So it's kinda like what Mystery Inc was to Scooby Doo?
Lupin the 3rd
-
-
Except without the Elder Gods. And bootleg Jeff Bezos is the villain.
-
This movie is looking gorgeous. -
Ive been watching pt 5 on Toonami and I highly agree with TLC, it is leaps and bounds more enjoyable than pt 4, which felt like I was obligated to keep up with it. Pt5 keeps me coming back willingly. And that dub cast oh so good.
I love the flashback episodes to previous Jacket Eras. Tge tone is a bit dofferent, but they're still fun. The car race and Thief Zenigata being rhe highlights.
This weekend they're airing the Is Lupin Still Burning OAV.
-
Just finished the finale, and yeah, Part 5 was great. Much better than Part 4.
The only character I feel who got shafted, in terms of screen time, was Zenigata. Otherwise, great entry in the Lupin franchise.
-
So anybody knows how well received was the new movie?
-
It's made over 700 million yen but has dropped at least three different places at the box office over three weeks.
-
Finally sat down and watched operation return the treasure…. And its super good?! Like fall out of your chair in suprise good. Fun plot, good balance betwenn comedy and action, lots of good banter betwenn the leads and it was not too heavy on the villains plan which is a nice change of pace. Solid animation, good character design and interesting visuals. Like those florida mafia guys in hawai shirts is just a fun visual thing in the middle of an overall serious fight y'know. It could've made better use of Zenigata but that is a minor complaint. Overall a really solid entry, up there with some of my favorites for sure.
And i also re-watched gold of babylon, and i think going in and knowing what the pink series is and how weird it is takes away alot of the harsh what the hell is this even feelings i previously had. Don't get me wrong it is still full of weird visual choices, off character drawings and just bizarre scenes but once i got passed that it isn't quite as bad as i remembered it to be. The whole space aliens thing is still pretty weird tho.
-
Finally sat down and watched operation return the treasure…. And its super good?! Like fall out of your chair in suprise good. Fun plot, good balance betwenn comedy and action, lots of good banter betwenn the leads and it was not too heavy on the villains plan which is a nice change of pace. Solid animation, good character design and interesting visuals. Like those florida mafia guys in hawai shirts is just a fun visual thing in the middle of an overall serious fight y'know. It could've made better use of Zenigata but that is a minor complaint. Overall a really solid entry, up there with some of my favorites for sure.
And i also re-watched gold of babylon, and i think going in and knowing what the pink series is and how weird it is takes away alot of the harsh what the hell is this even feelings i previously had. Don't get me wrong it is still full of weird visual choices, off character drawings and just bizarre scenes but once i got passed that it isn't quite as bad as i remembered it to be. The whole space aliens thing is still pretty weird tho.
It's Lupin occasional weirdness comes with the territory.
-
It's Lupin occasional weirdness comes with the territory.
True enough i guess, i mean the red jacket series has an ep about the vampire queen sister of jesus christ and Fujiko dressed up as Elvis for some reason so i'm no stranger to weird. But the babylon film was just weird weird, like not this is a gag weird, but what is going on weird. But how did you rate that one? It feels like it could be a divisive one
-
True enough i guess, i mean the red jacket series has an ep about the vampire queen sister of jesus christ and Fujiko dressed up as Elvis for some reason so i'm no stranger to weird.
Lol classic but nothing tops Lupin losing his body to an old guy rich guy and then coming up with a complicated plan that involves kidnapping Zenigata then having his mind put in the old guy's body which he originally was in, the old guy winding up in Zenigata's body, Lupin winding up in his original body and then destroying the machine that enabled the body switching leaving everyone but him stuck in the wrong body.
I honestly can’t remember though if I’ve seen Return The Treasure is that the one where the final battle takes place at a construction site?
As for Gold Of Babylon I’ve not seen that (you can guess the reason ironic as it is).
-
Kind of? They're renovating an ancient cathedral or something so there is alot of construction stuff going on. Lots of stair fighting, and people chasing the macguffin up and down said stairs. A bunch of mafia guys in gaudy shirts and the traditional split off where Jigen gets the gun guy and Goemon gets the knife lady. A pretty typical but well executed end fight. But yeah the red jacket series was pretty strange at times, but when you have 180 episodes made in short time there is bound to slip in an off idea once in a while. I'm still bummed the Sweden episode didn't have any attempt to steal any national treasures but rather a treasure map printed on those ladies backs, talk about wasting a good option
-
Return the Treasure is one of the better ones. Not in my top 5 but one of the better ones.
