Strategy Above the Depths

Chronology
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Movie 9
Official trailer
Information
Title:	Strategy Above the Depths
Japanese Title:	名探偵コナン 水平線上の陰謀(ストラテジー) (Meitantei Konan: Suiheisenjō no Sutoratejii)
Original airdate:	April 9, 2005
Broadcast rating when aired on television:	13.1% (aired on April 3, 2006)
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Ai Haibara Detective Boys Sonoko Suzuki Hiroshi Agasa Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Miwako Sato Ninzaburo Shiratori Kazunobu Chiba Officer Tome Female forensics member Shinichi Kudo Eri Kisaki
Case solved by:	Professor Agasa (via Conan) Kogoro Mouri
Staff
Director:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Screenplay:	Kazunari Kouchi
Storyboard:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto Masaharu Okuwaki (asst.) Hajime Kamegaki (asst.) Toshiki Hirano (asst.)
Technical Director:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Animation director:	Masatomo Sudo (chief) Junko Yamanaka Seiji Muta (asst.) Yoshiharu Shimizu (asst.) Chiharu Sato (asst.) Akio Kawamura (asst.) Masahiko Itojima (asst.)
Character Design:	Masatomo Sudo Mechanical Design: Yasuhiro Moriki Layout checker: Seiji Muta, Yoshiharu Shimizu, Chiharu Sato, Akio Kawamura, Masahiko Itojima Design Works: Junko Yamanaka
Voice Cast: Minami Takayama as Conan Edogawa Kappei Yamaguchi as Shinichi Kudo Wakana Yamazaki as Ran Mouri Akira Kamiya as Kogoro Mouri Naoko Matsui as Sonoko Suzuki Kenichi Ogata as Hiroshi Agasa Megumi Hayashibara as Ai Haibara Yukiko Iwai as Ayumi Yoshida Ikue Ohtani as Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Wataru Takagi as Genta Kojima, Wataru Takagi Chafurin as Juzo Megure Kazuhiko Inoue as Ninzaburo Shiratori Atsuko Yuya as Miwako Sato Isshin Chiba as Kazunobu Chiba Kinryu Arimoto as Kensuke Niimi Koji Yusa as Katsuhiko Shiomi Koichi Yamadera as Hironari Kusaka Koji Nakata as Wataru Kaido Masaaki Okabe as Entaro Yashiro Shinichiro Ota as Naoya Misaki Toru Okawa as Yosuke Izawa, Shigeru Isozaki Yoshiko Sakakibara as Minako Akiyoshi Yoshino Otori as Takae Yashiro, Female customer A Mariko Suzuki as Female customer B Jin Yamanoi as Coast guard officer A Shima Fukagawa as Announcement
Music
Theme song:	Natsu o Matsu Sail no Yō ni
Soundtrack:	Detective Conan "Strategy Above the Depths" Original Soundtrack
Collectibles
DC Movies and Specials Shonen Sunday Comics Visual Selection Detective Conan Movies Shonen Sunday Comics Special
Upload Movie Comics Edition 145x215 please Detective Conan The Movie Comics Edition Detective Conan Movie Novelization

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

Gadgets introduced

Cuff Link Speakers
	Works similarly to the Microphone and Button Speaker combined

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Shinichi Kudo (flashback) Ai Haibara Ayumi Yoshida Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Genta Kojima Sonoko Suzuki Hiroshi Agasa Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Miwako Sato Ninzaburo Shiratori Kazunobu Chiba Officer Tome Female forensics member Eri Kisaki (background)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Voice-Changing Bowtie Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes Stun-Gun Wristwatch Criminal Tracking Glasses Detective Boys Badge Anywhere Ball Dispensing Belt Wristwatch Flashlight

Case

Situation

Fifteen years ago, a ship named "St. Yashiro Number 1" sank during an accident when a bomb exploded on deck after avoiding an iceberg. Shortly before that, the captain, Takeo Okita, was knocked out with a drug in his coffee. His first officer, Wataru Kaido, was suspected of the crime, but never convicted as the evidence sank.

Murder (Past)
	Location: Number 1 St. Yashiro Victim: Takeo Okita Time: 15 years ago Cause of death: Ship explodes and sinks Suspects: Wataru Kaido

Murder (Past)
	Location: Number 1 St. Yashiro Victim: Man Time: 15 years ago Cause of death: Ship explodes and sinks Suspects: Wataru Kaido

Everyone escaped in time, except for a sailor, who discovered Okita's drugged and drowned with the sinking ship.

