Anokata theory: The boss may be...

[MeiTanteixX]

I think Matsumoto can be eliminated from the list of suspects as both the boss and Rum, and whatever other member of the organization. In the episode about the attempted poisoning of his daughter, there is a photo at the end which shows him at her wedding 3 years later. I don't see the story continuing for 3 years (in the DC timeline i mean; in real life the manga can last for 20 or 30 other years, for all we know). I mean, the black organization theoretically should be dismantled within a year (hadn't Gosho said everything will be solved within a year?), so Matsumoto wouldn't be alive and free 3 years later if he was a member.

Are you sure it's "years" at all? From what I remember, it was a matter of months!

[Mario2000]

Are you sure it's "years" at all? From what I remember, it was a matter of months!

In the translation I watched it was 3 years.

Spoiler:

But anyway, how could the groom have been already out of prison in months? It was attempted murder after all.

[unclesporkums]

Yes, I clearly remember Shinichi saying three years.

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

It definitely says three years, but with how "comic book time" works it would still probably be considered a past event at this point.
It's been Feburary like three separate times so far in the series, with other months in between. There is no consistency as to when events can be placed on a calendar. The only things we can be 100% sure of is that each new chapter takes place after the events of the one chapter before it (unless its just a flashback chapter). Most of the long standing cannical police characters probably won't have any barring on the main plot anyway, with the exception of possibly arresting some main plot character later on.

[Spimer]

User "Ran 5-5" shared these scans through the spoiler cbox: I thought I could post them here and I'll translate some of the key points.

Spoiler:

http://i.imgbox.com/cSm4r8Zn.jpg

Top:

Small intro to "Ano Kata", talks about how Conan's got the mail address but Haibara told him not to use it, it's the "Pandora's box". Not relevant. Besides, some of the text is cut off so a full translation can't be done, anyway,

Left purple-colored box: "Anokata candidates"

1) James Black:
Likes Holmes, shares first name with Prof. Moriarty, and he's behaved suspiciously. However, given his status in Movie 18, maybe he isn't...?
2) Agasa Hiroshi:
Being the scientist and inventor he is, maybe he's seeking the same thing the BO's researching. For Conan and Haibara he'd be the worst mastermind ever, but it's been denied by Gosho Aoyama.
3) Miyano Elena:
Haibara's mom, believed to be dead... It's possible that she's alive? Maybe the reason we're not given Ano Kata's sex is because we'd quickly set our eyes on her if he knew Ano Kata was a woman!? Her link with Amuro is interesting as well.

Right and above: "What's known about Ano Kata"

1) BO's top
2) Name, age, sex and identity: all unknown
3) Pisco has served them for a long time
4) The punch sound of the mail address is "Seven Children" (#969#6261#)
5) Vermouth's their favorite
6) Directly oversees Vermouth and Gin
7) The Boss is very careful. "The type who'd take a stone bridge apart just to check it's solid" (According to Vermouth)
8) Fears Akai Shuuichi (Silver Bullet) [Said by Vermouth in Ep 345]

Right and below: "What Gosho Aoyama has said about Ano Kata"

1) If you knew the org's name you'd realize who it is so that's why he doesn't say it
2) He won't tell us their sex
3) Their NAME has APPEARED in the manga (up to VOL 53)
4) It's NOT Agaga Hiroshi
5) It's NOT Kudo Yuusaku

Lower box:

Won't bother to translate because it's not relevant. Just a paragraph about the black silhoutte representation of the culprit, about how it's a symbol of the series and all. No mention of Ano Kata.

Spoiler:

http://i.imgbox.com/zUgkbJCr.jpg

BO structure

Top text: "If you become hi-status within the BO you get an alcohol code-name. Regardless of status, all traitors are immediately killed."

Ano Kata (?) symbol

Gin and Vermouth: "Executive Class"

Gin and Ano Kata: "Boss" (means Ano Kata's Gin's boss)

Gin and Sherry: "Obsession"

Gin and Vermouth: "Equivalent" (Both are Executives)

Gin and Irish: "Relative cut" (Not sure: maybe it means Pisco's death?)

Gin and Pisco: "Shot to death"

Irish and Gin: "Hatred"

Irish and Pisco: "Reference?" (Kanji too blurry to properly read, but given how he looked up to Pisco...)

Pisco and Ano Kata: "Served for a long time"

Gin and Kir: "Suspicion"

The purple banner Kir has says: "Infiltration"

Vodka and Gin: "Superior"

Vodka and Tequila: "Equals"

Vermouth and Ano Kata: "Boss" (Ano Kata is Vermouth's boss as well)

Vermouth and Bourbon: "Cooperation"

Bourbon and Sherry: "Knew her mother"

Bouron and Ano Kata: "Boss" (They assume Bourbon answers to Ano Kata as well: maybe the assumption comes from the time he posed as "Scar Akai" to investigate the FBI? The writers must've though Ano Kata directly ordered Bourbon to do so if Gin was unaware of the plan)

Bourbon and Akai: "Rivalry"

Ano Kata and Akai: "Fears"

Akai's banner: "Infiltration failed"

Akai and Sherry: "Ex-girlfriend's sister"

Akai and Gin: "Archnemesis"

Vermouth and Sherry: "Hatred"

Sherry's banner: "Escaped"

Korn, Chianti, Calvados: "Snipers"

Korn and Vermouth: "Antipathy"

Chianthi and Vermouth: "Antipathy"

Vermouth and Calvados: "Manipulation"

Calvados and Vermouth: "Love"

I hope this contribution was of help!

[Kor]

There were some more of Gosho's postcards on Baidu, so here's some of the relevant (ish) info to the topic:

Black Demon: Boss is not Sonoko and the DB. (very useful info indeed )

Black Demon: James is not the boss, Vermouth is not his wife either.

[zeoh]

I think given what he's said about who ISN'T Anokata... and hints like "the formal name of the Black Organization will give away who it is".... there seems like there can only be so many people it can be. I like the Yoko Okino theory (or even Yukiko Kudo, really, considering that the boss has a certain relationship with Vermouth) since it's completely out of left field, but maybe it's something that's a bit more obvious and it's someone who is a higher up in law enforcement.

Whoever it is, I hope it isn't someone that was glossed over way back when early on in the manga/anime.

[Kahomi]

So up to now the people confirmed not to be the boss are Yusaku, Agasa, Sonoko, James Black and the DB.

If you knew the org's name you'd realize who it is so that's why he doesn't say it

If it turns out that the Org's name is Apotoxin and the boss is Elena or Atsushi, it will be a bigbang )

I remember reading somewhere that AO said if Haibara knew who the boss was, she might be extremely shocked. Yea, how can she not be shocked if the boss of the org that she hold a grudge on is actually her parent )

[jimmy_kud0_tv2]

So up to now the people confirmed not to be the boss are Yusaku, Agasa, Sonoko, James Black and the DB.

Gosho has also said that Conan, Shinichi, Ran, Eri, Shiratori, Vermouth, Kichiemon, Fusae, and Gosho himself are not the boss.
Also that the boss's full name has appeared in the series, but has not clarified whether the boss has appeared in person.

[Startold]

AO said if Haibara knew who the boss was, she might be extremely shocked.

This "Haibara would be shocked" thing originally comes from the Case Closed Casebook, an unofficial book which wasn't even published in Japan. The authors never gave the source for this statement, and from all the interviews I've read, many of which have never been translated into English, Gosho has never, ever said that Haibara would be shocked if she knew who the Boss was. It would be better to just consider the information false until the contrary is proven.

[zeoh]

I guess that is just one of those odd urban legends that will never stop being spread >_>

I wonder why he didn't rule out Kogoro or Yukiko while basically ruling out everyone else that is just as close to Conan. The potential numerical wordplay in Kogoro's name (556) and the possibility of a connection with "Mouri" and "Moriarty" also make me curious about Kogoro as a potential candidate.

[Serinox]

I guess that is just one of those odd urban legends that will never stop being spread >_>

I wonder why he didn't rule out Kogoro or Yukiko while basically ruling out everyone else that is just as close to Conan. The potential numerical wordplay in Kogoro's name (556) and the possibility of a connection with "Mouri" and "Moriarty" also make me curious about Kogoro as a potential candidate.

He usually only rules them out, when someone asks about it in an interview. I don't think he has been asked about Yukiko or Kogoro being the boss, iirc.

[zeoh]

Interesting... surprising that no one has asked about them then if they were going to ask about Ran or any of the other characters that have been ruled out. It would be exciting if it were someone close to them for sure, but I wonder how it'd all fit together.

http://anokata.xxxxxxxx.jp/index.html

I think this is a Japanese 2ch user's summary of discussions that happen over there in a looong thread about who Anokata is, but it hasn't been updated in a good year or so. They've got some interesting candidates and theories over there like some sort of Jekyll and Hyde theory.

