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 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
