James Black

James Black (ジェイムズ・ブラック Jeimuzu Burakku) is a character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan. He is a high ranking agent in the FBI.

Background
According to James Black's own account, he was born in London, England, in the Marylebone district of Westchester City (the same district where the original Baker Street is located), before he moved to Chicago, growing up as a naturalized American citizen.

Black first met Conan, the Detective Boys, and Professor Agasa when he was visiting Japan to attend an animal show. They saved him from a crowd of reporters who mistook him for a famous American actor, the patron of the show. In fact, he was shortly afterwards kidnapped because of this, and it was thanks to Conan and the Tokyo police that Black was safely rescued from a dangerous hostage situation. At this time, Black developed a deep respect for Conan's intellect, calling him "Cool Guy".

Conan didn't meet up with Black again until he encountered Jodie Starling again while trying to save a popular politician from an assassination attempt by the Black Organization. It was at this time that Black's allegiance with the FBI was revealed; Black is in fact the head of operations on the hunt for the Organization in Japan, and ever since this revelation, he and his colleagues have worked closely with Conan whenever their common cause would bring them together.

Personality
Stoic and collected, James Black often lets his underlings - chiefly Jodie and Shuichi - take the initiative, knowing their capabilities, and for the same reason he listens to Conan's judgements as well. Black, like Starling, is deeply saddened when he learns of Akai's death, considering it a painful blow on not only the FBI, but on a personal level as well.

Kidnapped Tourist Case (Manga: 325-327, Anime: 258-259)
===Valentine Chocolate Case (Manga: 331, Anime: 266)=== ===Murderer's Car Case (Manga: 435, 437, Anime: 346-347)=== ===Black Organization vs. FBI (Manga: 502-504, Anime: 425)===

Giant Hammer Case (Manga: 550, Anime: 462)
===Mysterious Job Case (Manga: 553-554, Anime: 464)===

Foreign Suspect Case (Manga: 605-609, Anime: 501-504)
===Red, White, and Yellow Case (Manga: 622, Anime: 509)===

Bank Heist Case (Manga: 677, 679, Anime: 563-564)
===East vs. West (Manga: 779-780, Anime: 651)===

Jodie Starling
Jodie and James hold a close subordinate relationship and James is shown to trust Jodie's judgement deeply and recognizes her strengths and weaknesses. He is close enough to Jodie to understand her thoughts, mainly as shown when he cautions Camel not to speak too much about Akai in front of her, understanding that Akai had been more than a mere FBI colleague to Jodie. The two have been acquainted prior to the series at least 20 years ago following the death of Jodie's father. Due to his respect for his deceased friend and concern for the girl's safety, James consistently tried persuading Jodie to join the Witness Protection Program, though the latter constantly refused over and over until a point at time in which she made a deal with James to join the Witness Protection Program under the promise that she be guaranteed a position in the FBI when she grew older. Despite often taking over the role of giving out orders, Jodie holds deep loyalty to James, whom she has shown to somewhat view as a father figure.

Shuichi Akai
While their relationship is not shown as much as Jodie's, it is shown that James holds high regard in Akai's abilities and respects and trusts him deeply and vice versa. James has also noted Akai's habit of performing missions on his own and planning things without informing him or Jodie, but does not appear to bear a grudge because of it. He also appears to be knowledgeable of Akai's loner personality coming from Akemi's death, showing that he understands Akai quite well despite not having interacted with him much. James had shown to have taken Akai's death hard (though not to the same extent as Jodie), but is still able to maintain his composure despite the obvious tragedy. Later on, it was revealed that Black was in on the ploy to fake Akai's death, which would explain his maintaining his composure. A major hint to this is provided in the movie Dimensional Sniper, where Subaru Okiya (apparently Shuichi's undercover identity) is shown to be in secret contact with Black.

Andre Camel
While their relationship is even less shown than Akai's, it is shown that James still trusted and respected Camel. The two were shown spending time as friends along with Jodie at a liquor store at one point, where Camel's less-than-sensitive personality causes Jodie to storm out of the store, with James later cautioning Camel to not mention Akai's name in front of Jodie, knowing that she had taken his death particularly hard, having viewed him as more than a mere FBI colleague.

Conan Edogawa
James is one of the few adults that views Conan as an equal and the even fewer few that seemingly knows his true identity due to being part of the FBI. As such, James holds high regard in Conan's abilities and trusts him deeply. He also has the habit of calling Conan, "Cool-guy".

Name origin
Haibara notes that James Black's name is similar to James Bond, and both are British as well. Conan points out that there is another British man with a similar name: "James Moriarty".

Trivia

 * In his first appearance, he was blond.