Lupin III/Recap/Blood Seal Eternal Mermaid

Blood Seal ~Eternal Mermaid~ is the twenty-third Made for TV Movie in the Lupin III anime franchise. It debuted on December 2, 2011 to a modest viewing audience.

Made to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Lupin III franchise on television, the special brought a number of changes to Lupin. The first notable one is the major art style changes to the Lupin characters; past specials for the last decade had relied on designs largely derived from Shin Lupin III, the second TV series. TMS Entertainment (originally Telecom), who was involved with the early days of Lupin, was brought back to do the animation for Blood Seal, and accordingly the designs were redone to evoke the early years of the first "green jacket" Lupin series and the proto-Studio Ghibli designs used in The Castleof Cagliostro.

The second change was the first major changes to the Lupin cast since Kanichi Kurita took over the role of Lupin in Farewell to Nostradamus, following death of original seiyuu Yasuo Yamada. It was announced with this special that the long-time voice actors for Zenigata (Goro Naya), Fujiko (Eiko Masuyama), and Goemon (Makio Inoue) were retiring; they were replaced with Koichi Yamadera, Miyuki Sawashiro, and Daisuke Namikawa, respectively. With this cast change, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, who plays Jigen, is the only original Lupin voice actor remaining.

The movie opens with Lupin being ordered at gunpoint by crime boss Toudou to steal a precious gem, the Mermaid's Scale, at an upcoming black market auction. Although he succeeds, things go badly wrong when a bomb goes off shortly after he departs. In addition, a perky and persistant 14 year-old popcorn vendor and would-be thief, Maki, begs Lupin to make her his apprentice in crime. Combined with another gem, the Dragon Scale, owned by the sinister head of a medtech company, a mysterious waif of a girl who seems to defy death, and a treasure that Lupin's own grandfather seemingly failed to steal, the gang becomes tangled in a dark and mysterious plot for the treasure of mythological figure Yao Bikuni...and possibly the secret of immortality itself.

This TV movie features examples of:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Goemon goes about cutting impossible things into tiny pieces with his usual aplomb.
 * Alcoholic Parent: How Maki ends up in a children's home.
 * Arms Dealer:
 * Big Bad: Toudou is ordering Lupin around as the introduction of the movie.
 * Biker Babe: Fujiko spends the last half of the film on her motorcycle.
 * Bloodless Carnage: Averted hard. This is easily the bloodiest entry in the Lupin franchise.
 * Blood Magic: It's there in the title.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Fujiko switches sides at least four different times.
 * Complete Monster:
 * Determinator: Lupin.
 * Dual-Wielding: Kageura.
 * Famous Ancestor: Lupin I plays a role in the overall plot.
 * Fair Weather Mentor: Lupin to Mika. It's on purpose, though; he doesn't want Mika to turn to a life of crime like him.
 * Femme Fatale: Fujiko, as usual.
 * Genki Girl: Mika.
 * Healing Factor:
 * Human Shield:
 * I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!: Fujiko pulls this on Lupin often.
 * I Owe You My Life: Jigen to Misa.
 * Immortality Seeker: Himuro.
 * I Will Wait for You:
 * Medical Horror: Performed by Himuro
 * Mineral MacGuffin: The Mermaid's Scale and the Dragon Scale gems.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
 * Onee-Sama:.
 * Psycho Serum:
 * Shout-Out: Misa's outfit is conspicuously close to Clarisse's casual garb from The Castleof Cagliostro.
 * Spy Catsuit: Fujiko spends most of the film in one.
 * Stolen MacGuffin Reveal:
 * Super Serum: Himuro is trying to develop one.
 * Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Zenigata never stops going after Lupin in this special, but he's also highly suspicious of Himuro and is bound to catch him in the wrong.
 * Underestimating Badassery:
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: The view of Yao Bikuni.
 * Who Wants to Live Forever?: The view of Yao Bikuni.