Haven't been here for a good month, and came across this thread.
To start off, yeah Ran's character wouldn't be (as) problematic had the series folded much sooner.
Citan wrote:So yes. I agree it says alot that Ran continues to suspect Conan despite the ample "proof" he's given her that she's wrong. I also believe she's been kept far too passive in her attempts to expose him than she should be if she really wanted to find out the truth once and for all. Or maybe I just got spoiled after reading "The Mystery Of Conan Edogawa" and seeing how, in my opinion, Ran's suspicions SHOULD be handled.
I suppose alot of my hostility also comes from the "Reason" given for her to be kept out of the loop. If Ran's development hadn't been stalled for so log the flimsy excuse for keeping her in the dark wouldn't be so galling. The fact that nobody in on the secret has confronted Shinichi on his bullshit after all this time is even more frustrating.
Consider the following. Shinichi's reason for lying to Ran was because her knowing the truth would put her in the line of fire. Fine. At the time that was true. Then he proceeded to go live with her which rendered the entire thing irrelevant. If he had moved back to America, Ran's not knowing the truth could have saved her life, but by moving in with her he as good as signed her death warrant.
Why is this, you ask? Think about it. If Shinichi's identity is exposed to the organization the Mouri family are dead by proxy. They won't ask questions about it. They won't sit Ran down and ask nicely if she knows Conan is really Shinichi. They will assume Kogoro and Ran know exactly who Conan is and have been shielding him from them. To make a long story short: Ran's life is already in danger, and nobody even has the decency to tell her.
With all of the supposedly intelligent characters in the know surely one of them would spot this glaring logical hole in Shinichi's argument for Ran's protection and confront him on it, right? Apparently not. Everyone just accepts his decision and allows him to go on abusing Ran's love and trust just so he can lie to himself about her being safe. Frankly it's sickening.
Very much agreed. And yes, The Mystery of Conan Edogawa strengthens my opinion on the matter as well. I fear to the contrary that things will end in canon with a whimper whether it's Ran not finding out, or she finds out and just accepts it with no hard feelings.
Furthermore, it touches on another problem I don't see discussed often on this topic (not thread, but topic in general). Every time that Conan those also keeping the secret try to shake Ran's suspicion, it no doubt would prompt her into feeling stupid whether it's for having the suspicion of her teenage friend turning back into a 7 year old or approaching Conan without evidence to prompt him into coming clean. It's why I have more and more preferred that Ran finds out through her own detective work.
It gives her something notable to do, rather than waiting for things to happen. Plus, being able to find conclusive evidence would be good for her confidence.
And yes, the whole "keeping her in the dark to keep her safe" is arguably stretching more and more.
In truth, keeping her in the dark for the sake of protecting her would only work if it was established that The Organization had a code of honor preventing them from killing off someone ignorant to them. And they actually have been shown not to, looking at Volume 48-49/Episode 425 as an example.
We see Gin preparing to kill Kogoro after believing him to be onto them, and Conan as well. Conan, as far as they know is completely unaware of them, so really the evidence suggests that Ran would be in danger just for being in Conan's life with or without knowledge on The Organization.
Come to think of it, the aforementioned fic really complements this point. At first the urgency of the situation does perhaps justify secrecy, but after awhile it becomes an excuse not to do the right thing.
And really if anything might make her look stupid, it's not necessarily being not putting two and two together, but when she is trying to pursue/humor the possibility, she needs to keep in mind that if it is true, that Conan has done his best to prove her wrong before. Thus she needs to really buckle down and work at keeping her suspicions a secret.
saorin wrote:I feel like he is missing out on so many twists this story could take BESIDES the mysteries, that he's obstructing the credibility of not only Ran but many other characters/relationships in there as well. What's the problem with them aging (a bit)? What's the problem with creating a different drama than the one that has been dragging on for years "Need to hide from my close-to-girlfriend yadda yadda"?
Couldn't agree more. I mean in the case of Ran, have her going all out. She gathers enough evidence so that Conan & those keeping his secret can't produce counter evidence and finally being in on the secret. And really it wouldn't reduce the drama, but add more to it.
1. For one thing, this is why if Gosho plans for her to find out and having it stick that it should at least be done at least before the final arc with sometime to have a few more traditional stories,
even if not soon.
With those heartbreak moments like The Desperate Revival and The London arc, it feels anti-climatic to have her just forgiving him instantly without any resentment or hurt feelings.
Now of course I don't mean having her flat out hating him and ordering him out of her life. But this isn't some casual problem like telling someone you like their haircut, when really you though it looked funny.
Not to mention that in addition to giving Ran some more work in the story, we can also see Conan losing some of that flawlessness he tends to have through forcing him to acknowledge how he's maintained a strong and even at times problematic lie despite his desire to find the truth.
2. Heck, as a bit of irony, Ran who's spent time uncovering the truth, now has to do a part in keeping it from others.
3. Incidentally there's also the argument of how she'd be a hindrance to him, because she'd insist on getting involved more often and that's true. But then there's developing that angle so she comes to understand that sometimes he needs to do things his way, while sometimes Conan will need her to help out.
Besides, the hindrance argument works as a reason that telling her might be in his best interest. Consider how in Episodes 522-523 that both of the times Shinichi was reverting back into Conan that Ran grabbed a hold of him. Now if Heiji and later Haibara weren't there, her efforts to keep him from running off would not only expose him to her, but Kazuha, Kogoro and even many more next episode. So yeah, I imagine having both Ran and Heiji there to cover for him would have allowed things to go more smoothly and even negate the need to have him downing a second pill.
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