Despite having little knowledge of the Japanese language, we have viewed the Blu-ray version of Lupin III: The First in “raw” format, without subtitles.

As a result, what follows details our first impressions of the film, with a full review to come at a later date.

The CG studio behind Lupin III: The First, Marza Animation Planet, first became involved in the Lupin franchise back in 2012 with a 3D short-film.

This two minute piece was included as part of The Master File, a home video release in Japan featuring a wide array of lost in time Lupin clips and a brand new OVA (named Lupin Family Line-up).

While now looking rather dated, this short venture into a 3D look for Lupin and pals received positive criticism from the Japanese audience at the time - and while classic 2D animation was always going to remain king, the idea of a 3D Lupin adventure was now not too far-fetched.

In 2019, Takashi Yamazaki, the films director, along with TMS and Marza Animation Planet set out to update their 2012 vision and introduce the world of the well-known thief into a feature length 3D animated look for the first time.

After months of waiting we have finally seen Lupin III: The First, and we are excited to talk about it!

First and foremost, Lupin III: The First is a character piece.

While the main members of the Lupin gang (pictured above) feature heavily - the person most pivotal to the films narrative is new female protagonist Laetitia.

Laetitia has strong links to the films treasure and item of interest for everyone starring in it - the Bresson Diary. Her past and exactly how she relates to the treasure is explained over the course of the film, both to Laetitia (who has a rather hazy understanding of this) and to the viewer.

The Diary is said to unlock the secrets of an otherworldly power, and has been sought after for generations - by soldiers during WW2, and even by Lupin’s grandfather himself, Arsène Lupin.

Gerald (the mysterious, composed businessman) and Lambert (Laetitia’s surrogate grandfather) are always on the verge of swiping the treasure for themselves, as they plan to use it for more villainous deeds.

On various occasions they trick Lupin into uncovering secrets for them and trail closely behind our heroes in a way that almost makes them feel like villains from an Indiana Jones film.

Aside from these three characters, the many Cagliostro style police officers that trail Inspector Zenigata and the few goons that accompany Lambert, there are no other notable characters in the film.

The focus is solely on these eight characters, the Bresson family lineage and the race to uncover the secrets of the diary.

This is certainly not a bad thing.

As this is the first time the Lupin series has taken the form of a feature length 3D animated film, fans are no doubt excited to see the antics of their favourite thieves with the new art style, and despite the story revolving around the Bresson family, there are plenty of moments featuring all members of the regular Lupin cast.

Lupin himself, of course, gets the largest amount of screen time.

He’s flamboyant and goofy here, with animators making the absolute most of his long, gangling posture to create some ridiculously silly and entertaining poses. As a fan, I found the way he moves around on-screen fascinating to look at, and it never gets dull.

Towards the start of the film, he is constantly moving, even in the more slower paced story exposition scenes. This is done by him either by pulling ridiculous facial expressions, leaning on things, by touching objects in the environment, and more. There was certainly a great effort to keep the character feeling alive throughout, without him ever standing still to more than a second or two.

An on-foot escape sequence in the opening half-hour really helps to give Lupin an identity in this new 3D world, with him donning (and discarding) disguises, using gadgets to escape the police, and leaping over roof-tops to the familiar Castle of Cagliostro “booooing” sound effect.

He is fun to watch from start to end, and the animators have undoubtedly worked extremely hard to make the character feel right at home in 3D.

Aside from Lupin himself, if you are a fan of Mine Fujiko, Daisuke Jigen or Ishikawa Goemon XIII, the film wont leave you disappointed.

Each character has at least a couple of key story moments that will delight fans.

Mine Fujiko absolutely kicks ass. This is very much a Hayao Miyazaki styled interpretation of the character, with perhaps the more glamorous look from some of the more recent TV specials. She escapes capture, kicks guards in the face, flies planes and even leaves Lupin high and dry a couple of times.

