“I guess we do battle tonight, Pops!”

For the penultimate episode of Japanimation Station Season 3, we’re looking at a selection of Lupin the 3rdfilms and specials from the brink of the new millennium! Starting with 1996’s Dead or Alive, a theatrical feature directed by Lupin creator Monkey Punch himself, which sees our favorite thief embroiled in a narratively messy but visually stunning adventure on a very strange island. 1997’s Island of Assassins is a lesser Lupin special, weirdly violent but without any particular bite, while 1998’s Tokyo Crisis is one of our absolute favorites, a Zenigata-led, uproariously funny comedy with fantastic guest performances by Megumi Hayashibara and Kōichi Yamadera. And finally, we end our examination of Lupin the 3rd anime with 2002’s Episode 0: The First Contact, an origin story caper for the entire Lupin gang that sees the franchise taking its early steps into digital animation, with mixed results.   

Enjoy, and come back next week for our season 3 finale, where we’ll be reviewing the 1974 live-action Lupin adaptation, Strange Psychokinetic Strategy, and celebrating all this season’s Lupintic adventures!  

Time Chart:

Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:20

Intro: 0:01:20 – 0:15:04

Dead or Alive: 0:15:04 – 1:15:59 

Eyecatch Break 1: 1:15:59 – 1:16:33 

Island of Assassins: 1:16:33 – 1:45:56

Eyecatch Break 2: 1:45:56 – 1:46:18 

Tokyo Crisis: 1:46:18 – 2:32:12 

Eyecatch Break 3: 2:32:12 – 2:32:37

Episode 0 First Contact: 2:32:37 – 3:08:44

End Theme: 3:08:44 – 3:09:59 

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“Welcome to Japanimation Station!” Lyrics by Sean Chapman, Music by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com