girlfriend - or, more specifically, how she always has to act all bothered about the fact that people keep shipping her with him. She even said, and this is a direct quote, “if someone like me was seen with Amuro-san, it would be hot gossip all over the internet”.

For one, I find it hard to buy that because a potential relationship between two waiters of all people being gossiped about “all over the internet” is just not something that happens no matter how attractive one of them is. Most people have better things to worry about than whether the people serving them their coffee are dating each other - yes, even high school girls.

For another, and this is really the crux of the matter, if Azusa is actually as bothered as she says about the possibility that people would see her with Amuro and jump to conclusions about them…well, you’d think she would also recognize that there’s an obvious solution, right? All she has to do is not go out in public with Amuro, and she won’t be inadvertently fueling any potential rumors. Problem solved!

Except, well, for all her talk about how she doesn’t want to be shipped with Amuro and how much it bothers her that everyone is supposedly gossiping about her online, Azusa has still gone out alone with Amuro in public multiple times. At this point, it’s honestly starting to make her look like a pick me. She’s starting to feel like one of those girls who talk about how “gross” it is that they keep getting shipped with their guy friend but actually not-so-secretly really, really want everyone to assume they’re dating.

Of course, the Doylist explanation for all of this is that Gosho is just using Azusa as a mouthpiece for a cheap ship bait joke. The problem is that (at least from what it seems) he’s approaching this entirely from a Doylist perspective and isn’t considering how it actually looks from a Watsonian perspective.

It’s probably also his inability to write women coming through yet again. Like yes, of course women and girls are all a bunch of catty bullies who go around saying horrible things about other women on social media for no reason other than the fact that these women have attractive coworkers. It’s not like women have better things to worry about, no, our only concern is competing with each other for male attention 💕. Our one and only goal in life is to be someone’s wife 💕💕💕.

Just. Ugh. Azusa is a perfect example of why some background characters should just stay background characters, especially since Gosho can’t write women for shit.

[masterdetectivexx]

Hi, any thoughts on the 5-chapter case's last file? What do you think will happen now? Could the next issue still happen in Osaka?

File 1133 Review

The resolution of this whole Osaka serial murder and Heiji confession case was all I could have wished for. It truly lived up to the build-up from this whole case and I thoroughly enjoyed and was surprised by all the twist and turns x)

The case resolution was a tad different from what I deduced, in that the serial killer of Kakiwaki and Nagakubo was rather Anzaka Tenma instead of Kuraichi.

I had once considered that Anzaka might have killed those two after Kuraichi's altercation with Narasawa, but I had eventually dismissed it because of how radical I thought it would be for Anzaka morally speaking. I clearly underestimated his corrupting desperation, as I didn't predict that his illness would be as severe as stomach cancer. I certainly also did not expect such a simple, yet elaborate tablet video trick to have taken place to fake his sleeping on the bed, and it does make me question how realistically it can fool anyone, especially if they happen to get too close. I guess it was a worthy risk so long as he could distract everyone instantly with the recording.

I did however deduce his marionette devil messages correctly, as well as the motive behind it, which was delivered well in the true picture of what happened.

The biggest highlight of this whole case however was Heiji's confession,... that his feelings finally reached Kazuha. It was such a beautiful page, where all of their iconic romantically-implied moments were displayed behind Heiji as he was blabbering outloud that he loves Kazuha.

All of it accumulated as build-up to the awaited twist that Kazuha overheard him, in a full-spread page (similar to Shinichi's confession in London), which was so beautifully depicted.

This was then followed up by Kazuha pushing Heiji to steel his resolve and not backtrack on his words and instead affirm them properly, which was another hit of delight to my fan heart ♡

After that, we get a small transition to a scene of Momiji, who we finally got to see after her very noticible absence through out this case. She has just won her Hyakkunin Ishuu tournament, and yet couldn't stop her tears from flowing, which also hit me hard and I could empathize with. This was a beautifully and respectfully handled way of showcasing Momiji's loss in her romantic endeavors, while still dignifying her characterization and the future growth that awaits her. Gosho could have easily made her butt in and follow the romantic rival trope, where she tries to mess things for the pair to the very end, but he never did, and when one retroactively looks at Momiji's overall influence against Heizuha since her intro, it was truly minimal. Again, Momiji and Muga remains as not only among the best Rum arc characters introduced, but also among the best duos in DC in general, and this case further respected that sentiment.

The twist of how Kazuha's mom, Toyama Sakura, swapped places with Kazuha in disguise through out this whole case was a very nice classic touch by Gosho that I extremely enjoyed. It's never a complete Gosho case without his perspective-changing twists, not to mention his disguise gimmicks xD

All in all, I'm completely content with this big confession case, and I can't wait to see Heiji and Kazuha finally date and have cute romantic moments and banter, as well as potentially flashback to how Kazuha's replied (although not necessary).

As for what we can expect next, I don't see us getting the Osaka cast in awhile, since this case pretty much resolved all the loose threads. I am of course expecting for us to be even closer to the Rum climax now after this Heizuha confession plot resolution (since I see Muga's role finally getting the room to potentially get revealed to have been connected to the Rum plot all along), but before that, I see us first getting the teased ShinRan childhood flashback that Gosho mentioned he was gonna tell a story about recently, connecting to their meeting with Hagiwara Kenji in M25 flashback scene (that is confirmed to be canon). This could happen within the very expected M28 promo case that should involve the next movies' cast, the Nagano trio: Kansuke, Yui & Koumei (who is Hagiwara Kenji's friend's brother).

[thirstyformoreheizuha]

I'm also kind of worried Gosho will totally relegate Heizuha to the back of the story, especially when fans have been waiting for this for decades. Among canon ships, I can't exactly remember if SatoTakagi used to be as popular as them, so Idk if that could be comparable to how Aoyama would treat Heizuha next. To be honest, I would be fine with just snippets of how they are doing as a couple.

This may be too optimistic, but I don't think Heizuha will be treated like so. The pair still has so much potential to be explored further. If they're not addressed in the manga, at least the anime series will do so? Like that Gomera episode, it was so random but really really nice to see Heizuha together.

