Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (1978)

Lupin III is an internationally famous manga series created by Monkey Punch in the late 1960s. The story follows the grandson of the famous thief Arsène Lupin and his exploits as he travels the world stealing valuables and being chased by the police led by detective Zenigata. The manga was incredibly popular upon its release in Japan and it was soon made into an influential television series featuring new talented directors like Masaaki Ōsumi, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. The second series was made in the late seventies and became a huge hit, spawning several films. Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo is the first feature length film to be made about the franchise.

The story follows Lupin III (voiced by Yasuo Yamada) and his gang, consisting of fellow anime icons Daisuke Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi) and Goemon Ishikawa XIII (Makio Inoue), as they travel the world stealing artifacts while being pursued by Zenigata (Gorô Naya) after someone who looks exactly like Lupin is hanged for his crimes. As it turns out the reason for the newest crimes is due to a deal that Lupin worked out with Fujiko, who is secretly working for an unknown organization led by a mysterious man named Mamo, who it seems has unlimited resources. Fujiko Mine (Eiko Masuyama) is the beautiful and treacherous femme fatale of the franchise and true to form; she lies and tricks Lupin into helping her out. Lupin, as usual, willingly lets her. After Fujiko gets into trouble with Mamo, Lupin tries to save her and figure out the mystery behind the dead man who was identified as Lupin III.

The first half of this film is fantastic. It’s Lupin at its finest: he and his crew steal and outwit the police, travel to various locations, and banter non-stop while getting involved in outrageous action scenes. This element of fun is part of what makes the franchise so great. It never takes itself too seriously and is incredibly funny and action packed. The plot thickens as the film goes on and, as strange as it may sound, this is what actually hurts the overall experience. As more and more is revealed of the villain who is hunting down the protagonists, it becomes more and more unbelievable. By the end, it feels as if you’re watching a different film altogether. The villain is a man named Mamo (Kô Nishimura) and, without spoiling anything, he dominates the film with a story that becomes ridiculously high-concept, even for a Lupin adventure. Needless to say, the tone alters drastically after the first climax of the film. There are, in fact, two climaxes. The first one serves as a great spot to label the exact point of which the film begins to change what it’s about. The fun of the first half begins to rapidly disappear and slowly the film turns into a bizarre science fiction. The second act is like a completely different movie. It’s a shame considering how promising the first half is.

Aside from this one major flaw, the film is by no means terrible. The animation is colorful, fluid, and clear, holding up surprisingly well today. The action scenes are well thought out and exciting, and the voice acting is terrific. The cast from the television series reprises their roles and some of the writing is very funny. The characters are well constructed and the interactions between Jigen, Lupin and Goemon are among the highlights of the film. Lupin is an arrogant and free-spirited lecher, while Jigen is more calm, cool and collected. Goemon is straight out of another time dressed as a samurai and acting like one (complete with his own musical accompaniment). Everything he does is a fine line between a parody and tribute of the jidai-geki genre and its stoic heroes. The format of the series is episodic and without any real origin story, so this film is basically an extended episode. I would say that you could watch this film having not seen any of the television series, but certain references will go unappreciated. Overall this film is a mixed bag, it starts out strong but the plot becomes too complicated and too over-the-top for its own good, losing sight of not only the strong suits of the film, but the general appeal of the Lupin franchise.