Detective Conan Vol. 65, Files 677 to 679 (The “Red Robbery” arc) – I have a couple of other drafts regarding the DC manga, but I just had to post this one first even if it’s a later chapter. Really, I just had to. Why? Because it’s a Black Organization/FBI-related arc with my favorite FBI agent possibly involved!!! ~Booyah! Oh, and once again, please proceed with caution: **WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD**
Seriously, if you don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading right now. And you can’t say I didn’t warn ya.
**SPOILERS START**
A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE “RED ROBBERY” ARC… This arc spanned 3 chapters (Files 677 to 679) with our friendly neighborhood undercover FBI agents making an appearance. There’s a robbery case to be solved and a somewhat questionable “identity” case with regard to… *drumroll please*… the one and only… Akai Shuuichi?! ~ZOMG!
File 677 (“The Fated Individual”) marked the beginning of the arc with Jodie-sensei, James Black, and Camel in a liquor store (I think) buying some, well, liquor to celebrate James’ birthday. While browsing around, the bottles of bourbon catch Jodie’s attention. She remembers Rena’s warning about a new (and detective-ish) Black Org member codenamed “Bourbon.” They’re a bit worried since Bourbon hasn’t seemed to have made any move yet, and they suspect that his/her target is Sherry. While on this subject, Camel remembers that Akai liked bourbon too (the alcohol, not the person ;P). Jodie is a bit touchy when it comes to Akai, noting that he’s dead, and tells Camel not to mention Akai’s name again. Apparently, she and Akai had a more-than-just-colleagues kind of relationship once upon a time (um, I’m not that sure, but that’s how I understood it). Anyway, as Jodie is having a walk outside to cool her head, she suddenly sees a guy who looks exactly like Akai. She calls out his name (Shuu!!!) and gives chase, but loses him in an alley. James and Camel find her, and tell her they weren’t able to buy the booze because James couldn’t use his card and Camel didn’t have enough cash. So Jodie runs off to the nearest bank to withdraw some money, while still can’t believe if she really saw Akai or it was just an illusion since she thinks he’s dead.
Meanwhile, Prof. Agasa, Haibara, Conan and the rest of the Detective Boys are in the bank to accompany Mitsuhiko who will be opening an account. Genta gets a tummy ache for eating too much, Conan and others accompany him to the bathroom while Prof. Agasa and Haibara leave for a bit to go to a nearby pharmacy to buy some tummy ache medicine. While Conan and company are in the bathroom, robbers enter the bank, fire a gun, and declare a hold-up. Conan and company hide in the bathroom. Robbers announce that “if there’s anyone you [the customers] know or brought along, they’ll be brought here too.” Jodie remembers a similar thing that happened before, which was during a bus hijack incident (vol. 29, files 287-289; episodes 230-231), but Akai was still alive at that time and helped save the day. As she was thinking that, she bumps into the man who looks like Akai…
File 678 (“The Trap”) – Jodie asks the guy if he’s Akai, but he wouldn’t answer. He has burn marks on his face. Jodie thinks if he’s Akai, then he probably lost his voice and memory from the trauma of the previous incident with Rena. Jodie wants to take him to HQ and have him checked, but obviously, she must get rid of the robbers first before she can do this. The robbers then asked people to put duct tape over each other, and tie each other up. Jodie has an idea, asks to go to the bathroom. The robbers allowed he to, but had one of their guys go with her. With quick wit, Jodie manages to easily get out of the ties and knocks out the bad guy. She is surprised to find Conan and company hiding in the bathroom. She tries to think, notes that the robbers sorted out the ones with companions from those who didn’t, asked the bank’s branch manager to pack the money himself, and they were oddly concerned with time. Jodie thinks she just might be able to beat them all by herself, but she then got tasered by the other bad guys who snuck up on her. Conan and company managed to hide from the bad guys. Bad guys decide to get rid of Jodie because she saw their fellow robber’s face. Conan notes that the bank is now surrounded by police but the bad guys seems to have a plan for another way out. Conan manages to lure one of the bad guys, who now has his face mask off. As Conan wonders why, he then figures out the robbers’ escape plan…
File 679 (series resolution: “Shaking Heart”) – The robbers’ escape plan was to disguise themselves as hostages in order to evade the police. They will choose 5 people without companions, switch clothes with them, then frame them for the robbery. One briefcase was for the money while the rest contained bombs which they’ll use to cover up their crime, wherein the 5 hostages-framed-as-robbers will get blown up and it will be classified by the police as a failed robbery attempt to blow up the safe. The robbers actually had the money transferred online while the money in the bank will be used as “decoys” for the cover up. According to Conan, he and the kids will get out of the bathroom when “that moment comes.” Apparently, the moment he’s referring to is when the robbers have tied themselves up and the switch with the hostages had been made.
