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Every year, my friend and I go to our local cinema to watch the latest instalment of the Detective Conan franchise. We’ve been doing this since 2014, going through the movies whether good or bad.

I entered the cinema with fingers crossed and hoped for the best. After the disaster that was the 20th movie I was cautiously optimistic about this one, and while a small part of me was reluctant to watch it, the squealing fan-girl within me pushed me to give it a chance.

And so fast forward several days later – I can still recall the utter relief that rushed through me ... when I finished watching The Crimson Love Letter. I left the cinema with an excited smile on my face, mind whirling with thoughts and opinions to prepare for this review. It’s a little depressing to be happy just because the movie didn’t suck, but eh. We’ll just have to wait and see if the movie 22 turns out to be good, so that the spike of dread at each new Detective Conan movie will finally cease.

[Story: 8/10]

The case this time is simple and straightforward, no closed room murder or intricate murder mystery for the viewer to unravel. I think it’s a good thing because instead of getting a complicated mess of a story what we got instead was a simple and solid mystery. The whodunit didn’t become clear to me until they were revealed but more astute watchers might guess who it might be if the manage to piece together the evidence quicker than I could.

The Crimson Love Letter not only gives us a good mystery, it also provides a generous dollop of competitive Karuta – something some anime fans might be familiar with if they watch or read Chihayafuru. Basically, it’s a sport wherein players have to ‘steal’ cards from their opponent’s territory, a one-on-one battle to see who gets the card first. It requires a fast-reflexes and an intimate knowledge of the poems written on the cards, and the first player to get rid of all their cards, win.

A deep understanding of Karuta isn’t necessary but you would enjoy the Karuta battles more if you did, I suppose. The movie does a good job of tying it in with the main plot and character motivations, so I was slightly impressed by that. The inclusion of Heji and Kazuha also served to spice up the regular mystery formula due to the fact Heji’s childhood friend has a role to play in the story as well. Overall, I think the plot was well-paced and kept my interest for the entire runtime.

[Characters: 7/10]

Hattori Heji and Tomoya Kazuha stage an epic return in this movie. I really missed them as it’s been quite a while since they appeared in both the manga and the anime, and as I watched Conan and Hattori bicker like old pals I felt indescribably happy at such a familiar scene.

In contrast to Conan’s rational and sometimes cold personality, Hattori’s hot headedness provides a nice change. He spices up boring exposition scenes and makes the regular doom and gloom of searching for the murderer more enjoyable, and his ‘will they or will they not’ relationship with Kazuha makes The Crimson Love Letter more energetic and humorous. There were many scenes throughout the movie where the chemistry between the two childhood friends were downright intense – you can literally see their affection for each other through every action and remark.

This causes the appearance of the movie’s new character, Ooka Momiji, to have a bigger effect, one of the side plots being that she is ‘engaged’ to Heji due to a childhood promise. This was another aspect of The Crimson Letter that I really liked as it gave the movie a lot more personality, rather than going through the usual tired detective mystery and eventual capture of the suspect.

In many ways, the characters here felt more genuine than those in the last few movies.

[Animation: 8/10]

Editing was on point for this movie, and the creative use of panels from the manga to convey flashbacks was a very nice touch, and honestly, damn impressive. They really stepped up the game for this movie. The animation was consistent with several standout moments, like one scene where Kazuha and Momiji admire their surroundings from a boat. Overall, I have nothing but praise for the animation.

[Conclusion: 8/10]

The Crimson Love Letter may not be a return to form, but it does a fine job of reminding fans of why they're in love with Detective Conan. A well written mystery with entertaining characters and impressive animation, you can’t go wrong with this one. Take it from someone who hated the last movie, The Darkest Nightmare. This movie is definitely worth your time.

[CONTAINS SPOILERS]

If you thought the Dimensional Sniper was bad, just wait till you watch this.

The Darkest Nightmare is the 20th movie of the Detective Conan franchise, and is in my opinion, the worst of all the movies. Why? Let me explain.

