Observations after having seen the film
Greetings fellow Lupin III fans! Longtime fan, first time poster.
Having just visited Tokyo, I was able to see ‘The Immortal Bloodline’ in theaters on premiere day, no less. That being said, I don’t know Japanese other than some key words and polite phrases, so the exact details of movie’s plot were lost on me. But a chance to see a new Lupin III film in theaters is not something that comes along very often, so I jumped at the chance.
Guess we’ll have to wait for a subbed/dubbed version to evaluate the movie properly, but the Japan Times review (linked to earlier in this thread) wasn’t exactly glowing, and I think I can see at least some of where the reviewer is coming from. I think this movie is going to be considered a bit of an odd one and will likely cause some discussion among fans. It seems to go weird in a big way. As for a more general audience, one could say that it has a few things going against it: First, unlike standalone, more family oriented adventures such as
Cagliostro and
The First, this is clearly meant to be the Lupin-centric capper to the Koike-series, and the movie hinges on you having seen all the previous Koike-films (due to references and reappearing characters), and, of course, being excited about an edgier, big-screen outing for Lupin that’s closer to the spirit of Monkey Punch. Secondly, by (seemingly) being a prequel to
The Mystery of Mamo, I suppose you also should have seen that film to understand what it’s building towards. Mamo does appear in this film, which probably won’t make much sense to the uninitiated.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
Below the pictures are some SPOILERS and general observations, for those interested. Of course, everything below is rather hampered by the fact that I don’t speak/understand Japanese, and have only seen the movie once, so, my apologies for a lot of the vagueness.
First off, this is probably the most violent and goriest Lupin III film to date, with gunplay galore, bodies blowing up, and brutal physical fights.
The main poster is a bit misleading: other than Goemon, the guys do not wear their classic clothing at any point during the main portion of the film, so we get to see Jigens impressive pompadour on full display!
The movie starts with a (somewhat lengthy) recap of the previous Koike-films, including the recent Zenigata-centric one. After that, the movie is pretty ‘rock ‘em sock ‘em’ from start to finish. Lupin and the gang approach the island in their airplane and get shot down by a missile. That also goes for Zenigata, who has been following them. After that we’re off to the races.
There’s a flashback where Lupin drives home to what I assume is his family mansion. As he approaches, the mansion blows up. Among the charred remains, Lupin appears to find a hidden card that I assume is the one that leads him to the island.
Speaking of flashbacks: the movie has a habit of flashing back to something that happened just a bit earlier, which comes across as somewhat annoying. There are also some flashbacks of the "Here's what really happened in the bit you watched earlier" kind.
There’s a pretty funny scene at the beginning when the gang’s plane gets shot down: Lupin stays behind the plane’s controls and eventually crash lands, while Jigen and Fujiko both grab a parachute and hightail out of there. Goemon, on the other hand, simply jumps, in a «Eh, I’ll figure something out on my way down» sort of way. He eventually catches up with Jigen, midair, who offers the samurai to grab onto him.
Lupin spends large chunks, if not most, of the movie separated from the rest of the gang. Zenigata seems to be the one most concerned about his rival: the others are initially much more relaxed in a «Nah, Lupin knows how to handle himself» sort of way.
Yael and Hawk from
Gravestone and
Bloodspray, respectively, are on the island and fight the gang. Yael seems to really have it in for Jigen, given their history, but later seems to change his tune in a «common interest» or «we’re in this together» sort of way, as the situation becomes more desperate. Hawk doesn’t really add much to the movie from what I could tell, and the other primary henchmen don’t seem to be given much characterization. There’s also a female (?) character who is an archer, who seems to be mute (or does not have any dialogue at the very least).
The film does seem to be intended as a prequel to
The Mystery of Mamo. Mamo appears in bits throughout the film; he observes the ongoing events and seems to have (some degree?) of control over the island. Fujiko makes contact with Mamo towards the end of film, while Lupin and the others don’t, which aligns with the initial set-up in
Mamo, I suppose. Other than that, Fujiko does not have much to do in this movie.
Lupin straight-up shoots Muomu in the head during their initial meeting. As it turns out, Muomu has re-generative powers and cannot be killed by conventional means or weapons.
Muomu is a very Mamo-like character: obviously, they have similar names and look similar, but they also both have an extravagant villain-lair on a secret island where they have some kind of ‘survival of the fittest/selection of most worthy’ thing going. Muomu also has large books/files on various important or historical figures, including ones on Lupin and his father and grandfather (there’s a glimpse of this in one of the trailers).
The exact nature of the relationship between Muomu and Mamo was lost on me, but it seems that Muomu was spawned from or created by Mamo. Muomu also has animal-like tendencies, which his odd body proportions hint at. In one scene, while Lupin is talking to him, he is literally sitting in a tree, eating some mysterious strange pink growths from the branches. In a later flashback, it’s shown that Mamo pours his own blood onto a monkey that lives on the island, and said monkey evolves into the Muomu we see in the film. Later in the film, Muomu’s mind seems to revert back to a more feral-like state, and he engages in brutal physical combat with the gang. His dialogue becomes unintelligible and Sarifa seems to interpret on his behalf.
Speaking of Sarifa, I’m unsure about who he is, and her allegiances in regard to the two main villains. She pops up somewhat unexpectedly to different characters throughout the film. Indeed, late in the movie it’s revealed that there are multiple identical versions of her. This, I assume, is meant to hint at the cloning plot in Mamo, as well as the nature of the Lupin doppelgänger from Koike’s Zenigata-film.
Again, due to the language barrier, I wasn’t able to piece together the exact nature of the island, its ties to Muomu, and the relationship between Muomu and Mamo. Are they allies? Enemies? Has Lupin and the others been brought to the island to deal with him, partially as a test? Is this what the encounters with the assassins from the previous films have been building towards?
Lupin seems to realize something about the island, and late in the film he seems to willingly fall of a cliff’s edge (this is the shot in the trailer where Zenigata is yelling after him) and ends up back in Muomu’s lair which becomes trippier and netherworld-like. Towards the end, I’m assuming that Lupin triggers something that causes the destruction of the island, as well as Muomu, though I’ll have to wait for a subbed or dubbed version of the film to see for sure.
As the island is obliterated, the rest of the gang, and Zenigata, manage to get away. Lupin is still stuck on the island, where he destroys the files on himself and Lupin II and I.
Lupin seemingly dies as the island is destroyed. This is the last we see of him in the movie. Cue end credits, with the movies’s theme song by The IIIrd Eye, and cool Koike-style visuals of the main characters.
Mid-credits scene: Zenigata (and a colleague, I assume) visits Lupin’s gravestone, which has been partially smashed up (?) for some reason. Jigen, Goemon and Fujiko are watching from distance. Lupin doesn’t reveal himself, but the movie does the classic «Character thought to be dead leaves behind an item with significant meaning to a friend or someone close»: Jigen finds a pack of cigarettes that Lupin had borrowed from him earlier in the film (or it might just be another pack of the same brand; some of the details are starting to slip from me).
And that’s that. Hopefully, we’ll get a subbed/dubbed version soon. Regardless, the chance to see a new Lupin III film in theaters, in Tokyo on premiere day, was simply too good to pass up, and well worth the experience even if I could not understand everything that was happening story-wise.
The forum rules don't allow me to link directly to them but they're out there and can be found with a bit of googling or poking around on Bluesky! I suspect both new movies will get official English subs eventually since the first three Koike movies have them, though I have no idea when 
CR has the Japanese viewer satisfaction ranking for the film.