Ran Mouri

Ran Mouri (毛利 蘭), also known as Rachel Moore in the Funimation dub, is a main protagonist in the manga and anime series, Detective Conan. She is the childhood friend and the romantic interest of Shinichi Kudo and the daughter of Kogoro Mouri.

Background
Ran is a childhood friend of Shinichi Kudo. She is the daughter of Kogoro Mouri, a private detective, and Eri Kisaki, a lawyer. Her parents separated when she was seven, and one of her biggest goals is to get them back together. Her best friend besides Shinichi is her classmate Sonoko, who often teases her about her relationship with Shinichi.

Over a year before the series' start, Ran and Shinichi visited Shinichi's parents in New York. They met his mother and her actress friend, Sharon Vineyard (also known as Vermouth, a member of the Black Organization). Later that evening, Vermouth disguised as a serial killer to do BO work, and was saved by Ran and Shinichi who encountered her on their way back from a show-turned-murder case. Vermouth have fallen to her death, but Ran caught her arm and Shinichi helped her pull Vermouth to safety. Due to this, Sharon gave Ran the nickname "Angel", and Shinichi the nickname "Cool Guy". Vermouth later showed hesitance to kill Ran and later Conan as well, but whether or not it was because of any emotional attachment is unclear. It was during this trip that Ran realized her feelings for Shinichi.

After Shinichi's disappearance, Ran met Conan Edogawa, who was introduced by Professor Agasa as a "distant relative". At Agasa's request, Ran agreed to look after him, and immediately came to think of him as a surrogate little brother. Ran has come to suspect Conan's identity multiple times, but Conan always manages a sufficient alibi to satisfy her concerns.

Personality
Ran's greatest personality trait is that she genuinely cares for those she loves. She is also patient, kind, and nurturing. She has a very overwhelming personality, quickly able to intimidate people when angered. Like Shinichi, she highly values justice to the point of idealism. To avoid making Shinichi choose between her and his important case (really an excuse because Shinichi has turned into Conan and can't return), she has decided to wait for him to finish it, trusting his promise that he will come back despite their separation causing Ran a lot of emotional pain. Ran is also very hot-blooded and tends to act on impulses when the people she cares about are involved; the combination of jumping to conclusions and not hesitating to use karate on those who she perceives to have wronged someone have led to several "near-miss" misunderstandings. She is also not above using martial arts as a subtle threat to keep people, including her father, in line. Early on, she would become violently suspicious if she thought Shinichi was philandering, although more recently his confessions have lead her to trust his intentions.

Ran can be very brave and resourceful when she wants to be, and rescues Conan from trouble on occasion. However, she has an irrational fear of the supernatural and is thus—unlike her friend Sonoko—absolutely no fan of anything related to the horror genre. She also constantly tries to reunite her father and mother again, though with little success, thanks to the mutual stubbornness of both parents. Ran is typically unaware of her attractiveness, and usually remains oblivious when men try to flirt with her, often to Sonoko's exasperation. If made aware, Ran doesn't respond in kind due to her feelings for Shinichi. Even though Ran is in love with Shinichi, she has repeatedly failed to convey her feelings because she suddenly becomes self conscious.

Ran is very self-sufficient for her age, since her father is often drunk, slovenly, and fiscally irresponsible. She handles many of the Mouri household's financial affairs and all the cooking and housework. She also ensures Kogoro doesn't slack off on his job, is on his best behavior for client meetings, and she often greets and provides refreshments for potential clients. She also appreciates fine art. Ran is noted by both Shinichi and Shuichi Akai to cry a lot.

Martial arts
Ran's most notable ability is her great prowess in martial arts; she is a black-belt in karate as well as team captain and ace of her high school team with enough skill to win regional tournaments in her age group. Her skills are also shown comparable to Makoto Kyogoku, a world-class martial artist, able to effectively attack in perfect sync with him. She is also well-trained in Judo by her father, showing similar proficiency in his signature one-armed shoulder throw. Her deceptive strength and skill have been seen repeatedly, both from her ability to effortlessly smash stone and other very sturdy objects and with noticeable dexterity and agility also take out various and multiple assailants, most with a single hit. From watching Shinichi play soccer over the years, Ran has also developed similar flexibility and accuracy in her kicks. Despite her prowess, she may not always be able to fight if scared too much.

