#foolish research

Hello

I'm actually extremely excited and expecting some good main-plot developing content for the upcoming case (File 1163-116?), especially partaining to Haibara's family/history, since he was adressing the topic of her family in the same event that he teased of Haibara's upcoming relevance in the next case.

File 1141-1143 Review

Hi, it's going well thank you. Yes, I have indeed a lot thoughts on the latest case, and especially File 1141. This case-opening chapter was without a doubt one of the most exciting and highly anticipated moments in the history of this series in terms of mystery lore.

This case started with Kogoro seemingly sneaking around talking to someone about preparing a gift for someone that is a teen girl, despite Ran's birthday being revealed to be awhile away (File 1141). This leads to Eri getting involved in trying to figure out if Kogoro had some secret affair going on.

All of this leads to Eri mentioning how a client of hers mistook a cat's cry for that of a baby's, leading to them talking about how female cat's mating cries can sound like that of a baby's...

...which lead to Conan getting triggered and recalling in flashes none other than one of the biggest DC mysteries that has been shelved for decades, the Itakura software & Vermouth mysteries from Vermouth arc (from File 380).

These were direct redraws from File 380, when he was reading Itakura's diary about Itakura's meeting with Tequila, reluctantly accepting the software order from Vermouth, his regrets and fears of its consequences for humamity, as well as including Conan's recall of Haibara's similar line as Vermouth that was he was pondering (acting "against the stream of time").

This moment couldn't have been less expected to take place right now amidst the unresolved plots of Rum arc, which made for a very impactful development for me. The significance of Conan suddenly recalling this is that it's Gosho's narrative technique of reviving subject matters that are about to be addressed soon, meaning... we are about to finally develop this old highly awaited mystery from decades ago, which is not short of insane and exciting at the same time.

As for why/how Conan recalled this subject matter, it makes sense that it has to do with the long-running "Cat's cry" mystery that Agasa mentioned was noted in Itakura's diary from when Itakura was conversing with Vermouth on the phone (File 398), since Eri was just talking about a cat's cry.

What's more, there is a possibility that Conan may have also reacted to Eri's mention of "give him a good taste of his own medicine" & Ran's "Don't you think that the medicine is working too well?".

That is because it fits perfectly well with how Conan even recalled Haibara's warning of "not rushing things" and that "humans can never go against the stream of time" and that "if they forcibly try to change that they'll be punished" (File 191/380) (alluding to tampering with biological time/age manipulations and its consequences, as referenced even by Masumi in regards to the antidote's age correcting effect in File 1037). Because if what Haibara was referencing was how the Boss (over-100-year-old Karasuma Renya) forcibly tried to revert time on his body to a youthful state by "taking his own developed medicine" in a rush, and then it leading to that "the medicine worked to well" and shrank him into the age of a 7-year-old kid, it would directly coincide with those trigger words that Conan heard. If Conan was able to recall those intrinsic details from those lines, then it might be indicative of that Conan had previously speculated this far internally about Haibara's and Vermouth's words and later forgotten them as time passed (hence his confusion over his sudden recall),... that the BO are trying to "raise the boss from the dead against the stream of time" (fix his current state with a drug) after "getting punished from previously having forcibly gone against the stream time" (taking a drug that worked too well and got him stuck in an undesired state).

For more details on my BO research & goal theories, check my posts below:

As for why Vermouth ordered the completion of Itakura's software, I have written my theory about it in detail in the post below:

We also got to see the first meeting between Eri and Amuro, as well as Amuro giving a little hint of acknowledgement of Conan's hidden capabilities, but this time from the perspective of his newly acquired awareness of his true identity (File 1141).

I do wonder if this meeting and Eri's hunch about Amuro's true profession is gonna go somewhere, like for example her finding out that he is a Public Security officer as a result of them intertwining in a criminal case. Eri finding out and keeping his occupation hidden (just like Koumei) would be something in character and fitting for her, which I would also appreciate (especially if it leads to them working more honestly together in cases).

