I’ll start with the movies and specials then. See what works for me and then check out the main series itself.
Lupin the 3rd
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@Kaiolino I recommend this order:
- Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine
- Lupin III Part I (first half)
- Lupin III: Jigen’s Gravestone
- Lupin III: Goemon’s Bloodspray
- Lupin III: Fujiko Mine’s Lie
- Lupin III Part I (second half)
- The Castle of Cagliostro
- Lupin III Part II
- Lupin the First
- Lupin Zero
- Lupin III Part IV
- Lupin III Part V
- Lupin III Part VI
The highly rated movies and specials can be peppered in there. Just pay attention to Lupin’s coat color.
This is mostly chronological order, but I actually focused mostly on tone. The ones I listed first are all darker in tone until you get to the Miyazaki stuff (Part 1’s second half).
You COULD also start with Lupin Zero, which is tonally
more similar to the rest of the series. Skip part III. -
Pluto tv finally beginning to add more Lupin specials. Currently they just added Lupin the Third: Angel Tactics and Lupin The Third: Swallowtail Tatoo in the on demand section. Also last week on the Lupin the Third Pluto tv channel they been streaming alot of the specials that haven't been added to on demand yet (Island of Assassins, Dragon of Doom, Twilight Gemini, etc.).
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@karubiDON said in Lupin the 3rd:
@Kaiolino I recommend this order:
- Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine
No no no no noooooooooo.
If you like the Fujiko series thats great, it can be at the top of your list, but its an AWFUL suggestion for a starting sampler. It's stylistically and tonally radically different from anything else in the franchise and completely alters how some of the characters act.
That should not be someone's first outing, for the same reason Cagliostro shouldn't. No matter what you're personal preference or how much you like it, its SO different from everything else its a real false impression.
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I kind of made the mistake of making Castle of Cagliostro my first outing and, yes, it is fairly atypical of a Lupin story. But I stuck with the series and by now I certainly have a solid understanding of it.
A bad first impression isn't the worst thing. Just go in understanding that Lupin has taken many, many styles and forms over the year and many, many artists have tried their interpretations of the characters.
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@Robby said in Lupin the 3rd:
@karubiDON said in Lupin the 3rd:
@Kaiolino I recommend this order:
- Lupin III: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine
No no no no noooooooooo.
If you like the Fujiko series thats great, it can be at the top of your list, but its an AWFUL suggestion for a starting sampler. It's stylistically and tonally radically different from anything else in the franchise and completely alters how some of the characters act.
That should not be someone's first outing, for the same reason Cagliostro shouldn't. No matter what you're personal preference or how much you like it, its SO different from everything else its a real false impression.
Hmm… tonally, it’s the series most similar to Monkey Punch’s original Lupin III manga — hence why I chose it first. It’s a great introduction to all of the characters and a total period piece with the flair of the late 60s. I think it’s a great intro for adults attempting to get into Lupin.
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The original manga isn't a great first impression either. It's a lot more rapey, Lupin is just a straight up asshole, the gang isn't really crystalized, (Goemon takes ages to show up, Fujiko isn't an actual character but instead dozens of replaceable women, and I don't think there's a single story where all five of them are in the same story in the first dozen volumes) and its super focused on very short form gag stories.
It's actually not much like the Fujiko series are all beyond "everyone's an asshole" and the art style. The Fujiko series dropped the humor and fourth wall breaking.
The anime pulled away from it mid green jacket and has stayed very different from it for the 50 years since. It's the start, its the source, all props and credit to it, but the stuff that came after added so much to it that's now a staple, that the original manga is really really rough.
Like telling someone to start with the Mirage Ninja Turtles or black and white Doctor Who. Sure if you love the franchise you should get there eventually and see the origin point, but that's so different in pacing and style from what it became its not a good representation for what the majority of the franchise is. If they find it offputting, it's not a good example, and if they find it amazing, it's not a good example because theres not much else like it in the franchise.
Also, if the Fujiko series was someone's first outing they might think she and Pops hook up regularly and that's just... eww. Just eeeeww.
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I keep having other things to do but I watched the Episode 0 special and it was fun.
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@Robby said in Lupin the 3rd:
Also, if the Fujiko series was someone's first outing they might think she and Pops hook up regularly and that's just... eww. Just eeeeww.
It wasn’t that bad. Unexpected especially with the fact it happened in the opening of the episode it was end. But not particularly repulsive.
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@Time-Control-Magician said in Lupin the 3rd:
It wasn’t that bad. Unexpected especially with the fact it happened in the opening of the episode it was end. But not particularly repulsive.
