Anime movie review- Detective Conan- Movie 13- The Raven Chaser

I have seen a lot of episodes of detective conan anime and I really liked it so, I decided to try movies. Apparently, Detective Conan movies (known as Case Closed overseas) gross a lot and are pretty popular in Japan. As of 2010, 14 movies have been released the last being The lost ship in the sky. I saw the 13th movie called The Raven Chaser for which Mai Kuraki sung the theme song.
This movie has lots of links with Vermouth and the Black organisation. The Black organisation is not mentioned much in the anime. All the movies have an additional character Ai Haibara who is the child form of porfessor Sherry, the inventor of the pill that shrunk Conan. After the Black organisation killed her sister, she quit it and decided to help Conan. The background of the organisation is introduced in every movie.

The movie starts off like an anime episode but deepens with links from everywhere. It begins with the murder of a man who leaves the dying message 'Tanabata kyo..'. A mahjong piece is found near him upon death. On investigating furthur, the police comes to know that seven people were murdered in a similar way with a mahjong piece left at the scene of crime. The police summons Maori (who shocks them with his stupid conclusions) to help them out with the case. Conan uses Maori as a source to gain information.

However, Conan discovers that a member of the police is involved with the Black organisation and is sending them messages. Conan later meets Vermouth who tells him about a new member 'Irish' who is to help the Black organisation retrieve a memory chip.
Conan tries to solve the case with Heiji Hattori. It races to Kyoto where the motive for the murder is found by Heiji. Conan investigates furthur and discovers that one of the victims had the chip Black organisation needs. The murderer is revealed later and the police as usual, arrive quite late when everything is over. The final showdown takes place in Tokyo Tower with Ran coming to rescue Conan from Irish.

After retrieving the chip from Irish, the Black organisation gets rid of him. Conan is facing him in Tokyo tower when they arrive on a helicopter. The final showdown is really absorbing and keeps you at the edge of your seat. The Black organisation gets away in the end.

I liked the last part of the movie very much. It was full of suspense, action and thrill. I didn't know Ran could do karate so well. She almost knocked down Irish (wow!). Quite a strong female character. When Gin's helicopter chases Conan and he performs unbelievable stunts, the climax heightens. The cat and mouse chase in the end was particularly thrilling.
The Black organisation is the lead of the movie along with the murder. Since, they are not shown in the anime, it is nice to see them in the movie. Ai also appears a lot in the beginning and almost misses being spotted by Vermouth. Vermouth's role is not much except providing some clues. Irish also finds out about Conan's true identity but since he dies, it is not revealed to anyone. The detective kids (they're so cute) help in finding the real inspector Matsumoto. They seem to better than the police at solving mysteries. Ai gets stuck with the kids most of the time.

The mystery was nice like a usual Conan mystery but nothing spectacular. The motive was weak. The Black organisation saved the movie. Maori, as usual jokes around and does nothing worthwhile. His conclusion about the dragon was amusing.

The movie grossed 3.5 billion yen making it the highest grossing movie in the Detective Conan series. It was truly wonderful. I haven't seen other movies so, I can't compare but it was thrilling. The movies are much more intense (and longer of course) than the episodes.

Detective Conan movies have very appealing titles much like Sidney Sheldon books. They are packaged for promotion. The posters are pretty nice too. I am amazed how Gosho Aoyama manages to churn out so many wonderful ideas from his mind. The manga has crossed sixty nine volumes with more coming. Almost all his mysteries are unpredictable and logical. I wonder what will happen at the end of the series. I guess, I'll have to wait for a few more years for that. The manga has sold over one hundred million copies making it one of the highest selling in Japanese manga history. It truly deserves its place there.

The movie is great and I think you won't want to miss this one.

Art- 4.1/5
Story-4/5
Characters- 4.3/5
Music-4.2/5
Overall-4.1/5