Detective Conan: Countdown to Heaven (movie 5) is the first to involve the Black Organization. I always enjoy their appearances and they add a level of danger so it’s a nice addition to this very tense film. This is also the first film that actually requires you to see some previous amount of Conan to fully grasp it, it ties into the first film. And actually if you haven’t seen the first movie I think it takes away some of speculation on who is the culprit. This time around a new hi-rise and hotel is about to open, but before it does one of the contributors is murdered in the new hotel section. Subsequent people involved with the new building lose their lives as well and it all culminates at the opening party where chaos ensues as the power goes out which is only the beginning. How the Black Organization fits in Conan is determined to figure out. I really liked this movie, but I almost always find when the Black Organization is involved things are more complicated and the outcome is more unknown. The killer was hard to determine plus the little details to the case were well put together. As always the ending sequence is pretty much amazing, though even more tense because of the kids’ involvement. I would rank this one high for the movies!

Having gone back and done things in the proper order we were finally able to watch the fifth Detective Conan movie. While this seems to be a “normal” Detective Conan murder mystery going on, the shadowy Black Organization also seems to have a hand in the proceedings. In a way this is like two separate Conan stories in one movie. There is the very standard but solid murder mystery like you expect and then a high tension Black Organization episode as well. Conan and the viewers know that the plots are somehow connected but how they are connected is just as much a mystery as everything else. But everything comes together in the end quite nicely with both stories being good and crisscrossing without tripping over each other. As with most Conan movies the action sequences at the end are nicely done and benefit from the theatrical budget. Since the movies have been mostly filler it’s easy to make them disposable but I feel this movie gave you the impression of having some weight to it while not disturbing the main storyline. You could watch Countdown to Heaven without seeing The Timebombed Skyscraper but you have to watch this one after the first movie because it gives away the solution to the first film.

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