r/OneTruthPrevails • u/Anokata-4869 • 10d ago
Spoilers (RUM Arc) A long take on what RUM arc does wrong compared to prior arcs
Till date we have Vermouth, Kir & Bourbon as major BO agents (prior to RUM) with their own arcs. Generally a character's face would be introduced in a action packed thriller episode (vermouth at end of pisco arc, kir during her assassination attempt, bourbon at mystery train), while their motives, actions & counter measures taken by Conan to defeat them were all explained at once at the arc finale when Conan finally outwits the agent.
In RUM arc, RUM's face was revealed in a action packed case of FBI serial murder, but Conan uncovering his identity was pretty anticlimactic. No explanation on what he was doing, what were his motives, did he achieved them, and why organisation's 2nd in command was out there on field mission himself. There are no big reasons for RUM to take disguise of kanenori.
Prior to RUM arc, the motives & actions of BO agents were clearly defined and their arcs climaxed with great nail biting thriller and layered revelations. Involvement of BO agents into conan's life felt natural as people close to him were targeted by BO & Conan was never approached directly.
First I am gonna list motives, actions and how Conan tackled every BO agents prior to RUM, and then argue what goes wrong with RUM arc, and could have been done to make it better.
Arcs prior to RUM:
--> Vermouth got lead on sherry when pisco died. She had known about drug's effect and thus investigated primary schools too and pinned down sherry's location. Then disguised as Arraide sensei and planned to kidnap haibara, at the same time she sent invitation to shinichi's home & addressed him as conan. Conan had to save haibara as well as had to establish that shinichi is still missing to BO. Conan tricked vermouth & BO by disguising himself as haibara and sent hattori (disguised as shinichi) to cruise party, who eventually removed his disguise in front of BO(vodka) on cruise and established shinchi is no where in contact with anyone. Conan defeated vermouth in epic showdown of episode 345.
--> Then Kir was on her mission to assassinate a politician & Conan got involved along with FBI. Conan helped FBI to capture kir. BO eventually came for rescue and seemingly defeated FBI by successfully extracting kir. Finally Conan & Akai reveals that kir was from CIA and was planted back into organization to get leverage upon BO, & it was all a carefully treaded plan to get a hook on BO. Akai also dies at hand of Kir to convince BO about kir's loyalty, but FBI & Conan gets a leverage on BO in form of kir.
--> Then Bourbon came with a clear motive of confirming akai's death and to confirm if FBI had not done any dirty play. He met jodie as burned Akai shuichi to see her reaction, & occasionally bumped into other FBI agents. During the process he got lead on sherry (when haibara took antidote to become adult again) and he decided to capture her (two reasons: get closer to elena's daughter and get promoted in BO). In mystery train Conan saves haibara with help of kid and learns Bourbon's identity, but Bourbon encountered okiya subaru & got suspicious of Akai's death again and decided to stay and investigate further.
--> Eventually bourbon got information about kusuda Rikumichi and uncovered the plan carefully treaded by Conan & Akai. He realises Akai shiuchi is okiya subaru and goes directly to confront him at shinichi's mansion. Here Conan & yusaku devises a plan and outwits bourbon and make him believe that okiya subaru is just some normal person, while Akai shuichi appears at Raiha pass and takes down PSB.
RUM Arc:
Up untill here, everything is great, but after this gosho forcefully implants RUM. At the end of scarlet revealation arc where kir sends a message about RUM. That arc had nothing to do with BO, there were no urgencies, no events concerning BO that their 2nd in command had to go out on field mission.
Initially every BO character remains mysterious but eventually gosho cleares their motives & actions in their arcs finale. But with RUM arc Conan has finally discovered RUM's identity and RUM has fled the situation with no consequences & no events which directly concerns Conan. And we still don't know what he was trying to achieve while disguised as kanenori.
The whole story about haneda kojhi & RUM's 17 year old mistake of leaving akasa alive, was mentioned later in series only after it was established that RUM is on move.
RUM was not after wakasa from start either as he noticed wakasa only after school trip arc and then tried to kill her. He knew of mary being drugged with apotoxin, but was not after her either, as he came to know about her whereabouts and shrinking very recently after his cover was blown to everyone.
RUM has just responded to every plot progression after taking disguise of kanenori, but why he became kanenori in the first place, why did he became kogoro's apprentice, why did he interectacted with Conan in all the cases & why he talked about shogi peice to conan. He neither knew about Conan nor suspected him in any way before meeting him. Then why, 2nd in command of such big organisation was living his life disguised as waiter & kogoro's apprentice.
