Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter

Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter
Southeast Asian release poster
Kanji名探偵コナン から紅(くれない)の恋歌(ラブレター)
Revised HepburnMeitantei Konan: Kara Kurenai no Rabu Rettā
Directed byKobun Shizuno
Screenplay byTakahiro Okura
Based onCase Closed
by Gosho Aoyama
Starring
Music byKatsuo Ono[1]
Production
company
Distributed byToho
Release date
  • April 15, 2017 (2017-04-15)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Box office$65.81 million

Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter, known as Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter (名探偵コナン から紅(くれない)の恋歌(ラブレター), Meitantei Konan: Kara Kurenai no Rabu Rettā)[2] in Japan, is a 2017 Japanese animated film directed by Kobun Shizuno and written by Takahiro Okura. It is the twenty-first installment of the Case Closed film series based on the manga series of the same name by Gosho Aoyama, following the 2016 film Case Closed: The Darkest Nightmare. The film was released in Japan on April 15, 2017.[1]

Plot

[edit]

A bombing case at Nichiuri TV in autumn. The Satsuki Cup, which crowns the winner of Japan's Ogura Hyakunin Isshu based competitive karuta tournament, is currently being filmed inside the facility. The incident results in a big commotion and, while the building is burning to ashes, the only people left inside are Heiji and Kazuha. They get rescued just in time by Conan, who rushes to the scene. Both the identity and motive of the bomber are unknown.

While confusion takes over due to the explosion, Conan meets a mysterious beautiful girl who claims she is "Heiji's fiancée". Her name is Momiji Ooka and she is the Kyoto High School karuta champion. As fate would have it, Kazuha is going to face Momiji in the Hyakunin Isshu competition, so she begins to train with the help of Heiji's mother, Shizuka, who is a skilled karuta player.

At the same time, in a Japanese house in Arashiyama, Kyoto's outskirts, the reigning Satsuki Cup champion is murdered. Pictures of the crime scene reveal Momji's presence. Additionally, several karuta cards were spread around the victim.

Conan and Heiji, along with the Osaka and Kyoto police departments, begin their investigation on the Satsuki Cup and the related murder case. As the inquiry goes on, they come across a secret connected with the Hyakunin Isshu.

After the case is solved, Momiji tells Heiji that he promised to marry her when they were little. Heiji suddenly remembers that this wasn't the case: when they were little, he said he'll be even stronger (tsuyome), but she misheard it as "yome" (bride).

Cast

[edit]
Character Japanese English
Shinichi Kudo Kappei Yamaguchi Griffin Burns
Conan Edogawa Minami Takayama Wendee Lee
Ran Mori Wakana Yamazaki Cristina Vee
Kogoro Mori Rikiya Koyama Xander Mobus
Heiji Hattori Ryo Horikawa Lucien Dodge
Kazuha Toyama Yuko Miyamura Kayli Mills
Ai Haibara Megumi Hayashibara Erica Mendez
Ayumi Yoshida Yukiko Iwai Janice Kawaye
Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Ikue Ōtani Erika Harlacher
Genta Kojima Wataru Takagi Andrew Russel
Heizo Hattori Kazuhiro Yamaji Rick Zieff
Shizuka Hattori Masako Katsuki
Sonoko Suzuki Naoko Matsui Minx Le
Ginshiro Toyama Masaki Terasoma Kyle Hebert
Momiji Ooka Satsuki Yukino Faye Mata
Muga Iori[3] Daisuke Ono Grant George
Hiroshi Agasa Kenichi Ogata Michael Sorich
Koji Sekine Daisuke Miyagawa Jon Allen
Mikiko Hiramoto Riho Yoshioka Ryan Bartley

Production

[edit]

Aoyama cited the live-action adaptations of Yuki Suetsugu's manga series Chihayafuru among his inspirations for making Hyakunin Isshu and karuta subjects of a Case Closed film. He noted the Kyoto-based Karuta Queen, or national champion in the women's division, as depicted in Chihayafuru, as the model for characters in The Crimson Love Letter.[4] The visual poster for this film was unveiled on January 17, 2017.[5]