Also, Momiji still hasn't been addressed fully. Despite her main role as a love rival, I think she was introduced with a deeper purpose. Her family is one of the richest in Japan, and is acquainted with the Haneda Koji's family, the one who was murdered by the Black Organisation.

Therefore, compared to other ships (which most don't even know BO exists), this relationship unexpectedly has more connection with the Black Organisation. Heiji who is informed about it and is indirectly involved by helping Shinichi, and Momiji through her family.

And I think Heiji may or may not be involved with the final showdown. As long as he lives and doesn't die, I'm happy with it. (yes I'm traumatized as a Gojo fan)

Here's to more Heizuha content!

[leonawriter]

Going back through the case for reasons, and again I'm struck by how callous Shinichi is or could be here?

There are multiple times that Kaito has helped Shinichi out in the past at great personal risk. Times when Shinichi could potentially have hurt Kaito far more than Kaito has ever hurt him (I'm not counting the taser, that's on Gosho deciding how much harm a taser does or doesn't do).

Shinichi has SEEN how Kaito will go out of his way to do the morally right thing - be it "return gem to its actual owner (Fairy's Lip)" or "save someone's life at risk of his own (Twilight Mansion, Three Instruments, technically Iron Tanuki)", or.... "a murder was committed at a heist and Kid is seen to have helped with the investigation (Four Masterpieces, technically Magic Lovers Murder Case).

It's SO easy to list even only the ones that Shinichi himself has been present for, and not even counting the movies, where they've worked together far more than they will on this case here, and so that just makes it kind of... jarring? When Shinichi says-

"Then they catch you, so what?"

Like... there's a big difference between Kaito becoming known as the true identity of Kaitou Kid via arrest, and Kaito being arrested as both Kid and as a murder suspect.

And Shinichi's answer to that? "It's retribution for all the crimes you've committed."

Sure, only two panels later Shinichi is agreeing to help, but - that's after eight panels of Shinichi being suspicious of him, and him freaking out. I mean, there is NO poker face during that early part. Just panic all the way up the wazoo.

Look at this boy. He currently has no chill whatsoever.

Whereas Shinichi? The first thing he does is accuse Kaito of murder. After that, his face is set at a constant resting bitch face. The most that a physically seven year old could have.

Then we get the scene I showed at the start. Still with Kaito imploring Conan to listen. Look at the way he's leaning forward in the second panel, where he says "Are you okay with that? Not solving the murder case?" - he's leaning forward, arms out.

Now, I love that line of Kaito's since it gets a callback at the end of the case, but look at his expression, his body language - we can only see his face and his neck/top of his chest, but we can see how he's still leaning over, the way he's speaking loudly or giving the impression of it.

Another point I'll make about Kaito from the first time we see him here is that he's wearing sweats and his top hat/monocle. And... just that, really. He's literally and symbolically stuck partway between his two personas; Kid's hat and monocle are hiding his face, but there's no mask there, and he isn't wearing the suit.

He's just a kid with a big hat and an eyepiece on right now. Lower case kid, not upper case Kid.

And then there's Shinichi, who's just... sure he's agreeing but he doesn't have to like it.

Part of me wants to say "this is because Shinichi knows that the optimal method of getting out of this intact for both of them is what they end up doing, as in, Kaito pretending to be him while Ran is there, and he resents that as well as giving his identity, even temporarily, to Kid, who is a criminal, and effectively become party to aiding and abetting said criminal."

However there's another part of me that's seen Shinichi kick a football at high power at Kid with the force to knock him out of the air, and aimed a sleeping dart at Kid when he could have fallen out of a helicopter (or, in one movie, near the top of a skyscraper), as well as various other terrifying things, and I just... sometimes, Shinichi makes me concerned.

With Kid at least, there seems to be a sense of "I don't know you, you're a criminal, you're infuriating, therefore whatever I do to you is justified."

It's a return of Kaito trusting Shinichi more than Shinichi trusting Kaito, which is why it feels rather like Kaito is treating it as if... if Shinichi really had just left him for a false arrest on murder charges he's innocent of, that'd be a betrayal, while Shinichi doesn't see it having the same weight.

But, like... bringing this back to point.

I'd also say that Shinichi's also distracted and only half paying attention to the panicking thief in the room because excuse you, he's doing his job, here. Every moment we see him beyond "Did you kill him?!" has him investigating something or other.

So in a sense, the way he's coming off as cold and callous is because he's already cataloguing everything he needs in order to prove Kid innocent.

That... still doesn't excuse the way he talks, though, because with most other people he'd say something to calm them down - while with Kid, he doesn't even bother just saying "Shut up and let me concentrate." He's almost cruel in how he responds, making Kaito panic more the longer it goes on - which I don't think he was doing intentionally, but it does have the side effect that when Shinichi sets his conditions, it does rather feel like Kaito's about ready to say "anything. I will do just about anything if you will help me out here."

The very next time we see either Shinichi or Kaito, they're in performance mode. Kaito is now Shinichi. He has a smile on (Poker Face, most likely). I can easily imagine that Shinichi just gave his condition and Kaito went "what, that's it?" in pure relief.

But... yeah.

I'm still stuck on those lines.

"Then they catch you, so what?

"It's retribution for all the crimes you've committed."

"I'm willing to ally with you... but there's a condition."

It's just... harsh, man. Real harsh. It can be hard going from Shinichi talking to Ran or something to being reminded that he can be like this with someone who hasn't deserved it.

Sometimes Shinichi will talk about how important it is to communicate clearly, and value your friends, and to not do the kinds of things that lead to the murders he solves. And then he'll turn around and- tbh? I'm morbidly curious what would happen if he had this sort of acerbic relationship with someone who wasn't Kaito, who didn't have a "will not kill/some moral lines don't get crossed" boundary.

Personally, I'd say that if it weren't for Kaito being a good person, Shinichi would have been in trouble ages ago.