It doesn't matter what they showed or how the scene was.
It's Fujiko. And Zenigata.
NO.
Fujiko and villain of the week, whatever, that's her usual MO.
But POPS
NO. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. For both of them! It's just... NO.
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@Kaiolino said in Lupin the 3rd:
I keep having other things to do but I watched the Episode 0 special and it was fun.
That is probably the best possible start. Now go anywhere you want knowing thats the baseline.
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@Robby said in Lupin the 3rd:
It doesn't matter what they showed or how the scene was.
It kinda does actually since it was deliberately shown in darkness
Fujiko and villain of the week, whatever, that's her usual MO.
Do you remember the old school gonkish designs of the villains of the week in this series!?
They didn’t all look like Pycal or Pon/Pong.
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What are you not understanding here. It's not about what was shown or who Fujiko has been with in the past.
It's that its FUJIKO AND POPS.
Exact same scene with random cop to get out of jail? No problem.
With ZENIGATA?
Not only is it a betrayal of everything Zenigata is, and it's just icky for Fujiko and is just wrong on every level for both of them.
It'd be like her and Jigen hooking up. Just no. It's WRONG.
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I understood that being your reasoning as to why you didn’t like the scene. When you mentioned it the first time, I just didn’t and don’t see it as being that egregious of a thing personally.
@Robby said in Lupin the 3rd:
It'd be like her and Jigen hooking up. Just no. It's WRONG.
To be fair in Jigen’s case. Jigen has made it pretty clear as to how much he mistrusts Fujiko so you’d never likely see that. Whereas Fujiko on a number of occasions across the franchise has attempted to seduce or deceive Zenigata to various success.
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WCFM doesn't really feel like the manga. The original manga is this weird rapey looney tunes thing with gag plots, random fourth wall breaking and the best possible puns. Like i guess you could argue that there is some sort of darkness to it, but it is so deeply comedic that it doesn't really feel similar to the serious tone of WCFM. Personally i dislike that series, so i may be biased, but even attempting to put aside my own tastes it does feel like an outlier entry.
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Like Zenigata has time to bang anyone while Lupahn is out there
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Well, there was that one episode from Part II where he had a girlfriend, who...died.
That was kinda messed up.
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@Nobodyman said in Lupin the 3rd:
Well, there was that one episode from Part II where he had a girlfriend, who...died.
That was kinda messed up.
You mean one where they turned it into a two parter with a bullshit twist in the 2nd episode
Cause if so that was indeed messed up.
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@Time-Control-Magician said in Lupin the 3rd:
@Nobodyman said in Lupin the 3rd:
Well, there was that one episode from Part II where he had a girlfriend, who...died.
That was kinda messed up.
You mean one where they turned it into a two parter with a bullshit twist in the 2nd episode
Cause if so that was indeed messed up.
Uh...as far as I recall it was only one episode, but I haven't finished part II yet.
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So that would probably be the episode where Lupin thought he was going through a Jekyll & Hyde thing and thought he killed the woman he brought back with him to his hotel.
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I'm talking about the episode where Zenigata had a girlfriend (sort of). It was episode 69.
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Zenigata getcha into my life is the dub title at least. Kind of a Jigen romance where the girl is death marked from the start.
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@Nobodyman said in Lupin the 3rd:
I'm talking about the episode where Zenigata had a girlfriend (sort of). It was episode 69.
Ohhhhhhh
That was a fucked up one too. Especially Fujiko helping the mobster involved in the plot.
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It's weird how Jigen of all characters has the best romance eps
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@Nobodyman said in Lupin the 3rd:
I'm talking about the episode where Zenigata had a girlfriend (sort of). It was episode 69.
Nice.
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Some stray thoughts after watching the first 8 specials
- I really like the dynamic when Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko are together. Reminds me of early OP Luffy, Zoro and Nami
- Conversely, I can’t get a handle at all on Goemon. He’s boring and his bit in each special is the same. Zenigata is great.
- I think I liked the looser art style from the first four specials more than the more traditional ‘90s shonen art style from the fifth special onwards
- While the quality of the specials varied, the only special that was truly awful was the eighth one (the one in Morocco). The gay villain (the crossdressing nazi from the seventh special gets a pass because of the pun in his name), the constant nudity, the needlessly complicated backstory of the feuding parties… what the hell. And while I’m hardly a Lupin III expert after 9 specials total, I feel like Lupin and Fujiko actually having sex takes a lot out of their dynamic.