The movie opens with an exciting car chase, with Bourbon (Amuro Tooru) and Akai Shuichi chasing down a black organisation member with ridiculous physical prowess. After a lengthy and tense chase down the highway, the BO member manages to escape. Injured and disoriented, she makes her way down an alley and comes in full view of a light show projected the amusement park across ... the river, and promptly collapses after screaming her lungs out.

It was at this point that I was beginning to feel slightly iffy, because what the fuck? The events leading up to that very scene were…kinda dumb. Mysteries are one thing, but what just played out on screen seriously needed tremendous leaps of logic. The car chase left me high on adrenaline no doubt, but it was decent at best. Stupid at worst.

But moving on. As I was saying, the magic of the movie had already started wearing off and I was like, what? Ten minutes into the movie? Not a particularly good sign. Still, I bit back the cynicism and tried to give the rest of the movie a fair chance. Needless to say, The Darkest Nightmare proceeded to disappoint me at every turn.

Story: 5/10

The plot is joke. The movies in this franchise have always been brilliant but after The Quarter of Silence (15th movie), I feel like the movies have really been dropping in quality. One thing I disliked greatly about The Darkest Nightmare (And the recent slew of DC movies; namely, 16th to 20th) was the fact that it substituted clever writing for gratuitous action. I’m not saying action is bad. Far from it. When used correctly, action can bring a movie to new heights. Here, all it does is make the movie even more brainless.

The story wasn’t all that intriguing to begin with, there’s no mystery or subtlety. Zero, zilch. I give the movie props for trying to spin a new perspective on the Black Organisation, but the way it goes about it does more harm to the characters than helping it. There are many many scenes in the movie where the BO characters seem like freaking idiots. If you watched the anime or read the manga, BO has always prioritised secrecy over everything else.

That’s why Shinichi was ‘killed’. That’s why he does everything he can possibly think off to keep them off his scent.

And suddenly, this movie just goes ‘fuck it’ and has the BO characters go on a rampage that is not remotely secret. Like, what the hell? There is no way, no way they would do what they did in this movie.

Characters: 3/10

Speaking of characters. Remember that BO character Bourbon and Akai had been chasing? Yeah, apparently she’s best buds with the Shonen Tantei. Like. What? I mean, I can understand how she’d ended up being all mushy with them – they’re kids after all – but the actions she does throughout the movie are highly questionable. Even for a person with Amnesia, how she acts is total 180 from the person she really is. And what she does in the ending is seriously, really, dumb. Even if she did care for the Shonen tantei, I doubt that she would go that far for them. The BO ain’t exactly a sympathetic group of criminals, folks. There’s no heart of gold under the blackened exterior.

The usual characters, Ran, Kogoro, Agasa and Sonoko make their appearance in the movie, but they mattered so little to the plot, other than giving the events a valid reason to occur, that they could’ve been replaced for potted plants for all I cared. I personally find it very upsetting that they were slotted in the way they were. Very two dimensional. They may sound like them and act like them – but they’re mere shells that exist to remind you that yes, this is a Detective Conan movie. In the grand scheme of things, I rather they not appeared in the movie at all.

Animation: 7/10

Pretty much standard for a DC movie, though the action scenes after the car chase scene left little to be desired.

Also, remember the usual exposition we get at the start of every DC movie? It sucked. Sucked really bad. The editing was enough to make my eyes hurt, the exposition being said didn’t line up with what was playing on the screen. I get that they want to shake up the formula a little, what with this being the 20th movie and all, but damn. The phrase ‘Don’t fix what’s broken’ has never rung truer.

Overall: 5/10

I wish I could scrub this movie from my mind. This is no Countdown to the Heaven, or The Raven chaser. This movie could’ve been great. But it wasn’t.

On a side note, I did a little digging and looked up the director of The Darkest Nightmare, and pretty much found the reason why the movies have been the way they’ve been. Movie 16th to 20th were directed by Kobun Shizuno. Out of the 4 movies he directed, I only enjoyed The private eye in the distant sea, and tolerated The Sunflowers of Inferno. I seriously hope his next movie isn’t as big of a disaster as this one.