Meitantei Conan Movie 21: Karakurenai no Love Letter

A bombing case at Nichiuri TV in autumn. The Satsuki Cup, which crowns the winner of Japan's Hyakunin Isshu, is currently being filmed inside the facility. The incident results in a big commotion and, while the building is burning to ashes, the only people left inside are Heiji and Kazuha. They get rescued just in time by Conan, who rushes to the scene. Both the identity and purposes of the bomber are unknown.

While confusion takes over due to the explosion, Conan meets a mysterious beautiful girl who claims she is "Heiji's fiancée". Her name is Momiji Ooka and she is the Kyoto High School champion of the Karuta game. As fate would have it, Kazuha is going to face Momiji in the Hyakunin Isshu, so she begins to train with the help of Heiji's mother, Shizuka, who is a skilled Karuta player.

At the same time, in a Japanese house in Arashiyama, Kyoto's outskirts, the reigning Satsuki Cup champion is murdered. Pictures of the crime scene reveal Momji's presence. Additionally, several Karuta cards were spread around the victim.

Conan and Heiji, along with the Osaka and Kyoto police departments, begin their investigation on the Satsuki Cup and the related murder case. As the inquiry goes on, they come across a secret connected with the Hyakunin Isshu.

(Source: Detective Conan Wiki)

Edogawa, Conan Main

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Hattori, Heiji Main

Horikawa, Ryo Japanese

Mouri, Ran Main

Yamazaki, Wakana Japanese

Mouri, Kogorou Main

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Tooyama, Kazuha Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Haibara, Ai Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Agasa, Hiroshi Supporting

Ogata, Kenichi Japanese

Suzuki, Sonoko Supporting

Matsui, Naoko Japanese

Yoshida, Ayumi Supporting

Iwai, Yukiko Japanese

Tsuburaya, Mitsuhiko Supporting

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Kondou, Shuuhou Producer

Yonekura, Yoshihito Producer

Ishiyama, Keiichi Producer

Shizuno, Koubun Director

Reviews

Jul 16, 2023

Flash21

Recommended

Detective Conan Movies Rewatch Before Watching Movie 26: Movie 21

Similar to movie 12, the subject matter of movie 21 isn't going to be of interest to some, particularly something like karuta, which is only culturally relevant to Japan. I enjoyed the movie overall, despite the subject matter. At the end of the day, a good DC movie presents an interesting case, a clever trick or a difficult code, good action sequences, and strong characters/interactions, and this movie hits all except the trick/code (non-existent in the movie). In particular, I thought the action sequences were spectacular, complemented by the lovely BGM this time. While the romance ... in the movie may be rather surface-level (since any progress would never happen in a non-canon setting), it was still enjoyable to watch and root for Kazuha in this movie. Heiji/Conan's partnership is back, and it is still the best partnership in DC. The case is rather straightforward, but it is interesting enough to keep the audience interested, again depending on how much the audience cares about karuta.

The movie could have used another ten minutes to allow the dialogue to settle, as sometimes the movie is presenting information too fast as if trying their best to squeeze under two hours. In addition, despite the cool action sequences, the movie lacks the "wow" moment that was present in most top-tier DC movies, which is why it's not among the best DC movies ever. With that said, this was a good watch. 8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 7, 2020

Connoisseur5910

Recommended

Well.
A Masterpiece of a movie. We have an interesting case here, which introduces us to the world of Karuta cards. The setting is west Japan, Osaka and Kyoto or the Kansai region to be exact. And you know what that means, we get a partner, technically Conan get's one, Heiji is working with us and Ran get's to spend time with her second BFF Kazuha, who is quite worried cause now she has a competitor for Heiji's love a wealthy and gorgeous Momiji Oka.
As with all Detective Conan Movies the Art is outstanding as well as Sound, the OSTs were nice. Also the Ending song ... is a Masterpiece, great job Mai Kuraki. the Ending scene itself was gorgeous.
A movie everybody can enjoy either watching alone or with their whole families, or a bunch of Anime Fan friends.
Now that being said, I am going to Rewatch it, now, again. I loved it so much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 13, 2024

platinumSKIES

Mixed Feelings

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 ... 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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