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Feb 13, 2024
Hot damn, it's been a minute since I wrote a Detective Conan movie review! Wasn't that long ago that I- ...the hell you mean it's been nearly 8 years.
Uh...anyways...
Crimson Love Letter is another unique entry into the movie series, taking place well away from the usual stomping grounds of the Conan cast and into the jurisdiction of our good buddy Heiji and his gang! And it revolves around...karuta?
Story (7/10): Conan, Heiji, and their friends are called to Kyoto for a consultation meeting, but quickly get involved in a karuta mystery, with serial bombings, murder, and possible wedding(?!) proposals at the forefront. Things aren't what
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they seem with this traditional card game though, and the two teenage detectives have to move fast since the finals are only 2 days away, and the bomber is moving in closer by the minute...
The mystery here is definitely better than some of the other movies, by a lot. There are twists and turns that are and aren't predictable, and the final resolution is in the series traditional bittersweet tone. You can follow the path of the mystery easily, and it's delivered by Conan and Heiji with their usual aplomb. Other than that it was great character development for Kazuha, where she took the main stage for the second half of the film. Unironically, if you like Chihayafuru, this is the movie for you, as it has the same feeling as that show.
Animation (8/10): Honestly all the action scenes in this movie were amazing. (No, I'm not going to talk about the physics and reality of the Satellite Dish scene.) There were a lot of awesome sakuga moments and it's clear as usual that the animators really use these movies as a chance to flex their skills. But the big winner here is the Kyoto environment. It's striking and beautiful, with red maple leaf trees dotting the landscape, and the mix of traditional buildings and the more modern skyscrapers creates an amazing look. (Kyoto is beautiful, if you can ever check it out!) My favorite moment is honestly the boat ride up to the final location in the movie. It's a calm and beautiful moment, and it's a nice break in the action.
Character (7/10): Conan/Shinichi and Heiji working together and off each other is always a fun time, so it was great to see them get some extended screen time this movie. Personally I love it when Conan gets to interact with characters that meet his intellect and they spend the whole movie together. It also shows their friendship, as both really rely on the other and can predict what the other is working with.
Ran, Kogorou, and the Detective Boys are, once again, shoved into a movie that they generally have no business being in. Ran at least has her friendship and support for Kazuha going for this, which is really nice to say. The others though...yeah, no. The kids did quite literally nothing and Kogorou did his normal sleeping bit and...that's it. Really, I wish that these movies would just drop the cast if there's no reason for them to be here beyond really weak fanservice.
The movie characters, though, are fairly strong this time around. The karuta characters are all interesting, with much more motivation behind all of them than we normally see in movie unique characters. I wish I could talk more about them, but doing so would be omega spoilers for everything. Take a girls word on it, I guess.
Enjoyment (7/10): For all that I like a lot of this movie...I dunno. There's something missing here that I just can't quite put my finger on. Honestly it might be that all the romance of the DC series has started to become a ball and chain on it, with quite literally snails pace progress for everyone involved. And while here it's not THAT bad...but it's getting rougher and rougher as the years go on. Aside from that this is an OK movie. I wasn't bored at all, but it's nowhere near the better movies by a long shot.
Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter is a basic, if not solid movie that you can get behind just for the gorgeous environments. Not completely innovative or anything, but it's just fun seeing the Osaka characters on the big screen. Yes, there's romance here, but I think the main mystery deserves it's front and center stage importance. Just a good back to basics movie, I guess.
7/10 = alright movie, with decent action and an engaging mystery; if you don't like the romance parts of Detective Conan...I don't know what to tell you cause it's a big plot point here
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 11, 2016
The most recent Detective Conan film has come and gone, and this one is a bit different. Similar to the 10th movie (Requiem of the Detectives), we have our littlest detective out to protect the fine arts, though in this case, Conan must save one of Van Goh's most important paintings, the Sunflowers. Is this movie an amazing art heist wannabe, or a copied flop? Oh, and did I mention Kaito Kid? Cause yeah, Kaito Kid.
Story (6/10): After the Suzuki Zaibatsu purchases the originally thought destroyed 2nd Sunflowers painting, Kaito Kid essentially declares that he'll steal it. But since this is completely outside of the
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thiefs usual M.O., all characters involved become suspicious, especially after the messages and methods become violent. Conan and friends are now on a deadline to get the Sunflowers Exhibition up and running, but it still doesn't answer the main problem: why is Kaito Kid after the paintings?