Physical prowess
Despite her slender frame, Ran has considerable raw strength for her frame, as seen from prying open powerless elevator door. She is also shown to be remarkably fast, able to quickly react to and knock away falling pipes and likewise dodge a bullet up-close while on guard. Her strikes have also shown similar speed, able to swat down a bee with a single kick. Conan states that Ran has an unusual amount of stamina. Ran also was unable to fight due to suffering of amnesia at the time.

Other skill
Ran is also very skilled in running a household, including sewing and cooking. She is musically talented, noted to be a very good singer and she can also play the piano well. She also speaks capable english. She also has astonishing lucky and instincts at gambling, lotteries, and any game of chance; she has never been known to lose once. Likewise, Ran has shown very alert senses in darkness, able to notice an attacker with a weapon and strike to protect herself. Ran also has a very good memory and attention to detail, having used her both to contribute to a case investigation more than once.

Doubts about Conan's identity
In time, Ran comes to suspect that Conan is actually Shinichi, despite what her common sense would say, but he always manages to trick her and prove her wrong. There are, however, occasions where she appears to be sure that Shinichi and Conan are one and the same.



Monthly Presents Case (Manga: 26-29, Anime: 7)
The first time Ran suspects Conan is episode 7. After seeing how Conan, like Shinichi, can deduce someone's occupation by just touching the person's hand, Ran becomes very suspicious and keeps an eye on Conan during the whole case. However, Professor Agasa calls Ran with the voice changing bowtie at the end, freeing Conan of suspicion for a while.



Suspicous Uncle Case (Manga: 131-134, Anime: 96)
Another time, when Ran finds Conan asleep on the sofa, she takes off his glasses and notices the striking resemblance he has to Shinichi as a child. She later confronts Conan about this resemblance, his similar powers of deduction, and even his shared lack of any musical knowledge. However, Shinichi's mother unexpectedly shows up and covers for Conan by explaining that Conan resembles Shinichi because they are distant relatives and that Conan possesses Shinichi's deductive ability because he admires Shinichi and learns from him.



School Play Case (Manga: 256-257, Anime: 191)
Despite apologizing to Conan for doubting him, Ran does not lose her suspicions, but keeps them to herself for awhile. When Conan is critically injured and requires a blood donation, Ran donates her blood without hesitation, knowing she and Shinichi share the same rare blood type. Since this act proves Ran's suspicions are correct, with the help of Ai Haibara, Conan manages to fool Ran by allowing Shinichi to appear before her while Conan (Ai Haibara in disguise) is present.



Suspicious Cellphone Case (Manga: 483, Anime: 400)
In Ran's Suspicions, Conan once forgets his cell phone on the couch and Ran, in the room at the time, remembers to send an email to Shinichi to let him know that she's going with her father on a case and that his presence would be most welcome as Kogoro could use the help. Right after sending the message, Conan's phone starts vibrating. Ran, quite perplexed by the perfect timing, checks his phone only to discover a new email (she hasn't seen the content yet). At that moment, Conan enters the room, and seeing his phone in Ran's hands, rushes towards it while shouting and grabs it back asking: "Did you look?". He quickly understands that Ran's email may have risen doubts about his identity.

Following this event, Ran first believes that Shinichi often contacts Conan without her knowing, which would in some way explain how he always seems to help out on cases. Later on, after seeing Conan give an important clue to the investigation team without making use of his cell phone (to eventually contact Shinichi like she was suspecting), she starts to believe that Conan is actually Shinichi thinking that past occurrences of both being present at the same time was just a trick he used to fool her.

At the end of the day, Ran is able to retrieve Conan's phone. Late at night, after waiting for everybody to go to bed, she tries to get past the phone's PIN code to check whether her email is there or not. This, to her, would be undeniable proof that Conan is indeed Shinichi. After finally guessing the number equivalent of "Sherlock" to be the PIN code, she's surprised not to see her email there. She instantly tries a few times to resend another email but nothing comes up on Conan's phone. That's when Shinichi calls her complaining about the numerous emails she's been sending. Conan, then knocks at the door and claims back his phone saying that he didn't want people looking inside because of messages he received from a girl he likes. It is later showed that Conan actually exchanged his phone with Agasa's (which are both of the same model) and used his phone upstairs to call Ran, while she was experimenting with the Professor's phone, to create this whole alibi. Shinichi then tells Ran that she now knows his phone number. And Ran, pleased with the situation, clears her mind out of all suspicions she had about Conan's identity - at least, consciously.



