As sure as the sun rises each morning, every April brings with it a new Detective Conan movie to take Japanese cinemas by storm. In recent times, these films have been some of the highest-grossing films to hit Japanese theaters in any given year, an event and date-night hotspot that crosses generational divides. These movies can range in quality as any yearly franchise is bound to experience, and their standalone adventures can never truly have a broader impact on the universe they exist within, but that hasn't prevented these stories becoming a yearly cinematic pilgrimage for millions. It helps that the established formula of the series - mostly self-contained mysteries except for the rare occasion this over-three decade behemoth decides to advance its glacial narrative - slots nicely into the franchise without feeling out-of-place.
We already know this latest film, Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback, will bring millions to the big screen at a time cinemas will seek any victory they can get. The better question is if the audience will have a good time doing so, or perhaps regret their yearly tradition?
For those unfamiliar with the Detective Conan series, the store follows Shinichi Kudo, a genius teenage detective whose body is transformed into that of an elementary schooler using of a strange medicine by the shadowy Black Organization. Taking on the name Conan Edogawa, he starts going to school under their new persona and living with Detective Kogoro Mouri and his daughter (and Conan’s long-time crush) Ran, all while using Mouri as a figure of authority to solve cases that might bring him closer to finding a cure and return to his old body. Introduce another scientist who betrayed the organization and willingly took the same medicine to escape named Ai Haibara, and an ever-growing list of additional characters, and you soon understand the appeal.
This film is accessible even to the uninitiated, providing this brief introduction to the series at the start of this and every previous film like a ritual. As for One-Eyed Flashback, this particular mystery brings Detective Mouri into the spotlight. Ten months prior to the events of the film, in Nagano prefecture at an observatory in the countryside, an attempted break-in to steal secret documents is foiled when the culprit is spotted by staff in the facility. As police try to catch them as they attempt to escape through the mountains, policeman Kansuke Yamato is shot and submerged underneath an avalanche, miraculously surviving with only a few injuries. Ten months later, Mouri receives a call from his former colleague Koji Sametani, lovingly referred to as Wani, noting his name in one of the reports on the case and insisting they meet.
Only, the meeting never happens. As they spot each other in Hibiya Park, gunfire rings and Wani is murdered. Sending Mouri in a frenzy seeing his longtime friend dead, he insists on catching the killer himself, taking the trip to Nagano to join the investigation.
Recent films have attempted to attract audiences by promising intense showdowns with the Black Organization, or diving into the backstory of established characters that promise to change our perspective on the broader story with bombastic storylines. While certainly imbuing the films with grandiosity and enticing a broad audience desperate to see a rare showdown with the ultimate enemy, these stories have at times succumbed to their own ambitions. Comparatively, this snowswept mystery feels almost quaint by comparison, a move perhaps made to allow director Katsuya Shigehara, experienced director on the likes of Moriarty the Patriot and Sailor Moon Crystal but making his debut in the role for the Conan franchise, a chance to get a grasp of these beloved characters without getting lost in ambitious promises.
Whatever the reason for this shift in direction, the results are thrilling. A reset in expectations gives the films an almost-retro charm reminiscent of some of the earliest and strongest films in the franchise like 2002's The Phantom of Baker Street, all while preventing a growing peril from distracting from one of the more interesting recent explorations of a familiar character in a film to date. In a world where murder is a near-daily occurrence, it’s easy to become numb to yet-another dead body no matter how much a character appears shocked at the sight of blood. The tragic death of Mouri's colleague and friend, and the single-minded pursuit of justice, is a reminder of just how important it is to find the ‘one and only truth’.
It does so by playing with expectations. Within the world of Detective Conan, it’s merely expected that audiences accept the at-times absurd reality that police will take advice from a pint-sized Conan, just as it’s perfectly fine not to protect his innocent eyes from incessant death. Conan happily joins Mouri for the ride on many cases, and the often-bumbling detective is more than happy to allow it. The death of a friend is a wake-up call, however, snapping him awake and transforming him into a hellbent detective desperate for justice. Him pushing Conan away as he demands to join the investigation in Nagano, insisting it's no time for games, keeping family distant and feigning professionalism in an attempt to hide his anger and grief.
While he’s always been fiercely protective of those close to him even as he otherwise exudes tardiness, this film allows Mouri a chance to forgive himself for his past mistakes. From becoming estranged from his wife to not always being the best as a single father, each step towards solving the case is a chance for Mouri to prove he isn’t a failure. His visible frustration and brash outbursts any time a chance to catch the culprit slips through his grasp is the pained cry of a person with something to prove, and a memory to protect.
He ends up with almost as much screen time as Conan himself, opening up his character to an emotional range rarely offered to this familiar face. It allows the film to stand apart by humanizing a character often kept to the sidelines for comic relief, making the whole thing refreshing and surprisingly emotional when coupled with the film’s secondary mystery of love and suicide.
Which is why, for all the film gives us a chance to connect with a character rarely viewed in such an empathetic light, it’s a shame the mystery itself is unable to match its quality. In giving so much time to exploring Mouri's turmoil, the mystery he travels across the country to solve is disappointing simplistic and predictable. Although an improvement on last year’s outing where spectacle was prioritized over writing a compelling mystery the audience can solve alongside Conan, this year suffers from the opposite issue, where the culprit and motive are predictable to the point of unimportance. The resulting set-pieces and cameos at that point feel like obligations rather than interesting wrinkles on a tantalizing story.
I’d much prefer a film that hooked me by showcasing a familiar face in a new light than one promising world-altering stakes and showdowns with ultimate villains it can’t fulfill. In that sense, One-Eyed Flashback is one of the best Detective Conan films in years, reminiscent of the film franchise’s heyday. A tighter mystery may have elevated the film further, but in a room full of Conan fans moved to tears or silently applauding the surprise appearance of a beloved favorite, it’s clear the film succeeds where it matters most.
