Kohji's Death, the Akai Middle Brother
Posted: July 16th, 2016, 9:05 pm
First, I would like to apologise for creating two threads in one day on an otherwise slow forum like this one. In short, I am a huge Detective Conan fan and I joined this forum because I have a lot of DC theories that I'd like to discuss with fellow fans. I have so many conspiracy theories, in fact, that I should probably should've given myself the username Alex Jones.
Second, I feel the need to warn you that I have not read the Manga, and my memory of anime episodes is not perfect. In the anime I am currently on Episode 741, having started watching the series from Episode 1 in early 2015, but I tend to look ahead a lot using the "detectiveconanworld" Wiki site. As such, I am aware of the existence of characters such as Mary, Kohji Haneda, Amanda Hughes, and ASAKA.
Third, this theory is not original to this forum board. I have raised a less extensive version of this theory in one of my DC fanfics. (Note: I have an account by this same username on fanfiction.net, as a bit of shameless advertising)
Anyway, this thread is about my theory on what happened to Kohji Haneda, and by extension Shuichi Akai and Masumi Sera. Here goes:
17 years ago Kohji Akai, who went by the professional alias Kohji Haneda, was a relatively famous Shogi player with a promising career ahead of him. He was about 21 years old or so. Anyways, he also had an interest in chess, and he heard about this big chess tournament in the United States. However, 21 year olds don't usually a have a lot of cash on hand. "Fortunately" for him, a rich American old lady named Amanda Hughes had heard about him and had taken an interest in his Shogi career. She wanted to meet him, so she sent him a letter/email (whatever was popular 17 years ago) and offered to pay for his trip. Kohji agreed to this.
Sometime prior to the trip Kohji stumbled upon something. He learned something that the Black Organisation couldn't afford for any outsider to know. They sent Rum to kill him, but the BO agent for whatever reason didn't immediately kill Kohji. Instead, he heard about Kohji's trip and decided to follow him to the United States. So, Kohji and Rum traveled to America on the same flight. Either during the flight or at some point after he landed, Kohji realised that Rum had followed him.
Anyways, after he landed in America he met Amanda Hughes and her Japanese-American bodyguard Asaka *Last Name* at the airport. They stayed at a hotel during Kohji's trip, since Amanda did not live in or near the city where the tournament was being held. During his stay with Amanda, Kohji noticed that a few things were...off about her. But he cast his suspicions aside and tried to enjoy himself the best he could while keeping an eye out for Rum.
After he took part in the tournament (and did very well), he returned to the hotel room with Amanda Hughes and Asaka, where the old lady revealed the terrifying truth: her dream was, in fact, to kill the world's best Shogi player. Asaka was, for whatever reason, complicit in her plot. So they tried to kill him, but he managed to overpower and restrain the two of them.
Immediately after this, Kohji realised something: Asaka had long hair and he didn't wear glasses, but other than that the two of them looked identical. So what he did was he shaved Asaka's head and he put his glasses on the man. Then he got a long-hair wig for himself. He hid somewhere and sure enough Rum burst into Kohji's apartment. He saw Amanda Hughes and a person who looked just like Kohji, so he killed them both and fled the scene. Then, Kohji came out of hiding and set up the "U MASCARA" dying message. Then he left the hotel disguised as Asaka and returned to Japan using Asaka's passport.
The "U MASCARA" message, which could be rearranged to read "ASACA RUM", was done to give the impression that in his dying moments Kohji thought Asaka was his killer. After all, Rum had long hair and he concealed his face as he committed his crime. Since that day, the Organisation gets antsy whenever it hears about any public developments involving the word "Asaca".
Anyways, for the next 17 years Kohji lived in hiding under the assumed name Shukichi Haneda. Somehow, by the time he was in his thirties he only looked like he was in his twenties. Either he constantly wore a disguise of some kind or perhaps he even ingested (and survived) APTX-4869. He would be 38 years old now, one year older than Yukiko Kudo is. Given this, he might've been a friend of hers, and she might have helped him start over with a new identity, being to him what Dr. Agasa is to Shinichi Kudo. At some point he came to date a young woman named Yumi Miyamoto, who never learned his true age or identity.