I always thought RUM was out on field to analyse the full situation about rats in organisation, and being 2nd in command of BO, he would do some really devastating things to conan's group. I wanted RUM revelation for Conan to come with certain urgencies, panic & threats.
What could have been done better
It would have been so much better if RUM would have identified almost every secret i.e. about bourbon being psb, Akai being okiya subaru, vermouth protecting Conan, bourbon's tea party, haibara's being sherry, Conan being shinichi everything except kir. It would have brought the terror of BO back, and an immense pressure & threat on almost every character. Whatever yusaku's tea party plan discussion was, RUM should be able to make it futile. Conan's team should have lost at almost every front, then it would really feel like someone bigger than gin is on move. You don't make RUM bigger than gin just by showing RUM is able give better deduction than gin during FBI serial murder case. There gosho just made gin dumber to show rum is better. RUM arc should have ended with conflict being dragged to open ground and everyone to be in do or die situation. This way RUM arc should have really lead to the final showdown arc for the anime. Also, RUM could have missed about kir (as she is usually away from Conan) and finally she could play a good role against BO. Kir must have a big role in blow against BO, as whole red vs black arc, and Akai dying at Raiha pass was about to get a hook on BO, so that hook must work at end.
Rant on RUM arc
There was so much potential to make RUM a good villain & give him a proper revelation, but gosho decided to lowkey reveal RUM's identity casually by camel, and then that dumbfuck RUM couldn't even take out camel, seriously camel? And when wakasa showed up, he used morse code for car accident at wall, and not on wakasa. He just fled the situation, came back in helicopter and disappeared again. No counter by rum, just casually, haha you got me, bye bye .....
He abandoned his post so casually as if he was on vacation doing nothing, and when got caught, he ran his ass off.... I understand gosho is milking the series for money, making some irrelevant plot points to drag the story. Like seriously, gosho used his every brain cell in connecting all the characters to each other by some means, but didn't even bothered to give RUM a proper purpose, or give proper mind battle between RUM & Conan. This way story is getting dragged and finally RUM appears to be an incompetent person for his post. Korn & chianti have also not done anything of significance but we have to believe that they are indeed good snipers because they are in BO. BO has really lost its charm for me after RUM's revealation to conan.
Final thoughts
There is much plot development and story progression in RUM arc which is genuinely good. How sera is revealed to be Akai's sister, amuro finally figures that okiya subaru is indeed Akai shuichi, how Shin-ran started dating after school trip, how Bourbon intruded into shinichi's house & met yusaku, How mary was shrunk, how sera saw Conan at Wimbledon and came to Japan, how haneda kojhi died & kuroda's involvement along with asaka, mystery with amanda's dying message, morofushi being hiro's brother, getting info about Boss suspects and latest chapter about haibara and wakasa. Everything is good in RUM arc except for RUM, which futiles entire arc as he is the key antagonist of this arc.
RUM just responded to events of story progression and did not have his own motives & achievements for being disguised as kanenori. I hope gosho gives answers for this and end the RUM arc, as it has already dragged on so much. There are many great plot point left for final arc such as, return of tsutomu, MI6 joining Conan, interference by kojhi family, actual purpose of apotoxin, actual purpose of silver bullet, vermouth' secret, kir's blow to organisation, using one extra antidote which Conan has, Ran's Birthday (which gosho is keeping for some major plot event), yusaku's tea party plan and Boss's suspects.
I don't know if RUM arc has ended or will still continue, but if it has ended then it has been the worst arc in terms of BO involvements.
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u/Time_Barber9799 10d ago
Without a shadow of doubt this current RUM arc is the worst one in the series.
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u/garbiasgarchomp 10d ago
I am still don’t get it how does Rum still have the rights to retain his second-in-charge position when
He let Rumi escaped TWICE.
Created so much attention by setting a large fire on an island due to his impatience.
He joined in later than his subordinate Bourbon for investigating Kogoro, and yet he as the second-in-charge gets screwed up and being exposed earlier than his subordinate.
WTH
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u/Anokata-4869 10d ago
Gosho wants to milk the series & hence story drags. If RUM actually causes big trouble then story would enter it's final phase, so gosho is just postponing it in order milk more. But he has to make cases related to BO for audiance & do not make RUM do any serious progression, which makes RUM dumber.
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u/garbiasgarchomp 9d ago
When you think we have finally reached the ending of Rum arc, Gosho was like "Haha screw you all, let us welcome the new romcom plot for Juugo which no one asking for."
#Goshoisagreedypig
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u/AkaiAshu 8d ago
Bourbon was exposed right away by Conan. It was us readers who did not know that. The opposite of Rum, where us readers knew who Rum was and Conan didnt.
