Lupin III – Dead Or Alive

The last Lupin III theatrical feature, it was ostensibly directed by Monkey Punch, the bulk was actually the work of Hiroyuki Yano, with Lupin’s creator only working on the opening and ending.

It would be hard for this to be any more different to Harimao’s Treasure. Whereas that seemed to be played mostly for laughs, this is played incredibly straight. The treatment of Zenigata is testament to this, in Harimao he was noodle guzzling goof, here he actually manages to capture Lupin. Well for awhile at least. In fact outside of my qualms about the character design (see below) this is an incredibly strong outing, benefiting from one of the cleverest plots the character has had in his screen outings.

How much do the characters look like the animators might have seen a Monkey Punch drawing at some point in their lives?

I’m not overly keen on the take on the characters’ design in this film. The bean shaped heads you’ve come to expect have been made overly stylised and detailed for my tastes. There’s a certain flowing, organic line that Monkey Punch had in his prime when drawing faces and it seems lost in these interpretations. Jigen probably fairs the best, the exaggerated take on his sharp beard almost taking him back to his early manga appearances.

But I may be being a little harsh. Looking at the earliest covers and some of his work in the 80s, Monkey Punch himself veered away from the look he gave the character in the strips themselves. It’s only really the later collections of the original strips and the Shin Lupin III collections that have that classic Monkey Punch look to them there on the covers. And if there’s one thing to be learnt from Green vs. Red, it’s that it only really matters that he acts like Lupin.

One big thing the film has over some of the specials, is that the character design feels unified throughout, with some thought given to every character. According to the Japanese wikipedia page, the animation director Marisuke Eguchi was responsible for the character design.

How ludicrous are the capers?

The opening scene’s car chase is excellent. Then into the main story, we find ourselves in science fiction territory again, as Lupin has to find away past a nanotech controlled defense system of deadly shapechanging tentacles. This leads to an ending that has both a genuinely clever twist and some awesome action.

How much is Goemon involved in the story, rather than just a third act deus ex machina?

In terms of Goemon use, this film is probably a good baseline. He’s there all the way through, but not particularly crucial to the plot. Nor does he get anything particularly flashy to do or a lot of banter. However he’s not misused or left as some kind of super being who gets to pull the rest of the gang out of trouble.