- Adrian Monk
Ever since I was a kid I remember my mother buying the original Magic Kaito manga volumes, and back then I wasn't even aware that Detective Conan (which I frequently bought ever so often) was connected to the series in any way, even though I've always been aware that Kaito Kid is a part of the verse. Both of the series are so different from each other so I wasn't able to make a connection.
Regardless, I really like our modern day gentleman thief who always cops jewels under beautiful full moon nights. I've just been disappointed in the quality of the movies he's gotten in the past decade. The Last Wizard of the Century was amazing but especially movie 14: Lost Ship in the Sky, just not feeling it at all. I feel like movies 12 to 15 were the darkest age of Conan films, but I digress. Movie 19: Sunflowers of Inferno had a lot of good to it, especially in the way of presentation, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted from a Kaito film either. It was just a decent Conan movie.
I've been meaning to watch The Fist of Blue Sapphire for the longest time now and I'm kind of disappointed in myself that it took me so long to get to it. As usual, movie 23's trailer really sold it to me however, the film itself also looks amazing. Movies 20, 21 and 22 are some of my favourite Conan experiences when it comes to enjoyability ever since the first ten films. I'm a huge fan of Heiji, so movie 21: The Crimson Love Letter is my favourite Conan film now, and right behind him I like Amuro and jam with the Black Organization too, so 20 and 22 were a real treat to me.
Movie 23 presents a similar romcom theme as M21 did with Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama as the leading characters, except this time we get the karate master Makoto Kyogoku, the heir to the Suzuki Financial Corporation Sonoko Suzuki and the moonlight magician Kaito Kid in the spotlight.
Well now, let's dive right into this movie!
The Story of The Fist of Blue Sapphire
Our story begins at one of Singapore's beach hotels called Marina Bay Sands where we get to see a large number of people just swimming and taking it slow. An English person with a suit is seen smiling and walking to meet with a well-dressed woman, a blonde named Sherilyn Tan (40), attorney at law. The man gets introduced to the watcher as Leon Lowe (43), a business consultant. The woman asks what Leon will answer to something she's proposed to him, but the man doesn't immediately answer and tries to guess what the woman has ordered as a drink.
Soon, a waiter appears with a bottle of well-chilled Meursault to give Sherilyn, at the same time as the man also tells (by supposedly guessing) her that she's ordered Mersault. The woman gets shocked at Leon being able to guess what she'd ordered and she asks how he'd know. Leon answers that it's simple: he'd read her mind.
Sherilyn quickly leaves as Leon tells to her proposition (which the watcher doesn't know of) that his answer is "no". Afterwards he tips the waiter and tells him thanks for the help, most likely for telling him about which drink Sherilyn had ordered.
Not long after we see Sherilyn come out of an elevator to the first floor, but something's wrong: she's acting weird and there is blood drippign out of her body. Leon walks out of the elevator as well afterwards and she sees her through his sunglasses with ominous aura on him.
Sherliny walks and walks until she collapses and people around the first floor of the hotel start screaming as they notice a knife poking out of her back. We see a long drop of blood coming from her from where she walked from and as soon as she falls to the ground a car explodes, the hotel starts to become filled with smoke. Water starts to pour from the sprinklers and people start running away.
Leon walks to the assumedly dead body of Sherilyn. The nearby guard asks him what he's doing and he says that he's "preserving the scene of the crime" in Engrish. He throws a blanket over the corpse and cops arrive.
We see new polices here, Inspector Aidan arrives with the task force to the Marina Bay Sands hotel. They go over that the incident happened at the shopping mall portion. The inspector explains that Leon Lowe is the first one to find the body and we see Leon with a smug look on his face at the crime scene. The inspector explains to an officer named Rishi about Leon and we get to hear that Rishi Ramanathan (29) used to be Leon's favourite student. This means that Leon was a high-ranking officer at a point.
Rishi goes to say hello to Leon near the body at the shopping mall. Rishi tells Leon that he still remembers the criminal behavior psychology classes Leon taught. Leon tells him that he's no longer an officer but a civilian. He explains that there were bombs used by the culprit as well as the fact that the victim, Sherilyn, was an attorney, which meant that she could've had many people that wanted to get her.
The police ask Inspector Aidan to come to the elevator as there's something on the wall. Inspector goes there and is shocked to see a bloody white card with a smiling face drawn on it. The inspector wonders what it's about, but the watchers already know. This scene gave me chills because it's cool how they insert Kaito to the story.Leon walks to the elevator to see what's there as well and sees the bloody card of Kaito Kid there. I was wondering if Leon had left it there to frame Kid but he becomes really shocked after seeing the card, which gets me hyped for what's to come.
Outside the hotel, a water geyser lion starts to spit a huge amount of crimson red colored liquid.
At Dr. Agasa's place
Ai Haibara is clicking a pencil and saying no to Conan who begs something of her. Agasa appears to ask what is up with Conan and Haibara explains that Conan is trying to get the APTX-4869 antidote to return back to being an adult. Haibara reminds Agasa about the Crimson School Trip case (a manga canon case) which apparently happened just before the movie's case.
Agasa asks where Conan is supposed to be going, in other words where does he need to be Shinichi to go to. Haibara tells him that he plans on going to Singapore.
Conan shows Dr. Agasa a picture of a martial artist that's used as an ad for some competition. Apparently there's a guy who hasn't lost a match in over 400 fights going to the fight. By the way I noticed that the picture has a jewel drawn on it as well, so the winner probably wins a jewel that Kaito is aiming to cop I bet.
Agasa realizes that it's Kyogoku Makoto who's going there and Conan tells him that Sonoko suggested that going to see the match would be great as Makoto is her boyfriend.
Conan was invited to go to Singapore with Kogoro and Ran but obviously the problem is that his identity is a fake and his passport is for Shinichi.
Agasa and Haibara tell Conan to just give up on going to see the match. Then, Agasa does his usual movie quiz while dressed up as a walrus or something to sheer Conan up and asks him what is Singapore's most popular festival:
1. Singing the National Anthem
2. Celebrating the Lunar New Year
3. Flying the National Flag
4. Firewords Display at Marina Bay?
Conan tells Agasa that the answer seems to be pretty simple: It must be "Flying the National Flag" because there's a "rope" ("Sin" in Japanese) that goes up "a pole" ("gapore" in Japanese). Agasa's quiz is thus a play on words.
Conan leaves Agasa's place and heads home in the middle of the night. The atmosphere of this scene is pretty cool: It's dark, dim street lights light the way for Conan and we hear dogs barking as a female is shown behind a corner. Conan walks and looks back as it feels like someone is stalking him. Then he activates his tranquilizer wrist watch and looks back to see Ran Mouri there. He asks what's up and she just walks to him and the screen goes black.
Later on Conan wakes up to hear Ran's voice somewhere, but there's a problem. He's locked up somewhere. He takes a pen and opens the thing he's in, which was a suitcase.
