Draft:Lupin the 3rd: Tokyo Crisis

After failing to steal the Tatsumi and Inui plates, which supposedly show the location of an ancient treasure, from Zenigata, Lupin follows him back to Japan. While Zenigata, to whom a young journalist named Mariya has been assigned to, has already given the Tatsumi plate to Micheal Suzuki, a multimillionaire who plans to open a new waterpark called Aquapolis in Tokyo, Lupin manages to steal a map detailing the route that the Inui plate will be transported across.

Due to his inability to contact Fujiko and Goemon, and his partner Jigen's toothache, Lupin conducts the heist alone. When Zenigata locates him mid-heist, a car chase ensues, during which the truck drivers begin driving aggressively against Zenigata's orders, resulting in a major highway accident. Zenigata is thrown off on the truck but is saved by Mariya, who was alerted of the accident thanks to her visions of the future. Lupin makes his way to the truck containing the Inui plate, but is thwarted by its bodyguard Gondo who causes another accident when attempting to kill Lupin. During the chaos, Goemon and Fujiko manage to steal the plate instead.

Lupin and Zenigata are blamed for both accidents and Zenigata is suspended from active service. Undeterred and now suspecting Suzuki due to his role in selecting the drivers, Zenigata opts to stakeout the company's building. Zenigata is joined by Mariya in his stakeout, who opens up to him about her past; her mother had died shortly after her birth and her father disappeared in a house fire.

Lupin and Fujiko agree to work together to obtain the Tatsumi plate, while Jigen joins Goemon in finding his lost Zantetsuken sword, which he believes is in a separate location. Lupin and Fujiko pose as journalists in order to gain access to Suzuki's private suite, where the plate is held. However their ruse is detected and the two of them are apprehended by Gondo and his henchmen. They are taken to a lower level of the building to be executed, but Mariya has visions of them in trouble, and she and Zenigata arrive just in time to save them. They split up to evade the henchmen, with Lupin following Zenigata and Mariya into a laboratory area while Fujiko escapes outside to meet up with Jigen and Goemon, who's efforts have similarly ended in failure due to their reduced capabilities.

In the laboratory area, Lupin, Zenigata and Mariya discover Sukuzi has been working on harvesting the DNA of various famous personalities for the purposes of creating genetically modified soldiers, which Mariya realises her father was involved with. At the same time, Suzuki recognises Mariya as the daughter of one of his former scientists and orders her captured. Guards are sent after the trio and while they manage to escape they are soon arrested by the police.

Mariya is released early but is captured by Gondo upon returning to her apartment. Lupin and Zenigata work together escape their holding cells but arrive to find their respective hideouts and Mariya's apartment destroyed by a man-made fire. Fujiko, Jigen and Goemon manage to escape but Suzuki's genetically modified soldiers, lead by Gondo, steal back the Inui plate. With Mariya in his custody, Sukuzi reveals that her pre-cognition abilities are side effects of a surgery done by her late father to save her life. Using a hidden plate from her watch, he manages to decode the information her father hid in the Tatsumi and Inui plates, revealing the genetic sequence required to achieve precognition in humans.

On the opening night of Aquapolis, Suzuki's genetically modified soldiers stage his fake kidnapping and attempt to leave Japan on a plane with Mariya. Zenigata and Lupin manage to sneak on board the plane and battle the soldiers alongside Mariya. During the battle, the plane's controls are destroyed and Suzuki enters a state of insanity. Goemon regains his sword and slices the plane in half, causing the soldiers to fall into the sea, and Jigen, now no longer having a toothache, manages to shoot Suzuki off the plane from a helicopter piloted by Fujiko, allowing Lupin to access the plane controls and land the plane safely.

The next day, Gondo, now revealed to be the original Suzuki (the one who died was a clone), returns to the building to conduct a meeting with potential buyers, but is interrupted by the police force, lead by a reinstated Zenigata. In the commotion of his arrest, Lupin manages to steal the two plates and Mariya gets back at Suzuki by shooting at him with Zenigata's unloaded gun, scaring him into a state of shock.

A few days later, Lupin and his gang seemingly deduce the coordinates of the treasure from the plates. However, the location ends up being police headquarters and the plates are exposed as a hoax. Zenigata, alongside his police squad and Mariya, give chase to the thieves. During their pursuit, Zenigata returns Mariya's watch to her. While satisfied over having helped her find closure over her past, he is ultimately disheartened to learn Mariya views him as a father figure. Lupin and his gang eventually leave Japan, with Zenigata on their trail, while Mariya remains and adopts a stray dog, the ending shot showing a framed picture of her and Zenigata on her bedside stand.

Lupin the 3rd: Tokyo Crisis premiered on Nippon Television on July 24, 1998, garnering an audience share of 24.9%, making it the second most watched Lupin the 3rd TV special, behind 'Lupin the 3rd: Burn, Zantetsuken!'^[b].

On August 30, 2005, Funimation dubbed and released the special under the name 'Lupin the 3rd- Crisis in Tokyo'^[2]. Notably, the Funimation dub changes the name of Mariya Isshiki to Maria Isshiki. On December 29, 2020, Discotek Media released the special on Blu-Ray for the first time ^[3]. The special is set to be re-released by Discotek Media as part of the future Lupin the 3rd: TV Specials Collection 2 Blu-ray set, alongside the previous four Lupin the 3rd TV specials ^[4]

This was Kōichi Yamadera's first forray into the Lupin the 3rd franchise. He would return to the franchise in 2003 with 'Lupin the 3rd: Operation Return the Treasure', where he voiced one of the special's villains, before becoming a franchise mainstay with the 2011 TV special Lupin the 3rd: Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid, where he took over the role of Inspector Koichi Zenigata from Goro Naya. Ironically, he had played Arsène Lupin the same year in the movie 'Lupin no Kiganjo', an adaptation of Maurice Leblanc's 1909 novel "The Hollow Needle"

• Lupin the 3rd: Tokyo Crisis (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Category:Lupin the Third anime films Category:1998 anime films Category:1998 films Category:Anime television films Category:TMS Entertainment Category:1998 television films