Wataru Date
| Wataru Date | |
|
| |
| Japanese name: | 伊達 航 (Date Wataru) |
|---|---|
| Age: | 28[1] (deceased a year ago) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Occupation: | Police detective |
| First appearance: | Manga: File 804 Anime: Episode 681 |
| Appearances: | Chapters: 10 Chapters: 3 Chapters: 13 Episodes: 10 Episodes: 2 Movies: 1 OVAs: 0 Specials: 1 Openings: 1 Closings: 1 |
| Keyhole number: | Volume 77 |
| Japanese voice: | Keiji Fujiwara |
Wataru Date (伊達 航 Date Wataru) is a character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan.
Contents
Background
Wataru Date was a former police officer from Tokyo Metropolitan Police District under the Criminal Investigation First Division. He was later assigned to be the mentor of Wataru Takagi,[2] and together they became known as the "Wataru Brothers."[3] He was dating an English teacher, Natalie Kuruma. Unfortunately, he got caught up in a car accident after one of his stake outs with Takagi and died one year ago.[2] A year later after his death, it was discovered that Date was an acquaintance of Rei Furuya, whom he had met while attending a police academy.[4] He also knew Jinpei Matsuda, Hagiwara and Hiromitsu Morofushi from the academy. Before his death, he received a package meant to be passed on to Hiromitsu's older brother Taka'aki, but it was left untouched in his locket for over a year.
Personality
Date was considered to be a "carnivore"-type of a man compared to Takagi, by Sato[3], and could be described as an aggressive person.[5] In addition to these, he was also a kind and caring person as attested by his interactions with Takagi and his text message to Rei.[5][4] He was also very serious in his relationship with Natalie and was planning on proposing to her.
Appellations
Plot overview
Overnight Deadline (Manga: 804-808, Anime: 681-683)
Kaitou Kid and the Fairy's Lips (Manga: 1021, Anime: TBD)
Date appears in a flashback along with Jinpei Matsuda, Kenji Hagiwara, Hiromitsu Morofushi, and Rei Furuya.
Relationships analysis
Wataru Takagi
Date was Takagi's mentor and close friend. He passed away from a traffic accident. As the pronunciation of his name was the same as Wataru Takagi's, Date said they were "Wataru brothers" (ワタル・ブラザーズ Wataru Burazāzu). Just before his death, he entrusted Takagi a ring for Natalie Kuruma, but Takagi never got to give the ring to Natalie, because he was still affected by Date's death and Natalie commited suicide soon after. When Takagi realized that Date's girlfriend was Natalie he took contact to the one, who claimed her personal things to inform them the truth, most likely out of duty to his late friend.
Rei Furuya
Date and Rei Furuya were friends in the police academy; Rei was the top-ranked student, while Date held second place. While Date went on to become an officer, Rei went somewhere else and fell out of contact with Date for unknown reasons. Date's last text to Rei asked him where he was and chided Rei to communicate once in a while. Rei was shown visiting Date's grave, and likely left a toothpick out of respect for Date; Date used them habitually.
Natalie Kuruma
She was his girlfriend. When he died Natalie commited suicide in despair. Due to that Date's surname could be mistaken for the English word 'Date', since her mother was American, she would call him 'Wataru' when she told her parents about him. Date probably intended to propose to her after they had met each other's parents. It was misunderstandings around her death that a year later resulted in a trap, where Takagi almost got killed by Ryusaku Fuemoto, her ex-teacher of English.
Jinpei Matsuda
Jinpei Matsuda attended the same police academy as Date. They also graduated together.
Kenji Hagiwara
Kenji Hagiwara attended the same police academy as Date. They also graduated together.
Hiromitsu Morofushi
Date was well acquainted with Hiromitsu Morofushi since they were good friends along with the three others and attended the academy together.
Name origin
Wataru Date shares his first name with police sergeant Wataru Takagi, which prompted him to make a nickname for the both of them: "Wataru Brothers." However, the kanji that represented his first name was different to that of Takagi's. His name is written with the kanji 航, which has the ON-reading of kō (コウ ). Meanwhile, Takagi's is written with the kanji 渉, which has the ON-reading of shō (ショウ ).[3] This similarity in first name became an important factor in the Overnight Deadline case. Date's last name played an important role in the said case as well.[6]
Trivia
- Gosho Aoyama revealed in a postcard response to a fan that Wataru Date is not Scotch.[7]
See also
References
- ^ In file 805, page 16, Sato pointed out that Date was a year older than her. In Conan Drill page 29, Sato is assumed to be about 28, which is her present age. Wataru Date died one year ago (file 804, page 4), when Sato was only 27 years old, which means that Date's estimated age at the time he died was 28.
- ^ a b File 804: The Present from Detective Takagi
- ^ a b c File 805: Wataru Brothers
- ^ a b File 808: Late Grave Visiting
- ^ a b File 807: The Strongest Senior
- ^ File 806: The Inherited Shadow of the Dawn
- ^ File:Scotch not Date postcard.jpg
