Independent Films, Film Profiles

Mystery of Mamo

Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo (ルパン三世 ルパンVS複製人間 ,Rupan Sansei: Rupan tai Fukusei Ningen) is a 1978 Japanese animated film directed by Soji Yoshikawa and written by Atsushi Yamatoya and Soji Yoshikawa. It was the first animated movie based on the Lupin III character created by Monkey Punch.The film opens with white lines traveling down and a trapdoor opening underneath a prisoner. The prisoner is hanged, and a coroner's report (with narration by Koichi Zenigata in some dubs) confirms the executed prisoner to be the real Lupin III. But Zenigata doesn't believe this, so he goes to the tomb to see for himself. Opening the coffin, he drives a stake into the body, which promptly explodes. The real Lupin III shows up to witness Zenigata's humiliation and narrowly escapes by hang glider (which is in the shape of bat wings). Zenigata fires at him three times, hitting the camera the third time to trigger the opening credits.The opening scene shows Zenigata following Lupin all the way to Egypt, where the latter is looking for the Philosopher's Stone at the request of a contract with the help of his partner-in-crime Daisuke Jigen. They find the stone, but the setup fails, triggering an alarm. What follows is a brief encounter with Zenigata, who is shocked to see Egyptian officers pointing guns. Zenigata refuses to let them fire, insisting that they have already trapped Lupin and "unless they're issued with silver bullets, the men will waste their ammunition". This is a play-on-words as Lupin derived from Lupus, or the genus of wolf. Regardless, Lupin evades Zenigata's trap. On the way out of the pyramid, Jigen almost loses his hat, and Lupin criticizes him for not losing it. Goemon Ishikawa XIII, meanwhile, has killed the officers surrounding the pyramid. Cutting a tire on Lupin's bicycle, he tells them to hurry. The three make it out on a rope, and Zenigata is literally left in the dust, cursing them as they leave.Meanwhile, Fujiko Mine is waiting for Lupin to deliver the stone, but doesn't have to wait long, since Lupin was already there to surprise her. When she learns that Lupin nabbed the stone, she grabs for it, but Lupin chides her for being too passionate and reminds her of her promise to date him in exchange for the stone. Fujiko back-stabs Lupin by spraying him with paralysis gas. Lupin returns to HQ to listen in on Fujiko to find out who asked for the stone, only to discover that the stone was a fake. (Of course, the viewer knows it already from the Egyptian police chief's dialogue in an earlier scene.)The contract is not pleased that Lupin had given him a fake, so he sends two of his men after him, the first piloting a chopper. The chopper chases Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon into a sewer, where Goemon is waiting to chop the chopepr's blade with his Zantetsuken, remarking "Once again, I slashed an unworthy object." The chopper blows up as Goemon retreats, and Lupin and Jigen are not too happy that the explosion damaged the car. Fujiko pulls up and asks for the stone, but Lupin tosses her out of her own car, paying her back for the backstabbing she gave him earlier (and reminding her to take his car, which "still needs some repairs").Zenigata quickly arrives, hot on their tail and tries to get Lupin to turn himself in with the reason that "it would promote friendly relationships between France and Japan". Lupin refuses, and during a high-speed mountainside chase, the second of the goons arrives in a 18-wheeler and crushes two of the police cars, sending the one with an awe-struck Zenigata into the water below. The chase continues as Lupin tries to dodge the truck. The confrontation appears to be over after the henchman plummets to his death after driving off the mountain. That's when Flinch arrives in a plane, blows up the car, and runs on Lupin's hair. He then proceeds to blow up Lupin's HQ.Jigen and Goemon chastise Lupin because of Fujiko and nearly get into a fight until Lupin decides to throw Fujiko out of his life. In a spur of the moment, they travel toward the ocean. On the way, Lupin sees a pitcher of water on a table and accidentally sets off a booby trap that Flinch left. After some more walking, the threesome find a house stocked with food and water. That's when Fujiko, beaten up and helpless, comes for Lupin, who rushes to her and alienates his two sidekicks in the process. However, Jigen can't leave him with Fujiko for too long and tries unsuccessfully to rescue him when Fujiko puts him to sleep with some strong medicine she used to drug his food. A clue to Lupin's whereabouts is then dropped, reading "WATER".Soon, Jigen attracts the attention of Agent Gordon, who tails him throughout Europe the following day. Surprised at first by Jigen's quick move to threaten him, Gordon manages to bring him and Goemon to Area 64 to be interviewed by Starky, an important government official from America. After listening to a tape of an interfered-with conversation between the secretary general and President Jimmy Carter, Starky asks for info on the man who broke into the conversation. Jigen hands Gordon the note and angers him by saying that if they knew what the note meant, they wouldn't be where they were. Starky decides that Jigen and Goemon knew nothing, releasing them for the sole purpose of using them to find the mystery man. They know immediately because of spilled water, and the invisible ink is revealed to be "CARIBBEAN".Meanwhile, on a Caribbean island, Lupin manages to find the mystery man, who reveals himself to be a dwarf named Howard Lockwood who refers himself as Mamo. He offers Lupin eternal life, but Lupin refuses, saying that all he wants is the Philosopher's Stone. He then manages to find it as Jigen and Goemon, tailed unknowingly by Zenigata and tracked unknowingly by the U.S. Government, head for the Caribbean island. Fujiko plays with Lupin awhile, but they are soon chased by thugs led by Flinch.