Scotland Loves Anime is a true highlight of the festival season that somewhat flies under the radar. Featuring a plethora of UK premieres, one of which is the latest Lupin the IIIrd instalment, Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline. As part of the festival’s coverage, I was able to secure an interview with Director Takeshi Koike about his latest instalment in his Lupin the IIIrd franchise.
Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline follows Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko Mine as they travel to an island hidden within the Bermuda Triangle. Lupin believes the island is where the mastermind behind the foiled assassination attempts is located. They are shot down, the crew is split up and stranded on a mysterious island marked by red rivers and a pulsating landscape. There, they encounter the very hitmen they believed they had defeated in the past, and a mysterious and seemingly immortal entity known as Muom.
In this exclusive interview, I asked Takeshi Koike questions before the UK Premiere of Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline at Scotland Loves Anime 2025. We discussed balancing tones, developing the recap featured at the beginning of the film and the thematic elements and how they relate to Takeshi Koike’s work as an artist.
My first question is, from a more general perspective, you’re Lupin franchise is a lot darker in tone than other instalments people might be familiar with, whether it be at the Castle of Cagliostro or, more recently, Lupin The Third the first, so I want to ask, how did you balance the tone of making it darker but also keeping it familiar to what we would expect from the Lupin franchise?
Takeshi Koike: Well, to begin with, I really liked the first Lupin series, especially episodes one through to five. And I’ve tried to bear in mind the impression that I got of the characters and the story and the worldview watching that as I’ve made these.
So, you were a big fan of the series before working on the franchise?
Takeshi Koike: That’s right!
You bring in a character from an older movie with Mamo. So, tying into that love of the franchise, Mamo is a physically green character, and there’s a very B-movie style to the film, very much feels like the Island of Doctor Monroe and those kinds of movies. So how do you strike that balance of making a pulpy sci-fi movie on this island, but also having very grounded themes?
Takeshi Koike: Well in terms of the construction of this movie, I had to first narrow down what it was I wanted to say, and as this is the last of the series, I wanted it to be centred on the character of Lupin And so I had to think about what it was about Lupin that I wanted to show in this film, and show that at the centre of it. And then I had to balance the other elements around that.
There’s an extended recap at the beginning. It is quite a lengthy recap of all the previous OVAs, and I believe the tie-in that was released before this film. I want to know if there was an art to getting that nailed down? Because it’s a lot of information, especially for people who may not have seen the OVAs, to take in during the first opening minutes. Were there any discussions around whether we know we must include this, or do we need to have a recap at all?
Takeshi Koike: Well, normally, I would say with a movie, it’s unnecessary to have that recap at the beginning. But in this case, the movie was being released in a different way to the other ones. This one was being released in cinemas, which means that a lot more people are going to get to see it, which means that people who haven’t seen the other movies need to understand what’s going on. And so, it needed, I think, that recap at the beginning, but we did try to keep it as short as possible.
Just because I’m curious, about shortening that process, it is about five to six minutes long. Were there any longer versions of that? Was there anything you had in mind to keep when creating the recap, like we need to keep it a certain length? Or was it just a case of, you just knew when you were making it that this is the ideal length for this recap?
Takeshi Koike: There were a few versions. We got it to a length where we thought we got all the information that we needed to across, showing it to some people. Some people said, actually, it was too short, and we needed to provide more information, so we extended it a bit, but then, then they did start feeling it was a bit long. And so, we shortened it again
I was just curious because, a kind of pseudo-connection. I really love the Detective Conan franchise, and they recap everything in every single instalment. So, it’s become a very weird kind of passion of mine, about how recaps are done. Don’t know why I want to know, but it’s just a kind of a passion of mine.
My next question is more about the thematic elements. So, there’s a scene where Lupin talks about how objects and things come with memories attached to them. We see with the hat, there’s a memory associated with it, and we don’t realise how important those memories are associated with objects until they’re gone, or the individual passes. I wanted to know, because I think this idea can also apply to art. So, do you have any treasured memories about working on this franchise?
Takeshi Koike: Every part of the process is essential. So, all of it is precious memories for me, but I feel like we were particularly short on time making this movie. And so there were bits where I would have wanted to check things myself, but I didn’t have time, so I had to delegate. I had to leave things up to members of the team. And so, it feels particularly like a collaborative work, in this case, for that reason, which was a good experience.
And kind of tying into this idea that we don’t realise how valuable things are when you’re immortal, if we keep applying this to art, art in theory, as long as it’s preserved correctly, is immortal. Art will continue to live on, but the artist won’t, that’s a very sad thing to say at 12 o’clock in the morning. But I wanted to ask, do you realise how meaningful your art is, or how important your art is, or do you think that is something that we’re not going to realise until sadly when you’re gone?
Takeshi Koike: Well, with my own work, once I’ve finished it, it’s out of my hands. Until it’s complete. I’m hands-on, and I’m taking care of it. But once it’s finished and it’s released, then it changes. Now it belongs to everybody, and I love seeing different people reacting to their work. And that, for me, is what is precious.
Expanding on that, people reacting to your movie. So, how do you hope UK audiences react to this movie? Because this is the first time it’s been shown to people in the UK. How do you hope people who may have never seen Lupin before react to this movie?
Takeshi Koike: Well, I’m just really interested to see how people do react here to the movie. This is something. This is characters and their world, even the stories that I loved as a child, and I’ve brought everything I can to it, so I’m interested to see and I’m looking forward to seeing how audiences in the UK react.
There are a lot of action scenes in this film, and a key thing is apart from a handful, the main villain, Muom, is immortal, and I really want to know, how do you create tension and keep this intensity, especially for a character that the audience knows is essentially immortal?
Takeshi Koike: Well, because, as you say, Muom is immortal. It’s impossible for anyone to breathe, and I’m trying to follow, in particular, Jigen and Goemon as they find themselves in that situation of it being impossible to win. But then at the end, when Lupin realises the secret of the island and works out how to beat him, I think it’s well constructed in that way.
Yeah, it’s very well constructed. And you mentioned, the side characters, there are moments when they’re getting attacked, when they crash upon the ship, we kind of see, like an X-ray view of their bones breaking. That’s a unique presentation style. So, I wanted to know where this idea came from?
Takeshi Koike: I think there are there are different ways of showing bones breaking. You can do it through sound, or you can see it on the outside of the body, or you can do it through expressions. But I’d had the experience of going to the hospital and having an X-ray and seeing my internal organs and actually seeing what that looks like, and I thought that would be interesting to incorporate into an anime.
Do you take a lot of inspiration from stuff that would be cool to show on screen?
Takeshi Koike: I am storing up various ideas that I want to experiment with. At some point, I can’t think of anything really immediately that I used in this film, although the bit with Muom’s heart inside the lava caves, I would say there was a particular atmosphere that I wanted to try and create there by having it constantly moving, and having a sense of the fan of fantasy, but also making it quite ominous.
And just to wrap this off, I know that you mentioned earlier that collaboration was a thing that you were proud of with this movie. But Muom, the main villain, is meant to be the ultimate creation, and this film is your ultimate creation for your Lupin franchise. It’s the culmination of all your years of work. So, I wanted to know if there’s anything else about this film that you’re really proud of?
Takeshi Koike: I’m proud that we managed to get it finished, and also I’m really happy that People outside of Japan are getting an opportunity to see it
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