New Member Here - A few theories

[acerola21]

If Ran thinks "I think I've met him before" it doesn't prove anything and the whole Okiya thing is up for bigger debate and mystery, since there are many people who Ran met before. (for example - some people believed Okiya was Yusaku).

It's not just one little detail that bothers me about the whole Okiya = Akai theory - like I said, someone leaked information about Camel's murderer case from inside the FBI, and the ones we were shown to have known about the case are Jodie, James, and Akai.  Also, that glasses person who looks like Okiya and the hat lady who appear two hundred chapters before Okiya appears - how do you explain them?  Clearly, when they were introduced, characters like Okiya didn't exist, so it would be quite safe to sneak in a mystery character Gosho wanted to use later.  Also, from the canon so far, Akai's goal is to catch Gin, and he's never mentioned Bourbon, though apparently he's supposed to be his great enemy.  Remember that Akai's "koibito" is Gin, and they haven't caught him yet - Akai attempted to do so two years ago, and I suspect that he still wants to, due to Akemi's death.  It's not just Ran recognizing Okiya while Jodie not recognizing him - it's a whole slew of little details that doesn't make sense to me.  I won't be happy with the Okiya = Akai theory until those are effectively explained.

Eri had a tortoiseshell before the Russian blue, and had it for a while. Ran said it was pretty old when it died (vol51.ch7p~4). Aoyama even featured it in one of the manga art calendars.

Eri is still unlikely to be the lady over the phone, though, because as I said she doesn't spontaneously speak English.  She would have spoken the English line in Japanese if she was the lady over the phone.

[Kor]

Also, that glasses person who looks like Okiya

It's a shadowy figure - you can't tell he looks like Okiya, it can be any guy with glasses. If it is indeed as you say, this whole Okiya mystery is the worst as of yet, simply bcause no reader would even think about this possibility (except you), not to mention that no one can tell if Ran met that guy or not.

It's not just Ran recognizing Okiya while Jodie not recognizing him - it's a whole slew of little details that doesn't make sense to me.  I won't be happy with the Okiya = Akai theory until those are effectively explained.

In a mystery, you need to look even at the tiniest of details, true. However, this is a manga and the editors can tell you "finish the series in the next 10 chapters" and they can also tell you "continue for another 100 chapters" When Gosho started, he couldn't tell it would be a hit and that it would be so long, and he couldn't have come up with a story that wraps 1000 files. I doubt he intended to include the FBI and CIA at the start, but he needed to continue the story as he went, so continuty does get damaged due to the length of the series. How come Gin seems right-handed in the first chapter, but later he becomes left-handed?

someone leaked information about Camel's murderer case from inside the FBI, and the ones we were shown to have known about the case are Jodie, James, and Akai.

And the police... 
But perhaps Gosho simply expected us to understand that the B.O. has many agents and one of them found out about the case. Not everything has to be explained in detail.

[acerola21]

It's a shadowy figure - you can't tell he looks like Okiya, it can be any guy with glasses. If it is indeed as you say, this whole Okiya mystery is the worst as of yet, simply bcause no reader would even think about this possibility (except you), not to mention that no one can tell if Ran met that guy or not.

At that point, Gosho could have used anyone from the FBI, be it Jodie or James or whoever else, to trail Ai, but he didn't - he chose those shadowy figures, one with glasses and the other with a hat.  It would have been perfectly fine to use characters already present, but he didn't - and if I learned anything from re-reading the B.O. chapters, is that Gosho plans ahead.  Haibara didn't just show up out of nowhere - she was mentioned when Akemi died, a good hundred chapters before her appearance; Vermouth isn't just some random B.O. member - she not only was Chris Vineyard, but she turned out to be Sharon Vineyard, who turns out to be Yukiko's friend, who turns out to have trained under Touichi and that's why she knows how to disguise herself; Akai isn't just some random FBI officer, he was Akemi's boyfriend beforehand; and so on and so forth.  When Gosho plans a plot, he plans deep.  Like I said, I thought for the longest time that Okiya = Akai for many reasons, but once I re-read that chapter and saw that shadowy figure with the glasses, who looks like Okiya and who appears a good two hundred chapters before Okiya's appearance, it was clear to me that something was up.

