DCUniverseAficionado

Yes, it certainly would help them.. but they don't. Again, it's a Bourbon arc precedent. Another problem was that Subaru was hinted to be Bourbon from the moment he appeared in File 622/Episode 509 until just before the climax of Mystery Train (File 822/Episode 703). He and Shinichi/Conan couldn't just be shown interacting, in the way you say, because Gosho didn't want to reveal Subaru was actually Shuichi until a climax, a.k.a. Scarlet Showdown (between File 825/Episode 705 and File 893/Episode 780—between Mystery Train and Scarlet Showdown—he appeared once). The only times Shuichi/Subaru and Shinichi/Conan interacted with each others as partners in the fight against the BO—and its just implied—was before Mystery Train, and before Scarlet Showdown. Other than those two ocurrences, any interaction between them as partners in the fight against the BO is pure speculation—we have no idea.

Except that this actually shows that characters will wait nearly 200 Files to make a connection/do something. Gosho could've put Shinichi/Conan thinking that Masumi is Shuichi's sister in any other chapter after Mystery Train, just like he could've put a Shiho/Ai and Jodie scene in a chapter—except he didn't, which means he could easily be holding off on it. There isn't proof—either stance is merely based on interpretation of what little we've got. I say they could make the connection between the woman on Vermouth's dartboard, you say they've waited too long to approach her for them to know. One of my main points in my initial post was that the FBI characters (Jodie and James, in particular) except Shuichi have been dumbed down in intelligence since the end of the Vermouth arc—I brought up them not figuring out that Conan is Shinichi as an example of this, leading to me bringing up my assumption that they knew that Shiho is Ai, and thus, Sherry. Gosho showed us the sleeve and then redrew it for the Volume release—why show it if it's not a clue? He could've done what the anime adaption of said file did and removed the sleeve from view so that we'd only see the hand—except he didn't. The quality isn't really that different—if you compare Volume releases of File 702, File 860 and File 899, the middle brother's sleeve looks more like Shuichi's/Subaru's sleeve from 702 than Shukichi's shogi outfit from 899. If 702 was drawn at a time when Gosho was drawing the Vermouth arc, then I could accept the quality argument. But a 2009 File? Nope. That is a better argument, but you can just say that Shukichi was simply doing to Masumi what he did to Yumi. The sleeve, on the other hand, reminds me of the Jodie is not Vermouth hints (File 343, for example, with the irregular borders on the photos). Some may think that's Shukichi's shogi sleeve, but, actually it's from an outfit that we haven't seen Shuichi/Subaru wear since File 704 (Though if this is his sleeve, he'd be wearing it during File 860), just like people thought the fact that Jodie had pictures that only Vermouth would take, but, actually, they were photos of the photos.

Uh, Bourbon saw her (Kid) get in the carriage, and then it exploded. Nobody but Kid, due to his hang glider, could've survived that. Only Vermouth knows that Sherry's still alive. Thus, unless the trick is discovered by the BO, or Rum himself sees Shiho/Ai, hunting Sherry can't be his objective.

That is overdue.

No, we can't be sure. Nevertheless, as the son of someone who's likely on Yusaku's mental level...

The Osaka Police Chief has time for that? It's not that he'd just be endangering his family—he's directly going against their beliefs. Raising a detective that might end up working against you isn't the best idea.

Would he want his son caught in the middle of all this? Would he want to have to potentially kill him, were a Shinichi at Tropical Land scenario to unfold? Same goes for Shizuka.