Conan and company sneak away from the bathroom and into the bank, and manage to get rid of the bombs by carting those to the elevator, where it eventually exploded. Conan singles out the robbers-pretending-to-be-hostages by mimicking the one of the robbers voice by telling the hostages to move toward where the sound of his voice is. The hostages obeyed, but the pretend hostages stayed put as they were confused why there was a sudden change of plans. Suddenly, the guy who was knocked out in the bathroom had woken up and takes Conan as a hostage. Before Conan can fire his tranquilizer dart, someone fires a gun and hits the bad guy. Whoever fired it, Conan didn’t see (but it seems to be Akai). After the police evacuated everyone from the building, Jodie, Conan and company are reunited. With Jodie unconscious and tied up while he was held by the bad guy, Conan wonders who among the hostages shot the bad guy to save him. Jodie frantically looks around, suspecting that it was the guy who looked like Akai. However, she doesn’t tell Conan nor James and Camel about her suspicions.
MY IMPRESSION… Just a robbery case to be solved? In my personal opinion, it’s two cases (one of robbery, the other of identity). Heh. Akai Shuuichi, ZOMG, is that really you?!? ~Hooray! I’m so happy. Since the Clash of Red and Black!, I refused to believe my suspicions had always been that Akai wasn’t really dead. I hope I’m right, and that it’s really him that Jodie bumped into. Amnesia? Or could it be that he’s just pretending to have one? Perhaps he’s in hiding. Like maybe it’s part of his “plan” (whatever that may be). It also seems that Conan is out of the loop on this “plan” if ever there was one… But hey, I don’t think Conan saw the hostage (Akai look-alike) who shot the bad guy, so I can’t really say for sure. I think I can say that I have a pretty strong feeling that it’s actually him, with the burn marks and all, and the no-talking mode… Unless perhaps he’s Bourbon pretending to be Akai to probably fish out some info about Sherry from the FBI??? (Oh, say it ain’t so). I want Akai back! And man, I can’t wait for follow-up chapters on this new development on the Black Org/FBI arc! I so like where this is going. Hopefully, it’s not a red herring.
On another note, did I get that right? Akai, you sly dog. Did he date Jodie before he came to have feelings for Akemi? (at least that’s what I think happened). I just got a bit confused on that part. I thought they were just really close colleagues/pals. Oh, well. Whatever. xD
**SPOILERS END**
An episodic post and more DC manga-related posts on the way in a couple of weeks or so. I’m planning a follow-up manga-related post on Haibara and Okiya, and that’d be coming when I get around to finishing the draft. Also, a random fangirl post about Takagi x Satou rabu-rabu is hibernating in my drafts folder. Will try to get around to finish writing that one too. ^^;
—————————————————-
You might also want to check out my other posts:
That arc is such a cliffhanger. I thought Gosho would finally set-up a new plot for BO…
I was also confused if Jodie has feelings for Shuu because it wasn’t that obvious but now that I try to remember it, they were together on a particular episode on a bus.
@ foomafoo: I think there’d be a slightly new direction with the BO involvement now that there’s Bourbon, Rena, and possibly Shuu. Who knows? Maybe even Eisuke will make an appearance again… ^^
Do you mean the bus hijack episode (230-231) with Vermouth pretending to be Dr. Araide?
Yes, that’s the episode. Although I’m not sure if they are on a date or doing their sneaky job.
@ foomafoo: I don’t exactly remember the details either, but I think they were probably doing their sneaky jobs since Jodie was onto Vermouth at that time and suspicious of “cool kid” Conan. ^^
haven’t read the latest files yet… i stopped reading after the “shinichi’s homicide” thinggy…
@ genbupriestess: I thought the case in that chapter was so-so and a bit odd, but I liked it anyway because Shinichi came back and Hattori was there too. ^^
Wahh?? Akai still alive ??
I got same feeling too . I just tought , If i was kir , i wouldn’t kill him , maybe i shot him at head but not really kill him , and he will act like he have dead , just wondering about the corpse… ! This series make me excited!! 😀
@ Je-.-: I certainly hope our “feelings” are right, that Akai is still alive! *crosses fingers*
when i watched the clash of black and red series, i didn’t believe that akai is dead… i was even guessing of how akai will show himself…
@ genbupriestess: Me too! Now, after this arc, I’m really curious who that guy who looks like Akai is… Is it Akai or is it someone pretending to be him? I wish a follow-up arc on this would come soon. ^^
Shuichi may be still alive, but then the resolution for that crucial scene will be very interesting, 2 bullets and a corpse, how can you explain all those?