Half a month before the story begins, Hideto Yashiro, an architect working for the Yashiro group, suffers a fatal heart attack while driving and crashes off a cliff with his car.

Accident? (Past)
	Location: Bottom of the cliff Victim: Hideto Yashiro Age: 49 years old Cause of death: Heart attack While he was driving, he had a heart attack and fell off the cliff.

Conan and friends are invited by Sonoko to join her in a cruise on the luxury liner "St. Aphrodite," belonging to the Yashiro group. Shortly before the ship leaves, Hideto Yashiro's body is found and the police determine he died from a heart attack.

Ran has won a prestigious karate tournament and the Detective Boys decide to congratulate her by making a medal out of seashells for her.

Professor Agasa shows Conan his newest invention before dinner: Cuff Link Speakers. Kogoro believes them to be ordinary cufflinks, grabs them out of Conan's hands and declares he should wear them with his suit because cufflinks only belong to "elegant" men like Kogoro.

Dinner takes a long time to arrive and Conan cleans his glasses when Hironari Kusaka, a scriptwriter, accidentally bumps into him. Kusaka recognises Kogoro and greets him excitedly. He also introduces Kogoro to Minako Akiyoshi, the lead designer working on the ship. Akiyoshi talks about the ship and tells everyone that Hideto Yashiro, who was found dead a few days earlier, was married to the current company president, Takae Yashiro.

The next day, the Detective Boys, Ran, and Sonoko decide to play hide and seek on the cruise ship. The kids sneak Ran's medal into her jacket, wanting to surprise her. Sonoko and Ai are picked as chasers. While "hiding", Conan finds a volley ball on deck and plays with it, kicking it against the nearest wall and dribbling. Ai finds him easily.

Eventually, everyone is found except for Ran. Conan reminisces that Ran was always very good at hide and seek.

At the same time, Kusaka calls Akiyoshi, telling her he has finished his newest script and that he will now read it to her, instructing Akiyoshi to only comment when he is finished. He puts a tape recorder near the phone receiver, presses play, puts on a jacket and sneaks out of the room into CEO Yashiro's room, where he stabs her with a knife.

Murder
	Location: Aphrodite Cruise Ship - Yashiro's room Victim: Takae Yashiro Age: 51 years old Cause of death: Stab wound in abdomen Suspects: Hironari Kusaka Takae is stabbed in the abdomen while she was drying her hair.

Entaro Yashiro, Takae's father, received a threatening note earlier that same morning, saying "I know what you did 15 years ago, meet me in the basement marina at 10:15."

Sonoko looks for Ran in the ship's basement when someone suddenly knocks her unconscious.

Attempted Murder
	Location: Aphrodite Cruise Ship - Marina Victim: Sonoko Suzuki Attack types: Freezing Suspects: Entaro Yashiro Sonoko was attacked, then put in the mortuary room.

At 10:15, Kusaka reveals himself to Entaro Yashiro in the marina and attacks him. Entaro fights back and seemingly overpowers Kusaka.

Murder
	Location: Aphrodite Cruise Ship - Marina Victim: Entaro Yashiro Age: 78 years old Cause of death: Stab wound Suspects: Hironari Kusaka Entaro fights with Kusaka, who tried to kill him, and seemingly overpowers Kusaka, before being thrown out in the ocean with his chest stabbed.

Kusaka knocks Entaro out and opens the basement door, wanting to throw his body into the ocean. Entaro comes to and tries to choke Kusaka, who defends himself by stabbing Entaro fatally into the chest and throwing him out of the ship.

Sonoko wakes up in a box and feels icy cold. With a Detective Boys badge one of the children gave her before their game began, she contacts the others and cries for help. Conan tries to locate her using his glasses, but the sensors don't work after his glasses were knocked off by Kusaka the previous evening. They find Sonoko just in time and help her to the ship's doctor.

Inspector Megure, CSI Officer Tome and his assistant, Takagi, and Shiratori land on the cruise ship with a helicopter, having been alerted of Takae's murder and Entaro's disappearance. Kusaka quickly becomes their main suspect as his father died when the St. Yashiro 1 sank fifteen years earlier, but the police discover he has an alibi, having been on the phone with Akiyoshi when the murder occured. Conan investigates Kusaka's room and discovers a tape recorder, but the tape it contains is blank.

The police theorise that Hideto Yashiro's death was linked with the two cases on the ship.

