Il capo dei MIB

the maria theory is interesting. the biggest hole in it imo is that it is canonically confirmed that haibara would be able to create an antidote if she had access to all of the drug's info. since the boss obviously DOES have access to the drug's info, it's pretty much impossible for them to be *forcibly* in the body of a child. unless an earlier form of the drug (maybe a version created close to the time vermouth took the drug?) both deaged the person and prevented them from aging.

we also have to think about gosho as a writer.
as in, i personally do not want the boss to be some rando. sure, i don't want it to be something crazy like prof agasa (i know he's been explicitly named as someone who isn't the boss, but just for the sake of an example), but i would want it to be a relatively prominent character with just enough dubiousness around them that the reveal would be like, "WAIT.... wait.... ohhhhh!!!!!!" that's what irks me the most about yoko/maria-esque theories; a background character as the boss just isn't narratively fulfilling imo.
BUT.... gosho seems to be fond of doing the whole random character route. he favors things like word play and subtle shadowing over a more broad narrative strength. so while the specific identity of maria comes off as somewhat absurd, i think the approach to the theory is actually very in line w gosho's approach to big reveals.

i do worry that karasuma is literally just gonna be karasuma LMAO. i mean, i don't think it's the likeliest option, but i feel like there's maybe a 10% chance that it'll just be like, "ah yes.... karasuma... he's been in hiding all these years...." lmao. or, like, genichirou kaneshiro

also, while i think there are a lot of holes in this theory, i find it really interesting: https://tetragon4-blog.tumblr.com/post/ ... f-ano-kata
the one thing i do agree with (or i guess think is most plausible?) in this theory is the fact that current anokata is NOT the original renya karasuma. it's not implausible for him to be the og one, but i just feel like the first karasuma died for some reason. the theory above outlines more specific reasons as to why op believes the original karasuma is dead, and they're interesting. it's mostly a feeling for me, though, lol. i also think it adds more flexibility as to possible boss identities without having to rely on the drug and gender and stuff - which i think is cool!

i also "feel like" (or, well, wld be a little dumb not to consider that) the miyano/akai family has GOTTA be somehow directly related to the boss. i don't think their involvement is just, like, a coincidence, or a result of recruitment that happened 30 years ago. it's more than that. i think they are somehow key to the whole puzzle/to the very origins of the bo. that's not far fetched at all. i saw a theory postulating that vermouth is mary & elena's sister, but, nah, i don't think so. she's just white. still.... idk.

it's also a little annoying because it's difficult to discern whether some connections are just a result of gosho wanting to add it for the sake of an easter egg/added drama or actually legitimate...
like, is there any larger significance to yukiko knowing vermouth, or is it just a "omg gasp! new york and stuff! also i can't believe my old bestie is a bad guy </3" moment??
what about the kuroba family? obviously, there's close to NO way they'll actually be involved in this whole thing, but, still.... toichi teaching vermouth? kaito's knowledge of everything & involvement in some bo moments? again, is this just an easter egg ("oh, so cool, the magician's dad taught the bad guy :O!!!! what coincidence xp!!!!") or is it, like, for real?
same with the kudos' weird knowledge of everything. is this supposed to be serious, or is this just a nice combo of a convenient plot point & proof that shinichi's parents are Good and Cool, After All?

think Maria is the boss and I think there's a lot of solid support. I've had this theory since episode 941/2 "Missing Maria Higashio Case [...]
The name of the manga she first appears in is "The Mysterious 200-Faced Man." [...]the main antagonist in Edogawa's (whom Edogawa Conan named himself after) mystery novels is none other than "The Fiend with Twenty Faces." The Manga where practically nothing happens other than Maria is introduced is named after the main antagonist in Edogawa Ranpo's books. I can think of no possible reason why this issue is practically named "main antagonist of the series." It seems like he decided to hide it in plain sight.
Name play: Gosho plays with names, Maria is about the closest you could come to Moriarty for a girls name.

Mirror of Conan: Like "Sherlock" shrunk to a child would be "Moriarty" shrunk to a child. Also look at her profile, she even looks exactly like Conan.

Isn't too suspicious and also hasn't been ruled out as an option. Gosho has basically said none of the good guys are the boss. Maria is still an option. She is the least suspicious and probably would be the most surprising. Also it's been theorized that the boss is a kid, but pretty much every kid has been ruled out by Gosho except Maria and Mary (which oddly is the same name, but the English version, probably not a coincidence considering how few foreign names are in the show and that Maria is supposed to be from the Kansai region and so shouldn’t even have a Western name). Mary is against the BO so I'm sure she isn't the boss.
Immediately after Shinichi makes his first public appearance on the news revealing he's not dead the BO investigates. The story while this all is happening is randomly about Maria trying to invite Conan over to solve a riddle, although Conan can't come. The episode is really weird as we see all of the chaos of Shinichi being in the news contrasted to Maria trapped in a basement. There is a weird melancholy vibe at the end where we know Maria has something going on with her family. Something else important is that after two decades this is the episode/file we learn Renya is the boss.
Every transfer student introduced besides Maria has been related to the BO.
One last thing. Gosho originally thought he was only going to write for about 3 months, and he had the boss in mind early on. Say he from the beginning had in mind that the boss was going to be disguised as a little girl? Are there any very early characters like that? Actually Conan's very first case is a little girl who fakes her own kidnapping. This last one isn't really support but just a thought, but anyways let me know what you think!
I checked the list that has several BO members in "And Then There Were No Mermaids" to see if there was a variation of Maria's surname 東尾 (Higashio) which means "East Tail" and sure enough there is a surname on the list that is 西尾 (Nishio) which means "West Tail." Unless these are common names I feel like this could be a smoking gun? The full name on the list is Kimihide Nishio. 公秀 (Kimihide) means "Public Hide" maybe meaning the person is hiding in public?