[Kahomi]

Gosho has never, ever said that Haibara would be shocked if she knew who the Boss was

wow thanks for your information. I ready too many things from too many sources in too many times and I can't know or remember what is official and what is not T^T

[DCUniverseAficionado]

I wonder why he didn't rule out Kogoro or Yukiko while basically ruling out everyone else that is just as close to Conan. The potential numerical wordplay in Kogoro's name (556) and the possibility of a connection with "Mouri" and "Moriarty" also make me curious about Kogoro as a potential candidate.

I won't say its impossible, but my line of thinking is this—anyone in a position to know Shinichi/Conan and Shiho/Ai could discover their secrets fairly easily—this is the Boss we're talking about, here... there's no reason to doubt their intellect. If Kogoro was the boss, he would've figured it out by now... and well before the Conan arc (Files 1–175/Episodes 1–128) had even gotten anywhere close to ending. Plus, it would make all his character development irrelevant (the cases he solved on his own, his attempts to get back together with Eri), his moral statements at certain points would make no sense, and he'd have all those moments of foolishness—for the Boss of the Black Organization to act like that... to be comedy relief... that'd really be something.

If the boss knows Shinichi/Conan, and especially if he/she had met/known him as a young adult, there's no way he/she wouldn't have figured it out—that's why Yukiko can't be the boss, either. If she—or any friend or family member of his—was, why is Shinichi/Conan still alive (especially with her knowing the truth about him being shrunk by APTX 4869)?

ABBC3_OFFTOPIC

This goes for James Black, as well, and I'm not even talking about him being the boss—I'm speaking of the theory that he's actually working for Black Organization. James is in an even better position to discover Shinichi's/Conan's secret than most—there's no way he'd hold back this information from the boss, if he was a loyal BO mole inside the FBI. People claim that he acted too stupid during Black Organization Vs. FBI/Black Impact and Fake Patient Case and Kir Transport Case/Clash of Red and Black for it to be unintentional, but I think that Gosho wanted to make the Organization threatening, so he had the FBI be outwitted by them. In Clash of Red and Black, Shinichi/Conan, Shuichi and Gin seem to be the only ones on top of things, on each side—everyone on both sides except them was fooled by the other side's plan. Gosho chose to make the FBI stupid, I think, instead of making the Black Organization smarter. Jodie suffered of similar intellect decay after she was revealed to be an FBI agent—the same goes for Andre, once he was revealed to not be a BO agent. I think the same goes for James, as well—he was introduced at a time when Gosho portrayed Shuichi as a BO assassin, so of course Shinichi/Conan made the Moriarty link. Given his likely role as Shuichi's/Subaru's contact in the FBI, since he's aware of the fake death plan (again, another sign he can't be with the BO—he would have simply informed the boss before Shuichi could even reach Raiha Pass, and Kir would've been killed—and no, he wouldn't have been exposed as a BO mole because he could simply feign ignorance about the fake death plan, and there were plenty of low-ranking FBI agents in the room when Shinichi/Conan and Shuichi revealed the truth about Kir) and since the earpiece Shuichi/Subaru wears to answer a call in Online Client/Detectives' Nocturne is the same as the one he uses in Dimensional Sniper to stay in contact with James (and he also provides a sniper rifle, as well; I know the movies aren't canon, but that movie effectively spoiled the manga before the manga, itself, did), he's likely not with the BO—a BO mole giving a FBI agent like Shuichi Akai such help would be patently unwise.

Sorry for the tangent—it could be that James is actually working for the BO (I'd get where someone was coming from if they suggested that he was financially supporting Masumi so he could use her against Shuichi/Subaru), but given what I've just mentioned, the odds of it, in my opinion, are quite low.

Gosho said in a January 13th, 2006 interview, during which the files of the Giant Hammer Case/The Shadow of the Black Organization – The Young Witness and The Strange Illumination (Volumes 53, Files 550–552 and Season 15, Episode 462–463) were being published, that the full name of the boss had appeared in the manga. Any character who has been introduced, either by mention or by appearance, after this interview can be ruled out. Essentially, we're looking for a name that appeared in the first 550 chapters. If Gosho's left any clues, he's been real subtle about it—but I can't imagine that he'd leave absolutely no clue.