Case Closed: The Scarlet Bullet, known in Japan as Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet (), is a 2021 Japanese animated mystery film directed by Chika Nagaoka. It is the twenty-fourth installment of the Case Closed film series based on the manga series of the same name by Gosho Aoyama, following the 2019 film The Fist of Blue Sapphire. This is the first Reiwa-era Case Closed movie.
Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet was released in Japan on April 16, 2021. Its release was delayed from an original April 2020 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A global release was announced on February 9, 2021, featuring a multi-language trailer in Japanese, English, Korean, German, and Chinese. The Scarlet Bullet is listed as 2021's second highest-grossing Japanese film worldwide, below Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
Plot 15 years before the events of the movie, during the World Sports Games (WSG) in Boston, a series of kidnappings occur. The victims were the heads of companies that sponsored the WSG. The first victim was the CEO of a confectionery company, the second victim was the CEO of a big conglomerate group, and the third and final victim was the CEO of an automobile company. The first two victims were later released unharmed, however, the third victim, Morgan Tracy, managed to escape, but was chased down by the kidnapper and shot dead as he attempted to escape via the Detroit People Mover.
In present day, Conan, Anita, the Detective Boys and Rachel attend an event where the Hyper Linear is revealed, a vacuum superconducting train capable of reaching 1000km/hr. The train will make its first trip on the day of the Tokyo WSG Opening Ceremony, and will start its journey from Nagoya Airport to the terminal station which is connected to the stadium where the Opening Ceremony is taking place. We are introduced to Alan McKenzie, President of the WSG Committee and a former FBI Director. He, together with all the sponsors and committee members for the Tokyo WSG, will be taking the Hyper Linear on its maiden trip. It is also announced that there will be a balloting contest to allow lucky members of the public to join in the maiden trip.
The Detective Boys want to take the Hyper Linear. Since Serena's father, Samuel Sebastian, is a sponsor for the WSG, the kids beg Serena to pull some strings and get them the ticket. As the dinner buffet is served, there is a sudden blackout. Conan sees a mysterious flash of light in the darkness. After the lights come back on, Serena's father, Samuel, is missing. The guests are all sent to their hotel rooms while Meguire and his team investigate the disappearance. Thanks to George and his keen scent of smell for eels, the Detective Boys realize the culprit knocked Samuel unconscious and took him away with a food cart. George uses his smell to lead the Detective Boys into the kitchen, where they find Samuel tied up and locked in one of its cabinets.
The police interview Samuel. Here, it is revealed that sometime ago, one of Samuel's friends, who was the CEO of a Japanese confectionery company, had been kidnapped in the midst of a golf game. She was later found tied up in the toilet, but unharmed. They suspect the two cases are linked.
Serena and Rachel visit the Detective Boys at Agasa's house. Serena gives the Detective Boys Kamen Yaiba goodies as a token of thanks for finding her father. She has also managed to secure tickets for the Hyper Linear's maiden trip, but she only managed to get 6, whereas there are 7 of them total (Conan, Anita, the 3 Detective Boys, Rachel and Serena). Agasa says he wants to be counted too but is sadly denied. To settle who are the 6 that gets to ride, Agasa sets a quiz. All of them answered correctly, with Sonoko being the last, but she deliberately did not answer to give the kids the chance. The Detective Boys are excited for the ride. Conan, however, is concerned about the kidnappings.
Subaru receives a call from the FBI. The FBI has realised that the two kidnappings are very similar to the one that happened in Boston 15 years ago and are worried that someone may be replicating the crime. Hence, they are interested to investigate. Subaru meets with Conan and the two have a talk regarding the recent cases. They realize from the pattern that the next victim is likely to be the CEO of an automobile company.
Rachel returns home and sees John Voit, a British National who is also an automobile company CEO, leaving Richard's agency. During dinner, Richard gets worked up when he learns that Conan, Rachel and the Detective Boys are going to board the Hyper Linear. He reveals that John Voit is aware he may be the culprit's next victim, and that the culprit may strike during the Hyper Linear's first trip. Hence, he hired Richard to help protect him and find the culprit. Conan and Rachel, fearing that something bad may happen during the trip, realize they need to find a way to make sure the Detective Boys do not get onto the train. Meanwhile, Mary has also managed to get tickets for the train, but Masumi says that Rachel and Conan will also be on the train, so she will go to Nagoya but have to do it secretly.
Conan, Anita, Rachel and the Detective Boys attend a briefing for those selected to attend the Hyper Linear's first trip. In charge of the briefing are Maiko Shirahato from WSG public relations, Osamu Inoue who is the train's chief engineer and Ellie Ishioka who claims to be the idol of the Hyper Linear crew. The briefing introduces some of the key details of the train, ending with Ellie accidentally revealing that WSG President Alan McKenzie has fitted a giant flag (made up of all the different countries' flags) into the train and plans for it to be flown when the train reaches the stadium as a surprise.
