| “ | This guy is way too dangerous. | ” |
— Text on the poster's visual | ||
Dead or Alive is the 5th Lupin the 3rd movie released on April 20, 1996. It was produced by Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie, Nippon TV Broadcasting Network, and Rupan Sansei Production Committee, directed by Monkey Punch and Hiroyuki YanoTakeshi Shirato, and written by Hiroshi Kashiwabara.
Synopsis[]
Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon take a mini-helicopter and head to the mysterious "Drifting Island" looking for a treasure rumored to be hidden somewhere on it. Through their exploration of the island, the trio encounters the lethal "Nanomachine", the island’s security system. The trio triggers the alarm, springing "the Nanomachine" to life. The key to solving the island’s mystery lies in the small nation of Zufu. This once prosperous nation is now ruled by the ruthless, knife-collecting, General Headhunter. Fujiko does her usual probing and hacks into General Headhunter's computer hoping to find some crucial information. Zenigata has received a video message from Lupin in which he announces his desire for the priceless treasure. Oleander, a fiery blonde officer with some hidden secrets of her own, steps in to help Zenigata. Armed with their newly found information, Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko go back to "Drifting Island," but this time they are followed by General Headhunter.
Long Summary[]
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In the film prologue, the director of a prison and his lieutenant start a sadistic game: they let some prisoners escape, planning to send their soldiers after them; the rules state that those who manage to escape would be free. As the prisoners run away, the alarm starts and the director is then shown helping the prisoners escape. After a long and dangerous chase, the group escapes the soldiers and the director is revealed being Arséne Lupin III under disguise.
Some time later, in the Middle East country of Zufu, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon head to a small and lonely island, searching for the treasure of the royal family which is rumored to be hidden somewhere on it. The trio is attacked by a mysterious, tentacular machine which tries to kill them, but escape it. They head back to Zufu and Lupin starts doing researches on the 'Nanomachine' (the security system of the island which attacked the trio) and the political and social situation of Zufu: apparently, some time before the king killed his own son, the Prince Panish, and was subsequently executed by General Headhunter, who instituted a dictatorship.
Meanwhile, Zenigata comes to Zufu and meets Crisis, a prominent member of the National Police; Fujiko is also in Zufu and infiltrates into Headhunter's palace, planning to kidnap his daughter, Emera, who apparently knows the secret of the Nanomachine and how to stop it.
Lupin moves into action. He attacks the palace and kidnaps Emerah, but unknowingly to him, Zenigata hid the girl and let Lupin kidnap a Secret Agent, Oleander (nicknamed 'Ole'), who wears a GPS and lets the police locate the trio in a hut near a cliff. Crisis heads a battalion of war helicopters and an assault squad to the hut and attacks them, with the intention of taking no prisoners. The operation, however, fails: Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon escape, and Ole slaps Crisis because he bombed the hut without giving her time to get to safety. Enraged, Crisis orders Zenigata to leave the country.
Ole comes back to her undercover activity (she runs a bar in Zufu) and Fujiko tries to learn from Emerah the secret of the Nanomachine. But Emerah reveals that isn't Headhunter's daughter: she's daughter to dr. Voltsky, one of the chief engineers of the late king, who designed the Nanomachine, but she does not know how to stop it. Fujiko then helps Emerah to run away and infiltrates in Headhunter's office to hack his computer and study the files about the Nanomachine. In that very moment, a battalion apparently led by Prince Panish attacks the palace. Panish then runs to Ole's bar.
Panish and Ole had a relationship back in the days, and Ole immediately falls back in love with him. He convinces her to double–cross and pass him infos form inside the regime. A few nights later, Zenigata captures Lupin and prepares to leave Zufu, but the gang helps him to escape. Ole is captured by Crisis, who has learned of her treachery, and is tortured by Headhunter.
Lupin has learned that the secret to stop the Nanomachine is Panish, and that the key to the treasure is Ole's pendant, whose peculiar shape he noticed during the attack at the hut and immediately linked to a very similar incision he saw in the island.
