What are your thoughts on 1147-1150 and how the plot points in this case plays a role in the climax of this arc? What can we also expect to see in the climax of the arc leading to the final arc and the Boss story?
Hello Master! Can you please share your thoughts on chapters 1144 - 1146? How close do you think we are from RUM climax considering there are several aspects RUM is working on currently like trying to kill Wakasa, kidnapping Camel to interrogate him, investigating Kogoro (and in extension to Conan ) who he suspects is interested in Haneda Kouji case and investigating Bourbon who he thinks might be betraying organization (from chapter 1027) ?
I assume you meant File 1147-1150, here is my review for File 1144-1146
@trinhsunie: I hope you’ll analyze chapter 1147 soon. Although I only discovered you recently, I’ve already read all of your analysis posts — they’re really engaging and full of useful information
This case was very intense and exciting through out, filled with callbacks and it was a highly anticipated one for many reasons. It can without a doubt be concluded that this was the climax/resolution of the character "Wakita Kanenori".
Picking up from Camel's exposure in File 1146, File 1147 opened up with developments that proved to have more status quo change in store than predicted. While Wakita connected Andou as being Andre Camel, Camel himself made the praiseworthy realization and deduction that Wakita was not only the old BO-agent man from 2 years ago during Rye's loyalty test, but also the BO's no.2, Rum.
This was a huge feat from Camel, as he ended up becoming the first character to outwardly and directly suggest that Wakita is Rum (where as Conan's suspicions were more implied and hidden). One odd inconsistency however was that Camel (and by extension, the FBI) where aware of that Rum was specifically the "no.2" within the BO, unlike Akai's previous testamomy in File 898 (where he recalled hearing Rum only being a close subordinate of the Boss). This oddity could however be explained by an eventual flashback of for example the Tea party that followed File 1012 (if Bourbon had mentioned information about his superior Rum while explaining his Shinichi mission).
Another interesting and potentially very important detail is that as Wakita was going through his plans for handling Camel, he revealed his true goals of appearing in this case from the start, and that was Conan.
Wakita expressed internally his observations of Conan's suspicious/off behaviors for a kid and had planned to further investigate him, which explains his hint-giving test and watchful behavior of Conan's whereabouts, to the point of chasing him, in file 1145-1146. This is most likely because of all of his mature and intelligent behavior in past cases, where he acted like a detective with Amuro in File 1029 (while Amuro played it down as a child's pretense), gave great insights for the case Yoko brought in File 1057 (earning even Wakita's praise to the point of being tested of his Kohji case knowledge) and also after Conan's conviniently protective reply regarding his observations of Wakasa in File 1100. The fact that Rum had enough reasons to suspect that Conan was not an ordinary child that it would warrant its own investigation could also be a hint to that he had more observations we are yet to realize, i.e if you take account my Muga theory, that he has witnessed Conan's less guarded behaviors around Heiji in File 981-983, Conan's close association with his target Kudo Shinichi in File 1039-1042, but even more recently, Conan's extremely competent support of Rum himself (as Muga) in File 1115. These instances would more distinctively and clearly indicate that Conan is very abnormal (likely lying about his Wakasa observations) and warrant this bold investigative move towards him as a new person of interest.
It was very exciting to see Rum not only confidently acting like a strategic predator about to capture his prey, Camel, but also see indications of lingering questions regarding Akai Shuuichi's fate.
The curiosity behind Akai's fate likely came up due to his previous sniper stunts in Umizaru island that lead to even Vermouth's denial of it being performed by Akai being questioned (File 1066).
After canceling any means of communicating outside the vicinity and trying to kidnap Camel, Camel was saved by a case character that was questioning him about his affiliation with unrelated affairs due to a previously witnessed dispute about a merch cap.
We then got an fun little call-back to Jodie's arcade-gaming hobby, that was introduced way back during her intro (File 270), in which she was so good during a game that she had won that merch cap that Camel wore. It's nice to see Gosho still keeping Jodie's range of characteristics alive and well to this day.
This lead to Camel and the rest getting involved into yet another completely unrelated case, in the exact same neighborhood, just downatairs the previous case setting, which is the first time Gosho has ever written this way. Its a bold and unique narrative approach by Gosho, which I appreciated a lot.
As this standstill unfolds however, Wakita tries to rush the resolution of the case by giving Conan hints to relay to the detectives, but as Conan wonders how to relay his deduction of the case, we get the surprise and extremely exciting appearance of Wakasa Rumi, leading to the first proper reunion and confrontation between Asaka and her mother-figure's killer, Rum (File 1148).
Asaka essentially gives away her awareness of Wakita's true identity, which confirmed to Rum that she indeed heard his voice 17 years ago (File 1149). This seemingly rash act functioned basically as Asaka's bold declaration of war against Rum, which was supremely exciting to behold, as it reminds of Akai's declaration of war against his archnemesis Gin, when he gave him "tears of blood" (File 504).
