Rum

From Detective Conan Wiki
Revision as of 03:26, 29 January 2016 by Chekhov MacGuffin (talk | contribs) (Appearance: for some reason the gallery was ignoring the comment out.)
Rum

275px

Profile
Japanese name: ラム
(Ramu)
Age: Unknown
Gender: Unknown
Occupation: Black Organization second-in-command
Statistics
First appearance: Unknown
Appearances: Chapters: 33
Chapters: 3
Episodes: 24
Movies: 2
Openings: 3
Openings: 1

Rum (ラム Ramu?) is a member of the Black Organization in Detective Conan.

Background

Judging from Shuichi Akai/Subaru Okiya's descriptions, Rum appears to have high rank in the organization and is very close to the Boss. Later on, Ai Haibara remarks that Rum is second only to the Boss of the Black Organization, suggesting that he is their second-in-command. Rum's identity, gender and mission are currently unknown.

Appearance

Rum has a damaged eye which has been replaced with an artificial eye.[1] It is unknown which eye was damaged.[1] So far, characters with damaged eyes have been shown to either have a scar over the eye (e.g. Kansuke Yamato) or wear sunglasses (e.g. Hyoue Kuroda and Gozu) where one lens is drawn tinted so the damaged eye is not visible. The anime treatment of the "false eye and glasses"-type characters shows their false pupils not contracting or enlarging like their working eye. However, there is no guarantee that Rum will follow either of these character models.

Various Black Organization members have given conflicting accounts of his overall appearance and build. Some say Rum is a strongly-built man, some say he looks feminine, and some say he is an old man.[2] The conflicting descriptions of Rum's appearance suggests that he doesn't present himself to others in a straightforward fashion.

Plot overview

Scarlet Epilogue (Manga: 898, Anime: 783)

Shuichi Akai (as Subaru Okiya) calls Jodie Starling and Andre Camel to the Kudos' house. He informs them that the undercover CIA agent Hidemi Hondou reported to him that a new organization member is on the move. As she only sent three letters "RUM", Akai deduces that it was done in a hurry. He recalls having heard the code name a few times when he was still infiltrating the organization, and notes that the member seems to be really close to the boss. Akai also tells them to report this back to James Black, while emphasizing that their new threat is someone even more important than Gin.

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

Conan asks Haibara about Rum. She tells him that she never met Rum in person but has heard of the number two-ranked agent in the Organization. His characteristics differ depending on who is describing him. Some say he is a strongly-built man, some say he looks feminine, and some say he is an old man. Others believe that all of these are just descriptions of body substitutes Rum uses. Haibara also says there is one characteristic that is the same for all stories about Rum -- one of his eyes is damaged and has been replaced with an artificial eye.

They then encounter a murder case where all three suspects happen to have characteristics like Rum's: Kuramichi Habanaka a 40 years old strong-built man, Ronpei Sakaba a 31 years old feminine-looking man, and Denji Shibakaru a 63 years old man.

Non-Canon Plot Overview

Movie 20: The Darkest Nightmare

Rum is going to appear in movie 20.


Speculation

Gender

So far, all the Black Organization codenames for men are liquors while women's codenames are wine or wine-based cocktails. Rum should be a man if this pattern holds.

Individual characters

Hyoue Kuroda

Hyoue Kuroda is a middle-aged strong-built man. His right eye was injured and replaced with an artificial one. Chief of the first division of Nagano Police, his favorite drink is black tea[3]. He was first introduced at the end of File 913.

In File 925, Haibara said to Conan that she hadn't felt the Black Organization "aura" from Kuroda. She had only gripped Conan's shoulder because Hyoue's face and expression were really scary. In fact, she implied Kuroda couldn't be Rum as he saw her and should have noticed she resembles Shiho Miyano. If he were Rum, he would've broken into Professor Agasa's house, yet this didn't happen.

