Postby KnightusMaximus » March 15th, 2011, 3:16 pm
Personal opinions...!
I wouldn't want to see Ran go through any more hardship by introducing a love rival for her. The poor woman has sat around, completely in the dark about what's going on, waiting for her supposed childhood friend to come back from a series of never-ending cases which apparently are more important than her. She has shown an enormous degree of strength and loyalty to Shinichi throughout the emotional turmoil of separation. Haven't we seen Ran cry in sadness enough already? Left speculating about whether hearts grow apart over time, baking cookies that will "burst into tears of melancholy", depressingly telling Conan "I wish you were Shinichi", or left to sadly wonder why Conan would keep her in the dark about being Shinichi? Finally a bit of happy news has just blown her way.
On the other hand, despite Conan's fits of jealousy, I can't go so far as to say Eisuke or Araide were ever serious rivals for Conan. The issue in volume 24 was a simple misunderstanding (ending with Ran, as always, devoted to Shinichi), and the supposed love-scene in volume 26 was only a play - wasn't even the real Araide - and in any case was actually acted out by Shinichi. Eisuke, meanwhile, never even mentioned his feelings to anyone until, literally, the chapter that he left in. He told Shinichi these feelings, not Ran, and Shinichi's somewhat selfish response reflected this to me: no matter how happy you say you'll make Ran, only I have the right to confess to her.
I feel like a true potential rival for Shinichi has been hinted at since Volume 33, so if the story proceeds along that path I'd happily embrace it. In V33-9 Conan told Haibara that he can't confess to Ran how he feels because, "She would want to see me. If I said how I feel about her, she would miss me even more... all this time, I've been breaking her heart by keeping her waiting, yet I still can't appear before her eyes. I never want to see her cry anymore, even if it means I no longer exist in her heart." Haibara later thinks, in that same file, that "flowers are fragile and ephemeral... even if you meant to protect them with a surrounding fence from wind and rain, the flowers die without sunlight. And a spindly fence has no power against a strong wind. Are you fully aware of that? Kudo?" Sera could be that strong wind.
(Besides Shinichi is the one who already confessed, not Ran. Ran is the one holding up the relationship now, albeit unintentionally. She's the one who's still a viable target for affection. I don't seriously believe Shinichi would ever "take back" a confession, so I don't exactly see much potential for love drama there. Sonoko, however, might try and encourage Ran to hookup with Sera without even thinking of it as cheating on Shinichi. From both a love interest and rivalry perspective, Sera is a greater threat as a man than as a woman.)
Last edited by
KnightusMaximus on March 15th, 2011, 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.