I'm not saying that the Okiya = Akai theory is 100% wrong - I accept that it's still possible, but you've got to realize that Okiya =/= Akai is quite possible as well, whoever he turns out to be.  And to try to find an explanation that fits, I came up with Okiya=Bourbon=good person theory, but if you're not happy with it you can come up with your own theory that explains everything and present it to us and see how we'll react.

In a mystery, you need to look even at the tiniest of details, true. However, this is a manga and the editors can tell you "finish the series in the next 10 chapters" and they can also tell you "continue for another 100 chapters" When Gosho started, he couldn't tell it would be a hit and that it would be so long, and he couldn't have come up with a story that wraps 1000 files. I doubt he intended to include the FBI and CIA at the start, but he needed to continue the story as he went, so continuty does get damaged due to the length of the series.

I, too, thought that Gosho wasn't that tight-knit at story-telling - not necessarily a loose one, but not all that tight, either.  But like I said, when I re-read the B.O. chapters, I realized that Gosho goes deep when he weaves a story.  You're right that the FBI plot doesn't seem like it's been planned in the beginning, but Gosho does seem to be aware that FBI is an US agency.  When Ran tells Conan about how she saw Akai with an FBI during the Golden Apple case, Conan says something along the lines of "No way!  What's FBI doing in Japan?" (File 380 p.6), and when Eisuke talks about how he wants to become an CIA, Conan wonders if Eisuke's aware that to work for the CIA is to work for the US government (File 621 p.12) - and the CIA seems to have been in Japan before the FBI, since the CIA has been around for at least ten years according to the Mizunashi cases, while the FBI has been around for at least five according to Akai's infiltration into the B.O., which makes sense since CIA handles more international cases.  Also, it's been shown that Vermouth was active in the US about twenty to thirty years ago, when Vermouth killed Jodie's parents because Jodie's father's an FBI looking up on Sharon Vineyard, so it wouldn't be strange for the FBI to try to track down a criminal they were originally investigating in their own country.  So Gosho's plots with FBI and the CIA are actually quite well planned.

So I wouldn't underestimate Gosho's ability to tell a tight-knit story.

And the police... 
But perhaps Gosho simply expected us to understand that the B.O. has many agents and one of them found out about the case. Not everything has to be explained in detail.

I can concede that point, but I still stand by the fact that Okiya=/=Akai is fully possible.

[Kor]

It's a shadowy figure - you can't tell he looks like Okiya, it can be any guy with glasses. If it is indeed as you
At that point, Gosho could have used anyone from the FBI, be it Jodie or James or whoever else, to trail Ai, but he didn't - he chose those shadowy figures, one with glasses and the other with a hat.  It would have been perfectly fine to use characters already present, but he didn't - and if I learned anything from re-reading the B.O. chapters, is that Gosho plans ahead.

Actually, I don't believe it would be perfectly fine to use already existing characters because an author isn't forced to use only characters that he uses occasionally, he can create more characters even if they don't appear later.

and if I learned anything from re-reading the B.O. chapters, is that Gosho plans ahead.  Haibara didn't just show up out of nowhere - she was mentioned when Akemi died, a good hundred chapters before her appearance; Vermouth isn't just some random B.O. member - she not only was Chris Vineyard, but she turned out to be Sharon Vineyard, who turns out to be Yukiko's friend, who turns out to have trained under Touichi and that's why she knows how to disguise herself; Akai isn't just some random FBI officer, he was Akemi's boyfriend beforehand; and so on and so forth.  When Gosho plans a plot, he plans deep.  Like I said, I thought for the longest time that Okiya = Akai for many reasons, but once I re-read that chapter and saw that shadowy figure with the glasses, who looks like Okiya and who appears a good two hundred chapters before Okiya's appearance, it was clear to me that something was up.