Kansuke Yamato

Kansuke Yamato is a strong young man, but limps like an old man because he uses a cane to compensate for an injured left leg. Kansuke has long hair pulled back into a ponytail which could be considered feminine if he let it down. Kansuke's left eye is also damaged, but he does not use an artificial eye. Gosho disclaimed Kansuke Yamato from being Rum in an animal crossing hint.

Taka'aki Morofushi

Taka'aki Morofushi is a young man with a feminine physique. So far, there's been no indication he has a prosthetic eye.

Shukichi Haneda

Shukichi Haneda is a young man with no indication of a prosthetic eye. He has seen both Conan and Ai twice, giving him an easy opportunity to find Sherry and report it to the Organization.

Kiyonaga Matsumoto

Kiyonaga Matsumoto is a middle-aged strongly-built man whose left eye has a scar over it.

The Old Man at Shuichi Akai's final loyality test

Since Gin never appeared at the loyality test, it was very likely the old man was a member of the Black Organization who went to scout ahead and reported that "Dai Moroboshi" was a spy. If he has a prosthetic eye is unknown, and he does not appear effeminate nor strongly built.




Three descriptions for one person

Various members of the Black Organization all disagree about Rum's overall appearance. For this to be the case, Rum must not present himself to others straightforwardly. There are several possibilities why this could be:

  • Rum can disguise himself well.
Fairly straightforward as far as explanations go, Rum could appear to different agents with different faces and builds leading to confusion. Since he is the number two of the Black Organization and likely close to the boss, he has a need for security and secrecy and is probably also multi-talented like most other codenamed agents.
  • He has features of all three types leading to different conclusions.
Rum might have features of all three types of builds so that each witness comes to a different conclusion about his appearance depending on what they personally emphasize. As an example, Kansuke Yamato is a strongly built man, uses a cane like an old man, and his ponytail could give someone the impression he is feminine. If Kansuke tended to only appear to others in shadowed environments, then it's possible he could be mistaken for an old man or even a woman when viewed in profile.
The confusion may not stem solely from appearance. In The Department Store Stabbing Case, the three detective boys give conflicting statements of the same stabber because they each saw different things depending on their vantage points and personal prejudices. Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 4 and Kobayashi-sensei's Love are cases with a similar theme. Similarly, members of the Black Organization with different backgrounds might come to different conclusions depending on the context they encounter Rum in.
If members of the Black Organization only interact with Rum by video-phone conversation, they might come to different conclusions about his appearance depending on how he speaks. If Rum uses old style Japanese like an elderly person might, has a deep voice like that of a well built man, but is excessively polite and uses pronouns like watashi ( ?), then three different conclusions of his overall appearance can result.
  • The codename Rum is shared by more than one person.
Also self explanatory, but requires each Rum persona to have a fake eye - a pretty unlikely coincidence if each of their eyes was lost in a separate accident.
  • Rum uses body doubles.
Rum using body doubles with different builds was suggested by Haibara to explain why different Black Organization agents had different impressions.[2] It does not explain the fake eye common between them, unless these doubles were required to wear one.

Contradictions about the fake eye

It is particularly odd that the Black Organization members are unanimous about Rum having a fake eye while disagreeing about obvious appearance facts that are typically the first to be noticed. Prosthetic eyes are usually subtle, as shown in the picture on the right, and can be easily mistaken for some other type of ocular problem such as lazy eye. That implies there is some distinct reason why everyone agrees that Rum has a prosthetic eye while disagreeing about other obvious facts. There are several possibilities why this might be:

  • The prosthetic eye Rum uses when talking to other members of the Black Organization is very obviously fake
While such an obvious fake eye would be detrimental in public because it would draw attention, Rum may prefer using a non-subtle prosthetic when in the presence of the rest of the Black Organization. For instance, Rum could use an obvious fake for the purposes of intimidation or to draw attention away from the rest of him so that he is not well remembered. Rum could also use a mechanical gadget in place of his eye that augments his vision.
  • Rum's prosthetic eye is a rumor everyone knows.
One possible reason everyone agrees about Rum's fake eye is because it is an oft-circulated fact that he has one. Perhaps there is some tale about how he lost it that gets passed from member to member. In this case, it wouldn't even matter if Rum actually had a fake eye so long as everyone was inclined to say that he did.

