The Boss of the Black Organization

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Ano kata
Profile
English name:	That Person
Age:	Unknown
Gender:	Unknown
Date of birth:	Unknown
Relatives:	Unknown
Occupation:	Black Organization Boss
Statistics
First appearance:	Reunion with the Black Organization (mentioned to exist)
Appearances:	Unknown
Actors
Japanese voice:	None as of yet

The mysterious boss, respectfully called Ano kata (あの方 , That Person) by his/her subordinates, is the leader of the Black Organization. The true identity and gender of the boss is still unknown, with only a few insignificant facts about them revealed in the manga's 21 year (and counting) run. Conan Edogawa, the FBI, the CIA, and the Public Security Bureau wish to uncover the boss and cause the destruction of the Black Organization.

Background

The boss appears to be the highest authority in the Black Organization. "That person" directs the Black Organization's activities and plans crimes to protect the Organization and advance its interests. The boss communicates to subordinates by text messages. The boss's contact mail address follows the tune of the children song Nanatsu no Ko (七つの子 , lit. Seven children); the number is #969#6261. The boss is responsible for promoting agents and deciding on their code names. The FBI think that only a few of the highest ranking executive agents like Gin or Vermouth could lead them to the elusive boss.

Personality

Little is known about boss's personality. The boss appears to be fairly ruthless, willing to dispatch senior agents who have been loyal to the Black Organization for many years for a single mistake. The boss is also described as overly cautious by Vermouth. Somehow, the boss can maintain loyalty and unity within the codenamed ranks despite many agents disliking or even outright wishing to murder certain others. The boss is known to give permission to agents who wish to pursue certain missions, such as Bourbon and Vermouth's plan to make sure Akai was truly dead.

The boss appears to be especially close to Vermouth who is described as "that person's favorite", much to the chagrin of her enemies and those who mistrust her. The boss is also close to Gin, who often acts as an intermediary between the boss and other agents. Gin usually takes the lead planning role in assassinations that the boss has ordered.

While the boss is likely highly intelligent, the boss has had several clear failures so far. Shuichi Akai (FBI), Rei Furuya and Scotch (Public Security Bureau), and Hidemi Hondou (CIA) were all given codenames by the boss despite being spies, and Akai successfully fooled the boss into thinking he was killed. While most agents follow the boss's orders, some agents have acted contrary to the wishes of "that person". A plan that was intended to create an "acceptable reason" to eliminate Akemi Miyano backfired badly when Akemi's ability was underestimated. As a consequence, the lead researcher for the APTX 4869 project, Shiho Miyano, ultimately defected and escaped. The boss has also unintentionally allowed Vermouth to undermine the Organization by protecting someone she thinks is especially dangerous: Conan Edogawa.

Plot overview

Before the current storyline

In Clash of Red and Black, James Black explained to Conan that capturing a high ranking member of the Black Organization who could lead them to the boss was the goal of Shuichi Akai's spy mission. After three years of infiltration, the boss gave the undercover FBI agent the codename "Rye" and ordered him to work under Gin. The FBI's plan to capture Gin fell apart when Akai's true allegiance was uncovered due to a mistake made by Andre Camel. In the two years since the mission failure, the boss came to regard Akai as a "Silver Bullet" - someone who is especially dangerous to the Black Organization.

Bullet-Train Bombing (Manga: 033-035; Anime: None)

Conan hopes to spy on the Éminence grise controlling Gin and Vodka.

Conan follows Gin and Vodka on the second floor dining car of the bullet train to Kyoto, thinking that they may be meeting their leadership, but Ran interrupts his spying and drags him back to their car. With the case resolution, Conan discovers that an unnamed woman exchanged 400 million yen for information about gold worth even more money with Gin and Vodka, but instead of information, the Organization packed the case they were giving her with explosives to kill the woman because she was no longer useful.

The corresponding anime episode has been changed, and therefore the case does not concern the Black Organization. Gin and Vodka were replaced with Ueda and Shimoda, two lookalikes criminals, although when Conan was still believed that they were them, the citation for leadership was omitted.

Assassination of Shigehiko Nomiguchi and Pisco (Manga: 238-242; Anime: 176-178)

File:Bossvol24.jpg

First official mention of the BO boss in the manga, referred to as "That person" (ano kata (あの方 ))

Prior to this confrontation with the Black Organization, it was unclear who or what authority commanded the codenamed agents of the Black Organization seen so far. Gin's discussion with Pisco about the planned murder of Shigehiko Nomiguchi revealed to Conan the existence of an authority figure referred to as "ano kata". Gin relayed that person's orders to Pisco: silence the politician Shigehiko Nomiguchi who was going to be arrested for bribery and use APTX 4869 if it was necessary. Pisco's act of murder was accidentally caught on camera, so the boss ordered Gin to kill Pisco.

