New Member Here - A few theories

[acerola21]

Hi!  I'm acerola21, and I just joined this forum. ^^  I really just wanted to share a few of my theories I came up with while I was re-reading the B.O. chapters . . . I'm not sure how much you guys know already, so some of the theories might be redundant, but I still hope that you guys will enjoy it.

1. Anokata = Elena Miyano (Shiho/Ai's mom)

This sounds crazy, I know, but I'm 90% sure right now that Anokata is Elena, or at least someone related to her.  Remember that her nickname is "Hell Angel" (File 424 p. 12) - this reminds me of what the lady said on the phone to Itakura: "We can be both of God and the devil.  Since we are trying to raise the dead against the stream of time" (File 380 p.13).  The B.O. is both God and the devil - and Elena is called Hell Angel.  Also remember that the lady who said this line has a cat with her (File 398 p.5) - therefore, the lady can't be Vermouth, since she was disguising as Araide during this time, and Araide doesn't have cats (Files 234-237).  If it's not Vermouth, it must be another lady who is fluent in English and Japanese - and that includes Elena, who is British and is fluent in Japanese.

Also, Elena's tapes for Haibara are strange.  They are numbered #1-20, and each one seems to correspond to Haibara's birthday, since Conan listened to the #11-15 tape and it had Elena talk to 11-year-old Haibara at the beginning (File 425 p. 17).  If Elena prepared these tapes right before she was about to be killed by the B.O., why would she prepare so many, instead of just one?  And why should she prepare a tape for each of her daughter's birthday in such a short amount of time?  My guess is that Elena prepared these tapes each year after her daughter was born, and continued to record the tapes until Shiho disappeared and became Ai - which may mean that Elena is still alive.  Also, Haibara hears something strange from the end of the tape that talks to 18-year-old Haibara (File 427 p.9):

Spoiler:

Elena thinks that Haibara is old enough to hear that she is - what?  Strangely enough, after this file, Haibara seems to know who Anokata is:  She recognizes Kurayashi, Tottori before Conan figures out that Anokata's phone number has the area's numbers (File 466 p.6), and when Conan does figure out the phone number contemplates about having Takagi call it, Haibara mentions that the police would end up catching some "unbelievable characters," and Conan himself starts doubting if Haibara knew Anokata's phone number and his/her identity after all (File 475 p.5).

In addition, remember that Pisco has served Anokata for a long time - and remember that he was also long-time friends with the Miyano's (File 242 p.9).  So who did Pisco serve?  Pisco could have served the Miyano's, specifically, Elena.  Also remember that Gosho says that he knows what he wants to do with the ending, and that he almost always give the readers enough clues to figure out the mysteries for themselves.

So why do I think that Elena is Anokata and not Atsushi?  Because of the discrepancy in the way Akemi and Shiho were treated.  Shiho seems to have studied abroad as soon as she was born, while Akemi remained in Japan and lead an almost normal life; Shiho is near the very top of the B.O., while Akemi is near the very bottom; and Shiho and Akemi look nothing alike.  Why is there such a discrepancy?  My guess is that this is because Shiho and Akemi are actually half-sisters; Akemi must be Atushi's previous wife's, while Shiho is Elena's.  This may be why Elena leaves Akemi almost alone while Shiho gets all the special treatment.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but all the evidence seems to point that Elena is Anokata, or at least related to him/her somehow, at least to me.  Still, I don't think that she's a bad person, based on the fact that Vermouth doesn't seem entirely like a bad person.  I have some ideas about why Elena wants Sherry dead, but they are pure speculation and I can't pull any evidence from the series.

2. Bourbon = Okiya

This is another crazy one, I know - and unlike my previous theory, I'm only about 80% sure about it.  I thought that Bourbon = Scar!Akai and Okiya = Akai for the longest time, but I thought that it was too easy - the plot is almost identical to Jodie not being Vermouth and Eisuke not being Kir.  I don't think that Gosho would use such a plot for the third time.