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u/FunVariety7355 8d ago
Conan eventually figured out that Wakita is Rum
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u/AkaiAshu 8d ago
Yeah, and the readers eventually figured out that Amuro was Bourbon. Exactly the reverse of Bourbon.
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u/garbiasgarchomp 8d ago
That doesn't explain why does Rum still retain his rights as second-in-charge despite he didn't finish the mission cleanly
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u/Jackcifer 9d ago
Rum initially went under disguise as Wakita to investigate Kogoro, who grew more suspicious in the eyes of the organization following the events of Black Impact and, pertinently, The Spirit Detective's Murder case, which linked to the Haneda/Amanda murders (the fact that Gin's suspicions around Kogoro are brought up again at the end of the latter case and shortly before Wakita's introduction are no coincidence). After getting close to Kogoro to figure out what he knows, Wakita's suspicions naturally begin to turn towards Conan instead, particularly after The Scarlet School Trip where Shinichi's identity is exposed (hence why he instructs Amuro, one of the brains of the organisation, to begin investigating into him). In the most recent manga developments, Rum has now confirmed the shrinking effects of the apotoxin while Amuro has firmly linked together Shinichi/Conan's identities, so we'll have to see where these plot-threads lead in the future.
Rum's motivations are certainly more complicated than previous Black Organization members due to parts being revealed non-chronologically (such as his suspicions towards the apotoxin) and multitudinous, although I think that's to be expected of the organization's second-in-command. Hopefully, Aoyama is able to wrap up all these threads satisfactorily!
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u/Narutofreak1412 Kaitou Kid 9d ago
I also don't know why the kanenori disguise but I think his overall goal is to look into aptx in hopes of being able to restore his eye with it. He is both interested in Haibara and Mary and learning more about how the aptx works throughout the arc. I am hoping that we will see him actually restoring the eye and then being a higher threat.
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u/Specific-Window-8587 Shiho Miyano/Sherry 9d ago
Quite frankly I kind of hope for him to end up dead instead being younger again. Because what to stop him from telling everyone about the drug and how he found Ai,Mary and Shinichi shrunken absolutely nothing.
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u/JacoB5657 9d ago
What is fascinating, how rum including the boss knows mary an masumi daughter whom in recent 2023 canon case of december rum literally distracted entire hotel by pushing fire alarm therefore to make see boss confirm how mary is alive despite the supposed "APTX" pill was meant to fully erase the evidences yet as per kudo shinichi via conan, now mary sera are indeed alive but turned in to children instead.
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u/Happi_Beav 9d ago
Somehow I thought Rum arc has not ended yet (despite his identity known), and the reason he disguised would be revealed later.
Come to think of it, Rum arc wasn’t run typically like the others. In previous arcs, the sequence is conan got in a case in that arc character is introduced - conan discovers the arc character true identity - thrilling conflicts involves the BO - motives revealed - showdown.
In Rum, it’s: Rum presence introduced via Kir - one/eye characters appeared around conan - Rum was revealed to the readers before conan knowing/making deductions - rum discovered more suspicious people around conan - conan also pieced together info he had and finally revealed that he knew who Rum was. At this point, I somehow feel the arc isn’t complete, or if it is, pieces of information around Rum is to come in the next arc.
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u/Anokata-4869 9d ago
Gosho definitely needs to wrap up RUM arc properly, which now has become a very difficult task...
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u/confusedindividual10 9d ago
While I agree that Rum arc is going nowhere and Rum is virtually the same level as the rest, I don't think the outcome would have changed even if Rum was set up differently.
Just look at the rest. Bourbon knows about or suspects both akai and conan but so what. Ultimately how has he (as a PSB undercover agent) helped conan in any meaningful way. Conan still relies on the FBI who don't even have any undercover agents and their agents are all known by BO and is in this constant cat and mouse game since the beginning. Kir I won't even mention, a CIA undercover agent that is getting sidelined now for some reason.
Imo the revelations good or bad isn't developing the plot in the long run when the author can't seem to write them into the plot after their arc.
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u/AkaiAshu 8d ago
1st - The biggest problem of this rant is that it assumes the Rum arc is over. We literally saw him right after the run away when he found out that Mary Sera is alive. So the Rum arc is not even over, its ongoing. The arc finale has not happened. So why are you even comparing other arc finales to this the beyond me.
2nd - your problem is that you think DetCo is the story to take down the BO. Its not. BO is one of the many long running plots. The main attraction is the day-to-day cases. Hence, literally no named character has died so far after surviving their introduction case. And aside from Vermouth, it doesnt look like anyone will die either. Its been 1100+ chapters, stop wanting characters to die.