The Boss recalls Vermouth (Manga: 429-434; Anime: 345)

Ano kata's message to Vermouth's cellphone (File 434).

Ano kata's message to Vermouth's cellphone (Episode 345).

Vermouth had secretly been executing a plan to kill Sherry without the Black Organization's knowledge. Someone discovered that Vermouth was up to something and Gin and Vodka were ordered to investigate an off-season Halloween party aboard a ship. Before Vodka was sent aboard the ship in disguise, Gin told him "not to hold back" even though Vermouth was "that person's favorite" and they had not been granted permission to kill her. At the party, a man that Vermouth blackmailed to murder a director began screaming someone called "Vermouth" was to blame. Later, the boss sent a message to Vermouth's phone informing her that her freedom was now being restricted and she was to return.

“	It looks like I have given you too much freedom. Come back to my side, Vermouth.	„
— The Boss orders Vermouth to return.

When Vermouth replied back, Conan noticed the sound of the keypresses of the boss's mail address sounded familiar. Conan later uncovers that the keypresses of the boss's mail address sounds like the beginning of the children's song Nanatsu no ko, and Conan deduces the boss's mail address is #969#6261. Haibara warns Conan of the danger of calling it, likening it to Pandora's box.

Assassination attempts on Yasuteru Domon and Kogoro Mouri (Manga: 499-504; Anime: 425)

The boss orders the assassination of Yasuteru Domon, who is a politician hard on crime. The FBI believed the boss was hoping to nip a potential obstacle in the bud because Domon may have a chance of becoming the next Prime Minister. When Gin discovers that the agent Rena Mizunashi, aka Kir, has been captured and a tracking device planted on her clothing, he asks the boss for permission to kill the last person to stay at her house: Kogoro Mouri. The boss grants Gin permission to leave Domon and target Kogoro. The assassination fails because of Akai's interference. Akai's attack made it appear that it was really the FBI who captured Kir and planted the tracking device. Domon coincidentally gives up running for office as well, making assassinating him unnecessary.

Kir's promotion (Manga: 553-555; Anime: 464-465)

While the Black Organization searches for Kir who is in FBI custody, Chianti asks why Rena Mizunashi was promoted in the first place. Gin reveals that it was because she had uncovered a spy and confronted him. The spy, Ethan Hondou, overpowered and tortured her for information, but Rena remained silent. Although completely crippled, Rena bit Ethan's wrist to force him to drop his gun, and then killed him. The bite marks and Ethan's recording device coincided with her story, so the boss promoted her to the codename Kir in recognition of her loyalty and sheer savageness.

In truth, the boss had been fooled. Ethan Hondou was Kir's father and they both are CIA spies infiltrating the Black Organization. Rena had made a mistake and was about to be uncovered as a spy. Ethan, who had prepared appropriately ahead of time in case this happened, told Rena to tell the Organization she discovered he was a spy and tried to confront him. Ethan then committed suicide after maiming himself and his daughter to make it appear like the story Ethan had just explained.

Kir ordered to kill Shuichi Akai (Manga: 605-609; Anime: 502-504)

After the Black Organization retrieved Kir from the FBI, Gin is suspicious of how ineffective the FBI's plan was and that Akai didn't make a strong move. Gin thinks Akai is still hiding something and that doubt is relayed to the boss who concurs. The boss and Gin plan a test of Kir's loyalty. Meanwhile, an FBI agent becomes a suspect in a coincidental murder case. The Black Organization hears about it, and taking advantage of the FBI's distraction, Gin calls out Kir and tells her the boss's order. To regain the boss's trust, she is to call Akai out to meet with her and kill him. Kir meets with Akai at Raiha Pass and apparently kills him.

However, the boss has been tricked again. Akai and Kir conspired to fake Akai's death.

Bourbon's mission (Manga: 700-704; Anime: 578-581)

Bourbon is tasked with searching for the escaped scientist Shiho Miyano. After a misunderstanding, Vermouth informs Gin that she and Bourbon received the boss's permission to execute a second, secret mission. Bourbon verified Shuichi Akai's death by disguising as Akai and approaching his FBI colleagues.

Relationship with Vermouth (Manga: 898; Anime: 783)

Bourbon reveals that there is some sort of connection between Vermouth and the boss. As insurance, Bourbon arranged for her secret to be revealed to the whole Black Organization if something happens to him, and points out that the other members would be quite surprised if they knew the nature of the relationship.