[akiizayoi4869]

Hello, Aki, ramble about CoAi/ShinShi (I assume it stands for Shinichi/Shiho?), please! Like your thoughts on it as a whole (what you love about them) and/or headcanons. I can't say it's my ship but it's the most interesting of all and I fave it. Also, I miss Detective Conan, my childhood.

It does indeed stand for Shinichi/Shiho, lol. Honestly I just love their dynamic. They're always in sync with each other, the banter between them is hilarious, the list goes on. I used to like Shinichi/Ran back when I was a kid. Thought that they were cute together. Then as I got older, they just became increasingly unrealistic for me, and I just can't see them working out in the long term. Shinichi has gaslit Ran idk how many times at this point, making it seem as if she was crazy for thinking that Conan is in fact Shinichi, and he has help from people to pull it off. Then there's the fact that she's out of the loop in regards to his whole situation, all because he wants to protect her from the BO (which is so freaking stupid, it would be safer for Ran if she DOES know what going on, this way she doesn't say anything that may put Shinichi in danger.) Once everything is said and done and he tells her the truth (and I really hope that he does) I can't see their relationship lasting after that. Ran will have every right to be angry with him, especially since a lot of people they know were in on his predicament but her. Ran would have every right to break up with him over that. Which is why I really don't ship those two anymore. Plus I just find CoAi/ShinShi way more interesting than ShinRan as a couple. They just have so much freaking potential (if only Gosho would realize that!) as a couple. The chemistry between them is also better than the chemistry between Shinichi and Ran, imo. And they just seem like the more realistic pairing to me.

So yeah, all of this is why I ship these two! (I have more reasons that I can't think of right now) Send me more asks about Detective Conan and these two of you want to, or we can DM about it (again, you want to). Always nice to find another fan of Detective Conan on this hell site.

[lupizora]

DCMK Empire of Corpses AU

This will be based on the 2015 anime movie Shisha no Teikoku or The Empire of Corpses. (I can't believe it's been almost ten years since it came out. The grip this movie has on me *sighs*). If you haven't watched it, I'll be dropping MAJOR SPOILERS from it for the overall development of this AU. Kind of like a speed-run of the important plot points. Also, lots of Character Death mentioned left and right. So, please consider yourselves warned 😅

The basic premise of it is that in an Alternative History Victorian era with a lot of steampunk influences, people have found the method of reanimation. Reanimated corpses don't have fully human sentience. They're more akin to zombies and can lose control just as fast, if the reanimation code is damaged in some way. Therefore, they're usually used for manual labor or in wars since they are still considered Undead.

The movie follows John Watson who reanimated his recently deceased close friend "Friday". Doing that outside of the government's control is considered illegal, so to avoid going to jail and other more personal reasons, he's roped into a mission from the government to find the notes of Victor Frankenstein, who was rumored to have produced the first Corpse that retains a soul. It has several philosophical debates about the nature of the soul which I personally found fascinating. Plus, it's gorgeously animated with how it combines the zombies/steampunk aesthetic (even if the ending leaves a lot to be desired imo. I mean we can't know if that was the author's original intent since he apparently passed away before he could finish the novel the movie was based on and someone else stepped up to finish it in his stead. But I digress since I will incorporate the movie's ending into the AU anyway lol).

Okay. Back to the AU.

Given that the characters were more or less contemporary historical figures or fictional heroes of the era, case in point John Watson, and even a cameo of dear Mr.Sherlock Holmes in the post-credits scene, my brain jumped at the opportunity of making it about DetCo.

DetCo has so many characters that could be used for this, but my first thought was focused on the Gosho Boys quartet. You can literally go for every ship variation between them, especially if you don't want to follow the movie's plot to the letter.

However, my BFF and I both agreed that the one who encompasses the headstrong, laser-focused determination Watson exhibits was Hattori Heiji. Because of course, Heiji will throw caution to the wind and go to great lengths for a friend (and/or potential lover).

If anything, this AU is so HeiShin-coded that you could more or less reenact the whole movie and not change much; even with the allusions in the credits scene that Friday turns out to maybe(?) be Moriarty when he gets his soul back. Like in my humble opinion, Shinichi and Saguru (the true Sherlockians) seem to personify different sides of Sherlock Holmes, with Shinichi being closer to (and I'm paraphrasing): "If he didn't give his brilliant mind to solving the crimes, he would be a criminal mastermind instead".

But! I never make things easier for myself that way so this turned into a HeiSagu/SaguHei AU 😂

Frankly, going for this ship angle was more compelling for me. Because Heiji's motivation behind his actions will come from a place of necessity instead of true compassion at first. Like he and Saguru were barely on civil interaction terms, maybe even academic rivals to a degree, at the point of Saguru's death. On the other hand, he couldn't let one of their generation's brilliant minds disappear like that. If Heiji got to prove his "rival's" theory wrong too in the process, no one would be any wiser.

This fictional British Government does not take lightly illegal reanimation, more so from a foreign citizen on their soil. So to avoid forced deportation and/or jail, Heiji and his "servant" (I'm not sure what sort of different name Saguru could have as a reanimated corpse. I was thinking some kind of bird of prey because of his falconry hobby) are tasked with finding the Karasuma notes. Said notes are currently rumored to be in the hands of some researchers Heiji and Saguru were having regular correspondence with. Special Agent Sera Mary and her daughter Masumi tag along as insurance so they won't run off.

The researchers are holed up at some secluded place in Siberia though, so the team ends up finding guides in the form of Kaito and Aoko. Despite Kaito's antics, the one Heiji finds odd is Aoko instead. She rarely eats, rarely sleeps, and she keeps talking in third person about herself. Heiji wonders if she's some kind of advanced corpse but Kaito dodges the question.

Before they reach their destination, they get attacked by corpses with higher mobility that usual. Then it's revealed that Aoko is a high-specs automaton Kaito had built himself when her arms change into weapons mid-fight. They are saved when another automaton, Conan, appears and fries the system running in those advanced corpses with a pulse attack. Conan explains that they were made with designs someone stole from his creators, who were trying a different approach than what the Karasuma notes were describing.