The major reason why I don't think that Okiya is Akai is from these scenes, from File 419:

Spoiler:

The one with glasses is the one who followed Haibara during Files 417-419, and as you can see, he contacts Akai about not being able to follow Haibara anymore, meaning that he is not Akai in disguise - he is a different person from Akai.  And even though we have been introduced to members of the FBI in the Mizunashi Rena chapters, we have never seen any characters with glasses on them, or a lady with a hat (she rides on the passenger side - see File 419 p.6 - I say that the person is a she because of the way the lips are drawn) - this could mean that those two work outside of the FBI, for Akai.  Jodie also mentions how Akai "found conclusive evidence that Ethan Hondou is a CIA agent," even though she doesn't know how Akai got that evidence (File 595 p.11).  Since the only other ones aside from the CIA who know that Hondou is a CIA agent is most likely the B.O., and since Akai had to ask Rena to sneak back into the B.O. and therefore is unlikely to have any ties to the CIA, Akai could have found out through inside information - specifically, through the glasses guy and the hat lady.  That would explain how Akai knew that Hondou was a CIA agent just by looking at the picture.  Akai may also have leaked some information to the B.O. - in File 607 p.4, someone leaked information about how Camel became a suspect in a murder case, even though the only ones who were shown to know about it were Jodie, James, and Akai himself (File 606 p.8).  Since Jodie was busy taking care of Camel, she can't have leaked the information, and James has no motive - Akai is the likely suspect, perhaps casually telling the glasses guy or the hat lady about the incident over the phone.

I think that you know where I'm going with this - I think that Akai somehow converted Bourbon (who is most likely the glasses guy who is most likely Okiya) and the hat lady during his stay in the B.O., and those two are continuing to work for Akai.

Also, if Akai is Okiya, why would Okiya say that his favorite color is black because it hides facts about himself while he hates it for the same reason (File 623 p.7)?  Why would Akai, who we know is a good person, want to hide anything about himself?  It would make sense if Okiya is Bourbon and Akai converted Bourbon - that way, it would be no surprise if Okiya wants to hide facts about himself.

Okiya/Bourbon is also most likely the one who protected Scar!Akai from being shot by Chianti.  Gin does not order Chianti to shoot, not because he doesn't think that Scar!Akai is Akai - when he sees Scar!Akai, he thinks, "Akai Shuuichi" (File 704 p.10) - but because Vermouth tells him to, with permission of Anokata (File 704 p.11).  After this, Gin complains about the "bastard" "doing as he pleases" (File 704 p.13), and then mentions how he wishes that detectives like Sherlock Holmes would stay fictional (File 704 p.14) - therefore, stopping the shooting most likely has something to do with Bourbon, since Bourbon, like Vermouth, is "secretive" (File 703 p.3) and therefore "does as he pleases," and since Gin mentions Sherlock Holmes, which means that he can't mean Vermouth but Bourbon instead.  Therefore, Bourbon must have known about the plan to shoot Scar!Akai - and we know that Okiya was in the department store, and he saw Gin and Chianti (File 703 p.4) and Scar!Akai (File 702 p.16), and therefore knew about the planned shooting.  Bourbon/Okiya isn't the only one who attempted to save Scar!Akai - Conan did as well, and why would he do this if Scar!Akai is Bourbon?  Also, Okiya criticizes Conan on how he tried to save Scar!Akai, saying that the customers' criticism will be even higher now (File 704 p.15), and it makes no sense for Okiya to criticize Conan unless Okiya tried to save Scar!Akai himself.

So why does Conan recognize Okiya's address?  Remember that Conan had Takagi stall glasses guy and hat lady by having him inspect if they were drunk driving or not (File 419 p.18 - the translation here is bad but I checked the original Japanese and that's what it says - yes I know Japanese, I lived in Japan for eight years), so Conan could have known Okiya's address from asking Takagi about the drivers.  And this may also be why he trusted Okiya from the beginning, since he thought that Okiya is the FBI who trailed Haibara, though now he seems to realize that he is wrong, based on how he reacted in File 704 p.16.

Therefore, Okiya must be Bourbon, and though I have some doubts, Scar!Akai must be Akai, although it makes no sense to me why Akai would show his plain face in public and risk Rena's life, cutting off potential information he could gain from the CIA.

Ha ha, that turned out way too long.  Can you tell that I've been dying to share my theories? X3

EDIT:  Man I messed up the links - they should be fixed, now.

[caribou]

So why do I think that Elena is Anokata and not Atsushi?  Because of the discrepancy in the way Akemi and Shiho were treated.  Shiho seems to have studied abroad as soon as she was born, while Akemi remained in Japan and lead an almost normal life; Shiho is near the very top of the B.O., while Akemi is near the very bottom; and Shiho and Akemi look nothing alike.  Why is there such a discrepancy?  My guess is that this is because Shiho and Akemi are actually half-sisters; Akemi must be Atushi's previous wife's, while Shiho is Elena's.  This may be why Elena leaves Akemi almost alone while Shiho gets all the special treatment.