The story here is a bit of a mixed bag, to say the least. There's a lot right but enough wrong that it's hard not to address. The good things are that it really takes a smart approach to trying to defeat Kid, showing all the work that goes into everything behind the scenes. It's really quite fun to see just what Suzuki Jiro does to show off his extreme wealth. All the stuff that connects with the Sunflower paintings themselves is also interesting, and a little heartwarming.
There are some problems with the movie. The resolution to who is after the paintings is WEAK. And I don't just mean weak, I mean WEAK AS FUCK. (Yes, f-bomb worthy weak.) True, the clues do tell you who it is, but God almighty is it a letdown. In connection to that, there's a random confession to a crime dead center in the climax that basically comes out of nowhere and does nothing to change the plot AT ALL. Also almost everything to do with Kaito Kid is basically worthless, and yes as a fan of his, that sucks to say. I'll elaborate more in the below section, but suffice to say, this is probably the weakest movie that Kid has been a part of.
Overall it isn't a bad story, but man, the parts that are bad are standout bad.
Art (8/10): As is per the norm, the art is excellent, giving all the scenes wonderful color and action. Though I must point out that there are a few 'quality' background scenes here and there that are a bit more standout than I would usually critique.
Sound (7/10): Back to basic Conan movie music, but as usual that isn't a bad thing. Though I must point out the track that plays during the climax of the movie, as it was really damn good.
Character (6/10): I do have some positives and negatives in relation to the regular cast. First the disappointing: it feels like they dumbed down Conan and Ai. While nothing extreme or distracting, it just feels like the two smartest characters in the show almost don't have that much of an impact in solving the crime. Conan doesn't have to work hard to figure anything out and really only gets like 2 clues total to work with in the entire movie. It just feels like he got pushed out of his own movie.
Not all is bad though. The Suzuki's (Jiro and Sonoko) are actually more entertaining here than they've been in a while. Ran, her Dad, and Inspector Nakamori are also treated with respect and given quite a lot to do here. Basically the main side characters here are treated well and are really fun to watch.
Kaito Kid is also barely in the movie. Technically he is in most of it, but he doesn't even have a freaking line until 20 minutes near the end. Despite being the main 'antagonist', he's just a non-factor in the story too much of the time. It honestly feels like the movie is trying to play Kid like he was back when his introduction was a bit more mysterious, but by today, where his manga is a thing and he had his own anime last year, it just doesn't work anymore.
With the movie exclusive characters, they are just boring and forgettable. True, Inspector Charlie is the best of the bunch, but he's ultimately not that important in the long run. The other characters have literally 3-8 lines of dialogue and no personality at all. Hell, I don't even remember their freaking names after just watching it. They're close to the top of a Worst DC Movie Cast list for being just there and irrelevant by the end.
(As is traditional at this point, I need to make my complaint: why are the freaking Detective Boys in this damn movie? Their scenes are worthless and they literally serve no purpose. I don't want to hate on them, since as Quarter of Silence has shown us, when given real purpose, they are great characters. But here? They should've been excluded from the entire second half when the exhibition takes center stage. Hell, even the Professor is kind of awkwardly shoved into the movie, with all his scenes being really bad comedy.)
Enjoyment (7/10): I did have more fun with this movie than I did the last one, if you can believe it. Probably because I do like a good art heist film. Granted, as noted above, the second half is where I started getting lost. While the actual climax is really fun, I was just disappointed that we didn't really get a Conan vs. Kid film. I really should know by now that we'll never get one of those until a miracle happens, but I still held hope that this would be the one. Again, while it seems like I'm complaining, I really did have some fun with this movie. (Also there's a tiny call back to something from the 18th movie here, which is kinda cute.)
Detective Conan: The Hellfire Sunflowers is probably one of the more average movies in the series, though it isn't awful by any means. While the side characters are really given a time to shine, the story has some major flaws in its second half and doesn't really feel like the Conan/Kid focused movie that it's trying to be. If you're a DC fan, I as always recommend that you watch it at least once for completions sake, but non fans aren't going to find anything interesting here.
6/10 = average by DC standards; second half is weak, with the mystery reveal failing to impress; there are better Conan/Kid movies, like the 14th (being the best); the main older side characters do kind of get a chance to shine;
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 7, 2016
Once again I'm here to tackle another Conan movie, and this time it's about a sniper! ...OK then. To be blunt, I had no idea what the story was going into this movie, beyond 'there's a sniper in it'. But that can be a good or bad thing, honestly: it can surprise me, or let me down. Which one wins out? Is it a straight shot or a missed target?
Story (6/10): Conan and friends are invited to the newly opened Bell Tree Tower to see the sights of Tokyo from above. But as is tradition, something goes awry. In this case, a real
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estate agent is sniped from the nearby buildings. Soon it evolves into a shooing spree that terrifies all of Tokyo, with Conan and his police and FBI contacts hot in pursuit. Who is this mysterious shooter, and what is with his dice calling card?
