[SPOILER DISCUSSION] File 954-957: A song named ASACA

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Since Vermouth said, "The one whose insights are second to none in the organisation, Bourbon", then Rum's specialty isn't insight or thinking like a detective? Then, Rum must have a specific skill set that is above even Vermouth's disguise-ability? Can such a thing even exist? Some combat skills? 

Also, this statement can help to declassify Mary as a  Rum possibility, if she ever was a candidate for Rum.

 

Rum could be loyal like Gin and a jack of all trades but a master of none. I am a bit of a fan of the idea that Rum could have a gadget replacing his eye that could give him extra perception like infrared vision or something. The BO clearly has some level of gadgeteering and talent, but Gosho hasn't explored the idea of an enemy with Agasa-like powers. Agasa is pretty high up in Team Shin-chan, so why not an evil Agasa?

 

---

 

Mary is one of those overly suspicious but obviously fake suspects that Gosho uses to confuse the people who are new to his style and haven't seen his tricks before. Masumi overtly calls Mary mom, which makes two things pretty likely: Mary is a shrunken person and Mary spawned the Akai litter. That changes a lot of things as far as reasonable suspicion goes.

1) Haneda Kouji was the close friend of Shuukichi, and killing your kid's best friend would be pretty bad.

2) Okiya/Shuuichi seems to be worried about the presence of Asaka lurking around Masumi, meaning Asaka sounds like a bad deal. While the Akai family clearly has all sorts of problems, an evil mom doesn't seem to be one of them based on Mary's interactions with Masumi. Mary also helped Conan nail a killer.

3) No moves have been made against Conan or Haibara even though Mary knows Conan used to be Shinichi (she compares Conan to that kid from the past). Shinichi is supposed to be dead, and Haibara said that she couldn't tell the BO of Shinichi's survival because they would kill him before she could study him.

4) Mary is on the run and hiding from someone. The BO have great resources in Japan and know how to disappear. A top BO agent wouldn't need to do something as primitive as shuffle hotels while putting Masumi through public school. That leaves all sorts of records law enforcement can compel hotels to hand over. That suggests that Mary's enemy is not Japanese law enforcement.

5) The hints are suggesting Mary is most likely Elena's sister. (She looks like Haibs, Gosho mentioned a mother character has a mother sister.) Elena was nice, even though BO.

6) During his yearly talk, Gosho announced the presence of MI6/SIS with a new female character's silhouette. Guess who enjoys British-style tea in her hotel and has a tomboy child who speaks the Queen's English and has British table manners? Mary.

[Guest]

 6) During his yearly talk, Gosho announced the presence of MI6/SIS with a new female character's silhouette. 

 

That was just a question slide. He didn't create those slides

Gosho picks a color to choose an answer. Gosho chose Blue. 

SIS is only on there because it is listed in SDB 60+

 

"

If you could request cooperation from the various international organisations that have appeared in the series and have been listed in "Detective Conan 60+ to take down the Black Organisation, which organisation would you want to lend a hand?

Red: FBI

White: CIA

Blue: 公安警察 (kouan keisatsu) (Japanese intelligence)

Green: SIS

"

[EthanHunter 7]

 

Masumi overtly calls Mary mom

Wait she did? I thought it was just a speculation so far... if she did which file was it in?

[Guest]

Wait she did? I thought it was just a speculation so far... if she did which file was it in?

File 953

Masumi says "Mama" when she thought that Mary was in trouble

from the killer fleeing into their room, only to find him defeated 

[EthanHunter 7]

Oh thanks a lot! Wow that's a surprise, I did not expect Gosho to make her openly say it out yet... I guess Gosho has noticed a lot of his fans are catching up with the fact that Mary is probably Sera's mother. Is there a possibility that this is a red herring? I mean surely after a few seconds Sera would have realized she called Mary mama in front of Conan, but I don't think her reaction changed much, so she might be planning on discussing about Mary with Conan soon anyway. 

Also does mama have any other meaning in Japanese? Like a common nickname or something? If not I guess it's a clear declaration by Gosho then.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Oh thanks a lot! Wow that's a surprise, I did not expect Gosho to make her openly say it out yet... I guess Gosho has noticed a lot of his fans are catching up with the fact that Mary is probably Sera's mother. Is there a possibility that this is a red herring? I mean surely after a few seconds Sera would have realized she called Mary mama in front of Conan, but I don't think her reaction changed much, so she might be planning on discussing about Mary with Conan soon anyway. 

