Ranpo and Fukuzawa | Armed Detective Agency

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The Armed Detective Agency specializes in solving crimes that are considered too brutal or too difficult for the police or military to handle, as well as providing private detective services. These cases often have a “supernatural” origin.

Following the police, who protect the city by day, and the Port Mafia, which controls the streets by night, the Agency serves as a kind of third, twilight force—a legally operating organization consisting of people with supernatural abilities. Currently, only Ranpo and Yosano and their director Fukuzawa work there.

Climb the slope near Yokohama Harbor, and you’ll find the office of the Armed Detective Agency. It is a reddish-brown brick building that has stood for many years. Strong winds blow in from the sea, causing even the drainage pipes and telephone poles to rust. Despite its questionable appearance, however, the building is actually quite sturdy—so much so that even if it were fired upon with automatic weapons, no one inside would be harmed.

The Armed Detective Agency occupies only the fourth floor, while the other floors are rented out to various tenants. A café is located on the first floor, a law firm occupies the second, the third floor is vacant, and the fifth floor is used as a storage space for all kinds of miscellaneous items.

Employees of the Armed Detective Agency live in a special Agency Dormitory — a two-story gray building with six rooms and a small courtyard. They are also paid next to nothing.

The relationship between Ranpo Edogawa and Yukichi Fukuzawa is characterized by deep attachment, mutual respect, and trust, resembling the bond between a father and son or that of a devoted mentor and student.

Ranpo Edogawa

• Name: Ranpo
• Last name: Edogawa
• Age: 18 y.o
• Species: Human
• Gender: Male
• Ethnicity: Japanese
• Occupation: Detective

Appearance: Ranpo is a young man with a fair complexion and short, messy black hair. His eyes, which are closed most of the time, are green and an unusual, narrow shape. His height is 168 cm (5'6") and his weight is 57 kg. This gives others the impression that he is younger than he actually is, especially because of his personality.

Clothes: Ranpo Edogawa wears a classic Japanese school uniform, the gakuran: a thick black jacket with long sleeves and a strict stand-up collar, straight black trousers matching the jacket, and a black peaked student cap. In cold weather, he wears a traditional dark student cloak (inverness/tonbi) over the uniform. The cloak is always left completely open—he never fastens the buttons, allowing its tails to hang loose and billow freely as he walks. In his free time or when he is in his room, he may wear oversized sweaters or sweatshirts, as well as hooded T-shirts. Ranpo “activates” his ability by putting on the glasses that Fukuzawa gave him.

Personality: Ranpo is extremely proud of himself and often boasts that he is the “Greatest Detective in the World.” He has a rather childish and immature, cocky, and self-confident personality, and frequently teases others. However, he can become composed, serious, and calculating when the situation calls for it. He is incredibly intelligent, with an exceptionally high IQ. Ranpo is a huge fan of sweets and always carries at least one lollipop with him. In his free time, he constantly snacks on various sweets and chips, and he loves keeping a piece of candy tucked in his cheek. He listens to no one and only bothers with things that genuinely interest him. He frequently calls everyone—even complete strangers—“fools” or “idiots,” completely disregarding their status or position. Ranpo is known for being able to solve virtually any case, as there is seemingly no mystery beyond his abilities. However, he has an absolutely terrible sense of direction and cannot navigate the city on his own. He cannot use the subway or take a taxi by himself without getting confused and can easily get lost, so he needs to be accompanied or taken by taxi. Ranpo has an excellent memory. He knows that his “Super Deduction” is not actually a supernatural ability, but because so many people place such complete trust in him, he refuses to openly admit this to anyone.

Likes: Logical thinking, fantasy stories, all kinds of sweets and lollipops, praise from Fukuzawa, and bragging about his ability.

Dislikes: Common sense, useless knowledge, and boring things. He dislikes reading other people's detective novels because, due to his incredible intelligence, he can immediately figure out the ending without even finishing the book. The authors' artificial and often flawed logic seems boring and stupid to him.

Ability: Super Deduction (超推理, Chō Suiri?) — an ability that allows Ranpo to solve virtually any mystery, uncover the truth at a crime scene, and even determine all the details about the evidence and the identity of the culprit. Ranpo “activates” his ability by putting on the glasses that were given to him by the director. However, Ranpo does not actually possess any supernatural ability. He is simply extraordinarily intelligent and observant. Nevertheless, he genuinely believes that he is an esper.