I'm not entirely convinced by your theory, but I like this bit -- it does explain why Shiho and Akemi look so different and are given different treatments. at first I just assumed that maybe Shiho was a genius or some kind of child prodigy or something, but...this makes more sense. 

the part about the cats... so far I think we only know one character who keeps a cat: Eri?? 

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

Hi acerola21, and congrats on your first post!

The one with glasses is the one who followed Haibara during Files 417-419, and as you can see, he contacts Akai about not being able to follow Haibara anymore, meaning that he is not Akai in disguise - he is a different person from Akai.  And even though we have been introduced to members of the FBI in the Mizunashi Rena chapters, we have never seen any characters with glasses on them, or a lady with a hat (she rides on the passenger side - see File 419 p.6 - I say that the person is a she because of the way the lips are drawn) - this could mean that those two work outside of the FBI, for Akai.  

They may have been in disguise because they are staking someone out. Sato, Takagi, and Kogoro often wear hats or sunglasses when following someone.

Akai may also have leaked some information to the B.O. - in File 607 p.4, someone leaked information about how Camel became a suspect in a murder case, even though the only ones who were shown to know about it were Jodie, James, and Akai himself (File 606 p.8).  Since Jodie was busy taking care of Camel, she can't have leaked the information, and James has no motive - Akai is the likely suspect, perhaps casually telling the glasses guy or the hat lady about the incident over the phone.

I doubt Akai leaked info to the B.O. That would be silly and counterproductive. That said, I don't know how the B.O. found out about an FBI agent is a suspect in the TV station murder.

Also, if Akai is Okiya, why would Okiya say that his favorite color is black because it hides facts about himself while he hates it for the same reason (File 623 p.7)?  Why would Akai, who we know is a good person, want to hide anything about himself?  It would make sense if Okiya is Bourbon and Akai converted Bourbon - that way, it would be no surprise if Okiya wants to hide facts about himself.

Okiya gave a cryptic answer why his favorite color is black because Akai worked in the Organization as a mole and he probably had to commit quite a few crimes in order to gain enough trust to progress up the Syndicate's ranks. It is actually very stressful for undercover spies. It is no surprise why Akai would hate the color black too. Also Akai is generally a cryptic sort of person who rarely says things in a unambiguous manner.

Okiya/Bourbon is also most likely the one who protected Scar!Akai from being shot by Chianti. ... Bourbon/Okiya isn't the only one who attempted to save Scar!Akai - Conan did as well, and why would he do this if Scar!Akai is Bourbon?

Nah, that was all Conan's doing. Conan couldn't be sure who the target was and why, so he created the confusion in the crowd with the gift certificate ploy to make it hard for a sniper to keep a bead on their target. Okiya didn't do anything to interfere with scar Akai leaving, but he did keep Jodie away from scar Akai/out of the line of fire.

Also, Okiya criticizes Conan on how he tried to save Scar!Akai, saying that the customers' criticism will be even higher now (File 704 p.15), and it makes no sense for Okiya to criticize Conan unless Okiya tried to save Scar!Akai himself.

I don't think Okiya was criticizing Conan, Okiya was acknowledging that he knew the goal of Conan's gift certificate plan: to stir the crowd up. That's why he says "I see... a gift certificate... I'm not sure if this was the smartest method, but ... seems the customers' criticism will be even higher now." As for why it isn't the smartest method, Conan did have to expose himself to do it: someone looking into why the crowd was stirred up might remember a boy was the one spreading the rumor.

And this may also be why he trusted Okiya from the beginning, since he thought that Okiya is the FBI who trailed Haibara, though now he seems to realize that he is wrong, based on how he reacted in File 704 p.16.

Conan's reaction works too if Okiya is Akai. Conan knows from what Okiya said that he had seen scar Akai, and Okiya's comments that, "Actually, I happened to see him on that floor. Unfortunately, it seems he wasn't who I thought he was, so I didn't talk to him. I've known his face for a very long time... There's no way I could be mistaken." You can parse his quote this way: "Actually, I happened to see that person who looked like Akai on that floor. This Akai wasn't the real Akai, and I didn't confront him. Being the real Akai, this scar Akai is someone else..." Okiya is layering is conversation with a second meaning, there is someone disguising as Akai, for Conan's benefit and Conan is a bit surprised and nervous about the info.