Appellations

Animal Crossing hints

A joke panel in which Gosho introduced the character Lum Invader as Rum. Click the image for more information.

In two promotional messages sent out through the video game Animal Crossing: New Leaf for Nintendo 3DS sometime around or slightly before September 3rd 2014[5], Gosho said:

  • "Actually, Rum has already appeared lol"[6]
  • Please note that Gosho, as a crossover joke, has introduced a character named Lum Invader from another manga as the Black Organization member Rum. Gosho also showed Lum in a panel in file 906 and referenced the earlier gag in the concurrent Sherry's soliloquy. Gosho may have been intending to mislead fans with this animal crossing by exploiting the ambiguity between Rum and Lum.
  • "Kan-chan is not Rum ^^"[7]

Taking these hints at face value, Rum has appeared at or before File 906.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Manga Volume 86, File 4 (908), pg 16: "Betting With Your Life..."
  2. ^ a b Manga Volume 86, File 2 (906), pg 3: "A Kind Aunt"
  3. ^ the color of tea is actually dark red
  4. ^ A TV commercial trailer of The Darkest Nightmare
  5. ^ This blog post with links to screenshots was made September 3, 2014
    http://sky969blue6261.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-115.html
    Comments on the blog discussing the hint are time stamped at the same date, September 3 2014, so it is unlikely that the old entry was updated.
  6. ^ じつは もうラムは でてたりしてw
    Translated by Alaktorn
    Rum has appeared
  7. ^ カンちゃんはラムじゃないって(^^
    Translated by Alaktorn
    Rum is not Kansuke
Black Organization
High ranking The BossRumGinVermouth
Other agents VodkaKir (undercover) • ChiantiKornBourbon (undercover)
Deceased agents Akemi MiyanoTequilaKenzo Masuyama/PiscoAtsushi MiyanoElena MiyanoCalvadosRikumichi KusudaEthan Hondou (undercover) • Hiromitsu Morofushi/Scotch (undercover)
Former agents Shiho Miyano/Sherry (Ai Haibara) • Shuichi Akai/Dai Moroboshi/Rye (undercover) • Ki'ichiro Numabuchi
Extended canon Yoshiaki Hara (movie only) • Irish (movie only) • Masaaki Okakura (movie only) • Arrack (special manga only) • Generic (special manga only) • Blackbeard (special manga only) • Kate Lauren (playstation only) • Curaçao (movie only) • Stout (movie only) • Aquavit (movie only) • Leona Bucholz/Riesling (movie only) • Man in bar (tv special only) • Pinga (movie only)
Related articles Black Organization timelineAPTX 4869Nanatsu no KoScar AkaiList of Black Organization related charactersVermouth timelineSuguru ItakuraKohji Haneda caseKarasuma Group"The Criminal"Night BaronCrow
Manga Roller Coaster Murder Case¥1,000,000,000 RobberyBullet-Train BombingGame Convention CaseMissing Older Brother CaseMurdered Professor CaseHotel Party Murder CaseBus Hijacking CaseKaitou Kid and the MurderEscalator Message CaseGolden Apple CaseFootsteps of DarknessMeeting with VodkaFour Porsches CaseBathroom Murder CaseHalloween Party CaseBlack Organization vs. FBIMysterious Job CaseKir Transport CaseForeign Suspect CaseDepartment Store Bomber CaseOnline ClientMystery TrainTennis MeetupA Shrine to RememberElementary Teacher AssaultScarlet ShowdownGirls Band Murder CaseSoul Detective Murder CaseA song named ASACAMissing Maria Higashio CaseSisters' Birthday Party Murder CaseYusaku Kudo's TV Show CaseFBI Serial Murder CaseAkemi Miyano's Time CapsuleChess Tournament Murder Case
