#dcmk meta

[cessmaga]

Shinichi deserves to have a mental breakdown imo

[laststardust-sayonarajudas]

Sometimes I wonder how live will be for Shiho/Ai if her life isn't centered with BO. She will have a great time mingling with a dotting but loving cousin, Masumi. Maybe having the Taiko Meijin as your cousin is also cool. Most of all, growing with her family. Getting properly photograph for her coming of age ceremony. Has her family member display those dolls on Hinamatsuri. Finding someone she likes and fall in love. Doing Biochemistry for the sake of doing Biochemistry. Have normal friendships and childhood. Well maybe one of the only part that she has to deal with is the bullying in Japan or the States. But somewhat she'll manage somehow. She's robbed of a normal childhood and the joys that ordinary people cannot enjoy. Hailed genius but she never had the freedom to actually form meaningful relationships (beside Akemi) and do something she loves because she enjoys it. I wonder if sometimes she thinks of it and wish that her parents are never involved in this mess.

[naiishu]

Some late night movie thoughts:

M25 and M27 work very hard to capture the essence of "detectives cut through things that are full of sadness" which permeates a lot of the early/old school/first gen movies.

The earliest movie that M22 resembles is M8- on a surface level they look quite different, yes. narratively and structurally is where they have resemblance, think about the flow of the story.

I would argue M27 is more similar to M2 than M7. M2 puts in a lot of effort to pull out elements which were glossed over in canon at the time. Meanwhile M7 in the context of the canon at the time seems to be almost like a fanfic.....

[alternatefandom]

The Three Faces of Furuya Rei, or: what moral philosophy does Furuya Rei subscribe to?

Furuya Rei is a fascinating character that can be difficult to understand. This is complicated by the fact that he presents three very different faces to us. Our very first impression of him was as the kindly waiter and detective, Amuro Tooru; next we are shown the antagonist, Bourbon, and last, we discover the driving force behind them: the undercover agent, Furuya Rei. These three personas act in a very different way, especially Bourbon, making Rei’s true motives and morality somewhat opaque to us. In this meta I will analyze Rei’s actions and motives in order to discern the true school of morality that he believes in.

There are three major theories of morality; virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontology. However, in this meta I will be brush on ethical egoism as well. Let us first talk about the relevant theories.

Virtue Ethics is first and foremost concerned with character. Here, we judge right and wrong based on whether or not it is virtuous. A person’s action reflects on their character; a virtuous person will do virtuous actions, and vice versa. Therefore, virtue ethics defines virtuous actions as the right action.

Utilitarianism, on the other hand, defines right and wrong based on the consequence of the action. It is concerned with outcomes; in utilitarianism, the end justifies the means. As long as the action results in the greatest good for the greatest number of people, it is right.

Lastly, Deontology defines right and wrong based on what the duty of the subject is. It is concerned with motives; as long as the person was trying to fulfill their duty, then it is right according to deontology. What the duty itself is, of course, subject to argument.

Now out of these three moral theories, which one does Furuya Rei follow?

To analyze this, I will be including materials from the Zero the Enforcer movie as well. This is because in my opinion, we don't actually get much insight into Rei's motives in the manga; we are told what he wants, but we’re not really told why, at least not enough to explain how he justifies his actions for himself. Now let’s get to the analysis itself.

First things first, I think we can safely say that Furuya Rei doesn’t subscribe to virtue ethics. In his debut as Amuro Tooru, in the private eye case, we see him allow Banba, a murder suspect, to destroy exonerating evidence. We also see him create a wrong deduction that almost damned an innocent man. With what we know of his deductive capabilities, as well as the fact that he had all pieces of the evidence and knowledge required to solve the case from the beginning, it is highly implied that he deliberately risked Banba’s freedom just to test Kogoro. Hardly the actions of a virtuous man. It should be noted, however, that in this case, Rei had still maintained control of the situation, thereby allowing him to keep the worst-case scenario from happening; as a PSB member, he would still be capable of exonerating Banba later.