I still have a handful of the most recent ones I need to watch… and then maybe someday I'll rewatch the old faves and see how they stack up. Its been 20 years or more since I last watched some of those films, though when there's like 40 plus all the tv series it starts to blend together some.
-
Kind of? They're renovating an ancient cathedral or something so there is alot of construction stuff going on. Lots of stair fighting, and people chasing the macguffin up and down said stairs. A bunch of mafia guys in gaudy shirts and the traditional split off where Jigen gets the gun guy and Goemon gets the knife lady. A pretty typical but well executed end fight. But yeah the red jacket series was pretty strange at times, but when you have 180 episodes made in short time there is bound to slip in an off idea once in a while. I'm still bummed the Sweden episode didn't have any attempt to steal any national treasures but rather a treasure map printed on those ladies backs, talk about wasting a good option
I liked it I remember liking Jigen’s duel with the guy he shot in the face thought it was kind of silly how the villain killed himself after accidentally shooting the female villain he treated like shit Throughout the whole film a lot of everything else about the film is a blur.
-
Just watched blood of the mermaid and i didn't much care for it. Mostly because it is one of those heavy on the fantasy ones where the main cast seem lost, like their capers just feed into the villains plan to discover the holy macguffin and the last part went all third rate indiana jones in some jungle temple full of traps and cursed relics. And also because this is one of those films where there is an annoying kid being shoved in my face constantly. Oh well, on the plus side it had an english dub, sounds like a new Zenigata tho, but the rest of the gang sounds perfect (that is red jackety) and the animation is super fluid. Too bad it was wasted on an indiana lupin movie.
Return the Treasure is one of the better ones. Not in my top 5 but one of the better ones.
I still have a handful of the most recent ones I need to watch… and then maybe someday I'll rewatch the old faves and see how they stack up. Its been 20 years or more since I last watched some of those films, though when there's like 40 plus all the tv series it starts to blend together some.
Maybe you'd need to revise your recommendations list after a re-watchathon. Besides there is no bad reason for sitting down to watch some Lupin
I liked it I remember liking Jigen’s duel with the guy he shot in the face thought it was kind of silly how the villain killed himself after accidentally shooting the female villain he treated like shit Throughout the whole film a lot of everything else about the film is a blur.
Yeah that was a little weird and most of all it happend so damn sudden. Felt like it was based on some old type of drama or something, maybe it is a reference to some trope in Japanese style dramas or something.
-
Maybe you'd need to revise your recommendations list after a re-watchathon. Besides there is no bad reason for sitting down to watch some Lupin
My general experience had been that its a BAD idea to marathon Lupin movies together. They blend together fast and all become indistinct. Every time I've watched 3-5 movies new close together none of them end up working.
I suppose I'd at least have the benefit of being able to skip the REALLY bad ones outright, but I think there's just too many of them for me to ever seriously work through all of them again.
Most of the ones I've really liked I've seen a few times, at least.
-
Doesn't help that alot of the old ones are out of stock.
I've been looking for nostradamus for forever.
-
Sat down and watched napoleons dictionary and in memory of walther. Couldn't have picked two more different movies to watch back to back, and to no suprise i vastly prefered the silly fun of Napoleon over the angst of the island of assasins. Dark storylines and Lupin just don't mix well in my opinion. But it did have excellent visuals, while napoleon has that truly bottom of the barrel bye bye lady liberty art style, but the overall charm more than makes up for it.
-
Both of those are among my favorites. I wouldn't want to watch Island of Assassins every day, or have every Lupin movie be like it, but it was a cool Cowboy Bebop inspired outing.
Napoleon's Dictionary I haven't watched since I got it on bootleg VHS however, so its been a while. Need to pick up the official dvd at some point.
-
Do you guys habe any suggestions for Someone Who casually watched the classic anime as a kid and would Like to try some lupin stuff? Movies and series both
-
Do you guys habe any suggestions for Someone Who casually watched the classic anime as a kid and would Like to try some lupin stuff? Movies and series both
- Green jack original series is a bit rough. Some good eps in there but they don't really have the formula down, its really old, and rough
- Red jacket tv series, dubbed, is best Lupin. If you watch only one batch of Lupin, this is the batch.
- Pink jacket is… skippable. You can tell the staff were on drugs.