Conan - who's gotten a bit tanned - looks at a statue of a Merlion and gets shocked as he realizes that he's actually in Singapore now as the opening credits with Kaito Kid card -theme starts to play.
Journey begins in Singapore
Conan realizes that his tranquilizer and other gadgets are missing and he decides to find Ran as he remembers hearing her voice somewhere nearby, but to his surprise he sees Ran talking to a person... that looks just like Shinichi. We see Kogoro having a sunburn and Ran, Shinichi and Sonoko go to get water for him. Kogoro shows that he's wearing a passport on his neck.
Shinichi goes towards a bush to see Conan. Conan says that he immediately realizes who's the one playing Shinichi: obviously Kaito Kid. Kaito asks Conan how he got out of the suitcase and Conan shows him a pen. He's used the tip of the pen to open the suitcase.
Kaito runs to the suitcase to get it back as the Kaito Kid theme starts to play.
Conan asks him what the reason for Kaito's act is. Kaito points at the martial arts tournament ads that are placed all over Singapore. Kaito gives Conan a history lesson about the situation: At the end of the 19th century a pirate ship sank just off the coast of Singapore, while thought to have been carrying a legendary treasure. The treasure on board was the world's finest quality blue sapphire called the "Fist of Blue Sapphire".
The Fist of Blue Sapphire is a large jewel that was recovered a year prior from the Singapore's sunken pirate ship by a person named Mr. Zhonhan Chen, who is one of Singapore's most influental man that loves martial arts. He decided to engrave the First of Blue Sapphire on a KING OF KARATE belt, and he decided to host a karate tournament. The winner would get the belt and the legendary jewel.Kaito explains that he couldn't have entered Singapore as Kaito Kid (Kuroba Kaito) so he took the identity of Shinichi instead. Conan tells him that there was no reason for Kaito to take him to Singapore if he was just going to steal a jewel. Kaito tells that this time is a bit of a special case though.
Conan tells Kaito that if he were to ever try to do anything to Ran (like kiss her) he'd make Kaito regret. Kaito tells him that he can't promise anything and Conan tells him that he's going to expose that Shinichi is actually Kid. Kaito stops Conan from doing that by saying that he was only able to enter Singapore via the suitcase. It's a special suitcase built to negate X-rays on baggage checks. Inside the suitcase are portable oxygen generators that last for 12 hours. Furthermore, the cushioning of the suitcase is top-class. Kaito explains that Conan won't be leaving the country without a passport so the only option is to play by his rules if he wishes to leave by using the suitcase.
Then, Ran comes to Shinichi and Conan is shocked as he doesn't want to show himself to people he knows in Singapore. Sonoko and Ran notice Conan and wonder what he's doing in Singapore. Kaito - playing Shinichi - lies to the girls that Conan is actually a kid from Singapore. Conan ponders to himself about how the girls let themselves be fooled far too easily and Ran comes up to him to ask his name.
As Ran asks what the boy's name is we see a flashback to the time when Shinichi as a kid took the identity of Conan Edogawa. This time he plays a Singaporean kid and takes the identity of Arthur Hirai. Arthur - who is Conan - tells Sonoko and Ran that his mother is Japanese.
Sonoko gets an e-mail and decides to leave while Ran questions Arthur about where his mother and father are. Arthur tells Ran that his parents are travelling in Japan. Ran is surprised about the parents leaving the kid alone. Shinichi then asks Arthur if he wants to come with them while Ran goes back to Kogoro.
As Sonoko is looking around at a nearby bridge a gang of thugs arrive. Kaito wonders who they are and Conan explains that the man in the center is Reijiro Nakatomi (39), the president of Nakatomi Shipping. Nakatomi goes to Sonoko to ask if she wants to come with him to which Sonoko declines. Nakatomi tells Sonoko that he has the authority to basically kidnap lone girls if he so wishes but Sonoko just sends a text message to someone where she explains that she's waiting at the Merlion statue.
A group of watchers were very impressed by Makoto's performance and we get to see a scene of cute blushing Sonoko after she realizes that everyone is watching her be all over Makoto.
Ran, "Shinichi" (Kaito) and "Arthur" (Conan) go to Sonoko and Makoto. Makoto asks Shinichi who he is to which he answers. This is a pretty cool scene as I like all these new character interactions. Makoto then gets the feeling as if this isn't the first time that he's met Shinichi to which Kaito gets a flashback to the case where Makoto was breaking stone pillars with physical punches and stuff. Shinichi just tells Makoto that he must be mistaken.
I've noticed that there are some really nice uses of shaking camera in this film.
Closer to The Fist of Blue Sapphire
Makoto tells the group that he can't participate in the tournament to which everyone gets surprised about as they came to Singapore because of Makoto. Makoto explains that he'd accepted a certain someone's invitation and entered the tournament, in other words a sponsor tournament. Makoto's sponsor was a woman named Sherilyn Tan who asked him if he would participate he'd cover all of Makoto's travel and lodging expenses, but Sherilyn sadly passed away recently. This day a certain person connected to her had asked Makoto to act as if she'd never talked to him about anything. Suspicious.
Makoto is disappointed that he's leaving the tournament out as those said to be the strongest martial artists in Singapore will be participating the tournament. Then Sonoki pulls her phone out and tells Makoto that she will be his sponsor now. As Sonoko is the daughter of the extremely rich Suzuki Financial Group, she can easily pull strings to arrange that. We see Sonoko talk with her uncle Jirokichi (whom Kaito had battled against in the past).
Soon after Sonoko tells Makoto that he'd arranged it so that Makoto can now fight in the tournament and she whispers to Ran that she'd arranged it so that Makoto and her group will be sharing the same hotel. Sonoko calls it a double date as they have Shinichi and Makoto there.
Later on the group gets back to Kogoro. The group is heading to their hotel as the reserve officer Rishi from the beginning of the movie arrives. Rishi shakes hands with Kogoro. Kogoro asks what reserve officer means and he explains that he has a special authority to investigate crimes as an expert in criminal psychology. Rishi tells Mouri that he's been waiting to see Mouri as he wants help with a case. Kogoro declines but Shinichi then whispers to him that maybe they should go along with Rishi's offer as he might be able to show some "good places" to Kogoro.
Rishi explains that the case he needs help with is with a Kid Card appearing at a crime scene. When Rishi shows the Kaito Kid message on the phone, we get to see a cool group shot with everyone acting differently to it. Kaito already knows about it and Conan looks at Kaito while annoyed after seeing the card. It's pretty funny.
The Kid Card is an Advance Notice. Kaito always sends a card to the places he wants to steal a jewel from as the moonlight magician. This time at Singapore the Kid Card Advance Notice reads as follows:
"I shall come to have the legendary treasure rest in my fist:
the sapphire, protected by the lion, that emits a lucid, brilliant azure."