Something very interesting that gets revealed regarding Wakasa is that she learned of Conan's situation in this case from DB (File 1149), which was just after she had creeped up on them and once again triggered Haibara's BO sense (File 1148).
This is very important, as it is showing that Gosho is further trying to allude to some kind of BO connection with Asaka, since her last trigger of Haibara's BO sense in burning tent case (File 988).
This could be indicating that Asaka had once infiltrated the BO (just like Akai), but most likely only as a low-level grunt for a limited amount of time, since any more attention to her capabilities and potential for promotion would have eventually reached the higher-ups like her archnemesis, Rum. The fact that she could have been involved with the BO in such a capacity is further pointing towards her having some special affiliation/title, like potentially being a CIA agent, paralleling Akai (as I have previously theorized).
Another callback we got was Wakita's made-up story behind his eyepatch from his intro in File 975, which he reiterated when Wakasa asked about it, only to get a funny subverted response that made him uneasy.
Wakasa then starts to grab and hold Wakita in place to prevent him from escaping as Conan solves the case, making references to Shogi, Chess and indirect Kohji case references as a subtle means of revealing her malice towards him, which ultimately leads to Wakita signaling his subordinates over the listening device to create a diversion, by cleverly grinding his teeth in morse code, so he could escape (File 1149-1150).
That's when we get a very unexpected tension filled exchange of looks between Wakasa and Jodie (File 1150), who appeared after realizing that Camel might be in need of help after failing to stay in contact with the FBI.
This was later followed up by Jodie asking Camel who the woman she stared at was, and was immediately questioning whether Wakasa was truly an elementary school teacher, as if she had seen her before somewhere else.
This has to be Gosho's biggest hint to Asaka Rachel's true affiliation, as this narrows down even further the alternatives of from where an FBI agent on foreign soil would recognize Asaka as anything but what she presents herself to be. This is potentially indicating that Asaka Rachel is affiliated with American government (like the CIA) in a more significant capacity, which is among the most likely places Jodie could have seen her.
After Jodie reunited with Camel and was filled in on his predicament, we get a small timeskip to late evening, where Camel and Jodie both attempts to locate the newly uncovered fake identity of Rum, Wakita Kanenori, in Iroha Sushi restaurant. As they fail to find him, we get Gosho's indirect declaration (through Jodie) of the end of Rum's "Wakita Kanenori" cover, which is a major status quo shift in Rum arc, and will likely make a significant impact in the aftermath plot.
As Camel and Jodie exits Iroha, we see Rum keeping them under Chianti and Korn's scope, only for Shuuichi to come to their aid (as Subaru with a hoodie on) by destablizing the snipers' clear shot. Shuuichi then gives Rum a stare back through his binocculars (similar to Bourbon's stare towards Chianti when he was impersonating Akai back in File 703), which triggered Rum's memories of Akai Tsutomu declaring to take Rum's annoying left eye.
This moment is essentially the official confirmation that Akai Tsutomu was involved in damaging Rum's left eye, and in turn, we get Rum's current input on Akai Tsutomu's status, which is that Akai Tsutomu is definitely dead. This certainty is likely gonna become the most controversial subject moving forward, as it will question not only what transpired but also Rum's intelligence/capabilities. In my personal opinion, I can still see both ways in which Akai Tsutomu's death can seem definitive and ways in which Rum may have not truly been at his peak (i.e secret true age/inexperience), so for that reason, I still have the possibility of Akai Tsutomu ending up being alive all along open. You can find my current Akai Tsutomu speculations here:
Where do you think is Tsutomu Akai now and why hasn't he contacted his family that he is alive?
After the recent flashback in File 1104 reve
Rum then noticed that the FBI were communicating with someone inside a car that wasn't their Boss James Black, and that leads to us learning that it was Conan, who starts relaying his full deduction on how he had pieced together that Wakita Kanenori was Rum (File 1150), confirming officially that Conan indeed has been suspecting Wakita (as previously speculated).
Conan explained that he noticed inconsistency in his edokko/tokyoite dialect in File 1100, which was a very interesting detail that Gosho had foreshadowed but that no one had picked up in the fandom, as far as I know. This was the reason he had started becoming especially wary of Wakita to the point of lying about Wakasa and acting careful/innocent around him, to the point of even telling Camel to treat Conan as a stranger (File 1150). Another interesting detail we indirectly learn is that Akai and Conan never shared Rum intel with each other, through Subaru's reaction to Conan knowing about Rum having a prosthetic eye.