I think you are giving Gosho too much credit here. He is a good story teller and the thing you described is using an old material (Akemi) and combine it with new material (Akai, FBI)
Haibara was obviously planned beforehand. As for Akai, you can't be sure. Do note that the editors maybe didn't want the plot to progress too much since the series was so good, so that is why Haibara came much later.

When Gosho plans a plot, he plans deep.

but he didn't plan a plot for 700 files. No manga author would. Kir/Eisuke/CIA were obviously new material. True, the plot was planned since Kir's first appearance, but there was no hint to know something like this would happen.

I'm an author myself and I as well plan whatever plot I have to be deep. And I as well like to reuse old material, making a something from chapter 3 appear suddenly in the last chapter, showing it had a large impact on the story even if back then it looked minoric and unimportant. Gosho does that too, however we can't think that's the case regarding everything. He is allowed to provide new material which has no connection to earlier (though he decided against it and made Bourbon to be the one who hates Akai the most even though Akai has never spoke of him, therefore breaking continuty. Also the romance with Jodie and Akai has never come before, but Gosho used the same trick he used for Akemi's and Akai's relationship - flashback which proves he didn't plan EVERYTHING beforehand)

but if you're not happy with it you can come up with your own theory that explains everything and present it to us and see how we'll react.

ehh...check out Chekhov MacGuffin's sig and you can find there the theory which I believe in. It clears every detail as far as I'm concerned. No need to think of new theories if the correct one is already there.

[acerola21]

ehh...check out Chekhov MacGuffin's sig and you can find there the theory which I believe in. It clears every detail as far as I'm concerned. No need to think of new theories if the correct one is already there.

I have, actually - and I like I said many times, I used to believe that Okiya = Akai - but the little details just aren't adding up.  I suppose that my main argument really lies on the shadowy figures who were in File 419.  I suppose that it's possible that Aoyama really could pop in those characters without ever revealing who they were, but - it just bugs me how similar this situation is to the Araide=Vermouth while Jodie=FBI plot.  They're nearly identical!  Most readers would assume that Okiya=/=Bourbon by now.

It's just - I don't know, maybe I am overestimating Gosho.    I just feel like Okiya = Akai would be too easy, and doesn't feel as twisted as Gosho's stories usually are - or maybe I'm just too used to the way DC stories go now and am trying to get more out of it. Hmm.

I still think that it's possible that Okiya =/= Akai though.   I wouldn't call Okiya = Akai definite, yet.

[Abs.]

So we are striking out completely the possibility that the Glasses Man and Hat Lady are James and Jodie, are we?  At the time, we were supposed to not have any idea that James and Jodie were working with Akai, nor any idea they were FBI agents.  It follows that we were not supposed to be able to see who they were.

[acerola21]

James has been known to work with Akai since File 327 p. 18.  I'm pretty sure that the glasses man and the hat lady aren't James and Jodie - they appeared around File 419.

[shinichi1977]

ehh...check out Chekhov MacGuffin's sig and you can find there the theory which I believe in. It clears every detail as far as I'm concerned. No need to think of new theories if the correct one is already there.

I have, actually - and I like I said many times, I used to believe that Okiya = Akai - but the little details just aren't adding up.  I suppose that my main argument really lies on the shadowy figures who were in File 419.  I suppose that it's possible that Aoyama really could pop in those characters without ever revealing who they were, but - it just bugs me how similar this situation is to the Araide=Vermouth while Jodie=FBI plot.  They're nearly identical!  Most readers would assume that Okiya=/=Bourbon by now.

It's just - I don't know, maybe I am overestimating Gosho.    I just feel like Okiya = Akai would be too easy, and doesn't feel as twisted as Gosho's stories usually are - or maybe I'm just too used to the way DC stories go now and am trying to get more out of it. Hmm.

I still think that it's possible that Okiya =/= Akai though.   I wouldn't call Okiya = Akai definite, yet.