I’m sometimes frustrated as how long DC stretches, it’s 15 years and 690 chapters already. But I realize something while reading it, and if it’s becoming true than it’s all worth the wait. If not, than readers will be severely disappointed because they’ve invested too much time into this manga.
I think the author needs all these stories and cases to introduce important characters into the series, allow them to build relationships with Conan/Shinichi, in that build him a formidable force of ally and friends, with FBI, CIA and Japan’s force (Tokyo, Osaka…) to prepare for the ultimate grandest showdown. In that way Conan/Shinichi can rally a force no crime boss can win against when the finale come.
It’s just my wishful thinking that the author actually plans everything to a definite and satisfying ending, although he sometimes stretches things too long, it will pay off at the end. Better that or DC is just an infinite gold mine he can’t get enough of and in no time there’ll be chapter 1000 with no end in sight and all the character/plot developments are wasted just because he can’t find a way to end the series.
I’ve got some questions, hope you can answer: 1. Is there any official (or fanmade) “timeline” that chronicle important events? 2. How long exactly has it been since Shinichi became Conan? Sorry for rambling.
@ JD: I’m very much looking forward to that arc’s resolution too, and hopeful that Akai is alive!
I do agree with you. I also think that Gosho Aoyama is building up a formidable group of allies for Conan when the time comes to finally face off with the BO. It’s gonna be an awesome showdown! I really do hope that when the end of DC comes, all the loose ends would be tied up neatly and the fans would be very much satisfied with the outcome.
With regard to your questions:
(1) I found a few fanmade event timelines: [BO appearances in manga] , [character appearances in anime & manga], [movies+OVAs+episodes] — I also usually cross check with the [DC episode list in wiki] to keep track of events.
(2) I don’t really know how long it’s been since Shinichi turned into Conan. Even though seasons change and the story moves forward, the characters don’t seem to age (kinda like in the Archie comics, where Archie, Betty, Veronica and the rest are forever in high school xD).
~Hope that helps! ^_^
some people say that dc will end at around 2010…
@ genbupriestess: I heard the rumors too. When the end of the manga comes, I’d probably feel both happy and sad. Either way, I hope it’d be a good wrap up for the series.
**SPOILER(kinda)****
I’m sorry, but its painfully obvious that Akai is still alive. Did anyone actually catch the clash between Red and Black? Conan and Akai planned it all along. The reason the fingerprints were on the phone was because when conan was checking to see who the bad guy in the hospital was he has that guy (Black Org member) touch his phone. They used his dead body to be the one at “Reiha Pass”… sounds like rechienbach falls to me (where sherlock faked his death). I mean, Conan is REALLY smart, Do yo ureally think he would let some random B.O. member stay at his house??? Of course not, Bourbon is Akai. I am not trying to be condescending at all here, but after watching the Clash between red and black for the second time I figured out, and was angry i didnt see it the first time. So have no worries, he is alive.
woww. I really Love detective conan. He will leave you breathless. May I ask where can I buy detective conan mnga ? thanks.
@ Haibara: Hi! I’m not sure where you’re from, but usually if you’re outside the USA or Japan, the best way to buy DC manga is online sites (like Amazon, I guess). Back here in Manila, some of the bookstores have the manga in English but the number of volumes sold here is very much behind. So again, I think buying online is probably the best way. Try asking in DC forums too, such as [this site], they could probably give you a much better answer than I can. Good luck!
im a detective conan fan too.. thanks for this informations… can i ask wat is your favorite episodes?? so while im waiting for new episodes and new chapter of manga i can watch those interesting episodes….
@ jhamzy: You’re welcome! I’m glad you found my posts useful. ^_^
With regard to my favorite episodes, I’m a Takagi x Sato fan so the Metropolitan Police Love Story arcs are included in my favorites, especially episodes 205-206, 301-302, and 304, 431-432. Another are the arcs with the Black Org and the FBI/Akai, like ep 425 and the Clash of Red and Black arc (ep 491-504). The ones with Heiji are good too, like DC Movie 7.
There’s a bunch of other episodes I like, but I can’t remember all the episode numbers right now. I often refer to [this episode list] when I feel like re-watching past episodes. I hope it helps! Enjoy~ 🙂
Wow!!! Akai is Still Alive !!! He is in Chapter 677-679, and 700-704