#file 1122

A bit disappointing case's ending (Shinichi doesn't return!).

Eventually, Shinichi is discovered to be Kid. Ran finds out too, because Kaito turned the wrong cheek.

Hakuba doesn't discover that Conan is Shinichi, but instead he thinks that Shinichi was giving instructions to Conan.

The good thing is that Ran finds out that the romantic words were indeed Shinichi's, so that will allow ShinRan to develop a little.

File 1119-1122 Review

While I am unfortunately disappointed by how the previous Heizuha-confession- build-up cases (File 1113-1118) wasn't continued by another Ōoka/Heizuha build-up case, I thought this Kid-heist-turned-into-murder case was overall a very entertaining standalone case, and surprisingly also the first 4-file case in awhile. It was a very nice way to somewhat incorporate Kudo Shinichi into a case without wasting the spare antidote, by having Kid disguise as him (like he did with Sherry during Mystery train case) with Conan's guidance in order to solve the case. This is the first manga case that we see Kid disguise as Shinichi since the manga confirmation (in File 1018) that events within Movie 3 (like Kid figuring out Conan's true identity) is canon.

It was nice to finally have Hakuba Saguru return after years since his last appearance in the Detective Koshien case (back in Kir arc), and to see him have an indirect meeting with Kudo Shinichi. It was especially exciting to see him come close to not only figuring out that Shinichi is being impersonated by Kid, but also Conan's true connection to Shinichi.

There was great potential for Hakuba's role in the story if he had learned of Conan's true identity and it could have created an interesting rival-dynamic between them, that would be less friendly than Conan's relationship with Heiji (which ironically would be the anime staff's original intention for Heiji when they requested that Gosho introduces a detective rival). Unfortunately, it amounted to only being a mislead and Hakuba only deducing that Conan relayed Shinichi's words through phone to Kid.

While one could still hold out hope that Gosho is playing us further and hiding a future twist that Hakuba only pretended to have not figured it out and decided to protect Conan's secret, it's more likely that Gosho simply decided to properly establish the lines that Hakuba can't cross in DC as a secondary Magic Kaito character and that his involvement in DC will only serve as crossover fanservice rather than anything substantial in the DC story. This is of course disappointing, as he has already made iconic imprints in the DC franchise, and would have gained from getting more spotlight in the DC universe as well (not just MK).

The best part about this case is Shinichi's new affirmations of his feelings for Ran, when they had a cute romantic moment that reasaured Ran that she is still in Shinichi's mind despite avoiding to meet her.

It did its job in resolving some of my yearning for new ShinRan development since them becoming an official couple.

It was interesting to learn how Gosho is further confirming that some movie-only Kid stunts are also canon, seeing as he had Ran point out that Kid has repeatedly disguised as Shinichi, after she figured out his disguise, despite it being the first time in the manga.

This is an interesting implication, because in the already canonized events of Movie 3, Ran never learned that the Shinichi that appeared at the end (to help cover for Conan's identity) was Kid in disguise.

This would mean that Gosho is implying that the Shinichi-disguise stunts in M8, M14, M19 &/or M23 are also semi-canon.

It was only fair of course for Gosho to not tarnish the romantic ShinRan scene in this case by having Hakuba confirm to Ran that it was not meaningless words from Kid, but rather Shinichi's true words.

As for what we can expect from the next case, the official magazine preview for File 1123 was leaked recently that teased that we are getting a Sato-Takagi case combined with the Kanagawa police, which are Chihaya & Juugo (the pair from the recently introduced romance subplot).

I wanna know what was going through his mind at that point XD

making kaito make that expression the entirety of the ordeal is peak comedy. like you know at that point kaito definitely gave up trying to convince hakuba he's not Kid

additionally this is the distance hakuba claims he's willing to walk to the MPD while fireman carrying an internationally wanted thief:

But realistically, I feel disappointed because I set too many expectations for myself, because, objectively, it wasn't a bad case for ShinRan. But of course, I do think Gosho played with us a little.

It took almost 6 years to have any content from them, as happens just before the anniversary, and the "date" thing is mentioned, we all believed that a big ShinRan case was coming (which has not yet been ruled out, since it is January, and the manga just returns on the anniversary date, but after this, I don't expect anything anymore).

But putting our feet on the ground, it's impossible for Shinichi and Ran to date if their relationship remains undeveloped. And at least in this case it is achieved. There is some development, it was not a case in vain, at least regarding ShinRan. The worst case scenario would have been for Ran to think that everything Shinichi says is actually what Kid says. So while I'm disappointed, I'm not that upset with the case, because objectively ShinRan had development.

Now, that including references to the kiss in Kyoto or other ShinRan scenes seemed to hint at something. And I think Gosho did play with us.