Back to the Vaults: “Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger” Review
Lupin III: Dark Orders of Assassination
Lupin III: Orders to Assassinate Lupin
Rupan Sansei: Rupan Ansatsu Shirei
ルパン三世『ルパン暗殺指令』

Having recently completed the Lupin the Third: Part III series, I decided to give Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger another look, since this TV special was apparently a remake of episode 50 of the Part 3 series. When I reviewed the special in 2003, I absolutely despised the episode. So I’m curious to see if 20+ years change my opinion. Man, where does the time go?

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The Story, in Brief

A drunk Zenigata comes to Lupin’s hideout with a load of booze and new orders, removing him from Lupin’s case. In his place, ICPO has placed reinstated officer Keith Hayden, who has a kill policy. Instead, Zenigata is tasked with taking down an arms organization known as Shot Shell. Lupin and Jigen decide to help, making a supply stop at an arms camp in the desert before picking up Fujiko and Jigen.

Lupin’s gang steal a Russian, nuclear sub named Ivanov. They are aided by a Russian nuclear scientist named Karen Korosky, whom Fujiko saved from Shot Shell thugs. However, she doesn’t like Jigen for some reason. Eventually, Shot Shell contacts them, wanting to buy the sub. Lupin agrees and takes it to Shot Shell’s secret base. Shot Shell’s founder, Jean Claude, wants Lupin to do another job for him, which he reluctantly agrees to.

Meanwhile, Keith grabs Karen from Lupin’s island hideout, apparently killing Goemon and putting Zenigata out. After Lupin steals another reactor, he plans to steal all of Jean’s cash. Unfortunately, things don’t go well for Lupin. Kieth manages to apparently kill Jigen. Lupin escapes Jean’s trap and makes it to the island. He and Zenigata discover Goemon recovering from his injuries.

Fujiko puts the moves on Jean and eventually escapes with Karen. Lupin and Goemon connect with them, killing Kieth, who kills Karen in the process. Goemon takes the detonator Karen gave him and blows up the sub with Lupin’s approval. After Karen’s funeral, the gang elude Zenigata to steal a US space shuttle to get Shot Shell’s cash in a satellite.

Things Happen ‘Cause “Plot”

I gotta say, the theft of the Ivanov in episode 50 of Lupin the 3rd: Part III made more sense than it did in Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger. In that episode, Lupin triggered an event to cause the crew to evacuate. In this TV special, there’s no crew to speak of, making the theft super easy. At least Lupin had a crew of six this time, which is still too small to pilot a giant, nuclear sub like that. Who knew that nuclear scientists are qualified sub pilots?

Nevertheless, the plot requires the theft, so it gets stolen. To add some drama, Karen hates Jigen ’cause ten years earlier, he killed her father, who was Jigen’s partner. As such, the plot requires her to be incredibly stupid so that events can happen to keep her in the story. Otherwise, she serves no real purpose beyond the forced melodrama, and that doesn’t work.

Another “fun” plot requirement is the ICPO rehiring the mercenary Keith to go after Lupin’s gang. They are so bloodthirsty now, they don’t even bother to give Keith a background check. Otherwise, they might have uncovered that Keith was working for Shot Shell, the organization the ICPO wanted Zenigata to take down. Good old plot contrivances.

At the end of the day, everything happens because the plot requires it to happen. As such, the story is incredibly boring. There’s nothing organic on the storytelling. Further, there’s no limit to the levels of nonsense used when the plot needs things to happen. Lupin III titles often stretch credibility, but when the story is good, the audience allows it. Here, the story isn’t good.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger with some final thoughts.

• I don’t know why FUNimation decided to rename this TV special. The accurate titles would have been Orders to Assassinate Lupin. But once given a new name, that’s the Western name forever since that’s what Discotek used when they briefly license-rescued the title.
• Goemon is just in this story to do the standard “get out of jail free” maneuvers. Well, until the plot needed him removed, and then we get the cliched, “He’s dead, Jim!” moment.
• Zenigata doesn’t fair much better. It makes sense for him not to be involved in the thefts and such. However, it would have been nice for Zenigata to be more involved in taking down Shot Shell.
• Fujiko gets serviced a bit and does her normal, cliched rubbish. Meh. There was a nice moment to show her affection for Lupin.

In the end, Lupin the 3rd: Voyage to Danger is a boring, forgettable story where plot requirements dictate everything that happens in said story.