Sunflowers of Inferno

Sunflowers of Inferno is the 19th movie in the Detective Conan franchise. It was released in Japan on April 18, 2015.

Situation
An auction house in a Manhattan skyscraper in New York shows off the star piece of the night's auction: 'Sunflowers' by Vincent Van Gogh. The painting is one of the series painted in Arles, the South of France, by the artist adored by Japan. Until recently, there were thought to be seven paintings in the series, but last year, a new painting was freshly discovered in an old house in Arles, and its composition and colours are an exact match for the second that once resided in Ashiya, Japan. But surprisingly, art experts conclude that this painting is real. The Ashiya version owned by Koyata Yamamoto, a real life wealthy businessman, was supposedly destroyed by the fires of war, so does this mean that one of the two was a reproduction produced by Van Gogh himself? Then, the one on auction was bought at a record-breaking price by none other than Jirokichi Suzuki.

Jirokichi immediately opens a press conference, announcing that he will collect all seven paintings scattered around the world, and exhibit them as 'The Sunflowers Admired by Japan' in the Suzuki Financial Group's 'Lake Rock Museum' in Shinjuku. Conan and the Detective Boys also attentively watch the conference from the TV in Professor Agasa's house. Jirokichi states he has already contacted the owners around the world, and gained permission for exhibiting them, in exchange for furnishing them with the perfect security, preservation, and transport measures. Jirokichi lauds the specialists he has gathered to fulfill his side of the bargain, the 'Seven Samurai', and invites them on stage. But his laughter is cut short when a card flies through the air and slices into the stage. It was a heist notice with the logo of Kaitou Kid: a Kid Card. Kid then shows himself, pointing his card gun at the crowd, inciting panic and fleeing the scene. But he is pursued by one of the Seven Samurai, Detective Charlie, a security professional. However, when trapped in a corner of the skyscraper, Kid lets off a flash bomb, breaking the window and vanishing into the night sky.

A special plane decorated as the 'Sunflowers Jet' would carry the painting to Japan, along with Jirokichi, Sonoko, the Samurai, and as a special guest, a high-school detective who offered his help in the case: Shinichi Kudo. But just as the jet approaches Haneda Airport, the wall of the cargo hold explodes, the door is blown away, and the painting is carried away into the sky. The engines also end up exploding in the blast, and Sonoko and the others let out desperate screams as the jet goes into freefall. Meanwhile, the 7th Samurai, Kogoro Mori, is waiting with Ran and the others at Haneda Airport for the plane's arrival. But when they spot the plane, it is out of control and having difficulty making a landing. Ran is worried about Sonoko and the others aboard the plane. But then Kid is seen flying through the skies, painting in hand. As emergency vehicles gather around the barely-landed plane, Conan spies Kid. He runs through the airport trying to pursue him, but Kid only sneers and flies away. However, Conan successfully locates the painting Kid had hidden. The Samurai quickly examine it and attest that the painting is fine.

Several days later, Jirokichi invites the Seven Samurai to a conference to plan what counter-measures they can take against Kid. The owners of the other paintings had also become reluctant in loaning him their paintings. That morning, Conan, Agasa, and the Detective Boys head to the Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, to see the 5th painting. Just after Conan leaves, Kogoro receives another notice from Kid. The Samurai decode it and find that the notice states that he will steal the 5th painting tonight. Conan, Haibara, and the others are viewing the 5th painting together with an old woman named Umeno, said to visit and view the painting every day, when Jirokichi, Kogoro, Inspector Nakamori, and the others arrive. Conan quickly realizes a case is unfolding and joins up with them. They decide that they should move the painting to a safe place before night comes, and the painting is to be wrapped up under the instructions of the Seven Samurai. However, Kid had already infiltrated the staff, and steals the painting. He also leaves behind a message to the museum's curator, saying he will return it if paid ten billion yen. Jirokichi immediately decides to pay the enormous ransom. The deal with Kid turns into chaos, however Conan and the others miraculously succeed in retrieving the 5th painting. However, even Conan begins to wonder about Kid's escalating crimes which have come to endanger many lives.

With Kid's motives as yet a mystery, the exhibition of the Seven Sunflowers at Lake Rock Museum meets its opening day. The most excited to see the exhibition are the Detective Boys, Conan, Ran, and Sonoko. Just as they begin to view the paintings, Conan spots a Kid Card. The enigmatic message could not be deciphered by even the Seven Samurai, but its presence attests that Kid is already within the museum. Jirokichi quickly orders to evacuate the museum goers and staff, to trap Kid inside the museum. However, he seems to have anticipated this turn of events, and blows up the electric room, leaving the museum in a blackout. Then, a great fire also breaks out, leaving Jirokichi and the others no option but to send the paintings to their storage room, and evacuate to a special room outside. But, the 2nd and 5th painting could not be collected, and the inferno closes in on them. The only people remaining in Lake Rock Museum are a great detective, a great phantom thief, and...?!