- Blue Jacket is the newest and best looking, and are okay with some really good episodes but I feel like doing a long ongoing 26 episode plot doesn't really play to Lupin's strengths, but it sort of hits the strengths of all the eras.
- Fujiko Mine series is... not at all like the other stuff. Its VERY nice visually and stylewise, but in terms of tone it's just... wrong and offputting.
Movies? Castle of Caglistro is my all time favorite movie (not just Lupin or animated, but favorite movie) though it's Lupin through a very Miyzaki lens.
Fuma Conspiracy is probably my favorite after that.
My GOOD list, in short...
Castle of Cagliostro
Fuma Conspiracy
Episode 0
Napoleon's Dictionary
Walther p-38/Island of Assassinswith honorable mentions to Voyage to Danger, Tokyo Crisis, Alcatraz Connection
The REALLY BAD list, AVOID THESE
Gold of Babylon (VERY on drugs)
Burn, Zantetsuken! / Dragon of Doom (the plot involves... making an invincible airplane and flying it into buildings. It was bad even before 9/11)
The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (entire movie hinges around a Herr Maphrodite nazi joke)
From Russia with Love (The villain wasRasputin? I think he killed people with his toungue or something. I don't remember why it was so bad but I wrote it down as bad so...) -
It cannot be stressed enough that the red jacket series with the gag dub is the single greatest Lupin media ever released.
-
I will Start with red Jacket and after that have a Look at some of those Films then, thanks.
-
- Red jacket tv series, dubbed, is best Lupin. If you watch only one batch of Lupin, this is the batch.
- Pink jacket is… skippable. You can tell the staff were on drugs.
To be pretty fair when you look at the writing and some of the animation in some of the episodes of Red Jacket it's pretty clear that staff may have been on drugs even then.
-
Yeah but Pink Jacket you can tell from any given episode in about 20 seconds. Red you have to watch for a while.
-
I mean sure on first brush but once you’ve sat through all 155 episodes it becomes quite easy to separate the good episodes from the “who wrote these” episodes.
-
To my knowledge the pink jacket series had no references to Reggie Miller, which makes it objectively worse
-
I agree with the others that the Red jacket series is the best series to watch. Although it might be nostalgia speaking, I actually watched most of the anime for the first time four years ago (whereas I only saw some of it back as a teenager), so there is that.
The original Green jacket series I remember had some things that made it neat, but I don't remember what. Me and my terrible memory. The Pink jacket series was, you know, actually not the worst watch from me, but it's been a few years.
I'm admittedly not a huge fan of the modern Lupin series that take themselves super seriously and are focused on series long storytelling. They do have their moments, but overall I prefer the original series.
-
To my knowledge the pink jacket series had no references to Reggie Miller, which makes it objectively worse
I mean it was never dubbed into English which is kind of comical in a way.
-
I mean it was never dubbed into English which is kind of comical in a way.
You are only making my case stronger for me.
Yeah but Pink Jacket you can tell from any given episode in about 20 seconds. Red you have to watch for a while.
The red jacket rambles on aimlessly too, just not as much as the pink one does. And honestly the fact that the insanely long run means there are no bad ideas is the shows biggest strength. That along with the make it up as you go along continuity gives us like five tragic Jigen romances, like dozens of previously unheard of enemies and true loves never to be seen again characters and uncountable cases of what the fuckery. The ancient chinese method of drinking books turns Lupin into confucius? Sure go with it. Napoleon wants to take over France but he has uncurable narcolepsi? What you waited for a veto on that one? The hit ratio for truly great isn't that good, but the absolutely unwatchable ones are few and far betwenn.
-
I wouldn’t call any of the episodes in part 2 unwatchable just you can skip this. With a least 3 crossing into yeah you should probably skip this territory.
-
The great shame is that they only dubbed 79 episodes out of 155. (Especially since 145 and 155 were the return of Miyazaki episodes.) And that the movies were picked up by a different company entirely and had an entirely different cast.
Guys that got blue jacket knew who to bring back though.
-
The Adult Swim airings of the first 20 or so episodes of Lupin, Part 2 was the way that I got into the series. I need to get back watching the dub of the Lupin, Part 2 eventually. Since I did got to see recently the episode that Adult Swim skipped. Again, this was still early Adult Swim, which they were still censoring their shows of content. The one episode of the Adult Swim airings that me and some of my friends still talk about was the episode, "I left my mind in San Francisco" due to part with Zenigata was singing that song with the doctor.