Center? Not really. Rei/Tooru and Shuichi/Subaru, as well as Masumi, were the focus characters of the arc. She's gotten three chances to interact with Jodie (Black Impact, A Fake Patient, Foreign Talent Suspect, Teito Bank Heist and A Shrine to Remember) since she rejected the witness protection program. During those two meetings, Jodie and Shinichi/Conan were focused on what was going on. In Black Impact, she didn't get a moment alone with Shiho/Ai—they were in the car together after Jodie showed up, and that was it, after Jodie and Shinichi/Conan ran to stop the assassination. In A Fake Patient, Jodie was there to talk with Shinichi/Conan—she seemed to barely acknowledge her, while she was at Agasa's house, giving them the info about Ethan Hondo. In Foreign Talent Suspect, Andre was the main focus of attention. In Teito Bank Heist, Jodie was distracted by Scar Akai. In a Shrine to Remember, she leaves Shinichi/Conan and Jodie alone, and doesn't really approach her—or vice versa—including the murder investigation. So, no—they haven't gotten the chance. Considering how long Gosho puts things on the back burner, nowadays, it wouldn't surprise me. If there are apologies to be made, Andre and Shuichi will be giving them. The middle brother's sleeve from Page 16 of File 860 was recolored for the release of Volume 81: http://i.imgur.com/k2PsKvg.jpg As you can see, it looks more like the sleeve of the shirt that Shuichi/Subaru was wearing during Silent Clash (File 700–File 704/Episode 578–Episode 581) than the sleeve of Shukichi's shogi outfit (File 899–File 902/Episode 785–Episode 786). Shuichi's/Subaru's shirt has a more visible texture, and is a lighter color—just like the middle brother's sleeve does.

Problem—moral wife and moral son. Why would he even want to marry, let alone a woman like Shizuka? Unless, of course, he wanted a child who'd become part of the BO. However, Heizo has made no effort, seemingly, to groom Heiji to take his place, and even if he didn't, wouldn't the BO want him to be groomed to join them? Look at Shiho.

Nice alternate word choice. Gin is appropriately both elegant and psychotic. Welcome back, by the way. Mind if I PM you... about, well... you know... or to you, am I still up crap creek, as in, "NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN..."? Yeah, that was bad.

I was saying they (I'm talking about Jodie and James, specifically—I think just them knowing wouldn't endanger anything... in spite of how dumbed down the FBI have been, they've been able to keep Kir's true allegiance secret... even when Shuichi and Shinichi/Conan announced their plan and the fact that Kir was CIA to a whole room of FBI agents when they could've just told Jodie and James... they actually made it more likely that the secret could slip out) should've figured out that Shinichi is Conan, at this point. However, with the dumbing down of every FBI character except Shuichi from the end of the Vermouth arc, I suppose them not figuring out his identity was a continuation of this dumbing down. As for Shiho/Ai... until it's confirmed otherwise, it's my personal headcanon that they know that the adult on Vermouth's dartboard and Ai Haibara are the same person, and maybe even that Shuichi gave them reports on Shiho's appearance while infiltrating the Organization. Yep—there's no evidence for it in the manga, and it can be claimed that Shuichi is secretive and that they think Sherry is just a seven-year-old. Thing is, they haven't gotten a chance to talk to her because of just how uninvolved she's been since the end of the Vermouth arc. She wasn't at Haido Central Hospital. Plus, Shinichi/Conan is determined that she doesn't find out that Dai Moroboshi is Shuichi Akai.

You're right—that's not what I said, in one of my prior posts. However, I no longer agree with the me from a week ago, or whenever I made that post. I now take the position that they should know that Conan is Shinichi (which was what I was arguing in a prior post I made, which led me to mention the thing that you took issue with), and that's it. After Mystery Train, since she was targeted by Vermouth and Rei/Tooru/Bourbon, he must've decided to contact her. Him doing this is very similar to Shinichi/Conan not telling Ran who he is. Both Shinichi/Conan and Shuichi/Subaru believe that Ran and Masumi should be contacted, on occasion, but they can't know about their specific situation.

