Detective Conan Movie 25: The Bride of Halloween

knoxyal Jun 17, 2022

8

The mystery-driven plot is back!!! - A film dedicated to followers of the franchise. Story & Characters: Holy jesus this was such a fun watch. This film departs from the action-oriented mystery-less films we've been getting from the franchise for years. The mystery in this film is proper and engaging (I'd say it's on par with the Raven Chaser), and the effect will double especially if you are a fan of the franchise who remembers the tragedy of Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda (from episode 304 of the TV series), Amuro's chemistry with his Police academy colleagues (Keisatsu Gakkou-hen), and Takagi and Satou's relationship from the Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story side stories. Normally (and particularly recent) films from the franchise tend to avoid making this sort of franchise-internal references in order to reach out to a wider audience, but this film deviates from that trend. The plot [spoiler free]:  In the midst of Halloween season, Amuro gets caught up in a case of bombing that appears to be related to the case in the past (episode 304) that caused the death of his colleagues. This time, Amuro is the target. To escape the bomb fixed around his neck, Amuro asks for Conan's help. Highlights: - The plot makes use of episode 304 and Keisatsu Gakkou-hen extremely well. This is top level fan service for fans of the franchise. We are shown a snippet of what happened on the day before the death of Jinpei Matsuda, scenes of Takagi, Satou and Amuro in the same screen frame, and a snippet of Conan having met Hagiwara when he was still a child. I personally think that the franchise is a master at making these kind of connections between characters, and the connection between Takagi/Satou, Amuro/his deceased colleagues and Conan made apparant in this film is extremely fulfilling if you follow the franchise. - There is a good amount of plot twists and lots of tension. - The internal jokes are hilarious. The redherring wedding, the ending, and all that hate that Takagi gets from his male colleagues are all in reference to the Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story side stories of the franchise. Then there's the scene where Matsuda says that there are way too many crimes occurring in Beika city. And there's also the scene where Kogoro is being treated with sedatives in hospital, and one of the nurses makes a hilarious remark that Kogoro seems to have developed a resistance to such chemicals. Do you have any idea how many times Conan has used the tranquilizer on Kogoro over the years? Visuals & Music: - The intro for this film is visually creative and fun to watch. It's officially released on YouTube (see below). The deduction scene too was visually neat. The color contrast between pink and blue was pretty. The soundtrack sounds "different" from what I'm used to hearing in episodes and films released from the franchise, and it's very jojo-esque because they changed the composer from Katsuo Ono to Yuugo Kanno. There's a lot of tension in this film and Yuugo's music contributed alot in building this sort of atmosphere.    Overall: I can say with confidence that this film, with its internal references and mystery-driven plot, was produced to engage followers of the franchise. If you are not up to date with Detective Conan episodes, I highly recommend watching the following episodes before watching Bride of Halloween: 304 Trembling Metropolitan Police Headquarters and 12 Million Hostages  681-683 The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love  836-837 The Unfriendly Girls Band 866-867 The Traitor's Stage TV Special "Keisatsu Gakkou-hen" (Aired as episodes 1029, 1038, 1042)