-
The Adult Swim airings of the first 20 or so episodes of Lupin, Part 2 was the way that I got into the series. I need to get back watching the dub of the Lupin, Part 2 eventually. Since I did got to see recently the episode that Adult Swim skipped. Again, this was still early Adult Swim, which they were still censoring their shows of content. The one episode of the Adult Swim airings that me and some of my friends still talk about was the episode, "I left my mind in San Francisco" due to part with Zenigata was singing that song with the doctor.
And here comes sano making another push for why episodes referencing reggie miller are just superior.
But i guess that means you never got to see the first hitler episode. I can't imagine that one got past the censurs
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
I wouldn’t call any of the episodes in part 2 unwatchable just you can skip this. With a least 3 crossing into yeah you should probably skip this territory.
Skippable might be more accurate.
Like i do with that fujikos fat aunt episode
The great shame is that they only dubbed 79 episodes out of 155. (Especially since 145 and 155 were the return of Miyazaki episodes.) And that the movies were picked up by a different company entirely and had an entirely different cast.
Guys that got blue jacket knew who to bring back though.
I could've sworn that i had heard the red jacket Lupin in a few movie dubs. But i could be mistaken.
-
Geneon did dub the Secrct of Mamo movie. Which I thought was a pretty good movie and the Geneon english dub cast were great as usual in it.
-
I could've sworn that i had heard the red jacket Lupin in a few movie dubs. But i could be mistaken.
It's entirely possible. The different movies got picked up by lots of different companies. The ones I have are all a different group though.
-
Skippable might be more accurate.
Like i do with that fujikos fat aunt episode
When you have an episode where some fat rich guy wants to eat Lupin’s Brain, another one where the main villain melts the polar ice caps, and whatever the hell episode 59 was supposed to be about that one doesn’t come as bad by comparison.
-
Geneon did dub the Secrct of Mamo movie. Which I thought was a pretty good movie and the Geneon english dub cast were great as usual in it.
Ah thats the one. Good movie overall, great production values, the good voice cast, weak villain, goofy plot and weirdly out of character Zenigata trying to stake Lupin through the heart to make sure he stays dead. Now i know characterization changes from film to film but that felt decidely not like pops.
It's entirely possible. The different movies got picked up by lots of different companies. The ones I have are all a different group though.
Most confusing thing is when there is multiple dubs for a film. I remember the hard disapointment when i shelled out for a cagliostro dvd and it was some crap dub that didn't even have goemon say - should've worn an asbestos suit!
When you have an episode where some fat rich guy wants to eat Lupin’s Brain, another one where the main villain melts the polar ice caps, and whatever the hell episode 59 was supposed to be about that one doesn’t come as bad by comparison.
Where else could you get away with crack plots like these.
All shows should run on a weekly basis with no room for planning. Just deadline panic induce craziness and the occasional spot of brilliance.
-
When you have an episode where some fat rich guy wants to eat Lupin’s Brain, another one where the main villain melts the polar ice caps, and whatever the hell episode 59 was supposed to be about that one doesn’t come as bad by comparison.
How about the one where Lupin is tricked into thinking he's staring in western movie or the one about Jigen only being able to aim if he's wearing his specific hat?
I just bought First Contact and Return the Treasure and enjoyed both of them. I mean I LOVED Return the Treasure, it had everything I love about Lupin stories.
I still think part V might be my favorite thing in the franchise though.
-
How about the one where Lupin is tricked into thinking he's staring in western movie or the one about Jigen only being able to aim if he's wearing his specific hat?
I liked the latter episode but yeah that was goofy writing….....and then Tokyo Crisis comes along with Jigen having trouble shooting because of a toothache.
-
I've only watched Lupin the 3rd red jacket series dubbed, which other seasons were dubbed, I know a woman called Fujiko Mine was dubbed by Funimation
-
I've only watched Lupin the 3rd red jacket series dubbed, which other seasons were dubbed, I know a woman called Fujiko Mine was dubbed by Funimation
Parts IV and V were both dubbed. Don't think I and III were. Also, the Is Lupin Still Burning special and Castle of Cagliostro movie are both dubbed. No idea about anything else.
-
Anyone have opinions on these titles:
Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid
Voyage To Danger
The Hemingway Papers
Bye, Bye Lady Liberty
Goemon's Bloodspray
Dragon of Doom
I think Robby said he thought The Legend of the Gold of Babylon was bad.I don't think I've seen any of these but I see a lot of them for sale pretty cheap and some are for rent on Amazon.
