Kanenori Wakita

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Kanenori Wakita
Profile
Japanese name:	脇田 兼則 (Wakita Kanenori)
Age:	56
Gender:	Male
Date of birth:	unknown
Relatives:	unknown
Occupation:	Sushi chef Black Organization second-in-command
Status:	Alive
Aliases:	Rum
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: File 607 Anime: Episode 502
Appearances:	Chapters: 33 Chapters: 3 Episodes: 24 Movies: 2 Openings: 3 Openings: 1
Keyhole number:	Volume 97
Actors
Japanese voice:	Shigeru Chiba

Kanenori Wakita (脇田 兼則 ,Wakita Kanenori), who is also known by his codename Rum (ラム ,Ramu), is the second-in-command of the Black Organization and the second main antagonist in the entire manga and anime franchise Detective Conan. He is actually disguised as a sushi chef and his real name is still unknown.

Background

Kanenori Wakita is a drifter arranged as sushi chef at Beika Iroha Sushi, which is just next door to Mouri detective agency and one of Kogoro's favourite hangout places, since the regular waiter was in an accident. As Rum, he is the close aide of the boss of the Black Organization, then he is their second-in-command, and changes his voice with a machine when he communicates with his subordinates. He was involved with the death of Kohji Haneda seventeen years ago.

Actually Sleeping Kogoro's apprentice, he is interested in Shinichi Kudo and charges Bourbon to gather information about the high school detective. He also considers Yusaku Kudo a threat to the organization and orders Vermouth to investigate him.

Personality

As Kanenori Wakita, he is a true edokko ("child of Tokyo"), hated betrayal and has the stereotypical personality: forward, confrontational, and fond of justice and sushi. Bourbon describes Rum as exceedingly impatient. He is also an intuitive person, taking an interest and investigating anyone that he deems suspicious and a threat to the organization or even to himself.

Appearance

Rum's appearances.

Rum is an older bald man with a strong build, a fairly tall, fair skin tone and black eyes. He has damaged his left eye and replaced it with one artificial. When disguised himself as Kanenori Wakita, he has a short black hair, a toothbrush mustache, prominent buck teeth, and soft medical dressing over his left eye.

There are conflicting accounts of his overall appearance and build among the Black Organization members, but he fabricated them to keep his identity a secret. Some think Rum is a strongly-built man, some say he looks feminine, and some say he is an old man.

Abilities

He has a keen sense of observation and relatively good deduction skills just like Conan, liking mystery since he was a child. He was also able to brainwash Curaçao and appoint her as his right-hand agent. He has skills in culinary arts, but can't safely wield the knife due his injured eye.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call Kanenori Wakita	What Kanenori Wakita calls them
	Conan Edogawa	Rum Uncle (Oji-san) Wakita Kanenori-san	-
	Shinichi Kudo	Rum	Kudo Shinichi
	Kogoro Mouri	Wakita-san	Mouri Kogoro Master Kogoro (Kogorou-shishou) Customer (Okyaku-san) Sleeping Kogoro-sama (Nemuri no Kogoro-sama)

Picture	Name	What they call Kanenori Wakita	What Kanenori Wakita calls them
	The Boss	-	Ano kata
	Gin	Rum	-
	Vodka	Rum	-
	Vermouth	Rum	Vermouth
	Chianti	Rum	-
	Korn	Rum	-
	Curaçao	Rum	Curaçao

Picture	Name	What they call Kanenori Wakita	What Kanenori Wakita calls them
	Shuichi Akai	Rum	-
	Subaru Okiya	Rum	-
	Jodie Starling	Rum	-
	James Black	Rum	-
	Andre Camel	Rum	-
	Hidemi Hondou	Rum	-
	Rei Furuya	Rum	Bourbon

Picture	Name	What they call Kanenori Wakita	What Kanenori Wakita calls them
	Ai Haibara	Rum	-
	Yusaku Kudo	Rum	-
	Iroha Sushi Chef	-	Boss

Plot overview

Foreign Suspect Case (Manga: 607, Anime: 502)

Rum vs. Akai and Camel.