Kazuha's Charm Case (Manga: 694-695, Anime: 574)
During "The Whereabouts of the Embarrassing Charm" case we can see that Ran's suspicions are arising again. This is thanks to Heiji, openly revealed the fingerprint matching during the "Murder, Shinichi Kudo" case. Kazuha gave a likely, but not to Conan or Heiji, explanation on how Shinichi's fingerprints got onto the handcuff's piece of chain. However, for some reason Ran talked directly to Conan, which he pointed out that she is talking to the wrong person. Unconsciously she thinks she is talking to Shinichi.



Cold Case (Manga: 813-814, Anime: 691)
In manga chapter 814 / Anime episode 690-691, Conan and the girls solve a case similar to one Yusaku Kudo abandoned 10 years ago. While explaining the solution, Conan talks so convincingly that Ran feels a strong impression that Shinichi is the one speaking. It unnerves her to the point where she stops Conan, but he states that he's only reading Shinichi's e-mail.

Shinichi Kudo
Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri have been friends ever since childhood. As teenagers, their closeness has developed into romantic feelings for each other. Ran recalls that she realized she loved Shinichi during their trip to New York together. However, when Shinichi vanishes and Conan appears, her regard for Shinichi is mostly subsumed by her worry for his well-being. Conan tries to call her using his bowtie to impersonate his usual voice in order to allay her fears, but his long absence with no explanation other than a "tough case to solve" leaves her worried and hurt that even the times he does briefly appear, he vanishes before anything meaningful can be said. Shinichi also loves Ran and hates to see her hurt either emotionally or physically. Even as Conan he is very protective of her. For a long time, Shinichi has said nothing of his feelings so that his absence won't hurt Ran worse than it already does; he also wishes to tell Ran the truth about his identity but chooses her safety above their happiness. Currently, she appears to have consciously accepted that Shinichi is not Conan, although she seems to know his identity subconsciously.

Ran and Shinichi have shared many romantic moments, such as when Shinichi bought Ran a pair of red gloves for Christmas, or when he pretended that as Shinichi, while she was asleep he ate the Valentine's Day chocolate that she had made for him. In London, Ran's distress at Shinichi's seeming coldness to her care for him led Shinichi to confess his feelings for her—an act that left Ran so stunned that she didn't say anything about her own feelings in return. Sonoko speculates that Ran's omission will make Shinichi move on, but Conan is well aware of Ran's feelings already. Shinichi and Ran also appear to share a close empathic link due to their strong feelings for each other, making them almost impossibly aware of when the other is in extreme danger, and often able to sense the other's worried thoughts.

Kogoro Mouri and Eri Kisaki
Ran remains close to both Kogoro and Eri even though they have been separated for ten years. Her constant hope is that they finally get together again, and on occasion she even plays (re-)matchmaker by arranging not-so-accidental meetings between them. However, while possible, any reunion has so far been constantly hampered by their mutual stubbornness as well as the occasional criminal incident taking place in the immediate vicinity.

Kazuha Toyama
Despite having rather different temperaments and personalities, Kazuha and Ran have several things in common, including: proficiency in a martial art, father's connection to police work and detective work, and detective-obsessed childhood love interests. Kazuha was initially cold and rude to Ran, suspecting her of being interested in Heiji. However, thanks to Kazuha's frankness and Ran's accommodating nature, the girls quickly overcame this misunderstanding. They have since become close friends and seem to regard each other as confidantes, since they are in similar romantic situations: Ran and Shinichi cannot confess their feelings for each other, as Shinichi is, aside from telephone calls, physically absent from her life, and Kazuha and Heiji cannot confess their feelings for each other due to their own stubbornness and irascibility. After learning that Shinichi basically confessed his own romantic feelings for Ran, Kazuha strongly encouraged Ran to reveal her own back to him. While Conan/Shinichi and Heiji are on cases together, Ran and Kazuha almost always spend the time together. When Kazuha visits the Mouris' in Tokyo with Heiji, she is shown to share Ran's bed.

Heiji Hattori
Heiji acts brotherly toward Ran, at several occasions, he often called her "sister" (neechan in Japanese). Ran respects Heiji as a very skilled detective who reminds her of Shinichi, but whenever Heiji and Kazuha run into an argument, Ran seems to take Kazuha's side. Despite this, they have become very good friends.