You make a convincing point about the numbering of the tapes corresponding to the birthdays. Conan mentioned that he moved to the 11 through 15 one because there were so many blank ones. I suppose the blank ones were some of the earliest tapes corresponding to when Ai was young. I wonder why they were blank?  I would like to note that in number 18, Elena talks about if Shiho will regret what she is about to do. My guess is that refers to Shiho taking over the drug research. I wonder how Elena would have known Ai was taking over the research at that particular age? As for what Elena says in the tape which we didn't get to hear, I have a few recurring ideas that take into account that the information is something that you wouldn't tell someone until they were older and more mature: one was that she was telling Shiho that either Atsushi or Elena was still alive, and another is that one (or both) of her parents wasn't her real parent. (her original parent(s) was someone significant) Instead of the mothers being different as you suggested, I wonder if it is the fathers that aren't the same. The reason I always thought it might have had something to do with the parents was Vermouth's smile when Agasa mentions what they might uncover about them...

Also Elena didn't leave Akemi alone. As an example, Akemi was taken with Atsushi and Elena to the Miyano's old home.

Spoiler:

The reason for being treated differently by the Org. might be different parentage as you suggested, but since it was Akemi who got the tapes for Shiho from Elena, I don't think Elena was less loving to Akemi.
My pet BO boss theory relates to the Mouris: http://forums.dctp.ws/viewtopic.php?p=65689#p65689

As for the Cat and Vermouth, remember Itakura called the woman a year before the deadline for the program which would be well before Vermouth was in disguise as Araide. Vermouth was most likely Chris Vinyard a year ago, and she may have had a cat then.

[ranger]

Interesting theory...I'd believe it.  According to the mysterious Gosho Interview that has no credible source on the internet, he said something along the lines of "Ai would never expect who the real BO boss is", his mom would be a viable candidate. 

So...maaaybe.  There are a lot of holes though...


So, so far we have kogoro, hakase, yoko, and elena as possible suspects for Anokata...

And welcome to the forums, heard its quite a hassle to get registered nowadays ;P

[Sakina]

Interesting theory...I'd believe it.  According to the mysterious Gosho Interview that has no credible source on the internet, he said something along the lines of "Ai would never expect who the real BO boss is", his mom would be a viable candidate. 

So...maaaybe.  There are a lot of holes though...


So, so far we have kogoro, hakase, yoko, and elena as possible suspects for Anokata...

And welcome to the forums, heard its quite a hassle to get registered nowadays ;P

You forgot Goro-chan.

[acerola21]

Interesting theory...I'd believe it.  According to the mysterious Gosho Interview that has no credible source on the internet, he said something along the lines of "Ai would never expect who the real BO boss is", his mom would be a viable candidate.

That reminds me, do you know where I can read Gosho's interviews?  I've been trying googling "Aoyama Gosho interviews," but only one interview seems to come up for me.

They may have been in disguise because they are staking someone out. Sato, Takagi, and Kogoro often wear hats or sunglasses when following someone.

Yeah, but this was at night, and the glasses guy was trying to see into the house's window at one time (File 418 p.16) - true, he could be wearing sunglasses to hide his face, but wouldn't he take it off if he was trying to see into the house?  Besides, Gosho draws sunglasses differently - these clearly are plain glasses.  And seeing Gosho's style, everyone seems related - when Akemi mentioned a little sister she showed up about 100 chapters afterwards, as Haibara; when Akai mentions that someone screwed up his infiltration into the B.O. two years ago it turns out to be Camel; when Sharon/Vermouth shows up she turns out to be friends with Yukiko, and both were trained under Toichi, and so on and so forth.  I'm sure that he's introduced these two characters for a reason, and they must have shown up by now - and since the glasses guy hasn't been revealed to be some random dude from the FBI, he must be Okiya, and if the glasses guy is Okiya, Okiya can't be Akai.

I do wonder who the heck the hat lady is, though.  Because of her I thought at one time that the glasses guy and the hat lady were Korn and Chianti, but Haibara got to see pretty up close to the glasses dude but they have completely facial features.  The glasses look different, too.

I doubt Akai leaked info to the B.O. That would be silly and counterproductive. That said, I don't know how the B.O. found out about an FBI agent is a suspect in the TV station murder.

