Fresh off the success of the Detective Conan franchise’s 22nd movie Zero’s Executioner - which has become the franchise’s highest-earning theatrical outing yet - an event on Thursday revealed key details about the next movie, the producers of which are most definitely hoping will have the same success.
Entitled Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire, the movie will revolve around a plot involving the titular “blue sapphire” jewel, a murder case, and a massive Singapore-related conspiracy, where the film will take place - making it the first overseas outing for the franchise in the whole of its 20 years.
This isn’t that surprising considering that many fans were quick to notice the multitude of shots of the Marina Bay Sands resort during the credits of Zero’s Executioner, which is a famous hotel in Singapore. Yet considering the amount of love the franchise gets from East Asia, not least of which from Singapore, it’s great that the franchise is branching out and effectively legitimizing its overseas fanbase.
The credits of the last film also revealed that Kaito Kid, Conan’s long-time rival, would be the antagonist of the next film, yet another key character was also confirmed during the event - that of Makoto Kyogoku, martial arts champion and Sonoko Suzuki’s long-distance boyfriend, who is making his first appearance ever in one of the series’ theatrical movies.
Kid and Makoto have clashed over Sonoko in the past, and this movie is set to enlarge the scope of that conflict considerably, as Makoto tracks down Kid in Singapore - in the middle of plotting a heist to steal the titular “Blue Sapphire” - to settle the score. In this sense, it’d be safe to say that this movie will focus more on character relationships and romance more than the action focus of Zero’s Executioner. Yet with the multitude of plot threads being alluded to in the synopsis, it’s hard to be sure.
The movie is set to release April 12 next year, and Gosho Aoyama - currently on hiatus from penning the original manga - has drawn the announcement key visual, as usual. You can check it out below:
