The First

General information

Japanese title:

THE FIRST

Runtime:

93 minutes

Release date(s):

December 6, 2019

January 29, 2020
February 27, 2020
June 3, 2020
October 7, 2020
October 15, 2020
October 18, 2020
January 14, 2021
January 29, 2021
June 2, 2021
August 12, 2021

Jacket Color:

Red

Opening:	Ending:
"Theme from Lupin III 2019"	"Gift"

Credits

Written by:

Takashi Yamazaki

Directed by:

Takashi Yamazaki

Music by:

Yuji Ohno

Production company:

Toho
Marza Animation

Movie Chronology
← Previous	Next →
Dead or Alive	Lupin the IIIrd The Movie

“	Let's steal everything.	”
— Text on the poster's visual

The First is the 6th and last Lupin the 3rd movie released on December 6, 2019. It was produced by TMS Entertainment and Marza Animation Planet, directed and written by Takashi Yamazaki. It is the first full CGI animated movie of the series.

Synopsis[]

Lupin III teams up with a woman named Laetitia to steal the Bresson Diary, a treasure that even the first generation Arsène Lupin could not steal.

Long Summary[]

First Bresson holding his diary — Prof. Bresson holding his diary.

In Nazi-occupied France, archaeologist Professor Bresson entrusts his heavily trapped diary and an amulet containing the key to the book to his family. The diary is purported to be the guide to an immense treasure called the Eclipse, which a group of Nazis working for Ahnenerbe is seeking. Bresson is killed by the arriving Germans; his family escapes, but is chased down by Ahnenerbe professor Lambert, and ends up in a car crash which only the infant daughter survives. Lambert steals the amulet, but is unable to find the diary, which was lost during the chase.

First Lupin's letter announcing his plans — A letter from Lupin announcing his plans in French.

In the 1960s, the diary resurfaces during a memorial exhibition in Bresson's honor. While the exhibition shows off the diary, a man that appears as a mailman rushes in with a card from one Arsene Lupin III, announcing that he will be stealing the book. The staff try to put the book back in the vault, and the mailman attempts to grab the book, but is stopped by a female security guard. She cuffs him, and calls out to Inspector Zenigata that the mailman is, indeed, Lupin himself. Zenigata grabs him, but Lupin smoothly escapes to the ceiling. The female guard is tasked to put the diary back, but en route to the vault, she escapes to the rooftop too, diary in hand.

First Zenigata ordering his men to catch Lupin — Zenigata orders his men to catch Lupin before he escapes.

The security guard, Laetitia, hides on the rooftop. But her moment of tranquil is cut short when Lupin manages to get ahold of the diary himself. They both fight for the diary, with Laetitia blurting out that she knows more than he does. Eventually, after saving her from almost falling down, Lupin runs away and long jumps into the rooftop of another building and proudly claims that he now owns the diary, until suddenly Fujiko Mine arrives and takes it from his hands while on a helicopter. Lupin angrily yells at Fujiko until Zenigata arrives on the rooftop with his men, ready to capture Lupin at last. Zenigata orders them to capture Laetitia too, but she escapes by parachute; Lupin, meanwhile, is caught. A while after that, Laetitia talks to her "grandfather" on a walkie-talking while running, telling him how she failed to get the diary and she's not cut out to be a thief. He insults her before he closes off a deal they both apparently have.

First Gerard standing tall in front — Gerard stands tall in front.

Somewhere else in what appears to be a boardroom, a group of Ahnenerbe fugitives gather, with Lambert and their leader, Gerard. As Lambert discusses their "mission" and how they should open the Bresson diary at all costs, Fujiko arrives and delivers the diary herself. However, Gerard quickly discovers Fujiko's duplicity and has her detained.

First Lupin and gang in the Fiat — Lupin and gang in the Fiat.

On his way to prison, Lupin is sprung by his friends Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, but they both reject him when he asks if they could accompany Lupin in getting the Bresson diary back. In response, Lupin tells them that he will find the mythical treasure himself and only he will keep it, something Jigen merely scoffs at. Meanwhile, Lambert and Gerard attempt to open the diary with Lambert's one half of the key, but to no avail.

