Lupin Sansei vs Meitantei Conan THE MOVIE
Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie
ルパン三世 vs 名探偵コナン THE MOVIE

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

To a cheering crowd and a large police force, Kid steals a diamond and gets blown into a police trap. When Kid produces a Walther P38 and shoots at the cops, they are shocked, but Detective Conan uses a high tech skate board to pursue Kid, who’s actually Lupin in disguise. Conan does good keeping up, but is stopped by Goemon, who destroys his board. Conan realizes he’s up against Lupin and abandons attempting to pursue as Lupin makes contact with his client, Alan Smithee who’s holding Fujiko hostage with a bomb around her neck, and wanted Lupin to steal the diamond as a test before sending him after the real target, the Cherry Sapphire gem.

At the Detective Boy’s facility, Conan watches TV, Ai reads a magazine, while the other three take a quiz about Lupin. Watching the coverage of popular, Italian teen singer Emilio Barretti’s arrival in Japan, Conan notices Jigen in the background of one camera shots. Meanwhile, the local police force are being briefed on Lupin and his gang’s arrival in town, where Inspector Zenigata joins the briefing. Two of the local inspectors (Satou and Takagi) volunteer to personally assist Zenigata. Meanwhile, Ran gets a call from Sonoko, who’s discovered the location of Emilio’s hotel. Ran’s father, Detective Mouri, seeing Emilio’s hot female manager (Claudia) decides to go along as well.

Elsewhere, Zenigata sets up defenses to prevent Lupin from stealing the Cherry Sapphire at his announced time. With the time having arrived, Zenigata’s companions get nervous that Lupin might be one of them in disguise. Zenigata has the bank manager open the safe, where the safe deposit box containing the gem is opened. It is there, but then Lupin reveals himself, disguised as Takagi, and gets the gem on time. However, Satou is ready for him, Lupin being her first love, and arrests him. Lupin has a trick for them as their watches electrocute them, allowing him to escape. Lupin has the rest of the police go after Zenigata, and thanks to Lupin masks, Lupin is able to make fun of the police.

Lupin escapes to the subway tunnels where an injured Satou fails to stop him. She ends up getting her foot caught in the line as a subway train approaches. Takagi comes to rescue her, but she realizes it is actually Lupin in disguises and again attempts to arrest him with no success. Meanwhile, Ran, Sonoko, Mouri, and Conan arrive at the luxury Sakurasaku Hotel, where they are shown to Emilio’s suite. They are surprised to find Inspector Megure there with another police detective, where Conan is able to lip read and discover that Lupin has stolen the Cherry Sapphire. In addition, the group learns of a death threat against Emilio, leading the singer to want to cancel the concert.

In a parking garage, Alan’s men release Fujiko so that she can get the Cherry Sapphire from Lupin. She then reveals the bomb necklace she was wearing is fake, but then she turns on Alan. Lupin has to give her the bad news that her necklace bomb is very real. Fujiko is annoyed by this as Alan promises to deactivate the bomb once he’s safely away. Lupin reminds Fujiko that he’s the only one who can help her, also revealing he didn’t like her remarks about “Kid-sama.” However, when her necklace releases, she gives Lupin the boot, takes a van, and goes to get her revenge on Alan.

Conan, Ran, and Sonoko leave the hotel where Conan gives the girls the slip to find Jigen, who’s been hired to be Emilio’s bodyguard. Emilio sneaks out to join Ran and Sonoko to have some fun, something Ran thinks is a bad idea for security reasons. Conan finds Jigen in the hotel’s bar, where he poses as Jigen’s kid. Conan tries to fish info out of Jigen, but Jigen gets a call about Emilio going missing and Conan gets one from Ran saying she’s with Emilio. Conan tags along with Jigen before calling Ai, where she tells him the Detective Boys were able to find Lupin’s hideout and that the Cherry Sapphire belongs to a WAKAGOMO Eishin. Conan asks for information about Emilio’s manager and promoter.

At Tokyo Skytree, Emilio gives Ran and Sonoko the slip. Ran finds him out on the ledge of the tower and thinks he’s about to commit suicide. He nearly falls and she grabs him, whereupon she’s grabbed by Sonoko. Jigen shoots a hole in the glass of the observation deck so that Conan and bungee out and save them. Ran expresses her displeasure with Emilio by slapping him after they are rescued. After a chat with Ran and Conan, the group returns to the hotel where Emilio promises to give the concert his all. Meanwhile, Emilio’s promoter Luciano has a phone chat with Alan about a deal they have while Jigen calls Goemon to warn him that Conan’s friends have found the hideout, although they are already there.

