Lupin III: The First

France, during World War II. Professor Bresson, an archeologist, entrusts his heavily trapped diary and an amulet containing the key to the book to his family. The diary is purpoted to be the guide to an immense treasure called the Eclipse, which a group of Nazis working for Ahnenerbe seeks to get into their hands. Bresson is killed by the arriving Germans; his family escapes, but is chased down by Ahnenerbe scientist 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.

In the 1960s, the diary resurfaces during a memorial exhibition in Bresson's honor. Lupin III tries to steal the book, as his grandfather had unsuccessfully attempted before him, only to be foiled first by a pretty young woman disguised as a security guard, then by Fujiko, and to be arrested by Inspector Zenigata. On his way to prison, Lupin is sprung by his compatriots Jigen and Goemon and seeks out the young thief, a young prospective archeology student named Laetitia, to whom he presents a medal identical to the one stolen by Lambert, which his grandfather had left him. Laetitia contacts Lambert, who has become her adoptive grandfather and on whose order she was supposed to steal the book in the first place. Lambert tells her to bring Lupin and the second amulet to him, in exchange for sending her to Boston University to study archeology.

In the meantime, Fujiko delivers the diary to a small group of Ahnenerbe fugitives still looking for the Eclipse, among them Lambert and their leader Gerald. However, Gerald quickly discover's Fujiko's plan to get the treasure and has her detained. Laetitia leads Lupin to Lambert's hideout, a customized transport plane, where they retrieve the book and the counterpart to Lupin's amulet. Lupin succeeds in disarming the trap and opening the book, from which they learn that the Eclipse is a power generator left behind by a highly advanced lost civilisation and that it is hidden in the ruins of Teotihuacan. After finding this out, and knowing Laetitia has led him into a trap, Lupin willingly surrenders to Gerald and Lambert. When Lupin is locked up with Fujiko, the latter uses him as a diversion to escape on her own. Lupin sneaks back into the plane and eavesdrops on Gerald and Lambert, learning in the process that they are seeking none other than Adolf Hitler himself, 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, Gerald 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 by their adversaries, Lupin summons Zenigata to his location and steals his Interpol helicopter. Zenigata manages to get back onboard, 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 to find the Eclipse, but afterwards booby-trapped the book for Bresson to prevent the Eclipse from falling into the wrong hands.

In the meantime, Gerald and Lambert find the Eclipse's hiding place, but are unable to proceed past its traps without the diary, forcing them to return to the place 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 Gerald activate the Eclipse, which carries them and Laetitia back to the surface, but Lupin's team intercepts them before they can escape. In order to kill them, Lambert uses the Eclipse to activate a micronized black hole; 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, Gerald fights him; when Laetitia takes control of the device, Gerald shoots at her, but Lambert takes the bullet for her and dies. Right afterwards, Gerald receives the news that Hitler has been located and takes the Eclipse and Laetitia to him.

However, when Gerald arrives at Ahnenerbe headquarters, he is surprised to discover that Lupin's gang and Interpol have stormed the base and captured its personnel. Lupin, who played Hitler's role, reveals that Interpol, who have been trailing Ahnenerbe, spread false rumors of Hitler's survival to lure the hidden Nazis out in the open. Enraged over this deception, Gerald attacks Lupin, who activates a micro black hole to destroy the Eclipse; Gerald is sucked into the hole and perishes, while Lupin just barely escapes. After a fond but hasty good-bye - and Laetitia's enrollment into Boston as a farewell present - Lupin and his associates rush to escape Zenigata's ever-zealous attention.

Japanese voice cast:

• Kanichi Kurita as Lupin III
• Kiyoshi Kobayashi as Daisuke Jigen
• Daisuke Namikawa as Goemon Ishikawa XIII
• Miyuki Sawashiro as Fujiko Mine
• Kōichi Yamadera as Inspector Zenigata
• Suzu Hirose as Laetitia
• Kōtarō Yoshida as Lambert
• Tatsuya Fujiwara as Gerald

Italian voice cast:

• Stefano Onofri as Lupin III
• Alessandro D'Errico as Daisuke Jigen
• Antonio Palumbo as Goemon Ishikawa XIII
• Alessandra Korompay as Fujiko Mine
• Rodolfo Bianchi as Inspector Zenigata

The film was teased by Kiyoshi Kobayashi after the passing of Monkey Punch. On July 11, 2019, a Twitter account under the name @lupin_3rd_movie was created showing a poster of a 3D model of Lupin wearing Arsène Lupin's damaged hat and holding his cane. Sega Sammy Holdings, the parent company of both TMS Entertainment and Marza Animation Planet also made a tweet later. A trailer was released showing the characters and their designs.

• Official Website (in Japanese)
• "『ルパン三世 THE FIRST』公式 (@lupin_3rd_movie) on Twitter:". twitter.com. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
• Lupin III: The First on IMDb