Lupin III: The First

A new technology, deliberately pointed at the oldest blueprint.

Lupin III: The First was released on December 6, 2019, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, the franchise’s first fully computer-animated feature. Its plot, a diary, a hidden treasure, a villainous organization, a young woman at the center, is loosely modelled on The Castle of Cagliostro by design: Yamazaki rebuilt the founding film’s structure to prove the gang could survive translation into a new medium intact.

The design work walks the same line: the characters are unmistakably Monkey Punch’s, rendered with a softness that nods to the Fujiko Mine era’s hand-drawn warmth rather than to video-game realism. In the franchise’s filmography, The First is the hinge between the classic features and the hand-drawn revival that followed it, Koike’s The Immortal Bloodline in 2025.

Lupin III: The First Japanese theatrical poster — **THE FIRST (2019)**The Japanese poster for The First, the franchise's first fully 3DCG feature film.

THE FEATURE LINE

1978 to 2025

The classic six

Mamo (1978), Cagliostro (1979), Legend of the Gold of Babylon (1985, co-directed by Seijun Suzuki), The Fuma Conspiracy (1987, direct to video), Farewell to Nostradamus (1995), and Dead or Alive (1996), the film Monkey Punch directed himself.

The Koike features

Jigen’s Gravestone (2014), Goemon’s Blood Spray (2017), and Fujiko’s Lie (2019) form a darker trilogy spun from the Fujiko Mine series, capped by The Immortal Bloodline (June 27, 2025), the first traditionally animated solo feature in nearly thirty years.

The live-action branch

Strange Psychokinetic Strategy (1974) is pure slapstick; the 2014 Lupin III, with Shun Oguri, is a modern heist film; the spin-off Daisuke Jigen reached Prime Video in 2023 with Tetsuji Tamayama reprising his role.

The Castle of Cagliostro →

The TV specials →

Lupin III: The First

THE FEATURE LINE

THE FIRST WORD