Ultimately, it was revealed by the end of the case (which was overall enjoyable, albeit simple and straightforward) that it was indeed Kuriyama (Eri's paralegal assistant) that Kogoro was secretly communicating with to get help in deciding Ran's birthday present ahead of time (File 1143).

I thought it was promising for Gosho to already tease Ran's birthday this soon (despite it being awhile away), since it's almost as if he is signaling the beginning of something major to transpire soon in association with the case that involves Ran's birthday. It could be something related to ShinRan's relationship, but it could also be related to some major main plot status quo change. Ran's birthday is something Gosho has had in mind for awhile (probably since the mention of Shinichi's birthday back in Movie 4), so it's gonna be very exciting to see what he has planned for such a monumental event.

Considering that we didn't further develop Conan's memory triggers in the resolution chapter, my current prediction for the upcoming case is that it will involve Conan further recalling and reinvestigating the Itakura software mystery (potentially after getting new leads). Gosho had recently teased in an interview related to the premiere of Movie 28 that the FBI & Camel (with his new appearance) will make a return in the manga soon, and considering the FBI's tight connection to Vermouth (who ordered the software), I could see there being some form collaboration between them and Conan partaining to Itakura's software in the horizon (leading to Conan's eventual deduction on what the software's purpose was).

Yes, I personally think Vermouth's line "we're trying to raise the dead against the stream of time" (File 380) is her metaphoric way of saying that they are trying to bring the supposedly deceased Karasuma Renya (who is actually alive in a shrunken halted-age state) back to where he is officially/publically in power again (in a normal state).

This interpretation is consistent with how Masumi recently used "stream of time" in File 1037 (which was about Mary's shrinking).

Karasuma Renya "Child of Seven" Theory

I think Karasuma Renya is in child-form like Conan, and is planned to be Conan's mirror-version on the bad guy's side.

"Nanatsu no ko", the crow song that the boss uses (File 475), can also be read as "child of seven", which would fit with that he chose that song as a theme reflecting his current state, apart from the crow theme (essentially that BO members are sending their text messages to a 7-year-old child, signaled by the dial melody).

Also, the fact that the research has lead to side effects such as shrinking (as seen with Conan, Haibara, Mary) and potentially halted aging (as seen with Vermouth) further presents the possibility that the boss was affected by them (Old man permanently stuck in a child's form).

It would also explain why Haibara described the drug that she was trying to create as "a foolish thing that most humans in the world wouldn't deem valuable" (File 384), because if the boss is working towards a cure for his state, then a drug that makes you age up fast wouldn’t be useful to anyone who can already age naturally, and people would normally value time and wouldn't want to lose it by growing old faster.

Haibara also monologued in Mystery Train (after recalling Elena's words about their dream research) "I didn't understand that this drug was something that shouldn't be made... but to prevent people from getting involved, depending on this drug is my only option" (File 821). This could have been a direct hint to that she was referring to the antidote drug as both the drug that shouldn't be made and the drug that she was gonna depend on to transform back to Sherry and sacrifice herself in order to prevent harm to her friends.

The APTX antidote effect being the true intended goal of the research makes the most sense, as it's not only consistent with both Haibara's drug description & Pisco's words ["who would have guessed you would develop it to this extent?" (File 242) | recreating the initial rare problem (shrinking) is a big step towards finding its solution], but that it also indirectly progresses the BO's research plans without Gosho having to introduce conviniently talented researchers to take over Sherry's research and to somehow progress the research in an even shorter time than the prodigy Sherry herself.

Detective Conan File 1070-1072 Review!

I have a lot of positive thoughts on the recent Haibara case (File 1070-1072). We rarely get Haibara centric cases, so it was such a treat to finally get back to focusing on one of our favorite female characters. I think this case mainly lifted up Akemi and made her more likable, which I also appreciated.