-
Anyone have opinions on these titles:
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid
I'll just quote myself from last page.
"Just watched blood of the mermaid and i didn't much care for it. Mostly because it is one of those heavy on the fantasy ones where the main cast seem lost, like their capers just feed into the villains plan to discover the holy macguffin and the last part went all third rate indiana jones in some jungle temple full of traps and cursed relics. And also because this is one of those films where there is an annoying kid being shoved in my face constantly. Oh well, on the plus side it had an english dub, sounds like a new Zenigata tho, but the rest of the gang sounds perfect (that is red jackety) and the animation is super fluid. Too bad it was wasted on an indiana lupin movie."
Voyage To Danger
Its pretty good. Depends on your preferences tho, its leaning more toward the serious end of the spectrum. And Zenigata is 100% butt monkey comic relief running around in an apron and being useless which i just don't care for. Its one of those new guy gets assigned to kill Lupin type stories, and Jigen gets a tragic love story again.
The Hemingway Papers
Bye, Bye Lady Liberty
These movies have the dubious honor of having the ugliest character designs in Lupin history. Lady liberty is the better one of them, with solid animation and it has a good enough dub even if they call him wolf. Hemmingway is a little too goofy for my taste, like not that stealing the statue of liberty isn't zany in itself, but that one has a chess game betwenn warlords over like the nuclear weapons discovered by Ernest Hemmingway. Also Jigen fights a guy namned crazy mash, which is just the peak silly name even in a silly franchise.
I think Robby said he thought The Legend of the Gold of Babylon was bad.
It is bad. But not quite as bad as its reputation. Certainly alot of bizarre choices like Zenigata leading a troop of police beauty contestants to capture Lupin, and more animation errors and off model characters than you'd ever expect from a big screen release. But its worth a watch if you come by it for cheap.
-
Anyone have opinions on these titles:
Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid
Voyage To Danger
The Hemingway Papers
Bye, Bye Lady Liberty
Goemon's Bloodspray
Dragon of Doom
I think Robby said he thought The Legend of the Gold of Babylon was bad.I don't think I've seen any of these but I see a lot of them for sale pretty cheap and some are for rent on Amazon.
I'll just repost my old list. I've seen nearly everything but not the most recent few. Have to get in the mood to track them down. (Is Jigens gravestone really 2014? I really need to get around to that.)
Long write up version
[hide]THEATRICAL
Mystery of Mamo- Decent up until the very end with the giant brain***Castle of Cagliostro- Miyazaki, AND Lupin, at their very best. In the top five, easily. the atmosphere, villains, teamworks, characterization, action sequences, etc. etc. etc. I think I've bought this movie like, 7 times now for different reasons.
Legend of the Gold of Babylon- Pink jacket, bizarre visuals, and space aliens. One of the lousy ones.
To Hell with Nostradamus- Skyscraper jewel heist. A decent one. Not bad, but not great.
Dead or Alive- The only movie to have a wallscroll of it, the imagery decorated my wall for years without me seeing the movie. And then, it turned out to be a bit of a dissapointment when I finally did see it, opening chase scene aside. It involved a crazy totally unfair plot twist that wasn't foreshadowed at all. Meh.
Lupin vs. Conan II- Well, its another crossover movie. They just don't blend well and I'm not a huge Conan fan, so its mostly lost on me.
OVA
***Fuma Conspiracy- This one was direct to video, and then went to theaters. Kooky. Its Goemon centric, but it has traps of death, plot twists abound, and THE GREATEST CAR CHASE EVER. Such an awesome car chase I ripped it off shot for shot in NHS issue 104. One of my faves.
Return of Pycal- A villain that appeared in one random early episode of the tv show came back for his own movie. (Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the tv show.) As I recall, I really liked this one as I watched it, though I seem to recall the ending felt rushed and I didn't end up loving it, as a result.
Red vs. Green- Celebrating the 40th anniversary. There's a couple loving touches to the history of it all (Lupins that look like every design ever, the cagliostro theme in places, lots of little homage touches) and the premise of a random guy trying to BE Lupin is actually pretty interesting, up until the end where they reveal where they were going with this.