The story here is mostly interesting, dealing with a type of serial shooter that has been in American media for a while now, so if that interests you, take a look here. This is also the movie debut of the FBI characters, as well as 2 new supporting characters, so unless you're caught up to the anime/manga, their presence may throw you off a bit. It's also great to see the police characters working so well together and just how well the story sets up the circumstances to let them interact.
The main problem with this story, however, is that it drags on for waaay too long. By a half hour in the story has settled into a pattern of 'police characters talk', 'Conan's daily life', 'shooting sequence', repeat till the last 15 minutes. It's just so dull. While I'm sure there's supposed to be a lot of tension, it just doesn't work well here. And honestly, the mystery here is easily solvable after the 3rd shooting, though it does throw out some good red herrings for viewers. The other problem is that I'm pretty sure (as in it almost breaks plausibility) that the FBI doesn't work as shown in the movie. It also does dig into some American military stuff that, while interesting, does come off as slightly stupid and a little bit insensitive, though it's nothing horrible.
Art (8/10): Back to complementing the art, as is tradition. I've said this for how many movies now, but the art is still top notch. The action sequences are the complete highlight of the movie, bar none. Everything moves fast and is intensely interesting. If anything, this movie deserves a watch for those.
Sound (8/10): Hey, I have new things to talk about here! Yes indeed, there is some new music in this movie and it is pretty kick ass. It's very much in the vein of a thriller/crime movie, and it really sounds amazing. It keeps the final battle really exciting and follows it well. So kudos (heh) to the sound team for some great background tracks.
Also something new! This movie features a lot of Americans and for once the English isn't awful! Probably because actual Americans (or at least people who knew English very well) were used for almost every character and it really helps set the mood in some scenes. I can't tell you how annoying it is when characters who are clearly native English speakers speak Japanese, even when they are alone and would naturally default to English. Well here? It happens! The characters speak English while a little line of Japanese translated text is at the bottom. Definitely a plus and I'm glad they did it!
Character (6/10): I'll get this out of the way early - the Detective Boys are being annoying in this movie again. While not as bad as Eleventh Striker, they kind of bring down the movie since all their scenes are the comedy scenes, and they aren't funny. All the other main series characters are alright here, though again, special mention to the FBI characters for being cool. I'm still not sure on how to feel about Sera and Subaru, but they at least added some charm to the whole thing. (Subaru was kind of boring though.)
The movie characters were fairly interesting, though there is a bit of a problem with having literally all of the movie cast being American military men. They honestly all blended into each other, not helped by the most boring white people names yen could buy. Seriously, Bill Murphy and Scott Green? The creators do know that most Americans have more complicated names than that, right? Anyways, the characters that get the biggest focus are pretty interesting, thought they do fall into that weird 'we're not sure how to keep writing this character' pitfall that some of the other Detective Conan movies have had.
Enjoyment (6/10): I have to be honest that this movie is a bit dull. Nothing is wrong with it. It's just that there's a lot that's thrown at you and while that stuff is interesting, the story isn't paced well enough. I honestly got bored not even halfway through the whole thing and, to me, that's not good for a mystery movie. It's not all bad, though. The action sections were by far the best parts that had me on the edge of my seat. Just...dang! Those animators were having a ball!
Detective Conan: The Sniper from Another Dimension isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a great one either. It's far from being as bad as Jolly Rodger in the Deep Azure and Eleventh Striker, but is more like Quarter of Silence. Nothing special, but nothing outright awful. It's definitely a great action movie and it's nice to see new reoccurring characters appearing.
7/10 = nothing bad, but nothing great either; fun for DC fans to at least see the movie introductions of the FBI characters, Sera, and Subaru; Detective Boys are back to being annoying, unfortunately;
P.S. sorry not sorry for the puns
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 1, 2015
These 3 minute-per-episode anime are very hit or miss. Some are genuinely funny and utilize their time well. Others are complete shit (coughPupacough). Danchigai is somewhere in the middle.
Story (4/10): The show is essentially about the Nakano family, with eldest daughter, only son, middle daughter, and twin little sisters living in their apartment. ...that's really it. It's basically just a snapshot of their lives and hi-jinks sometimes ensues. There are some 'plot points' (ugh) that come up, but nothing that would give you the idea that there's any kind of story.
Animation (5/10): Meh. Everyone is on model, but the designs are generically nice.