After the final stretch, they find the secluded town they were trying to reach filled with the original design of those advanced corpses and the only alive people there are Shinichi and Agasa. Nothing else seems amiss at first, even if it's creepy how life-like and not at the same time the citizens appear. The team stays there for a couple of days. Heiji is delighted to learn that Shinichi had been the one exchanging letters with him, instead of some stiff researcher like his teachers back in London. But Shinichi keeps diverting the conversation when inquired about the Karasuma notes.

It all comes to end the moment Shinichi realizes that the corpse following Heiji around is Saguru. Because all the time in the world can't prevent him from dying due to an accident or sudden illness before finishing his research. The reason the town's corpses look kind of alive is because they were created when the person was near-death. This time, in his fit of desperation, Shinichi does the procedure to a very much alive Kaito, hoping to preserve both of them for if/when proper reanimation succeeds, and follows suit in front of an appalled Heiji (this part in the movie was so unsettling, to put it mildly. I still shiver whenever I remember it. Here's even more terrifying to imagine because their appearance is so similar 😰). Shinichi does manage to tell them before he loses awareness that the previous researchers took the Karasuma notes with them to Japan.

But Heiji does not want to hear about the notes anymore or anything else really. He goes out in the cold to grieve and mope. Despite not giving him any commands, Saguru joins him. This only serves to anger Heiji because it doesn't prove that this action was made from any remnants of Saguru's "soul", and not a byproduct from the reanimation code. So Heiji lashes out, tackling him to the snow-filled ground. His fist stops midway though because he realizes that there is no point venting his frustrations on someone that will not comprehend why or even fight back.

Mary comes to remind him that he can't stop the mission whenever he wants, so they have to head out. They take Aoko and Conan with them while Agasa stays behind to take care of everyone for as long as he has left.

In Japan, they track the notes all the way to Osaka. Heiji learns that after the news of his transgression reached his father, he was disowned. Fine by him. It does not stop him from roping Kazuha and Otaki into helping him bust into the lab of the shadowy organization that seems to have the notes. And they do actually which amidst the chaos Heiji feeds them into Saguru's reanimation code to analyze them. Right about then though, the rumored successful reanimation project of Karasuma himself—Vermouth (of course it was gonna be her lol) appears, kills Mary and Otaki before she steals the notes.

The place burns down, separating Heiji and Saguru from the rest as they end up in the sewers. Since the notes were analyzed halfway and jumbled Saguru's code, he acts like a feral zombie. Heiji tries to hold his ground, but there is only so much he can do against a corpse that doesn't hold back its strength at all. Pinned against the wall by Saguru trying to choke the life out of him, Heiji ponders why he got into this mess and if dead people should stay dead and dammit he might have cared about Saguru more than he originally thought but he sure as hell won't allow him to run amok any longer. So he headbutts him, causing Saguru to drop him. While Heiji is wheezing for breath on the floor, he notices Saguru isn't moving. If anything, it looks like he calmed down. And then, a soft sound starts coming from him until it's apparent that Saguru is laughing. Heiji flashbacks to the aftermath of a fencing duel they had during their first days in the academy. For a moment, the images overlap and Heiji could believe that Saguru is still alive right before he "shuts down".

Reconnecting with the girls and Conan, they escape Japan through Kazuha's connections (she stays behind to cover their tracks). Saguru is back to being feral the next time he "wakes up", but Heiji has seen hope that he's still there (even if inevitably this is confirming Saguru's theory) so he continues to struggle to fix the scrambled reanimation code. While on Vermouth's trail, they come across the Kudous along with Nakamori Ginzo and learn that Aoko was modeled after his daughter because her body had been cremated before Kaito could even consider the thought of reanimating her. Aoko isn't interested in playing make-believe with Ginzo, even with the implanted memories Kaito had given her. Since she's just an automaton, therefore lacking a soul by conventional means, she wants to find her place in the world by herself.

Around then, Vermouth kidnaps Aoko to use as a vessel to bring back her beloved "angel" (Ran, the only human who showed her kindness) and the recently fixed Saguru because he has the missing portion of Karasuma's notes inside of him. Heiji, Conan and Masumi follow her back to a London in flames. Vermouth intents to use the Archive of the Dead that holds every reanimation code ever issued which is akin to holding humanity's collective conscious along with the notes for her plan. Although they manage to intercept her in the control room and Masumi shoots her, Vermouth's "soul" had already entered Saguru's body.

Heiji asks Conan to overload the Archive while Masumi reluctantly helps him connect himself to it through Shinichi's reanimation method. In the sea of humanity's collective conscious, Heiji finds Vermouth clinging to Saguru like a parasite because otherwise her artificial "soul" would disperse and disappear. Heiji yells at her that there is nothing artificial about someone with such a strong will to live. It's just that humans were not made to last for centuries on end and there is not much left of her anymore. Right then, someone looking like Aoko (but not really) appears and after fusing with Vermouth's remnants, disperses into their surroundings.

Saguru opens his eyes, finding himself in Heiji's embrace. Heiji offers his congratulations to him for being right about this, but the latter does not accept it. Because Heiji's recklessness to be here will make him die when he returns to his body. Their little reunion is interrupted by Kaito and Shinichi showing up, since the Archive overloading connected every Undead around the world into the sea of humanity's collective conscious. They all brainstorm together if there is a way to prevent Heiji's death or actually resurrect Saguru. Kaito proposes that before the Archive completely collapses, they could connect Heiji's living body and Saguru's reanimated one and feed the system the leftover pieces of the Karasuma notes (it's similar with how they implant memories on automaton brains). But if it works, they'll lose every memory they have of each other. While the notes work like the glue keeping their souls tethered, a certain amount of energy still needs to be spend for all this.

Heiji wakes up and tells the others of Kaito's proposal. Conan tells him that there is no guarantee that both of their objectives will become true. Heiji's final words are that he doesn't care if his soul takes all of the burden for Saguru to return to life.

***THE END?***

Quite a while later, Kazuha drops Heiji at a lodging in Tokyo.