The kids plans to put Goemon to sleep backfires when they drink his tea and fall asleep themselves. Lupin comes out of hiding and Fujiko arrives at the hideout. Lupin is impressed with the gadgets the kids had with them while Fujiko loads up her van with weapons, including RPGs. Fujiko says she’ll bring the kids back to their school residence. She’s greeted by Ai at the gate, where Fujiko says that she’ll drop off the kids, but only if Ai comes with her. Meanwhile, Jigen gives Conan a second friendly warning about getting off the case. Conan says he’s going to stop the deal between Luciano and Alan and wants Lupin to be told this. Elsewhere, Zenigata and his police assistants are also on the trail of Luciano and Alan.

The following day, Conan scolds the kids and the professor before heading out. He calls Ai, who’s in a giant bath with Fujiko, but he hangs up before Fujiko can talk to him. Fujiko reveals she knows Ai’s past as Sherry and wants to make a deal to perfect Apoptoxin, which turned Ai and Conan into kids. Ai reveals she knows a lot about Fujiko’s past and warns her about the pursuit of youth. Elsewhere at the venue, Ran has a chat with Claudia about things. Elsewhere still in a seedy bar, Lupin intercepts one of Luciano’s men named King and buys him off so that he returns to Italy.

That night at the concert, Zenigata and the police discover Luciano has given them the slip. As Fujiko gets ready to get her revenge, inviting Ai for the ride, Luciano meets with Alan. Lupin shows up with Jigen and gets the case from Luciano. Before Lupin can get away, Conan pulls a gun on him. Alan has his security forces attack, so Goemon provides cover. Zenigata arrives to arrest Lupin, but crashes into the river instead. More security arrives, but two FBI agents assigned to Japan stop Lupin from getting away. Conan is going to put Lupin to sleep, but gets shot by a sniper. Alan holds Conan hostage, forcing Lupin to give up the case. Alan has Lupin’s classic Alfa Romeo destroyed before heading to his plane with Conan and Luciano.

Fujiko arrives with Ai on a motorcycle, where they pick up Lupin. Using the approaching police detective car as a launching pad, Lupin is able to get into the plane as it takes off. Lupin knocks out Luciano as Conan knocks out one of the guards with a soccer ball. Lupin reveals he knows Conan called the FBI. The two come to an understanding, but Luciano shows up with a Gatling gun and opens fire, causing severe damage to the cabin so that he’s blown out of the plane as it loses pressure. Luciano’s attack has also killed the pilot and mortally wounded Alan. Lupin takes control of the plane and Conan makes some repairs to the radar and communications.

Conan reveals he knows of the connection of Alan’s deal to Vespania and the ore, citing when he saw Jigen in the hotel looking for Vespanian ore. Conan reveals that he discovered that WAKAGOMO Eishin is actually an anagram of ISHIKAWA Goemon. Further, another name that had been mentioned by Alan, Kein Gejidasu, was an anagram of Jigen Daisuke. As such, Lupin’s target was never the Cherry Sapphire, but the ore, since the gem belonged to Lupin, and Conan correctly figures that Lupin has a tracker in it. Lupin tells Conan he won’t get one yen from the ore, so Conan figures Lupin is doing this because of the late Queen Sakura of Vespania’s daughter.

Conan repairs the radar, where they find fighters from Vespania trying to shoot them down, which was done at Lupin’s request in case he failed to stop the the stolen ore from leaving Japan. With their communications destroyed, their only hope from being destroyed is to use the Cherry Sapphire, made from the ore, which causes something akin to an EMP pulse when electrically charged. Conan manages to do this as Lupin forces the plane into a dive, saving them from a missile. The plane crashes as Lupin parachutes out with Conan to a life raft. A submarine picks them up, and when Fujiko emerges, Conan panics. Goemon, Jigen, and Ai also emerge, where Ai reveals she’s not giving up the secrets of her research to Fujiko, using Fujiko’s words against her. Lupin finds this funny, so Fujiko kicks him off the sub.

Later, Ran, Conan, and Ai see Emilio and his manager off at the airport. Ai asks Conan what he thinks Lupin and company are up to. Conan figures they are well out of Japan, but in fact, Lupin is still in Japan looking to steal a treasure. Instead, he finds a note from Kid, who’s beaten him to the punch. As a result, Lupin ends up fleeing from Zenigata and company.

Thoughts/Review:

Man, I wrote WAY too much in the synopsis. ^_^;  Oh well.

When I watched the Lupin III vs. Detective Conan Special for TV, I remember being disappointed in what we got. There was no “vs” to Lupin’s and Conan’s meeting, the story was pretty forgettable, and it was just an OK title on the whole.  It went through the motions, but little else. For this partial sequel, Lupin III vs. Detective Conan The Movie manages to find a sense of fun and is much improved over the TV special, but gets a bit bogged down when it picks up a plot thread from the TV special.

I still am not really versed in the Detective Conan franchise. The writers of the movie do a good job of making introductions by having Conan voice over introductions during a montage of Lupin and his gang. Likewise, Lupin does the same to introduce Conan to the audience. In this way, Detective Conan fans who are not versed in Lupin III get some background and Lupin III fans not versed in Detective Conan get a bit of background.