Later that day, the passengers are invited to a gala evening. News of the murder investigation makes the rounds and the guests start to panic. Kogoro calms everyone by announcing he has solved the case, accusing Minako Akiyoshi of killing Takae and possibly also Entaro Yashiro.

Conan, who thinks Kogoro is wrong, asks Agasa's help. He mimics Agasa's voice with his bowtie while Agasa lip-syncs.

Conan/Agasa announce Kusaka is the actual murderer and that he has dried blood on his hair which belonged to Takae Yashiro.

Cruise ship bombing
	Location: St Yashiro Culprit: Hironari Kusaka

Kusaka shouts that he has planted bombs on the ship, wanting to take revenge for his father, and escapes on a motorboat. Conan chases after him with the other boat and notices the Detective Boys have snuck onto the boat as well. Conan stuns Kusaka and, at the same time, a bomb detonates on the ship. The ship is evacuated. Ran stays behind trying to retrieve the medal the Detective Boys made for her which she dropped in her hiding spot. She slips, hits her head on the wall and falls unconscious.

Looking back at the case, Conan realizes Kusaka's alibi was too simple and figures out who the actual murderer was.

People

Wataru Kaido
	56 years old St. Aphrodite captain Previous Number 1 St. Yashiro vice captain

Takeo Okita
	Deceased (drowned) Number 1 St. Yashiro captain

Man
	Kusaka's father Deceased (drowned) Number 1 St. Yashiro chief petty officer

Hideto Yashiro
	Deceased (heart attack) 49 years old Yashiro Cruiser designer Takae's husband (married into the family)

Hironari Kusaka
	26 years old Scriptwriter

Minako Akiyoshi
	32 years old Yashiro Cruiser designer

Entaro Yashiro
	Victim (stabbed) 78 years old Yashiro Group president

Takae Yashiro
	Victim (stabbed) 51 years old Yashiro Cruiser chief executive Entaro's daughter

Natsuho Tsujimoto
	25 years old Purser, Yashiro family's assistant

Naoya Misaki
	36 years old Chief purser, St. Aphrodite security officer

Yosuke Izawa
	39 years old St. Aphrodite staff

Hitoshi Mizukubo
	52 years old St. Aphrodite doctor

Katsuhiko Shiomi
	38 years old St. Aphrodite chef

Shigeru Isozaki
	41 years old St. Aphrodite dining room maître d' Catering manager

Kensuke Niimi
	Former Prime Minister Entaro's friend

Mrs. Niimi
	Niimi's wife Takae's friend

Man A
	Rich client Passenger

Woman A
	Man's wife Passenger

Norizama
	St. Aphrodite guide

Woman B
	"Beautiful sister" Passenger

Woman C
	"Beautiful sister" Passenger

Man B
	Japan Coast Guard officer

Man C
	Japan Coast Guard officer Helicopter pilot

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

Conan reconsiders the facts of the case and remembers something odd he heard from Kogoro, who saw the culprit leaving Takae's room and how this fits together with the attack on Sonoko. He realises he has been tricked by the actual murderer, leaves the Detective Boys with the police and takes the motorboat back to the ship.

Minako Akiyoshi has backed captain Kaido into a corner and threatens him with a spear gun. She forces him to the bow of the ship and reveals herself to be the daughter of Takeo Okita, captain of the Yashiro 1 who was killed by Kaido. Minako announces she will now take revenge for her father.

Attempted Murder
	Victim: Wataru Kaido Age: 56 years old Attack types: Shooting Culprit: Minako Akiyoshi Minako threatens Kaido with a spear gun to take revenge for her father's murder 15 years ago.

A month earlier, Kusaka visited Akiyoshi, seemingly to interview her about the new luxury liner. Kusaka seemed to be more interested in the Yashiro family than the ship, so Minako became suspicious and secretly looked at the notes on Kusaka's computer. She realised Kusaka was investigating the Yashiromaru disaster and had discovered something shocking about the ship that seemingly crashed into an iceberg. The ship had been designed by Hideto Yashiro and Minako, who had worked with him on the St. Aphrodite, decided to investigate further and invited Hideto for a drink. As Hideto got drunk, he confessed, that the incident was part of an attempt to commit insurance fraud. Hideto designed the ship so it would deliberately sink and obscure the fact Kaido killed Minako's father and was responsible for the death of Kusaka's father who drowned in the shipwreck. Minako decided to take revenge on everyone responsible for her father's death and to use Kusaka as a cheap scapegoat.