Music

[edit]

The film's theme song is "Togetsukyō ~Kimi Omō~" (渡月橋 〜君 想ふ〜) by Mai Kuraki.[6] The song reached number five on the Oricon Singles Chart. The single has sold 326,305 units in Japan, including 76,305 physical units and 250,000 digital downloads.[citation needed]

Box office

[edit]

For its opening weekend, The Crimson Love Letter set a new franchise record by selling 987,568 tickets and earning ¥1,286,928,000.[7] The film grossed ¥6.89 billion ($62,779,043) over its theatrical run in Japan and thereby broke the cumulative box office record for the series as well (up until it was surpassed by Zero the Enforcer).[8][9] Overseas, the film grossed $3,028,087 in South Korea, Thailand and Australia.[10] Combined, the box office total is $65,807,130 in the Asia-Pacific region.

Release

[edit]

An English dub produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment was screened at Chara Expo 2019.[11] On November 19, 2020, the film was made available for digital streaming on Amazon Prime Video.[12][13][14] It was released on home video by Discotek Media on December 29, 2020.[15][16]

Reception

[edit]

In January 2018, The Crimson Love Letter was nominated for the Japan Academy Film Prize of "Excellent Animation of the Year."[17] Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network reviewed the film in 2020.[18] While finding criticism in the romantic subplot being weak and the overarching mystery requiring some karuta knowledge to solve it, she praised the "beautiful use of color and animation" and the comradery between Conan and Heiji, concluding that: "The Crimson Love Letter is an all-around enjoyable film. The mystery is interesting and fair play, the characters' interactions are fun, and the whole thing is very nice to look at."[18]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Ressler, Karen (November 25, 2016). "21st Detective Conan Film Features Heiji Hattori, Kazuha Toyama". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 7, 2022. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  2. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 1, 2016). "21st Detective Conan Film's Visual Unveiled". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 20, 2017). "Daisuke Ono Joins Cast of 21st Detective Conan Film". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  4. ^ "「名探偵コナン」青山剛昌先生×「ちはやふる」末次由紀先生スペシャルコラボ". 青山剛昌／名探偵コナン製作委員会. 2017. Archived from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  5. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (January 18, 2017). "21st Detective Conan Film Gets New Visual". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  6. ^ "Kuraki Mai to collaborate with 'Detective Conan' for the 21st time". tokyohive. 6Theory Media, LLC. February 28, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
  7. ^ "21st Detective Conan Film Earns Franchise's Highest Opening Weekend Box Office". April 17, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  8. ^ 歴代興収ベスト100 [Cumulative Box-office earnings, top 100 ranking] (in Japanese). Kogyo Tsushinsha. August 6, 2017. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  9. ^ Hodgkins, Crystalyn (May 29, 2017). "21st Detective Conan Film Earns 6.35 Billion Yen, Sets New Record For Film Franchise". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  10. ^ "Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  11. ^ TMS Entertainment [@tmsanime] (December 8, 2019). "#DetectiveConan (#CaseClosed) Crimson Love Letter starts today at 12:30p! See you at @CharaExpoUSA!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 30, 2019 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "Get the Case Closed Movie "The Crimson Love Letter" on Digital This November!". Anime News Network. November 20, 2020. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  13. ^ "Case Closed: Crimson Love Letter on Digital". TMS Entertainment. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  14. ^ "Amazon.com: Case Closed: The Crimson Love Letter (English Dub): Wendee Lee, Cristina Vee, Xander Mobus, Janice Kawaye". Amazon. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  15. ^ Cardine, Kyle. "Discotek Announces The Rose of Versailles, Hajime no Ippo and More Releases". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  16. ^ "Case Closed The Crimson Love Letter Blu-ray". Right Stuf. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  17. ^ "Japan Academy Film Prize Announces Five Titles for "Excellent Animation of the Year"". Crunchyroll. January 16, 2018. Archived from the original on January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Silverman, Rebecca (December 21, 2020). "Detective Conan: The Crimson Love Letter - Review". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 4, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Case_Closed:_The_Crimson_Love_Letter&oldid=1244884951"