The case of the murder of "Kohji Haneda" was investigated by Kohji's father. It inspired Shuichi, who was already good with deductive reasoning, to join the FBI in order to track down the men who supposedly murdered his older brother.
The implications of this are clear: if Masumi Sera is the youngest Akai child, if she only had two siblings, if Kohji is one of these two siblings, and if Kohji is older than Shuichi, then one would naturally conclude that Shuichi Akai is the middle child. How can this be?
First of all, Sera said that the older brother is dead. We naturally assumed this to be Shuichi, but if Kohji was this older brother, Masumi would obviously "know" that he was dead.
Now, if Sera believes her older brother to be dead, but obviously not her middle brother, where does this leave Shuichi Akai? Well, Masumi saw Scar Akai in "Won't Forgive Even One Millimetre" and she had a surprised appearance.
One thing we must note is that Masumi is far removed from FBI operations, because aside from her father and brother she has no connection to the agency. If Shuichi died, she might not immediately know. Furthermore, the events of all 800+ episodes of the franchise take place within the span of a single year, which means 200 episodes would be equivalent to 3 months or less. She might not receive the news of Shuichi's supposed death within that time frame. Even if she did, however, it's ultimately irrelevant.
During the "Detective's Nocturne" case she was seen contacting somebody about the case, but it was not necessarily her middle brother. It could've been Mary or some other person. Anyhow, the enigmatic Middle Brother was not brought up until "Bathroom Where Ran Collapsed as Well".
During "Yusaku Kudo's Cold Case", Masumi met Subaru Okiya for the first time. Furthermore, she saw him while he was brushing his teeth, without the choke collar, that whole area of his body exposed. It is possible that, while not visible to the audience, Masumi recognised a birthmark on Shuichi by which she recognised him as Shuichi. There was certainly a surprised look on her face as she saw him. After this point she may have gotten into regular contact with Subaru/Shuichi, consulting him during tough cases. He may or may not know that she knows his identity, but nonetheless she refers to him as her "middle brother", because that's what he is if my theory's correct.
Thoughts? Critiques? Reasons why I am undeniably wrong?
Second, I feel the need to warn you that I have not read the Manga, and my memory of anime episodes is not perfect. In the anime I am currently on Episode 741, having started watching the series from Episode 1 in early 2015, but I tend to look ahead a lot using the "detectiveconanworld" Wiki site. As such, I am aware of the existence of characters such as Mary, Kohji Haneda, Amanda Hughes, and ASAKA.
Third, this theory is not original to this forum board. I have raised a less extensive version of this theory in one of my DC fanfics. (Note: I have an account by this same username on fanfiction.net, as a bit of shameless advertising)
Anyway, this thread is about my theory on what happened to Kohji Haneda, and by extension Shuichi Akai and Masumi Sera. Here goes:
17 years ago Kohji Akai, who went by the professional alias Kohji Haneda, was a relatively famous Shogi player with a promising career ahead of him. He was about 21 years old or so. Anyways, he also had an interest in chess, and he heard about this big chess tournament in the United States. However, 21 year olds don't usually a have a lot of cash on hand. "Fortunately" for him, a rich American old lady named Amanda Hughes had heard about him and had taken an interest in his Shogi career. She wanted to meet him, so she sent him a letter/email (whatever was popular 17 years ago) and offered to pay for his trip. Kohji agreed to this.
Sometime prior to the trip Kohji stumbled upon something. He learned something that the Black Organisation couldn't afford for any outsider to know. They sent Rum to kill him, but the BO agent for whatever reason didn't immediately kill Kohji. Instead, he heard about Kohji's trip and decided to follow him to the United States. So, Kohji and Rum traveled to America on the same flight. Either during the flight or at some point after he landed, Kohji realised that Rum had followed him.