Sonoko Suzuki


Sonoko and Ran have been best friends ever since they were children. Sonoko was often there to help Ran whenever she was bullied by other school children, more so than even Shinichi. Sonoko and Ran are often shown walking together after school. Sonoko often invites Ran to join her on trips or events hosted by the Suzuki family (most commonly her uncle's showdowns with Kaitou Kid). They also go out shopping or to karaoke together.

Sonoko once said to a murderer what she thought about friendship: "So what if friendship is unreliable and fragile! That way when you communicate with your heart, you can feel the warmth inside. If it were as hard as some chattering iron plate, you wouldn’t feel the warmth, y’know?"

Meanwhile, even though Ran knows that Sonoko has a lot of money, she always makes sure that money never gets involved in their friendship, not going to ski vacations with Sonoko because she doesn't have the money, when she knows that Sonoko would pay for her to go. This, along with other things, has helped strengthen the bond between both Ran and Sonoko.

Before meeting her boyfriend, Sonoko was sometimes envious that Ran always got more attention from boys, but this didn't affect the deep friendship between them.

Ai Haibara
There are instances where Haibara will caution Conan from actions that involve Ran, though it's assumed this is due merely to the fact that she wants to keep her identity hidden. At one point, she was very cold and distant towards Ran, just like she was to most other people. Ran believed that it was because that Haibara had hated her. However, later that day, after hearing Ran speak about the nature of justice to a criminal, Haibara finally properly introduced herself to Ran and they slowly became friends.

Haibara considers Ran to resemble her older sister, Akemi Miyano, so she takes special interest in protecting her. These feelings began after Ran jumped through a slew of bullets from Calvados (and later Vermouth), to save Haibara and hold her down to the ground to shield her from the gunfire. Haibara is reminded of Akemi, and begins to treat Ran with more personal investment. When at a later point Haibara learns that Korn, Chianti, and the rest of the Black Organization are lurking about, Haibara begs for Ran to stay at Agasa's house, immediately thinking of her own sister's death, and wanting to keep Ran safe.

Vermouth
Ran was a fan of the actress Sharon Vineyard and is currently unaware about Sharon's double-life as Chris Vineyard and Vermouth. Vermouth has a great deal of respect for Ran and protects her from the Organization's activities because Ran unknowingly saved a disguised Vermouth from falling to her death during the Golden Apple case (even though she was about to kill Ran). Vermouth's codename for Ran is "Angel".

Eisuke Hondou
In The Blind Spot in the Karaoke Box, Eisuke expresses romantic interest in Ran. He admits to Conan that he loves Ran and claims that he wants take Ran to America to live happily ever after there, and to ask for Shinichi's permission. Conan, without hesitating, refuses his permission, which confirms his true identity to Eisuke.

Tomoaki Araide
Tomoaki Araide and Ran Mouri became friends while Araide was acting as a temporary basketball coach in place of a teacher who broke his leg. During "The Unseen Angle of the Darkness" Conan wrongly came to the conclusion that Ran was attracted to Araide. In truth she wanted to borrow his sweater in order to knit a similarly patterned one for Shinichi. Some anime-original features play with the idea that Araide is interested in Ran, most notably in the OVA story The Stranger from Ten Years Later where he proposed to her.

Subaru Okiya


Ran lied to Subaru about Shinichi's fact because she felt something terrible will happen to Shinichi if she doing so. She makes Subaru confuses about Shinichi and "Kinichi" but later in Yusaku Kudo's Cold Case, Ran apologizes to Subaru for lying him and tell the truth. In this episode, Subaru finds out that Conan is Shinichi.

Name origin
Ran's Japanese name derives from the Japanese rendering of Maurice Leblanc (from Mourisu Ruburan, according to Aoyama).

Quotes
Courage is a word of justice. It means the quality of mind that enables one to face apprehension with confidence and resolution. It is not right to use it as an excuse to kill someone. There are things one cannot do no matter the circumstances. I don't mind waiting for people. Because the longer you wait, when you do meet... You'll be more happy. If you have faith and wait, he'll definitely come back. A lover will never betray you.

Trivia

 * Her first phone (the pink one) was given by Shinichi Kudo.
 * Gosho Aoyama, the creator of the Detective Conan series, stated that Ran is one of his favorite female characters.
 * On her phone, there is a blissful sea cucumber key-ring.