On Friday, a post on the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Lupin the 3rd franchise announced a new animated movie set to come out next year. The film, tentatively titled Lupin the IIIrd The Movie, will be directed by Takeshi Koike (Redline), with Yūya Takahashi (Lupin III: Part IV) serving as screenwriter and James Shimoji (Redline) composing the film’s score.
The announcement of Lupin the IIIrd The Movie is significant for several obvious reasons. It’s the first 2D feature-length anime film in the franchise in over 30 years, as well as the second animated Lupin the Third film to be released following the death of the franchise’s creator, Kazuhiko “Monkey Punch” Katō. But there’s something else about the movie hiding in plain sight for most astute Lupin the Third fans. Lupin the IIIrd The Movie isn’t just a movie; it’s the culmination of a story Koike has been building up to over the past decade involving a vast conspiracy perpetrated by a villain whose origins tie back to the beginning of the franchise.
In 2014, Koike directed Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone, a two-part “continuation spinoff” of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine that centered on Lupin’s eponymous gunslinging partner. Following its release, Koike would go on to direct two more films: 2017’s Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray and 2019’s Lupin the IIIrd: Fujiko Mine’s Lie, each focusing on one of Lupin’s frequent partners in crime.
Though functionally a series of stand-alone stories, Koike’s film exists as installments in a larger evolving story involving an organization of assassins working at the behest of a shadowy benefactor working behind the scenes. As seen in the final minutes of Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone, that villain is none other than Mamo, the antagonist of the first Lupin the Third animated film released in 1978.
In Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo, the character is introduced as a criminal mastermind and global extortionist who is over 10 thousand years old. Born in ancient Babylonia, Mamo developed a method of virtually attaining immortality by cloning himself and transferring his consciousness into each of his successive bodies while preserving his original self in a vegetative state. Mamo’s originally plotted to annihilate all of humanity and replace the population with clones of himself and a select few before being foiled by Lupin.
While set in an entirely separate continuity from either the Lupin the Third films or television series, it appears that Mamo’s machinations in Koike’s film series are similar to his goals in his first appearance. A figure who appears to be Mamo can be seen briefly at the 43-second mark or the first trailer for Lupin the IIIrd The Movie, preceded immediately by an assemblage of scenes from the three previous Lupin the Third movies directed by Koike.
How exactly will Koike and co. put a bow on this decade-spanning story, and will we finally get an explanation of what’s going on with Lupin and his many colored suits? We’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
Lupin the IIIrd The Movie will be released in Japanese theaters in 2025.