After he returned from London still being disowned by his father, Heiji worked odd jobs here and there; relying on his employer to provide him with a place to stay. His latest job unfortunately doesn't, and even though the pay is alright, it's not enough for one person to live alone. So Kazuha had asked around and heard from Momiji that someone was looking for a roommate, before dragging him there.

Heiji is a bit hesitant about all this. The house looks kind of out of his budget, even with a roommate. His alarms go off when Kazuha vanishes while the housemaid (Keiko) had just let them in. But before he could make up an excuse to leave, the master of the house comes down the stairs.

He seems familiar; from his build to how he handles himself and the way he speaks. The only thing that strikes Heiji as odd are his eyes. For some weird reason, he was under the impression they were going to be blue and faded. They are a warm brown instead.

The man introduces himself as Hakuba Saguru.

Heiji had heard of him. Something about rebelling against his father wishes to join the military and leaving for London to pursue some kind of criminology field. Several different people had asked Heiji if he ever met him while he was still in England, and Heiji had denied it. But this familiarity, tugging him to close the distance between them, is unmistakable.

"Do I know ya?" Heiji asks.

Saguru smiles politely as if he's humoring him. "I would have certainly remembered someone rude enough not introduce themselves first."

Irritation, that comes off as borderline déjà vu, flares up in Heiji's chest as he gives back only his first name. That catches Saguru's attention as he inquires about it. Despite his reservations, Heiji admits that he isn't allowed to use his family name anymore.

"Why don't you take mine?" Saguru says.

At the shock of Keiko, more so to Heiji himself, he backtracks and goes on about housing laws and contracts being troublesome without full names from both participants. However, Heiji can somehow tell that Saguru is a bit flustered from that fumble.

"Sure," Heiji says with a chuckle. "As long as ya won't take yer word back."

Outside, in a cafe across the street, Kazuha joins the others to discuss the success of their little scheme. Conan wonders if this would be alright in the long run, because the chances of them remembering everything is close to none. Kazuha starts harping about fate and similar romantic notions, leaving him unimpressed.

Aoko stirs her teacup with a mysterious air about her. "We only helped them find each other faster. It's up to them whether they will cling to the past or set forth to make new memories."

Changing the subject, Masuki asks her if she has decided on her name yet. Aoko is conflicted since she has always been Aoko, but after what happened at the Archive, she isn't so sure about it anymore.

"Something starting with M sounds interesting though."

Around then Kazuha notices that Conan is gone. Masumi reassures her that he has been doing this kind of thing lately. Even after following him a couple of times, it didn't seem like something to worry about.

Conan enters the dilapidated warehouse he had been visiting and finds its sole occupier tinkering on his body again.

"I know I'm better at taking things apart than fixing them," he complains, "but you could have waited a bit!"

Turns out that before making Aoko, Kaito had made an unfinished automaton prototype based on himself that he hadn't told anyone about, more so Shinichi. While Conan was connected to the Archive, he saw it in his memories. Apparently, he had reactivated amidst the chaos of Vermouth's plan, fixing himself little by little and sending out some sort of signal. The first thing Conan told him when he found him was that only someone like Kaito would think to make trial runs on himself. Automaton!Kaito asked if he hadn't done the same since Conan is technically Shinichi (made from Agasa as a compromise for his parents, in case things went wrong with his research), not to mention his self-destruction in Siberia.

"Even in death, we still kept a lot of secrets from each other," Conan says with a bitter smile.

"Showing all your cards leaves you vulnerable. Isn't it in human nature to hold a part of ourselves hidden?" He pauses, thinking it over. "Although, I suppose we don't qualify as 'humans' at the moment."

Conan rolls his eyes. "It's a matter of perspective."

Kaito teases him about his optimistic outlook when they are merely shadows of the originals, stuck into artificial bodies.

"But we are still here, aren't we?"

[autumn-foxfire]

Oooh, are these the episodes where Shinichi almost gets caught by Gin in the locker? I think they are! I'm excited, that moment has such great HC potential!

Shinichi the moment he gets a hint of the BO: All care for his cover goes out the window and he gets reckless.

I'd say it's interesting that in a situation where the BO are involved, he isn't worried that Ran has accompanied them, when he won't even tell her his secret due to fearing the BO killing her, but I guess Gosho didn't think about that. No, wait, as I was writing this, Shinichi thought about it but he's quickly put any worries to the back of his head.

You know, Shinichi, if Kogoro and Ran were aware of your situation, they would be able to help you get the disk so much easier. Ran could use Shinichi's name to get it for him, saying the man might be related to a case he's investigating so he needs to check it. Just spitballing some ideas here for you, Shinichi.

How... how does Kogoro in these moments not realise that he is not the one solving the crimes T-T I know he's dumb and prideful at times but come on, he is smart enough to be a detective.

Shinichi using the victims dying message as a way to get the file he needs without raising suspicious, he's resourceful at least. And then once again Ran, in a very weird position in this series, is the one who hinders Shinichi.

Okay, I say it a lot but it's because I mean it, I love when we get to see Shinichi be rash and reckless, I love his flaws. He had to mentally talk himself down because he's got what he wants and now he just needs to leave but he can't do so without wrapping up what he had started even though he wants nothing more than to get away and follow the scent he's found. It's in these moments we see him be a teenage boy who just wants to return to his normal life so badly.

Then stop waiting, Ran. Stop waiting for a man you don't know will return and finally live your life. And when Shinichi comes back into it eventually, then you decide what you want to do.

And stop lying to yourself, Shinichi. You have changed, you aren't the boy she remembers, not anymore. You can't go through what you have without changing. The way you lie to her is the biggest proof that you have.

"Your always crying." She is, because Gosho doesn't know how to write her beyond crying love interest whose life revolves around a man and we hate it. Ran deserves better and I'll say it until I am blue in the face. It might seem like I complain about her writing more often than most but that's because hers is probably one of the worst in this series.

Shinichi, you shouldn't be running with such an important disk in your hand.

Shinichi's lack of interest in girls is so amusing. He's very gay, gay, homosexual, gay.

Oh, this episode introduces the soccer belt. You will become one of Shinichi's most feared weapons.

