This one moves. Where a lot of latter-day Conan films idle before the setpiece, Movie 27 keeps its foot down from the Kid heist notice onward, and the animation staff clearly showed up: the chases and hand-to-hand beats have more weight and more actual fighting than the franchise usually bothers with. Setting it in Hakodate is the flex, because the five swords tied to Hijikata Toshizo and the Shinsengumi's last stand map onto Goryokaku's star fort, and the movie knows exactly how satisfying that click is. Heiji is the real MVP here, half detective duel with Conan, half a man who cannot get one sentence out to Kazuha, and the film milks both. If you're burnt out on Kid cat-and-mouse or you glaze over at Bakumatsu history, fair, it will lose you. Everyone else gets the best Conan and Heiji pairing since Crossroad in the Ancient Capital.

Conan receives word that Kid the Phantom Thief plans to steal a prized Japanese sword from the Onoe family in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Alongside Heiji Hattori, Conan races to intercept the notorious heist artist. But Kid's sudden interest in a sword instead of jewels raises questions. The family's collection is linked to Toshizo Hijikata, a historical figure who died in Hakodate. When the family's lawyer turns up dead in a warehouse district, apparently cut down by a sword, the case grows beyond a simple theft. The prime suspect is an investor and arms dealer said to be hunting the Onoe family's hidden treasure. The patriarch's grandfather was deeply involved in the wartime arms industry, and rumor holds that he concealed a weapon powerful enough to change a war somewhere in the city. Meanwhile, Heiji searches for the perfect spot to confess his feelings to Kazuha, as a treasure hunt unfolds among the northern cherry blossoms.