Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo, also known as Lupin III: The Secret of Mamo, is a 1978 Japanese adult animated science fiction action adventure comedy film. It is the first animated feature film based on the 1967–69 manga series Lupin III by Monkey Punch. The film was originally released in Japan as , but was later retitled to . Directed by Sōji Yoshikawa, who co-wrote the screenplay with Atsushi Yamatoya, the film was produced by animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha and distributed by Toho. The film's plot follows master thief Lupin III, who attempts to foil Mamo ― a wealthy and powerful recluse seeking immortality ― while trying to win the affections of his rival and would-be lover, Fujiko Mine.

The film was theatrically released in Japan on December 16, 1978, by Toho. Since its original Japanese release, the film has been licensed to several companies for release in North America and Europe, with four different English dubs of the film being produced in that time. In 2013, North American distributor Discotek Media released the film on a DVD containing all four English dubs, as well as extensive liner notes and essays about the film and its production. In 2022, Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray.

Financially successful upon release, The Mystery of Mamo has continued to polarize critics and fans, especially in English-speaking markets. Praise for the film tends to be aimed at its originality and faithfulness to the manga, and criticism usually focuses on the execution of the third act. The English dubs, though varying widely in terms of their production quality, interpretation of the dialogue and voice acting, have frequently been singled out for praise. The five-part saga Lupin the IIIrd directed by Takeshi Koike acts as a prequel to the movie.

Plot

Inspector Zenigata travels to Castle Dracula in Transylvania to confirm the execution of his longtime nemesis Arsène Lupin III; the body he finds is a decoy that is being used by the real Lupin to flee from the castle. Zenigata travels to Egypt, believing that Lupin will raid the Giza Necropolis based on prior thefts of immortality-granting objects. His prediction proves accurate, but Lupin and his colleagues Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII flee with the Philosopher's Stone. The Stone was requested by Lupin's would-be lover, Fujiko Mine, who, having agreed to obtain the Stone for a mysterious client, steals it from Lupin in Paris. The benefactor, who calls himself Mamo, discovers that the Stone is a fake made by Lupin.

In response, Lupin's gang is attacked by Mamo's forces before finding their hideout destroyed by his henchman, Flinch. Jigen and Goemon blame the hideout's destruction on Fujiko, before quarrelling between themselves; Lupin calms the others by promising to abandon his desires for Fujiko. With nowhere else to go, they travel toward the ocean before finding a house with food and water. A wounded Fujiko comes for Lupin, forcing him to go against his promise and causing Jigen and Goemon to abandon them. Fujiko drugs Lupin before Flinch arrives to take them to Mamo. Jigen later returns to find Flinch's plane taking off, but retrieves a clue to its destination. He and Goemon are later interrogated about Mamo by American agents, but are released when they are unable to answer their questions. During the inquiry, they decipher Fujiko's clue, leading them to Mamo's Caribbean island.

Mamo, a mysterious billionaire officially known as Howard Lockewood, tells Lupin that he manipulated him into stealing the Stone as a test, as he is considering granting him and Fujiko immortality in admiration of his skills and her beauty. Lupin, however, is more interested in the Stone, and searches Mamo's island for it. After retrieving the Stone, he and Fujiko are chased by Mamo's henchmen until they stumble across Mamo's lair. Mamo deems Lupin unworthy of eternal life and attempts to visualize his perverted nature to Fujiko, but she refuses to abandon him. The USAF attacks the base, having tracked Jigen and Goemon to the island. Jigen rescues Lupin and Fujiko and seemingly kills Mamo in a shootout, while Goemon duels with Flinch. Flinch is ultimately killed, but the altercation damages Goemon's sword, the Zantetsuken, causing him to leave for training purposes.

Zenigata tries to catch the gang, who escape the island with the unconscious Lupin, but fails. He is found by the ICPO chief, who had traveled to Colombia to tell him that he's off the Lupin case and that the situation is bigger than either of them can handle. Zenigata responds by resigning and chasing Lupin as a private citizen.

Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen travel to Colombia, where Lupin theorizes that Mamo may have gained eternal life by continuously cloning himself. They are thrust into a vision by Mamo, who reveals that his cloning technique has kept him alive for ten thousand years, and that he is responsible for virtually every major event in human history. Mamo also explains that he cloned Lupin. He then appears in person to reclaim Fujiko, and a distraught Lupin challenges him to perform a miracle. Mamo responds by setting off an earthquake through the destruction of a nuclear power station.

Inside a temple, Mamo explains to Fujiko that his cloning technique has never been perfected, and that he has degenerated from his original form as a result. He decides that he and Fujiko must repopulate the Earth, and convinces her to push a button to launch nuclear missiles to achieve this end. Lupin arrives, and reveals that he rigged the missiles to explode before they could launch. Frustrated, Mamo takes Fujiko with him to a launching pad and fends Lupin off with lasers. Lupin uses the tip of Goemon's sword (given to him by Jigen earlier) to deflect the lasers, incinerating Mamo.

A rocketship emerges, containing a giant brain that reveals itself to be the original Mamo. Lupin realizes that Mamo had controlled his clones resembling his body just as the rocket launches into space. Lupin and Fujiko escape the rocket's trajectory, but not before Lupin plants an explosive on it. The glass shatters, and Mamo's brain drifts toward the sun. Lupin finds Fujiko in the rubble, where he is captured by Zenigata. Fujiko offers to help Lupin, but the Americans launch a missile attack on Mamo's base. Fujiko is rescued by Jigen while Lupin and Zenigata, anklecuffed together, escape on foot. Goemon, on top of a mountain, makes a fourth wall-breaking closing statement.