First Lupin and Laetitia in her apartment — Lupin and Laetitia in her dimly lit apartment.

Laetitia enters her dark apartment and lies miserably on her bed, ashamed of the fact that she was turned into a thief. She was about to cry until Lupin appears out of nowhere. He reveals that he had attached a tracking device on her shoe. Lupin learns of her interest in being an archeologist and reveals his amulet, the other half of the Bresson diary's key, inherited to him from his grandfather. As Laetitia dresses up, she secretly contacts her grandfather again on the walkie-talkie, revealed to be Lambert. Laetitia expresses reluctance in joining forces with a thief, but Lambert threatens to cancel the deal of making her go to the Boston University of Archeology, so she is forced to accompany him.

Lupin is led by Laetitia to the fugitives' hideout, a customized transport plane, where they retrieve the book and the counterpart to Lupin's amulet. Lupin succeeds in opening the diary, and the two learn that the Eclipse is a power generator left behind by a highly advanced lost civilisation and is hidden in the ruins of Teotihuacan. Knowing Laetitia has led him into a trap, Lupin willingly surrenders to Gerard and Lambert. Fujiko uses Lupin as a diversion to escape on her own. Lupin sneaks back into the plane and eavesdrops on Gerard and Lambert, learning in the process that they are seeking none other than Adolf Hitler, who reportedly faked his death and escaped to South America during the fall of Berlin, and is now intending to use the Eclipse to resurrect the Third Reich.

When Laetitia, who has also overheard the conversation, confronts the two men, Gerard throws her out of the plane. Snatching the diary and the amulets back, Lupin jumps after her, and he and Laetitia are then rescued by Fujiko, Jigen and Goemon. Left stranded, Lupin summons Zenigata to his location and steals his Interpol helicopter. Zenigata manages to get back on board, and after learning of the stakes, he teams up with Lupin's gang and Laetitia to thwart the villains. During a stopover, Lupin reveals to Laetitia that he has deduced her to be Bresson's granddaughter and that Lambert adopted her only to get his hands on the diary and the Eclipse. He also discovers that his grandfather had actually helped Bresson find the Eclipse, but afterwards trapped the book to prevent the Eclipse from falling into the wrong hands.

Gerard and Lambert find the Eclipse's hiding place, but are unable to proceed past its traps without the diary, forcing them to return to where they left Lupin. Exploiting their absence, Lupin's team makes it past the obstacles, but are then forced to discover that their enemies' retreat was merely a ruse to clear the path to the Eclipse. Lambert and Gerard activate the Eclipse, which carries them and Laetitia back to the surface, but Lupin's team intercepts them before they can escape, scuttling Lambert's plane. Lambert uses the Eclipse to get the plane to fly again, and activates a micro black hole to finish off Lupin's team; believing them dead, and drunk with power, he claims the device for himself and incinerates the diary. When he prepares to use the Eclipse to destroy Berlin, Gerard fights him; when Laetitia takes control of the device, Gerard shoots at her, but Lambert takes the bullet for her and dies. Right afterwards, Gerard receives the news that Hitler has been located and takes the Eclipse and Laetitia to him.

When Gerard arrives at the Ahnenerbe headquarters, he meets with Hitler and the two depart on the Eclipse to test its capabilities. Left behind, Letitia discovers that Lupin's gang have beaten Gerard to the base with the help of Zenigata and Interpol, and Lupin has disguised himself as Hitler. Back on the Eclipse, Lupin reveals himself and Gerard attacks him, but Lupin tampers with the Eclipse controls to release a micro black hole directly inside the Eclipse. Gerard is sucked into the hole and perishes, while Lupin barely escapes with a gravity device he kept from the Teotihuacan ruins. After a fond but hasty good-bye to Laetitia - and gifting her with the gravity device and her enrollment into Boston - Lupin and his associates rush to escape Zenigata's ever-zealous attention.