I will say that this movie gave me some increased interest in seeing a bit more about Detective Conan. The writers did a really good job at bringing in the various characters from that series, including HAIBARA Ai (voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu of all time, HAYASHIBARA Megumi), the Detective Boys (someone explain their HQ to me), Ran, Sonoko, members of the police force, members of the FBI, etc. The movie did a really good job conveying things to me about the series, which I take is from the writers going through a checklist of things that had to be part of any Detective Conan creation.

This is equally true on the Lupin III side of the movie. There are a great number of things that are part of nearly all Lupin III titles — “Lupin Physics” (whereby the laws of physics don’t apply in a cartoon sense), Lupin in disguise, Lupin being chased, Fujiko double-crossing or triple-crossing people, Lupin trying to score with Fujiko, Jigen using his impressive gun skills, Goemon using his impressive sword skills, and of course Zenigata trying to arrest Lupin. All of these things are present and accounted for.

The biggest positive this movie brings to the table is a spirit of fun. In many Lupin III outings, the checklist of things that have to be done may get completed, but I’m rolling my eyes the entire time. For most of this movie, as the dual checklists are being checked, things are just a ton of fun. For example, early on in the movie when the Detective Boys group is introduced, we get this scene that has nothing to do with the plot of the movie, but is all about setting up a Japanese pun dealing with Lupin. It is dumb, but both times I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but laugh and smile because of the way the scene was played out.

Most of the fun isn’t tied to lame events like a pun joke. For example, I laughed out loud when the Detective Boys managed to find Lupin’s hideout in Japan. I grinned a lot when Conan tracked down Jigen as a means of trying to get to Lupin, then furthered that by addressing Jigen as his dad for the rest of their time together. Ai’s and Fujiko’s time together not only provided additional background information about Ai, but it was a hoot as well, especially when they got into the bath together.

And speaking of Fujiko, I really laughed out loud when she wanted to talk to Conan, reminding me of that fan art of Conan trying to flee her clutches.

Because the movie is so much fun, it helps mitigate the attempts in the final act of the movie to tie in closely with the TV special. Before this, it was clear that the Conan folks from the TV special remembered Lupin and his gang and vice versa. There were even a couple of jokes cracked that referenced the TV special, such as when Sonoko calls Ran a princess when they entered the same luxury hotel from the TV special.

The plot is little more than a vehicle to allow the characters to have their fun. There’s nothing really interesting or special about some male, teenage Italian pop star on tour in Japan who’s manager may have gotten accidentally tied up in mafia stuff. However, we do get to see Sonoko get to be a fangirl with Ran in tow as a result, as well as all of the other little things that also result because of this plot device.

Because folks may not have seen the TV special, or as in my case, may have forgotten plot details of the special, the writers attempt to educate people about the events of what happened before. This is where the movie struggles and falters. The movie should have ties to the TV special, but bringing in that weird metal from the TV special was a bit too much. I understand why the writers did this because it gave Conan a way to be on Lupin’s side because Lupin was actually helping the princess from the TV series.

Speaking of Conan and Lupin, one of the complaints from the TV special was that despite it being Lupin III vs. Detective Conan, the two were never really on opposite sides. I saw someone complain about that for this movie, but that’s not correct. Conan is after Lupin from the moment he discovers that Kid is in fact Lupin. He uses Jigen to get to Lupin, and even springs a trap to snare Lupin by having the FBI in Japan show up at one point.

However, in the end, you really can’t have the hero of Lupin III and the hero of Detective Conan not be on the same side to oppose a common villain. So I had no problems with the fact that the entire movie wasn’t about the two being opposed to each other.

Another mild negative is that Goemon has so little to do here other than his checklist stuff. That’s unfortunate, but with such a massive cast to deal with, combined with the fact that as a samurai character with a sword that can cut anything, Goemon is way too one-dimensional as a character to be able to do much of anything.

Something else I noticed – there were a couple of female traffic cops that showed up from time to time in the movie. For those fans of Detective Conan, are they regular characters there? They reminded me of Miyuki and Natsumi from You’re Under Arrest, so I wondered if they might be a tribute to those characters.

The art and animation look quite good, but that’s to be expected for a movie. The music is good, though I mostly noticed the Lupin III music.

Finally, is it me, or is Ran and her beak-hair rather cute?

In the end, I found this movie to be very entertaining, mainly because the writers made sure it was a lot of fun rather than just go through a series of checks. The writers made sure to educate unknowing viewers on both franchises without being tedious. Other than getting bogged down with plot points from the TV special in the third act, the movie is one I could easily watch and enjoy for a third time. Were this to be licensed in the US, I’m sure I’d purchase it.  I hope we get to see another crossover film.