Nineteen ninety-nine was a weirdly great year for movies. You had The Matrix and Fight Club in Hollywood, but in the world of anime, something equally ambitious was brewing. Case Closed The Last Wizard of the Century hit Japanese theaters in April of that year, and honestly, it changed the trajectory of the entire franchise. It wasn't just another mystery; it was the moment the series graduated from "small-town detective stories" to "global conspiracy adventures."
Most people think of Detective Conan—or Case Closed as it was dubbed for the West—as a repetitive cycle of locked-room murders. You know the drill. Kogoro gets drugged, Conan talks through a bow tie, and the culprit cries. But this third film? It’s different. It dives deep into the history of the Romanov dynasty, the mystery of Rasputin, and the legacy of imperial Russia. It’s basically Indiana Jones with a seven-year-old in a suit.
What Actually Happens in Case Closed The Last Wizard of the Century?
The plot kicks off with a heist notice from the Phantom Thief Kid (Kaito Kid). He’s targeting the "Memories Egg," a newly discovered Fabergé egg that belonged to the Russian Imperial family. For fans, this was a massive deal because it was Kid’s first-ever appearance in a movie. The stakes feel higher than the TV show because we’re not just looking for a killer in a kitchen; we’re looking for a thief who can fly.
Things go sideways fast. Kid gets shot in the right eye mid-flight by a mysterious sniper known only as "Scorpion." He presumably plunges to his death, leaving Conan and Heiji Hattori (Harley Hartwell) to pick up the pieces.
This is where the story gets really juicy. We meet Natsumi Kousaka, a woman whose great-grandfather worked in Fabergé’s factory. She has a key and a sketch that suggest there’s a second egg. The journey takes the group from Osaka to a German-style castle in Yokosuka. Along the way, bodies start dropping, all shot through the right eye. Conan has to figure out who Scorpion is while juggling the fact that Ran (Rachel) is starting to suspect he’s actually Shinichi (Jimmy).
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Why the Romanov Connection Matters
The film uses real history as its backbone. It mentions the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918. Specifically, it leans into the legend of Grand Duchess Maria and the idea that she might have survived. In the movie, the "Wizard of the Century" is actually Natsumi’s great-grandfather, Kiichi, who fell in love with a Russian woman and fled to Japan.
The "Memories Egg" itself is a masterpiece of animation for its time. When you place it over a specific light source and use the second egg as a base, it projects family photos of the Romanovs using a series of mirrors. It’s a genuinely emotional moment in a series that usually focuses on cold logic.
The Character Debuts That Changed Everything
If you're a casual fan, you might not realize how many "firsts" are packed into Case Closed The Last Wizard of the Century. This film was the debut for:
- Ai Haibara (Vi Graythorn): The former Black Organization scientist makes her first cinematic appearance.
- Kaito Kid: As mentioned, he moves from being a rival in the manga/TV show to a cinematic foil.
- Heiji and Kazuha: The Osaka duo finally gets their big-screen moment, though Heiji spends half the movie in the hospital after a motorcycle crash.
The ending is also legendary for the "almost-reveal." Ran is crying, convinced Conan is Shinichi, and Conan is actually about to tell her the truth. Then, out of nowhere, "Shinichi" walks through the door. It’s actually Kaito Kid in disguise, paying Conan back for saving his pigeon earlier in the film. It’s a trope the series uses a lot now, but back then? It was mind-blowing.
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The Real Numbers and Legacy
Financially, this movie was a juggernaut. It earned roughly 2.6 billion yen at the Japanese box office. To put that in perspective, that’s about $24 million USD in 1999 money. It was the highest-grossing film of the franchise at that point, proving that fans wanted these larger-than-life stories.
Critics like Todd Douglass from DVD Talk have pointed out that the film feels more like a "quality adventure" than just an extended episode. The production values were a massive step up from the previous two movies, The Time-Bombed Skyscraper and The Fourteenth Target. The use of 3D-assisted backgrounds in the castle sequence was cutting-edge for anime in the late 90s.
How to Watch and What to Look For
If you’re planning to revisit it, look for the Funimation dub or the original Japanese version. The English dub takes some liberties with names (like calling the Romanovs "the Romanoffs"), but the core mystery remains intact.
Pay close attention to the background characters during the ship sequence. The animation team hid several "Easter eggs"—pardon the pun—referencing other mystery writers and previous cases. Also, the villain's motivation is surprisingly dark. Seiran (Scorpion) isn't just a thief; she’s a direct descendant of Rasputin who is "avenging" him because his body was found with an eye missing. It’s a bit of a stretch historically, but it makes for a terrifying antagonist.
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Practical Steps for New Viewers
If you're diving into this for the first time, don't feel like you need to watch 1,000 episodes of the show first. You just need to know:
- Conan is a teen detective shrunk by a drug.
- Kaito Kid is a gentleman thief who uses magic tricks.
- Ran is his childhood friend who is constantly on the verge of catching him.
Once you have that, you're good to go. The movie does a solid job of explaining the rest. After you watch it, you might want to look into the actual history of the Fabergé eggs—there are 57 "Imperial" eggs in real life, and a few are still missing. It adds a whole new layer of "what if" to the film's plot.
The real strength of the movie isn't the "whodunnit" part; it's the "why." The resolution of the Kousaka family mystery is one of the most heartfelt endings in the whole 30-year run of the series. It’s why fans keep coming back to it even as the newer movies get more explosive and action-heavy. Sometimes, a simple mirror trick and a lost family history are more compelling than a skyscraper blowing up.