Hello there

The real mystery is not why Akai could be Okiya, but rather how, when and with which effort was Raiha Falls crafted. Gosho implies it is him and takes away the vital clues to stay ambiguous. As for file 419: do you see on which side the driver is or the gender of the smoking person? The C-1500 is an American model in original form, hence the side of the driver is on the left but in most  cases with Japanese cars they are on the right.

Shadowy figures BTW seems to be either part of an eerily long plot or sometimes he just draws characters whom we never get to see, like Calvados or the Werewolf Man.

[acerola21]

Hi shinichi1977!

The real mystery is not why Akai could be Okiya, but rather how, when and with which effort was Raiha Falls crafted. Gosho implies it is him and takes away the vital clues to stay ambiguous.

The real mystery isn't why Akai could be Okiya?  How so?

Well, I have a pretty good idea how Akai faked his death (and I'm sure that you guys do, too) - though you're right that we don't know what Akai was planning to do after his death.  Did his plans stop at faking his death or was he going to do something after?  When did he concoct the plan?  And how does Conan seem to know that Akai is alive, when no one told him that Akai died, much less how he died?  Maybe Conan was involved in the planning process - but I'm sure that you guys started speculating on that already, I need to start reading some older threads, ha ha.

As for file 419: do you see on which side the driver is or the gender of the smoking person? The C-1500 is an American model in original form, hence the side of the driver is on the left but in most  cases with Japanese cars they are on the right.

Wait, are you implying that the car the glasses dude and the hat lady is driving is C-1500, Akai's car?  You're right that the car is not Japanese, but it doesn't look like a C-1500.

As for the gender of the Glasses Man - here's the best shot I can find, and the body looks like that of a man's - though maybe we have another master of disguise or she's a butch looking girl or something, ha ha, but I think that the glasses person is most likely a glasses man, though you're right that we can't exclude other possibilities yet.

Shadowy figures BTW seems to be either part of an eerily long plot or sometimes he just draws characters whom we never get to see, like Calvados or the Werewolf Man.

Yeah, it's been bothering me why Calvados' face never showed up.  Korn mentioned how Vermouth used Calvados because Calvados was in love with Vermouth, and since Vermouth seems to have met Calvados at an airport and therefore Calvados was somewhere overseas, and since Vermouth was doing something in New York that lead to the FBI to chase her a year ago during the Golden Apple case, which might involve Calvados - so I'm hoping that Gosho would eventually revealed what happened in New York and reveal Calvados' face at some point.  LOL can you tell that I love crazy speculations?  I also expect a heck of a lot out of Gosho . . . ^^;

And Werewolf Man?  Hmm, I don't recall him - are you talking about the off-season Halloween party that Vermouth hosted?

[mangaluva]

Hi shinichi1977!

The real mystery is not why Akai could be Okiya, but rather how, when and with which effort was Raiha Falls crafted. Gosho implies it is him and takes away the vital clues to stay ambiguous.

The real mystery isn't why Akai could be Okiya?  How so?

Well, I have a pretty good idea how Akai faked his death (and I'm sure that you guys do, too) - though you're right that we don't know what Akai was planning to do after his death.  Did his plans stop at faking his death or was he going to do something after?  When did he concoct the plan?  And how does Conan seem to know that Akai is alive, when no one told him that Akai died, much less how he died?  Maybe Conan was involved in the planning process - but I'm sure that you guys started speculating on that already, I need to start reading some older threads, ha ha.

I personally think Conan was involved with the plan- he didn't seem surprised when informed that Akai had died, and i'm personally convinced that the odd little scene in the hospital, where Conan childishly suggests using Agasa's car and opens his phone and Akai deliberately closes it, was done just so that Jodie would know that his fingerprints were on the phone. It's just an utterly bizarre little scene otherwise. But stuff like this is all over the older Akai speculation threads, yeah.

Shadowy figures BTW seems to be either part of an eerily long plot or sometimes he just draws characters whom we never get to see, like Calvados or the Werewolf Man.

