Discussion Thread: Detective Conan Files 876-878

[MeiTanteixX]

Agree with u on the twin part @AVA

[AVA]

Aya Murakami pointed out that the girl in the photo resembles Haibara as well as the Akai siblings, which makes me want to suggest that she's Akai Shuuichi and Miyano Akemi's love-child... But since that would never happen with the Black Org watching, I guess we'll have to file that with the crack theory category. ^_^

And then I woke up this morning and realized that Jodie is blonde, and American, and also had a relationship with Akai...

Actually, I'm having trouble remembering... has Jodie ever met Sera? I know James and Camel saw her, but I can't remember where Jodie was during that incident.

[Fennec]

If I recall correctly, the only case where they both appeared was the café one with Heiji. I just skimmed that case, and Jodie only saw the photo of Sera. However, she thought Sera was a boy.

By the way, I went back to Sera's introduction case to see how the editorial comments referred to her. Maybe it was just the way it was translated, but the comments never actually referred to her by gender. It always used her name or said "detective" or "rival" or such. They were likely avoiding pronouns on purpose in the notes to keep her gender ambiguous. As such, this could be an indication that the girl in the photo is, indeed, a girl, since they've referred to her as such. Although, this could (again) be a translation thing, though my very, very, VERY basic knowledge of random Japanese words suggests that this isn't the case, since I know there are words for "boy" and "girl", and I THINK there's a separate word for "kid" (kodomo? I know that at least means children, but...). I looked at the Chinese version of Chapter 875 and I didn't see any characters seem to repeat in the bubble that said "That girl" and where the translation of the editorial comments used it, though, but that could be related to different ways to use kanji to say a word or something.

But if the editorial notes DID say "girl" in the original versions, then most likely, the child IS a girl. If they wanted to keep the gender ambiguous, the notes wouldn't have used "girl" even though Conan thinks of the child that way and instead gone with a more gender-neutral pronoun. Conan also thought of Sera as a boy in her introduction case (though I don't remember if he explicitly thought that; I only glanced at the editorial comments), but they kept Sera's gender ambiguous in the comments then, too, so no reason for them not to do that now.

...Although, on the off-chance that the character actually IS a boy, does that mean that androgynous features run in the Akai family or something? What did Shuichi Akai look like as a child?

[AVA]

If I recall correctly, the only case where they both appeared was the café one with Heiji. I just skimmed that case, and Jodie only saw the photo of Sera. However, she thought Sera was a boy.

Ah, thanks for the refresher. In that case, it's doubtful Jodie knows Akai's sister at all.

By the way, I went back to Sera's introduction case to see how the editorial comments referred to her. Maybe it was just the way it was translated, but the comments never actually referred to her by gender. It always used her name or said "detective" or "rival" or such. They were likely avoiding pronouns on purpose in the notes to keep her gender ambiguous. As such, this could be an indication that the girl in the photo is, indeed, a girl, since they've referred to her as such. Although, this could (again) be a translation thing, though my very, very, VERY basic knowledge of random Japanese words suggests that this isn't the case, since I know there are words for "boy" and "girl", and I THINK there's a separate word for "kid" (kodomo? I know that at least means children, but...).

Yep. There are several ways to say it in Japanese, both gender-neutral and gender-specific. If it's something like "anoko," it could be interpreted either way. I would take a look, but I don't have access to the raw scans (unless someone can point me to them?).

Conan also thought of Sera as a boy in her introduction case (though I don't remember if he explicitly thought that; I only glanced at the editorial comments), but they kept Sera's gender ambiguous in the comments then, too, so no reason for them not to do that now.

I'm pretty sure Conan fell into the trap of "some guy is flirting with my not-girlfriend!" like everyone else does with Sera, and doesn't realize she's a girl until he sees her in a skirt later.

...Although, on the off-chance that the character actually IS a boy, does that mean that androgynous features run in the Akai family or something? What did Shuichi Akai look like as a child?

PRETTY. Er... um, sorry, my inner fangirl forgot to use her inside voice... ^_^;

[Ringo]

I am a bit swayed by the Akai-is-the-kid theory, but I cannot fit Okiya and the Scar Akai in the picture if I recklessly accept that. But I do think that the kid was not a kid, but another victim of APTX, whom Sera got the idea that Conan is really a teenager, because I personally would not believe that an adult can be turned into a kid by any means, unless I had directly witnessed such incident (in Sera's case, through an APTXed relative). Going with this, I can only positively assume one thing: Sera is the grown-up in the photograph (not anyone else). Ah, theories...

[Fennec]

Spoiler:

Okay, we now have even further confirmation that the child's probably a girl, and also, that she's grown into about a middle schooler. Also, chances are the girl was the one in the bedroom.