Resolution
Hide= The culprit isn't Kaitou Kid and was only counterfeiting Kid's cards. The card that Kid left earlier implies that there is a traitor among the people that Jirokichi invited. After some investigating, Ginzo Nakamori believes that the traitor is Koji Azuma, the one who killed his twin brother half a year ago in Arles.
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To save the last painting in the burning room, Conan and Kid head for the room. Each painting had a safety mechanism so that the paintings would be transported to a safe room but for one of the paintings the mechanism got stuck and was left to burn. Conan and Kid, who is disguised as Shinichi, are helpless until Ran breaks the wall that had the painting stuck on the wall. The painting comes off and falls through the tunnel in the wall but due to this impact, the roof on top of them starts to collapse, leaving Ran unconscious and start falling down the open wall. Both Conan and Kid falls in as well and they find themselves trapped. Kid gets out of the Shinichi costume and goes to check for another exit as the vault doors are sealed. Kid did all of those things because he realised that the paintings were in danger from someone wanting to destroy them.

Conan calls everyone as Shinichi and starts the deduction show: the traitor/culprit is not Koji Azuma like everyone believes, but rather Natsumi Miyadai, who - in a misguided affection for van Gogh - tried to stop the exhibition or destroy the Ashiya painting, which she perceives as a fake with an unrightful place among the 'real' van Goghs. The proof for her involvement was her suggestion to decorate the gallery walkway with sunflowers, to use them as incindiary material for the fire. Kaitou Kid attempted to work against Miyadai's scheme after she anonymously attempted to hire him to steal the painting. This was also a personal matter for Kid because his confidant and assistant, Jii, had in his youth worked in the mansion where the painting was kept and thought to be destroyed, and where he witnessed Kiyosuke Azuma rescuing it at the cost of his own life (thereby incidentally proving that it is the real painting instead of a replication).

Once Conan finishes his deduction, Kid swoops down with his hang glider to save the falling Conan and unconscious Ran. He successfully catches Ran but misses Conan, who keeps on falling. Kaitou Kid escapes the collapse and leaves Ran in the forest at the lake's shore, where she is found by Kogoro and the others. When she wakes up, nobody knows where Conan is. It suddenly hits her that Conan's still in the building.

In the building, Conan saves himself with the suspenders from hitting the ground. But because the cliff that had the building on top of it collapses and drops underwater, the room fills up with water fast. He tries to push the painting out of the way but cannot move it. At last, the room is filled up and Conan held his breath underwater. He thinks of a way to save himself and the heavy painting when he suddenly remembers the firework ball belt. He uses that as a force to push him and the painting to the surface. He is close to the surface when he runs out of breath and as a last ditch effort, he inflates a second ball to float him to the surface. When he gets to the surface, Kogoro retrieves Conan from the water. In the meantime, Inspector Charlie manages to get Kid in his sights, but he has come to realize that Kid, despite his profession as a master thief, is very much an honorable person. Thus, the two opponents part with a new-found respect for each other.

Music
End credit music: [http://detectiveconan96.wikia.com/wiki/Oh!_Rival ''オー！リバル Ō! Ribaru''] by Porno Graffitti

Movie soundtrack: Movie 19 soundtrack

Trivia



 * The movie grossed 4.48 billion yen, making it the highest grossing Detective Conan movie yet.
 * Natsumi Miyadai's character design is the same for Chihiro Ohgi, a 35 years old japanese dance instructor in The Super Narrow Shop Crime Scene. The only differences are that Chihiro has violet eyes and puts on lipstick, while Natsumi has green eyes and no lipstick. In addition, from the facial features, it can immediately be noticed that Natsumi is a bit younger than Chihiro.
 * The Cheetah Delivery company, featured in Sweet and Cold Delivery Service (volume 80), UFO Sighting Murder Case (volume 89), in the special The Disappearance of Conan Edogawa: The Worst Two Days in History, and the Anime original episode Munch's Missing Scream, reappears in this movie, as the company where Taizo Ishimine works. It also appeared in the anime original episodes After That Hundred Million Yen and Kogoro's Pursuit of Rage (Part 1).
 * Sky Japan, the airline whose Flight 865 was involved in a murder in Magician of the Silver Sky reappeared in this film, with some of its plane departing Haneda Airport and one of the plane exploded as a result of collision with the Sunflower Jet.
 * A simple copy of the painting 'Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers' of Van Gogh appeared first in The Girl from the Black Organization and the University Professor Murder Case, like one of his 'Cafe Terrace at Night' in The Private Eyes' Requiem.
 * During the scene where the culprit (as a black figure) is shown blowing up the electric room, the watchers can already tell who that is from his/her walkie-talkie earpiece (open spoiler box for details).

Hide= The culprit is shown wearing his/her earpiece on the left ear. Among the Seven Samurais, who are using those earpieces for communication, only Natsumi Miyadai has her earpiece on the left ear.
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