I deliberately did not mention the Detectives’ Nocturne case, the Mystery Train case, as well as the Elementary Teacher Assault case, as I don’t believe that the evidence presented in these cases can conclusively point to Rei’s true intentions. There are always possible alternative interpretations that makes his actions possibly virtuous. However, I will mention the Zero the Enforcer movie. This movie clearly lays out that Rei is definitely not a nice person, and doesn’t mind that other people knows that about him. He deliberately framed Kogoro as a terrorism suspect; fabricated evidence, bugged Conan’s phone, and was generally manipulative. Thus, from the evidence, we can conclusively say that neither manga!Rei nor movie!Rei follow the school of Virtue Ethics.

The second school of ethics we will analyze is utilitarianism. In utilitarianism, the end justifies the means. For Furuya Rei, ‘the end’ would probably be the downfall of the Black Organization, or, taking it further, the safety of Japan and its citizens. I have seen some people take the point of view that Rei had wanted to kill Sherry in the Mystery Train, so that she wouldn’t produce more works that could be used to harm innocents; if this is true, then he would definitely be an utilitarian. However, I’ve argued before that Rei had not intended to kill Shiho and instead had wanted to spirit her to safety, as she is a valuable lead into Elena Miyano’s whereabouts. Therefore, the Mystery Train case should not be taken as evidence that Rei is an utilitarian. 

As there is no evidence that Rei is an utilitarian, one way or another, one could argue that we could take Rei’s willingness to do morally-questionable things as evidence that he thinks it will lead to a better outcome for everyone, if not for one notable case: Akai Shuuichi.

In my opinion, utilitarianism is a very rational and cold moral philosophy; it is a moral school perfectly suited to geniuses, masterminds, and detectives like Rei. However, when it comes to Akai Shuuichi, we see Rei display zero reason. There is no obvious rationale why taking Akai out of the game would result in a better outcome for all, and Rei doesn’t even attempt to explain it; nonetheless, he continues to hunt Akai without any sense of guilt, which implies that he thinks hunting Akai is the correct course of action (note that I don’t necessarily think that Rei wants to kill Akai, despite what he said--more on that later). This implies that Furuya Rei does not necessarily believe in utilitarianism. 

This brings us to the last major ethical theory: Deontology. Deontology is concerned with duty; it takes motive into account more than the actions itself. And Rei has so kindly told us which duty he has dedicated himself to in the Elementary School Assault case.

That’s correct; he’s dedicated himself to his lovely, lovely Japan. Conan said it best:

“I was sure that since he said that to the FBI investigators... those beliefs!”

It becomes even clearer if you look at the Zero the Enforcer movie. There, Rei clearly states what he thought of his job to Kazami.

In other words, our job isn’t always nice or even legal, but we have to finish it because it’s our duty.

If we take the point of view that Rei subscribes to deontology, a lot of his action becomes immediately explainable. He cuts contact with his old friends all to make sure they were safe, but he risks returning Hiromitsu’s cellphone to his older brother because he feels that it’s his duty as Hiromitsu’s friend. Arguably, he hunts Akai Shuuichi out of duty to his fallen friend, and yes, to his country. Akai, after all, was not only involved in Scotch’s death; he’s also operating illegally in Rei’s territory. This would explain why Rei brings PSB agents instead BO agents into the Scarlet Showdown; if Rei intended to kill Akai one way or another, bringing BO agents is definitely the way to do it. This is because bringing PSB means Akai would fall into PSB custody, and there Rei cannot do whatever he likes with Akai; he must answer to his superiors in the PSB. I believe that despite what Akai said, here Rei had only intended to arrest Akai.

So why, then, did he say that he wished to kill Akai, right in front of Okiya Subaru’s face? This brings us to my last theory: it’s because to figure out how to act, Rei aligns each of his three faces to a different moral theory.

Amuro Tooru, quite obviously, follows virtue ethics. He is polite, kind, always helpful, always cheerful. He does not do morally questionable things; he is an upstanding member of society.