Also does mama have any other meaning in Japanese? Like a common nickname or something? If not I guess it's a clear declaration by Gosho then.

 

Masumi has used "mama" before:

 

File 778, Page 5

 

In Kana (I think this is the proper term):

まぁママもやせてたけど, 割りと胸はあったから心配してないけどね!

 

In Romaji:

mā mama moyaseteta kedo, wari tomune wa attakara shinpai shitenai kedo ne!

 

There's only one word that could mean mom/mother in here, and it's "mama/ママ," which is what Masumi says in 953 (she actually says it twice, the second time while actually speaking to Mary)

 

File 953, Page 14

[dccd 0]

Mama obviously means " Mad Agent Machine". 
 

Anyway, there´s still a possibility that its only Mary´s Nickname or sth.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Anyway, there´s still a possibility that its only Mary´s Nickname or sth.

 

But what's the point of even considering that possibility? What's Gosho's twist, if Mary isn't Masumi's mother?

[Rohan136 1]

Masumi has used "mama" before:

 

File 778, Page 5

 

In Kana (I think this is the proper term):

まぁママもやせてたけど, 割りと胸はあったから心配してないけどね!

 

In Romaji:

mā mama moyaseteta kedo, wari tomune wa attakara shinpai shitenai kedo ne!

 

There's only one word that could mean mom/mother in here, and it's "mama/ママ," which is what Masumi says in 953 (she actually says it twice, the second time while actually speaking to Mary)

 

File 953, Page 14

 

Okay, I did have my doubt's regarding this till now, thinking that Gosho won't just reveal such a piece of information as Mary being Sera's mom that easily,(he generally stretches the suspicion for a much longer time than he did this time) but this does convince me.

 

Rum could be loyal like Gin and a jack of all trades but a master of none. I am a bit of a fan of the idea that Rum could have a gadget replacing his eye that could give him extra perception like infrared vision or something. The BO clearly has some level of gadgeteering and talent, but Gosho hasn't explored the idea of an enemy with Agasa-like powers. Agasa is pretty high up in Team Shin-chan, so why not an evil Agasa?

 

---

 

Mary is one of those overly suspicious but obviously fake suspects that Gosho uses to confuse the people who are new to his style and haven't seen his tricks before. Masumi overtly calls Mary mom, which makes two things pretty likely: Mary is a shrunken person and Mary spawned the Akai litter. That changes a lot of things as far as reasonable suspicion goes.

1) Haneda Kouji was the close friend of Shuukichi, and killing your kid's best friend would be pretty bad.

2) Okiya/Shuuichi seems to be worried about the presence of Asaka lurking around Masumi, meaning Asaka sounds like a bad deal. While the Akai family clearly has all sorts of problems, an evil mom doesn't seem to be one of them based on Mary's interactions with Masumi. Mary also helped Conan nail a killer.

3) No moves have been made against Conan or Haibara even though Mary knows Conan used to be Shinichi (she compares Conan to that kid from the past). Shinichi is supposed to be dead, and Haibara said that she couldn't tell the BO of Shinichi's survival because they would kill him before she could study him.

4) Mary is on the run and hiding from someone. The BO have great resources in Japan and know how to disappear. A top BO agent wouldn't need to do something as primitive as shuffle hotels while putting Masumi through public school. That leaves all sorts of records law enforcement can compel hotels to hand over. That suggests that Mary's enemy is not Japanese law enforcement.

5) The hints are suggesting Mary is most likely Elena's sister. (She looks like Haibs, Gosho mentioned a mother character has a mother sister.) Elena was nice, even though BO.

6) During his yearly talk, Gosho announced the presence of MI6/SIS with a new female character's silhouette. Guess who enjoys British-style tea in her hotel and has a tomboy child who speaks the Queen's English and has British table manners? Mary.

Thanks, for the link on tricks. I had a general sort of a vague idea about his style of writing, but didn't really have it in the form of clear words, so that helped.

