LUPIN III: TOKYO CRISIS (1998)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

TOKYO CRISIS is one of the funniest of the often routine LUPIN III TV specials, and the thing the script does right is to invest its one-shot "guest-star" character with a lot of heart and quirkiness, so that she's fit to stand alongside the equally quirky Lupin Gang-- and with perpetual loser Zenigata.

Maria Isshiki initially seems to be a simple reporter looking for an interview with Inspector Zenigata. Her questions often embarrass the older cop, particularly when she asks about his repeated failures to capture Lupin III. While fending off questions, Zenigata is also in the process of moving a valuable item to a secure location: photographic plates owned by a millionaire investor, Michael Suzuki. Lupin shows up, having the effrontery to impersonate Zenigata, and as usual the master thief confounds the bulldog cop, despite not getting the plates. But during the fracas Maria demonstrates an odd precognitive power, envisioning Lupin's counter-measure before he takes it. Further, Maria is revealed to be working for Fujiko Mine, who's playing a lone game against her usual collaborators.

Zenigata arranges for a truck convoy, driven by Suzuki's men, to transport the plates to their next location. Lupin and Jigen intrude on the convoy, but against Zenigata's orders, the Suzuki henchmen try to kill the thieves. I forget how Maria manages to get invited to accompany Zenigata's command car, but she ends up participating in a wild car-chase. In the end, Lupin and Jigen don't get the plates, but Goemon shows up, dangling from a helicopter piloted by Fujiko, and he gets the plates. This theft causes the Tokyo police to rescind Zenigata's badge and gun, and Maria shows up at a bar to listen to him drown his sorrows.

Fujiko then holds the information that can guide her, and any associates, to the usual fabulous treasure. Goemon serves Fujiko only because someone, apparently Suzuki, absconded with Goemon's super-sword. Lupin reluctantly agrees to aid Fujiko's plot, almost certainly because he's still infatuated with her, while Jigen goes along, partly because he's distracted by the mundane menace of a sore tooth.

While the Lupin Gang tries to perpetrate another heist in a Suzuki building, Zenigata and Maria show up as well. Suzuki manages to mousetrap them all. Then we get the revelation that Maria has a far more personal reason for sticking close to Zenigata: she believes that Suzuki had her researcher-father killed so that the plutocrat could use the father's discoveries to make-- super-soldiers? But the only research we find out about is that Maria's father messed with her DNA slightly, so as to imbue her with precognitive powers. 

The mad-science part of the story is underdeveloped, but Maria remains a lively figure throughout all the craziness that transpires. With the help of Zenigata and the gang, she succeeds in bringing down her father's killer. She also "brings down" Zenigata when she reveals that she enjoys hanging out with him because he reminds her of her father-- which shoots down any romantic delusions the old cop had been harboring.

I won't detail all the cool jokes throughout CRISIS, though I will note that even the minor schtick of Jigen's toothache has a payoff. Maria never appeared again, which is appropriate for a one-shot character, but she's one of the few support-characters able to hold her own with the regulars.