Furuya Rei, as we’ve discussed, is a deontologist.  He is dutiful to his friends and country but now he has no friends left so really it’s just his country. His ‘lover’ is Japan itself, and he is willing to do anything--anything--to keep her safe.

And Bourbon? Bourbon would probably loosely follow ethical egoism. It is out of the question for Rei to create an absolutely amoral persona for Bourbon--it would unnecessarily conflict with his deontologist morality. However, to fit in the Black Organization, he needs to create someone who would do terrible things without needing to justify it with ‘duty’ or ‘the greater good’. Someone who wouldn’t just do anything that’s asked of him too, so Rei could reasonably rein Bourbon in. Rei would probably style Bourbon as someone who looks out for his own interests, and only his own, whatever that may be.

And so when Rei wants to hunt down Shuuichi Akai, Bourbon would say that it’s because in his interest to do so--because he bears a grudge against Akai, perhaps, and as an organization member, murdering Akai is the only way to resolve it. Bourbon would investigate Okiya Subaru and corner him, but Rei wouldn’t bring the Organization into their confrontation. Bourbon would threaten Okiya Subaru with death--but Rei wouldn’t pull Okiya’s collar down and condemn him right then and there. Because at the end of the day, the one holding the wheels is Rei, not Bourbon, and whatever he may say, Furuya Rei is a dutiful police officer, and he believes in justice.

[mintchocolateleaves]

1)) Hi Mint! I've always wanted to say this to someone but never knew how to word it and if people understood what I mean, but I hope you get where I'm coming from :). So basically Kaito hasn't told Aoko his secret because he doesn't want her to hate him, since he knows how much she hates Kid. But Shinichi hasn't told Ran his secret because it's dangerous and he doesn't want her involved. So why would Gosho make Kaito lie for something so selfish?

I understand where you’re coming from anon, don’t worry! And I’ve spent some time thinking about this, and all I can come to is that I disagree on their lies being selfish / selfless.

Hear me out.

If you go on first opinions of these two, Shinichi’s intentions do come off as selfless, and Kaito’s selfish. But that’s not all. Their situations aren’t exactly black and white. In fact, their intentions are firmly stuck in the grey.

Lets split them into two. 

Okay - Shinichi. Sure, it seems selfless that he’s lying to Ran to keep her from danger, and not to involve her. But… well, she’s been involved since Shinichi decided to use Kogoro for cases to bring him closer to the BO. While he does it for selfless reasons, he’s also being quite selfish - because well, Ran’s in danger, the BO are watching the Mouri’s and doesn’t she deserve to know that?

Kaito. His situation is a little different, mainly because where Shinichi’s been forced into his situation, he’s chosen his own pathway. Not telling Aoko about KID can be seen as equal parts selfish and selfless. It’s selfish, when you think he’s keeping the truth hidden so she won’t hate him. But if you flip it ever so slightly, you could say it’s selfless because he’s making it so she won’t need to choose between her best friend and her father’s task force.

It all depends on what way you approach things. Characters are not one dimensional. They can be selfish and selfless at the same time. It’s a spectrum, and people are constantly fluctuating on it. That’s what makes them so interesting.

And that’s why I love the characters that Gosho has presented to us. Even though sometimes they may seem a little flat, when you think about them more deeply, they become so much more interesting. Whether he means to do it or not is irrelevant, because when you make it possible to read into characters with ease, and identify with them, you’re doing what you’ve set out to do, and that’s to entertain.

[tetragon4-blog]

Rereading Vol. 74-78, Chap. 785-828, Busted

There is no alternative to this post’s title, none at all! I mean... Bourbon, Sera, Akai... Conan and Ai set a new record here. But before that, let me comment on the fact that we’ve finally reached the destination of this coming-of-age story.

The Grown-Up Detective:

I admit it: I loved the case when Conan went off with the murderer to find the last victim. The deductions themselves were not as interesting as the interaction between her and Conan. He treated her like a human being, and he reached out to her, offering (fake) cooperation instead of antagnosing her. This is the correct approach to a murder-suicide candidate. You establish a personal connection, you use the “foot in the door” method, in a way.