Rum appeared in disguise as an old man during Shuichi Akai's final loyalty test two years ago, while he was waiting for Gin to arrive. The FBI agent Andre Camel emerged from his hiding place to scare him away, thinking he was just an ordinary old man, revealing that "Dai Moroboshi" was a spy.

Scarlet Showdown (Manga: 896, Anime: 782)

Camel reminds the old man.

Scriptwriter Murder Case (Manga: 906-908, Anime: 792-793)

Haibara visualizes his three black figures, just like Conan later in the anime version with fake eyes.

Soul Detective Murder Case (Manga: 951-953, Anime: 863-864)

Conan visualizes Rum as a black figure, just like his three black figures with fake eyes later in the anime version.

Interchanged Betting Ticket Case (Manga: 975-977, Anime: 894-895)

Wakita correctly guesses which horse Kogoro must have bet on to cause him to visit Beika Iroha Sushi and order the highest quality servings. He also deduces it is very out of character for Kogoro. Conan, worried about Rum, wants to know what happened to Wakita's eye. He turns out to be a fan of Sleeping Kogoro's and wants to know about Kogoro's cases. Kogoro tells him about the recent zombie murder, leaving out certain embarrassing details. A pickpocketing case then coincidentally falls into their laps. He challenges Kogoro to a deduction contest: a race to figure out which customer stole the lady's million yen winning ticket first. He cleverly and decisively comes up with excuses to keep all the suspects from leaving the sushi bar when they try to leave to avoid being accused. Although disappointed he won't get to see Kogoro in action, he is also first to propose a solution, which is very nearly close to correct, although he might have made his error in order to test Sleeping Kogoro in action. However, since he was mistaken, Conan darts Kogoro to put the case to rest decisively. He is impressed and asks to be Kogoro's disciple in exchange for discounts on sushi. Kogoro accepts, but it isn't clear if the response was serious.

Rumi Wakasa's Neighbor Murder Case (Manga: 980, Anime: 896-897)

Wakita is seen reading a Nichiuri newspaper, but it's not showed what article he is reading. He comments that "this one is quick-witted".

Crimson School Trip Case (Manga: 1005, Anime: 928)

After the murders case that occurred back at Kyoto is solved, Wakita is seen reading an article that mentions Shinichi's involvement in the case and took an interest of his return. In the anime, this was adapted in the next case.

Missing Maria Higashio Case (Manga: 1008, Anime: 941-942)

Wakita tried to visit Shinichi's house and is seen talking to Agasa, claiming that he came to deliver a sushi in his neighborhood, but couldn't due to a mass of paparazzi surrounding Shinichi's house. After he finished his conversation, he is seen reading an article in his phone, where the blogger who claimed that she saw Shinichi was nothing but an illusion, calming down the uproar about Shinichi. Rum sends an email to Bourbon, asking him to gather information about Shinichi, telling him to hurry up stating that "Time is money".

Nagano Snowy Mountains Case (Manga: 1027-1031, Anime: TBD)

Wakita joins Conan, Kogoro, and Amuro to Nagano mountains after receiving a request about investigating a suicide case in an old church. He mention that he hated betrayal, like trader selling some old fish in a high price while they were on the train. Upon reaching the church they are joined by some people. It is soon revealed that someone has assembled all of them together keeping their identity secret. Next they are trapped inside the church and two of the people were killed. They team up with pairs to investigate the case and he pairs with Kogoro. He realize Conan and Amuro are working well as a pair along the case. He is also looking forward for Conan's future when he grow up. After they are rescue from the church, he introduce himself as Kogoro's apprentice along with Amuro to Nagano prefecture police inspector, Taka'aki Morofushi.