- Kaito Kid (drawn Chibi Kid)
At Leon's Residence
Evening falls with the scarlet skies. Leon, the ex-police and teacher talks on the phones about how he'd received a report that the Suzuki Group had become a sponsor for Makoto.
A man named Hezli Jamaluddin (25), Leon's Head of Security, in Leon's room tells him that it doesn't matter who Makoto is as he has he power to take anyone out in a single punch or kick.
Leon's Secretary, Rachel Cheong (29), arrives in the room and tells Leon and Hezli that Mr. Ramanathan has arrived. Leon asks his secretary to bring Mr. Ramanathan to the lounge and she leaves. Then Leon talks with his security officer Hezli about Kaito Kid. Hezli explains to Leon that they're still investigating the matter of Kid. Most likely this matter is about Kid Card somehow appearing at the elevator of the crime scene. Leon tells Hezli that there are problems with information handling and the scene goes back to our group of main characters.
Kogoro and co. investigate the Kaito Kid Advancement Notice issue
Arthur (Conan), Kogoro, Shinichi (Kaito), Ran, Sonoko and Makoto, as well as the pseudo-inspector are admiring how beautifully grand the manor they entered is. Kogoro takes a look at a suit of armor, but the armor's large-sized steel spear almost falls on him, but doesn't because Makoto Kyogoku - who is Sonoko's boyfriend and pretty much physically the strongest character in the verse - grabs the falling object and stops it from hitting Kogoro.Shinichi talks with the pseudo-police Rishi and asks him who Leon Lowe, whom Rishi mentioned earlier, is. Rishi explains that Leon-sensei was originally a famous criminal behavior psychologist who arrested numerous killers by cooperating with the police. Shinichi smirks and tells Rishi that Leon's basically the great detective of Singapore then.
Rishi explains that Leon left the police force two years prior and is currently working as a president of a security company. Rishi also tells that he'd studied criminal behavior psychology under Leon Lowe.
Ran pushes Kogoro to Rishi and Kogoro asks him if the thief's advancement notice to steal a jewel came from Leon Lowe. Rishi says no and starts showing the group his phone to explain things in order, although Arthur has trouble reaching to see what's being shown on the phone. Rishi's explanation goes as follows:
Kaito Kid is after a jewel called the Fist of Blue Sapphire. The jewel belongs to Mr. Zhonhan Chen, a famous businessman. The advancement notice came from Kaito Kid.
Kogoro wonders why they're not going to Chen's place if the jewel is being kept there then, and Rishi explains that the jewel is actually underneath the estate they inside right now, not at Zhonhan Chen's home. The reason why is that the estate they're in right now has an independently developed top-grade security system. The place is safer than a bank vault.
As Rishi is explaining Shinichi starts to laugh and says that if they're that high-grade security systems, then even Kaito Kid is going to have a problem this time around, but Sonoko talks back to him and says that it doesn't matter how good the security is, stealing anything is going to be a child's play to her Kid-sama (she's a Kaito Kid fangirl).
Sonoko starts to explain Kaito Kid's stealing techniques to Ran, how Kid is able to steal even the hearts of all the women around the world. Ran tells Sonoko to stop talking about Kid and Sonoko notices Makoto, extremely jealous, pinching the steel spear so hard that it's being crushed. Makoto then crushes the metal spear with one hand and Conan tells Kaito to watch out or Makoto will crush him.
Later, the group looks at the inner garden of the secured estate and we're shown that the manor they're in is actually the place where Leon Lowe is. He's the prez and he has his bodyguard and the head of security of the place, Hezli Jamaluddin, with him. Hezli goes to Makoto and they grab each other's hands incredibly hard. Hezli explains how he's wanted to have a match with Makoto and the two decide to have a sparring match later.
At the same time Kogoro talks with Leon Lowe who knows his name. Kogoro is honored that even people in a foreign country know him now.
Leon thinks that there's something weird about Kogoro. He's not feeling anything from him. Then Leon looks at Arthur and Shinichi and is surprised - he tells Shinichi how he seems to be more of a magician instead of a detective, proving sort of that this man somehow can read minds, or more accurately the aura of a person.
Shinichi is surprised but Leon explains that he can tell from Shinichi's hand and fingers that he's a magician. Shinichi still tells him that he's a detective first and foremost as Leon goes to talk with the girls.
Zhonhan Chen (70), the owner of The Fist of Blue Sapphire Jewel as well as the huge fan of karate, comes in the room and immediately goes to Kogoro. We get to see a description box explaining that Zhonhan Chen is more accurately an authority in Singapore's financial world more than a simple businessman. Chen grabs Kogoro's hand and tells him how he and his wife are massive fans of his, which surprised Kogoro. Chen asks to take a photo with Kogoro. Then, Chen, Leon and co. start to show the place to Kogoro's group. Chen wants to show the jewel to Kogoro as well, which makes Shinichi smirk.
Underground Safe
Underground the group goes to a massive door. Leon explains that beyond the door is the safe room, which is his greatest creation. Leon puts his hand on the door and shows that only a select few can open the door. Arthur looks at the safe room that opens up and Shinichi starts to test the place by knocking around to see if there are any way to get out or in. Leon explains that the entire room is made of heat-resistant material, so no one is capable of destroying the walls. The room is sealed off from outside world and it's set up so that each piece of the safes contents periodically moves to different locations.
We see the safe boxes on the walls move around randomly as one comes down to the floor and opens up. What's inside the safe is the Fist of Blue Sapphire. Leon tells them that the gem is said to be the emblem of the king of all pirates.
What makes keeping the jewel safe harder is that when the karate tournament is being held, it's been decided that the belt with the jewel will be on display at the stadium instead of in the safe. We see Shinichi take a green marker out of his pocket and draw a line on the metal safe. The mark quickly disappears. It's clearly meant to be a color that's only seen in dark or with special gadgets like Kid's eyeglass.
Chen tells Leon that if anything happens to the Fist, Leon will be paying a huge sum of money for letting that happen.
Shinichi goes to talk to Leon. He asks that since Leon said the security at the stadium is going to be worse than in the safe room, does Leon believe that Kid is waiting until the sapphire is moved to the stadium instead of trying to steal it before that happens?
Leon says that Shinichi is absolutely correct. Leon believes that it's far too risky for Kid to try to get the gem at the safe it's at currently. Shinichi agrees and offers to help guard the jewel, to which Leon agrees and both of them shake hands before they go their merry ways.
The purple pillars
Outside of Singapore on a full moon night, Kaito Kid is shown flying around the area. Kid invades the estate with the heavy security. We see him make cool jumps to avoid infrared lasers around at the half hour mark into the movie. Kid puts on a fake hand glove and puts his hand with the glove on the hand imprint. When Kid shook hands with Leon, he stole the fingerprints on the glove. I didn't even think of that.
