Case Closed: the Fourteenth Target, known as in Japan, is a 1998 Japanese animated mystery film and the second feature film based on the Case Closed series. It was released in Japanese theatres on April 18, 1998. The English version was released on DVD on November 20, 2007, by Funimation. The film grossed in Japan.
Plot Rachel Moore has recurring nightmares about Eva Kaden, her mother and Richard's wife, being shot, which connects to a past incident where Eva was accidentally wounded by Richard during a police standoff involving him and a criminal named Jake Morono.
While Rachel struggles with the truth, Richard and Conan Edogawa become involved in a string of attacks start with Joseph Meguire, Eva and Dr. Agasa and linked to playing cards left at crime scenes. The case intensifies when friends and acquaintances of Richard — including golfer Henry Tish, sommelier Kevin Simms, and businessman Christopher Aston — are targeted. At the AquaCrystal complex of Tokyo Bay, several murders occur, each tied to the spade suit. Suspicion initially falls on Morono, but Conan deduces the real killer is Kevin, who faked being a victim. Kevin's motive stems from losing his sense of taste after an accident caused by Nina Oliver and his resentment toward others in his circle.
Using bombs and staged traps, he attempts to eliminate his targets and escape, but his plan collapses after Conan shoots Rachel with Nicholas Santos' gun, just before Richard manages to subdue him, ensuring he faces justice. Conan, Richard, Meguire, Nicholas and Rachel manage to escape via helicopter while the remaining surviving victims rescued by Japan Coast Guard as the AquaCrystal collapses into the bottom of the sea. In the aftermath, Rachel reconciles with Richard, realizing his actions years earlier were to protect her mother, while Kevin is arrested for his various crimes.
In the post-credits scene at Eva's apartment, it is revealed that she left Richard not over the hostage incident, but because of his harsh criticism of her cooking.
Playing card symbols
During the course of the film multiple characters are represented by a certain number from a standard deck of cards. The playing cards are all spades, which represents death. The victim's name, clue left behind, and the connection with the number are all displayed below in the chart. Since the English adaptation has changed names of the characters, the corresponding relationships between the character and the numbers were changed accordingly.
Card number or name Victim's name (English version) Connection to the number (English version) Victim's name (Japanese version) Connection to the number (Japanese version) Clue left behindJokerJake MoronoHis nickname in the casino is "joker".Same as in English.Number 13/King Of SpadesJoseph MeguireHis name has 13 letters.First name is "thirteen".The King's Knife/DaggerNumber 12/The Queen of SpadesEva KadenHer first name means "Queen" in other languages.妃 means "Queen" in Japanese.The Queen's FlowerNumber 11/Jack of SpadesHiroshi AgasaHe has 11 patents on inventions.士 is a combination of the kanji of ten (十) and one (一).The Jack's Royal SceptreFalse Number 10Tammy DiezHer last name is the number ten in Spanish.Her name contains the kanji for 10 (十).No clue existsNumber 10Henry TishHe is currently ranked as the 10th best Golfer in the world.辻 contains the kanji for 10 (十).The ten of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 9Chris AshtonHis holdings include nine important buildings in the city.旭 contains the kanji for "nine" (九).The nine of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 8Kevin SimmsAttended a culinary school with an eight-year program.公 contains the kanji for eight (八).The eight of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 7Nina OliverHas modeled since she was seven.Nana is a Japanese reading of seven.The seven of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 6Emilio CantoreHe has six children.宍 contains the kanji of "six" (六).The six of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 5Richard MooreHis last name has five letters.小五郎 contains the kanji for "five" (五).The five of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 4Peter FordHis last name has four letters.Last name has phonetic similarity to "four."The four of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 3Nicholas SantosHe is the third child of three siblings, each of which were born three years apart.任三郎 contains the kanji for "three" (三).The three of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 2Mason NorfolkWrote two books.仁 contains the kanji for "two" (二).The two of spades in a normal set of playing cardsNumber 1/Ace of spadesJimmy KudoHe is the number one detective, Also number one in other things.新一 contains the kanji for "one" (一).The ace of spades in a normal set of playing cards