Kogoro in a Dilemma (Manga: 1055-1057, Anime: TBD)

Wakita shows up at detective agency as he is impatient by waiting the sushi delivery ordered by Kogoro for Yoko Okino's visit with the strange mysterious coding of a murder case as Kogoro was stuck inside the toilet due to out of toilet paper in the bathroom. In this case, he seems has relatively good deductive ability by solving the mysterious coding with the murder case. After the case, he asks Conan whether he is concern of something which is missing like a shogi piece, which Conan denies.

FBI Serial Murder Case (Manga: 1061-1066, Anime: TBD)

After several FBI members were killed as the Black Organization was able to decode their communication, the FBI planted a fake code. However, Rum was able to detect such fake code due to the difference in romaji writing, then his subordinates were able to counter trap and attacked the FBI members instead. Although the collaborative efforts of Akai and Conan managed to keep Camel hidden for a while, Rum figured out their strategy and instructed Gin to burn the Umizarujima, successfully luring out Camel into the open. However, they were fooled into thinking to have successfully eliminated the FBI agent.

Hints Wakita was Rum

  Show spoilers »

• He wears a patch over his left eye which may conceal a prosthetic.
• It seems he may be able to fit all three descriptions of Rum.
• He appears to have an interest in Sleeping Kogoro, just like Gin. The other suspects, Hyoue Kuroda and Rumi Wakasa, personally have more interest in Conan rather than Kogoro.
• On top of that, since it was Sleeping Kogoro that solved the murder behind Gaito Hotta, the occult detective who try to solve Kohji Haneda's murder case, it is only natural Rum's main focus and interest would be on Kogoro, not Conan because he want to stop Kogoro from investigating the truth behind Haneda's murder at all cost.
• Rum in text messages has twice used the English phrase "Time is money", which can be translated into Japanese as "時は金なり", whose Romanization "Toki wa kane nari" is an anagram of "Wakita Kanenori".
• In file 1008, he took an interest in reports of Shinichi's return and even tried to visit his house.
• He can be deceptive.
• As of now, he has yet to meet Haibara and communicate with her directly in any cases, making him the primary suspect to have a different response compared to Kuroda and Wakasa when seeing Haibara later.
• While Wakasa and Kuroda apparently have one of their eyes blind/prosthetic, both of them are on their right eye while the patch on Kanenori was on the left. Which is why he stands out among the other two suspects.
• Like Bourbon, whose workplace was just a floor under Mouri detective agency, Kanenori's workplace is one of Kogoro's favourite hangout places, which is just next door to it. This in turn allows Kanenori to move around freely and observe Kogoro's or his associates' movement much closely without the need of using complex disguise like Vermouth (who can imitate voice, clothing, appearance and personality of the person she took after almost flawlessly) and raising any suspicions to almost anyone since public would believe he is a normal sushi seller that goes around delivering sushi to customers when being compared to Wakasa and Kuroda. Even if there is no customers that ordered sushi for delivery, he can easily fake an order to his own shop, thus allowing him to leave his shop either way, just like in file 1008 so that he can investigate Shinichi.
• In file 1027, he is still wearing the eyepatch on his left eye despite saying that it will heal in his debut.
• In file 1029, Kanenori completely snapped when the suspects started badmouthing Kogoro's actions after checking the victim's condition, something that Bourbon hinted afterwards that Rum is an impatient person.
• In the Nagano snowy mountain case, when the four (Amuro, Conan, Kogoro, and Wakita) were on the train to Nagano, Wakita said that he hated betrayal, which seemingly meant he sensed that Amuro betrayed him by sending him fake information about Shinichi's death (after breaking into Shinichi's house, Amuro had a discussion with Shinichi's parents about hiding Shinichi's real identity). What's more interesting, after the whole Nagano snowy mountain case had been solved, Taka'aki Morofushi came to them and pretended he didn't know Amuro by shaking hands with Kogoro, asking him who these two men (Amuro and Wakita) were, although Amuro and Taka'aki had met before when Scotch was still alive. Presumably, Kuroda ordered Taka'aki to come (by calling him) to help Amuro by acting as a stranger to Amuro in front of Wakita so that Amuro's true identity as an undercover agent working for the NPA could be hidden, or even if Wakita was suspecting him of being so, this action could lead him to think otherwise, probably because Taka'aki believed if Wakita had suspected that Amuro was an NPA undercover agent, he would have thought Amuro had relationship with a person from the NPA such as Taka'aki, but they appeared to be strangers. Before leaving, Taka'aki didn't forget to mention a saying which was similar to "Time is money".
• In his first appearance, he even mentioned that he is a drifter, which may hint that he never stays in one place very long, so that he can go where ever the Black Organization or boss needs him to be to invesigate an important matter, and if necessary to take care of the problem, and then disappear quickly.
• Also in his first episode, a customer asked what happened to the regular waiter, and he answered that he was in an accident, which was probably arranged, so that he can have this job to spy on the Mouri detective agency, and in particular Kogoro.
• In file 977, one of the suspects says he wants to go home to watch the episode of Kamen Yaiba on TV where the boss' second-in-command would appear.