Anyway, Kid invades the safe room and wonders why everything's so easy. Inside the safe room, Leon appears to stop Kid. At the same time the pro karate bodyguard appears behind Kaito. Kaito shoots his card gun at the bodyguard and gets couple of hits but Leon manages to shock Kaito and Kid falls to the ground. Leon shuts Kaito in one of the lockers and the room gets filled with water. Kaito soon wakes up, shocked that Leon used a taser on him. Kaito shoots his card gun and manages to get the water to flow somewhere. Kaito walks away from the room and starts shooting people with his card gun.
Kaito is escaping through smoke bombs but realizes that there's someone in the smoke. He runs towards it and starts shooting and we get a nice looking battle between Makoto Kyogoku and Kaito Kid. It seems that Makoto had come to train at the mansion. We get to see a band-aid on Makoto's head which means that Leon's bodyguard managed to put in some work against Makoto during their training.
While Makoto rushes Kid, Kaito starts to smile as a football starts flying towards Makoto at high speed. Makoto punches the soccer ball and the impact causes a pretty large explosion. Makoto is a real human tank to be able to do something like this.
Kaito tells thanks to Conan and activates his rotor to fly away. Kaito wonders why Makoto went as far as he did and goes to pick Conan up who is waiting for him on the top of a skyscraper. Conan asks Kaito to finally explain why he took him to Singapore.
Kaito tells Conan that Leon Lowe is actually a person who's been after The Fist of Blue Sapphire for basically all his life, but Zhonhan Chen beat Leon to the jewel as someone leaked the location of the jewel to Chen. Kaito explains that Sherilyn Tan, the now-deceased lawyer and sponsor woman, is the most suspicious person to have done so. According to Kid, Sherilyn had worked as a legal advisor for Leon Lowe's firm for a while due to their relationship getting bad.
Kid explains that according to rumors the reason why Sherilyn became Makoto's sponsor is to hinder Leon's bodyguard winning the karate contest. The winner gets the jewel, so Sherilyn's aim was simply that. Which explains the motive for getting rid of her. Leon definitely had the motive to kill Sherilyn.
However despite the suspicion on Leon, Kid explains that Leon was the first one to have been taken off the list of suspects because the police have a suspect in their mind - one that they've hidden from the public. On the scene of Sherilyn Tan's murder, a card was found. The advance notice from Kaito Kid.
Conan realizes what's going on - Kid is the most suspicious person. There's a scene where Conan is depressed due to having to see the beautiful imagery of Singapore at night while high in the air with Kaito Kid, instead of Ran.
Kid falls down and lets Conan go. Kid tells Conan to turn back into Arthur Hirai but asks him where he got the name from, as Arthur obviously comes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but where does the last name that Conan made up come from? Conan explains that he got it from the famous Edogawa Ranpo's real name, which is Hirai Taro.
Conan tells Kaito that the Fist of Blue Sapphire is clearly a trap and Kaito should just let it go. Kid says that he understands the situation. That's the reason why he brought Conan along, to solve the case and save him from being framed.At the Raffles Hotel
Ran is shown looking down at the beautiful sights of Singapore night at a pool on top of a skyscraper. Shinichi arrives and Ran tells him how he's taken forever to come. Shinichi tells him sorry and both of them look at the beautiful scenery.
Ran starts to hold Shinichi's hand which surprises him. Ran tells him to not be so shy because they're dating now. Kaito is surprised at this revelation and Conan is watching them both at the pool while looking very annoyed. Conan starts to scream internally about the situation as Kaito is in the pool with Ran playing Shinichi, and then the scene moves forward to the Raffles Hotel...
At the bar of the Raffles Hotel, Kogoro is seen downing a drink or two of Singapore Sling. A woman - Leon's secretary most likely - arrives to Kogoro and asks to sit with him. The woman throws her drink at Kogoro and starts to clean her up. A guy appears and tells Kogoro that he has a call waiting for him. Before going to the phone the woman tells him that there's something that she wants to talk about with him really bad. She gives a letter to Kogoro and runs away. Kogoro goes to the phone, but there's no one on the line. The night goes on.
The next day - Battles for the Fist of Blue Sapphire
People have gathered at the Singapore Stadium to wait for the karate tournament where the winner gets a belt with the gem of legends on it. People on the news think that Makoto will win.
We see the heavyweight-class power of the bodyguard Jamaluddin easily take out another karate tournament participant like nothing. Ran analyzes the bodyguard's power quickly and notes how it's the real deal.
Conan as Arthur Hirai again talks with Kaito who is Shinichi again about the match. He notes that the Makoto wins and the jewel goes to him, then Kaito wouldn't be able to get the jewel.
Makoto Kyogoku enters the stage and easily murks his first opponent. Ran's phone rings and she goes to the entrance to see Kogoro try to enter the tournament area, but he's unable to as the metal gates keep ringing despite Kogoro not wearing anything metallic.
Rishi, the pseudo-cop, appears and tells the guards to let Kogoro in as he's a staff member. Kogoro literally flies through the alarm gate which is funny.
Rishi explains that the belt with the Fist of Blue Sapphire was shown earlier but is now kept underground.
The group goes to check where the belt is. It's beyond a door where the password changes every 10 minutes. It's controlled by a computer. Aidan, Leon and Rishi can get in. There are officers around and the room with the belt is large and completely empty.
Kogoro tries to take a smoke but Rishi tells him that it's not allowed. Kogoro notices the card the woman left him at the pub and notes how he'd completely forgotten about it. The woman needed to talk with him about something.
Conan notes that the card has Leon's business symbol on it. The card reads "Meet me at the back of National Stadium gate 3 at 3 pm. Tell no one." Kogoro notices that it's almost 3 pm and starts to run to not let the lady wait. Conan runs after him but before leaving he looks at Kaito who seems to have figured something out.
After the first round of karate matches we see Makoto finish changing his clothes at a changing room. Leon Lowe comes in the room and tells Makoto how very strong he is. Leon asks if Makoto wants to become his bodyguard but Makoto just walks away. Leon stops him again and starts to try to manipulate him by talking about how he's missing any motivation for his strength. He might hurt the ones he loves instead of using his power for good.
Then Sonoko and Ran appear. Ran tells that she has other things to do and Sonoko and Makoto go elsewhere as we get this awesome looking scene of a serious Ran looking back! I hope she's not just Kaito dressed up!
Outside the Stadium
The next day the karate tournament continues. The police forces are outside the stadium looking for Kaito Kid as there's this somewhat subtle hunt going on where people don't know Kaito is suspected of the murder of Sherilyn Tan. We see inspector Aidan outside. Rachel Cheong (Leon's secretary) that Kogoro is supposed to meet walks at and hits the inspector all of a sudden and we see her with the inspector's phone. Few seconds later she goes back to the inspector and returns the phone to his pocket without the inspector noticing as she's playing as if she has a crush on him.