TV SPECIALS
_Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis-_A decent romp, every character gets to do a little something. Does everything right, hits all the proper notes. Couple fun scenes, and a decent start to the annual tv specials… nothing bad, but... nothing really outstanding or memorable. (Though time has made a real fool of the 1989 computer tech.) A perfectly average Lupin caper, but it has an annoying little kid, a reeeally obvious plot twist, and the evil magical cult is pushing it as far as villains go, even for Lupin... and it just lacks a little something.
Mystery of the Hemmingway Papers- A really good solid Lupin romp thats true to all the characters. Some very good moments for Jigen, Pops is minimilized. A very good outing, but no particular scene or aspect of it really makes it stand out to put it in the top 5, but pretty good none the less.
***Steal Napoleon's Dictionary- A car chase movie, that has NO villain, and dependent almost entirely on Zenigata as the foil. A lot of fun because it gives great insight on both Lupin and Pop's interpreatations of the other.
From Russia With Love- The premise whas that the villain Rasputin… was immortal. Except he eventually was killed. I don't remember anything about this one, except that it was overly silly, which is probably telling.
***Orders to Assassinate Lupin / Voyage to Danger- Zenigata is taken off the Lupin case, and so then works WITH Lupin, always fun. And Jigen meets a girl. I think this is the movie where EVERYBODY gets killed one by one, oh so dramatically, only to show they all survived. REALLY Good a first time, but not so much a second.
Burn, Zantetsuken! / Dragon of Doom- Not just a BAD Lupin movie, this is THE bad Lupin movie. The villain's master plan involves making an indestructable airplane that specifically acannot be cut by Goemon. The resolution? Goemon cuts it anyway. Also involved scavenging the Titanic in a lengthy really borin sequence. BAD. Especialyl so after 9/11 where the baddies plan was to fly an uncuttable airplane with no windows,into buildings. blech
The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure- Nazis make good villains, right? Not when the main one is a cross-dresser named "Maphrodite" (sic). Add the nazi title "Herr" in front of it, and you get "Herr Maphrodite". It basically 90 minutes built around eventually getting to one REALLY bad pun. One of the terrible ones.
The Secret of Twilight Gemini- I think Lupin is barely even IN this one. Its a plot that was like, for a different movie that had the Lupin gang inserted. It was another weak one, one of many in a row, but I honestly dont remember much about it.***In Memory of the Walther P-38 / Island of Assassins- One of the really good ones. Wikipedia disproves what I always thought… that the Cowboy Bebop folks were responsible for this one. The cinematics, music, some of the plot points and visuals, were straight up Bebop. Very cinematic, very cool to watch. Not the funnest Lupin movie, but cool to look at.
***Memories of the Flame: Tokyo Crisis / Crisis in Tokyo- The first Lupin movie I ever saw, so it gets a soft spot for that… it also has a good plot with Zenigata, once again, carrying on despite having no actual police authority. Also includes Jigen's toothache bit. I don't know that it'd be in my personal top five, but it IS pretty good.
Fujiko's Unlucky Days / The Columbus Files- You'd think a movie all about that bitch Fujiko having to suffer would be great… but no, she just sort of gets amnesia. Has a couple great visuals, like Lupin kissing Fujiko through prison bars, which I saw out of context in AMVS and always thought was very sweet... which loses something IN context. Fails to live up to the premise of much Fujiko suffering. Not a bad one, but not a good one either.
$1 Money Wars / Missed by a Dollar- Lupin gets killed and everyone grieves. Good material, but the premise dwindles once Lupin is revealed to be alive 10 minutes in (as you knew he had to be) and there is still most of the movie to go.
Alcatraz Connection- A fun outing, with a decent monorail chase scene (but nowhere near as good as Cagliostro or Fuuma's) with a real classy and stylish english version of the opening theme, that had a lot of really good Lupin/Pops moments. Good scheme within a scheme, Pops was at the top of his game, and a truly substantial evil villain plot involving the mafia, presidential elections, and enough villains to go around for the entire cast… but the run time shortchanged a few of those elements, or their wrap up, down to about a minute when they could have been stories all their own. things. The JFK assassination tie in was a little unnecessary. With another 20 minutes or so it mighta been one of the greats... but as is it's only pretty solid outing that mostly just left me wanting more. Though maybe that means its great? I think its just on the edge of it.
***Episode 0- Great retelling of the origin, awesome animation and music, good comedy, drama, action scenes, great showing from the entire cast (as their "first" outing!) and even slides in some of the scenes straight from the original Goemon episode from episode 5 of the green jacket series! Everything Lupin is about. Awesome stuff.
