Rum Arc isn't just about the Haneda/Asaka case solution, but about BO's internal operation of Gin vs. Rum [Theory]
Posted: February 14th, 2018, 2:50 am
This is an extension of my RUM Theory: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13348 . Read this as an independent theory though.
I believe that although Wakita is BO, I do not believe Wakita will be an "actual" RUM, if Rum ends up being three people and I do not believe he is the "RUM" if RUM is controlling three people.
At worst, he is someone that can take orders from RUM (not necessarily is currently though), or is a Rum representative/body double/third hand/etc., but is currently under a mission from Gin.
At best, and where my theory lies is that Wakita is a BO (unnamed or otherwise) a representative sent in by Gin to investigate Kogoro Mouri on two premises - his past involvement with the BO, and his recent involvement with the Asaka Case.
The only BO Activity that Conan currently is aware of is that Vermouth and Bourbon were hanging out during the Song Named Asaka case. Otherwise, there hasn't been a whole lot of BO related activities that Conan has been exposed to plot wise since Scarlet Showdown. Everything has been presented to Conan, and actions lead to further plot points being revealed. eg. the revelation of Haneda Kouji and then the Asaka case. Only not-final deductions we've seen so far is ASAKA=RUM, and Conan and Haibara having that one discussion about Rumi (Haibara saying "don't say anything bad about Rumi"), and ASAKARUM=KARASUMA.
Looking at the Bourbon arc, not much happened behind the scenes. Jodie tells Conan Bourbon is on the move. Almost 50 chapters later Scar Akai ran around for one case, and Conan realized his existence after in the next BO case. Didn't really matter since Okiya and Conan were working together and knew the Fake Death existed, and Conan figured that someone was impersonating him (looks like Akai guessed it was Bourbon). Scar Akai appeared almost 100 chapters later in two panels fiddling with Masumi Sera, then Vermouth impersonating him. Other things that happened during the background that are notable, was Masumi's investigation, Bourbon's investigation (after Amuro's debut case), and Okiya following everyone around memeing the reader. BO wise, literally not much at all. Conan probably isn't even aware Gin tried to blow the train station up during the Mystery Train case.
In the Bourbon arc, the only other mysterious person Sera was also a suspect, but she was introduced over 50 chapters after the Red Shirts Case. The Red Shirts case, Scar Akai intro case, and every Okiya case gave everything we needed to solve the two identities. Scar Akai = Bourbon, and Okiya = Akai. More pieces of evidence would fall into place, but Gosho could of resolved the arc by chapter 710 if he really wanted to. About 30 chapters after Sera's intro case, we get Amuro. The case immediately after Amuro's, we get Vermouth hyping Bourbon with the three suspects. Then only, after Mystery Train, we get clues of Bourbon's true allegiance.
The arc in my opinion likely was poorly planned, or executive meddling (Movie 18 + Movie 20) caused him to rewrite parts of the arc and the current arc - it feels like characters were introduced at the incorrect times and unnaturally. Anyways. We're on the Rum arc now.
This arc starts pretty well, at the end of Scarlet Showdown, in the same case, Vermouth says Gin is concerned about moles in the organization. Akai made a point that Rum was higher than Gin. This means to me, as a hint from Gosho, that Gin is working towards to the benefit of the BO no matter what, and that we now have a character besides the boss whose higher than Gin. We have never seen Gin take orders outside of anyone except the boss.
This is in contrast with the Bourbon Arc -- the clue from Kir, to Jodie, (essentially Gosho to the reader): "someone whose Skilled at Inspection and Information Gathering", with Jodie and Conan theorizing one of his targets is Sherry. During the Bourbon Arc, only the BO characters and Okiya are aware of who Bourbon is until after Chapter 800 where Conan was likely informed by Akai that Bourbon is hanging around.
A bit more multi-case background events happened surrounding Conan finding out that Bourbon stalked Jodie and Conan during the Pickpocketing case. The realization was not only the follow up case (plot wise) after the first one, it's pretty much the next case sequentially speaking. Not much multi-case background plot events happening, to the degree I am looking for. I am aware the entirety of the Akai Family arc is 200+ chapters, amongst others, but I am looking for actions and events, not just clues sprinkled around character stories/cases.
Now, something more interesting is happening. Background events are occurring, and Conan isn't aware of all of them. What I believe this arc's parallel is, is between Gin's Intro Case/Shinichi Kudo's Death and the Asaka Case. Both cases are important as they are both cases where actions of a BO member killed a witness to a crime, but the witness is actually alive. Both cases involve a victim being APTX'd, and one or more witnesses are alive.