Rachel then goes to the guards of the jewel and tells them that inspector Aidan is calling for them and that she will look after the safe... only after that, when the guards leave their station, the secretary reveals herself to actually be the moonlight magician Kaito Kid himself.
Kaito goes to the room with the belt that contains the jewel while creating a fake vision of the room on the live cameras that go to the security monitoring room of the Singapore Stadium. Kaito takes his gun out with a hidden mechanism on the bottom of it to open the glass container that contains the belt, but when he does that the bottom of the glass container opens and Rachel's - Leon's secretary's - dead body with a knife on her back falls from the container on the ground. This means that Kaito gave the killer an alibi and was framed to kill her as he took the place of Rachel with his disguise The alarm starts to ring as well and the doors get closed. Kaito jumps down from on top of the glass container and notices that the place where Rachel's body was kept in contains some kind of scratched letters in it.
Kaito manages to escape through the closing door. Officers run in and try to arrest Kid but he manages to escape.
Outside at the parking lot Kogoro and Conan are waiting for Rachel but she doesn't appear. Kid jumps and flies through the air and leaves the area. Everyone was surprised that Kaito Kid appeared in the middle of the daylight. Rishi appears to Kogoro and tells him to come immediately to the safe room as Kaito floats to the ground somewhere in Singapore. Kaito thinks he managed to escape but officers come appear with a patrol car and start to shoot at Kaito immediately and the scene switches back to the safe room where Rachel's body is in.
Rachel, Leon Lowe's secretary, is found dead. Rishi notes that the security camera's have been hacked so the moment when Rachel's body appeared isn't on them apparently. Conan thinks that it's Kaito's fault that he didn't hack and disable the security alarm as well.
Conan asks why Rachel is dead. Rishi explains that Rachel said that inspector Aidan had something to tell them (the moment where Kaito was disguised as Rachel).
Conan sees blood on Rachel's index finger and sees the same letters Kaito did - it says something like "SHE" inside the box where Rachel's body was in - most likely her dying letters.
Outside in the falling evening sun of Singapore, we see Kaito Kid all bloodied up managing to escape the cops, but injured so badly that he falls down.
Sonoko and Makoto spend time together at a cafeteria until a guy bumps to her and his food falls. The guy along with his friend take weapons out and start to fight Makoto. Sonoko runs out to get police to arrest the men but Makoto can't follow her as the guys he's fighting start to jump in his way. Sonoko runs into a corner with a police car, but instead of getting help, two policemen fall from the car and the driver runs over Sonoko. Makoto quickly beats up the guys he was fighting and goes to where Sonoko's scream is coming from only to see her on the ground bruised up and unconscious.
Sorrowful music plays as Sonoko is in the hospital. Ran tells Kogoro and Makoto that her situation isn't life threatening but Makoto blames himself for Sonoko getting hurt. Pseudo-inspector Rishi arrives and tells Kogoro that the two police on the scene were unconscious but not dead, and that the police car was stolen from them.
Leon Lowe arrives to the hospital to give flowers to Sonoko. He claims that he decided to take a flight there after hearing the news. Leon goes to Makoto and try to give him a pep speech again about joining his side on the tournament. He tells Makoto that Makoto doesn't have the mind, body nor a spirit to handle the amount of power contained within Makoto. Leon gives him a wristband said to be a charm that works as long as Makoto doesn't break his fist, but it's not sure what the charm's true purpose is (if there is any deeper purpose at all - the charm could also just be a mental shackle from Leon to bind Makoto).Late Night Time
Conan appears to where Kaito is to see him all bangaged up. Kaito tells Conan he never expected the police to just come and try to shoot him dead. Conan tells that the murderous group is trying to make Rachel's death his doing. Kaito explains to Conan how the whole thing looks like a magic trick - even though he's not there, the watchers, in other words the audience, think that he's the murderer who was there. Kaito asks Conan to guess what the truth behind the murder is.
Conan then goes to where Rishi is. He asks Rishi to take him to his home for the night as he's alone. Conan wants to go with Rishi as he doesn't want to spend more nights with Shinichi (Kaito) at the hotel.
At Rishi's place, Arthur (Conan) gets told that Rishi's father was an oceanographer (a person who studies the ocean) that found many different artifacts and fossils during his time alive.
Rishi tells Arthur that he's going to be pulling an all-nighter trying to solve the murder case regarding Kaito Kid, Rachel and Sherilyn. The moment Rishi finishes typing his password into his computer and logging in, Conan uses his wristwatch tranquilizer to take Rishi out in order to get to the files.
At the hospital Kogoro and Ran have fallen asleep on the chairs while Makoto is with Sonoko in the hospital room. Sonoko asks why Makoto doesn't take his bandage off but he doesn't answer.
At the harbors of Singapore a group of guys on a boat arrive to meet Leon Lowe and his bodyguard. They talk about not keeping promises and the bodyguard decides to kick two of the three on the boat to the water. We see photographs of their conversations being taken by Kaito Kid from afar. Kid claims that his way of doing things is to trick back those who trick him.
The Next Day
At the Karate Tournament we get to hear an announcement about Makoto Kyogoku having withdrawn from the fight, even though he was supposed to face-off against a guy named Tan Lee this day. After hearing that, Leon Lowe's bodyguard gets angry as he wanted to fight Makoto in the finals.
At the hospital Sonoko - while on a wheelchair - asks Makoto whether he did it for her or not. Makoto explains that the gang of thugs who attacked Sonoko and him might come after them again had he not withdrawn from the karate tournament. Makoto explains that he's lacking something still so he's not worthy of facing against the strong opponents. Sonoko tells back to him that he's definitely lacking something as he's hiding things from her, such as Leon Lowe's wristband or the bandage on his forehead. Sonoko then shouts at Makoto and tells him to get out as she doesn't want to deal with liars.
Shinichi and Ran talk at the lunch about how Ran couldn't get in touch with Shinichi. Shinichi (Kaito) then starts to talk about how he's been trying to catch Kid but it seems completely impossible to him but Arthur (Conan) comes and stops Shinichi from lying about that for his own ego.
Sherilyn Tan wasn't stabbed in the shopping mall where she collapsed, but the elevator in Tower 3.
Conan notes how it's odd to stab someone in a closed space where there's nowhere to run to. The report continues:
With a store-bought knife still lodged in her back, she walks to the mall and falls down. Right after she collapsed, her car in the underground parking garage also exploded, resulting in a power outage across the entire hotel. This caused the video feeds from all the hotel security cameras to be cut off.
Conan notes that it's weird that Leon Lowe was in the shopping mall. According to reports Leon had arranged a room for himself as well as another room for the victim Sherilyn Tan but at the time of her being stabbed, many witnesses saw that he had been riding a different elevator. Thus he had a verified alibi. The fact that Leon had a large suitcase with him is odd but the police investigated it to see it completely empty.
The last question is the existence of the bloody Kid Card on the scene of the crime. Shinichi asks Conan about it and why there was a need to drag him into this mess. That also caused the culprit to frame the murder of Leon's secretary Rachel on Kaito Kid.
The corpse of Rachel had been put inside the pedestal before Kaito entered the room with the jewel-containing belt. But to enter the room you have to bypass security systems. That means that someone who can slip past the security and get in without touching the sensors has to be the culprit - and if it's not Kaito Kid, then the most likely culprit is Leon Lowe.
As the manager of the safe room, Leon Lowe is familiar with the security systems. Since Rachel was alive two days prior to the belt being moved, it's very likely that the murder of Rachel happened a day prior.
Conan and Kaito think of the motive for killing Rachel. Rachel tried to tell Kogoro something and left behind a dying letter saying "SHE". That refers to another woman, doesn't it?
Outside Conan and Kaito think of the whole thing. Conan realizes the trick behind Sherilyn Tan's murder and they also realize that Leon manipulated Makoto to leave the tournament. Conan calles Haibara and the detective boys. Conan sends Haibara a picture of a person and asks him to look his identity up.
At the Singapore Stadium we see Leon's bodyguard Jamaludding win easily. We see a flashback where Leon was humiliated with one of his old plans being bad. Then the thug Nakatomi Reijiro from the beginning of the movie arrives to make a deal with Leon Lowe. Leon claims to be able to create another city.
Kogoro is drunk and Conan and Kaito start to check him out - only to notice there is a coin-shaped object with the name Nakatomi on it. Haibara has finished checking the identity of the people whose picture Kaito took at the Singapore harbor- the dark-haired person is apparently a pirate. The letters SHE that the earlier victim left apparently have to do with the Nakatomi oil tanker.
The Explanation
Conan and Kaito call up with Rishi to meet up. Nearby the shopping mall at evening they talk with Rishi and explain the entire thing and what happened. Here's how everything went according to them:
It all started with the blue sapphire that Zhonhan Chen located; The Fist of Blue Sapphire. Chen embedded the Fist into the belt that was used for the karate tournament and decided to present it to the champion.
Leon Lowe forced the bodyguard Jamaluddin to participate so he could obtain the jewel. However, some unexpected interference entered the picture as Kyogoku Makoto, a man who's gone undefeated in 400 karate matches, entered the tournament. The lawyer Sherilyn Tan, who was later killed, was the one who invited him and acted as his sponsor.
Rishi tells the boys that even if he had a motive, Leon Lowe still has an alibi as he'd been riding a different elevator when she was stabbed. Kaito explains the truth behind the alibi to Rishi:
After meeting Leon by the poolside, Sherilyn took the elevator to go back to her room. But the room in she had been staying in was on the 16th floor of Tower 3. Due to the structure of the hotel she couldn't go back without transferring to a different elevator on the 34th floor. While she was on her way back to her room she was drugged and forcibly taken to a different room by Rachel Cheong, Leon's deceased secretary. That means that Rachel must've been the apprentice to this whole ordeal, which comes as a bit of a surprise even though it makes sense she'd be.
Kaito explains that the room which Leon Lowe had reserved that day solely to enter the poolside restaurant for the guests was on the 34th floor. Leon came down to that room and it was there that he stabbed and killed Sherilyn-san and placed her body into the large suitcase he had with him.Afterwards, Rachel and Leon each took separate elevators - Rachel disguised as Sherilyn, and Leon with the suitcase carrying the body of the Sherilyn. For the trick Rachel most likely utilized faux penknife often seen being used in magic tricks. The blood used for the trick of playing a bloody Sherilyn was Sherilyn's own however.
Pretending to have been stabbed, Rachel (disguised as Sherilyn with a knife on her back) collapsed and immediately afterwards Leon appeared with the white blanket to cover up her body. Leon took a picture of her on the ground before that. This all went unbeknownst to people in the midst of the power outage caused by the explosions at the parking garage along with the electricity outage which caused the shopping mall's cameras to stop working. That's how they managed to do the body swap at the supposed scene of the crime. Leon most likely took pictures of Rachel at the scene of the crime as well to blackmail her.
Later on Rachel had come to detective Mouri Kogoro out of fear, ready to open up to him about how everything happened. Leon realized that.
The Rachel that later on appeared at the safe vault for the belt was actually Kaito Kid disguised as Rachel. Kid was also used in Leon Lowe's plans as the real Rachel-san had already been killed by then. Foreseeing the situation where Kid would come to steal the Fist of Blue Sapphire disguised as Rachel, Leon hid the body of Rachel in the room where it would appear when Kid tried to steal the jewel. Leon did this to create an alibi for himself as well as make it look as if it were Kid's doing all along.
Rishi wonders why Kaito Kid would disguise as the secretary Rachel in the first place. To answer that Conan asks Rishi to think about who would be the safest person to disguise as in order to get through the security alarms and such. Rishi answers that it wouldn't matter how well he disguises himself as it'd be all meaningless if the real person showed up to the scene while he was disguised. That means that it'd be fine to disguise as the person if you knew in advance the time and the place the person would be at when you pull off the disguising plan. This is probably the greatest piece of foreshadowing in this movie. I'm actually impressed as it makes perfect sense - I didn't think that they could use this as a way of foreshadowing a legitimate reason to disguise as Rachel. It's subtle and doesn't directly lead to anything. This is actually a classic trick brought to a modern setting in a great way.
Rishi realizes that Kaito Kid must've known that Rachel was supposed to meet up with Mouri Kogoro at 3 PM outside the Singapore Stadium... and that's how it went. Kid disguised himself as someone unlikely to come to the safe room, and by doing so, he fell right into Leon Lowe's trap.
As the sun is falling down Rishi asks Shinichi (Kaito) and Arthur (Conan) what his mentor is planning on doing with all of this. Kaito explains that his plan is pretty foolish and it all connects back to the fact that:
1) Leon Lowe's been in contact with Eugene Lim, the leader of a fleet of modern pirates,
2) Rachel left the word 'SHE' as her dying letter,
3) and the coin-looking object - which is one of Nakatomi Shippins tokens - which Rachel secretly left with Detective Mouri Kogoro,
all point to the direction of a certain ship. Rishi wonders what this is about and Conan shows him his ONY phone in which he had a certain older detective from Tokyo send him information. The information contains an analysis of the sea routes that ships owned by Nakatomi in the Singapore area are taking. On the analysis a single oil tanker is deviating greatly from its planned route. At its current route the oil tanker will end up at Marina Bay - Leon Lowe is definitely using the pirates to make the oil tanker crash into the city!
Rishi asks why Leon would do something like that as that's going way too overboard. Conan answers that he doesn't know exactly but without a doubt the entire ordeals involves a massive amount of money being moved around. The reason why Leon was so fixated on the Fist of Blue Sapphire must be because he needed it as collateral to manipulate the pirates to do his bidding.
Rishi wonders how Leon managed to contact the pirates. Conan explains that it was done with the Merlion - the Lion-shaped creature that spits water at Marina Bay. There was an incident in which the Merlion was spitting red-colored water. The news of it were worldwide so it caught the attention of the pirates. That must've been the signal to start carrying out a certain plan.
The trio wonders what to do. Rishi explains that police would need more evidence for them to act but Rishi's going to get in touch with Mr. Zhonhan Chen as he has influence over the military and the police. Conan tells Rishi that if the oil tanker is about to hit Singapore, where does Rishi think that Leon is going to be at that time? Rishi explains that his mentor is a cautious person who's most likely not even going to be on the country when that happens and is going to watch things from afar.
Nearing the last stretch
At the Singapore's Marina Bay Hotel Ran is trying to call Shinichi, but he doesn't pick up. Conan and Kaito are looking at the Marina Bay some miles away from the stadium. Kaito questions was Leon Lowe really the person that left his Kaito Kid Advancement Notice Card at the scene of Sherilyn Tan's murder. Conan tells him that's not likely as finding the card that had been stuck to the elevator happened a while after the examination of the scene had begun. Conan asks Kaito what does he think of why that happened. Conan then checks his phone to see the oil tanker nearby the harbor - at this rate it'll crash into the Marina Bay hotel.
We see a scene of the oil tanker about to hit the city and Conan and Kaito try to run to the hotel. Ran is with a crowd of people looking at the spurting water coming from underground. It's a beautiful sight but what makes this scene very interesting is the fact that we don't get tense action-based music for this scene, but instead we get beautiful classical piano music. I've heard this classical piece before, it's by either Mozart or Bach. Sounds like Bach, it's very Dragon Quest-like. Because of the music the whole thing is different. It's so calm and very different from usual action scenes.
We see Conan, Makoto, Ran, Kaito and the crowds of people look in awe at the beautiful scenery and the incoming oil tank until the tanker finally hits Marina Bay.
When the tanker gets close, the water surfaces on the roads. Ran calls Kogoro and sees the tanked incoming. Someone from the police calls Sonoko and tells her to stay there because apparently it's too dangerous to go outside despite everyone else fleeing from the tanker. At the same time we see a shadowy person with a phone.
Outside, as the tanker is hitting, Kaito carries Conan and starts to fly as they have to rush to where Kogoro and Sonoko are. Police notice Kaito in the skies and start to follow after him.
Leon, Jamaluddin and Nakatomi (the son of a businessman) are looking at the scenery as the oil tanker hits the harbor - only to see the Sleeping Kogoro waiting for them. Leon is surprised at Kogoro being there as he can't read Kogoro's mind.
Ran runs towards where Kogoro is. At the scene Leon is laughing but a person with a gun appears to surprise them all. A helicopter also arrives on the scene. The one appearing on the scene is Rishi. Leon thinks that Rishi has come to arrest him and take over the ship but Rishi tells a different story. At the same time the tanker hits the roads.
Rishi shoots at Nakatomi. This act makes Leon get surprised again and he asks his bodyguard Jamaluddin to take care of the situation. Jamaluddin tells Leon that the only reason he worked for him was to get to fight against Makoto. Rishi tells Leon that the one to put the world in motion is him, not Leon. As Rishi attempts to shoot Leon, a card flies from the sky to get rid of Rishi's gun. The gun falls on top of a chair and Conan jumps down on the chair and makes the gun fly into the pool.
Kaito the ropes up Rishi and wonders why Arthur (Conan) is also on the scene with Kaito Kid.
At the hotel Ran runs upstairs as pirates see her. They notice that she was on the scene where Makoto beat them up at the beginning of the story.
Rishi is now roped up. He asks Conan and Kaito to get rid of the others but Conan tells him to stop the acting as he's the real mastermind. Conan reveals that Rishi's full name is Rishi Ramanathan.
Conan's explanation towards Rishi's true identity goes as follows:
The first suspicious thing about Rishi was Kaito Kid's Advancement Notice Card which was found on the scene of Sherilyn Tan's murder. The police didn't notice the card until after Rishi arrived on the scene.
Earlier, Conan asked Rishi where he thinks Leon would be when the oil tanker hits, Conan's doubts towards Rishi were solidified when Rishi claimed that Leon would escape to far away. Conan tells Rishi that someone as self-conceited as Leon would never flee the country when the success of his plan was so close at hand. Conan was certain that Leon would instead find a place for him where he could best look at the scene unfold when the oil tanker hits Marina Bay. In other words Conan tested Rishi when he asked where Rishi thinks Leon would be at when the moment happens.
Conan explains that Rishi's plan must've started five years prior, when his father died. We get to see a newspaper where a suspect admits killing the Oceanographer after initial denial. The oceanographer was Rishi's father... Conan also says that he recalls Nakatomi-san also first coming to Singapore five years prior. Nakatomi doesn't agree with that.
The murderer of Rishi's father was caught by Leon Lowe. We see a newspaper article of him as well. When Sherilyn Tan acter as the suspect's attorney and made him admit guilt, the whole thing becomes more suspicious. It was all a trap in order to get hands on Nakatomi's oil ship. There was also one more trap in the death of Rishi's father.
Rishi tells them that at first he believed that his father's death was truly an accident- but on his journey of getting over his father's death, Rishi came across the files his father left regarding the Fist of Blue Sapphire. After finding those files Rishi realized that Leon must've killed Rishi's father to prevent him from getting his hands on the Fist first.We see a flashback scene of a person shouting for help and we see Rachel having pushed him to the water from a ship. Leon knew that Rishi's father had a strong sense of justice so he jumped to the water to save the man. At the same time Leon drove a boat over Rishi's father and the person who was pushed on the ground.
Nakatomi grabs Leon and asks him for answers. Leon pushes him away. Rishi tells Leon that due to being suspicious of him, Rishi became Leon's apprentice and a reserve officer. Then he began investigating the entire thing and got in touch with Sherilyn Tan and Rachel Cheong. The women told Rishi everything about Leon Lowe.
Leon asks Rishi why'd he leave a Kaito Kid advancement notice then to the scene of the crime. Rishi tells that the existence of the Fist of Blue Sapphire and a murder case Kid had nothing to do with would both summon Kaito Kid to Singapore. Rishi's plan was simply for Kaito Kid to get in the way of Leon Lowe's plan of getting his hands on the Fist. Rishi notes that Shinichi didn't come to Singapore but it was Kid all along just as planned.
Rishi tells Nakatomi that it seems Leon had saved him in the past when Nakatomi was being suspected of theft. But that must've not been a coincidence but all a part of Leon's plan. Leon agrees that's exactly what happened. Then, Kogoro wakes up and falls to the water with Ran on the scene. Kogoro picks up a gun and sees a group of pirates hold knives at Ran's throat. Kogoro gets up from the water and they all get surrounded by pirates.
Leon mentions to a pirate named Eugene that their plan has failed and thus he has to give the Fist of Blue Sapphire to the pirates. Leon tells the pirates to get rid of everyone on the hotel boat but some of the pirates decide to free Rishi instead and point their guns at Leon. Eugene tells Leon that there was even a better offer from Rishi - the daughter of Suzuki Financial Corporation is in this very hotel. In other words kidnapping Sonoko Suzuki will help them make a fortune. Kaito wonders if Sonoko hasn't already left and Rishi tells him that he'd called Sonoko and told him not to leave her room under any conditions.
Sonoko's door gets broken down and Makoto runs in, grabs Sonoko and tells her that elevators have been stopped. It's time for both of them to get out of the hotel. Sonoko blushes as Makoto carries her. In the hallway the pirates start to shoot at Makoto and Sonoko and then some of them get angry at the shooter as they're not supposed to kill Sonoko.
Kaito then pulls up some of his gas balls. In the gas Ran starts to beat up all the pirates. One large pirate almost hits Ran but Kogoro kicks his ass with his signature backflip move. This Kogoro scene is epic. Kogoro and Ran run away from the pirates and Conan charges his shoes to kick a table at one of the shooters.
Inside the hotel Makoto is going up against dozens of guys while holding Sonoko, he runs on walls and goes towards the roof of the hotel.
Outside, a few miles from the hotel, inspector Aidan and other cops see that most of the pirates are in the hotel now.
At the same time a large-sized man throws Conan almost from the roof and he's left hanging in the air from the roof. A chair falls on Conan and he falls towards the ground from the skyscraper. Before hitting the ground Kaito Kid flies and saves him.
Conan tells Kaito his plan as they watch pirates shoot cannons and guns around the hotel. Conan tells that they still have one trump card that can save everyone on the ship. Kaito then takes his gun and shoots his card at Makoto. The card cuts off and breaks Leon's "good luck charm bracelet" that Makoto was wearing on his wrist.
After the charm breaking we see Makoto filled with some kind of aura and he beats up everyone.
Jamaluddin jumps down and tells that he will fight Makoto alone.
At the same time Kogoro, Ran and Conan defeat the remaining pirates that were against them while Kaito steals the Fist of Blue Sapphire.
Kaito then fools one of the cannon shooters and takes him down while Makoto creates a carrying knot to carry Sonoko while he fights Jamaluddin as the skyscraper is breaking down and a fighting theme song starts to play.
We see Makoto jump around while carrying Sonoko and blood splatters around. Jamaluddin's kick breaks the floor while Makoto charges a punch that sends Jamaluddin flying. The punch is incredibly superhuman and goes well with theme theme of the name of the movie, the Fist of Blue Sapphire. Makoto smiles while Sonoko cries. Conan then comes to tell them that it's time to leave the breaking ship as the ship falls from the top of a scyscraper to the sea. The water raining down from the fall of the ship instantly causes all the fire around Marina Bay to cease. Kaito then appears in front of Leon Lowe to give back the Fist of Blue Sapphire and tells him that it's not the jewel he's looking for.
After the battle we get a scene of a cute Sonoko looking at Makoto. Sonoko then decides to take the bandage off Makoto's face. Makoto tells that it's a good luck charm. Sonoko gives a large smile as she notices that the bandage actually has a picture of Sonoko on it. Kogoro and Ran also arrive to see Makoto and Sonoko all lovey-dovey.
Arthur puts his glasses on and tells Rishi that his true identity is Edogawa Conan, a detective and the ending credits of The Fist of Blue Sapphire start to play...
The post-credits scene shows Koogoro, Shinichi and Ran get back to Japan. Ran is holding Shinichi's hand tightly and inspector Nakamori appears. we get the great revelation: Ran knew that Shinichi was Kaito all along! That's why she had such a serious face on in the hotel right before Rachel's body was found! Ran explains that there is no way Shinichi would ever call Kogoro an "old man", and Kaito thinks he does because as Conan he always calls Kogoro an old man. What a great twist!
This is one of the best post-ending credit sequences in Conan movie history! Ran! Run, Kid!
Kid manages to make his escape as Conan changes his clothes with the help of Haibara and Dr. Agasa. At the end Ran goes to ask Conan if he was missing her to which he thinks that's not true as they were together the whole time. As the final scene we get a sneak peek to the now-postponed 2020's movie The Scarlet Bullet where a certain well-known character Akai Shuichi is heard talking.
This movie ended up being a lot better than I expected. While couple of the themes and other plot ideas weren't necessarily something that personally interests me in comparison to the theme of Corruption in the Justice System of the previous film, and the real big baddie twist wasn't necessarily as impactful as it should have been, all the time I thought this movie was going to be obvious, it never really went the way I thought it would. All the times it could have gotten out of hand with the writing, it somehow managed to pull through which is why I could take the time out of my day and fully go through the entire movie in this post. The movie does require some knowledge of these characters to be a more enjoyable experience as the pacing with how we juggle between these characters and their purpose & position in the film does require a bit of effort to understand. For example I was absolutely marking out when half-way through the film Ran looked back with that very serious face - I thought: "Could Ran actually be on to something!? Is she actually Kaito Kid disguised as Ran!?" So my reaction to this girl - Ran Mouri - is obviously a lot different than someone who would watch this series the first time through this film, or a non-fan's reaction. I had quite a few fan-like reactions to Makoto's, Kaito's, Conan's, Ran's, Kogoro's and Sonoko's scenes throughout this film. In fact I was completely marking out during some of my reactions.
The idea behind Conan turning into this another kid Arthur Hirai just like how Shinichi turned into Edogawa Conan was somewhat funny and I guess it's supposed to pull some nostalgia strings or wake up sleeping gray brain cells about how this entire story of Detective Conan started. The soundtracks were utilized pretty well here, the characters are handled with proper care and the art direction and animation were a treat. Ever since Movie 21: The Crimson Love Letter, all the ending songs have so far been on-point. Movie 22: Zero the Enforcer's ending song "Zero" had most likely the best and most fitting lyrics to a movie-focused character ever in this series. The ending song to the Fist of Blue Sapphire, called "Blue Sapphire" by Hiroomi Tosaka is yet a fantastic addition to the long list of great music this series has to offer, and it also really fits the theme of the movie yet again.
By the way I really love how the author Gosho Aoyama draws and colors the promotional pictures for these films with the crayon colors. They look absolutely stunning. The current director of these movies, Chika Nagaoka, also has many really great directing choices to make the experience really come to life and keep stayong fresh for the entire duration of the film.
I can't believe we got a good Sonoko, Makoto and Kaito Kid movie in one. And it all took place in the beautiful city of Singapore.
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ReplyDeleteIt's neither Bach nor Mozart, it is Debussy, Clair de Lune.
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