Detective Conan : The Crimson Love Letter | Anime Movie Review

Another full-length Detective Conan movie was just out this year, this time it focuses on the romance between Hattori Heiji, the Great High School Detective from West, Conan/Kudo’s rival and best friend and Toyama Kazuha, Heiji’s childhood friend (sweetheart). It also features the world of competitive Karuta. The movie is the 21st from the Detective Conan Franchise. The film title is, Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter.

Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter is directed by Kobun Shizuno and produced at TMS Entertainment. The film was released in Japan last April 25, 2017 and now showing on selected SM Cinemas in the Philippines just yesterday July 19, 2017. Detective Conan is an ongoing manga series by Gosho Aoyama. It was serialized on 1994 and going strong until now.

The movie is set in Osaka, Heiji’s hometown. It started with a bloody murder which apparently the culprit’s face was not just a black shadow, it was revealed right there. While Mori Kugori is preparing for the interview, and the whole gang was tagging along, except for Sonoko who managed to have some exposure but was sick during the movie, a bomb threat is called in, forcing an evacuation, to everyone at the TV station. As the bomb detonated at Nichiuri TV during a Karuta Competition that was being held and shot at the said TV studio. Heiji and Kazuha were stuck inside and were saved by Conan just in time but this time neither the culprit nor the reason/motive was shown on the incident.

Momiji as shown on the mangax

After the bombing, Conan and the gang met, Momiji Ooka, a Karuta champion who will be Kazuha’s love rival, she already appeared recently in the latest Detective Conan manga chapter. Momiji claimed she was Heiji’s fiancée. A string of fate brought Kazuha and Momiji to face each other in a Karuta competition. That leads to Kazuha taking an intensive Karuta training with Shizuka, Heiji’s mother, who was a former Queen.

As Conan and Heiji investigates further, together with the Kyoto Police Department about all the incidents that happened they will unveil the secret connected to the Karuta Competition and the root of it all (as usual).

As a huge fan, I did not miss to grab my tickets as soon I found out that they are showing it at the nearest SM Cinema on my area. Every year there’s always a movie and it gets cooler every year. Though, even if you haven’t caught up with the series or the manga, The Crimson Love Letter is definitely a stand-alone story.

As someone who followed the series for almost a decade, the movie did a great job to get viewers, hardcore fan or not, into the story. I noticed the introduction part which is always present on every movie, they matched the visuals to the theme. Contrary to plots, mystery and the solving the issue from previous DC movies, The Crimson Love Letter is the straightforward type. All the golden eggs were given out and pieces of puzzles are all there, as someone like me who followed this series for almost a decade, you’ll just have to be keen to know what was really going on BUT there were some parts that was hidden and unpredictable which is classified information, so I encourage you to watch it on the big screen. The plot of the movie was really for the characters developments.

I find the dialogues hilarious as well and very well written. I can hear fellow fangirls laughing out loud. The actions scenes was there and as usual, Conan and Heiji will always do the impossible, jumping from buildings to buildings and such.

What made me excited about this movie is the involvement of Karuta. From the time this movie was announced and saw the trailer, I know this movie will be a bomb. I felt all the Chihayafuru feels upon hearing some poem lines on this movie. Though it features Karuta, the movie was not generous enough to explain some terms and jargons about this competitive sport. Thanks to Chihayafuru, which was a really good series by the way, I can relate to all those Karuta terms and whatnot.

Major spoiler alert (highlight if you want to read): To be honest, I am not convinced that Kazuha could go to the championship match. If you have seen Chihayafuru, Karuta is really not that easy. And for Kazuha to win those matches she must be a genius and the Karuta Gods are with her during all the matches.

Anyway, to sum it all up, Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter is a very enjoyable, hilarious, rom-com to watch. If you are expecting that there’s SHINRAN moments, please don’t. I think this movie was really to highlight, HEIZUHA OTP. Since the movie was set in Heiji’s hometown, there a lot of kansai accents, eargasm, ah. There’s a live action version of Kazuha and Momiji at the credits, it was really short but looks so cool, look forward to it. Professor Agasa’s quiz is there. Always wait for the ending credits to finish, please. A true Detective Conan fan will wait for the movie or even an episode at the end.

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To conclude and lesson learned, one should use always say the right words at the right time to avoid misunderstanding. It’s very logical but in relation to the movie as to why, see it for yourself. Let’s support and watch it legally so they will continue to screen our beloved anime movie specials here on the Philippines.