Fujiko is just oozing with confidence and has a cool factor that feels off the charts.

Lupin’s right-hand man, Daisuke Jigen, starts the film as the designated driver but quickly becomes Lupin’s ace in the hand. He is stylish and cool, and as always Kiyoshi Kobayashi does an incredible job at bringing him to life.

One scene has the gunman grabbing Lupin in a headlock and ruffling up his hair, again in similar fashion to a scene from the classic Hayao Miyazaki film, The Castle of Cagliostro. The two respect one another on a professional level, but their deeper level of friendship shows as the pair become rather playful at times - again, no doubt something a lot of fans will appreciate.

Ishikawa Goemon XIII has always been a fan favourite, and there is one scene in particular in this film that I personally think a lot of people are going to enjoy.

Without going into too much detail, it involves his precious sword, the Zantetsuken. Throughout the series, this plot mcguffin has had its many uses, however in The First it perhaps has its most surprising one yet.

This separates Goemon from his sword for a very brief amount of time - which as any good fan will know, upsets our samurai friend. The events that follow results in a scene with him excitedly running back to his beloved weapon, teary eyed shouting “Zantetsuken zantetsuken zantetsuken!”

It is the little details in the way the characters interact with one another that make it so enjoyable to watch.

Perhaps my favourite scene in the film saw Lupin and his gang stranded in the desert, after their trusty Fiat 500 had been put out of action.

To get out of the extraordinarily long walk back to civilization, Lupin pulls out a rather old-school looking phone, extends the aerial, places it against his ear and excitedly shouts “Moooshi mooosh!”

Cut to an INTERPOL branded helicopter suddenly on the approach.

A furious Inspector Zenigata is jumping around, practically half-way out the door of the chopper while it’s still in mid-air. Among the dense dust clouds swirling above the sand as they come in for landing, our keen Inspector spots a crude looking Lupin silhouette stood alone in the middle of the desert. He’s wearing the red jacket, is standing completely still with a poorly drawn happy smiley face. He’s waving to Zenigata, continuously and mechanically.

This is obviously a trap - a dummy contraption set up by Lupin, however by the time the Inspector and his entourage of officer pals notice this, they are already half-way across the sand and it is too late.

Lupin and his crew are stealing the INTERPOL helicopter, engines start and the propellers spin - they slightly bob up off the ground, ready to leave Zenigata and his squad in their place.

Zenigata gives chase - he sprints across the sand, officers in tow, as Lupin taunts him from the open door of the helicopter as they begin to climb. The officers beside him, without being prompted to do so, form a sort of trampoline shape with their arms - Zenigata clocks this, speeds up, leaps into the air and bounces off of them.

Lupin’s jaw drops and his mouth is wide open in disbelief. After a short struggle involving the Inspectors trusty handcuffs-on-a-rope technique, he manages to grab on and Zenigata boards the helicopter.

From the playful manner of which Lupin greets the inspector on the phone, to the way his officers react so naturally to him and the ridiculous situation they are in, this is a classic cat and mouse chase scene between Lupin and his rival. It shows how well the writers knew the characters, and that they could handle their interactions in a way that feels just like the show.

We also need to talk about the car chase.

Much like these cat and mouse sequences between Lupin and Inspector Zenigata, car chases have also been a staple of the Lupin series since the first episode of the green jacket show aired in Japan during 1971.

The car chase in Lupin III: The First is less a chase, and more a rescue.

This marks the introduction of both Daisuke Jigen, Lupin’s right-hand man, and Ishikawa Goemon XIII, the stoic samurai, to the film. Both have appeared to rescue Lupin from the clutches of Inspector Zenigata, who is transporting the captured thief to jail in an armored vehicle, complete with a police escort.

The timing of everything during this sequence is beautiful - the way Jigen throws the car around and fires it into reverse, right up until the moment Goemon leaps from the Fiat’s roof and chops the armored police vehicle in half. It plays out like a ballet, and the remastered version of the 1980 Lupin III: Part II theme that blasts out alongside it helps the daring rescue feel more like a dance sequence.

