Another odd take on the character. This starts off like a typical Lupin III story, heist, Zenigata springs trap, they banter, and Lupin escapes. However during that escape things quickly take a turn for the bloody.
Remember how serious I mentioned Dead or Alive was? Well director Hiroyuki Yano is back on this one, and without Monkey Punch’s direct involvement this becomes almost po-faced in it’s seriousness.
However if you can get past the lack of some of more light hearted elements of the franchise, it’s another well written, well made film. Not at the level of the two theatrical releases I’ve reviewed, but certainly the highlight of the TV specials. While I have some reservations about the character designs, the actual animation is top notch for a TV project with at least three action scenes (the knife fight, the mass fight on the boat and the climax) that are up there with the best 90s TV anime have to offer. From looking on the Japanese wikipedia, it appears this is the first of four Lupin specials that Hiroyuki Imaishi worked on. While the knife fight animation is a familiar style, I don’t think it’s him. My guess would be the sequence where they explain the effects of the poison. Anyone know for sure?
It might be flip and obvious to wonder if there are the fingerprints on Evangelion on this more serious take on Lupin. There’s one scene in particular with the villains secret government masters that brings to mind the conversations between Gendo and SEELE. Like I said though, it’s possibly an obvious connection to draw, and while it came out in 1997, post-Eva, it wasn’t until 1998 that you started to really see the post-Eva shows turn up. Brain Powrd, I’m looking at you.
How much do the characters look like the animators might have seen a Monkey Punch drawing at some point in their lives?
This is the most 90s looking of the films so far. Up until know, they’ve been a mix of Monkey Punch’s designs and the TMS house style, albeit in differing portions per film.
However here we have Fumitomo Kizaki (Blue Gender, Shadow Skill) supplying the character designs and we end up with highly angular character designs.
This means that Lupin is closer to “Lupin III M” than his classic design. He has a distinct “modern” sheen to him, that unfortunately some animators in the film make look too angular. Lupin with a long pointy nose is an odd look.
Zenigata, Goemon & Jigen seem pretty close to their traditional look, but like Lupin are missing a Monkey Punch gait.
Fujiko also comes out a lot better than in some of these films, facially very much a Monkey Punch woman. Her hair however seems a little off, both in colour and style.
All other characters however look straight from Kizaki’s pen rather than from a Lupin story, however because Lupin is close in style to them, it’s not as distracting as when you have the gang in their classic look surrounded by off the rack TMS characters.
How ludicrous are the capers?
It starts with a subversion of the classic Lupin heist opening, then moves into a plot that hinges on one distinctly sci-fi idea. Like Dead or Alive, it’s a strongly written plot. In fact it goes one step further and avoids the treasure hunting plot that so many of these films rely on. Instead it presents an impossible situation for Lupin & the gang to figure their way out of.
How much is Goemon involved in the story, rather than just a third act deus ex machina?
He says his “cut a worthless object” line for what I believe is the first time in these Funimation releases. He’s around from the second act, and is there as a distinct part of Lupin’s plan rather than a plot necessity. About as good a use of Goemon for a story that isn’t about him as you can expect.