Site Index | Blog What's New? Review List Stuff Review Outline Why Hate Anime? Wheat RoD: The TV Haibane Renmei Teen Titans Chaff Akira Legend of the Overfiend Black Heaven As can be clearly seen in this review, or this one, or god help me even this one, I generally do not watch anime I dislike for very long. An episode or two is enough. There are rare cases where I've stuck with a bad series to the end (or at least as close as I could stand), but by and large if I'm not enjoying it, I quit watching. Great thing about Lupin screenshots is that they're funny even without captions... But once in a while it's impossible to form an opinion about an anime after only a few episodes. The reason I haven't reviewed Witch Hunter Robin, for example, or Big O, is that I earnestly can't tell whether or not I enjoy then - even after a dozen or more viewings. Such was the case with Lupin the 3rd, a series I wouldn't have given a second glance at before I started AA. After my first episode of Lupin I disliked the series intensely. After the second I loved it. After the third I was undecided again. And so on and so forth, until now I've settled on a lukewarm enjoyment of what is, by and large, a hit-and-miss series. A true blast from the past, Lupin can be sinfully entertaining one minute and embarassingly stupid the next - and there are some spots where it does both at once. Characters: Lupin is the grandson of a famous gentlemanly thief (hence, the 3rd), and he does a top-shelf job of living up to his namesake. He's charismatic and devlishly cunning, making him the perfect con artist. Lupin is all about the thrill of pulling off a heist, and only the rarest and most prestegious marks are worth his efforts. Of course, this is all really just a roundabout way of saying that he's a dirty swindler with an overdeveloped set of hormones, but he pulls it off in an oh-so-lovable way. Playing straight-men to Lupin's clown are Jigen and Goemon, who both are fairly talented clowns themselves. Jigen is the bearded old gunslinger who is, from what I can gather, on the run from the American Mafia. Goemon, on the other hand, is a samurai. I suppose there came a ...see what I mean? point in the production of Lupin the 3rd where somebody figured they should toss in a samurai, just for good measure; fair enough I suppose. Jigen and Goemon have the task of keeping Lupin on a short leash, letting out just enough slack to make them all rich. With Lupin's lips, Jigen's crack shooting and Goemon's swordsmanship, the three make for quite an interesting and dynamic trio. Lupin's female lead comes in the form of lucious Fujiko, who acts as the wild card. Having seen Lupin several years after first watching Cowboy Bebop, it became clear to me that Fujiko was the model from which Faye Valentine would ultimately be carved: she's gorgeous (well, as gorgeous as Lupin's terrible animation allows...), she's devious, and she's well aware of how to use her... shall we say, womanly endowments. Fujiko is the object of all of Lupin's affections (well, slobbering sex fantasies anyway) and she uses this to her benefit by constantly running off with his loot. Rounding out the cast is Inspector Zenigata, the hapless unfortunate lawman who chases Lupin around the globe, always two steps too late to catch the slippery thief. Oftentimes Zenigata even becomes Lupin's pawn, unwittingly taking part in one of his schemes without even knowing it. There are times, of course, you really want to root for Zenigata... but inevitably Lupin slips away again, much to the inspector's chagrin. Story: The concept of Lupin the 3rd is simple: in each episode Lupin, Jigen and Goemon (and Fujiko, depending on whether or not she wants to be on Lupin's side this episode) identify some priceless work of art or one-of-a-kind perfect gem or some ancient cursed Egyptian artifact - then they steal it. Yes, this series has a samurai. I was shocked too. Such an episodic format tends to get old after a while in most series, but Lupin does a better-than-average job of keeping each caper fresh and funny... well, half of them anyway. Like I mentioned earlier there's lots of Lupin that just makes you want to cringe and change the channel. Sometimes the heists Lupin and his gang cooks up are so retarded and their methods so idiotic that no amount of Lupin's fast-talk or Zenigata's bumbling can save it. Other times the schemes are well-planned and methodically executed; these are the shows that I find to be highly entertaining. How far can this caper-after-caper format carry a series? I've only seen about twenty episodes myself and I'm always up for more, but if you're truly hardcore there are 250+ half-hour adventures and a stack of feature films. Which begs the question - how many episodes does Lupin need before he's stolen everything on the planet? Animation: The seventies and early eighties apparently was not a good time for animation. Terrible Hanna-Barbara crapmounds notwithstanding, anime from that era is simply repulsively ugly. And Lupin is no exception; the artwork is ugly, the animation is choppy, and everything looks so drab and "I'm watching my lanky figure... do you guys have an Atkins menu?" washed out you'd think it went through the spin cycle in the pocket of your jeans. Lupin then goes above and beyond just being horribly drawn and animated by drunken gorillas; it achieves a whole new tier of anti-quality when you're watching an episode and you notice you can't even tell what the stuff onscreen is supposed to be. You'll notice that people's facial features vanish for several frames at a stretch seemingly randomly. Distance and perspective get distorted in weird ways. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Lupin the 3rd is the result of some kind of twisted bet: "Hey, let's see how fabulously terrible we can make this show look before people stop watching it!" Culture Shock: Lupin's criminal exploits take him to fantastic and exotic places all around the globe, so for the most part poor uncultured white boys like me can pick the series up without too much trouble. There is a pretty healthy dose of weirdness here and there, of course, but that comes mainly from having such an off-beat premise than overbearing Japanese influence. The only version of Lupin I've sampled is whatever one they run on Cartoon Network every so often. This is actually fairly interesting, since the English voice acting was done about two decades after the show was drawn. So you have the super-crummy late-70s-style animation paired up with jokes about "Should I grab the breast or the pocketbook? Decisions, decisions..." Starbucks and Viagra. Of course, having jokes about Starbucks and Viagra to begin with is a testament to how well the series was localized; if there is another English version of Lupin floating around, it's a fairly sure bet I'll never have to see it since the CN episodes are translated so well. I decided to knock off a full hamham since no matter what I do or how often I see the show, I just can't get over the fact that there's a master samurai running around with Lupin's posse. And he's in every episode. Sheesh. So here's the inevitable question that has been nagging this whole review: is Lupin wheat or chaff? The easy answer to that is: it's both. Lupin's good qualities are really fantastic; and I mean the stuff worthy of anime legends. When it's hip and funny and clever, the show really sparkles. On the other hand, it's bad parts are the makings of nightmares; a lot of the plots are either remarkably clumsy or incredibly dull, and a lot of the "jokes" are Bazooka Joe class at best. This is to say nothing of the diseased animation. Links Official Site Lupin Encyclopedia NOT a Lupin site IMDB Listing Animenation Listing Lupin the 3rd actually makes for a pretty good cross-section of anime as a whole - there's a few islands of goodness here to be had amidst an ocean of filth and refuse. Enough goodness, though, that I don't mind wading out every so often. A few episodes here and there is more than enough to sate my interest in the misadventures of Lupin and his companions without turning me completely off. And while I won't provide a download (sorry!) I highly recommend everyone hunt down an mp3 of Lupin the 3rd's opening theme. It's kickin'! "Lupin the thiiiiiiiiiiiiird!" Man, that's good stuff. Overall Rating:

© 2005 Richard Scibbe | brickroad@gmail.com | hosted by rpgmaker.net