Cast Character Japanese English Conan Edogawa Minami Takayama Alison Retzloff Shinichi Kudo/Jimmy Kudo Kappei Yamaguchi Jerry Jewell Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya/Mitch Tennyson Ikue Ohtani Cynthia Cranz Kogoro Mouri/Richard Moore Akira Kamiya R. Bruce Elliott Ran Mouri/Rachel Moore Wakana Yamazaki Colleen Clinkenbeard Genta Kojima/George Kaminski Wataru Takagi Mike McFarland Ayumi Yoshida/Amy Yeager Yukiko Iwai Monica Rial Sonoko Suzuki/Serena Sebastian Naoko Matsui Laura Bailey Juzo Megure/Joseph Meguire Chafurin Mark Stoddard Dr. Hiroshi Agasa Kenichi Ogata Bill Flynn Ninzaburou Shiratori/Nicholas Santos Kaneto Shiozawa Eric Vale Towako Okano/Tammy Diez Miyuki Ichijo Carrie Savage Eimei Shishido/Emilio Cantore Kenji Utsumi Christopher R. Sabat Kohei Sawaki/Kevin Simms Ryuusei Nakao Chuck Huber Minoru Nishina/Mason Norfolk Hirotaka Suzuoki Jason Liebrecht Peter Ford Andy Holyfield John Swasey Eri Kisaki/Eva Kaden Gara Takashima Julie Mayfield Nana Osanai/Nina Oliver Maya Okamoto Luci Christian Hiroki Tsuji/Henry Tish Takashi Taniguchi Troy Baker Jo Murakami/Jake Marano Eiichiro Suzuki Troy Baker
Production
Inspiration The story of the film is a combination of two Agatha Christie mystery novels. The A.B.C. Murders is an Hercule Poirot mystery where the murderer seems to be picking victims based on the alphabet, just as people are being targeted in this film based on numbers in their names. It contains the same revelations that the murderer is only establishing a pattern to confuse detectives, and is willing to kill victims unrelated to his true motives in order to maintain the ruse. The other novel is And Then There Were None, where various people are invited to a secluded island and killed one by one, with the murderer actually being one of the party. In a nod and possible clue to viewers, Conan mentions a type of wine that Poirot drank in Death on the Nile.
Theme Song
Lyrics by: Izumi Sakai / Music by: Aika Ohno / Arranged by: Daisuke Ikeda / Performed by: Zard
Soundtrack Masayoshi Takanaka (lead guitar), Ken Yoshida (bass), and Nobu Saito (percussion) are in charge of the performance of "Detective Conan Main Theme (Target Version)". In addition, T-SQUARE's Takeshi Ito ("Conan passes", "Aqua Crystal", "Into Aqua Crystal", "Frustration"), Casiopea's Tetsuo Sakurai ("Aqua Crystal", "Into Aqua Crystal"), George Yanagi ("KIZUNA (vocal version)") is participating.
Box office At the Japanese box office, the film earned a distributors' income (rentals) of , and a total box office gross of .
Home media VHS The VHS of the film was released on April 14, 2002. It was discontinued soon after 2006 as it was switched to DVD.
Region 2 DVD The DVD of the film was released on March 28, 2002. A new DVD was released on February 25, 2011, significantly lowering the original price and added the trailer as a special feature.
Region 1 DVD Funimation's English dub of The Fourteenth Target was released on November 20, 2007. Due to the Americanization of the majority of the character's names, most of the explanations for names have been changed. The ending of this film as well was changed to an endless loop of police cars with their lights from the final scene with the credits displayed over it.
Blu-ray The Blu-ray version of the film was released on June 24, 2011. The Blu-ray contains the same content of the DVD plus a mini-booklet explaining the film and the BD-live function.
Reception Anime News Network's Carlo Santos gave a mixed review of the film, saying that while it makes for "a good action-suspense movie with a clever mystery setup", he found fault in the dub transition of the story and ended saying: "In short, it's one of those movies that just happens to be a really long TV episode."
References
External links