...Although, the whole "Sera's brother got APTX'd" theory is starting to make more and more sense to me now... I know what I said earlier about the editorial comments confirming her to be a girl, but at the same time thanks to Sera I'm really starting to wonder if the Akai family isn't actually one of the most androgynous families on Earth. :/

[Aya Murakami]

I don't think Akai has actually shrunk. I think it's rather unlikely since we're pretty certain Subaru is Akai. It could potentially be Sera's other brother, but that wouldn't make sense because Sera said her middle brother doesn't look like her or Akai, and instead the girl/boy we see has the same eyes.

Spoiler:

But if that were the case, and one of Sera's siblings was a victim of the Aptx, then that would mean he or she is considerably older, taking into account that the Aptx. wouldn't have shrunken them as much it shrunk Shinichi, since now we see that the girl/boy is in about Middle School or so. In other words, if the Aptx. makes you shrink about 10 years, Sera's sibling should've been way older than Sera and Shinichi. Which would fit the age description Sera originally gave of her middle brother.
However, if the middle brother had been a victim of the Aptx., that would mean the organization has continued using the drug, and there could potentially be more shrunken people out there. Otherwise, it would mean he was shrunk at about the same time Shinichi and Haibara were, meaning there'd be no reason for Akai not to know about it. But Akai has never shown signs of knowing of the existence of such drug. If he did know about it because Akemi mentioned it to him at some point, it'd be kind of weird for him not to tell anyone, since it could be a huge lead for the FBI in terms of finding and dealing with the organization. And he would've probably caught on to Conan way before.
Also, I'm pretty sure she's a girl, especially with the recent file that has just come out where we see her dressing more like a girl than a boy would, and the editor's note did refer to her as a girl.

[PhantomWriter]

Aya Murakami pointed out that the girl in the photo resembles Haibara as well as the Akai siblings, which makes me want to suggest that she's Akai Shuuichi and Miyano Akemi's love-child... But since that would never happen with the Black Org watching, I guess we'll have to file that with the crack theory category. ^_^

And then I woke up this morning and realized that Jodie is blonde, and American, and also had a relationship with Akai...

Actually, I'm having trouble remembering... has Jodie ever met Sera? I know James and Camel saw her, but I can't remember where Jodie was during that incident.

Even then, the mystery kid is simply too old to be either pairing's kid, lol. Middle school age, after all.

Anyway, though there's a lot of talk in the C-Box about Sera's mom being an APTX victim and the mystery kid, that has issues with how she managed to get to Japan, considering she has no passport and no access to any temporary antidotes that would allow her to fly as her old identity. And Baigar's right out because it wouldn't last long enough, along with the whole random chance issue of how [unless she knew another APTX victim] she wouldn't be aware of Baigar's effects on the poison's victims

As for the second brother got APTX-ed theories, the main problems I can see at this time are thus. First, the question of the mystery kid being a girl or a guy. If the former, the theory is jossed. Second, the theory presumes that the point of resemblance between Shuichi, Masumi, and their mom is their hair color and texture, and that the eye bags are something that the siblings all have. Third, the poisoning would have to have taken place after Kudou's and Haibara's poisonings. Fourth, APTX would have to have different effects on different age groups, such as 17-18 year olds going back to 7 year olds and, with this theory, 28-ish year olds going back to being 12 year olds.

As for the "picture was really from years ago and the lady who looks like Masumi is really her mom" theories, those are now jossed, because we now know for sure that the mystery kid is there in present time.

And, as for the theories about it being another relative [half-sibling, cousin, etc.], that contradicts how Sera doesn't have any family aside from her mom, Shuichi, her other brother, and her dead dad.

[MeiTanteixX]

But can we even be sure that she wasn't hiding the fact of that she had a half-sibling, cousin etc? As far as we are concerned, we dont really have proof of her telling the truth

[MeiTanteixX]

she could be a relative(such as half sister)or a childhood friend who got shrunk by Aptx. since sera looks like she is in the age as that girl in the pic, ofc we cant be too sure

[Giogio]

I share the feeling that the blonde girl is an APTX victim, it just makes a lot of sense with how Masumi is interested in Conan and Haibara.
But at the same time, it's improbable the girl has much to do with the "alive" brother, because of the conversation he and Masumi had about Conan. If the brother was directly involved in the ATPX problem, she would have told him much earlier that she was on to others who seem to have shrunken too, right? Yet she seems surprised when her brother recognizes Conan.

About the passport thing, if it happened before Akai's 'death', he probably was able to get the girl some fake passport. Or they could have asked James, if he's Sera's "rich benefactor", he'd certainly be able to get things sorted. The girl could also have used the witness-protection program to get a new identity before returning to her family for some reason, which would explain why Sera doesn't mention her as a relative.
And it's not THAT unlikely she might have discovered you can turn back with alcohol. We don't know if it has to be that specific kind (do we?), and if I was twenty-something year old who suddenly looked like a teenager, I would probably get a strong drink just for the feeling of being an adult XD

[PhantomWriter]

But can we even be sure that she wasn't hiding the fact of that she had a half-sibling, cousin etc? As far as we are concerned, we dont really have proof of her telling the truth

We have no idea, but I find it rather bizarre that Masumi would lie about that, then be teasing Conan with the mystery kid's photo. One cannot deduce when one's given clues are lies, after all, not without the solution being fundamentally wrong or flawed. [Garbage in, garbage out, no?] As shady as she's been acting, I'm presuming she's telling the truth for now because she's deliberately leaving Conan the clues to figure out the solution and Conan wouldn't really have any way to verify if her claims about her family tree are true or not. She'd understand from a detective's point of view that lying then would be unsporting if she actually wants him to figure things out.

