The Case Closed series, also known as Detective Conan, needs no introduction in Japan. For the rest of the world, however, the diminutive crime-solver is more of a mystery, which is why the franchise's more recent movies have taken their time being made available outside of their country of origin. One of these is 2017's Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter. Produced by TMS, after a dubbed version of the film was initially released in 2019 for Chara Expo, the movie made its way to home release digitally through Amazon Prime last year, and finally onto home video via Discotek Media just in time for New Year's.
Those unfamiliar with Shunichi Kudo -- aka Conan Edogawa -- needn't worry as there's the usual 'who's who' prefacing most of The Crimson Love Letter's story, making it fairly accessible to viewers no matter their knowledge level. This time, the film's string of crimes revolves around the Japanese card game, competitive karuta, starting with the bombing of a TV station where The Satsuki Cup is being filmed -- a tournament that decides the winner of Japan's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu karuta contest. One of the competitors is Momiji Ooka, a high school champion and recurring Case Closed character, who, as luck would have it, is also the self-declared "fianceé" of Heiji Hattori, Conan's former rival-teen-sleuth-turned-ally, and one of the only people to know the detective's true identity.
Heiji's love interest, Kazuha Toyama, meanwhile finds herself Momiji's rival in more ways than one -- both as a less-seasoned karuta player looking to take the crown, and for Heiji's affections. Heiji, however, is more concerned with assisting Conan in figuring out the bomber's identity and motives before they go through their ultimate, murderous goal.
The film's Achilles heel, perhaps, isn't a lack of Detective Conan lore in potential newcomers but a lack of understanding of karuta, which is so integral to solving the mystery as both the setting of the bombings and the calling card of the one responsible. Competitive karuta uses a deck of Uta-gara cards, which make up a traditional Japanese deck of 100 playing cards. Rather than suits, each has a poem (waka) on it, which karuta players are expected to memorize. To condense the rules down to their simplest form -- the game is a one-on-one match in which each player, using a deck of their own laid out before them, has to be the first to touch the card that corresponds to the poem being read aloud.
The fast hand movements do make for an exciting watch, but the intricacies of the game and its beautifully-written cards will likely be lost on most viewers of The Crimson Love Letter without doing some required reading beforehand. Despite this, there's still a lot to enjoy in the film: the characters' dynamics are varied and fun, the animation is crisp and colorful, and the English language dub features strong performances from the principal cast. The ending sequence, in particular, pulls out all the stops, switching proceedings abruptly -- but not unwelcomingly -- from Poirot to Evil Knievel, complete with a hair-raising motorcycle jump. This set piece also provides a small but sweet payoff for Heiji and Kazuha's prickly, will-they-won't-they relationship, with Heiji's promise to not let Kazuha die met with a simple clasp of her hand over his around the vehicle's handlebars.
The attention paid to this subplot does mean that Conan comes off as being rather sidelined in his own movie; then again, given that this is movie 21 for the Sherlock-esque character, he probably doesn't mind sharing the spotlight. The film's pace does lag somewhat in the first third, despite being punctuated by intermittent explosions, but when the various pieces fall into place, it starts to feel more breezy and cohesive. While not a standout anime feature, you could easily spend a pleasant afternoon with Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter. Just be sure to do your karuta research beforehand.
Case Closed: The Crimson Letter is available to buy now from iTunes, Google Play and the Microsoft store, and on home video from Discotek Media.