Gin refers to everyone by codename except the boss, who he only refers to as Anokata. What this indicates is Gin likely is loyal to the BO's cause and its mission. He may not like the boss, but he respects him and follows his orders. He's pointed the gun at Vermouth and Vodka. He was willing to blow up a hospital to prevent the FBI from questioning Kir, willing to blow a train up which had Sherry, Vermouth, and Bourbon and did not care about their well being. He will abandon or turn on anyone on his side as long as it benefits the BO and/or keeping them around is a liability. (Other examples, killed Akemi since she wanted to escape the BO with Haibara, blew up Tequila, was willing to kill Sherry before she APTX'd since she refused to work). I'm not saying Gin wants to be #1/#2 of the BO, but he works and strives for it's mission.
I believe that Wakita is a BO operative (unnamed or otherwise) sent in by Gin to investigate Kogoro Mouri's involvement with the Asaka Case that Gin found out about. And whatever else can be dug up. Gin likely doesn't respect Rum and thinks he's a fuckup because of said case. Kogoro was also previously suspected as being involved with hiding Sherry (Kir Case). Since Kogoro is now recently involved, he wants to swiftly handle the situation. The Asaka case was already a mess since evidence and witnesses both exist, and Conan, Haibara, Akai, Yusaku amongst others are aware of it. This is Gin's mission of exposing and overthrowing Rum.
Rum being #2, and not a dumbass (since he is #2) either:
- is aware Gin is goofing around and trying to expose him
- likely knows that Gin doesn't respect him, and Rum wants and believes Gin needs to be put in his place.
The question is, why after 17 years, is the Haneda Kouji case being posted online and they can't kill the witnesses involved?
Rum's screwup by Gin likely means what we all predict, witnesses are alive and/or evidence exists, and the usage of APTX (or equivalent) on Haneda Koji was unplanned. By the in story descriptions we've seen, we know that BO is good at cleaning up its tracks. As I mention in my other theory:
Kohji was killed by a APTX-variation. (his name is below Shinichi's in a yet-to-be-determined sorted fashion, Haibara did not mention Amanda was on the APTX list but she mentioned Haneda in the list though)
Amanda was killed by an alternative means (likely a different alternative APTX variation to what Kohji took)
Amanda's room was clean and tidy to look like nobody entered, as per BO modus operandi. After Amanda's death, something happened and Kohji was killed during a fight, and his room was damaged. Asaka is now missing and is considered the prime suspect for the murder. Asaka being alive is the mistake that Rum could not fix as literally nobody knows who the hell Asaka is.
We do not know enough about Rum's characterization to know if he just stopped giving a shit, or is triggered and wants to kill Asaka or what. Rum probably knows more about what transpired and probably knows Asaka cannot make a move by himself/herself, and will continue begging for help anonymously even though Asaka is the prime suspect.
Gin has been successful in many of his missions, even when Conan was involved.
... except point 1 below:
Examples of Gin acting solely in the benefit of the BO.
1) APTX'd Shinichi Kudo who was eavesdropping during the first case. All records show Shinichi died. Jokes on Gin.
2) Killed Akemi and took her coin locker key. Killed Akemi since she wanted to leave the BO and Gin denied her request.
3) Blew up the Daikoku Building during the Tequila case. It was not stated it was Gin, but Vodka was mentioned during the case. The Daikoku building was the likely location of where Tequila was going to meet Gin and Vodka. BO likely blew up this building to clean up their tracks. This case is likely going to be referenced later during future BO arcs as this case by itself gives more questions than it answers. (Corrected!)
4) Gin was aware of the Trigger on the Floppy during Haibara's intro case
5) Killed Pisco after the leak occurred. Successfully located Sherry and targeted her. He was not prepared for Sherry's backup, which is understandable, and allowed her to escape. Him involved with Pisco's case was a plus for the BO.
6) Haibara said she was going to leave the city after the Pisco case before Conan stated otherwise, Gin said he wouldn't search for Sherry in the city. Which means Gin predicted Sherry's movement, which is a +1 for Gin and the BO. Gin predicted Haibara's plan due to their past relationship (whatever that might be).
7) He let Vermouth play in the mud during multiple cases throughout the Jodie/Vermouth Arc. He probably was sure 100% sure Vermouth was up to something, but did not know what. He is not aware of what transpired during the Conan vs. Vermouth showdown. Gin did not intervene, but ordered Vodka to kill Vermouth if it needed to be done. Vermouth got herself to a phone booth, and in Gin's eyes, she escaped whatever ordeal she was in, and nothing leaked. (Corrected!)