Many thanks! (If Rei/Tooru showed up, right then, I guess Shuichi/Subaru would just be mocking him, with his voice changer in the open. )

That's what I'm saying—that's it. You mean that it's never really been addressed whether they know or not. You'd think—again, you'd think, not know—that Shuichi would've told the others about her appearance (Shiho's). It's still unconfirmed whether the FBI knows that Ai Haibara is Akemi's sister. Because Shuichi is supposed to be dead. This information leaking to the BO would be very bad—that goes without saying. Could you rephrase this, if you don't mind? The wizard is probably Shinichi/Conan—if Masumi told her brother about this wizard right after meeting him (right after the Shinichi/Ran/Masumi flashback), he could've deduced who he'd become, in the ten years or so since his sister had seen him, upon meeting Shinichi/Conan, or learning his identity (File 813).

One would be a bit more curious if he had just drawn MG's eyes differently from her intro just for the Shogi case, but her eyes were also like that in the subsequent case (not sure which version they are in the panel on the bottom left, but if I had to pick one, I'd say the original look). Perhaps October–November 2013 and August 2015 differed from June–August 2014 for Gosho for some reason—he drew Shogi Tournament and Poolside Murder right after one another, the former being 20 Files after MG's last appearance, and her most recent appearance being 23 Files after her File 905 appearance.

I'm not disputing what is clearly a fact—Jodie doesn't know that Conan = Shinichi. The same likely goes for James. What I am saying is that there's not much in the way of her figuring it out. James says in File 677/Episode 563, "Bourbon's target is likely that little girl known as Sherry." We then see Shiho/Ai—not Shiho. They know she's shrunk—that's clearly an adult on the dartboard, and there's no way a seven-year-old was a codenamed member of the Organization. With this in mind, it wouldn't take Jodie and James such to realize that Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo.

Yeah, that's simpler than making a parallel arc from 768/646–present, as I suggested.

So it's not really weak. You could also call the Pre-Mystery Train half the "Who is Bourbon?" sub arc, with "Subaru Okiya and the Mysterious Scarred Man" (no spoilers) sub-sub arc for my act I, for example.

As I said: Of course, the cellphone arc isn't named after a BO agent, so there's already a consistency breach in the notion of all the arcs being named after BO agents. Act IV of the Bourbon arc has a total of 4 cases that relate to Masumi's family. 247 — Steamy Relations (Volume 81, File 856–File 858/File 6–File 8) – Brother in contact with Masumi + Masumi taking a picture of Shinichi/Conan... to show to MG? 248 — Bumper Brawn – Suspect, Makoto Kyogoku (Volume 81, File 859–File 861/File 9–File 11) – Middle brother intro 252 — The Tragedy of the Red Woman (Volume 82, File 872/File 11 and Volume 83, File 873–File 875/File 1–File 3) – Middle brother + MG intro 253 — The Romance Novel's Unexpected Result (Volume 83, File 876–File 878/File 4–File 6) – MG: "Sister from outside the domain" It has, by comparison, 5 cases featuring Rei/Tooru (8 if you include 242 — Sweet and Cold Delivery Service (Volume 80, File 841–File 843/File 2–File 4), 247 — Steamy Relations (Volume 81, File 856–File 858/File 6–File 8) and 250 — Taii’s Owner/The Beckoning Calico Cat Case (Volume 82, File 865–File 868/File 4–File 7)). 238 — The Missing Key of the Locked Room (Volume 78, File 825–File 827/File 8–File 10) – Knows that Shinichi/Conan is the true Sleeping Kogoro 245 — A Shrine to Remember – Jodie’s Memories and the Cherry Blossom Viewing Trap (Volume 80, File 850/File 11 and Volume 81, File 851–File 852/File 1–File 2) – Gets info on fake death plan 257 — The Tense Tea Party (Volume 84, File 888–File 890/File 6–File 8) – More info on fake death plan + biggest clue for Shinichi/Conan on him being PSB 258 — Scarlet Prologue – Bourbon's Pursuit and the Assault of an Elementary School Teacher (Volume 84, File 891–File 893/File 9–File 11) – Triggers showdown 259 — Scarlet Showdown – The Silver Bullets and the Truth (Volume 85, File 894–File 898/File 1–File 5) – Resolution Actually, the main focus is on Rei/Tooru, during Act IV, if you go by # of cases (5 to 4) and Files (17 to 13). Then why is he at the Mouri Detective Agency, of all places? Remember—Gin doubted that Kogoro was completely innocent of any involvement of what had happened in Black Impact. In the same file, he'd connected the events of Reunion with the Black Organization to then-current events. It would certainly be a good place to look around. Rei/Tooru finds the video in File 817, just 22 Files after he becomes Kogoro's apprentice. Without this and Mystery Train, who knows how long he might have stayed? Mystery Train is what leads to Rei/Tooru "beginning his investigations from square one," and investigating Haido City Hospital, Rikumichi Kusuda and the FBI agents who were there, and what they witnessed, rather than testing their reactions via disguise to see if the FBI had faked his death, and if someone like Masumi knew about it. Him seeing Shuichi in File 824 is what ultimately leads to Scarlet Showdown. Most of the stories he's in, during Act IV, involve him putting all the pieces together, including Shinichi's/Conan's intelligence and involvement. So, general arc names (Conan, Sherry, Vermouth, Cellphone, Kir, Bourbon, Rum) and sub-arc names (for example, Clash of Red and Black from the Kir arc (I consider this to be the third act of the Kir arc, ranging from File 582–File 609/Episode 484–Episode 504—from The Whereabouts of the Missing Photograph to Friday the 13th))? I guess you could call it the Outside the Domain Arc—I'd rather it be its own separate part, ranging from File 768–File 938 (farthest, so far), running through the 3rd and 4th acts of the Bourbon arc, and through the 1st and so far only act of the Rum arc (File 898–File 938).