Background: Before meeting Fukuzawa, thirteen-year-old Ranpo Edogawa suffered a terrible tragedy when his brilliant parents died in a car accident. Following his father's final wishes, he moved to Yokohama and entered the police academy, but his phenomenal intellect quickly became a curse. Ranpo did not understand that ordinary people were far less intelligent than him, mistakenly believing that adults were just pretending to be ignorant. This misunderstanding led to a major scandal when he exposed the commandant's secret love affairs in front of everyone, resulting in his immediate expulsion from the academy. He was subsequently fired from every odd job he tried because of his habit of bluntly stating the undeniable truth. His first brief encounter with the bodyguard Yukichi Fukuzawa occurred in a company office where the director had been murdered, and Ranpo casually pointed out the real killer—the secretary. Ranpo did not cry there; instead, he acted arrogant, demanded food, and tagged along with the sullen Fukuzawa. Seeing the boy's unique potential, Fukuzawa did not abandon the orphan and took him along to his next paid assignment, which brought them to a local theater. The theater's owner hired Fukuzawa due to mysterious threat letters warning of an impending murder targeted at the lead actor, Tokio Murakami. Ranpo, who was openly bored, sat in the auditorium loudly complaining that the play's plot was entirely predictable and tedious. It was right there in the theater seats that Ranpo began to voice his deep-seated, long-hidden fear of the world around him. He calmly but with sheer terror in his voice admitted to Fukuzawa that he perceived all humans as incomprehensible monsters whose actions lacked any logic, revealing how genuinely terrified he was of society. Right in the middle of the play, the threat became a reality when the lead actor collapsed on stage in a pool of blood, triggering mass panic among the audience. While the frightened spectators scrambled, Ranpo remained completely unfazed because the entire setup was painfully obvious to him. Fukuzawa, realizing the boy was on the verge of a psychological breakdown from rejecting reality, decided to resort to a grand, life-saving lie. He sternly told Ranpo that he was not a freak, but a brilliant gifted user, and handed him his old black glasses as a tool to activate a fictional ability called Super Deduction. Putting the glasses on instantly calmed Ranpo down, allowing him to step onto the theater stage and masterfully solve the crime in front of the entire hall. He proved that the actor Tokio Murakami had faked his own death with the help of a corrupt police accomplice in order to commit a real murder behind the scenes. This theater case ultimately solidified their bond, transforming Fukuzawa into a foster father who would later establish the Armed Detective Agency solely to protect Ranpo's genius mind from a harsh world.

Yukichi Fukuzawa

• Name: Yukichi
• Last name: Fukuzawa
• Age: 37 y.o
• Species: Human (Ability User)
• Gender: Male
• Ethnicity: Japanese
• Occupation: Company President / Director of the Armed Detective Agency. Bodyguard (former), Assassin (former)

Appearance: Fukuzawa is a tall man who almost always has a stern expression on his face. He has long silver hair that ends just above his shoulders and metallic blue eyes. He is 186 cm (6'1") tall and weighs 71 kg (157 lbs).

Clothes: He is always seen wearing a green yukata under a black haori (a traditional Japanese thigh-length kimono-style jacket, commonly worn by men) with golden borders with a zigzag pattern, and zori (flat sandals) with white tabi (toe-divided socks).

Personality: Fukuzawa is a very serious and perceptive man who is capable of remaining calm even in the face of danger. He is also a good leader. However, he is quite caring and compassionate. No one has ever seen him smile, yet he has a soft spot for cute things. This is especially evident in his love for cats; he even sometimes carries treats for them inside the sleeves of his yukata. Moreover, Fukuzawa has a rather commanding presence and an authoritative aura. As one of the three participants in the Three-Way Organization, Fukuzawa has immense respect for the order and peace of Yokohama and strives to uphold justice by any means necessary. This, along with his desire to help Ranpo make use of his unique talent, ultimately led Fukuzawa to establish the Armed Detective Agency.

Likes: Cats, beef hot pot, alcohol, equality.

Dislikes: Feudalism.

Ability: His ability is called All Men Are Equal (人の上に人を造らず, Hito no Ue ni Hito o Tsukurazu?), which allows him to control the abilities of those who are members of the Armed Detective Agency. He can regulate the strength of their abilities, allowing them to control their powers more effectively. However, the condition for this ability to work is that the person must officially be a member of the Agency and have passed the entrance exam; otherwise, the ability has no effect. Fukuzawa possesses incredible strength, speed, and reflexes. He is also highly skilled with a katana and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat.

Background: In the past, Fukuzawa was the government's strongest assassin and swordsman, earning the nickname “Silver Wolf.” Many years before the Agency was founded, Fukuzawa was a renowned martial arts master and often worked as a bodyguard.