It showed me how much progress has been made, and this is not merely a reminder of Shinichi’s sense for compassionate justice. Before, yes, he began to empathise with the culprits in order to prevent further crimes, further victims. Then, he made sure that he took the means away. However, this time, he doesn’t do that. Instead, he works with the person. This is not prevention by deprivation, but rather by offering council. It shows that Aoyama put a huge amount of effort in Conan’s character development - on the other hand, I’d say that his development has now been completed from an in-story perspective. I am somewhat worried about the fact that there is not much space left. He is no longer a blank canvas that can be explored, and this may contribute to my original assessment that the more recent chapters of the manga seem more static. The characters don’t really have anywhere to go, because many have already reached their destination.

Shinichi has now come of age.

Bourbon:

This is a small tidbit that I believe needs to be addressed. The manga never tells us whom Bourbon is thinking about. Prior to this exact moment, he had passed Okiya’s car on which Ai and the professor had been as well. Then there’s Sera who dropped into the scene like a bombshell, riding that ridiculous motorbike. Last but not least, there’s Vermouth on a bridge nearby, observing the scene.

I believe that Bourbon is talking about Sera, because he recognises her as Akai’s sister. My evidence: Following this occasion, she is approached by scar!Akai to test the waters.

As such, it is possible to deduct that he must have met her in the past. The manga later confirms this, though I haven’t reached that point yet in this rereading series. I never made the connection before that, though. It’s a good mystery story if you only see the bigger picture after the grand reveal happened.

Akai:

Very smooth, Akai. This is his version of “I know who you are.” Funnily, he took longer than Sera to make the connection, despite having had an inkling about the strange boy from the beginning. I mentioned in Akai Shuuichi that he overheard Conan use Shinichi’s voice before, yet the shrinking was too unbelievable a conclusion to make. For him, that is. Sera had an easier time, because she knows about Mary. This points towards the fact that Akai is unaware of Mary’s condition - either because they deliberately kept him in the dark or because they fell out of contact prior to the incident.

Sera:

When the kids show Sera Shiho’s picture, she immediately makes the connection: She knows Ai, and the physical similarity is uncanny. The shrinking itself is the most logical and easiest explanation, especially since she already knows about Conan/Shinichi. To her, this is unexpected - it means two things: There is a way to undo the drug’s effect, and also, Conan may be deeper involved in this than they originally thought. He has already found another victim.

One may speculate on why Mary is avoiding Ai and Conan. Sera probably told her about the antidote, yet she doesn’t approach them. Apparently, she is not interested in returning to her former body. Yet, she came back to Japan, the homebase of the BO. For what reason? Sera believed her brother to have died.. this is not a rescue mission. It is not about the antidote. This is a question that the manga has glossed over so far, and I think it is crucial to understanding the final BO arc. There are many questions left, and the Rum arc probably will not address them. Instead, its resolution will probably lead Conan back to Mary.

[alternatefandom]

Furuya Rei and his (faux) grey morality, or, why Furuya was not wrong to blame Akai Shuuichi

This isn’t much of a meta, but I’ve seen some things in the fandom that bothered me lately about Furuya Rei, his morality, and his anger at Scotch’s death, which some seems to think is misplaced. I wrote this meta to explain my thoughts about Furuya’s motives and why, despite everything, he is still portrayed as a protagonist.

Furuya Rei a.k.a. Amuro Tooru was first introduced as one of the suspects for Bourbon, and so the narrative naturally cast a lot of suspicion into the way he behaves. However, out of our three suspects, he is the one who is ultimately revealed to be the real Bourbon--a formidable enemy with intellect to rival our protagonists. As an organization member, we see him work against our protagonists multiple times, even though he is later revealed to be a PSB member under NOC, meaning that he should have been on the protagonists’ side all along. I’ve heard some people say this fascinating reveal turns him into a prime example of gray morality--he should be a protagonist, and yet he does questionable things to reach his goals... or does he?

