AKA: ルパン三世『燃えよ斬鉄剣』(Lupin Sansei: Moeyo Zantetsuken), Lupin III: Burn! Zantetsuken, Lupin III: Zantetsuken on Fire!

Genre: Action / adventure comedy with samurai in it

Length: Movie, 90 minutes

Distributor: Currently licensed by Discotek Media, available streaming on Tubitv.com

Content Rating: 16+ (violence, sexual innuendo, brief nudity, foul language)

Related Series: Far too many to list here. The more notable examples would be Castle of Cagliostro, Tales of the Wolf, The Plot of the Fuma Clan, The Secret of Twilight Gemini and, of course, The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.

Also Recommended: Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, Lupin III: Plot of the Fuma Clan, Ninja Scroll, Rurouni Kenshin

Notes: One of the venerable line of Lupin III movies and TV specials. This has the distinction of being the final bow for original Lupin voice actor Yamada Yasuo before his passing.

Rating:

Lupin III: Dragon of Doom

Synopsis

Goemon's sword, the seemingly unbreakable Zantetsuken, is alone in the world. However, a dragon statue that sank with the Titanic holds an incredible secret that may change the world - the formula to create the metal that Goemon's Zantetsuken forged from. Unfortunately, the formula may not stay secret for long, and the world faces a new threat that no one can defend again - except for Lupin and his gang.

Review

Holy cow.

If the other Lupin action sequences are merely unbelievable, the final sequence of this movie goes above and beyond anything else ever made in the franchise. I won't spoil it for you (though certainly you can find that information elsewhere on the web) but GEEZ.

For once, it isn't Lupin's fault - rather, it's time for Goemon fans to rejoice, as this film is almost completely about him. I was glad to see some backstory and development with him, and I'd been waiting for those for quite a while.

It's just as well, because Dragon of Doom is otherwise one of the weakest Lupin III stories out there. For one, the villains (I couldn't tell you their names if I concentrated on them for an eon) are among the stupidest in any of the films. Yeah, they've got an "invincible" metal ... but they come up with the single dumbest "dastardly plan" for it conceivable.

Lupin newbies would be totally lost watching this film - a lot of it depends on having known these characters from previous features, and it's hardly groundbreaking animation-wise. In fact, there's really nothing in this film to recommend to those who aren't Lupin III fans to begin with.

The ending is so preposterous that Lupin (and especially Goemon) fans can't HELP but watch it at least once. And a weak Lupin flick is still better than dozens of other anime I've seen - at least it's not Legend of the Gold of Babylon!

But GEEZ.

This movie stretches even Lupin physics, but other than that, it's on the lower end of the scale from this franchise. — Carlos/Giancarla Ross

Recommended Audience: Teens and up. You do get the requisite faceful of Fujiko's chest (yay! er, sorry about that) but apart from that, there's some violence, and some foul language that may or may not be included in the commercial release.