- Pewter: "Everything the Boss did, she did for you. You should ask her about it."
Date: "..."
Pewter: "She truly cares about you, you know. That’s why she kept silent about what happened six years ago."
Boss (ボス, Bosu) is a main character in ''AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, and a character featured in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative,No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES and the Lemniscate YouTube series.
As her name implies, she is the commander of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS). Boss is Kaname Date’s direct superior and long-time friend. She appears to be an easygoing optimist with a carefree attitude, but she is as cunning as a fox with a quick wit.
Design
Boss has messy dark-brown hair that she ties back in a ponytail. She has thick brown eyebrows and brown eyes. She seems to usually wear minimal make-up, though she is known on occasion to wear red lipstick. Boss wears a red leather jacket over a dark grey and black hooded dress. She leaves the zipper for her dress undone most of the way, and her jacket open, a nod to the informal atmosphere she tries hard to maintain. Boss wears black gloves and black crew socks under red leather boots. Her resting face is largely neutral, but her narrowed eyes and pouted lips give the impression of an inquisitive person.
Personality
Boss is impulsive, confident, and level-headed. This makes her great at interrogations because she never fails to ask the hard questions. She takes her work seriously, but tries her best to construct a relaxed work environment, as is evidenced by the way she decorates her office, and her treatment of her colleagues. Boss is not above joking around, often making Pewter or Kaname Date the butt of her jokes. This often takes the form of playful teasing, or sexual innuendo. She is rebellious, not hesitating to go behind HQ's back when it is required. Boss is fiercely independent, but also fiercely loyal and protective. She will do whatever it takes to keep her friends safe and healthy, even resorting to illegal means, such as blackmail, in dire circumstances.
Story
Shizue Kuranushi (暮主 静枝, Kuranushi Shizue), nicknamed Boss (ボス, Bosu), is a main character featured in AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES, AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative, and the Lemniscate YouTube series.
As her name implies, she is the commander of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS). Boss is Kaname Date’s direct superior and long-time friend. She appears to be an easygoing optimist with a carefree attitude, but she is as cunning as a fox with a quick wit.
Early Life and Police
Born Shizue Kuranushi, Boss would eventually go on to become a member of the police force. In her 20s, she was part of the same rookie class of police recruits as Hayato Yagyu, and the two formed a close friendship with each other. While Hayato would go on to become a homicide detective, Shizue would eventually go on to become commander of the new investigation department, Advanced Brain Investigation Squad.
Cyclops Serial Killings
One day, Boss's long time friend Hayato Yagyu got caught up in business with the Kumakura family. Hayato had intended to come clean for his lover, Hitomi Sagan, but was given one final mission by Rohan to kill Hitomi and her daughter, Iris Sagan. Hayato, wanting to find a way to leave the Kumakura family while protecting Hitomi and Iris, reached out to Shizue for help. As the head of ABIS, Boss told Hayato about the Psync machine and how it could be used to swap around bodies. She devised a plan to have Hayato swap bodies with Rohan, while Hayato in Rohan's body would announce to the Kumakura gang that Iris and Hitomi were not to be approached under any circumstances, and Rohan would be arrested for Hayato's extrajudicial spree of killings. The body swap experiment was successful, but a police officer who hadn't figured out about the swap unknowingly let Rohan in Hayato's body escape. Boss managed to rush to the Sagan residence in time along with Hayato in Rohan's body, and arrested Rohan in Falco's body before he could kill Hitomi.
During the Psync that led to Hayato and Rohan swapping bodies, Boss and Hayato discovered crucial information from Rohan's mind about the Cyclops Serial Killings, learning that they were the combined effort between Rohan and the murderous psychopath, Saito Sejima. With this information, after Hayato in Rohan's body announced to the Kumakura gang to never attach Hitomi or Iris, Boss sent Hayato to the Sejima residence to interrogate Saito, in hopes of using Rohan's body to trick Saito into dropping his guard and in turn be able to bring Saito into police custody for his crimes. Unfortunately, Saito was not easily fooled and took Hayato hostage, using truth serum to force Hayato into confessing the truth about the body swap. Saito used this knowledge and stole the Prototype Psync machine to perform a body swap on Hayato, which in turn led the latter to end up in Saito's body, while Saito in turn would end up in Rohan's body. However, as the Psync machine only sent information to their brains piece by piece, both awoke in their new bodies with no memory of anything. Saito's body was imbued with a stimulant, and Hayato awoke from the Psync and instantly fled. Boss, having learned of the Prototype Psync machine being stolen and having lost contact with Hayato for a week, eventually discovered him at Golden Yokocho in Saito's body and figured out what had happened. She took Hayato in and recruited him as a member of ABIS, giving him the new name Kaname Date.