The scene is an absolute joy to look at too - with top class animation and visual effects. Night has fallen over Paris by the time the chase breaks out, and as a result the darting headlamps of the Fiat and all of the action under the street lamps looks stunning.

While it is indeed shorter and more to the point than the famous chase from Hayao Miyazaki’s classic film, The Castle of Cagliostro - I would say the car chase in The First manages to live up to its lineage, even sitting alongside the all-time greats.

Speaking of living up to its lineage, the soundtrack for The First is an incredible compilation of many recognizable Lupin tracks.

Yuji Ohno, the Lupintic Five and the Fujikochans have all done a fantastic job updating the many background songs from the second TV series, along with including a few from the more recent Part IV and Part 5 shows.

Each track is relatively short, coming in at only a couple of minutes in length at the most. This is not a negative however, as it only goes to show how many have been included in the ninety-three minute film (sixty-one tracks in total)!

Each one fits the action on-screen perfectly, from the new composition ESCAPE IN JET BLACK from the films flashback sequence at the start, to the famous SAMBA TEMPERADO as the gang fly around in an airborne dogfight.

Ohno and pals have pulled out all the stops here, and it marks one of the strongest and most memorable soundtracks from a Lupin film to date.

Without going into spoilers, it is worth noting that the climax of the film is a rather odd one.

It is not too unusual for Lupin plots to get a little out there as things come to a close - the infamous giant brain in a jar from The Secret of Mamo, or the alien spacecraft from Legend of the Gold of Babylon are just two examples that quickly come to mind

The First does nothing quite on this scale, however it does make a light attempt at doing something similar, and it doesn’t really work.

In my own personal opinion, while it is always nice to see different takes on the gang and the adventures they become wrapped up in, the conclusions always tend to feel weaker as things go awry. The gang never really fit in situations like this and as things turn sci-fi, the film loses its sense of place.

The only saving grace in The First is that some of the strongest shots in the film happen during these sequences, and it never feels like the quality of the presentation drops despite the script going a little off the rails.

It is worth stating that the film ends on an important note, with a quote from the series creator, Kazuhiko Katō (Monkey Punch).

It has been reported that before his passing in April 2019, the man behind the monkey had given the film the green light, essentially providing it with his blessing. With making such a big change to the series, this was no doubt a huge relief for the production staff behind the film, and also helps reassure fans that the project was in good hands.

Katō reportedly wished to see the world of Lupin III in 3D for some time, and was one of the driving forces behind the original Marza Animation Planet short film when it released back in 2012.

While it is a rather bittersweet note to end the film on, I couldn’t help but feel happy that the credits began rolling with a quote from Katō. He meant so much to the series, and the others behind it - I am absolutely certain he would have enjoyed the film had he still been around to view the finished product.

The First feels like a good tier Lupin film.

It is perhaps not up there with the likes of The Secret of Mamo, The Castle of Cagliostro or The Fuma Conspiracy, as the plot feels more comparable with a TV special than a full fledged Lupin flick. Aside from the slightly odd ending sequence, it for the most part, plays things safe. While this may leave fans like myself wanting something more, it will make it a good entry point into the franchise for new viewers.

With that said, for the first feature length 3D outing, it is very true to the source material. If the production team had strayed too far from the original material, we may have seen some discomfort from the Japanese audience (as evidenced from Takashi Yamazaki's other 2019 animated film, Dragon Quest: Your Story).

As much as we cannot wait to see it on the big screen once it comes to North America later this year, it does feel like the perfect film to put on streaming platforms across the globe and potentially help the series gain some traction outside of Japan and Italy.

If we are ever to get a sequel, we can assume the writers may become a little more ambitious, but for now, this is an excellent introduction into the world of 3D animation for Lupin.