I share the feeling that the blonde girl is an APTX victim, it just makes a lot of sense with how Masumi is interested in Conan and Haibara.
But at the same time, it's improbable the girl has much to do with the "alive" brother, because of the conversation he and Masumi had about Conan. If the brother was directly involved in the ATPX problem, she would have told him much earlier that she was on to others who seem to have shrunken too, right? Yet she seems surprised when her brother recognizes Conan.

About the passport thing, if it happened before Akai's 'death', he probably was able to get the girl some fake passport. Or they could have asked James, if he's Sera's "rich benefactor", he'd certainly be able to get things sorted. The girl could also have used the witness-protection program to get a new identity before returning to her family for some reason, which would explain why Sera doesn't mention her as a relative.
And it's not THAT unlikely she might have discovered you can turn back with alcohol. We don't know if it has to be that specific kind (do we?), and if I was twenty-something year old who suddenly looked like a teenager, I would probably get a strong drink just for the feeling of being an adult XD

I'm not sure about the recognizing Conan thing being the point of contradiction. Hell, I'm surprised the second brother recognizes Conan and knows that he's so competent. As far as we know, they haven't met and the only thing where Conan's exposed to the spotlight is chasing after KID, which doesn't affect non-KID arcs, at least not yet.

The antidote is specifically the Chinese liquor, Baigar, and requires one to be ill for it to work. On top of that, it is still such a temporary antidote that one simply wouldn't make it through airport security, board the plane, and transform back. Not without raising a hell of a lot of questions for those around you.

[MeiTanteixX]

But can we even be sure that she wasn't hiding the fact of that she had a half-sibling, cousin etc? As far as we are concerned, we dont really have proof of her telling the truth

We have no idea, but I find it rather bizarre that Masumi would lie about that, then be teasing Conan with the mystery kid's photo. One cannot deduce when one's given clues are lies, after all, not without the solution being fundamentally wrong or flawed. [Garbage in, garbage out, no?] As shady as she's been acting, I'm presuming she's telling the truth for now because she's deliberately leaving Conan the clues to figure out the solution and Conan wouldn't really have any way to verify if her claims about her family tree are true or not. She'd understand from a detective's point of view that lying then would be unsporting if she actually wants him to figure things out.

I share the feeling that the blonde girl is an APTX victim, it just makes a lot of sense with how Masumi is interested in Conan and Haibara.
But at the same time, it's improbable the girl has much to do with the "alive" brother, because of the conversation he and Masumi had about Conan. If the brother was directly involved in the ATPX problem, she would have told him much earlier that she was on to others who seem to have shrunken too, right? Yet she seems surprised when her brother recognizes Conan.

About the passport thing, if it happened before Akai's 'death', he probably was able to get the girl some fake passport. Or they could have asked James, if he's Sera's "rich benefactor", he'd certainly be able to get things sorted. The girl could also have used the witness-protection program to get a new identity before returning to her family for some reason, which would explain why Sera doesn't mention her as a relative.
And it's not THAT unlikely she might have discovered you can turn back with alcohol. We don't know if it has to be that specific kind (do we?), and if I was twenty-something year old who suddenly looked like a teenager, I would probably get a strong drink just for the feeling of being an adult XD

I'm not sure about the recognizing Conan thing being the point of contradiction. Hell, I'm surprised the second brother recognizes Conan and knows that he's so competent. As far as we know, they haven't met and the only thing where Conan's exposed to the spotlight is chasing after KID, which doesn't affect non-KID arcs, at least not yet.

The antidote is specifically the Chinese liquor, Baigar, and requires one to be ill for it to work. On top of that, it is still such a temporary antidote that one simply wouldn't make it through airport security, board the plane, and transform back. Not without raising a hell of a lot of questions for those around you.

About sera lying, I didn't mean that she might be lying for no reason, ofc there must some reason why she would lie like if the girl was an apotoxin48 victim, no one would wanna reveal a sister who went into hiding infront of ran and sonako who doesn't have a slightest clue, and ee know sera's secretive behaviour so lets not ask why she didn't tell conan in private

[PhantomWriter]

Ah. Now I understand. Yes, she doesn't want Ran and Sonoko to know about whatever it is that is going on [there are several plausible theories floating about, so...], that much we can tell for sure.

[kkuuddoo]

Have anyone seen the new file that came out today !

Spoiler: Actual spoilers

the end was sick, the mystery girl and sera break conan's glasses transmitter
I want to know what they said in the last page QQ