General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper

Detective Conan: The Time-Bombed Skyscraper (名探偵コナン時計じかけの摩天楼, Meitantei Conan: Tokeijikake no Matenrou) is a 1997 Japanese animated mystery film and the first theatrical feature based on Gosho Aoyama's Detective Conan manga and television series. It was directed by Kenji Kodama, written by Kazunari Koide from an original story idea by Aoyama, and released in Japan by Toho on April 19, 1997, with a running time of 95 minutes.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Japanese title	名探偵コナン時計じかけの摩天楼 (Meitantei Conan: Tokeijikake no Matenrou)¹
Release	April 19, 1997 (Japan), distributed by Toho¹
Series position	First film in the Detective Conan theatrical series³
Running time	95 minutes¹
Director / writer	Kenji Kodama (director); Kazunari Koide (script); original story by Gosho Aoyama¹
Animation production	Kyokichi Tokyo Movie, for the "Detective Conan" Production Committee⁴
Main cast	Minami Takayama (Conan), Kappei Yamaguchi (Shinichi), Wakana Yamazaki (Ran), Akira Kamiya (Kogoro)¹
Theme song	"Happy Birthday", performed by Kyoko, with lyrics, music, and arrangement by Shikao Suga and Paroma Mamiya¹

Spoilers

Story

The premise follows the series' setup: high school detective Shinichi Kudo, shrunk into a child's body by a mysterious organization, lives under the name Conan Edogawa while hiding his identity and solving cases through the bumbling private detective Kogoro Mouri.⁶

The plot begins when an invitation to a party from the celebrated architect Teiji Moritani arrives addressed to Shinichi. Unable to attend in his child's body, Conan asks his childhood friend Ran to go in his place and accompanies her as Conan; in exchange, Ran asks him to see a film with her on the night of May 3.²^•⁷ Days after the party, a theft of plastic-explosive powder and a series of arsons occur, and a man claiming to be the culprit sends Shinichi a bombing challenge. Conan defuses bombs hidden in a radio-controlled airplane and a pet carrier, then faces a threat against the city's loop rail line: every train on the line will explode if it slows below 60 km/h before sunset. Working from these conditions, Conan identifies the bomb mechanism and averts the disaster.²

Conan then realizes that every bombed and burned building was one of Moritani's early works, and identifies the architect as the true culprit. Moritani, driven by a perfectionist aesthetic, sought to erase his youthful works, and used his grudge against Shinichi, whose detective work had indirectly led to the cancellation of his new building's construction, as a cover for his final aim.² When Moritani is arrested, one bomb remains: the cinema building where Ran is waiting for Shinichi on their promised date, a location Moritani had learned from Ran at the party. Trapped behind rubble, Conan guides Ran through dismantling the final bomb in Shinichi's voice over the phone. The last wire to cut is either blue or red; Ran chooses blue, refusing to cut the "red thread of fate" connecting her to Shinichi, and the explosion is prevented.²

Production

The film was produced as the theatrical version of the animated television series adapted from Aoyama's popular manga. Kodama Kenji, who also directed the television series and had worked on the City Hunter OVA The Million Dollar Conspiracy, made his full theatrical debut with this film.² The script was written by Koide Kazunari, a writer known for television police dramas, based on an idea from the original author.²

Staff credits include Katsuo Ohno for music, Masatomo Sudo for character design, Yukihiro Shibutani as art director, Takashi Nomura as director of photography, and Katsuyoshi Kobayashi as sound director, with Michihiko Suwa and Masahito Yoshioka as producers.¹ Animation production was by Kyokichi Tokyo Movie, and the film was financed by the "Detective Conan" Production Committee comprising Shogakukan, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV), Polygram, Shogakukan Production, and Kyokichi Tokyo Movie.⁴^•⁵

The voice cast carried over from the television series: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa, Kappei Yamaguchi as Shinichi Kudo, Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri, Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri, Kenichi Ogata as Professor Agasa, and Chafurin as Inspector Megure, with Yukiko Iwai, Wataru Takagi, and Ikue Otani as the Detective Boys.¹

Music

Katsuo Ohno composed the score, and the film's ending theme, "Happy Birthday", was performed by Kyoko with lyrics, music, and arrangement by Shikao Suga and Paroma Mamiya.¹ Two insert songs were also credited to Ohno: "Aitai yo" and "Kimi ga Ireba ~Meitantei Conan Main Theme~", both sung by Iori with lyrics by Ren Takayanagi.¹

Release and later showings

Toho's corporate history records the film's April 1997 release as the first work of the Detective Conan series.³ The film has remained in circulation through television broadcasts, repertory screenings on 35 mm film, and a 4K digital remaster.⁸^•⁹ According to The Numbers, the film's recorded international box office is $604,430, all from a limited South Korean re-release on October 2, 2024 under the title 명탐정 코난-시한장치의 마천루; a limited release in China was scheduled for 2026.¹⁰

Reception and place in the series

As the first theatrical entry, the film established the pattern of an annual Detective Conan movie; the second film, The Fourteenth Target, followed on April 18, 1998, again directed by Kodama.⁴ On the Japanese review site Kinenote it holds an average score of 72.5 out of 100 from 457 users.⁵ Rotten Tomatoes lists it with a 1h 34m runtime and describes its premise as Conan solving a series of bombings to prevent the death of his true love.¹¹ A 2025 audience review on the site judged that "the first Conan film held up quite well", while noting the plot centers on bombs rather than a murder mystery.¹¹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026