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@Kaiolino said in Lupin the 3rd:
the only special that was truly awful was the eighth one (the one in Morocco)
The Secret of Twilight Gemini? Yeah that's at the lower end of the scale, checking my list that's one of the ones I've rated 1/5. The next one is Island of Assassins/Walther P-38 though, and that one I remember being really good, and Tokyo Crisis after that is one of my faves.
(Please note that I started making a list because I saw these things all over the place and many in fansub form decades ago with their japanese titles, so I needed a way to keep track before accidentally double dipping on buying one... I haven't actually seen a lot of them in decades and my opinions on them might be very different now after having seen a lot more Lupin)
And while I’m hardly a Lupin III expert after 9 specials total
Nah, if you've watched 9 specials, especially in order, you know the franchise as well as anyone at this point.
You may not have found the movies you really love or really hate at this point, but you've got the gist.
And Goemon is a character the writers often struggle with because he's so reserved and out of place. A lot of the time he's just wedged in because he HAS to be there, he cuts exactly one thing in the climax and says his catchphrase, and not much else.
Whenever he's explicitly given the B plot, or especially the A plot, he does a lot better. Fuma Conspiracy is a great outing for him, and has the best car chase in the franchise.
@Kaiolino said in Lupin the 3rd:
I feel like Lupin and Fujiko actually having sex takes a lot out of their dynamic.
Eh. With hundreds of adventures under their belt it'd be a little weird if they hadn't hooked up at least a few times, same way it'd be weird if Zenigata never even once caught Lupin.
Some stories play them more as a legitimate couple than others, some play them as frienemies, but Fujiko is basically always the one in control of the relationship.
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I apparently remember absolutely nothing about Green vs. Red. Like, none of this sounds familiar.
But then I only saw it once fifteen years ago so... I remember my overall take being it was pretty cool until the ending.
I really need to go back and rewatch some of these some time. A handful like Cagliostro, Fuma, Walther P-38, Tokyo Crisis, and Episode 0 I've seen several times... and early on I'd see a lot of them twice because I was also showing them to friends... but the vast vast majority I've only seen once.
Doesn't help that so many of them are middling quality that drag down the average as a whole. Maybe someday I'll just force a two month marathon and do all of them one movie a night in sequence and get super burned out on it halfway through. I know it's a bad idea. I know it's bad. Youtubers have tried and they all report the same result of it blending together and kind of hating it by the end. I've marathoned like 5 "new" ones in a row before and they became indistinct, can't imagine doing that to all 45? movies anymore than I would think marathoning all of James Bond is a good idea.
Have there really been no new Lupin movies since 2019? They used to be annual things but Prison of the Past is the (27th) last tv special, and Fujiko's Lie and the CGI movie all came out in 2019 and that was it.
Even the most recent tv series was 2021 so what gives?
Has the franchise just gone on pause until I personally catch up on the handful of things I haven't watched? Is this somehow my fault?
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I still have alot of the specials to watch. Since Pluto tv added a few more specials that's not on Tubi.
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A little dated since Jigen's actor retired from the role a few years ago but still amusing.
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Green shirt/jacket thing is kinda reachy since Lupin’s red jacket pretty much became a near permanent staple even after they changed it following series 3.
Truth be told I wish he kept the black pants and shirt. Never did like the gray pants and blue shirt.
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One could also argue that both have five core members to the cast.
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Pluto tv added another Lupin tv special, Sweet Lost Night. Between both Tubi and Pluto tv almost every Lupin tv special is available for streaming.
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I finally watched Angel Tataics. I really enjoyed this special. The animation for this special is really great, especially during the final battle between Lupin's gang and the Bloody Angels.
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I can't really recall that one too well. Is that the one where there is a macguffin that Goemon can't cut? Like a blue glowey thing.
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Yes.
Though comically Lupin switched the MacGuffin for a fake which you don’t find out until the end. He even let Goemon use the fake as a whetstone
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Eiko Masuyama, the original voice of Fujiko Mine have passed away.
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Man the whole gang has passed on huh.
I need to sit down and watch some of the stuff from their prime
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I watched Goemon's Blood Spray. I have to say this was a great movie. This movie had alot of really good action sequences. I have to say Hawk is terrifying villain throughout the movie. Goemon's mind games in his final battle against Hawk was just some crazy. Also Zenigata had some great moments in this movie, when he show ups
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That's probably the best one out of that particular sub set of Lupin movies, but I can never rewatch it because the rather graphic injuries people suffer make me cringe too much!