Anokata theory: The boss may be...

[kuro_shiro]

*a random thought*
does anokata actually exist in gosho's imagination as a distinct person with a name ,face and body?
OR when the showdown time comes gosho will invent a character and look up a random volume and find a name and say ,  my dear fans , this(random name in a random file) is anokata?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

...Gosho's hints: "The true name of the BO is tied to the identity of it's leader" and "The boss appeared in the Manga in some form".

Sorry if you have heard me say this more than once. The interview says that...

The boss's NAME has appeared in the manga in some form.

I keep making the distinction because if the boss was in the manga, you could maybe flip through it and find him. If only the name has appeared it is highly possible that the boss hasn't even appeared yet.

[Jd-]

I still feel comfortable stating the boss isn't a character that we already know as there's simply no compelling case to be made for anyone. Characters in Conan very, very rarely serve double roles, and even more rarely deviate from their original roles in any meaningful capacity.

[El Huesudo II]

I still feel comfortable stating the boss isn't a character that we already know as there's simply no compelling case to be made for anyone. Characters in Conan very, very rarely serve double roles, and even more rarely deviate from their original roles in any meaningful capacity.

But then again, doesn't Conan HIMSELF serve a double role of sorts? It'd only be suitable that his nemesis also served a double role.

Sorry if you have heard me say this more than once. The interview says that...

The boss's NAME has appeared in the manga in some form.

I keep making the distinction because if the boss was in the manga, you could maybe flip through it and find him. If only the name has appeared it is highly possible that the boss hasn't even appeared yet.

I guess one could say that. However, Aoyama-sensei has always laid out every needed element required for the mystery from the very beginning of it, or at least that's been the case for as long as I can recall; so I wouldn't put it past him to put that man himself looking right at the reader in several (if not plenty of) panels.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Sorry if you have heard me say this more than once. The interview says that...

The boss's NAME has appeared in the manga in some form.

I keep making the distinction because if the boss was in the manga, you could maybe flip through it and find him. If only the name has appeared it is highly possible that the boss hasn't even appeared yet.

I guess one could say that. However, Aoyama-sensei has always laid out every needed element required for the mystery from the very beginning of it, or at least that's been the case for as long as I can recall; so I wouldn't put it past him to put that man himself looking right at the reader in several (if not plenty of) panels.

It's definitely true that the boss could be in the manga.  I just want to make sure people understand the distinction though so they don't inform other people of the wrong thing -- I've corrected this boss thing so many times that I put it in the wiki.

[MagicianUndertheMoonlight]

I had thought about the Suzuki Financial Corp as potentially related to the BO at some point, but I couldn't find anything about the company that connected it to the BOs goals. I'd find it to be a shot in the dark if it turned out Anokata was a part of the group.

To me, Gosho seems like a very nostalgic man deeply enamored with the culture of Japan, as seen through the many aspects of Japanese culture we visit incidentally through the case files. I imagine Anokata to be similar. For some reason, the mention of Shiho in the record of winners in the mermaid case sticks with me, where a general and the prime minister were also mentioned.

[M.Holmes]

I still feel comfortable stating the boss isn't a character that we already know as there's simply no compelling case to be made for anyone. Characters in Conan very, very rarely serve double roles, and even more rarely deviate from their original roles in any meaningful capacity.

I would like to think this as well since there are really no characters so far that seem to be a good fit for Anokata, but I find it incredibly unlikely that the primary antagonist hasn't appeared within the first 800+ chapters. Although so little is known about Anokata that he could literally change his/her true identity to a different character entirely and we'd never know that it happened.

Even though it probably isn't true, I like to think that littered throughout the manga there is actually an extremely subtle set of clues and details that would allow one to correctly deduce Anokata's identity. Like if Shinichi was somehow able to have seen all the scenes and details that were given to the reader, he'd be able to figure it out. The major clue is the ringtone, but the chances of someone who isn't extremely savvy to the Japanese language/culture figuring out anything from that is slim.

I've thought about re-reading the manga and combing through every page to see if I could pick up on something, but I can never find the time.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I think being specific about the name of the boss appearing instead of just saying the simpler "boss has appeared" was an inadvertent hint that the boss hasn't appeared yet in person.

Gosho has highly probably rigged it so that it will be impossible for anyone to guess the boss and have proof before the boss arc. If anyone guesses the boss at this stage, it is only because of hunches and weak suspicions -- there are not enough clues yet for a proof. Maybe there are some sort of Japanese wordplay based clues that I am unaware of, but good luck trying to figure those out.

I've thought about re-reading the manga and combing through every page to see if I could pick up on something, but I can never find the time.

I've done this solely for a boss search once before, all 730? odd chapters at the time. After doing that I decided that the boss probably hasn't appeared yet, at least in the current timeline. I didn't think anyone had the necessary qualities, so I would up compiling my research into something called the not the boss list.