Anyways, after he landed in America he met Amanda Hughes and her Japanese-American bodyguard Asaka *Last Name* at the airport. They stayed at a hotel during Kohji's trip, since Amanda did not live in or near the city where the tournament was being held. During his stay with Amanda, Kohji noticed that a few things were...off about her. But he cast his suspicions aside and tried to enjoy himself the best he could while keeping an eye out for Rum.
After he took part in the tournament (and did very well), he returned to the hotel room with Amanda Hughes and Asaka, where the old lady revealed the terrifying truth: her dream was, in fact, to kill the world's best Shogi player. Asaka was, for whatever reason, complicit in her plot. So they tried to kill him, but he managed to overpower and restrain the two of them.
Immediately after this, Kohji realised something: Asaka had long hair and he didn't wear glasses, but other than that the two of them looked identical. So what he did was he shaved Asaka's head and he put his glasses on the man. Then he got a long-hair wig for himself. He hid somewhere and sure enough Rum burst into Kohji's apartment. He saw Amanda Hughes and a person who looked just like Kohji, so he killed them both and fled the scene. Then, Kohji came out of hiding and set up the "U MASCARA" dying message. Then he left the hotel disguised as Asaka and returned to Japan using Asaka's passport.
The "U MASCARA" message, which could be rearranged to read "ASACA RUM", was done to give the impression that in his dying moments Kohji thought Asaka was his killer. After all, Rum had long hair and he concealed his face as he committed his crime. Since that day, the Organisation gets antsy whenever it hears about any public developments involving the word "Asaca".
Anyways, for the next 17 years Kohji lived in hiding under the assumed name Shukichi Haneda. Somehow, by the time he was in his thirties he only looked like he was in his twenties. Either he constantly wore a disguise of some kind or perhaps he even ingested (and survived) APTX-4869. He would be 38 years old now, one year older than Yukiko Kudo is. Given this, he might've been a friend of hers, and she might have helped him start over with a new identity, being to him what Dr. Agasa is to Shinichi Kudo. At some point he came to date a young woman named Yumi Miyamoto, who never learned his true age or identity.
The case of the murder of "Kohji Haneda" was investigated by Kohji's father. It inspired Shuichi, who was already good with deductive reasoning, to join the FBI in order to track down the men who supposedly murdered his older brother.
The implications of this are clear: if Masumi Sera is the youngest Akai child, if she only had two siblings, if Kohji is one of these two siblings, and if Kohji is older than Shuichi, then one would naturally conclude that Shuichi Akai is the middle child. How can this be?
First of all, Sera said that the older brother is dead. We naturally assumed this to be Shuichi, but if Kohji was this older brother, Masumi would obviously "know" that he was dead.
Now, if Sera believes her older brother to be dead, but obviously not her middle brother, where does this leave Shuichi Akai? Well, Masumi saw Scar Akai in "Won't Forgive Even One Millimetre" and she had a surprised appearance.
One thing we must note is that Masumi is far removed from FBI operations, because aside from her father and brother she has no connection to the agency. If Shuichi died, she might not immediately know. Furthermore, the events of all 800+ episodes of the franchise take place within the span of a single year, which means 200 episodes would be equivalent to 3 months or less. She might not receive the news of Shuichi's supposed death within that time frame. Even if she did, however, it's ultimately irrelevant.
During the "Detective's Nocturne" case she was seen contacting somebody about the case, but it was not necessarily her middle brother. It could've been Mary or some other person. Anyhow, the enigmatic Middle Brother was not brought up until "Bathroom Where Ran Collapsed as Well".
During "Yusaku Kudo's Cold Case", Masumi met Subaru Okiya for the first time. Furthermore, she saw him while he was brushing his teeth, without the choke collar, that whole area of his body exposed. It is possible that, while not visible to the audience, Masumi recognised a birthmark on Shuichi by which she recognised him as Shuichi. There was certainly a surprised look on her face as she saw him. After this point she may have gotten into regular contact with Subaru/Shuichi, consulting him during tough cases. He may or may not know that she knows his identity, but nonetheless she refers to him as her "middle brother", because that's what he is if my theory's correct.
Thoughts? Critiques? Reasons why I am undeniably wrong?