Of course Shinichi/Conan doesn't reveal his identity—everyone who now knows the truth, except Agasa, had to figure it out on their own—he's paranoid enough not to tell anyone in the FBI... though the fault is on Jodie and James for not making the connection, at this point. After all, they know that Ai Haibara is Sherry—they know that she shrunk. Just basic knowledge about Shinichi Kudo on either of their parts would give them an explanation as to why Conan Edogawa is so smart, and why he, a seven-year-old, is going after the BO. The thing about the Bourbon arc was that the protagonists who know about and are fighting the BO were keeping info from each other, including info that might've been more helpful if it wasn't hidden. When you think about it, all Masumi has done, since she arrived, has brought questions—most of these still remain unanswered. She didn't play much of a role in Mystery Train or any at all in Scarlet Showdown. Plus, according to Gosho, she doesn't know about the BO. In other words, the effect she's had so far hasn't warranted Shuichi/Subaru telling Shinichi/Conan—and that's ignoring that Shinichi/Conan has made the connection, himself. Just as Shinichi/Conan tries to keep those close to him out of the loop, Shuichi/Subaru has done the same. Since he didn't tell Shinichi/Conan about his quite frankly vital suspicions that Bourbon was a spy much earlier, why would he have reason to bring his family into this? He doesn't know about MG; Shukichi is probably out of the loop, too, just as much as Masumi. It's not a lack of trust, in respect to his family—its the fact that his family has little relevance (for now) and it's a Bourbon arc precedent. She only knows he's alive—he wouldn't tell her where he was or what he was doing. Remember her line in File 859/Episode 744? "It seems that he's in the middle of an important job right now and won't even tell me where he is..." But that's the line about her middle brother, right? It is—she's pretending that her older brother, who's supposed to be dead, is her middle brother, Shukichi (Shuichi's/Subaru's and MG's reaction to Shukichi's victory in File 902/Episode 786 and Masumi's description of her middle brother in File 929 are the biggest signs of there being an actual middle brother, and that brother being Shukichi), who she doesn't have to make up; she doesn't create her middle brother ex nihilo—he already exists. She tells the truth about his physical appearance, but makes it seem that he's the one off doing something important, and advises her in cases over the phone. Add to this the additional fact we just learned in File 938. Does she really know about Shukichi's whereabouts or what he's doing? Her reaction to MG watching Shogi and her being creeped out by MG's reaction to it have people thinking she doesn't. However, we only see her go "Shogi?" upon seeing what MG is watching, and we only see her go "What's with that creepy reaction?" to MG's reaction. We don't know her subsequent thoughts—for the former, she could've thought about Shukichi in a subsequent thought bubble, and for the latter, it could be that she's just not used to MG being so jubilant that it's a really jarring moment for her. There's also the possibility that she doesn't know that Shukichi is not only a pro shogi player, but the pro shogi player. Right now, I stand by the theory that Shukichi is Masumi's and Shuichi's/Subaru's brother, but that Shuichi/Subaru is the one in contact with Shukichi, and Masumi is telling everyone that she's in contact with Shukichi. If Masumi made up a middle brother—if she and Shuichi were the sole siblings, if Shuichi/Subaru and MG are just fans of Shukichi's, and if Masumi's made-up description of her likewise made-up middle brother to Yumi just happened to be like Yumi's description of Shukichi—then Shukichi pretty much becomes the male equivalent of Naeko. I'll only approve of this turning out to be the case if Shukichi's going to play a role in the main plot, in spite of not being the middle brother.

