Zenigata and Zenigatarobo
Zenigatarobo Project was a marketing campaign to promote a new Pachinko game called "Zenigata Protagonist" with a Lupin III theme. The game features Zenigatarobo as well.
History[]
The hunt began on February 5, 2014 in Tokyo. Lupin supposedly roamed Japan stealing various precious artifacts and was chased by not only Inspector Zenigata, but also Zenigatarobo. While Lupin was only seen on the side of cars, in posters, and in his typical calling card left at the "scenes," Zenigatarobo was propped onto a truck and toted around Japan chasing Lupin. The sites Zenigatarobo visited were Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya (specifically, Zenigatarobo searched Tokyo from February 3-9, 2014 then Nagoya from February 13-18, 2014, then Osaka from February 22-28, 2014, and finally Tokyo from March 3-9, 2014.)
Additionally, the campaign took to the Internet with Inspector Zenigata's frequent Facebook updates. Simple games were offered such as a flash "untangle the handcuffs to see where Lupin was spotted in handcuffs" game. Other games included decrypting visual clues. Approximately 3 per day were posted daily in January 2014 on the Facebook page. The Pachinko game features an opening clip set to the Lupin III theme as well as many fiery clips of Zenigata, as well as scenes that featured Fujiko dancing, and what appeared to be the Inspector himself transforming into Zenigatarobo.
The Zenigatarobo ad truck played the Lupin III theme. The Zenigatarobo himself had a deep robot voice that shouted typical Zenigata quotes, such as "Lupin! You're under arrest!" The Zenigatarobo in the Pachinko game could also transform into a fiery, more lethal form. The robot that traveled to Japan, unfortunately, could not.