Operation Return the Treasure- Really fun with a nice twist, where Lupin RETURNS treasures. A really good Lupin romp, but once again, nothing really outstanding or memorable beyond the premise to make it one of the greats, but a solid outing.
_Stolen Lupin-_A servicible outing with a few good caper bits. Didn't do anything bad, but didn't do anything really memorable or interesting either. Another perfectly standard Lupin caper. Had a lot of promise with the young girl with the butterfly tattoo that wanted to imitate Lupin, and "The Lupin Collection" but neither really paid off.
Angel's Tactics- A bunch of women, one each matched a Lupin gang member (thief, gunner, swordswoman and androgynous one) chase the gang. A passable outing till about 2/3 through when each of the women dies one by one right as they develop interesting backstories, and the remaining villains go extra over the top switching from androgynous to a full ballgown and umbrella right out of a suit, an army of female ninjas from commandos, a nerd to psycho bitch, Fujiko more useless than usual and yet ANOTHER evil Zenigata partner. Falls from average to not-good in the last act, but some good Lupin/Pops stuff holds it together. Not the worst, but not good either.Seven Days Rhapsody- Really good opening ten minute sequence, but after that buisness as usual. Young girl that needs help and crushes on Lupin by the end, diamond fakery, a big villain plan that involves blackmailing the president, etc. A decent outing,and the usual gang at odds on different missions that eventually overlap, with Goemon's trademark line no less than 3 times, but no amazingly memorable moments or sequences.
Elusivness of the Fog- Lupin timetravelling. Bleh, that's like having Lupin and aliens, its just dumb. Bland villain that started out okay, and with a Fujiko stand-in for Fujiko, and some really obvious "hey, that was my ancestor!" setups without doing anything interesting with it… just... bleh. Pops was used horribly, Lupin was unable to fairly solve the main mystery of the plot, and neither Jigen or Goemon did anything memorable. Mighta been an okay actual historical, or with Geomon teaming with Goemon the first, or historical Zenigata that used Zeni coins or something but no. All a waste. A change of pace is cool, but... not when it's timetravel to 500 years ago. Was pretty bored by this one. Not insultingly bad like the absolute worst movies, but its definitely bottom tier that I won't watch again.
Magic Lamp's Nightmare- Following the stupidity of Lupin time travelling, we get Lupin stealing Aladdin's lamp and getting a wish from a genie. Thankfully its not as dumb as the premise seems because of course its actually a tech thing… but it then leads into them trying to do a Memento thing with Lupin constantly losing his memory and waking up 12 hours later with no idea what happened and it doesn't work. It's also over the top cartoony comedy and iffy direction Meh.
Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan- Decent outing. More of a Lupin move than a Conan movie, and the two crews don't interact all that much… mostly the payoff is in the final sequence when the characters really start interacting and Conan does his usual "knock the inspector unconscious" bit on Zenigata... and it doesn't quite work.
Lupin III : the Last Job- Zenigata gets killed, and Lupin takes up revenge. Pretty decent, but much like the earlier film where Lupin dies, since you just know Zenigata isn't going to STAY dead, it loses something. Actually, it pretty much loses all steam once he's revealed to be alive, which they probably should have held off on until the very end. has ninjas.
Blood Seal - Eternal Mermaid- Lupin helps a 14 year old girl recue her immortal mermaid sister. Animation was good, couple of okay but not great set pieces, pretty standard fare. Nothing bad, but nothing that demands repeat viewings either. Someone wanted to write about a girl and her immortal sister and sort of crammed a Lupin plot around it. Franchise has high fantasy/sci-fi plenty often but it still feels weird when it goes as extreme as it did here.
