Meitantei Conan Movie 28: Sekigan no Flashback

First of all, the storyline of this movie—specifically the case itself, feels rather weak. There is no intense or complex plot, nor is there any real difficulty in identifying the culprit. The case is quite simple and ordinary, leaving little lasting impression on the viewer. This contrasts with other films in which the culprit is harder to discern and where mystery and suspense are maintained throughout. This, is the main weakness of the movie. On the other hand, the animation is well executed and the music is acceptable, neither exceptional nor poor. The events are engaging, dynamic, and carry a certain vibe and action, so youwon’t feel bored; the movie actually feels as though it moves quickly. These are its stronger points. However, as mentioned earlier, the film lacks something essential—the substance and depth of the case itself. Most good Detective Conan movies rely on a more intricate, well-crafted plot, particularly the older ones. Unfortunately, in recent years, the franchise seems to have shifted toward prioritizing commercial appeal over producing truly refined and masterfully structured stories.

Despite my rating this a 6 for most of the movie it felt like a 3. There are 2 serious problems: a) characters acting like caricatures of themselves. This happens mostly during the first 20 minutes but sours the whole movie. b) Shinichi has no reserve about his secret. Using the professor's gadgets with impudence I don't mind. What doesn't make sense is how much intelligence he exposes through his action-commands and direct dialogue with certain characters. Due to how the crimes are introduced (if you can even see them as that initially), when and what in order, and where the usual Conan introduction montage gets placed, it feelslike nothing is happening for a while after the movie starts and an elaborate sequence of animation is wasted pointlessly because of it. This was on its way to being my most unfavorite Conan movie until it got to the 'confronting the villain with a deduction' scene (so pretty far into the movie). It suddenly kicks into being a classic Conan movie for a brief few minutes. It was not enough to undo how poor this movie is overall but makes me wonder what could have been. But even during this portion of the movie they really take the Chinese proverb man too far, and during the confrontation scene from before there is a crucial thing missing. One more problem was where during the climax all of the cast is somehow mentally synchronized with exactly what they need to do to set each other up for some maneuvers that I could not imagine even with them being described to me. To avoid spoilers I can't go into detail but the general gist is this character who can do some arbitrary thing only he could possibly do but that nobody would reasonably expect them to do is provided with the requirements to do that thing by other characters who should know nothing of it. A hivemind so to say. And one complaint, the solution... not to the case or mystery, to one of the emergencies I guess, that solution between what it would do and what it took to carry out was lost on me. It felt that way during the movie at least. Thinking about it now it was actually pretty overkill to the point my complaint is now that the subject of that solution was going about normally afterward as if it never happened. For a Conan movie it's shit. I feel if they had just done things like normal it would have turned out pretty good. Without the very brief flash of quality, a mere 15% of the movie, it would be a 3/10. That small portion drags it to an unpleasant 6. That is why I do not recommend it.

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