 

I do not feel that Okiya is WORRIED about the presence of someone called Asaca around Sera, If he thought Asaca was a bad person, he won't have asked Ran or Sonoko or expected them to know if there was someone who IDENTIFIED themselves as Asaca. Personally, I feel that Asaca seems to have an allegiance on the good side. Moreover, even though we have seen Conan's thoughts, and know that he thinks that Asaca is none other than Rum, Okiya seems to have a different take on Asaca=Rum, or he won't have expected a member of the BO more important in the BO than Gin, who Okiya says is "very careful" to go around getting noticed by a pair of college girls and even make the mistake of identifying to them as Asaca. I think Asaca is Mary. and Asaca=Rum means Asaca has some crucial info regarding Rum's identity. Also, seeing as how that seems too obvious, and that the hint was revealed too soon in the Rum arc, it may be misleading clue that U MASCARA means ASACA or RUM... Maybe, I'll reread those files and try to find the extremely cryptic clues that generally appear at the beginning of an arc.

[Black Demon 466]

Not really related to the case at hand, but I've been wondering is there any decisive evidence so far to counter the theory that Kouji Haneda is Akai's father?

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Not really related to the case at hand, but I've been wondering is there any decisive evidence so far to counter the theory that Kouji Haneda is Akai's father?

The last name situation comes to mind first. Masumi Sera seems to be originally called Masumi Akai per the reaction to the convo in the red woman case.

http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13071&start=135#p864674

Surprise 19 of 20: graphic of Conan wearing Akai clothes and sitting

NO BREAK NEXT WEEK

Translation of text spoilers:

File 956: The brunt of betrayal

The "I'm sorry" text was Rokumichi's (the victim's) own writing. It had been leaked that, in life, Rokumichi was struggling to shorten the gap with other musicians: the president had told Rokumichi not to mind that but it would seem that that atmosphere had changed as of late.

The unscrupulous reporter brings out a theory that says that the reason the president helped Rokumichi make his debut 17 years ago was because he wanted to flirt with the manager but that was a joke by the president.

Yet Rokumichi got far more furious than expected and he began to say he would retire: the reporter adds that Rokumichi and the president shared the hobby of mountain-climbing.

The repoter was also a member of the mountain-climbing club but since he was a "ghost member" he doesn't even know how to tie a rope: when the reporter hears how Rokumichi died, he makes wild claim that perhaps a fan granted Rokumichi's own wish to "die on the stage".

Amuro hears the reporter saying this is an impossible crime and has a flashback about Scotch's death.

Scotch's right hand was stained in blood yet the back of his hand and the end of the thumb finger weren't stained. In short: he gripped the gun himself and choose death: Akai should've had more than one means to stop him from killing himself...

...Or so Amuro is thinking. Vermouth orders Amuro to hurry it up and solve the case to leave the scene.

The repoter says he wants to leave and write an article but he gets into an argument with Takagi and accidentaly dumps a bag of a forensic standing close by. One of the scattered pieces of evidence is the victim's (driving) license. He makes an unapproachable face on the license's photo.

Ran helps pick the stuff up and there's the bundle of rope that the forensic stuffed into a bag along with the license and other stuff right next to her.

Megure confiscates the reporter's digital camera and checks the photos.

It's clear from the photos that the reporters was caught by the victim taking photos of him since it looks like the victim was going to confiscate the camera. "If I catch you again I'm so gonna kill you!" Or so the victim roared with a threatening attitude: the staff also heard that roar. And so the reporter gets reported as "troublesome" by Takagi.

One of the backband members having a shovel has been arrested on the scene. It would seem the man was supposed to raid into some drugs right after tomorrow's live ended.

Conan asks a forensics if there's the "one half" of something has fallen on the scene in order to draw out Okiya and the other 2. They then fix their attention on the 3 suspects.

Conan asks next if there's something missing: the forensic says that a wire and some gloves they'd retrieved elsewhere were what were missing from the toolbox. The pipe seat next to the body should've been in the rest space located deeper inside the building.

The foresnsic says that he'll bring them with him for analysis to show it to someone: and there's a mark that looks like a hole behind the surface of one of the seats.