As she prepares to kill Kaido, Kogoro appears and stops her, announcing he has disabled the gun. Angry, she kicks it away. Kogoro tells her - correctly - that she really was the murderer and explains how he came to his conclusion. Conan, on his way to the boat, listens in through the cufflink speakers Kogoro doesn't know he's wearing.

• Minako knew Kusaka was planning to murder the Yashiro family and Kaido, so she used his plan for her own advantage. Kusaka's plan carried a risk that he could be caught before finishing everyone off, so Minako decided to get rid of Hideto Yashiro first of all.

• The police correctly deduced that she planted a soda can filled with firecrackers and a stun grenade in Hideto's car, scaring him into a heart attack, leading him to crash off the cliff and dying as the grenade went off. She planted the grenade to obscure the facts of the case.

• She pretended to go along with Kusaka's fake phone call alibi, left the phone receiver on her bed, went to Takae's room and drugged her. After hiding the unconscious Takae in her bathroom, Minako disguised herself as Takae and waited for Kusaka. She pretended to fight him and had him stab her, wearing a pouch of fake blood to fool him into thinking he had committed the murder. Kusaka had no time to look twice because he had called Entaro to the marina, so Minako's trick worked. After he had left, Minako wiped the fake blood off the floor, dragged Takae out of the bathroom and stabbed her exactly in the same spot Kusaka had attacked Minako, killing her.

• On her way to the Marina, Minako, wearing a jacket with a hood, ran into Kogoro. In the narrow corridor, she instinctively turned her chest away from him as she passed, which, in hindsight, made Kogoro realise the culprit could be a woman. At the marina, Minako saw Entaro choking Kusaka, attacked Entaro from behind, stabbed him with her knife and disappeared. Kusaka thought he had killed Entaro himself and never noticed Minako.

• Minako had always planned to kill Kaido last once the ship had begun to sink, meaning for him to face the same end as her father did.

• Kusaka was a cheap scapegoat for Minako and she used him not just because of his own murder plans but also because he had included a captain in his script who reminded Minako of her father, mocking his fictional captain for being "old-fashioned" and dying with the ship as it sank.

Minako concedes, telling Kogoro she will turn herself in, but launches herself at him. Kogoro defends himself, saying he will never hit a woman and she starts punching him. Conan arrives and, surprised, Kogoro catches Minako unawares in a judo throw, arresting her. Minako ruefully smiles and says she was unlucky that such a great detective was on the same ship as her, asking if Kogoro suspected her from the beginning.

Kogoro answers he actually kept searching for proof Minako was innocent because she reminded him so much of the woman he loved - his wife Eri.

Captain Kaido handcuffs Akiyoshi and takes her to the police on the motorboat.

Conan and Kogoro frantically search for Ran, finding her just in time and take her to the front end of the ship which is about to sink. A rescue helicopter arrives and a man lowers himself down, tying Conan, Kogoro and Ran to him and hauls all four of them back up to the helicopter. Conan nearly falls off but is saved by grabbing Ran's present from the Detective Boys.

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. We already understand that she is Okita's daughter, from her photo as an high school student in the captain's cabin. Open spoiler box to see images.

  Show spoilers »

First scene

Second scene

• The grand class cruise ship in scene is St. Aphodite: design is resemble the Diamond Princess.
• The girl in the live action ending theme is Riko Suzuki.
• The Nichiuri Times article used by Mitsuhiko to hide and seek really exists: "1995: A tumultuous year for Japan, a great one baseball, Baseball Bullet-In", by Wayne Graczyk.
• Hideto Yashiro's vehicle that fell from a cliff is a British green Jaguar XJ [X350] with a 7-25 license plate. Another car in his house is a 2001 Mercedes-Benz C-Klasse [W203], with an 8-51 license plate.
• The Japan Coast Guard used in the movie a Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma and Hida-class patrol ships.

In other languages

Language	Title	Translation
Catalan	Estratègia sobre les profunditats	Strategy above the Depths
Chinese (Simplified)	水平线上的阴谋	The Conspiracy above the Ocean
French	Stratégie en profondeur	In-Depth Strategy
German	Das Komplott über dem Ozean	The Conspiracy above the Ocean
Italian	La strategia degli abissi	The Strategy above the Depths
Thai	ยุทธการเหนือห้วงทะเลลึก	Operation above the Depths
Vietnamese	Âm mưu trên biển	Conspiracy above the Ocean

See also

• Movies