And this is why the movies should be allowed to be as non-canon as possible—not just labeled "non-canon," and then prohibited from moving the story in directions the manga never would (or at least in a direction in which the manga hasn't yet moved). Have a character die, have secrets be revealed, etc.

Question is, when did the Bourbon arc end? Did it end with File 824, or File 897? Did Rei's/Tooru's BO reveal end his arc (which was only 31 Files after his intro, not as Scar Akai), or did it end upon his PSB reveal, which was reached through events that began with Mystery Train (104 Files after his intro). Before File 897, even people like me, who saw File 808 (Overnight Deadline/Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love) as a clue to his allegiance were unsure of whether he really was or not. Scarlet Showdown could've conceivably been the beginning of the end for DC—until Rei/Tooru was, indeed, revealed to be PSB, and the very pressing threat against Shinichi's/Conan's and Shuichi's plan and Hidemi's/Kir's life was put to an end. I consider this the end of the Bourbon arc—the threat he posed to Shiho/Ai ended in File 824, and the threat he posed to the fake death plan seems to have ended, since Shinichi/Conan and Shuichi know his secret, now. They could reveal his secret if he reveals theirs—its mutually assured destruction. I consider the Bourbon arc to be a four act arc: Act I: 622–704/509–581 (Red, White and Yellow to Silent Clash) Act II: 705–767/582–645 (Purse Snatcher to Ramen So Good it's to Die For) Act III: 768–824/646–704 (Jeet Kune Do to Mystery Train) Act IV: 825–897/705–783 (Special Coach to Scarlet Showdown) Acts III and IV of the Bourbon arc are also part of a parallel arc about Masumi and all the questions that her appearance brought up—I like to call this arc the Rye arc, in keeping with arcs being named after BO agents, former, spy or otherwise. The Rum arc begins with File 898, and the first mention of him—we have yet to reach the second act, as the Rum arc is only 41 Files old—the Rye arc continued through this, up to now. Until we get the Shinichi/Ran/Masumi flashback, this arc will continue on as a parallel to the Rum arc as it was a parallel to the Bourbon arc. Instead of renaming "the second half of the Bourbon arc" as you put it, have it still be the Bourbon arc, but add in the Rye arc, have it start with File 768, and continue up to now, as a parallel to "the second half of the Bourbon arc", rather than a replacement.

There is also the question of why Shuichi, not Shuichi/Subaru, is being advertised for this, especially since Dimensional Sniper is pretty recent. Shuichi appearing as himself to anyone but Shinichi/Conan, Jodie, James, Andre, Rei/Tooru/Bourbon, or Hidemi/Kir will carry potential for disaster—and this is especially true if there's been a leak.