Cast Character nameVoice actorJapaneseEnglish Arsène Lupin IIIYasuo YamadaTom ClarkBob Bergen Tony Oliver William DufrisFujiko MineEiko Masuyama Edie MirmanToni BarryMichelle Ruff Patricia Kobayashi Mamo(Howard Lockewood)Kō Nishimura Paul St. Peter Mike Worman Robert Axelrod Allan Wenger Daisuke JigenKiyoshi Kobayashi Steve BulenEric MeyersRichard Epcar Cliff Harrington Goemon Ishikawa XIIIMakio Inoue Ardwight Chamberlain Lex Lang William Ross Garrick HagonInspector Heiji Zenigata VIIGorō Naya Dan Lorge Greg Starr David Povall Seán BarrettSpecial Presidential Aide StarkyTōru ŌhiraJoey D'Auria Frank Rogers Steve Kramer John Baddeley Special Agent Gordon Hidekatsu Shibata Don Knode Michael Forest William Roberts Michael McConnohieRichard Cansino Police Commissioner Kōsei Tomita William Ross Jeff Winkless John Baddeley Richard CansinoFlinch Shōzō Iizuka Greg Starr William Roberts Bob PapenbrookScientist Ichirō Murakoshi Donald Johnson Michael Forest George Roubicek Richard CansinoThug Guard Shunsuke Shima Greg Starr Steve KramerEgyptian Officer Masaru Miyashita John Armstrong Carl Macek Eric Meyers Lex LangEgyptian Police Chief Haruo Minami Joseph Zucatti Steve KramerJohn Baddeley Richard CansinoU.S. President Fujio Akatsuka John ArmstrongJoseph Zucatti Steve Kramer Seán BarrettRichard CansinoSoviet General Secretary Ikki Kajiwara Joseph Zucatti Jeff Winkless William Roberts Richard Cansino

Production The Mystery of Mamo was produced while the second Lupin III television series was being broadcast, and was created with the intention of making a film that was aesthetically and thematically faithful to Monkey Punch's original manga, as censorship standards of the time prevented such content being reproduced for TV animation. Due to an increased popularity of the first series, staff who had worked on that series were assembled to make the film. Yasuo Otsuka, who was animation director and character designer on that series, supervised the film's production. Sōji Yoshikawa, who storyboarded the first and last episodes of the first series, acted as director and co-writer of the screenplay. Atsushi Yamatoya, a writer and director of pink films who had written two episodes of the first series (and later the third animated Lupin film, Legend of the Gold of Babylon), also contributed to the script. Yuzo Aoki, a key animator for episodes 11 and 23 of the first series, was responsible for the angular, Monkey Punch-esque character designs seen in the film (he would later become noted for such work on Lupin III Part III and Legend of the Gold of Babylon). Tsutomu Shibayama, who was the character designer for the 1969 Pilot Film that had preceded the original series, was responsible for the layout. A relative newcomer in the film's production team was composer Yuji Ohno, who had provided the score for the second series. The main cast of the second series also resprised their roles for the film.

Mamo was Tokyo Movie Shinsha's first full-length feature production. The movie was given a budget of 500 million yen, comparable to major live action films at the time and unheard of for an animated production. Production lasted for 15 months and involved 1,315 members of staff. The storyboard was 575 pages. 62,000 cel sheets were used in the animation, compared to 5,000 cels used in an average half-hour TV animation. Oversized cels were used and filmed in a modified VistaVision process known as "Anime Vision", which allowed for a brighter and sharper picture for projection in theaters compared to a TV production. 18,000 reference images were used for background and mechanical research, and 196 individual character drawings were created.

Mamo's name is taken from the villain Kyousuke Mamo who had appeared in the manga and first TV series. His physical design was inspired by Swan, Paul Williams' character in the 1974 musical horror film Phantom of the Paradise, and represents a monster who is both a boy and an old man at the same time. The characters Special Presidential Aide Starky and Special Agent Gordon are parodies of Henry Kissinger and G. Gordon Liddy respectively; the first three English dubs renamed the former "Gissinger".

Release The Mystery of Mamo was originally released in Japan on December 16, 1978 as Lupin III. The film was a financial success, earning 950 million yen and making it the ninth-highest grossing Japanese film of the 1979 film season. Footage from the film's first English dub, along with scenes from The Castle of Cagliostro, was used by Stern Electronics (under license from TMS) to make the Dragon's Lair-style laserdisc video game Cliff Hanger. By the mid-1980s, TMS re-titled the film in Japan as Lupin III: Lupin vs. the Clone, while English-speaking fans begun referring to the film as The Mystery of Mamo, the name of the first North American release, to distinguish it from the two TV series and The Castle of Cagliostro.

A TV broadcast of the film on March 28, 2014 on NTV attained an audience share of 11.2% in the Kantō region of Japan. It was the second highest share for a movie broadcast during that week.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Lupin III franchise, The Mystery of Mamo received a limited theatrical re-release in Japan on September 1, 2017, utilizing a newly remastered print in 4K resolution, a 5.1 surround sound mix and 4D effects.

English releases