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I have no idea why the twins have pink and purple hair, but whatever. The backgrounds are actually the better part of the animation, somehow. I think the design of the apartment made it just look and feel like it was the characters home and that there's a whole life there that we don't see.
Sound (5/10): I will never understand why there has to be an opening/ending in these shorts. Most are terrible (I've only heard one OP that was actually good), and here is no different. It's cute, but I honestly just skipped it. (Seriously, a 30 second song in an already short episode is just dumb.)
Character (4/10): Hello stereotypes! Yeah, that's really all this is: sibling stereotypes. And while that can work, here it's just 'oh the only boy is slightly pervy like a normal teen would be and lets make fun of him', 'the middle daughter is a TSUNDERE for her brother and beats him up', and 'perfect older sister with like the smallest flaw ever'. The twins are at least mildly entertaining, but that's only if you can stand little kid characters. And there are literally no other characters, so don't hope for any kind of interaction other than family.
Enjoyment (5/10): This show is boring as all balls, but it isn't horrible, I guess. Comedy is subjective to everyone, and there are some funny moments here and there (probably the best is actually centered around the twins and the 'pool' episode), but otherwise it's pretty bland. There are better slice-of-life shows out there that you can watch. If you want to watch this anyways, it's only about a total half hour, so it's mercifully short.
Danchigai isn't going to win any kind of award or even recognition. It's an average mini-series that, while boring, has a few laughs and cute moments to it. I wouldn't say skip it, but I won't say give it a watch. If you have a half hour to spare, then just blaze through it. But just know that there are better short series out there to enjoy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 3, 2015
...so the last Precure All Stars review I did (New Stage 2), I complained about some stuff, but overall it was a fairly good movie that kept up the spirit of the crossover movies and was a fun watch. As it is every year, with a new Precure team, there's a new All Stars movie, in this case we have Spring Carnival with the rookie Princess Precure team headlining the show. So how did it do?
Story (3/10): So all the Precure teams have been invited to another magical kingdom (this one called Harmonia) for a Spring Carnival, but unbeknownst to them, it's been taken
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over by a thief and his assistant. When the two realize who's coming, they decide to hold a 'concert' to catch the teams unaware of their wrongdoing and escape with their transformation devices.
...holy shit. This plot actually makes the Miracle Lights look dignified.
Seriously, this is honestly the worst that I've seen these movies be. While the first New Stage was shaky, at least it had a plot and took itself seriously. This? This is bad. There's almost no tension in this story, and it feels almost bland. Just...there's nothing really exciting here to talk about. It's just a boring as hell story and while I feel bad about ripping into it, at the same time I feel like with the way the current series is going, that this is a massive step down in comparison.
Oh and the kicker? The first half of the movie is a music video for each team. No really, you read that right. Each team gets a chance to perform either their opening or ending theme, with the team doing the CGI dance from the ending or a new dance to the opening. And while it is nice to hear some familiar songs, you have to imagine that Japanese parents were pissed when they realized that they had to sit through at least 40 minutes worth of nothing.
(Also, you ever see the Gokaiger 199 Heroes movie? You know, where all the Sentai teams show up at the end? I'm 100% certain that they ripped off the climax for that and stuck it on here.)
Art (6/10): One of the positives of the movie is that it shows off all the updated CGI Precure models, and boy do they looks good. Some look better than others, though that is more than likely due to animation style rather than anything else, since more often than not, they look amazing. Otherwise the art was average for the movie, with few and far between scenes looking good.
Also the Primavera Keys for the Princess Precure are honestly not that great looking. In fact the design looks like they just stuck puffy stickers to regular Elegant Mode dresses and called it a day. I'm starting to miss the original upgrade forms from the DX movies...
Sound (6/10): As stated above, this movie has a lot of tracks from previous shows. There are openings and endings aplenty, so you have the chance to listen to some good music at least. Oh yeah, and there's a terrible fourth wall breaking song sung by the villains. ...it sucks.
Character (5/10): I'll give the movie a pass on one thing. It does a great job with showing off each team of Precure and it lets them all have some screen time. Everyone behaves in character and they all react in the way that you're used to. It is, however, really obvious about which voice actors they got to come back for each team, since at least half to 3/4ths of the cast just stand in the background not saying anything.
The worst part of this movie, though, goes straight to the villains. Hell, I'm honestly reluctant to call them villains. They're idiots that try to be comic relief and it's just painful. Remember the huge big bads from other movies? You know, where they tower over the Precure and it takes the power of all the teams to kick their ass? Yeah, these guys aren't even worthy of being shit those villains step in. And there's also the royalty of Harmonia and a last minute boss, but they're in the movie for a grand total of 5 minutes, so no, they really don't count as characters.