This essentially confirmed that Camel's/FBI's awareness of Rum's title as no.2 of the BO was not something they learned from Conan, and that also means in return that Conan never learned from Camel off-screen in File 1066 about Rum's prosthetic eye rumor being the only real rumor while the other inconsistent descriptions were deliberate misleading rumors. This further points to FBI having learned about Rum's title elsewhere, like for example from Bourbon during the tea party.
We then get the rest of Conan's deduction, where he explained that he figured Rum's silly name was constructed as an anagram of one of his petphrases, but then also made the connection from Rum's described impatient nature that Rum might have used a time-oriented idiom like "Toki wa kane nari" ("Time is money") for his anagram name.
This last part was something that I personally felt was a bit forced, as it's quite a leap to assume an exceedingly impatient person uses petphrase matching their nature. I personally would have preferred that Conan had learned of Rum's petphrase directly, as it would have made his deduction more believable. If he rather retroactively realized the similarity in "kanenori" and "kane-nari" (~"is money"), after already suspecting Wakita being BO due to Haibara's reaction (which he also confirmed was the case), and then figured out the origin of the anagram as that petphrase, even that would have made his leap more digestible.
Apart from this, it was without a doubt a highly anticipated and exciting development, finally establishing that Conan is almost fully caught up with us readers in terms of Rum's current activites. We end off the case with Rum calling off the snipers, as the FBI attempts to ambush them, and then retreating with the helicopter. It is then followed up by Subaru clarifying how imminent the threat will be the next time they face Rum, as he acknowledges both Amuro and Asaka, who he glances at in his vicinity, as fellow wolves trying to sink their fangs into the BO.
Just this metaphorical parallel alone for Asaka next to Amuro is further empasizing Asaka's potential identity as an agent from one of the BO's enemy agencies.
Now, what does this mean for the rest of Rum arc? Is this it?
Well, for starters, while this case marks the end of Rum's activities as Wakita Kanenori, we cannot forget that Rum's actual activities in this arc started before his cover as a sushi chef. Kir's "RUM" text (File 898) that kicked off this long story arc was likely due to Rum starting to move in reaction to the Kohji case uploads, which was surmised by Yusaku & Conan to have been done by Asaka Rachel (File 1111). This lead Rum to investigating all interested parties of that case (like the soul detective Hotta Gaito), leading him to the famous sleeping Kogoro, who got involved with the Kohji case investigation (File 953). In other words, "Wakita Kanenori" was a cover born from one of his strategies to uncover the mysterious uploader, leading him to getting involved with Conan (the true mind behind sleeping Kogoro) (File 975), who had also attracted the same uploader Rum is searching for, "Wakasa Rumi" (the missing witness Asaka from the 17-year-old case) (File 966). In short, his purpose as "Wakita Kanenori" was already resolved the moment he confirmed Wakasa's identity as being Asaka Rachel in File 1109, but the end note that very chapter left us on was his determination to rewind time on his right eye through APTX4869 drug research in order to best Asaka with his lost abilities, as he had started to suspect of the drug's hidden de-aging side effects. This suspicion was likely born/fueled by the other very crucial plotline that Rum arc established, and that's his pursuit of the APTX4869 victim Kudo Shinichi (File 1008). Rum's declared goal would only be possible to achieve if he could study APTX4869's effects through a test subject that survived it, Kudo Shinichi. This means that Rum arc shouldn't be resolved without the resolution of Rum's declared goal in File 1109, and by extension, the already ongoing mission of tracking Kudo Shinichi's whereabouts.
For reference, Rum's uploader mission (file 898) would be equivalent to how Bourbon arc started with Bourbon's Sherry mission (file 622), and then Rum's APTX4869 investigation mentioned at the end of his uploader mission (file 1109) would be equivalent to Bourbon's mentioned Akai death investigation by the end of his Sherry mission (file 824).
I'm therefore seeing this as the beginning of the final act of Rum arc, and while Bourbon's Scarlet aftermath plot stretched for 60+ chapters, it's very likely that Gosho might accomplish his final Rum arc act in less chapters than that, since we are already technically 41 chapters into the APTX4869 investigation plot (albeit a somewhat long duration irl due to breaks). Within this smaller stretch of chapters leading to the official Rum arc climax, I expect us further diving into Rum's Shinichi pursuit (leading to their inevitable showdown), more Wakasa development in her ongoing Haibara goal (likely leading to the eventual reveal of her current affiliation) and Kuroda-"Sakakibara" development (likely leading to further Rum plot connection), whereas Rum's Bourbon focus is something that can linger on beyond the end of Rum arc. Rum's Kogoro Investigation & Camel hunt however can officially be declared as over, as he focuses on and prioritizes eliminating Asaka moving forward, his archnemesis.
This was overall an extremely satisfying case to me, that carries a lot of promises for the future, and I can't wait to learn about the state of the plot in the upcoming cases, to further narrow down its direction.
