Strategy Above the Depths

Strategy Above the Depths is the 9th movie in the Detective Conan franchise. It was released in Japan on April 9, 2005.

Situation
On the sea of 15 years ago, the ship got sunk down by hitting the iceburg. During this accident, a murder was committed. All the sailors escaped, except the seaman who found captain's body..

A half month ago, Yashiro got into a car accident.

In the present, Conan and the gang are taking a long needed vacation aboard a luxury liner called St. Aphrodite, Which was paid for by Sonoko. Earlier an established ship architect was found in his car on the bottom of a cliff. It is determined he died from a heart attack.

The kids decide to make a bracelet made of shells for Ran. While preparing to eat dinner on the cruise ship, Professor Agasa shows Conan a new invention he made which were Cuff Link Speakers. Kogoro takes the cuff link speakers away from Conan and puts it on his suit without knowing they were speakers, saying a "dandy" man like himself should wear them.

Still waiting, Conan takes off his glasses to clean them and drops them because he was bumped by scriptwriter named Hironari Kusaka, who notices Kogoro Mouri and begins to talk to him. He also introduces to Kogoro to Minako Akiyoshi (the lead designer of the design team for the ship). Hideto Yashiro was Takae's husband.

The next day, the Detective Boys, Ran, and Sonoko decide to play hide and seek on the cruise ship. The kids sneakily put the bracelet in Ran's pocket, Sonoko and Haibara get picked to be it. Conan forgets about the game while shooting a volley ball at a wall. Therefore, Conan is found easily. Sonoko and Haibara find the rest of the kids could not find Ran.

Meanwhile, Kusaka is on the phone with Akiyoshi. Kusaka tells her that he will read his new script to her and not for her to interrupt him. He plays a tape recorder near the phone, puts on a windbreaker, and exits his room. He sneaks into the CEO's room and kills her. Earlier, CEO's father (Entaro Yashiro) gets a note saying, "I know the secret of 15 years ago. At 10:15 AM, come to the basement marina."

While Sonoko is in the basement looking for Ran, she is attack by an unknown assailant. Later at the same basement marina, Kusaka attacks Entaro. Kusaka knocks him out thinking he killed him and opens the basement door leading to the ocean. Right when Kusaka is about to throw him out, he comes too and they struggle. It is showed after that Entaro gets kicked out into the ocean.

Meanwhile, Sonoko comes too and realizes she is in a box and is very cold. Using a Detective Boys Badge she was given by one of the kids she cries for help. Conan trys to locate her using his glasses but it seems it was broken from when Kusaka bumped into him. They find her after in the mortuary and get her to the medics.

Inspector Megure, CSI Officer Tome, Takagi, and Shiratori get on a helicopter and land on the cruise ship to investigate the murder of the CEO and the disappearance of Entaro. They question Kusaka (the main suspect) but it seems he has an alibi as he was on the phone with Akiyoshi. Soon after Conan goes into Kusaka's room and acts like a child. He sees a tape recorder but it has nothing on it (it was erased). The police soon figure out that the death of the Established Ship archect is linked to these cases.

Later that day there is a ball party. During that party, the people start to panic because the murderer hasn't been caught. Kogoro soon tells everyone that the murderer is Minako Akiyoshi. Knowing Kogoro is wrong, Conan uses the Voice-Changing Bowtie to use Agasa's voice while Agasa mimics with his lips. Conan says that Kusaka is the murderer and the proof is the blood on his hair.

Kusaka says he will detonate bombs if someone moves. He tells his story and runs away onto a motor boat. Conan chases him and gets into the other one but it seems that the kids get on too. Conan soon uses his tranquilizer and makes Kusaka asleep. A bomb goes off in the ship so everyone evacuates from the ship. Ran stays behind trying to retrieve the bracelet the kids made her which she left in her hiding spot. As she is in the hiding spot she hits her head and gets knocked out. Conan notices that Kusaka's alibi is too simple and realizes who the real killer is.

Resolution
Hide= Conan feels like if he doesn't go back to the ship, he will lose something dear to him. He gets on a boat and drives it towards the boat.
 * -|Show=

Another scene is shown with Minako Akiyoshi where she is holding a harpoon gun at the captain. Since everyone has evacuated, she takes him to the bow of the ship where she is prepared to shoot him as he killed her father, Takeo Okita who was also a captain years ago.

However, Kogoro is seen behind Akiyoshi who is ready to shoot the captain. Kogoro told her that he made that gun unfireable which make her throw it away. He correctly deduced the case and tells her that deduction, which Conan, who is on his way to the boat, picks it up from the cuff-link speakers that Kogoro took from him. Knowing that Kusaka was planning to kill the Yashiro family and the captain, Akiyoshi used him for her own plan. She also decided to use Kusaka as the scapegoat as he mocked her father for being "lost in era" and died with the sunken ship.

Akiyoshi then told him she will turn in but instead attacks him which Kogoro defended. He tells her he will not hit a lady and soon Kogoro takes a few hits from her. Conan soon gets there, and surprised that Conan is there, Kogoro flips her over knocking her out. Akiyoshi then said that she's unlucky that the great detective suspected her from the beginning; Kogoro tells her it's opposite and the real reason is that he kept searching for something to prove her innocence because she looked so much like the person he loved (Eri, Kogoro's wife).

The captain takes Akiyoshi and they get off on a boat. They soon find Ran and run to the front of the ship where a helicopter is flying above. The ship is about to sink and a man from the helicopter straps everyone with him and they go up. Conan slips off and is saved by just grabbing on to the bracelet the Detective Boys made for Ran.

Music
End credit music: Natsu o Matsu Sail no Yō ni by ZARD

Movie soundtrack:  Movie 9 soundtrack

Trivia

 * Akiyoshi's given name Minako (美波子) means "child of beautiful wave". Her name is a reference to Goddess Aphrodite or Venus (which is also the name of the ship that she designed) who is born from the ocean in some of the myths.