And Ran remembers: she was called "Angel" by the woman who'd kidnapped Haibara and pointed a gun at her as she shielded Haibara. Wonders why Azusa uses the same word as that woman...

Side-note: Vermouth, dressed as Azusa, gets suspected by Ran! A lot of ideas are mixing: will the musician's mysterious death and the enmity between Akai and Amuro become clear in the next number...!?

Updated translation with corrections

[Heliotropic 139]

The premise is quite interesting, but I'm wondering if it will really lead anywhere. Her remembering where she heard Angel it is certainly a start, though it'd be great if she remembers Sharon specifically...

Even her just suspecting Azusa is pretty cool, but I have a feeling somehow her suspicions will get thwarted at the last moment 

 

I'm guessing Akai and Amuro's situation will get cleared up soon enough. This whole Scotch debacle doesn't really seem to be very interesting since it seems Gosho is recycling the whole Hondou situation and it seems odd to me that Amuro would overlook such an important detail and hold a grudge against Akai.

 

Also 4 or 5 chapter case? It's certainly a nice change of pace!

 

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

The premise is quite interesting, but I'm wondering if it will really lead anywhere. Her remembering where she heard Angel it is certainly a start, though it'd be great if she remembers Sharon specifically...

Even her just suspecting Azusa is pretty cool, but I have a feeling somehow her suspicions will get thwarted at the last moment 

Question is, did Ran see her face? 434 didn't reveal it was Ran who'd come out of the trunk until she'd tackled Shiho/Ai to the ground. It never showed whether Ran saw Vermouth.

If she didn't see her face, then it's because she had her gaze on Shiho/Ai and only heard Vermouth's voice.

If she did, though, does she know what Chris Vineyard looks like?

Either case would bring the question of, "Does she recognize that voice?"

She knows that both Sharon and her daughter have superb disguise ability, so does she suspect that Azusa is not Azusa?

It has been awhile since Ran's really been suspicious, like this. Her suspicion about "Azusa" may not last, but, hopefully, this will lead to something big. After all, every 50 files in DC, something big happens. File 950 was ASAKA RUM—50 files after that is File 1000. Between now and when that File arrives (or maybe 1-2 files after it), at the very least, we'll get the Shinichi, Ran, Masumi, Shukichi and Mary flashback. With that out of the way, and if the Scotch situation is resolved either now or in the next 50 files, the Bourbon arc stuff will be out of the way (minus Shiho/Ai/Sherry being considered dead by the BO and Sakurako). Unless, of course, I'm missing another big thing from the Bourbon arc?

 

I'm guessing Akai and Amuro's situation will get cleared up soon enough. This whole Scotch debacle doesn't really seem to be very interesting since it seems Gosho is recycling the whole Hondou situation and it seems odd to me that Amuro would overlook such an important detail and hold a grudge against Akai.

 

Yeah, doesn't he now realize that if Shuichi/Dai hadn't killed him, he would've been outed as a spy, too?

 

Also 4 or 5 chapter case? It's certainly a nice change of pace!

Part of me is surprised this is a case that will last beyond three files, but the movie-accompanying file comes out next week, and part of me thought, considering the current subject matter, that it'd be a good opportunity to have the file released alongside the BO, spy-themed movie to be about the spies in the BO. Will the case wrap up in 957, and, if so, will Gosho keep this 3-4 month stretch of plot going, in 958?

[EthanHunter 7]

I don't expect Gosho to go any further with Ran and Vermouth, but then again why did he bring it up anyway?

 

I am more interested in Bourbon and Okiya, he realized right away that Okiya took off the mask with his right hand. I am really curious about what Bourbon said at the very end of the last file, I don't think it was something important though because it was not translated. And well the main focus for the next file has gotta be Amuro/Okiya... I won't be surprised if Gosho goes as far as revealing Akai to Bourbon, would be interesting imo.

[Serinox 127]

I am more interested in Bourbon and Okiya, he realized right away that Okiya took off the mask with his right hand. I am really curious about what Bourbon said at the very end of the last file, I don't think it was something important though because it was not translated.

Perhaps you missed it, but that was translated over on DCTP:

 

Vermouth asks about Okiya.

Amuro: "He's Okiya Subaru, a Touto College graduate student... He lives next to a professor named Agasa and...!"

