Writer: Casey Chong

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Watch this if you liked: “Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan (TV Special)”

First appearing in 2009's "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" TV special, the crossover between two popular anime series, "Lupin III" and "Case Closed" (or better known as "Detective Conan"), was one of the most-watched TV animes in Japan during that year. Realizing the success of the crossover TV special, it was just a matter of time before the studio (TMS Entertainment) decided to make a quantum leap from television to a big screen adventure.

The result was a success when "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" opened in Japanese cinema late last year in 2013. It went on to become one of the Top 10 highest-grossing movies at the Japanese box office, and also made history for becoming the top-grossing "Detective Conan" movie ever made. If that isn't enough, "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" even got nominated for Best Animation Film at the 37th Japan Academy Prize.

"... if you steal again next time, I'll catch you all". That was Conan's (voiced by Minami Takayama) warning against Lupin The 3rd (Kanichi Kurita) before "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" TV special reaching towards the end. In this big screen sequel, Lupin The 3rd manages to outwit Inspector Zenigata (Koichi Yamadera) and Inspector Megure's (Chafurin) two appointed detectives, Takagi (Wataru Takagi) and Sato (Atsuko Yuya) when he steals a priceless gem known as Cherry Sapphire. Meanwhile, Conan discovers that Jigen (Kiyoshi Kobayashi), who is one of the members from Lupin's group, is involved in a case where visiting popular singer Emilio (Miyu Irino) received a threatening letter made from newspaper cutouts. Apparently Emilio's upcoming live performance at the concert has something to do with a mysterious deal related to the Cherry Sapphire.

The good news is, this crossover feature debut between Lupin The 3rd and Detective Conan is packed with plenty of over-the-top action sequences, hilarious antics and colourful characters that fans have come to expect from these two anime series. Among the most entertaining moment worth noting here is where Lupin The 3rd has a field day fooling the Japanese police force with his trademark 'face mask' trick while running away with the stolen Cherry Sapphire. For general viewers who are not familiar with Lupin The 3rd's facial disguise, think of him as Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt from "Mission: Impossible" series and you'll get the idea more or less.

However, Hajime Kamegaki, who previously directed 2009's "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" TV special, botched the would-be potential premise with his lacklustre direction. Problem is, the mystery that played throughout the movie is overly convoluted and it isn't solid enough to justify this as a cohesive whole. Worst still, the so-called big revelation during the climactic finale that ties with the 2009's TV special can be really confusing at times (especially for viewers who are not familiar with Japanese dialogues, and have to rely on the subtitles below the screen to play catch-up with long-winded conversations between Lupin The 3rd and Detective Conan). Speaking of the climactic finale, it is highly advisable that viewers are to catch the 2009's TV special first before going for the movie version in order to understand the story or risk scratching your head throughout.

Overall, this much-anticipated feature debut of "Lupin The 3rd Vs Detective Conan" is pretty much a mediocre effort that will appeal more to the die-hard fans from either of the anime series, while the rest of the casual viewers will be left wondering what the big fuss is all about in the first place.

Cinema Online, 26 March 2014