I didn't notice anything secret or unusual in the BO's actions or going on around Conan attributable to a boss that has appeared that you couldn't also explain by more normal means or separate out from the way Gosho writes stuff to push the plot forward which is ocassionally awkward and coincidental. I did find some unexplained things related to the current actions of the Org, but nothing that pointed to a boss. (Who tipped Gin/Vodka off about seeing Scar Akai at the Beika Dept. store, but that wouldn't be the boss because the boss known the plan. Who was the old man at Akai's first meeting - not the boss because you wouldn't risk top agent.)

Sure there are strange gaps and things that I think are suspicious, like the complete absence of Mouri family history and relatives, Vermouth's husband, Vermouth personal dislike for the Miyanos, and the Miyano past timeline, but none of those are concrete clues that narrow anything down.

[El Huesudo II]

Now that you mention the Mouri family, you reminded me of something: Wasn't Kogoro weirdly absent for a good part of the Clash of Red and Black? His absence even mentioned by Ran, but later (IIRC) left unaddressed?

Maybe I missed something, but it left quite a large question mark in my head.

Though I don't think this would be at all related to the boss (unless later on it was revealed that it was. That only if I'm right and it's an unresolved issue...).

But going back to "who's the boss", I don't think it'd be necessary to show a character with That Man's qualities around, as he might simply be hiding them or feigning ignorance/stupidity. So That Man could actually be someone who's always there, but we're led to think he's not.

I think being specific about the name of the boss appearing instead of just saying the simpler "boss has appeared" was an inadvertent hint that the boss hasn't appeared yet in person.

I dunno... Saying "the boss's name has appeared in the manga" is not saying "the boss hasn't appeared in the manga yet, only his name". By saying he put the name in the manga, he could be confirming that That Man is not a yet-unnamed character, while not having to confirm that he already got an appearance in the story.

And this is Aoyama-sensei we're talking about, the guy who likes to play with what's said and what's not, and what's seen and what's not, in order to create his murder cases. I would imagine he'd carefully pick what he says in interviews.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

And this is Aoyama-sensei we're talking about, the guy who likes to play with what's said and what's not, and what's seen and what's not, in order to create his murder cases. I would imagine he'd carefully pick what he says in interviews.

This is coming from the guy who said in an interview back in March 2010...

Aoyama: If Conan's ally's highest ranking member is Akai,
then it would be interesting if there were characters with Gundam-based names in the Black Organization as well.
Like "Amuro Tooru" (laughs)
For Gundam, the good guys and bad guys should be reversed. In this case,
the voice actor is more or less decided (laughs).

青山「コナンの味方であるキャラクターの最高ランクにあたるのが赤井でしたから、
　　　黒ずくめの組織側にもガンダム系の名前のキャラが出せたら面白いですよね。
　　　例えば『安室徹』とか(笑)
　　　ガンダムと敵味方が逆なのがいい。そうなると、
　　　声は誰がやるか決まってしまいますが(笑)」

And when Amuro appeared in October 2011, Gosho put this for Sherry's Soliloquy that week.

出たわね!!連邦の白い悪魔が・・・
Appeared!! The Federation's White Devil . . .

... I think this example adequately demonstrates Gosho's interview behavior ....

[leokiko]

He was really obvious at the time. I actually remember pretty much almost everyone going Amuro = Bourbon right when the file was released.

[Jd-]

When I see Gosho interviews, he always seems really excited to get to talk about the series to the outside world.

[GinRei]

When I see Gosho interviews, he always seems really excited to get to talk about the series to the outside world.

I prefer that to outright lies like you get with some (Naruto's writer, for example), or mere "No Comment" answers.

[milk_hater]

If Gosho said that the boss appeared in some way already in the manga, it's plausible to believe the clue was lost in translation if it was encoded within someone's dialogue, right?

I'm just speculating at this point...

[saorin]

I still feel comfortable stating the boss isn't a character that we already know as there's simply no compelling case to be made for anyone. Characters in Conan very, very rarely serve double roles, and even more rarely deviate from their original roles in any meaningful capacity.

I am quite positive the Boss is NOT someone who belongs to the circle of prominent characters that are recurring on a more or less regular basis.
That is to say, I'm pretty sure Aoyama is not playing some wicked game here and portraying someone as a good person when they are actually the ultra nemesis of the series.
This assumption of mine is basically ruling out people such as Heiji or Takagi (to name some obvious ones), but also  Agasa, Kogoro, Eri or Yusaku. These characters have gotten so much "affection" from Aoyama that I refuse to believe they could be proper candidates for the identity of Anokata.

Then again, one of the greatest and most popular plot devices is the revelation of the "big, bad enemy" who turns out to be a (formerly) trusted companion. This is always stirring up many emotions and is thus probably rightfully liked.
Though I believe this would bring the greatest enjoyment story-wise and in terms of suspense,.... I can't really see Gosho pulling that off. =D