Lupin III: Dead or Alive
– Lupin has set his sights on a the national treasure of the country of Zufu, placed for safe-keeping ..
Lupin has set his sights on a the national treasure of the country of Zufu, placed for safe-keeping on a mysterious floating island by the country's late king. The island's super-intelligent defense mechanism, however, proves to be too much for Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon to handle by themselves. The key seems to be linked to the princess of Zufu, the only surviving member of the royal family. She is held prisoner by Zufu's current ruler, General Headhunter, who recently acquired rule over the country when he secretly pulled a coup d'etat and executed the country's king and prince. When Lupin's gang kidnaps the princess to get hold of the key, they pull in trouble by way of a deadly Zufu police agent named Olèander and a million-dollar bounty placed on Lupin's head by the psychotic Headhunter. Now, Lupin must find a safe way to the treasure, dodging bounty hunters at every turn.
20 Apr 1996
Japanese, English
Monkey Punch, Jun Kawagoe(co-director)
Monkey Punch (creator), Monkey Punch (screenplay), Hiroshi Sakakibara (screenplay)
Kan'ichi Kurita, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, Eiko Masuyama
Lupin heads to the kingdom of Zufu with plans to steal its legendary treasure, which its late king had hidden in a mysterious drifting island off the coast. However, he discovers the island is guarded by the Nanomachine, a supercomputer security system which he and his comrades are unable to defeat. The key to getting past Nanomachine lies with the Princess of Zufu, the only surviving member of the royal family; Zufu's current leader General Headhunter had staged a coup d'etat and had the king and prince executed. Lupin's gang successfully make away with the princess, but the ruthless General places a million dollar bounty on Lupin. Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata makes an alliance with Oleander, a deadly police agent Zufu sent to bring back the princess. With bounty hunters, the General himself, and of course Zenigata himself on his tail, can Lupin get his hands on the treasure of Zufu?