That's my point, though - if Akai didn't leak the information, then it suggests that someone from the B.O. infiltrated the FBI some time during or after the Mizunashi Rena mess, since clearly the B.O. weren't getting any insider information then, but we know that there aren't any new members besides Camel in the FBI - and we know that Camel is clean.  I think that to keep Bourbon out of suspicions, Akai dropped some unimportant information about the FBI to Bourbon.  Besides, isn't it strange that Bourbon considers Akai to be his greatest enemy, while Akai doesn't think so?  Akai's "lover" is Gin, not Bourbon.  Bourbon probably said that so that no one else can pursue and kill Akai.

Nah, that was all Conan's doing.

Then who told Vermouth to tell Gin to stop the shooting?  When Gin suspected Mouri and tried to shoot him and Conan interfered, Gin told the sniper to kill both Mouri and Conan.  Clearly Gin has no misgivings about killing someone unrelated.  Therefore, Gin didn't just randomly stop, he was told to by Vermouth, and from what he said about Sherlock Holmes, the one who told Vermouth to tell Gin must be Bourbon.  So that would mean that Bourbon knew about the shooting, and that would limit the candidate to Okiya or Scar!Akai.  But if Scar!Akai is Bourbon and Okiya is Akai, why would Okiya say that Scar!Akai wasn't who he thought he was? (File 704 p.16)  So Scar!Akai isn't Bourbon?  Okiya says there's no way he could be mistaken.

Okiya didn't do anything to interfere with scar Akai leaving, but he did keep Jodie away from scar Akai/out of the line of fire.

But the person at the register only mentioned Scar!Akai - we don't know for certain that Okiya left Jodie the message.  I don't know if Scar!Akai left the message, but it's not 100% certain that it was Okiya, either.

Also Elena didn't leave Akemi alone. As an example, Akemi was taken with Atsushi and Elena to the Miyano's old home.

I know, I meant "leave Akemi alone" as in let her live a normal life rather than have her deeply involved with the B.O.  If the reason why Haibara was sent to the US when she was little and didn't grow up with the Japanese dolls (File 384 p.7) is because the Miyanos got deeper into the B.O. after Akemi was born, then it still makes no sense, because Shiho is about 20 and she must have been born right after the Miyanos visited the architect in the chapter you showed me here.  This means that Akemi was reasonably young when Haibara was sent to the U.S., so it wouldn't be strange if Akemi was sent to the U.S., too - but she wasn't.  In fact, Akemi lived a relatively normal life until college.  The story doesn't add up.

You have a good point about the cat, though - but wasn't Vermouth Sharon a year ago?  So she'd be in the US, and the phone number given would be a lot longer - the phone number given is only about ten digits long (File 380 p. 12), which most likely means that the number goes to a place within Japan.

EDIT:  You also have a good point about the blank tapes.  Huh, I never noticed that - apparently the architect's house was broken in a few times, and that's when they took the tapes and erased the contents?  I dunno.  This is one hell of a carpet Gosho's weaving. -_-"

And I don't really think that anyone related to the Mouri's is B.O. boss - by the same argument, we can say that Shinichi's grandparents could be B.O. boss since they've never been introduced even though they're relatives of the main character, but I don't think that's likely.  Like I said, Gosho says that he knows what ending he's going for, and he seems to know who the BO boss is and he's been dropping hints about it (see this interview - he says "I have already thought of the ending, because I can’t lay the clues if I don’t have the ending"), and since he's never dropped hints about Mouri's parents, I doubt that they're involved.

. . . Although, I guess that you'd never know. *shrug*

the part about the cats... so far I think we only know one character who keeps a cat: Eri??

Lol, I thought the same thing, too, when I thought about the cat.  But then, I realized that this happened a year ago and Eri didn't have a cat then.  Also, I don't think that Eri spontaneously says English.

[xGinx]

The theory about Shiho/Ai and her sister Akemi is quite interesting and seems to be prety solid to me and about how the B.O found out that an FBI agent (Camel) was beeing considered the main suspect in a muerder case, it all would fit (i think) if we the take the theory that says that Akai converted Bourboun and he stills works for him, Akai could make him pass the info to the B.O so they make a move and he could pretend his death.

P.S: Sorry if there' s something ununderstandable, English isn't my strong xD

[Abs.]

The hat lady has got to be Agasa's first love.

[mangaluva]

Welcome to the forums, and the theory on Elena is very interesting. I am certain that she'll have some kind of major future role in the story; there's a lot of ambiguity around what's been mentioned about her, and the tapes must have something important for Aoyama to hide themt this long (unless he just forgot about them ).