Non-canon plot overview

The Darkest Nightmare (Movie: 20)

Rum doesn't appear in this movie directly:

• Haibara visualizes his three black figures, and his artificial eye in her hallucination.
• Rum sends orders to Vermouth and Gin ordering them not to execute Bourbon and Kir because he received a new message, apparently from Curaçao but in reality from Agasa as instructed by Conan, that they weren't NOCs.
• Rum also orders them to retrieve Curaçao to verify if the message is authentic or not.
• When she finally regained her lost memory, Curaçao's flashback shows Rum speaking to Vermouth through a computer in an altered voice. Vermouth was about to execute Curaçao because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, but Rum's voice stopped her. He appointed Curaçao as his right-handed agent.
• Vermouth has a conversation with him during the ending credit, while she is in her car along with Kir. She lets Kir listen to what he has to say before hanging up.

Relationships analysis

Black Organization

The Boss

The boss is his only direct superior, meaning that Renya Karasuma must trust him the most, enough to make him the highest ranking executive agent. During the FBI serial murder case, he was scolded by the boss, stating that their actions at Umizarujima stood out a bit than they should have been, threatening the secrecy of the organization.

Curaçao

Curaçao is a member who works as Rum's right-hand agent, but has only appeared in the non-canon movie. In the past, because her brain recorded facts inconvenient to the organization, Vermouth was about to execute her, but Rum decided to appoint her as his right-hand agent.

Name origin

Lum Invader

"Kanenori Wakita" is a silly name and an anagram of "Toki wa kane nari", the Romanization into Japanese of his English catch phrase "Time is money" (時は金なり).

Gosho Aoyama, as a crossover joke, has introduced Lum Invader, the female protagonist from the manga Urusei Yatsura, as the Black Organization member Rum. He also showed Lum in a panel in file 906. Lum's name has a similar pronunciation to "Rum" because "R" and "L" sound the same in Japanese.

Character inspiration

Gosho Aoyama was inspired by the fictional character Colonel Sebastian Moran in the Sherlock Holmes' series to create the Black Organization second-in-command. He was the Professor Moriarty's right hand man and "the second most dangerous man in London".

Gallery

• 

  Old man (episode 502).

• 

  Rum (episode 863).

• 

  Kanenori Wakita (episode 894).

Trivia

Danpei Tange

• Wakita's character is a homage to one-eyed boxing coach Danpei Tange from the 1968 boxing manga series Ashita no Joe.
• His enemy role in the series is just like the second-in-command of the alien boss of the evil organization Jocker in the children's show Kamen Yaiba.
• Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane byproducts, such as molasses or honeys, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. It's the liquor pirates often drink.
• In the hand-drawn poster by Gosho Aoyama for movie 20, Conan is riding a black horse on fire, that represents nightmare. The title of the movie confirmed the horse is Rum.

See also

• Characters
• Black Organization
• Rum (alcohol)