8) Kir Assassination Case - after the mission was changed to target Kogoro, Gin outsmarted both Conan and Jodie and got to Kogoro before Conan. He had an approved plan to kill Kogoro who was tracking Kir from the Doorbell Case. Was willing to kill Vermouth on the rooftop.
9) Committed to food poisoning people, starting fires, and planting bombs just to fill up a hospital to locate a Kir by using trackers to find the room. This is still a risk that could cause loss of life, since this plan had a risk that one or more hospital rooms could explode if the FBI could not disarm the bombs in time. BO cannot 100% guarantee this plan would work, even if Akai was helping. (Corrected!)
10) Followed up on suspicions that Kir was a traitor and forced her to prove loyalty by killing Akai.
11) Pointed a gun at Kir several times during the Akai Death case, and Red Shirts Case incase she was mole.
12) Was willing to blow up a populated train station just to kill an ex-BO member (Sherry) even if Vermouth and Bourbon die as a byproduct. Vermouth one up'd him in this case, by wanting to blow up the train itself.
13) I don't remember too much of the Itakura case. Although Itakura did die, and the BO got their program back, Gin was willing to kill Vodka in that moment, and discovered someone is fiddling with the BO. (or something like this - again, all actions are for the benefit of the BO) If Gin didn't show up, Vodka would of taken the contents, and left fingerprints and his cigarette behind.
Rum finds out Shinichi is alive, and orders Bourbon to investigate Shinichi. Why Bourbon? He's one of the few characters we've seen with "Conan level" deduction skills (on par with Akai, Gin, Yusaku, Heiji etc. I'm not saying those characters are equal, but definitely they are of high calibre. As opposed to Vodka or Yamamura quality). I do not believe that if RUM is Wakita, he'd go investigate a witness himself, and immediately text Bourbon to investigate it (in my eyes, essentially telling Bourbon to deal with the situation). It looks like Bourbon and Wakita are doing independent investigations.
During the recent cases, Wakita looked like he appeared in a rush in Agasa'a neighbourhood. What likely transpired is that Gin sent Wakita to investigate Shinichi Kudo -- or, Wakita knows Gin killed Shinichi, and wants to make sure Gin didn't mess up, which is looking more and more likely did since the internet is hyping the recent case Shinichi solved.
I believe that although Wakita is BO, I do not believe Wakita will be an "actual" RUM, if Rum ends up being three people and I do not believe he is the "RUM" if RUM is controlling three people.
At worst, he is someone that can take orders from RUM (not necessarily is currently though), or is a Rum representative/body double/third hand/etc., but is currently under a mission from Gin.
At best, and where my theory lies is that Wakita is a BO (unnamed or otherwise) a representative sent in by Gin to investigate Kogoro Mouri on two premises - his past involvement with the BO, and his recent involvement with the Asaka Case.
The only BO Activity that Conan currently is aware of is that Vermouth and Bourbon were hanging out during the Song Named Asaka case. Otherwise, there hasn't been a whole lot of BO related activities that Conan has been exposed to plot wise since Scarlet Showdown. Everything has been presented to Conan, and actions lead to further plot points being revealed. eg. the revelation of Haneda Kouji and then the Asaka case. Only not-final deductions we've seen so far is ASAKA=RUM, and Conan and Haibara having that one discussion about Rumi (Haibara saying "don't say anything bad about Rumi"), and ASAKARUM=KARASUMA.
Looking at the Bourbon arc, not much happened behind the scenes. Jodie tells Conan Bourbon is on the move. Almost 50 chapters later Scar Akai ran around for one case, and Conan realized his existence after in the next BO case. Didn't really matter since Okiya and Conan were working together and knew the Fake Death existed, and Conan figured that someone was impersonating him (looks like Akai guessed it was Bourbon). Scar Akai appeared almost 100 chapters later in two panels fiddling with Masumi Sera, then Vermouth impersonating him. Other things that happened during the background that are notable, was Masumi's investigation, Bourbon's investigation (after Amuro's debut case), and Okiya following everyone around memeing the reader. BO wise, literally not much at all. Conan probably isn't even aware Gin tried to blow the train station up during the Mystery Train case.