To put the Detective Boys out of harm's way, Conan and Rachel decide to give them tickets to a Kamen Yaiba show instead, happening the same time as the train's trip and near the WSG Stadium. The Detective Boys are excited and forget about the train trip. In the meantime, Shukichi and Yumi go on a date in Nagoya, where Shukichi intends to meet Mary and introduce Yumi to her, but Mary is ignoring his calls. Yumi gets terribly drunk. She says in public that she accepts Shukichi's proposal while in a drunk state.
On the day of the maiden trip, Richard is at the Nagoya Airport where the trip begins as he has to protect John Voit. He is shocked and mad when he sees Rachel, who insists on joining in to help. The two of them are shocked when Conan and Anita also join in. The Detective Boys meanwhile are at the Kamen Yaiba show enjoying themselves, with Serena forced to babysit them.
As the guests make their way to the train, Conan and Subaru discuss their plans over the phone. Alan McKenzie arrives and joins the other guests. They are all subjected to a medical check-up to ensure their body is fit for the journey due to the extreme speed of the train. During the checkup process, an explosion occurs and gas starts to fill up the room. Anita realizes the gases are a quenching agent, which will knock them unconscious and kill them after prolonged exposure. Conan, Anita, Rachel and Richard, along with the other guests, all faint from the exposure.
The incident draws the attention of the local police, who deploys almost their entire fleet to attend to the situation. As Rachel, Richard and Conan wake up, they realize that John Voit has disappeared, which means the culprit likely has got him. Conan has slipped a GPS tracking device onto John Voit earlier, and uses his glasses to determine the culprit is on the move. He leaves to chase down the culprit.
Subaru, who has been waiting in the airport's carpark, also gives chase when Conan gives him the location. As Subaru is about to leave, his Ford Mustang nearly crashes into Mary and Masumi's bike. Subaru drives off to chase the culprit. Masumi also saw the culprit leave, and they also gave chase. However, halfway through the chase, Mary orders Masumi to go after Subaru's Mustang instead.
Conan's glasses are damaged and lose signal because he fell earlier when he lost consciousness. Anita helps him to navigate through a phone call using her backup glasses. She joins the investigators who discover the explosion was caused by the culprit jamming a bed into an MRI machine. They discover that the air vents have been tampered with, to make sure that the quenching agent would mostly be directed into the check-up room where everyone is in, but the culprit later redirected the vents to expel the agent out of the building before anyone gets killed. At the same time, due to the incidents, the Hyper Linear will still continue its trip as planned, but without passengers. All the guests will return to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. As they prepare to board the Shinkansen, Alan McKenzie is reported missing.
Subaru follows John Voit's GPS signal to an abandoned warehouse. Before he can find the culprit, Mary and Masumi arrive. Masumi fights Subaru but realizes she cannot beat him. Mary joins in and they take him down, grazing his mask. The culprit's car then dashes out of the darkness and escapes again. Before anything can happen, Conan arrives. Masumi goes to talk to Conan, Subaru uses this chance to run off and chase after the culprit in his car. Mary goes into hiding, telling Masumi she cannot meet Conan just yet.
Conan gets onto Masumi's bike and they continue tracking John Voit's GPS signal. They eventually find him tied up but unharmed on an overhead bridge. They call in the police to escort John to safety. When the police come and reveal that most of the officers were deployed to deal with the airport incident, Conan has a big realization and discovers what the culprit is up to. He calls Subaru and they put their plans into action. Subaru rips off his mask, finally showing Akai. Akai drives off, he goes to a section of the Hyper Linear's track. He gets onto the track, takes aim of his bolt action rifle, and fires a single bullet, then leaves. He tells Conan the rest is up to him.
Conan and Masumi go to the Nagoya Station, where the press and crowd is counting down to the Hyper Linear's launch. Conan creates a distraction with his exploding football and he sneaks onto the Hyper Linear with Masumi. They deduce that since the 3rd victim from the case 15 years ago was killed on a train platform, the culprit intends to repeat the same thing on the Hyper Linear.
On the Shinkansen, Inoue and Ishioka are showing the guests live footage of the Hyper Linear. Rachel is shocked when she sees Conan and Masumi on the Hyper Linear through Inuoe's tablet. Conan calls Anita, while searching through the Hyper Linear with Masumi for signs of Alan and the culprit. Following a trail of vitamins left by Alan, Conan and Masumi find him locked inside a suitcase in a control compartment. They free Alan, Anita then uses her badge to let all the passengers on the Shinkansen listen in as Conan exposes the culprit, with help from Shinichi as he claims.