I'm not really sold on your Okiya theory, though. I would be disappointed if Aoyama had just used the same trick twice, but possibly it's a double-bluff.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

They may have been in disguise because they are staking someone out. Sato, Takagi, and Kogoro often wear hats or sunglasses when following someone.

Yeah, but this was at night, and the glasses guy was trying to see into the house's window at one time (File 418 p.16) - true, he could be wearing sunglasses to hide his face, but wouldn't he take it off if he was trying to see into the house?  Besides, Gosho draws sunglasses differently - these clearly are plain glasses.  And seeing Gosho's style, everyone seems related - when Akemi mentioned a little sister she showed up about 100 chapters afterwards, as Haibara; when Akai mentions that someone screwed up his infiltration into the B.O. two years ago it turns out to be Camel; when Sharon/Vermouth shows up she turns out to be friends with Yukiko, and both were trained under Toichi, and so on and so forth.  I'm sure that he's introduced these two characters for a reason, and they must have shown up by now - and since the glasses guy hasn't been revealed to be some random dude from the FBI, he must be Okiya, and if the glasses guy is Okiya, Okiya can't be Akai.

It's a bit of a jump to say if it isn't character A then it must be Character B when a third party is highly possible.

The hat lady has got to be Agasa's first love.

Yikes, they do look very similar. Nice one Abs. That gives a whole new meaning to Billy's line "I think the next time you meet will be much sooner than that..." Okiya doesn't smoke, (Akai had to give it up for disguise purposes I suppose) and Araide doesn't either. The name Billy suggests an American or at least English language connection which would fit make sense for FBI related people. The car from the movie case and the one from the Agasa's first love case don't match, but why do they have to use the same car?

Then who told Vermouth to tell Gin to stop the shooting?  When Gin suspected Mouri and tried to shoot him and Conan interfered, Gin told the sniper to kill both Mouri and Conan.  Clearly Gin has no misgivings about killing someone unrelated.  Therefore, Gin didn't just randomly stop, he was told to by Vermouth, and from what he said about Sherlock Holmes, the one who told Vermouth to tell Gin must be Bourbon.  So that would mean that Bourbon knew about the shooting, and that would limit the candidate to Okiya or Scar!Akai.  But if Scar!Akai is Bourbon and Okiya is Akai, why would Okiya say that Scar!Akai wasn't who he thought he was? (File 704 p.16)  So Scar!Akai isn't Bourbon?  Okiya says there's no way he could be mistaken.

Gin himself decided not to shoot, probably because he figured out that scar Akai was Bourbon in disguise. Vermouth probably hinted something about it by stoping in front of him and talking about the boss being cautious enough to break a stone bridge testing it. Friendly fire is bad after all.

Okiya didn't do anything to interfere with scar Akai leaving, but he did keep Jodie away from scar Akai/out of the line of fire.

But the person at the register only mentioned Scar!Akai - we don't know for certain that Okiya left Jodie the message.  I don't know if Scar!Akai left the message, but it's not 100% certain that it was Okiya, either.

I was referring to Okiya knocking over Jodie. I'm not sure who wrote the message either.

I know, I meant "leave Akemi alone" as in let her live a normal life rather than have her deeply involved with the B.O.  If the reason why Haibara was sent to the US when she was little and didn't grow up with the Japanese dolls (File 384 p.7) is because the Miyanos got deeper into the B.O. after Akemi was born, then it still makes no sense, because Shiho is about 20 and she must have been born right after the Miyanos visited the architect in the chapter you showed me here.  This means that Akemi was reasonably young when Haibara was sent to the U.S., so it wouldn't be strange if Akemi was sent to the U.S., too - but she wasn't.  In fact, Akemi lived a relatively normal life until college.  The story doesn't add up.

Maybe the story doesn't add up, but that doesn't mean Elena favored Shiho over Akemi. There may have been another reason Shiho was favored, perhaps it was orders from higher ups or different parentage like you suggested.

You have a good point about the cat, though - but wasn't Vermouth Sharon a year ago?  So she'd be in the US, and the phone number given would be a lot longer - the phone number given is only about ten digits long (File 380 p. 12), which most likely means that the number goes to a place within Japan.