In the Bourbon arc, the only other mysterious person Sera was also a suspect, but she was introduced over 50 chapters after the Red Shirts Case. The Red Shirts case, Scar Akai intro case, and every Okiya case gave everything we needed to solve the two identities. Scar Akai = Bourbon, and Okiya = Akai. More pieces of evidence would fall into place, but Gosho could of resolved the arc by chapter 710 if he really wanted to. About 30 chapters after Sera's intro case, we get Amuro. The case immediately after Amuro's, we get Vermouth hyping Bourbon with the three suspects. Then only, after Mystery Train, we get clues of Bourbon's true allegiance.
The arc in my opinion likely was poorly planned, or executive meddling (Movie 18 + Movie 20) caused him to rewrite parts of the arc and the current arc - it feels like characters were introduced at the incorrect times and unnaturally. Anyways. We're on the Rum arc now.
This arc starts pretty well, at the end of Scarlet Showdown, in the same case, Vermouth says Gin is concerned about moles in the organization. Akai made a point that Rum was higher than Gin. This means to me, as a hint from Gosho, that Gin is working towards to the benefit of the BO no matter what, and that we now have a character besides the boss whose higher than Gin. We have never seen Gin take orders outside of anyone except the boss.
This is in contrast with the Bourbon Arc -- the clue from Kir, to Jodie, (essentially Gosho to the reader): "someone whose Skilled at Inspection and Information Gathering", with Jodie and Conan theorizing one of his targets is Sherry. During the Bourbon Arc, only the BO characters and Okiya are aware of who Bourbon is until after Chapter 800 where Conan was likely informed by Akai that Bourbon is hanging around.
A bit more multi-case background events happened surrounding Conan finding out that Bourbon stalked Jodie and Conan during the Pickpocketing case. The realization was not only the follow up case (plot wise) after the first one, it's pretty much the next case sequentially speaking. Not much multi-case background plot events happening, to the degree I am looking for. I am aware the entirety of the Akai Family arc is 200+ chapters, amongst others, but I am looking for actions and events, not just clues sprinkled around character stories/cases.
Now, something more interesting is happening. Background events are occurring, and Conan isn't aware of all of them. What I believe this arc's parallel is, is between Gin's Intro Case/Shinichi Kudo's Death and the Asaka Case. Both cases are important as they are both cases where actions of a BO member killed a witness to a crime, but the witness is actually alive. Both cases involve a victim being APTX'd, and one or more witnesses are alive.
Gin refers to everyone by codename except the boss, who he only refers to as Anokata. What this indicates is Gin likely is loyal to the BO's cause and its mission. He may not like the boss, but he respects him and follows his orders. He's pointed the gun at Vermouth and Vodka. He was willing to blow up a hospital to prevent the FBI from questioning Kir, willing to blow a train up which had Sherry, Vermouth, and Bourbon and did not care about their well being. He will abandon or turn on anyone on his side as long as it benefits the BO and/or keeping them around is a liability. (Other examples, killed Akemi since she wanted to escape the BO with Haibara, blew up Tequila, was willing to kill Sherry before she APTX'd since she refused to work). I'm not saying Gin wants to be #1/#2 of the BO, but he works and strives for it's mission.
I believe that Wakita is a BO operative (unnamed or otherwise) sent in by Gin to investigate Kogoro Mouri's involvement with the Asaka Case that Gin found out about. And whatever else can be dug up. Gin likely doesn't respect Rum and thinks he's a fuckup because of said case. Kogoro was also previously suspected as being involved with hiding Sherry (Kir Case). Since Kogoro is now recently involved, he wants to swiftly handle the situation. The Asaka case was already a mess since evidence and witnesses both exist, and Conan, Haibara, Akai, Yusaku amongst others are aware of it. This is Gin's mission of exposing and overthrowing Rum.
Rum being #2, and not a dumbass (since he is #2) either:
- is aware Gin is goofing around and trying to expose him
- likely knows that Gin doesn't respect him, and Rum wants and believes Gin needs to be put in his place.
The question is, why after 17 years, is the Haneda Kouji case being posted online and they can't kill the witnesses involved?
Rum's screwup by Gin likely means what we all predict, witnesses are alive and/or evidence exists, and the usage of APTX (or equivalent) on Haneda Koji was unplanned. By the in story descriptions we've seen, we know that BO is good at cleaning up its tracks. As I mention in my other theory:
Kohji was killed by a APTX-variation. (his name is below Shinichi's in a yet-to-be-determined sorted fashion, Haibara did not mention Amanda was on the APTX list but she mentioned Haneda in the list though)
Amanda was killed by an alternative means (likely a different alternative APTX variation to what Kohji took)
Amanda's room was clean and tidy to look like nobody entered, as per BO modus operandi. After Amanda's death, something happened and Kohji was killed during a fight, and his room was damaged. Asaka is now missing and is considered the prime suspect for the murder. Asaka being alive is the mistake that Rum could not fix as literally nobody knows who the hell Asaka is.