Wakita's involvement was more limited than I expected however, which was a bit disappointing. It didn't feel like it added anything more than what we already were aware of (that he is a BO member that could trigger Haibara's sense). Wakasa's glance at his back was hardly any giveaway to her knowledge either. At best, we were given an insight on his memorization skills, where he remembered where and when Akemi graduated after 13 years.

As for Wakasa, nothing has changed regarding my theories on her being Vermouth in disguise. In fact, it was more enforced when she demonstrated sensitive BO-specific knowledge about Miyano Shiho's background (File 1070), which a high-ranked member like Vermouth is knowledgeable about.

As for her "impossible..." remark, which frames her as a suspicious BO member just finding out about Haibara's identity (which is clearly Gosho's goal), I think her intent behind that remark is actually more ambiguous due to her vague eerie smirk that accompanied it, and it matches just as easily with a sarcastic intent, where she is simply playfully agreeing with Murata and the rest that it's impossible (knowing that it's very much the truth), which would fit with Vermouth's coyful personality.

The highlight of this whole case was definitely Akemi's message to Shiho (File 1072). It was a very heartfelt letter, but it also seeded in new indications on Akemi's awareness and the Miyano parents' research. Akemi mentioned that Elena told her that "the Silver Bullet is the bullet of justice", which is a direct reference to Atsushi's drug research. This is further implying that they had an honorable goal in mind for their drug (as expected) that would do more justice in the world, but it is also likely meant to indicate that Elena left Akemi with that kind of message to explain why they had to leave their kids behind.

The subtext gets sadder when you realize that Akemi was expecting for Shiho to take over their father's dream research (Silver Bullet) to carry her parents' hopes for justice, but Shiho instead ended up taking over the organization's foolish research (which gave birth to APTX 2.0), which she tearfully realized was a regretful decision during Mystery Train (File 821).

Hello ^^ likewise!

The part about Haibara sneezing and playing games was in File 1025, where she was giving context to Atsushi’s work history. Haibara monologued that the organization wanted her to create a different drug earlier than that, in File 948.

This was right after mentioning that she recreated her parents’ prototype drug with the remains that she could scrap by. In other words, Haibara was basically reiterating the same thing she said in File 179 and File 384, that she was not tasked to create a poison or a dream-like drug, but rather a “foolish” drug that most wouldn’t deem valuable.

In File 821 however, we learn that the Miyano parents were trying to create what they described as “terrifying” and a “dream” drug, which is the opposite of what Haibara was tasked.

My conclusion on all of these tidbits of information is that the Karasuma group funded Atsushi’s dream research of creating this wonder drug “Silver bullet”, that is most likely intended to prolong life and/or cure illnesses, since Atsushi and Elena are doctors. However, I think that the Karasuma group also requested that Atsushi, in return for the funding, also takes over the organization’s 50-year-old (File 189) “foolish” research, to create this not-so-wonderous foolish drug (as mentioned by Vermouth in File 434), which is the research that Haibara later took over.

The Miyano parents didn’t successfully finish creating “Silver Bullet” (Atsushi’s drug) before dying, however, they did produce prototypes of the foolish drug (the organization’s drug) and it became the poison “Apoptoxin 4869″ (that has a rare side effect of shrinking/de-aging people). Haibara then took over the organization’s foolish research after her parents and recreated the same prototype, in her attempt to create the foolish drug.

As for what the organization’s foolish drug is, I suspect that since she said it’s something that most people wouldn’t deem valuable, but at the same time has something to do with aging (since Sherry researched longevity in mermaid island), she is supposed to create a drug that rather than prolonging life by manipulating aging (something that people would want to gain more time), it rather shortens life by speed growth / aging up fast (something that people wouldn’t want to not lose time). This would explain Haibara’s opposite descriptions of her drug goal (compared to Elena’s) and could also be tied to the black organization boss’ (Karasuma Renya’s) current state, like potentially being stuck in the form of a child without being able to age (like Vermouth), due to a past side-effect (”punishment”) after rushing against his fading life (”stream of time”) by taking a prototype drug (File 191/380).