Anime Roller Coaster Murder CaseGame Company Murder CaseThe Black Organization: One Billion Yen Robbery CaseThe Girl from the Black Organization and the University Professor Murder CaseReunion with the Black OrganizationThe Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs. Kaitou KidThe Mysterious PassengerThe Secret Rushed OmissionShinichi Kudo's New York CaseOn the Trail of a Silent WitnessContact with the Black OrganizationThe Four PorschesHidden Bathroom SecretHead-to-Head Match with the Black Organization: A Dual Mystery on a Full Moon NightBlack Impact! The Moment the Black Organization Reaches OutThe Shadow of the Black OrganizationClash of Red and BlackThe Crisis Beckoned by the Red OmenDetectives' NocturneThe Jet-Black Mystery TrainConan in a Locked RoomJodie's Memories and the Cherry Blossom Viewing TrapThe Scarlet ReturnThe Shadow Approaching Amuro (TV original) • The Unfriendly Girls BandThe Spirit Detective's MurderThe Betrayal's StageSearch for Maria-chan!The Birthday Party of Divine PunishmentYusaku Kudo's Detective ShowThe Black Organization's SchemeAkemi Miyano's Time Capsule
Movies and Specials Countdown to HeavenTime Travel of the Silver SkyBlack HistoryThe Raven ChaserShinichi Kudo Returns! Confrontation with the Black OrganizationThe Darkest NightmareBlack Iron Submarine
Special Manga The Wish Put on the AirshipThe Black Organization...RevealedProtect the Luxury Liner from the Virus
Playstation Remembrance Treasure Case
Main Characters
Protagonists Shinichi KudoConan EdogawaRan MouriKogoro Mouri
Detective Boys Ai HaibaraAyumi YoshidaMitsuhiko TsuburayaGenta Kojima
Family & Friends Hiroshi AgasaSonoko SuzukiEri KisakiYusaku KudoYukiko KudoHeiji HattoriKazuha ToyamaYoko OkinoSumiko KobayashiTomoaki AraideMakoto KyogokuShizuka HattoriJirokichi SuzukiEisuke HondouAzusa EnomotoSubaru OkiyaMasumi SeraShukichi HanedaSakurako YoneharaRumi WakasaMomiji OokaMuga Iori
Tokyo Metropolitan Police District Juzo MegureWataru TakagiMiwako SatoNinzaburo ShiratoriYumi MiyamotoKazunobu ChibaNaeko MiikeKiyonaga MatsumotoInspector YuminagaShintaro ChakiHyoue KurodaKenji HagiwaraJinpei MatsudaWataru Date
Osaka Police District Heizo HattoriGinshiro ToyamaGoro Otaki
Nagano Police District Kansuke YamatoYui UeharaTaka'aki Morofushi
Other police districts Sango YokomizoMisao YamamuraJugo YokomizoChihaya HagiwaraFumimaro Ayanokoji
NPA and Public Security Bureau Rei Furuya (Bourbon)Hiromitsu MorofushiYuya Kazami
FBI Shuichi AkaiJodie StarlingJames BlackAndre Camel
CIA Hidemi Hondou (Kir)Ethan Hondou
MI6 Mary SeraTsutomu Akai
Black Organization The BossRumGinVodkaVermouthChiantiKornShiho MiyanoAkemi MiyanoElena MiyanoAtsushi MiyanoTequilaPiscoCalvadosRikumichi KusudaKi'ichiro Numabuchi
Magic Kaito Kaito KurobaKaitou KidAoko NakamoriGinzo NakamoriMidoriko NakamoriToichi KurobaChikage KurobaKonosuke JiiKeiko MomoiAkako KoizumiSaguru HakubaSnakeKaitou Corbeau
Others "The Criminal"Hideo AkagiRyusuke HigoTakahiro SanadaScar AkaiKohji HanedaKamen YaibaAmanda Hughes