Non-Canon Plot Overview

TV Special: Time Travel of the Silver Sky

Professor Agasa has created Christies YP, a software with young Hidekazu Nagai as alter ego that can give the identity of anyone in the world. He decides to use it to figure out who Kaitou Kid is. Before it does this research, the software gives him a history about Kid, as well as preview clips of movie 8, Magician of the Silver Sky. It also tries to find out who exactly the boss is between Tomoaki Araide, Sharon Vineyard, Chiyoko Yuasa, Yusaku Kudo, four Shinichi's classmates from Teitan High School and a circus white lion, but it's useless. The search suddenly stops, appears in series the English word Untouchable, and flashes red with the sound of an alarm Shin'nyū kinshi ryōiki (進入禁止領域 ,The forbidden area). When he is about to finally figure out who Kid is, the thief appears on the computer screen, announcing he has hacked the software.

Movie 13: The Raven Chaser

Irish and Vermouth keep the boss updated on the progress of a mission to infiltrate the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and retrieve a memory card with the personal information of all the Black Organization agents that have infiltrated various organizations. According to Vermouth, the Parliamentary Secretary Masaaki Okakura, an undercover Black Organization agent, obtained the card, possibly as insurance. That agent was then killed before them by Kazuki Honjo for revenge entirely unrelated to the Black Organization. The serial killer kept the charm bag containing the memory card without knowing what was inside it. Then the boss orders to Irish to kidnap and then disguise himself as Superintendent Matsumoto with Vermouth's help, infiltrate the police coalition, and retrieve the memory card before the police catch the culprit and look into the database.

Disguised as a policeman, Vermouth sends a mail to the boss on the results of the first conference at the Police Headquarters and the success of Irish's disguise. Conan discovers the Black Organization's involvement thanks to Inspector Yamamura, who started singing Nanatsu no ko after he heard the characteristic sound of the key presses out of the bathroom. During the second police conference, Irish mails the boss about a new tipster with information about the serial murder. Using that information, Chianti and Korn were able to delay the police long enough for Gin and Vodka to search the tipster's apartment first.

Meanwhile, Irish discovers Conan's true identity as Shinichi. Irish plans to capture Conan and bring him before the boss to discredit Gin, the one who killed Pisco, who Irish considered and respected like a father. Irish believes that the boss would definitely demote or have Gin killed for carelessly leaving Shinichi alive. While Irish is collecting the memory card from the serial murder culprit, the police find the real Matsumoto. Because his cover was blown, Gin has Chianti kill Irish and destroy the memory card with a single shot. Irish dies before Conan can force him to reveal the boss's true identity.

Special Manga: Volume 26

The Black Organization planned to use a new drug made by Generic, a younger scientist like Sherry, for control memories of all important people of the world, in particular the US president, ergo having complete control of the world. When she reveals to Conan the Black Organization's scheme, Haibara imagines this terrifying scene with a criminal silhouette that takes on his hands the globe. Of course, this is a clear reference to her former unknown boss, who is the heart of the Black Organization.

Appellations

Picture	Name	What they call the Boss	What the Boss calls them
	Gin	Ano kata	-
	Vodka	Ano kata	-
	Vermouth	Boss Ano kata	Vermouth
	Hidemi Hondou	Ano kata	-
	Chianti	Ano kata	-
	Pisco	Ano kata	-
	Irish	Ano kata	-
	Rei Furuya	Boss	-

Picture	Name	What they call the Boss	What the Boss calls them
	Conan Edogawa	Éminence grise (黒幕 kuromaku) Boss	-
	Hiroshi Agasa	Boss	-

Picture	Name	What they call the Boss	What the Boss calls them
	Shuichi Akai	Boss Target	Silver Bullet
	Subaru Okiya	Boss	-
	Jodie Starling	Boss	-
	James Black	Boss	-

Picture	Name	What they call the Boss	What the Boss calls them
	Hidekazu Nagai	Ano kata	-

Relationships analysis

Organization

Gin

The boss trusts Gin enough to make him an executive agent, and for good reason: Gin is among the most loyal of the high-ranking BO. Gin follows the boss's orders closely and virtually never acts against the Organization's greater interests, and in return the boss entrusts Gin to direct critical missions and key assassinations. The boss often issues orders to Gin directly by text message for him to disseminate to the others, and the two are implied to contact each other fairly often about instructions and suspicions. For this reason the FBI thought Gin would be able to lead them to the boss if they captured him.

Vermouth

Vermouth is known as the boss's favorite member by the other members although the reason for the favoritism is unknown. In file 898, Bourbon reveals that there is some sort of connection between Vermouth and the Boss of the Black Organization, implying that her relationship with the boss goes further than merely being his/her favorite member. Bourbon also notes that he has arranged for her secret to be revealed to the whole Black Organization in case something happens to him, and points out that the other members would be quite surprised if they knew the nature of the relationship.