As Hayato, now under the name Date, was inhabiting Saito's body, Boss immediately took it upon herself to deal with Saito's father, So Sejima, to ensure that he wouldn't file a missing report for his son. Soon after hiring Date, she went to the Sejima residence and blackmailed So into a deal where he would allow Kaname Date in Saito's body to work with ABIS under the condition that Saito's involvement in the Cyclops Serial Killings would never be revealed to the public. As So knew that Saito's crimes being publicly exposed would ruin his political career and public image, he readily accepted the deal.
Advanced Brain Investigation Squad
Boss is the commander of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Advanced Brain Investigation Squad (ABIS). The majority of the appearances she has take place in her office there.
The Adopted Daughter
One day, Boss came to Aioen Orphanage and adopted their 15-year-old foster daughter from the Chieda family and renamed her Mizuki Kuranushi. Sometime after that, Boss trained her as a secret agent of ABIS.
Murder of Shoko Nadami
Boss is one of the first characters introduced to the player in the game, as she appears in the first scene at Bloom Park at the scene of the murder of Shoko Nadami. Her dialogue is mostly brief, with the quick mention of the Original Cyclops Serial Killings, which she ignores Kaname Date's questions about. She is shown holding an umbrella to keep herself clear of the rain.
A: New Cyclops Serial Killings
During the left branch of the game, Boss continues to be involved in the investigation of the New Cyclops Serial Killings.
AB/AAA: Fate Under False Appearance
In the Ota Route and Annihilation Route, on Monday, Saito Sejima in the body of his father, So, calls up Boss and drives her to the Chemical Plant at Kabasaki. Saito induces her with a sedative and then uses the Prototype Psync Machine to swap bodies, leaving Boss in So's body while Saito inhabits her original body. Boss, sedated from the Psync Machine's special function, is shot in the head by Saito, who then proceeds to cut So's body into pieces, killing Boss. The dismembered corpse is then stuffed into a vase and placed back at the Sejima Residence.
AAB: Attempt to Intervene Date's Operation
In the Mizuki Route, Under the pressure of the superiors, Boss tried to persuade Date to stop the crusade against So Sejima, whom he believed to be the murderer, but failed to stop the success. As Date confronts Saito in So's body and kills him, Boss is spared this fate and survives. Not knowing that the So Sejima who was killed was in fact Saito, the Metropolitan Police Department retroactively declares So Sejima to be the New Cyclops Killer.
B: Disappearance of Renju Okiura
TBA
Half Body Serial Killings
TBA
Appearances
| AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1: sigAI | |||||
| Appears | |||||
| BRaiN | |||||
| Absent | |||||
| Day 2: saikAI | |||||
| Appears | |||||
| PaiN | |||||
| Absent | |||||
| Day 2: meikAI | Day 2: keitAI | ||||
| Appears | Appears | ||||
| Day 3: syokubAI | Day 3: gyoukAI | ||||
| Appears | Appears | ||||
| VaiN | VILLaiN | ||||
| Voice Only | Voice Only | ||||
| Day 3: rihAI | Day 3: gumAI | Day 3: kyuusAI | |||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | |||
| Day 4: youdAI | Day 4: jukkAI | Day 4: syuurAI | |||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | |||
| SWaiN | CURTaiN | MaiN: 1 | |||
| Absent | Appears | Absent | |||
| Day 4: jikAI | Day 4: syougAI | Day 4: kikAI | Day 4: irAI | Day 5: kenzAI | |
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | |
| Day 5: zugAI | Day 5: seisAI | Day 5: jinnAI | Day 5: dakkAI | Day 5: jutAI | |
| Appears | Appears | Body Only | Mentioned | Appears | |
| SUSTaiN | REFRaiN | MaiN: 2 | MOUNTaiN | ||
| Absent | Appears | Absent | Voice Only | ||
| Day 5: syokuzAI | Day 5: ihAI | Day 6: kekkAI | Day 5: kokkAI | ||
| Body Only | Body Only | Absent | Appears | ||
| Ota: END | Day 6: hiAI | Annihilation: END | Iris: END | Day 6: sousAI | |
| Appears | Absent | ||||
| CAPTaiN | CHaiN | ||||
| Absent | Absent | ||||
| Day 6: sanpAI | Day 6: hakAI | ||||
| Appears | Flashback | ||||
| Mizuki: END | Three Months Later: kassAI | ||||
| Appears | |||||
| Resolution: END | |||||
| AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES - nirvanA Initiative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Years Ago | Present | ||||
| Converge Ch 0: A Strange Tale (Past) Appears |