Agasa is much more fearful than Shinichi is XD

The dreaded coin locker. I can't wait!

My dog is trying to liveblog as well T-T

It's Shinichi's luck that he gets picked up by jewel thieves though. He must hate his life sometimes.

Shinichi: Can I go one moment without being involved in a crime?!

Life: No <3

Yamamura should not be a police officer. He's bragging about how he misused his gun...

Shinichi to the criminals: I'm sorry, I have bigger fish to fry than you two.

Imagine being shaded like that by a boy who looks like he's in grade school. I'd never live it down.

Shinichi really did not think this through. He's down two of his main weapons and he's going to confront criminals that have bested him multiple times.

Gin has got such a cool voice...

Gin helping his partner, how kind of him.

0219. A number that Shinichi is sure to never forget.

I LOVE THIS MOMENT SO MUCH. It's such a small one but it's such a good one to explore Shinichi developing trauma from almost being caught and killed. I did a small drabble on tumblr which involved him developing claustrophobia due to this, associating the small and suffocating spaces with almost being killed.

It's so great too because Shinichi resents Conan, he hates how his body has been altered and he can no longer live his previous life, and yet it's due to Conan that he is able to investigate the BO as well as he can, it's saved his life more than once.

Annnnd he's hiding the truth from Haibara T-T I know he said he would protect her but protection is not leaving them in ignorance. In fact, especially for Haibara, it puts them more in danger.

[pinktie]

I think Jack Connery/Nightmare was meant to showcase a potential path open to Kaito as he worked as a magic consultant for the Kid Taskforce similarly to how Jack worked to catch Nightmare for Interpol as well as Kaito's ability to theoretically blackmail other criminals into doing his dirty work for him instead of either helping them or exposing them to the police. He also successfully showed Kaito's weak point of hurting Jii, which could very well happen again and Jii would act similarly if Kaito was the one threatened (it's not just limited to Jii but anyone who could potentially be Kid's accomplice) as well as a nightmare scenario of someone getting close to the truth of his Dad's double life, in this case via being a big fan, but using this knowledge to hurt Kaito rather than help him - truly his worst fears brought to life. There is the moral dilemma of wether Jack is justified in doing worse crimes than Kaito to stop his son from dying versus Kaito doing relatively mild but still high profile crimes that often put him in danger to avenge his father. Finally Kenta's voice is the trigger for Jack's fall, he was otherwise successful but despite knowing Kenta was nearby he broke persona and was fully Kenta's Dad when he couldn't afford to be which foreshadows a potential future with Aoko and how he can't simply stop loving her when he's Kid, their friendship doesn't disappear because he's hiding and she knows him so well it could expose him and therefore her. He is a thief in these situations and a murder suspect so he can't prove his innocence, comfort the child so much like himself or do anything but escape (the invincible magician is powerless), plus the constant what-if of if he did it bare handed, without the need to be careful of fingerprints/DNA as a criminal, could he have saved him?

As for the aftermath...the Taskforce still is strongly opinionated that Kid isn't a murderer, whether Kenta understood that or resembles Aoko in hating Kid to avoid hating his Dad or those that failed to stop him being taken from him is unclear, Hakuba noticed the Kid glove and concluded they attempted to save him but either by Hakuba or the Kaito and Jii team the fingerprints from inside the glove never threatened Kaito's secret. Due to the card knocking the dark knight helmet off, I'm not sure how many people noticed that Nightmare was Agent Connery or what they did with this information. Their are clear parallels to Kaito losing his father without knowing his secret identity which I hope isn't foreshadowing for him to agree to his parents' decision to leave him in the dark, Jack became a thief after Kenta and for Kenta - it's a completely different scenario to Kaito being born while his Dad was protecting his Mother and then raised to take over. People who knew Jack getting in trouble once this is revealed could be good angst for Kaito as there are potential consequences for unknowingly enabling him post-identity reveal unless he presents himself as just that good a manipulator, in which case were any of his relationships real post-becoming Kid (we know he cares about the Nakamoris but will they)?

Meta-wise this is the result of Gosho trying to delve into the potential angst for this tragic anti-hero with a dark backstory and dangerous foes (by adding more dangerous foes and talking about some of his trauma) but he made a gag-manga. Specifically one where a mad scientist can make a robot clone of someone, where literal magic exists, a rich genius teenager has a private lab and is constantly in a different country and many things can be hand waved as Kaito is just that good a magician and the manga isn't to be taken too seriously but it's balanced with Kaito being funny, clumsy, socially awkward and secretly not infallible and the rest of the cast being just as crazy in their own way. It's Gosho's earlier work before he changed his art style and realised Detective Conan was a hit so abandoned the episodic 'Kaito does crazy things to try and help/achieve his goals' to make it darker. This draining the magic from Magic Kaito is not helped by Kid being someone Conan relies on immensely due to his extremely high-level abilities and makes a good action hero for films as well as comic relief (Kaito getting hurt is often played for laughs) in the more grim world of Shinichi and company so rather than focusing on Kaito's relationships with the Ekoda Gang or his own Organisation Gosho is trying to replicate DC and the films.

Your insights are great, and I agree.

I already understand why the author included that incident, and I have recognized the potential for development for a long while now. The issue, however, is that it wasn't ever brought up again by anyone.

There's no flashback, no reassurance from his mother or Jii saying something like, "It's not your fault," and Kaito's relationship with Aoko remains completely unaffected.

The task force and Hakuba, while believing that Kaito KID isn't a killer. They should at least be wary about KID's future heists. For he was involved in the death of a major law enforcer.

The logics weren't applied to the story. Which is not good when you're trying to making it serious.

Jack's death, though heavy, holds the same weight as the other one-off characters that Kaito interacts with in every arc.

It's a shame that the author has shifted the tone for a writing style that he has grown to be comfortable with. As you said, ' This draining the magic from Magic Kaito'.

[raifuujin]

:/ :/

Ngl, I was hoping for a Hakuba and Kidnichi meeting...

But I was hoping for it in the movie, where it could at least be funny. (And also have precedent for Kidnichi.) Like, Hakuba mentioning that 'Shinichi' looks like someone he knows, or general immediate suspicion/knowing and poking.

Which I guess could still happen, but. Gosho why. You probably don't have the time within your case structure to make it fun, and. The full potential would have been before a murder added a layer of 'it's not worth my time to actually catch Kid, there's a more pressing criminal here'.

Though, the murder is at least an uncommon Kid event. Wish him playing detective were. You know. New. And also not teased and ripped away by the 'actually, it's not Kid, it was Vermouth all along!' case. I'm still salty about the mess of implications that were just thrown out there just for the shocking twist. Like. Conan casually accepting that Kid would show up as his dad is one thing, but also the general idea of 'no, actually, since it was Vermouth the whole time, she figured that she could set it all up, and knew Conan would accept help if Kid randomly showed up and offered it, and somehow knows his mannerisms when he interacts with Conan to not be suspected at all'. Mystery Train surprise help would not have keyed her in to anything to justify all that.

... -brushes the salt back into the corner-

My Kid bias really can't fight back against all the disappointment from the past. But I'll still wait and see how the case pans out.

[buf309]

random thought about SxF from a former DCMK fan POV

While we had our lunchbreak a few hours ago, my friend sent me the promo-poster for the new Detective Conan movie, because she knows I (used to) like Kaitou Kid and the new one seems to have Kid in it. I can only thought "huh? again? another one already?" and that was it, no care whatsoever.

But... it reminds me about the feeling I got when I saw the SxF movie trailers.

Happy for new content? Absolutely, this movie means Endo-sensei gets all the clout he deserves. Eager to see it when it's available? Hmm, sure. Feeling that this movie will be a masterpiece and will set a new milestone for the series as a whole? Err... to be honest? no.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but upon watching the trailers, what I felt was not high hopes as the hype intended but a subtle sense of dread. It gave off such a big "Conan movie" vibe in my mind: an original action-heavy flick, with a handful dramas, which most likely will have no impact to the plot at all, just adding in as spice to stir up the fans, literally a cash-grab blockbuster of the anime industry.

Furthermore, the problem isn't simply with only the movie. SxF has become The Cash Cow(TM), that's a fact. It has the potential to become another legend like Detective Conan, to be honest. But is it worth celebrating?

Gosho-sensei, author of Conan, used to plan for the manga to end at 20+ volumns (same as Endo-sensei, according to the guide book). But it was such a big hit in the 90s that it still goes on until now, with no ending in sight. In fact, this year Conan will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its serialization. The plot of the manga was stretched out so thin that it's not much different from plain water at this point. Most of the longtime fans I know have dropped it and are just waiting for the announcement of the ending.

It makes me wonder, is this the future awaiting for SxF too? Only time can tell. I certainly hope that this is simply just my paranoia talking nonsense.

From the bottom of my heart, I really hope Endo-sensei not only could do the best for his series, but also have the will and power to resist outside influences that could drag his creations into the mud.

That's all. Thank you for reading my ramblings.

TL;DR. I really really really don't want SxF to become another Conan.

[everythingblackblack]

Kid could follow in the Phantom Lady's footsteps and sometimes be hired for a job that requires their expertise, he will Deal with unruly clients though. Shinichi's rich enough to be his best client. Would be so funny if after Shinichi asks for his help he just demands to be paid for his services (in money he can use safely, information, access to a jewel, Shinichi's time and intelligence/a favour using Shinichi's allies). Shinichi could then hold these 'official trades' against Kid in a very 'The Customer is Always Right' kind of way, (is there no honour among thieves? Shinichi thought a gentleman always kept his word) maybe get Ai to use her Black Organisation know-how to leave a bad review on the dark web.

I think it would be hilarious if Shinichi kidnapped Kaito as Kid or Kuroba Kaito but because Kaito's himself he would be a menace to his kidnapper and constantly escape (see the Hakuba's Handcuffs Incident), if Shinichi didn't mind that and just was a menace of a kidnapper back and simply accommodated Kaito's insane abilities (he canonically seems to think Kid's superhuman) with no expectation of successfully trapping him for long but be slightly manipulative to get him to stick around (being scary, mention a problem he needs help with that past experience says Kaito would care about, bribe with sweets, promise fun times). Kaito has his own scary organisation and if we go by manga canon has been kidnapped before to be cloned as a robot but with no self-control (because Gosho's gags are terrifying) so Shinichi needs to tread carefully or he'll traumatise his friendly neighbourhood phantom thief. Most likely Shinichi's brand of kidnapping wouldn't involve 'stealing' Kaito then returning him once he's done what he needed to do with him but just not letting him go home until Shinichi's finished with him. He can at least make getting away so difficult that Kaito will just give in to doing what Shinichi wants because it seems easier/less stressful (you were tricked Kaito). If we are talking about Kaito being kidnapped as a civilian then Shinichi could take advantage of how Kaito can't go full on Kid-Mode, and has to play down his abilities a bit or he'll expose himself.

Because Shinichi's affiliated with so many law enforcement agencies internationally I can see them trusting him with a 'White Collar' scenario where he gets a reduced sentence after being arrested if he officially becomes a criminal who helps law enforcement solve cases and conduct investigations.

Kid being Shinichi's confidential informant in the police (or any policeman/detective turned policeman) could be interesting too, you can't convince me he isn't willing to infiltrate organised crime networks or have a few family friends who are either active criminals or retired veterans of crime.

I read your message and I only have two things to say about it, you made me think that Shinichi Yandere would be very scary.

I know you were talking about partners in crime, but I can't help but laugh because I'm just thinking "Wow, Shinichi sounds so obsessed with KID here, i love it." Secondly, I read your idea and I have to ask, don't you want to make this into a fanfic? It sounds pretty cool. I would read it, if you make it into one please send me the link. I don't want to comment too much, because really, this is a great idea, and I'm just saying, I think you should think about it, it has a lot of potential.

[masterdetectivexx]

Hi mtx hope you are doing well

what are your thoughts on last case? who do you think that old woman and who she is focus on is it amuro or conan? and what abt the baby is it possible for him to be KARASUMA ?!!