We do not know enough about Rum's characterization to know if he just stopped giving a shit, or is triggered and wants to kill Asaka or what. Rum probably knows more about what transpired and probably knows Asaka cannot make a move by himself/herself, and will continue begging for help anonymously even though Asaka is the prime suspect.
Gin has been successful in many of his missions, even when Conan was involved.
... except point 1 below:
Examples of Gin acting solely in the benefit of the BO.
1) APTX'd Shinichi Kudo who was eavesdropping during the first case. All records show Shinichi died. Jokes on Gin.
2) Killed Akemi and took her coin locker key. Killed Akemi since she wanted to leave the BO and Gin denied her request.
3) Blew up the Daikoku Building during the Tequila case. It was not stated it was Gin, but Vodka was mentioned during the case. The Daikoku building was the likely location of where Tequila was going to meet Gin and Vodka. BO likely blew up this building to clean up their tracks. This case is likely going to be referenced later during future BO arcs as this case by itself gives more questions than it answers. (Corrected!)
4) Gin was aware of the Trigger on the Floppy during Haibara's intro case
5) Killed Pisco after the leak occurred. Successfully located Sherry and targeted her. He was not prepared for Sherry's backup, which is understandable, and allowed her to escape. Him involved with Pisco's case was a plus for the BO.
6) Haibara said she was going to leave the city after the Pisco case before Conan stated otherwise, Gin said he wouldn't search for Sherry in the city. Which means Gin predicted Sherry's movement, which is a +1 for Gin and the BO. Gin predicted Haibara's plan due to their past relationship (whatever that might be).
7) He let Vermouth play in the mud during multiple cases throughout the Jodie/Vermouth Arc. He probably was sure 100% sure Vermouth was up to something, but did not know what. He is not aware of what transpired during the Conan vs. Vermouth showdown. Gin did not intervene, but ordered Vodka to kill Vermouth if it needed to be done. Vermouth got herself to a phone booth, and in Gin's eyes, she escaped whatever ordeal she was in, and nothing leaked. (Corrected!)
8) Kir Assassination Case - after the mission was changed to target Kogoro, Gin outsmarted both Conan and Jodie and got to Kogoro before Conan. He had an approved plan to kill Kogoro who was tracking Kir from the Doorbell Case. Was willing to kill Vermouth on the rooftop.
9) Committed to food poisoning people, starting fires, and planting bombs just to fill up a hospital to locate a Kir by using trackers to find the room. This is still a risk that could cause loss of life, since this plan had a risk that one or more hospital rooms could explode if the FBI could not disarm the bombs in time. BO cannot 100% guarantee this plan would work, even if Akai was helping. (Corrected!)
10) Followed up on suspicions that Kir was a traitor and forced her to prove loyalty by killing Akai.
11) Pointed a gun at Kir several times during the Akai Death case, and Red Shirts Case incase she was mole.
12) Was willing to blow up a populated train station just to kill an ex-BO member (Sherry) even if Vermouth and Bourbon die as a byproduct. Vermouth one up'd him in this case, by wanting to blow up the train itself.
13) I don't remember too much of the Itakura case. Although Itakura did die, and the BO got their program back, Gin was willing to kill Vodka in that moment, and discovered someone is fiddling with the BO. (or something like this - again, all actions are for the benefit of the BO) If Gin didn't show up, Vodka would of taken the contents, and left fingerprints and his cigarette behind.
Rum finds out Shinichi is alive, and orders Bourbon to investigate Shinichi. Why Bourbon? He's one of the few characters we've seen with "Conan level" deduction skills (on par with Akai, Gin, Yusaku, Heiji etc. I'm not saying those characters are equal, but definitely they are of high calibre. As opposed to Vodka or Yamamura quality). I do not believe that if RUM is Wakita, he'd go investigate a witness himself, and immediately text Bourbon to investigate it (in my eyes, essentially telling Bourbon to deal with the situation). It looks like Bourbon and Wakita are doing independent investigations.
During the recent cases, Wakita looked like he appeared in a rush in Agasa'a neighbourhood. What likely transpired is that Gin sent Wakita to investigate Shinichi Kudo -- or, Wakita knows Gin killed Shinichi, and wants to make sure Gin didn't mess up, which is looking more and more likely did since the internet is hyping the recent case Shinichi solved.