Ole heads Headhunter and Crisis to the mysterious island; here she reveals that she has no idea how to open the caveau, and that it was only a pretext to drive them away from the palace, which is now under attack by the rebels. The Nanomachine attacks them, but suddenly stops when recognizes Panish. Panish unlocks the caveau door with Ole's pendant, and guides the group to the Nanomachine's central computer (which looks like an enormous brain). Headhunter reveals that he suggested to the king to use the Nanomachine for war, but the king didn't listen to him and so the General orchestrated the golpe. He then tries to reset the computer in order to be able to control the Nanomachine, and orders Crisis to kill Panish and Ole.
The Prince attacks Crisis and reveals himself: he was Lupin all the time. Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko arrive, but the Nanomachine is now aware that Panish is no longer present and attacks. Crisis dies almost immediately, whereas Headhunter confronts Lupin and, after a long and dangerous duel, is defeated. Fujiko reaches the central CPU of the Nanomachine and runs a program which stops it. The Nanomachine so reveals its real nature: the king built it using gold dust as base material, and so the group learns that the Nanomachine and the royal treasure are the same entity. Unable to steal an entire island made of gold, Lupin decides to take only a small amount of it. He then confronts Ole and apologizes for deceiving her, but Ole tells him that she knew that 'Panish' wasn't the real Panish since when they kissed.
Zenigata arrives and tries to capture Lupin, but the latter manages to escape once again. Zenigata then asks Ole if she is a Secret Agent or a rebel, but does not wait for a response and, before leaving, reveals that Lupin is still at large. Ole, heartened, smiles and throws her pendant to the sea, saying that it was 'a beautiful dream'.
In the epilogue, the gang complains that they gained nothing from this entire story: all that's left is a computer (which Lupin took with him) and the chip which stopped the Nanomachine; the gang parts ways. Suddenly, Headhunter shows up and attacks Lupin. Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko shoot him, then Goemon cuts him in half and the body of the General turns to gold dust.
Taking the gold dust with them, and as every member of the gang wanted to head to a different direction (Jigen to the West, Goemon to the East, and Fujiko to the South), Lupin decides to leave to the North.[1]
Cast[]
- Japanese
| Characters | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Lupin III | Kanichi Kurita |
| Daisuke Jigen | Kiyoshi Kobayashi |
| Goemon Ishikawa XIII | Makio Inoue |
| Fujiko Mine | Eiko Masuyama |
| Inspector Koichi Zenigata | Gorō Naya |
| Ole | Minami Takayama |
| General Headhunter | Banjō Ginga |
| Panish | Tōru Furuya (as Prince Pannish) |
| Emera | Chisa Yokoyama (as Emerah) |
| Crisis | Nachi Nozawa |
| Spanky | Shigeru Chiba |
| Police Informer | Chafūrin |
| Police Officer Warden |
Ryūzaburō Ōtomo |
Additional Voices:[2]
- Misa Watanabe as Female Biker
- Mahito Tsujimura
- Kenichi Ogata
- Ikuo Nishikawa
- Chafūrin as News Shop Owner
- Ryūzaburō Ōtomo as Black
- Mitsuru Ogata as Giant Chinpirakonbi
- Kujira as Fujiko's Opponent
- Takashi Irie as Silver
- Hisaya Ishiguro as Tall Chinpirakonbi
- Kiyomitsu Mizūchi
- Kikuko Asanuma
- Yuria Hama
- Jun Ogura
- English
- Click on "Show" to view the cast
| Characters | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Lupin III | Sonny Strait |
| Daisuke Jigen | Christopher R. Sabat |
| Goemon Ishikawa XIII | Mike McFarland |
| Fujiko Mine | Meredith McCoy |
| Inspector Koichi Zenigata | Phillip Wilburn |
| Ole | Colleen Clinkenbeard |
| General Headhunter | Bill Townsley |
| Panish | Sonny Strait (as Prince Pannish) |
| Emera | Colleen Clinkenbeard (as Emerah) |
| Crisis | Chris Patton |
| Spanky | Chris Rager |
| Café Owner Policeman Prisoner Street Magician Street Thug |
Brad Jackson |
| Biker Woman Screaming Woman Zufu Orphas |
Caitlin Glass |
| Fruit Vendor Mechanic Policeman Prisoner |
Chris Rager |
| Street Thug Vice Warden Zufu Boy |
Justin Pate |
| Angry Customer Policeman |
Kyle Hebert |
Additional Voices:
- Antimere Robinson
- Johnny Bryant
- Italian ("Trappola mortale" [Mediaset] / "Dead or Alive - Trappola Mortale")
- Click on "Show" to view the cast
| Characters | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Lupin III | Roberto Del Giudice |
| Daisuke Jigen | Sandro Pellegrini |
| Goemon Ishikawa XIII | Antonio Palumbo |
| Fujiko Mine | Alessandra Korompay |
| Inspector Koichi Zenigata | Rodolfo Bianchi |
| General Headhunter | Saverio Moriones |
| Oleander | Unknown |
| Crisis | Oliviero Dinelli |
| Panish | Massimiliano Alto |
| Emera | Unknown |
| Spanky | Ambrogio Colombo |
- French ("Mort ou Vif")
- Click on "Show" to view the cast
| Characters | Voice Actors |
|---|---|
| Lupin III | Bruno Magne (as Lupan) |
| Daisuke Jigen | Hervé Caradec |
| Goemon Ishikawa XIII | Constantin Pappas |
| Fujiko Mine | Nathalie Homs |
| Inspector Koichi Zenigata | Constantin Pappas |
| General Headhunter | Gilbert Lévy |
| Oleander | Caroline Mozzone |
| Crisis | Thierry Kazazian |
| Panish | Adrien Solis |
| Emera | Sasha Supera |
| Spanky | Gilbert Lévy |
Additional Voices:[3]
- Gilbert Lévy
- Danièle Hazan
Staff[]
- Original work: Monkey Punch
- Director: Monkey Punch
- Planning: Hidehiko Takei
- Executive producer: Seiji Uroshido
- Screenplay: Hiroshi Kashiwabara
- Storyboard: Hiroyuki Yano, Jun Kawagoe, Toshiya Shinohara, Yūji Himaki
- Direction: Hiroyuki Yano, Jun Kawagoe, Toshiya Shinohara, Yūji Himaki
- Music: Takayuki Negishi
- Main theme: Yuji Ohno
- Music director: Seiji Suzuki
- Recording director: Satoshi Katō
- Animation director: Masahiko Murata, Yasuhiro Seo, Takahiko Shōbu, Mamoru Sasaki
- Assistant animation director: Susumu Yamaguchi, Kazuhiko Tamura, Tatsuo Yamada, Takahiro Umehara
- Character design: Marisuke Eguchi
- Chief Animation director: Marisuke Eguchi
- Animation director: Hiroyuki Yano
- Mechanical design and drawing: Isamu Imakake
- Producer: Shin'ichiro Maeda, Tadahito Matsumoto
- Producer in charge: Kazumitsu Ozawa
- Music Producer: Shinya Yamada
- Sound effects: Yukiyoshi Itokawa
- Literature director: Jun'ichi Iioka
- CG cooperation: CELSYS, Inc.
- Original drawings: Minoru Maeda, Yasuomi Umetsu, Takahiro Kimura, Yūki Kinoshita, Takeshi Shirato, Hiroshi Kanazawa, Sawako Yamamoto, Masatsugu Takeda and others
- Color design: Terumi Kobayashi, Kōji Usui
- Monkey Punch Cheering Party: Yumiko Igarashi, Shōtarō Ishinomori, Machiko Satonaka, Keiko Takemiya, Tetsuya Chiba, Buichi Terasawa, Go Nagai, Kenshi Hirokane, Tsukasa Hōjō, Shinji Mizushima, Takao Yaguchi
- Distribution: Toho Company, Ltd.
- Production: Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie, Nippon TV Broadcasting Network, and Rupan Sansei Production Committee
Production[]
Monkey Punch, the original creator of Lupin III, was the director of the movie. However, he claims it was not something he wanted to do. The production had a short deadline and as there was no director, he accepted the role. He said the experience was too demanding and claimed that it was the other people involved that "saved" the film, and added that he never wants to direct again[4]
He only directed the opening and ending sequences; the rest of the film was primarily handled by assistant directors. Monkey Punch has discussed this in both written interviews and on the brief video interview on the Dead or Alive DVD as released by FUNimation.
Releases[]
- Further Information: Home Media Releases/Movies#Dead or Alive
Gallery[]
Video[]
Translation Notes[]
There were some changes between the Japanese original and the English dub as the English dub was partially rewritten and included minor extra dialogue.
- After Lupin has hacked into the computer, Jigen says "You got into the enemy's computer pretty easy", In the English dub however, Jigen instead says "Oh... so it could use a new web designer" and Lupin adds "I'm not talking about jpegs Jigen." This was due to a 9 year gap between the Japanese release and the Funimation DVD release. This was also ironically aged as website designs have changed several times over the course of the Internet and jpg files are getting less used instead replaced with png and webp files for images.
- The police officers in Zufu warned that Zenigata had entered the island illegally with the English dub adding that they are taking him in while Zenigata replies "Only my superiors may drop my name suffix". In English dub however Zenigata says "Come on, cut me some slack. I'm a cop, same as you." The officer suggested that everyone will drop the title in the Japanese original while in the English dub he said that he would put in a good word for the other inmates.
- Spanky sings a parody version of La Cucaracha while he was drunk in the English dub.
Notes[]
- Final theatrical film to feature Gorô Naya as Zenigata, Makio Inoue as Goemon and Eiko Masuyama as Fujiko.
- Despite Monkey Punch saying that he never wants to direct again, he did co-direct Is Lupin Still Burning? for the 50th anniversary of the series.
- The film took 5 months to make and currently the shortest produced Lupin the 3rd film in the series however according Yasuo Ōtsuka, the film going from the storyboards to the rush print took 3 months[5].
- Promotional art featured Lupin running on the wall with the spotlights on him, this hasn't appeared in the film.
- Lupin uses a Mac in the film, Monkey Punch was involved in J-Mac (Japanese Manga Artists Club) a group where people who had Macs was about to do digital artwork that had around 1500 members[4].
- During the video that Lupin made, at the beginning it shows a spoof of the 20th Century Fox logo but as Lupin III.
- The Italian dub included music from the TV Special The Secret of Twilight Gemini in selected scenes where it was originally silent.
External Links[]
- Official TMS Page. tms-e.co.jp (in Japanese)
- Official TMS Global Page. tms-e.co.jp (in Japanese)
[]
| Dead or Alive
| |
|---|---|
Characters
| |
| Lupin III • Daisuke Jigen • Goemon Ishikawa XIII • Fujiko Mine • Koichi Zenigata | |
| General Headhunter • Oleander • Crisis • Panish • Emera • Spanky | |
Music
| |
| Theme from Lupin III '96 | |
| Damage no Amai Wana | |
References[]
- ↑ In the Italian dub, each gang member wants to leave for a different direction, and Lupin states that "in questo caso, per non fare torto a nessuno, ce ne andiamo a nord" (which translates into "in this case, so as not to wrong anyone, let's go to the North"), implying that all of them are going to the North.
- ↑ ルパン三世 DEAD OR ALIVE. www.mau2.com (in Japanese)
- ↑ http://www.planete-jeunesse.com/fiche-2398-lupin-iii-mort-ou-vif.html Planete Jeunesse - Lupin III : Film 6 - Mort ou Vif (in Francais)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Interview: Monkey Punch. animenewsnetwork.com
- ↑ レイアウトパレット - Interview with Yasuo Otsuka. yk.rim.or.jp (in Japanese)