Enjoyment (4/10): This one is bad guys. Really bad. I could barely sit through it. Actually, I fast forwarded through parts because it was either boring, bad, or not all that interesting. Seriously, after the shaky start of the New Stage movies, they ended up with a mostly well done third movie. This though? This is child pandering at its worst. The fights are disappointingly short, there's just no tension, and it's almost insulting that someone thought that this script was a good idea.
Precure All Stars: Spring Carnival has set itself to be remembered. Not for anything good, mind you. This is easily the worst of the All Star movies, with an almost stupid story, musical recaps, stupid villains, lazy reasoning, and just all around backward step in how the movies were going.
5/10: Precure fans will more likely than not really dislike this movie; only thing going for it is better time spent on past teams and interactions; pretty much sums up as lazy child pandering; I seriously urge that if you aren't a Precure fan, you should stay away;
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 1, 2015
Not many of the Detective Conan movies really feel like they're episodes of the same show, but that generally isn't a problem at all. It's a movie, so the stakes have to be higher. But what if one movie managed to combine the big stories of the movies with the general feel and charm of the show? Well my friends, you would have the 17th movie: Private Eye in the Distant Sea.
Story (8/10): Conan and friends are boarding an Aegis Destroyer for a day of fun on the high seas. But, as usual for this group, trouble follows in the form of a severed
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arm turning up in the ships filters. After that is a race against the clock to keep national secrets at bay, catch a set of spies, and to solve the murder of a lieutenant.
This story is big and relatively complex, but it really works well for the whole movie. While it does drag in certain sections, the mystery is split up into chunks for the audience to keep the flow moving. It may seem almost too wordy (and that's saying something for a Conan movie), but it captures the feeling of a thriller novel and keep syou on your toes as to what could happen next.
Plus, the resolution of everything is rather interesting and definitely fun for everyone watching.
Art (8/10): While it's getting repetitive for me to say that the art is really good, it just seems like every movie finds whole new ways to shine. Here, thanks to the frantic pace of the majority of the film, the characters are always moving around and their models are really well done. Also the few fight scenes are probably the best bits of animation in the whole thing.
If I must complain, the backgrounds here are supremely boring and it feels like the background characters are literally in the background for how much they move and do anything.
Sound (7/10): It's a Detective Conan music. So, as usual, it's pretty good.
Character (8/10): Leaving out the normal Conan cast (since they just tend to act like themselves), we have a somewhat big cast involving the crew on the destroyer and the police characters that end up popping up 2/5ths of the way through the movie. And luckily for us they are fairly important to the plot.
All the SDF characters are reasonable people and act as appropriate as military. While there are just a few too many, they are all fairly nice to watch. In particular, praise must be given to the singular female member of the cast there, since once she's really allowed into the plot, she becomes one of the highlights of the movie.
The villians are a bit mixed, though they do their job fairly well. Granted, there are only two people, but one is correctly villainous, while the other is kind of bland evil. But in the context of the movie it works.
(Also, major props to Ran for having a completely badass moment here. You go girl!)
Enjoyment (8/10): Thankfully, this is a huuuge step up from the last movie in all areas. I was really on the edge of my seat waiting to see where the plot would take us next. I just generally had a lot of fun with this movie and I'll take a thriller-mystery for the awesomeness that it is any day.
Detective Conan: Private Eye in the Distant Sea is a great return to form of the better movies (a la 13 and 14). The plot is solid, the movie cast well done, the action great, and just overall a generally fun movie for any one to just pick up and watch.
8/10 = a fun movie with a great plot and all around fun; maybe a bit too much jumping around, but you get used to it very quickly; DC fans will like this if they liked movies 13 and 14, but even non-fans can have fun with it;
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 24, 2015
I'll admit, when I saw that this movie was about soccer, I kind of knew going in that I wouldn't exactly be a fan. But really, that's not even the movies main problems. Does Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker hold up?
Story (5/10): When a mysterious bomb threat is issued, it appears to be targeting the J-League, leaving a mystery in the hands of our little Great Detective: why target soccer, who is this bomber, and what does a seemingly unrelated incident have to do with it?
I hope you like soccer and the J-League, cause booooy are they prominent here. My limited knowledge of soccer helped
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me get most of what was being said, but man there is just too much worshiping of the J-League here. There are a (I'm assuming) slew of actual soccer stars here, and they just completely flew over my head. Like to the point where I said "OK movie I get it, J-League is the bestest, just stop!".
