Case Closed: The Fourteenth Target

A series of attacks begins and the victims appear to have nothing in common. Conan finds the link: each victim's name contains a number, and the attacks are counting down. The names left point straight into detective Kogoro Mouri's closest circle, and by the time it reaches him only one number remains. The real subject is not murder but the separation between Kogoro and his estranged wife, the lawyer Eri. A shooting accident years ago drove them apart, and this is the one entry that tells that story outright, going into a wound the series rarely touches. Kenji Kodama directed. This is the second Detective Conan feature. The series habits hold: the closing section is a long explanation, and the action finale is where the logic loosens. Against that, building the clue out of numbers is the film's cleanest idea, and the audience can solve it at the same time. Who it is for: anyone following Detective Conan and anyone who likes classic puzzle plotting. Who it is not for: newcomers. The characters' history goes unexplained, the emotional weight rests entirely on earlier episodes, and the action in the final scene strains belief.