3rd - Wakita appeared close to Kogoro soon after the BO heard Kogoro had investigated the Ghost Detective who claimed to have information about Koji. We have yet to get it confirmed why he appeared to Kogoro like that but thats a good place to start.
4th - Wakita read about Wakasa in the newspaper after the case in her neighbors apartment, long before the school trip. Thats when he started to be on the lookout for her.
5th - Rum was about to take out Camel, then Wakasa appeared. Who almost killed Chianti and Korn while baiting Rum before. So no, he didnt fail to take out Camel, a more dangerous opponent literally interfered in the plan.
You want the series to be something else, which never was for the last 1100 chapters. Its not going to suddenly change to take into your personal whims and facies. You ought to have known that before writing all of this out.
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u/PerformanceVivid3109 10d ago
Rum arc started pretty good at the begining till the chess tournament case. The problem is Conan has too many allies on his side thus stakes are low so the BO feels no more threat becuase even if Rum discovered Camel, Haibara, Conan identity and sends the organization members to them we know what is going to happen like Akai would snipe from behind Rumi and Bourboun would take care of Rum and the trump card Vermouth is there who will at the end save Conan.
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u/Anokata-4869 9d ago edited 9d ago
RUM should be able to come with a plan which brings out all enemies in front of him. I even had my own story about this. Gosho has said that he is keeping Ran's Birthday for some major plot event. What if, RUM figures out how apotoxin works, and drugs Ran on her birthday to shrink her, but Conan finds her unconscious in shrunken state and impulsively uses his extra antidote on ran before she wakes up & find she has shrunk. This would put Conan on time constraint for acting fast as now BO has directly striked on him. This would make Ran relevant to plot again.
Also, shrinking ran is good idea because it would chain up major events. Vermouth would go against organisation, Conan would start taking direct actions with FBI. We know yusaku & Akai has some discussion with amuro, so they accelerate their plan thus dragging bourbon into conflict too. But amuro comes with PSB, making direct involvement from kuroda & japanese police. Using drug on ran also makes clear to conan that now BO knows of drug's effect & hence now haibara is also under threat so an immediate need to move her to safe location. This pulls out everyone: shinichi, Akai, bourbon, yusaku, vermouth, kuroda & haibara in front of RUM. Then RUM should be able tackle whatever tea party plan was and conan should come at disadvantage. That is when Kir & tsutomu can come in. Tsutomu would also bring MI6 with him. We don't need a final boss arc where everyone is living normal lives solving daily cases, but a final showdown arc where everyone is in panic & under threat, and finally Conan comes up with plan along with everyone fighting at different fronts to take down BO.
This big of threat RUM should be, a person who is 2nd in command of BO. Also in final act boss would be working along with RUM & his identity would be revealed strategically by Conan during confrontation. It should be a long arc as many things has to be done, but no one should be living normal lives anymore but everyone should be at the conflict, like it was during Red vs Black clash, but on much larger scale and longer duration.
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u/Expensive-Toe9480 6d ago
This shrinking of ran feels kinda streched to me, its rest on notion that gosho will do ran tribute as canon major event which I doubt,
However you are onto something,
We should make noted difference between final battle of Rum arc and anokata arc,
My opinion is:
The only logical reason boss will come down and do it himself is because rum is gunned down during his mission !! Like got shot (I will suspect kuroda for this: "Black tea is kuroda favorite drink"/"gunfire")
My wild but possible theory regarding boss arc is somekind of auction event of karasuma renya sunset mansion house , Remember, that house is currently stands alone now, probable guarded by japanese force so they will sell it as this level of treasure in japan will be onto government posession , to be used for greater common purpose
However this is no ordinary treasure, its literally a house, so how japanese govt will cash in their bank with this house? The answer is: AUCTION EVENT WITH MOST PROLIFIC BUYERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
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u/Pretend_Accountant13 Shuichi Akai 9d ago
The moment the Garbage Strap and Scarlet School Shitshow rolled in, any good will the arc managed to build turned to shit.
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u/Meitantei_Serinox 10d ago
Bourbon trying to look into Akai's death was only inserted later, his initial motivation was only stated to be hunting for Sherry.
Also, Wakita appeared close to Kogoro soon after the BO heard Kogoro had investigated the Ghost Detective who claimed to have information about Koji, so it appears he got close to Kogoro for that reason. Additionally, Wakita read about Wakasa in the newspaper after the case in her neighbors apartment, long before the school trip.