But honestly? A lot of this movie just seems tacked on. While the mystery itself and the execution of the bomb threats is actually pretty entertaining, the rest of the story just seems rather boring. I really can't go into more without hitting spoilers, but a lot of the movie feels way too artificially structured and has no real natural flow to it. It's just average at best.
Art (8/10): Here is where the movie shines, since the soccer matches were really well animated. The whole movie actually looks really good, with action sequences being the highlight. Other than that it just looks good and holds the trend of the movies having better art than the series.
Sound (7/10): It's a Detective Conan movie. It plays the same music as always. And it's good. (Help, I'm running out of lines to talk about the music. :V)
Character (5/10): This movie just kind of juggles characters around and doesn't use them well at all. Conan, Ai, Professor Agasa, and the police characters come out OK, but everyone else is just...there, I guess.
The movie cast is also stupidly huge (seriously). There are a ton of soccer player characters, and I'm not really sure why we needed to spend time with only 2 of them for like 4 minutes at most. I guess it was to help set up the climax, but it's really a waste. Plus half of the initial suspects just poof away after the midway point, so they were basically just there to be red herrings. (And while that's normally forgivable and such, the movie tries to hold onto them far longer than needed.)
The final culprit is also supremely whiny and while his motivation would kind of drive a person to the notion of a personal attack, I'm not sure to it makes sense in the scale of the story. Also they start going crazy at the end for...reasons? I dunno, everyone here just felt weak (and funnily enough, sort of mirror the last movies cast. Huh.)
(Also the Detective Boys are at their most annoying, since apparently the story really needed them to throw a soccer ball at Conan in the most contrived way possible, along with not listening to anyone (as usual).)
Enjoyment (5/10): I gotta be honest. This movie was boring. All the random soccer people showing up was almost overwhelming and everything just feeling stilted made this not fun to sit through. I will give the movie credit that beginning at the first bombing action scene and going to prior to the last confrontation, it was fairly fun. But the beginning and final climax were just not as fulfilling.
The end gag about Rans' story was also just dumb. Come on show, you've done better.
In the end, Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker was a somewhat average movie, though part of that relies on how much you like the movie cast and all the J-League praising. (Oddly enough the soccer explanations are actually pretty interesting.) The action scenes are really fun and the mystery engaging, but the actual cast is fairly boring and the payoff is kind of unsatisfying. I would only recommend it to the DC fans to just watch it to get out of the way if you want to watch all the movies, but otherwise I'm very hesitant to recommend it.
5/10 = average at best, boring as hell at worst; hope you like the J-League, cause it's just nonstop praise for them, though the soccer aspect is actually pretty interesting; mystery is fun, but the characters are boring; DC faithful might be bored, or at least I was;
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 5, 2014
Once again we dive right into another Detective Conan movie, and coming off of the amazing Raven Chaser and Lost Ship in the Sky, this movie has some pretty big shoes to fill. Did it's snowy setting pull off another great story? ...pretty well, but lets elaborate the truth, shall we?
Story (7/10): After an almost fatal bombing on a newly opened subway line occurs, Conan believes there's a connection to a dam building project that relocated an entire village 5 years ago, and the whole gang (minus the police department characters) end up traveling there. They are then met with some freaky coincidences that
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could lead to the culprit in this case. But just what is that persons goal, and what does a coma patient have to do with it?
As a story for a movie, this feels a bit underwhelming, but by no means is the story itself bad. In fact I would say that it's the one of the more well done stories in a Conan movie to date, utilizing the time correctly and using the movie exclusive characters very well. The bad thing though is that it does feel like a longer episode of the main show, so there's a bit too much padding to fill out the almost 2 hour time frame. The movie also tries to bring up the Shinichi/Ran romance, but where it fit almost naturally into the previous movie, here it feels tacked on for the sake of having it just be there.
Also I hope you're a fan of the Detective Boys, cause they play a larger part here than in more recent films, but even I, who isn't really a big fan of them, have to admit that they added a certain charm to the story itself. Otherwise I feel like the story moves along fairly well and the climax is really amazing, so kudos (heh) for holding itself up to the better standards of the last few movies.
Art (8/10): I get the feeling that the staff who works on the movies is getting more into doing action scenes, since they were better than ever. They must have had fun with all the snowboarding scenes because hot damn were they fluid and exciting. The snowy village location was also really nice to look at, though this does cause the problem of the film being very white and pale colored heavy.
Sound (7/10): I'm not going to rehash anything, since sound is pretty much the same in most Conan movies by now. But as usual, it was great (an much better timed with things compared to the horrendous job done in the last movie).