Rum

Rum is the Boss's unknown right hand. Judging from Shuichi Akai's description, Rum appears to have high rank in the organization and is very close to the Boss. Later on, Haibara remarks to Conan that Rum is second only to the Boss of the Black Organization, suggesting that he is their second-in-command.

Gallery

Conan imagines the boss as a big criminal silhouette along with Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth (file 470).

File:BossBlackshadow.png The boss imagined by Conan as a big criminal silhouette with evil aura only in the anime version (episode 385).

File:Ano Kata.JPG The boss visualized by Conan as a big criminal silhouette with evil aura along with Gin, Vodka, and Vermouth in the anime version (episode 385).

File:BossBlackshadow4.jpeg Conan imagines the boss as a normal criminal silhouette along with Gin, Vodka, and nude Vermouth only in the anime version (episode 398).

Known canon information

Several details of the boss's personality and methods have been revealed in the manga canon.

• The boss uses the first few notes of the song Nanatsu no Ko to encode his/her mail address. The number is #969#6261, which was purposefully made non-functional by Gosho Aoyama to prevent prank mails. Unlike phone numbers, mail addresses don't have an area code. Ai Haibara reacts to the word Kurayoshi – a city in Tottori province, when she notices Conan had taken an interest., but Gosho Aoyama confirmed that Tottori and the Black Organization are unrelated in a 2014 interview (found in "Detective Conan Super Digest Book 60+").
• He/She uses alcoholic codenames for agents.
• The boss is very careful. Vermouth says, “The boss is always careful to the extreme. He’s the type to ruin the plan by overthinking it.”
• Vermouth is the boss’ favorite for an unknown reason and he/she allows her some degree of independence. It is also implied that they have a special relationship unbeknownst to most members of the organization.
• The boss thought Shuichi Akai could become the Black Organization’s silver bullet. In that regard he/she's more like Vermouth than Gin who doesn't believe a single person who can take the syndicate down in one shot exists.

Gosho Aoyama's interviews

Gosho Aoyama has given several interviews concerning the boss.

Primary sources

The following interviews have had their primary sources located and the information has been confirmed.

• During the 2014 "Let's talk with Aoyama Gosho-sensei day" event, Aoyama specified that the boss has appeared somewhere in the manga series, and is not Professor Agasa. However, it was not clarified whether the face of the boss has been shown.
• Aoyama specified that the full name of the boss has appeared somewhere in the manga.
• In a daVinci issue released in May 2014 Gosho denied that Yusaku Kudo is the boss.
• In an interview published in Super Digest Book 50+, Gosho hinted that Eri Kisaki is unrelated to the Black Organization.
• In an interview published in Super Digest Book 70+, Gosho has denied Conan Edogawa, Ran Mouri, Vermouth, and Ninzaburo Shiratori being the boss.
• In an interview published in Super Digest Book 80+, it is hinted that the boss is neither Shinichi Kudo nor Gosho Aoyama himself.
• On a series of post cards replying to fan questions in February and March 2015, Gosho stated James Black, Sonoko Suzuki, the Detective Boys, Gin, and Samizu Kichiemon are not the boss.
• On a series of post cards replying to fan questions in February and March 2016, Gosho stated Toichi Kuroba is not the boss.

Transcript

The following interview accounts come from transcripts from fansites and blogs on the web and have not been independently verified. These are generally considered credible by fans.

• The Black Organization's formal name gives away the boss' name. "The Black Organization" is not the real name of the organization.
• Minami Takayama, Gosho Aoyama's former wife and Conan's voice actor, knows the boss' identity.
• Aoyama revealed that he didn't expect the Detective Conan series to last longer than three months. This indicates that the boss might have been hinted early in Detective Conan.
• The boss chooses the alcoholic codenames for the agents, but does not have one himself/herself.
• Fusae Campbell is not the boss.

Speculations

• The Black Organization uses clever codenames, passwords, etc. based on mysteries and history. If the boss is behind the naming scheme then perhaps the boss has an interest in detectives and mysteries.
• The operatives dress in black, which Akemi Miyano says is supposed to resemble crows. This is probably an expression of the boss’s dress code preferences and may be symbolic. The boss may use the crow themed phone number Nanatsu no ko for the same reason.
• If the FBI's assessment of the boss is correct, the boss is a forward thinker. The FBI believed he ordered the assassination of Yasuteru Domon who wasn't even part of the Diet yet because he was hard on crime and had a chance of becoming the next Prime Minister.

Fan speculation has led to many theories concerning "that person's" identity, ranging from Vodka to Yusaku Kudo to even one of the Detective Boys after having taken APTX 4869. In a "Who is That Person" fan poll in Shonen Sunday, Professor Agasa was ranked the most likely suspect, while Gin was voted in a Case Closed FUNimation community poll.

See also

• Black Organization
• "The Criminal"