File 1126-1128 Review

I think this latest case was very refreshing, similar to the Butler shinkansen case, where we revisited classic DC mystery themes and settings that aren't often used. You immediately get a classic kidnapping case with the added trait of a seemingly gory and highstake threat from the start through the reveal of a head in a jar (File 1126).

The twist that the gory atmosphere was ultimately a fakeout is such a callback to the very old Ayumi kidnapping case (File 83), where the head she was stuck with was a prop as well. It was also a neat trick on how to create the illusion of a 3D head out of a 2D paper.

The trick of opening a lock with a mini-explosion using matchsticks (File 1128) was also quite genius and I hadn’t thought of such a way to actually work (as expected of Gosho).

Another revisited theme was Masumi and her protective and watchful gazes against anyone with potentially ill intent towards Conan, which I always love to see more of. Her noticing Amuro's nosiness towards Conan (File 1126) took me immediately back to Yusaku cold case in Bourbon arc (File 814), where she started glaring the same way towards Subaru after he alluded to figuring out Conan's true identity discreetly.

As for whether her eventually revealing to Conan, that Amuro is investigating him (File 1128), is gonna lead to any actions from Conan's side is all up in the air. Since Conan already views Amuro as an ally, he most likely wouldn't be too concerned of it, since unlike his Bourbon worries in File 1009 (after his recent Kudo Shinichi publicity) he has no reason to suspect the BO is onto Edogawa Conan.

One thing I somewhat got right was something I speculated in regards to one of the suspects that Ran and Sonoko found so familiar. I had speculated that Kanamaru was an employee who has worked in Poirot since before Amuro & Masumi intro, based on the clues that were given in File 1127 (Knowledge on behind-the-counter, familarity, etc).

I was convinced, but mainly hopeful, that we were finally getting the reveal of the mysterious never-appearing owner of Café Poirot. It seems however unfortunately that, while the line of thought was correct, it was rather a former employee who covered for the owner when he was hospitalized in the past (File 1128).

It was however cool to learn that Kanamaru had previously appeared as a background Poirot employee in the anime, making his general design and official manga debut pretty cohesive in the DC franchise.

Now... as for the important question of yours, who is the old lady that looked unique in how she appeared as a witness with a mysterious toddler in a stroller and who also appeared once again at the very end...?

She is none other than: Karasuma Renya's mother pushing her shrunken Boss son in a stroller!!!

Jokes aside, she did pretty much catch every other fan's attention the moment she appeared and it was a running joke that the boss has finally made his appearance xD

As for what I really think, I'm not really entertaining the idea that the Boss would have first of all shrunken into a younger age than our main protagonist (a 7-year-old), since it would lose any air of suspending disbelief and start becoming more comical than serious (especially since a toddler boss would be too vulnerable as a threat). The old lady also looked quite generic for a character design, which of course doesn't need to mean she isn't important, but it does ultimately lessen the chance that she is a major player in the story. What I however entertained was the possibility that she could be another named, but unrevealed, old woman character in the story, who has the best timing to appear in this stage of the ongoing plot. I'm talking about Haneda Kohji's mother, Haneda Ichiyo.

Considering that Gosho is very likely already setting up the introduction of Haneda Yasuharu (Kohji's named father in the marriage registration in File 947) through the mystery of Vader (respirator elder), it couldn’t be more fitting to have the also-named wife being setup to get introduced in such a discreet way that once she eventually appears in association with Vader (assuming it's Haneda Yasuharu), it will leave a bigger and better impression on the reader than a simple worthless appearance of a new character.

As for her motives for appearing around Poirot Café, it could be that similar to Vader, who this old lady is actually being watchful of is neither Conan nor Amuro, but rather Sera Masumi. Vader has had his eyes on Masumi and Mary (which again fits with him being Yasuharu) and seemingly realized that Akai Mary has become a middle-schooler (File 1096), so in a similar fashion, this could be Gosho sprinkling in some hidden continuation of that plot thread, but with the twist being that Ichiyo (Kohji's mother) is trying to confirm her husband's (Vader/Yasuharu) crazy findings by borrowing one of her housemaids' baby as a part of her cover as a passerby, rather than glamorously appearing in a vintage/expensive car that shows her status of being from the powerful Haneda family.

The ending of the chapter had a sidenote mentioning that many premonitions were swirling around Café Poirot, which is ultimately enough that it is referring to what Masumi brought up about Conan being investigated by Amuro, but it could also indeed covertly be including the looming old lady literally outside the Café hearing the rom-com commotion inside. What is however the most exciting is that the awaited Osaka Heizuha likely-confession case in Naniwa has been teased even in the to-be-continued note to be the next big 5-chapter case coming in Aug 7. I can't wait to finally see more development of not only the main characters of this stage (Heiji & Kazuha) but also Rum arc's new stars of this subplot that have thoroughly been a joy to follow (Momiji and Muga).

[pureconancommentary]

As funny as his pose and that move is, and he successfully manages to escape, this is just another example of how freaking reckless Shinichi can be. And instead of just hearsay, his mom gets to see it happen right in front of her.

He could have hit so many pedestrians, or caused major accidents, and it's a miracle no cars t-boned them after the sudden rush into the intersection. If that were a real gun, she could have pulled the trigger from being startled. How did he even reach across and hit the gad pedal, he'd have been at least half a Conan length away from it in that first panel.

Like, he viewed his life as being in danger, so it makes sense that he'd do something crazy to escape. But this escape plan is prioritizing his possible survival (not even guaranteed, because again, forcing a car directly into what should have been at least 90% likely to cause a collision), he could have injured and possibly killed at least a handful of people. Literally, no thought put into the world around him, he acted purely on a 'well this should distract her for a few seconds' plan, and it was pretty stupid and shouldn't have worked were it not for the providence of Gosho's protag favouritism.

I, too, would want to scare the crap out of my child if his reaction to being put in a potentially dangerous situation is to pull that kind of maneuver. He should be grounded for a few years for how much danger he adds by acting without planning.