Converge Ch 0: A Strange Tale (Present) Appears |
||||
| Mizuki Ch 0: New Investigation Absent |
|||||
| Ryuki Ch 0: Dispossessed Absent |
Mizuki Ch 0: Alone Absent |
||||
| Ryuki Ch 1: Anyone Imagines Appears |
Mizuki Ch 1: Pass Mildly Away Appears |
||||
| Ryuki Ch 1: Nefarious Institute Voice Only |
Mizuki Ch 1: Nostalgic Idol Absent |
||||
| Ryuki Diverge: 遐ｴ邯ｻ逋ｾ蜃ｺ Absent |
Ryuki Ch 1: Ought to Know Absent |
Mizuki Ch 1: End Where I Begun Absent |
|||
| Mizuki Ch 2: Traveler Appears |
Ryuki Ch 2: Nothing to Be Done Mentioned |
||||
| Mizuki Ch 2: Necessary Intervention Voice Only |
Ryuki Ch 2: Naixatloz's Intentions Absent |
||||
| Mizuki Ch 2: Left Behind Appears |
Ryuki Ch 2: Go Absent |
||||
| Ryuki Ch 3: Farewell Appears |
Mizuki Ch 3: The Expense of Spirit Appears |
||||
| Ryuki Ch 3: Need Info Voice Only |
Mizuki Ch 3: Neurotic Inception Absent |
||||
| Ryuki Ch 3 R2: Joy for Anguish Appears |
Ryuki Ch 3 R1: Smiles for Tears Absent |
Mizuki Ch 3 M1: Hell Absent |
Mizuki Ch 3 M2: All Living Things Absent |
||
| Ryuki Ch 4 R2: I Found Me Appears |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: Visions Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: Well-Known Mentioned |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Of Arms and Of Man Appears |
||
| Ryuki Ch 4 R2: Nested Insecurities Voice Only |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: Nonentity Incognito Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: Nearly Interesting Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Novel Ingress Voice Only |
||
| Ryuki Ch 4 R2: Past Its Ken Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M1: In Truth Absent |
Ryuki Ch 4 R1: The Mind of God Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M2: Who's There Absent |
Mizuki Ch 4 M3: Bid the Soldiers Shoot Absent | |
| Komeji and Shoma: END | Ryuki Ch 5 R1: Not All A Dream Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: Births Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M2: All That We Are Mentioned |
Mizuki Ch 5 M3: Sweet Silent Thought Absent | |
| Ryuki Ch 5 R1: Nemesis Identified Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: Nightmare Irreconcilable Voice Only |
Gen and Amame: END | Kizuna and Lien: END | ||
| Ryuki Ch 5 R1: She Was the Universe Appears |
Mizuki Ch 5 M1: The End of Craving Appears |
Ryuki Diverge: All This Happened, More or Less Absent | |||
| Explosion: END | Mizuki Epilogue: Braver Than All Flowers Appears |
閭｡陜ｶ荵句､｢邱ｨEND | |||
| Resolution: END | |||||
Gallery
Trivia
Etymology
- The nickname Boss (ボス) is a play on her family name Kuranushi (暮主):
- 暮 (kura) can be read as “bo” and 主 (nushi) can be read as “su”, making "bosu."
- The kanji in her name mean "livelihood" and "master," which may be referencing her role as a literal boss to other members of ABIS.
- Since her name is initially revealed in katakana and only given kanji in the appendix, it may initially sound like 倉主, meaning "warehouse owner," a possible red herring.
- The first kanji in Shizue (静枝) means “quiet,” hence Mizuki thinking the name does not fit her.
General
- In Day 5: Tuesday –ihAI–, after "Boss" is revealed to be Saito Sejima, the catchlight in Boss's eyes disappears. This animation is used in other routes of the game, including:
- Day 3: Sunday –rihAI–, when Date denies dreaming about kissing pornstars. Boss responds with "You sure about that?" using "Saito's" expression.
- Day 5: Tuesday –syokuzAI–, when Aiba is about to present new evidence in the New Cyclops Serial Killings. Allegra Clark, the voice actress for Boss, revealed that Saito is in the body of Boss during this scene.[1]
- In a fan-made Character Poll for AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES held on Twitter, Boss came in 4th place.[2]
- In the Famitsu Interview, Kotaro Uchikoshi and Akira Okada stated that the design for the 4th victim of the Original Cyclops Serial Killings was actually Boss's original design. Once her design was changed, they reused the original design for the victim as she appears in PSYNCIN' IN THE VaiN.[3]
References
- ↑ Twitch Clip of Allegra Clark's stream (endgame spoilers for AI included)
- ↑ To-Witter Archives 2019 (Tesa): October 21st
- ↑ Famitsu Interview: Heavy Spoilers! Scenario Writer Uchikoshi-san, Lead Planner Okada-san, and Miyokawa from Famitsu deep dive into the unsolved mysteries of AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES！