Hey guys,

Long time stalker here. I saw the movie yesterday, and for fun wrote up a summary. It's pretty detailed, so you may want to avoid it if you're saving yourself and only want a general idea of what happens (or if you have better things to do with your weekend).



Notes: I only saw this once, in theatres, so some scenes may be slightly out of order. Also my Japanese is not that strong, so long conversations involving motive and intent kind of pass me by. Corrections welcome!

Detective Conan movie 13: The Raven Chaser

Opening Credits: Unlike the usual credits which focus on Conan and his gang, after the same flash-back explanation of why he’s shrunk they focus heavily on the Black Org and its members (Gin, Vodka, Vermouth, Chianti, Korn) and the boss’ nanatsu-no-ko email address

A man is driving on the highway. He makes to break as approaching a curve, but nothing happens. His speed increases, and he crashes into a toll booth. His last words are “Kyo Tanabata”

Conan is on the phone with Genta while packing his backpack; the Detective Boys are going out. He hangs up telling Genta not to be late, and goes down to the office to look for his flashlight. He’s just found it when he hears something outside. He looks out the door, but no one’s there. He turns around and Gin and Vodka are behind him. Gin grabs him, hand over his mouth, and lifts him off the floor, telling him he knows Conan is Kudou Shin’ichi. Ran hears something and starts to come down the stairs. Gin tells Vodka to take care of her, and turns Conan to watch “while the one he loves is taken away.” He tries to scream, but can’t. Ran approaches slowly while Conan struggles, but he can’t break free. Finally she opens the door, and just as Vodka’s finger tightens on the trigger, Conan wakes up.

It’s summer. The Detective Boys and the Professor are in a park, looking for rhinoceros beetles. Conan is up a tree, putting one in a box. Genta spots another and wants to climb up after it, the others tell him it’s impossible for him. The Professor suggests Conan uses his weight-lifting suspenders, which can extend to 100 metres. He does, and Genta gets the bug. Mitsuhiko and Ayumi follow another one to another tree where it has a mate. Someone has put tape on the mate’s back, the “open” tape used to seal convenience store lunches, in the shape of a V. The Professor peels it off, and gives a riddle involving a kanji pun as usual, relating to Tanabata and Orihime and Hikoboshi's love.

Scene change. Mouri is going to a police meeting, and takes Ran and Conan with him. Conan slips an audio bug into his pocket while Ran is straightening his tie, and listens in while on a bench outside the room with Ran. The meeting is attended by several familiar faces in the police department including Yamato Kansuke (Nagano) and flighty Yamamura Misao (Gunma) and others, as well as the usual Beika group. Several people ask Mouri how Conan is, and proceed to discuss how smart he is – Conan starts sweating. The meeting begins, chaired by Inspector Megure and Superintendant Matsumoto. There have been six murders in prefectures near Tokyo, the victims having been stabbed by a right handed man. At each victim’s side a mah-jong tile has been found, with a letter (usually English) written on the side. One tile was the One of balls, the others all Sevens, but on each a different ball was coloured red. Mouri proposes a theory which only takes into account one of several facts.

After the meeting breaks up, Conan is hanging around talking with some officers, all of whom are behaving slightly suspiciously; inquiring closely into him, drinking coffee black when they usually take it with sugar and vice versa. Inspector Yamamura comes back from the bathroom humming nanatsu-no-ko. When Conan demands to know why he’s singing it, he replies that he heard “the officer with glasses” texting someone and the sounds reminded him of it. Conan runs to the window and sees the officer on the sidewalk below. He runs down the stairs in time to see him get into a Porshe 356A, Gin’s car.

Conan gets the professor to take him around to the locations of the murders, but doesn’t find anything significant.

(At which point I’m a bit hazy on the order of the following scenes, unless they’re directly connected to each other.)

At school in art, the kids are making animals out of clay. Haibara makes a puppy; Conan a dolphin, Genta an eel. Mitsuhiko makes a rhinoceros beetle, and wonders again who could have been mean enough to tape the back of the one they found.

In a police meeting with a smaller group – most of the cops visiting from other prefectures have gone back – Megure laments Kudou’s absence. Someone asks if he’s never been back seen since he went off, but Takaki says he appeared at his school’s play, and is quickly hushed by Satou. Officer Yamato gets a phone call from his partner who tells him she’s spotted the girlfriend of a suspect. He reveals he’s had his eye on a certain man who’s known for attacking with knives. Everyone hurries to the mall. Conan, who happens to be passing by, sees them and follows.

Inside the mall the cops spread out and surround the woman unobtrusively; she is standing near an escalator several floors up. Soon the man shows up and she calls to him; he boards an escalator behind a group of kids. Worried about the kids’ safety, the officers hold off until after he meets up with her. Yamamura runs forward too enthusiastically and trips, his badge flying out in front of him and alerting the suspect. The man pulls a knife and grabs a woman off the escalator as a hostage. With her they descend several floors, but Conan sees them from across the mall and notices a bulge in the woman’s pants near her ankle. He produces a soccer ball and uses it to knock out the man. His girlfriend grabs the knife, and runs towards Yamato’s partner. Inspector Megure steps in the way and is wounded, but not severely. They are arrested. The police officers discover that the hostage has disappeared.

In the underground car park, Conan confronts the hostage, who is in fact Vermouth. She asks how he knew; he says he saw her gun holster by her ankle, and noticed that although her face was cut she didn’t bleed as it was only the mask that was damaged. She reveals that there is a new member of the Black Organization to watch out for, Irish.

Conan goes to the Professor and tells him everything. The Professor shouts, alerting Haibara, who reluctantly participates in the conversation and says she’s never heard of Irish, and Conan should stay away from this. He asks the Professor to help him; the Professor agrees.

For some reason which escaped me, the police are looking for a young woman; Satou and Takaki are sent in their car to go to her apartment. Parked on an overpass overlooking the highway are Chianti and Korn; they shoot out the front tires of the police car, which Takaki manages to steer onto the shoulder – Satou notices a car on the overpass. This allows Gin and Vodka to get to the girl’s apartment first, but they don’t find what they’re looking for – a memory chip. Gin steps on some spilt paint. The police arrive. Satou notices the paint has been stepped on after it was mostly dry, which means someone has been here before them but after the crime. Someone in the police is a spy.

The girl is found later, stabbed in a park with a mah-jong tile next to her.

Someone looks up Edogawa Conan in the police computer database.

Someone breaks into Teitan Elementary school, and examines the kids’ sculptures. The usual silhouette-criminal uses a computer to match fingerprints, which although unlabelled agree with a 98% degree of certainty.

Ran, symbolically, breaks Conan’s bowl before dinner.

At school, the dolphin sculpture has had its fin broken off. Haibara asks if it was related to the Organization, Conan brightly tells her not to worry, while thinking that it must be them.

At Ran’s school, someone has stolen the helmet which Shin’ichi appeared in at the school play. Ran texts Shin’ichi; Conan realises someone is trying to match his two identities by finger prints. He texts Ran back and tells her he’s on a very dangerous case and not to text him.

Somehow, Conan gets on to a girl named Nana who died in a fire in Kyoto a couple of years ago during Tanabata. He goes to her apartment, where she lived with her lover Mizutani. The neighbour hears him knocking and comes out to tell him that Mizutani hasn’t been around for awhile, and invites him in. In the ensuing conversation during which Conan pretends to have been sent by Mouri, the neighbour tells Conan that Nana’s older brother came by when she was still alive and gave him his card, in case she was ever in trouble. He gets it out and gives Conan the number.

Conan goes to the brother, still pretending to be working for Mouri “who’s busy and can’t come”, the brother tells him someone keeps sending flowers with messages; the latest one was “seven have been punished, one remains.”

Conan calls Heiji and asks if anything happened in Kyoto during Tanabata recently. Heiji’s at school, and Kazuha suggests they go somewhere together for Tanabata. She then says something helpful, possibly relating to a fire at a hotel. Heiji says he’ll go to check it out.

The cops call Nana’s neighbour, and discover Conan’s been there before them. They call the brother, and find he was there, too. Mouri denies having sent him. They figure that the dying words “Kyo Tanabata” must mean “Kyoto Tanabata” i.e. that this involved something which happened in Kyoto during Tanabata.

Mitsuhiko, Genta and Ayumi get on a bus alone, complaining about the fact that Conan hasn’t been around. On the seat in front of them, they find another beetle whose back has been taped over in a V shape. They can’t take the tape off, and decide to go to the professor.

Heiji calls back; he is at the hotel, and remembers looking into this case at the time. There was a fire in a hotel called Vega; one person – Nana – died, because she couldn’t get off the floor. Conan asks what the weight limit in the elevator is; Heiji goes to see and finds it’s seven people – as he’s talking a bunch of people get on and the weight buzzer goes off, so he gets off. Conan realises the seven victims must have pushed Nana out of the elevator to save themselves. He thanks Heiji very seriously. Heiji, sensing something’s up, tells Conan he’s just found a new Okonomiyaki restaurant, and the boy has to come and try it with him. Conan agrees.

The Professor peels the tape off, and tells the kids he thinks the tape must be a call for help. Why? Because it is a V shape on a beetle, and the Beatle’s 5th album was called “Help!” The kids agree, and decide to go looking for whoever needs help in Beika Park, the bus’ destination.

Another police meeting; Mouri has had a breakthrough. The murders; marked out on a map, are drawing a picture of a goose (I believe; the resemblance is extremely minor). The next murder will take place in Gunma prefecture, where the goose’s eye is. He and Yamamura hare off after it; no one else goes. Satou wonders who the traitor is – she’s noticed the fact that a car parked on the overpass would be in a perfect position to snipe out tires.

Conan figures out that the seven deaths mark the pattern of the Big Dipper and the North Star, the stars relating to Tanabata. This is further confirmed by the fact that the letters written on the mah-jong tiles correspond to the names of the stars, and the fact that Nana and Mizutani’s hobby was stargazing. The next death will be at Tohto tower.

Ayumi and co’s parents phone the Professor looking for the kids – they’re still not back.

Sonoko, watching the broadcasting from Tohto Tower where everyone is dressed in yukatas for Tanabata, sees Conan run past.

In the forest, the kids are looking for someone needing help. It’s already dark, though, and they can’t find anyone. They decide to let the bug go to see if it will lead them to whoever it is. It flies off, and they follow it. It lands near a small shack with a light in the window. Behind them, a branch cracks.

In Gunma prefecture, Mouri and Yamamura can’t find any victim. Looking up at the stars, Mouri figures it out and calls Megure. The police figure out that the next murder will be at Tohto tower, and take off.

The person behind the kids is the Professor, and Haibara. The Professor scolds them and tells them to go home, but Haibara says they still have something to do. Looking into the window, they see the silhouette of someone with a gun.

Takaki gets a call from the Professor, and he and Satou peel off from the squad going to Tohto tower to go help the Professor.

In Tohto tower, Conan finds Mizutani drinking wine, looking at the stars. They start talking about Nana. Mizutani blames himself for having left her alone; if he hadn’t she wouldn’t have died.

The police arrive, and cordon off the area.

Conan tells Mizutani he knows he’s not the criminal. The murderer is Nana’s brother, who steps out of the shadows. Mizutani has a bag of evidence which he was going to use to prove himself the murderer after he killed himself (probably). But he’s decided not to, and gives the bag to Nana’s brother. It is realised that Nana, rather than being pushed out of the elevator, stepped out herself to save the others. But her brother still can’t accept that.

Flash to the cops, who are unconscious on the floor by the elevator.

The brother takes the bag, but makes to kill Mizutani with a knife. Superintendant Matsumoto arrives and shoots the knife out of his hand. The Inspector punches out Nana’s brother; Conan tries to tranq. dart the Superintendant but misses and hits Mizutani.

Takaki and Satou break into the house in the woods; Superintendant Matsumoto is tied up there along with a bunch of convenience store lunches.

Superintendant Matsumoto is, in fact, Irish. And he knows that Conan is Kudou Shin’ichi. Conan asks if he’s told anyone else; Irish says no. He hates Gin for having killed his father (probably). He takes the bag of evidence and finds a memory chip which the Organization has been after all along. He tells Conan not to worry, he’s not going to kill him. Conan tries to fight him, and Irish throws him across the room.

Ran and Sonoko arrive downstairs and ask if Conan’s still in the building. The staff say he can’t be; the police have cordoned off the area because there’s a murderer on the loose upstairs. Ran goes up with a staff members and finds the cops unconscious but alive. She hears Conan groan.

Ran arrives in the room just in time to see Conan thrown into a beam. She runs over to him; he’s almost unable to speak. The Superintendant runs up, gun in hand, to check if he’s okay. Conan tries to warn Ran. Irish knocks out the staff man, as Conan succeeds in telling her to run. She turns, realising this is not the Superintendant. He turns his gun on her.

Ran remembers Shin’ichi telling her at Tropical Land about the speed of a bullet. She tells Conan not to worry. In the instant Irish fires, she dodges, and knocks the gun out of his hand. They fight, Ran doing well until she tears off the bottom half of his mask. In her shock she looses the upper hand and is quickly defeated. From the shadows, Shin’ichi tells her to relax, he’ll take care of it.

Irish follows Conan into a hall. He’s tricked into thinking Conan is in a storage room by Conan having left his lit watch there, but dodges the soccer ball Conan kicks at his head. They run up and out on the outside viewing deck of the tower. Conan knocks Irish down a flight of stairs, but Irish has his gun and puts it to Conan’s head.

Just then, Irish’s phone rings. It’s Gin, in a helicopter which swings around at that moment. He wants to know if Irish has the memory chip. Irish says he does, and holds it out. The helicopter’s night-vision camera focuses on it. Gin says he can’t see it, hold it further out. Irish does, incidentally lining the chip up with his chest and Chianti shoots it, and him.

Conan tries to help pull him inside, and Gin notices movement. The helicopter swings around to shoot again. Irish shields Conan as the shot is fired, and tells him to keep fighting (something along these lines). Unable to hit Conan with the sniper rifle, the helicopter opens fire with its gun turret, tearing into the building. Conan runs, chased by the ‘copter. He tries to hide inside, but Chianti throws in a gas grenade. Conan runs up, still being shot at by the helicopter. At the top of the tower, he finds a small spotlight which has been shot off. The helicopter flies up to shoot down at him. Looking down, Conan can see the lower observation deck jutting out from the tower.

Clipping his suspenders onto the side of the tower and around the bottom of the spotlight, Conan jumps off the roof. The suspenders are just long enough to drop him down on top of the lower observation deck. He lets go, and they snap back up, taking the spotlight with them. It is slingshotted straight into the bottom of the helicopter, seriously damaging it; it withdraws with Gin wondering who on earth they were fighting. The helicopter bursts into flames and crashes some miles away.

Inside, everyone is okay. Conan tells Ran Shin’ichi had to go for another case, but he said she can text him again. Seeing her face, he quickly revises this to “please text him.” Ran smiles.

End credits

Walking in the park, the Professor says everyone in the helicopter bailed out before it crashed. Conan remembers Irish’s words, “keep fighting” and swears he will.

The 14th movie is announced.

END

In retrospect, quite possibly the most shocking thing was that one of the Professor's crazy ideas was actually right. Also, in the fight with Irish who knew his identity, Conan put his glasses back on when they'd been knocked off. Has he been Conan for so long he's beginning to really believe he needs them?