Yeah, it's been bothering me why Calvados' face never showed up.  Korn mentioned how Vermouth used Calvados because Calvados was in love with Vermouth, and since Vermouth seems to have met Calvados at an airport and therefore Calvados was somewhere overseas, and since Vermouth was doing something in New York that lead to the FBI to chase her a year ago during the Golden Apple case, which might involve Calvados - so I'm hoping that Gosho would eventually revealed what happened in New York and reveal Calvados' face at some point.  LOL can you tell that I love crazy speculations?  I also expect a heck of a lot out of Gosho . . . ^^;

And Werewolf Man?  Hmm, I don't recall him - are you talking about the off-season Halloween party that Vermouth hosted?

I think there's more to come with Calvados. I don't think Gosho would have bothered to hide his face like this if all he was going to do was get shot by Akai. Either he looks like someone, implying that he was related to someone and this is somehow important, or he's not dead and is going to reappear. At the rate the plot's currently moving, we may not know for years. -_-

[acerola21]

I personally think Conan was involved with the plan- he didn't seem surprised when informed that Akai had died, and i'm personally convinced that the odd little scene in the hospital, where Conan childishly suggests using Agasa's car and opens his phone and Akai deliberately closes it, was done just so that Jodie would know that his fingerprints were on the phone. It's just an utterly bizarre little scene otherwise. But stuff like this is all over the older Akai speculation threads, yeah.

I agree - I get that feeling, too.  I don't think that Conan was even told that Akai died - at least, I don't remember anyone telling him.  The only person who came close to suggesting it was Eisuke, when he said "someone died in the FBI", but otherwise all the clue Conan has is that his cell phone's serial number changed . . . unless I'm not remembering something right. -_-"

EDIT:  There I go again, sprouting off onto my speculations without checking the older threads first! *slaps self*  I'm really going to go read the older threads, now . . . /EDIT

I think that Rena is involved, too.  I was just re-reading some things in Japanese, and it turns out that when Rena "shot" Akai, she said "I didn't think that it would go this well" (ã

[shinichi1977]

Hi shinichi1977!

The real mystery is not why Akai could be Okiya, but rather how, when and with which effort was Raiha Falls crafted. Gosho implies it is him and takes away the vital clues to stay ambiguous.

The real mystery isn't why Akai could be Okiya?  How so?

Well, I have a pretty good idea how Akai faked his death (and I'm sure that you guys do, too) - though you're right that we don't know what Akai was planning to do after his death.  Did his plans stop at faking his death or was he going to do something after?  When did he concoct the plan?  And how does Conan seem to know that Akai is alive, when no one told him that Akai died, much less how he died?  Maybe Conan was involved in the planning process - but I'm sure that you guys started speculating on that already, I need to start reading some older threads, ha ha.

As for file 419: do you see on which side the driver is or the gender of the smoking person? The C-1500 is an American model in original form, hence the side of the driver is on the left but in most  cases with Japanese cars they are on the right.

Wait, are you implying that the car the glasses dude and the hat lady is driving is C-1500, Akai's car?  You're right that the car is not Japanese, but it doesn't look like a C-1500.

As for the gender of the Glasses Man - here's the best shot I can find, and the body looks like that of a man's - though maybe we have another master of disguise or she's a butch looking girl or something, ha ha, but I think that the glasses person is most likely a glasses man, though you're right that we can't exclude other possibilities yet.

Shadowy figures BTW seems to be either part of an eerily long plot or sometimes he just draws characters whom we never get to see, like Calvados or the Werewolf Man.

Yeah, it's been bothering me why Calvados' face never showed up.  Korn mentioned how Vermouth used Calvados because Calvados was in love with Vermouth, and since Vermouth seems to have met Calvados at an airport and therefore Calvados was somewhere overseas, and since Vermouth was doing something in New York that lead to the FBI to chase her a year ago during the Golden Apple case, which might involve Calvados - so I'm hoping that Gosho would eventually revealed what happened in New York and reveal Calvados' face at some point.  LOL can you tell that I love crazy speculations?  I also expect a heck of a lot out of Gosho . . . ^^;

And Werewolf Man?  Hmm, I don't recall him - are you talking about the off-season Halloween party that Vermouth hosted?