I think your right about her being Sharon. Sharon was the one who met the Kudos and Ran in the New York Golden Apple case. (350-354) The flight to New York was the Midair sealed chamber. (204-207) That plane flight Ran mentioned as being last year. About the phone number, Gosho does use non-existent phone numbers to avoid prank calls. That said, why couldn't Sharon be in Japan? She speaks Japanese openly as an actress after all. It probably was a number in Japan because I think Itakura would have noted the number was foreign in his diary. Also it is possible for the call to be forwarded to another number internationally so even if Itakura's number was local, the call could be sent abroad.

EDIT:  You also have a good point about the blank tapes.  Huh, I never noticed that - apparently the architect's house was broken in a few times, and that's when they took the tapes and erased the contents?  I dunno.  This is one hell of a carpet Gosho's weaving. -_-"

The B.O. probably didn't erase the tapes because they would have taken them if they found them. It isn't clear how old Akemi was when she left the tapes. If someone erased the tapes, it was either Akemi, Elena, if she was alive at the time, or someone else either while Akemi had the tapes before she planted them, or a third party after she planted them. Also it is possible that they may not have been erased, but instead intentionally left blank? There might be more to the tapes as well, something Conan didn't notice.

And I don't really think that anyone related to the Mouri's is B.O. boss - by the same argument, we can say that Shinichi's grandparents could be B.O. boss since they've never been introduced even though they're relatives of the main character, but I don't think that's likely.  Like I said, Gosho says that he knows what ending he's going for, and he seems to know who the BO boss is and he's been dropping hints about it (see this interview - he says "I have already thought of the ending, because I cannot lay the clues if I do not have the ending"), and since he's never dropped hints about Mouri's parents, I doubt that they're involved.

I think you missed the point. It it weird we don't know a single tiny thing about Kogoro's family outside of Eri and Ran when almost every other character who shows up frequently has had their family background or relatives appear in a case or brought up in passing conversation at some point. Shinichi's parents only show up in one out a hundred cases or so, so they are nowhere near as important at Kogoro. Kogoro shows up in almost 1 out of every 2 or 3. There is a massive discrepancy in screen time and that is why the lack of background is particularly mysterious. Also assuming Gosho had an idea where he was going with DC since he started writing it, he would probably construct the ending so that in case DC turned out to be only sort of popular, he could end it quickly using the available characters. As DC became more complicated in the Haibara and then Vermouth arcs when more characters were introduced, he probably started expounding on the final solution while keeping the original core the same.

[acerola21]

The hat lady has got to be Agasa's first love.

Ooh, now I have to re-read those chapters - any chance you remember which chapters the story's from?

It's a bit of a jump to say if it isn't character A then it must be Character B when a third party is highly possible.

Hmm, I guess you're right - but then, who are those two?  Why would Gosho introduce a character who looks like Okiya about two hundred chapters in advance and not have him turn out to be Okiya?  It just doesn't make any sense to me.  I guess that we've never seen Okiya smoke, but we haven't really seen that much of him so maybe he does.  And the whole Okiya = Akai while scar!Akai =/= Akai thing is so similar to Araide = Vermouth while Jodie =/= Vermouth, and it just bugs me that Aoyama would use the same plot line!  But . . . well I guess that I'm just defending my argument out of emotions now. -_-"

I was referring to Okiya knocking over Jodie.

. . . Hmm.  That reminds me.  If Jodie wasn't able to recognize Okiya as Akai, then how did Ran?  Whether Okiya's Akai or not, he doesn't quite look like Akai - so where has Ran seen Okiya before?  Unless, Ran's really good at recognizing people, or something . . . but Jodie's known Akai way longer than Ran, and she didn't recognize him at all.  It just doesn't make any sense to me!

It probably was a number in Japan because I think Itakura would have noted the number was foreign in his diary. Also it is possible for the call to be forwarded to another number internationally so even if Itakura's number was local, the call could be sent abroad.

Hmm, I guess that the English and Japanese speaking lady could be either, or even someone we've never been introduced to at this point.

Oh yeah!  Now I remember something - why did the lady hand up when the cat's sound came up?  Why not let the cat just hang around in the back?  Maybe she hates cats like Agasa says.

The B.O. probably didn't erase the tapes because they would have taken them if they found them. It isn't clear how old Akemi was when she left the tapes. If someone erased the tapes, it was either Akemi, Elena, if she was alive at the time, or someone else either while Akemi had the tapes before she planted them, or a third party after she planted them. Also it is possible that they may not have been erased, but instead intentionally left blank? There might be more to the tapes as well, something Conan didn't notice.