Record of Observations of the East - Another Page
Princess of the Breeze - Hidden City in the Sky
Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone-
The Blood Spray of Goemon-
Live action movie- It's… uhm... live action. It's neat for that? But it'd be a pretty iffy animated outing.[/hide]
Short star rating version[hide]
THEATRICAL
1978-Mystery of Mamo-**
1979-Castle of Cagliostro-*****
1985-Legend of Gold of Babylon- *
1995-To Hell with Nostradamus-***
1996-Dead or Alive-**
2013- Lupin vs Conan II- ***
2014- Lupin live action film **
OVA 1987-Fuma Conspiracy-*****
2002-Return of Pycal-***
2008-Red vs. Green-** (bad ending)
TV SPECIALS
1989- Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis-** 1990- Mystery of the Hemmingway Papers- ******
1991- Steal Napoleon's Dictionary-***
1992- From Russia With Love- *
1993- Orders to Assassinate Lupin / Voyage to Danger-***
1994- Zantetsuken! / Dragon of Doom- *
1995- The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure-*
1996- The Secret of Twilight Gemini-* 1997- In Memory of the Walther P-38 / Island of Assassins- *******
1998- Tokyo Crisis- *******
1999- Fujiko's Unlucky Days / The Columbus Files- **
2000- $1 Money Wars / Missed by a Dollar-
2001- Alcatraz Connection -**
2002- Episode 0- ******* 2003- Operation Return the Treasure- ******
2004- Stolen Lupin- ***
2005- Angel's Tactics- **
2006- Seven Days Rhapsody- ***
2007- Elusiveness of the Fog- *
2008- Sweet Lost Night ~Magic Lamp's Nightmare Premonition-
2009- Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan- ***
2010- The Last Job-*
2011- Blood Seal - Eternal Mermaid- ***
2012- Record of Observations of the East - Another Page- haven't seen
2013- Princess of the Breeze - Hidden City in the Sky- haven't seen
2014- Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone haven't seen
2017- The Blood Spray of Goemon- haven't seen[/hide]To answer your questions tho.
Haven't seen Jigen's gravestone or Goemon's bloodspray yet.
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid some good set pieces and good animation, not great
Voyage To Danger is pretty good. 4/5.
The Hemingway Papers- Pretty good, another 4/5.
Bye, Bye Lady Liberty-it was their first tv movie and its fine for that, though the computer tech has aged baaaaaadDragon of Doom- One of the absolute worst Lupin movies. Avoid at all costs. It was bad on its own merits, and made even worse after 9/11.
Gold of Babylon- is very… Pink Jacket. I've actually seen the third series since I originally saw that movie, and it's very much of the era.Bear in mind, thats sort of a list I've compiled over the course of many years, going back to bootleg VHS tape days. I haven't seen some of those in a long while, they may or may not have aged well, and I don't really remember them aside from my own notes. And ones I saw earlier I might have rated higher than ones I saw later... since after you've seen 30 of these things and 300 episodes you start having higher standards on them, they need to really shine to stand out, so one I liked a lot 20 years ago might just be average now, and something average might have been higher if I saw it in 2002..
Someday I'll marathon them all again probably, the issue I've discovered is if you watch even two or three close together they blend together pretty fast.
-
My main take away from bloodspray is that i didn't know how much i needed to see Goemon clash with what can accurately be described as Richard Kiels Jaws spliced with a burly Canadian lumberjack
-
Jigen's Gravestone and Goemon's Bloodspray have that more serious tone of A Woman Named Fujiko.
I liked them, but then my start before the Blue Jacket was A Woman Named Fujiko, so… -
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid some good set pieces and good animation, not great
The main problem is, like you said in your summary, that the Lupin gang feel like an after thought. Nothing in this really needed their presence, and the main meat of it all was on the sister plot. Felt like a waste of a good dub and a large budget.
Voyage To Danger is an average outing.
It is also violently 90's. For good and bad.
I really like that old school "dark" animation.
The style reminded me of the original HxH anime
Bye, Bye Lady Liberty-it was their first tv movie and its fine for that, though the computer tech has aged baaaaaad
It is funny in two parts since they first jam your face in the cream of 1980's tech, behold the floppy disk of power! And then it has absolutely no effect on the plot beyond being a jumping of point
-
I famously did not like the Fujiko serious at all. It looked fantastic but the tone was not at all what I was looking for in a Lupin series.
The main problem is, like you said in your summary, that the Lupin gang feel like an after thought. Nothing in this really needed their presence, and the main meat of it all was on the sister plot. Felt like a waste of a good dub and a large budget.
Also once they reveal the magufffin that the girl is immortal, they get really sloppy and she dies violently a whole bunch of times. Which doesn't raise the stakes or make it more dramatic, it just sort of puts a pin on how ridiculous it is that everyone else always gets away unharmed. The third season of Young Justice had the same problem.
-
Thanks guys, that's really helpful. So definitely avoid Dragon of Doom. lol.
Think I'll give Napoleon's Dictionary and the Hemingway Papers a go next.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
It is funny in two parts since they first jam your face in the cream of 1980's tech, behold the floppy disk of power! And then it has absolutely no effect on the plot beyond being a jumping of point
This actually makes me want to watch it.