As an antagonist, Bourbon’s two major actions were almost getting Shuuichi Akai and Sherry killed. At the first glance, this shows him to be a highly dangerous antagonist--were it not for Bourbon, Shuuichi Akai and Sherry would’ve been safe, and the Black Organization would’ve remained ignorant of their fates. However, later we learned that Bourbon is an agent under NOC, so what does this mean for Furuya Rei? Is he truly so amoral that he would harm innocent people to keep his cover?

Before we talk about the Akai issue, let’s talk about Sherry. Why would Bourbon, a PSB agent, hunt down a fellow traitor whom he had no quarrel with?

The answer is protection. Not for Bourbon, but for Sherry.

When the mystery train case happened, Shinichi & co. are still operating under the assumption that Bourbon is an enemy, and thus they did their best to thwart him. This proves to be an excellent camouflage of Bourbon’s motives--namely, that he never intended to kill Sherry at all, but rather take her under his protection.

Where is the proof, you ask? Well...

That’s right. Bourbon outright told Sherry that she would be collected by ‘his colleagues in helicopter’. Last time we heard of it, the Black Organization wanted Sherry dead. Want to bet that his ‘colleagues’ aren’t from the Black Organization at all, but the PSB?

Even more, he was surprised when he learned that Vermouth had filled the storage train with explosives. He then proceeded to change his plans, asking Sherry to step aside with him, probably so he can sneak her out some other way. Even when he thought that Vermouth had shown up, he was still determined to take Sherry with him, and not let Vermouth get her hands on Sherry.

And now that we’ve cleared up his actions in the mystery train, let’s look at his motives for chasing Shuuichi Akai, a.k.a. Rye, his fellow double agent, one of the few people who really should have been his ally. Again, here, his motives are prone to misconceptions--I’ve even seen some people take the point of view that Scotch’s death is Amuro’s unwitting fault. I disagree. I think that Scotch’s death is very much on the hands of the FBI agents.

As they are both enemies of the Black Organization, it seemed reasonable that Akai and Bourbon should be on the same side--especially once it was revealed that Akai was a double agent infiltrating on behalf of the FBI. However, Scotch’s death put a damper on this alliance. Scotch, after all, was a childhood friend of Bourbon, who committed suicide in front of Akai when he found out that his cover was blown. Bourbon, of course, would be furious at Rye, because in his mind, Rye was the one who forced him to commit suicide. Even worse, Rye used Scotch’s death to further his position in the organization. However, later, Rye was revealed to be a double agent, so shouldn’t Bourbon start seeing him in a more positive light?

Nope. The reveal that Rye was an FBI agent would just cast his actions in a far, far worse light.

Instead of a criminal who (understandably) eliminated an enemy, Akai was now a foreign agent, operating way outside of his jurisdiction, who killed a fellow agent (his childhood friend!) to further their own agenda within the organization. Even if Bourbon had figured out that Scotch’s death was an accident, he’d probably think that Scotch’s death was, actually, entirely avoidable if the FBI had not operated so far outside their jurisdiction without even informing the local authorities. If they had, Akai might have known from the beginning that Scotch and Bourbon were fellow double agents--Scotch might not have needed to die at all. 

Seen from this perspective, Shuuichi Akai no longer seemed so white, does he? No wonder that Furuya decided that turnabout’s fair play--if Akai had sacrificed a PSB agent to further his own ambitions in the organization, why shouldn’t Bourbon do the same to him? Akai and the FBI certainly had a lot to make up for to Bourbon and the PSB... Even if, in the end, cooperation would certainly lead to a better outcome, Furuya still has more than enough reason to mistrust and even hold a grudge against the FBI.

Time will tell which of them could become the bigger man.

Edit: Scotch’s cover was blown way before Akai confronted him. Thanks to @anti-villains​ and @dreamythoughts21​ for pointing that out.

[alternatefandom]

Akai's Movements and Motives in the Scarlet Arc, or: Akai blew his own cover to play with Rei and I don’t see enough people talk about it.