Amuro sees Okiya writing with the left hand.

Amuro: "You're left-handed, right?"

Okiya: "Well, yes... Is that a problem?"

Amuro: "Not at all... When I meet you the other day... You took off the mask with the right hand... So I thought you were right-handed..."

Okiya: "Is that so?"

Amuro: "Oh well. Please don't mind it. It's just that the man I hate so much and that I want to kill... Is also left-handed..."

[Rohan136 1]

I thought that Ran suspecting Azusa was just another irrelevant thing when it happened in the first time, but when she progressively narrowed down on the fact that the woman who attacked Ai called her Angel as well in such a short while (it took her several cases to narrow down on Conan=Shinichi) I think that Gosho wants to somehow develop this into a confrontation between Ran and Vermouth, at the end of which Vermouth may narrowly escape or Ran may get injured. But this definitely is something he wants to develop upon. I guess I won't be surprised if this turns out to be the prologue of a BO focused 7-8 chapter series, like Scarlet Prologue
 
I read this at DCTP - 

The guys are inspecting the scene

Vermouth (thinking): "Bourbon... The man with the best insight in the org... The high-school detective who regressed to a child due to a drug, Kudo Shinichi... And one more man... Who's that man?"

So, Vermouth does know that Shinichi shrunk due to the drug! That kind of confirms that she has been exposed to the anti-aging effects of the drug. This might seem irrelevant, but till now Gosho had not confirmed that she had been exposed to a variant of the drug, other than reading between the lines

[gas057 19]

Ooh finally Ran gets involved

SPOILER

it's interesting Ran remembers that Ai was attacked cuz Shinichi/Conan was passed out at the time and I don't think it was confirmed he knew Ran was there

But I'm excited cuz Vermouth and Shinichi are protective of Ran

[Serinox 127]

He doesn't know, as Gosho stated in a recent postcard that he might learn about that soon (probably during the resolution of this case)

[Maltavite 61]

The last name situation comes to mind first. Masumi Sera seems to be originally called Masumi Akai per the reaction to the convo in the red woman case.

http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13071&start=135#p864674

Updated translation with corrections

It proves that Vermouth is disguising as Azusa, making Ran suspecting her.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

956 Spoiler Pics are out:

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4472851195

[Rohan136 1]

956 Spoiler Pics are out:

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4472851195

Shit! Ran actually remembered her face!!!!! And info about Scotch and Akai showdown as well!!! The english translation can't come soon enough.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Shit! Ran actually remembered her face!!!!! And info about Scotch and Akai showdown as well!!! The english translation can't come soon enough.

We still don't have 955 in english—hopefully we'll get both soon.

[Heliotropic 139]

Shit! Ran actually remembered her face!!!!! And info about Scotch and Akai showdown as well!!! The english translation can't come soon enough.

 

I think the panel is just to illustrate she remembers the scene where she saved Haibara. I doubt she remembers her face.

 

 

We still don't have 955 in english—hopefully we'll get both soon.

 

Yep, soon enough. I'm not sure what's up with the situation, I'm guessing Indonesian translators are backed up with other releases... Plus side is we'll probably see 955 and 956 in English within a day or two of each other.

[Serinox 127]

Shit! Ran actually remembered her face!!!!! And info about Scotch and Akai showdown as well!!! The english translation can't come soon enough.

Just because there is a picture of Vermouth in the background, doesn't mean Ran actually remembers her face. In the Aquarium flashback, there is a picture of Eri shown in the background when Shinichi talks about her, but we know for sure that he doesn't remember her face at that point, so he couldn't have thought of that image and it was just for the readers. Ran never turned around once she got to Haibara, so she couldn't have seen Vermouth screaming like this.

[DCUniverseAficionado 252]

Just because there is a picture of Vermouth in the background, doesn't mean Ran actually remembers her face. In the Aquarium flashback, there is a picture of Eri shown in the background when Shinichi talks about her, but we know for sure that he doesn't remember her face at that point, so he couldn't have thought of that image and it was just for the readers. Ran never turned around once she got to Haibara, so she couldn't have seen Vermouth screaming like this.

 

Thus, it's dependent on what she's actually thinking during this. Does she/does she not refer to Vermouth's physical characteristics, for example?