The tapes are definitely weird.  Hmm, but I wonder why anyone would someone erase the tapes, regardless of who it is?  Why not just take it?  If Elena didn't make the tapes that way, then someone must have erased the tapes, and the only reason I can think of why anyone would erase the tapes and not take them would be to hide important information, in fear of leaking the information, while it's somehow important that the rest of the tapes gets to who it's meant to be.  Unless, there's another reason to erase part of the tapes rather than taking the whole thing away . . . but if there isn't, then it should narrow the list of candidates somewhat.

And if Elena made the tapes that way, why would she?  Man this series is confusing.

As DC became more complicated in the Haibara and then Vermouth arcs when more characters were introduced, he probably started expounding on the final solution while keeping the original core the same.

I know, you're right that there's still a possibility.  That's why I said "I guess that you'd never know . . . " this is a wait-and-see-what-happens-in-the-series-to-judge type of situation, I guess, ha ha.  I'm just saying that there's no canon proof so far, is all, and that's why I personally think that it's unlikely, but not impossible.

[Abs.]

The hat lady has got to be Agasa's first love.

Ooh, now I have to re-read those chapters - any chance you remember which chapters the story's from?

It was meant to be a joke, but since Chekhov gave her approval...

Volume 40, Files 7-9 (or Files 410-412)

. . . but Jodie's known Akai way longer than Ran, and she didn't recognize him at all.  It just doesn't make any sense to me!

Well if one wanted to explain this away, you could just say that Jodie was focused on thinking and pursuing someone that looked completely different than Okiya as being Shuuichi.  It's not natural to just think that the person would jump out at you looking completely different from who you were chasing.

[acerola21]

Thanks for the chapters!  I'll get to reading them - do you also happen to know a good source of Aoyama's interviews?

Well if one wanted to explain this away, you could just say that Jodie was focused on thinking and pursuing someone that looked completely different than Okiya as being Shuuichi.  It's not natural to just think that the person would jump out at you looking completely different from who you were chasing.

To me, that still doesn't explain why Ran recognized Okiya, although it does explain why Jodie didn't recognize Okiya.  She's seen Akai only - what, two times?  And she recognized him because she remembers what he looked like the first time she saw him.  Okiya, though, doesn't immediately resemble Akai, so how would Ran recognize Okiya as Akai?

[Kor]

Well if one wanted to explain this away, you could just say that Jodie was focused on thinking and pursuing someone that looked completely different than Okiya as being Shuuichi.  It's not natural to just think that the person would jump out at you looking completely different from who you were chasing.

To me, that still doesn't explain why Ran recognized Okiya, although it does explain why Jodie didn't recognize Okiya.  She's seen Akai only - what, two times?  And she recognized him because she remembers what he looked like the first time she saw him.  Okiya, though, doesn't immediately resemble Akai, so how would Ran recognize Okiya as Akai?

Ran has the powers of a main character. Why did Shinichi and Ran had this telepathy thing in episode 304? Why did Ran simply decided to enter Jodie's trunk? Even though she was worried, a normal person (or someone like Ran) wouldn't do something like that.
If something happens, main characters get more focus and have more intuition than secondary characters. plus, if Jodie recognized that Okiya is Akai, the mystery ends there. 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). Finally, even though she has only met him two times, he seemed to leave on her an impression she couldn't forget, so it's not that weird for Ran to somehow recognize him.

[Nyarl]

Lol, I thought the same thing, too, when I thought about the cat.  But then, I realized that this happened a year ago and Eri didn't have a cat then.  Also, I don't think that Eri spontaneously says English.

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.

The cat isn't the only thing, either. Itakura described the woman's speech as "queen-like". Eri's peers have described Eri that way too, they say that even the opposing lawyers feel like they are disobeying their queen (27.1p~8).

What Vermouth has over Eri are musings about religion. On the other hand I don't see Vermouth's Org. compatriots complaining about her being queen-like. Vermouth seems more seductive than imposing.

But if Scar!Akai is Bourbon and Okiya is Akai, why would Okiya say that Scar!Akai wasn't who he thought he was? (File 704 p.16)  So Scar!Akai isn't Bourbon?  Okiya says there's no way he could be mistaken.

Easily explained as Akai telling Conan that scar!Akai is definitely not Vermouth. The timing of the warning note to Jodie is a real problem, though. Would scar!Akai being seen in the area before be enough reason to warn Jodie away?