Character (7/10): Conan/Shinichi, is, as usual, great, along with a bit more screen time for Ai, but since they really don't have too many character moments themselves, lets focus on the others. As I said before, the Detective Boys are actually fairly important in this movie, so I hope you have a soft spot for them (me personally, I don't really like them all that much, but they have their moments). But thankfully, they fit in very well with the plot and they are played up with their strengths, making them much more tolerable than in other films. Agasa, Kogoro, Ran, and Sonoko, on the other hand, are just sort of thrown into the movie and don't really do all that much, one of the unfortunate trends that the movies tend to have.
(If you're wondering, Conan movies have the bad tendency of only focusing on one set of secondary characters, so one movie (Rave Chaser) may focus on the police characters, one (Jolly Rodger of the Deep Sea) focusing on Ran and Sonoko, and this movie on the Detective Boys, where the other set(s) feel out of place or underutilized. ...rant over, I promise.)
The movie characters, thankfully, are fairly strong and are fun to watch. While they aren't too amazing (they do have the standard feel of a Conan case character), special note goes to Touma, who is fairly interesting and probably could have had more screen time on his own, but for what we got he was interesting and helped with some interesting parallels with Conan, Ai, and the Detective Boys.
Enjoyment (8/10): Going into this movie, I had no idea what I was in for. All I knew was that there was a snowy location and...that's it. But I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. While I do think that they could have made the film a slight bit shorter, it was entertaining and a totally fun watch.
Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence is a fun ride from start to finish, though it doesn't feel quite as strong as the two movies prior to it. But that doesn't matter as much since the mystery was interesting, the action fun, and it gave some characters some time to shine. While some things are the same as ever, it's still a fun movie for fans and non-fans alike.
7/10 = fun movie with an interesting mystery and good action, but just doesn't feel as strong as some of the better entries in the movie franchise; you better like the Detective Boys, because they're partial headliners here
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 4, 2014
Detective Conan movies generally follow a certain trend shared with it's parent series: a murder happens, Conan and friends are pulled in, and he solves it within the 2 hours we watch the movie. It's almost a tried and true method that few movies break away from (the most obvious being the amazing Phantom of Baker Street movie, though even there it still does revolve around the formula). But with The Lost Ship in the Sky, we instead get something different, which may benefit the series in more ways than one.
Story (9/10): Conan and friends are invited on Sonoko's Uncles blimp/airship to witness a
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battle between him and Conan's other 'antagonist', Kaitou Kid. But things aren't exactly alright, since there has been a bio-terrorist attack on a lab that housed a deadly bacteria that has sent Japan into a panicked state....and of course the terrorist cell has landed on the airship itself. It becomes a race against time for our detective as he has to stop the hijacking, contain the bacteria, and stop Kid from stealing the jewel once they reach Osaka.
What makes this different from other Conan movies is that this is more of a thriller style story than a murder mystery. While there is still the mystery aspect, specifically what the terrorist group is doing and what their main goal is, it just feels more action packed and exciting than other stories. It definitely benefits from having at least 4 sets of groups running through the story, with Conan and Kid on the airship, Osakan detective Hattori covering the ground, the other main cast in the cabins of the airship, and the police characters just assisting the two (they aren't in the movie much, if at all). The story just feels like a thriller novel and works fairly well in-universe. I can only hope that we see more films that take this kind of risk and do something different.
The movie also benefits from also being a Kaitou Kid movie, since it adds a little more dimension to his relationship with Conan (even if it is somewhat non-canon thanks to being a movie). Though the only drawback is that the plot isn't fully focused on Kid himself, leaving his fans still in wait of a movie that'll be an epic clash between him and Conan. (It does lead to an amusing comment from Ran, implying that she remembers the events of movie 8, Magician of the Silver Sky.)
Art (8/10): No complaints here, in that the art for the movies just get better and better as they go along. The action scenes are well done and I have to do something unique and say that the shading for the day and night scenes are very well done. Especially in the case of the ending.
Sound (5/10): Here's a weird complaint- was the sound director drunk when he was assigning which tracks to use with which scenes? Cause BOY is there some music mood whiplash in this movie. Normally I wouldn't comment on it, but it's pretty jarring to have silly sounding music playing through a HIJACKING scene. It's like that all over the place and it's insanely distracting. The normal Conan music is great, don't get me wrong, but the incidental tracks are placed in the worst spots possible.
For example, near the end of the film is the big showdown with the Big Bad and Conan, and it switches to the rest of the cast with 'hilarious' music being played, then WHOOSH right back to serious mode. It's pretty bad.