I'm trying to make it short and worthwhile so that our posts and replies doesn't get too long Great minds think alike, and we can safely assume both Shinichi and Akai had knowledge about each other, we just don't know to what extent, and that works even if they don't involve each other. Aside from the very compelling case why Akai is Okiya, I can also tell you that I strongly assume Akai Shuichi started to become Okiya Subaru shortly after Shiho was located by Jodie and Vermouth, but almost 100% shortly after the Dock Incident. Akai Shuichi had no knowledge of what happened between Vermouth and Shinichi in the forest, but he did know, that Shiho had refused FBI protection, so he had every right to assume that Vermouth will try again, but he could not use his real self since if and when Shiho would spot her, she would think, that he is from the organization, or to be specific the one responsible for the death of her sister.

As to how he knew: the particular phone in question was picked up by Akai with only 2 fingers, it was Kusuda Rikumichi who left his fingerprints all over it, the corpse had matching fingerprints to that on the phone, he saw the explosion and the fire so it was not planted therefore it was orchestrated by someone, who is alive, it would be a too big of a coincidence, if the person would be anyone else than the owner of the car, Akai Shuichi.

The model of the car: I was leaning more towards the fact, that we can't see on which side is the driver's seat. Rental cars for non-Japanese are in majority left-steered, while others are not. That aside we can assume it is Jodie and James, drawn into the shadows on purpose because at that time Vermouth already had made the medical exam in the elementary school knowing who Ai is, just not the fact where she lives (and by Japanese law, the addresses of minor's cannot be made public under no reason).

Calvados was "activated" shortly after vol.29 we just did not get to learn about him until later, as to the why: because after that case Vermouth had learned that Shiho does not have an antidote to the drug and that she possibly lives in Beika-cho. A sniper was needed to locate Akai Shuichi and finish they started in New York.

Last but not least: the party per se was not hosted by her she just included a written invitation to Mouri Kogoro and Kudo Shinichi

[acerola21]

Aside from the very compelling case why Akai is Okiya

That's what I've been trying to argue against, though - I'm not saying that it's impossible, it's in fact likely, it's just that it's also possible and likely that Okiya =/= Akai.  And if Okiya = Akai then I'll be disappointed in Gosho for using such a similar plot for the third time.  :-\

. . . Although, why else would Gosho name Okiya, Akai, and Moroboshi Dai after Char Aznable?  And apparently Camel was named after Char Aznable's second-in-command's ship, or something . . . but then who the hell's the Glasses Man?  I thought at first that he was Akai as Okiya, but noooo, Gosho had to show that scene where Akai is calling the Glasses Man / Hat Lady (File 419 p.18) . . . and I still have no idea who the Hat Lady could be . . .

Akai Shuichi had no knowledge of what happened between Vermouth and Shinichi in the forest, but he did know

Would you kindly point me to the proof?

That aside we can assume it is Jodie and James

As I've pointed out, James has been known to work with Akai about a hundred chapters beforehand, so it wouldn't be strange for Gosho to draw those figures as James and Jodie instead of shadowy figures.  Besides, Haibara reacted to their presence (File 419 p.15), while she never reacted to Jodie or James - there's a good chance those figures were in the B.O. somehow.

Plus, the glasses dude's car doesn't look anything like James' or Jodie's.  It's black (File 417 p.3, Conan says he knew the car was trailing him even though his mom stopped her car in the middle of the road but the car didn't complain or anything at all, so it's safe to say that the car at the bottom left is the glasses dude's car), and if anything it looks like Sato's car (File 436 p.4), but Jodie's car isn't black (File 431 p.3), and James rents cars (File 325 p.11), and like you said most rent cars in Japan have the wheel on the right side, not the left.

And the car isn't Sato's, since Sato's car's driver's seat is on the right side (File 370 p.8), while the Glasses Man's car's driver's seat is on the left side (File 418 p.16 - see the Glasses Man's hands on the wheel?) - and yeah, I'm very sure that the driver's seat is on the left side in Glasses Man's car.  I've thought about Sato and Takagi being the Hat Lady and the Glasses Man, but neither smoke (because we've been exposed to them for over seven hundred chapters and we've never seen them smoke), and Takagi was with Conan, inside the building, when Ai saw the Glasses Man outside the building (File 418).  No way Takagi can be in two places at once.  Although, I guess that it doesn't exclude Sato from being the Hat Lady . . . but nothing points to her being the Hat Lady, either.

. . . Maybe they're really Korn and Chianti and they're actually good people, LOL!  I've excluded that possibility because we can see the face huge and up close but the facial features resembled Okiya more than Korn, but they are shadows, after all . . . but . . . hmm, I dunno.

Last but not least: the party per se was not hosted by her she just included a written invitation to Mouri Kogoro and Kudo Shinichi

Okay - I couldn't exactly remember what Vermouth's relation was to the party, anyway - but my main question is, who's the Werewolf Man that you speak of?

[Kor]

. . . Maybe they're really Korn and Chianti and they're actually good people, LOL!  I've excluded that possibility because we can see the face huge and up close but the facial features resembled Okiya more than Korn, but they are shadows, after all . . . but . . . hmm, I dunno.

yes of course. two snipers who LOVE to shoot people are OBVIOUSLY good people. I'm going to the closest prison now and tell one of the murderers just how wonderful person he is. 

That's what I've been trying to argue against, though - I'm not saying that it's impossible, it's in fact likely, it's just that it's also possible and likely that Okiya =/= Akai.  And if Okiya = Akai then I'll be disappointed in Gosho for using such a similar plot for the third time. 

When an author is out of ideas, he either thinks of new ones, or repeating a concept which he has already used before and is familiar with - now which one is the easier? I found myself repeating a concept way too many times and eventually decided to rewrite more than half of my book.
It can also show that Gosho isn't interested anymore to continue DC.

. . . Although, why else would Gosho name Okiya, Akai, and Moroboshi Dai after Char Aznable?  And apparently Camel was named after Char Aznable's second-in-command's ship, or something . . .

Maybe he thinks this Okiya/Akai "twist" is hard to figure (even though the clues are spread around in a very obvious way) in which case he basically insults the intelligence of his readers. Maybe he will give a twist we could never expect. We wouldn't normally think after all that Okiya is Bourbon and Akai is scar Akai, maybe that would be the twist in the end (very unlikely though). Or he intended the mystery to be easy to solve. Maybe he wants us to know easilly that Okiya is Akai and scar Akai is Bourbon and there was another mystery going around this whole time which we failed to notice and that would be the twist.

[acerola21]

yes of course. two snipers who LOVE to shoot people are OBVIOUSLY good people. I'm going to the closest prison now and tell one of the murderers just how wonderful person he is.

Ha ha I have a hard time believing that Korn and Chianti are on Akai's side, too, but they're the only candidates I can think of (other than a third party we've never been introduced to) who could be the Glasses Man and the Hat Lady, if Okiya is Akai - they're in the B.O. so Ai would react to them. *shrug*

. . . Or I'm seriously over-estimating Gosho and they're really random characters whose faces we'll never see again - but that goes against his style so far, so I dunno.  It's been three hundred chapters since they appeared - you'd think that people who could be Glasses Man and Hat lady would appear by now, but if not . . . well then I'll stop expecting so much out of Gosho and go for the obvious.

It can also show that Gosho isn't interested anymore to continue DC.

I sure hope not. O_O

Maybe he wants us to know easilly that Okiya is Akai and scar Akai is Bourbon and there was another mystery going around this whole time which we failed to notice and that would be the twist.

Maybe. *shrug*  I think that Gosho has a twisted, twisted mind based on the series so far, so if Okiya's really Akai then I'd count on that other mystery.