You’re all familiar with Scar Akai. This particular appearance was taken from chapter 801, after the Detectives' Nocturne case where Rei saw Sera for the first time. This is also the last time Rei was disguised as Scar Akai. I believe this is the moment where Rei believed that Akai is truly dead. In other words, Conan’s plan to fake Akai’s death for the organization would have worked perfectly...

...if Akai hadn’t gone and blown his own cover in the Mystery Train.

The Scarlet Arc confirms that Akai baited Rei intentionally because Rei "isn’t someone he wants as an enemy” (and he'd always suspected Rei’s allegiance anyway). If we consider the fact that Akai is in cahoots with Conan, this may be the reason Conan behaved so oddly in the delivery van case.

Conan’s action in this case has bugged me for a long time. At this point, Conan should think that Amuro is just an organization member. He definitely should not have expected Amuro to save the detective boys, especially with such a vague and unreliable way of asking for help! But here, Conan actually seems to count on Amuro to go out of his way to save the Detective Boys--and not only that, his trust was ultimately vindicated. I think here, Conan may have been testing Amuro to see if there’s any truth to Akai’s suspicions. In the end, Amuro definitely delivers; how else would he be able to track down the delivery van without any police involvement? Unlike Conan, Amuro has no access to the package recipients' address, so he cannot deduce the delivery van's route and general timeline. He’d either have to access CCTV cameras, or find out which company the license plates belong to, and I don’t think those kinds of information are available to the general public.

Going back to Akai, then, why doesn’t he want Rei as an enemy? Is it just because Rei is too damn smart to fight, or does Akai already suspect that Rei, just like Scotch, belongs to the PSB? There's no evidence, one way or another. Conan doesn't seem to suspect that Rei belongs to the PSB until Rei's unusual reaction to the word 'zero', but then again, it's clear that Akai doesn't tell Conan everything and vice versa. 

Personally, I think after the tennis court case, Akai only told Conan that he baited Rei because he may be a NOC and a potential ally. This would explain Conan's shift in attitude between the tennis court case and the delivery van case. It wasn't, however, until after the teacher assault case that Rei's slip up pushed Conan to compare notes with Akai, ending up with them figuring out Furuya Rei’s true identity.

 I use this moment way too much in my metas 

From this moment on, we see Akai and Conan face Rei with two different sets of expectations. Akai, considering his past with Scotch, expected Rei to come to settle a personal grudge. He expected Rei to come alone, go after Akai alone, because the grudge was personal, between Rei and Akai himself. He was surprised when Rei comes with his PSB colleagues, and took it as a sign that Rei’s grudge is deeper than he’d thought. Conan, however, had no idea about Scotch. More importantly, he had witnessed the above moment, and so he knew that Rei’s hostility extended to the rest of the FBI--a sentiment that Conan (hopefully correctly) interprets as stemming from his personal pride as a PSB agent. 

As we see in the story, it was Conan’s prediction that turned out to be correct. However, thanks to Akai’s words and Rei’s own attitude as Bourbon, people generally think that Rei did intend to hold the FBI agents hostage and get Akai killed as revenge. A deeper look at Rei’s actions, however, shows that Rei’s chosen form of revenge was likely just trying to kick the FBI out of Japan. If Rei really was trying to get Akai killed, after all, he only had to bring the Black Organization into the Scarlet Showdown instead of PSB agents. Bringing PSB agents would mean answering to PSB higher-ups, who don’t hold personal grudges against Akai and are unlikely to let Akai get killed just like that.

If my conjecture above is right, this brings an interesting dimension about Akai’s feelings on Scotch’s death. Just where did Akai’s prediction on Rei’s chosen form of revenge come from? Was it truly based on the real Furuya Rei? Was it based on the way Rei acts as Bourbon? Or does it stem from his own guilt about Scotch’s suicide? Either way, I hope this meta has added something to our thoughts on Akai and Rei’s relationship, which has to be one of the most interesting bits of characterization in Detective Conan’s plotline.