Character (7/10): The normal cast is here (sans the police characters, who are only really in like 3 scenes total), so nothing really interesting happens with them. But having Kaitou Kid and Hattori here are always a positive thing since they bounce off of Conan so well. Really, their interactions are the best thing about the movie. And of course, as is tradition, we get a bit of the romance angle coming in thanks to the always sneaky Kid doing his Shinichi impersonation on Ran, though it seems like she's starting to catch on to his tricks.
The villains are pretty good, though as with most Conan movie antagonists, they kind of fall apart towards the end. That's really all I can say without spoiling other reveals, though.
Enjoyment (9/10): Hot damn was this movie a lot of fun! Thanks to the thriller aspects, the plot was pretty unpredictable and just a ton of fun to watch unfold. It's just different enough that I was fully entertained by everything, and come on! Who doesn't love them some Kaitou Kid? :D
Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky is another strong movie entry into the franchise, with a great story, well done art, and the inclusion of fan favorite Kaitou Kid. While my main complaint is that the music has problems, it's overall a fun and interesting film for fans to see.
8/10 = great movie for fans and non fans alike, though knowledge of Kaitou Kid will help you get the most out of the film; don't go in thinking this is a Kid vs. Conan movie, cause it isn't; thriller aspects are the best draw here and is just a whole lot of fun
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 28, 2014
One of the major complaints that Detective Conan fans have is the diminished threat and barely there plot development involving series antagonist the Black Organization. Fans want to see the next step in their threat to Conan and what will happen. Unfortunately that's a long ride that just keeps getting longer. But luckily, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser is one on the few movies to deal with the Black Organization and it does so damn well.
Story (8/10): While Conan is living his daily life with his friends and the other characters as usual, a car accident occurs that ends up being connected to a series
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of unexplained murders across Japan. This means that the majority of the law enforcement characters from across the series come together to figure out how to deal with this and to find out who's behind it. But Conan discovers that the mysterious Black Organization has their own stake in the proceedings. It then becomes a race between the 3 groups as the main story progresses into the final truths: why is the Organization involved, who is committing these murders, and how can Conan piece it all together?
This is definitely a movie for the hardcore fans, bringing up a lot of the past Black Organization plots and characters and even the law enforcement characters seen throughout the series. It makes this a treat for fans, since it becomes a game of references for them. The actual plot of the movie is just great, intriguing and mysterious in a high stakes game that will have you wondering how the story will play itself out. Sadly, the main murder mystery plot has a sort of abrupt ending that, while explaining a lot and settles everything, feels like the writers didn't know how to really tie it into the Black Organization plot at the most crucial moment. Otherwise I really enjoyed the story and am glad that we got a Conan movie that helps delve into the main antagonists more.
Art (8/10): They really cranked up the art for this movie, since it just seems like there was a lot of action and movement throughout the whole story. All the characters look good and there were very few errors. The big set-pieces were also really well done and continue to look better and better with each film.
Sound (7/10): Beyond the normal Conan series tracks, I didn't really notice anything new or interesting. While they are still great tracks, it gets a bit boring hearing the same score as the main anime itself.
Character (9/10): This was a real highlight for all the main characters. Conan shows just how great of a character he is, the cop characters are really given the spotlight and are allowed to be much more confident and competent than in the main series. The Black Organization characters come off just as menacing and mysterious as before, showing off their status as the Big Bads of the show. The movie characters are pretty well done, though they did kind of need a bit more time on screen to really make the most out of their stories.
The only real knock I have against the characters is that Ran, Sonoko, and the Detective Boys are barely in the film (though they REALLY would've been in the way, to be honest), so their small parts in the movie felt a bit tacked on. (Though Ran gets a sick fight scene at the climax.)
Enjoyment (8/10): This movie was a seriously awesome ride and for good reason. It really celebrates the series and shows off it's best parts and made me want to see what would happen next. Though the only thing I will say is that it's almost a bit TOO continuity heavy- you really need to remember and have a good idea of where the main plot is and have to remember a good majority of characters to get a big part of the enjoyment out of the film (I myself totally forgot some of the side law enforcement characters, though eventually I remembered them).
Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser is probably one of my new favorite Conan movies, thanks to some solid writing, well done characters, an interesting mystery, and just a general sense of using all the parts of the anime to its strength. While it is a bit continuity heavy, I would just say catch up on the plot up to when the movie came out and you should be able to follow along. This is definitely the movie for Conan fans to enjoy and I hope that we see more movies like this in the future.
8/10 = a very solid movie with very few drawbacks and just a whole lot of fun; definitely NOT meant for the uninitiated, since it does rely heavily on past cases and the recurring side cast; recommended for the Conan fan who wants a little canon with their annual movie
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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