Spoilers follow for both parts, the kidnapper, the flight trap and the rescue.
Riku Momochi is the culprit behind The Birdman Rally Bombing. He links the fate of kidnapped aircraft designer Yuma Masaki to the flight of Masaki’s friend, pilot Sho Ishizumi: when the aircraft stops transmitting, a bomb beside Masaki will explode. The rescue succeeds because Conan, Heiji and the people in the spectator area deal with different parts of the same plan.
The Birdman Rally Bombing (Part 1) and The Birdman Rally Bombing (Part 2) are Episodes 1271–1272 (Japanese episodes 1211–1212). This is an anime-original case, rather than an adaptation of a manga File.
A celebration at Lake Biwa becomes a search for a missing designer
Beika University, Kogoro Mouri’s alma mater, is entering the Birdman Rally for the first time in ten years. Conan Edogawa, Ran Mouri and Kogoro come to Lake Biwa to support its Aero Quest team, and meet Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama there. Ishizumi pilots the human-powered aircraft; Masaki designed it. Their friendship gives the competition a personal stake before anything goes wrong.
Masaki returns to the team’s parking area to collect something he forgot and disappears. A broken tablet beneath the bus, drag marks, an empty parking space and the black van point to an abduction, not a voluntary departure. Masaki’s sister is worried, and Ishizumi must face his approaching flight with his friend missing.
The choice of victim matters. Taking the designer while leaving the pilot in place allows the competition to proceed. What first looks like one person’s disappearance is the preparation for a threat involving both friends.
The bracelet and the team photograph uncover an old grievance
A security guard remembers a bracelet bearing the Japanese character meaning tongue. It connects the abductor to the robbery gang Mozu. The investigation then turns to its former leader and his younger brother, Riku Momochi. Three years earlier, Ishizumi and Masaki helped bring about the leader’s arrest after a failed bank robbery.
The older brother later died of illness in prison. Riku blames the two friends for his arrest and death, displacing responsibility for the crimes his brother committed. His revenge is aimed at their friendship as well as their lives: Masaki is to die, while Ishizumi is to believe that his own decision brought the death about.
A photograph taken at the venue shows Riku wearing Beika University’s uniform. He has posed as someone connected with Aero Quest, giving him access to the team and an opportunity to interfere with its aircraft. The photograph turns a historical grievance into evidence of a present opportunity.
Conan arranges through Masaki’s sister for Ishizumi to carry a Detective Boys Badge. The aircraft takes off while the search for Masaki continues. That small precaution will matter when the ordinary communication channel is no longer available.
Why landing or heading for shore will not save Masaki
Heiji finds the black van near Hikone Castle. An article inside connects the two students with the old arrest, and a nearby abandoned house contains Masaki, restrained beside a bomb. Finding him is only the beginning of the rescue: the deteriorated floor collapses and rubble prevents Heiji from reaching him at once.
The investigation also finds purchases of explosives and signal equipment associated with Riku. The episode’s trap depends on the signal from the aircraft continuing to reach the device by the hostage. If the aircraft lands on the lake and its transmitter stops working in the water, the loss of signal triggers the explosion.
Flying toward land is not an escape route either: leaving the relay’s range would also interrupt the signal. Within the story’s setup, Ishizumi has to keep flying over the lake while Heiji and the police work to free Masaki. The danger lies in the link between two locations, rather than a threat that the pilot can simply leave behind.
Riku interferes with the team’s normal communications, but the Detective Boys Badge still works. Following in a boat, Conan can explain the danger and keep speaking to Ishizumi. As the pilot tires and the tail suffers damage, every extra moment in the air becomes time the rescuers can use on the ground.
The cruelty is that a normal safe end to a flight has been turned into an apparent choice to kill a friend. Riku intends Ishizumi to survive carrying that guilt. Heiji, caught in the rescue site’s collapse, is in danger too, but he was not one of the two original revenge targets.
Kogoro uses the livestream to locate the man watching
Kogoro reasons that Riku will want to watch the outcome of his revenge. Rather than having already fled, he may still be among the spectators following the official livestream. Kogoro pretends to be drunk, interrupts the broadcast and causes it to stop.
Riku reacts angrily when he can no longer monitor events. Kazuha spots that reaction in the crowd, and Ran kicks the smartphone out of his hand. Together they subdue him, preventing him from escaping or issuing further commands. The device he used to observe the crime has helped expose where he is hiding.
Catching him does not automatically deactivate the arrangement already linking the flight and the bomb. That distinction keeps the final rescue urgent. The spectator-area victory removes the active culprit, but Conan and Heiji still have to keep both victims alive.
The clues identify different parts of the same plan
No single observation explains the entire crime. The bracelet points toward the gang and the old grievance. The uniform in the photograph establishes access to Aero Quest. The purchases support the preparation of the linked equipment. The van locates the abduction route, while the article inside connects the victims to the earlier arrest.
Riku’s response to the stopped livestream answers a different question again: where he is now. These clues work together because they address motive, opportunity, preparation, the hostage’s location and the culprit’s current behavior. Treating the photograph or bracelet as sufficient on its own would lose that chain of reasoning.
The landing comes after the rescue, not before it
Heiji and the police clear the rubble and move Masaki to safety. Only after he is out of danger does Ishizumi’s aircraft come down on the lake, having flown more than seventeen kilometers. The signal stops and the abandoned house explodes, but the hostage is no longer beside the bomb.
Both friends survive, and the case produces no new deaths. The distance becomes a new record for Beika University’s Aero Quest team. It is a team record, not a claim that Ishizumi has broken the real competition’s overall distance record. The same landing that threatened catastrophe now proves that the rescue was completed in time.
Why the collaboration works as a Conan case
The story is part of the television anime’s thirtieth-anniversary celebration and a collaboration with the real Birdman Rally. Presenter Shinichi Hatori appears as himself, and the event’s atmosphere is reflected in the fictional team’s challenge. Its value to the mystery is more than a recognizable location.
Distance, stamina, the aircraft’s durability, a landing on the lake and a livestream all become essential to the suspense. The flight’s progress raises hopes of a record while wearing down the pilot and the machine. The broadcast serves Riku first, then supplies Kogoro with a way to provoke a visible reaction.
The case’s strongest partnership is the simultaneous work across those locations. Conan keeps the pilot connected and buys time; Heiji reduces the distance between the rescuers and Masaki. Kogoro, Kazuha and Ran deal with the man watching from the crowd. Each action helps another person’s effort succeed.
This is a celebration of established trust, rather than a new Black Organization development or a fresh step in Heiji and Kazuha’s romance. The guest characters’ future return is not established by this case. Its satisfying achievement is contained in the ending: time spent flying to protect a friend becomes a record the team can be proud of.
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