Catle of Caglisotro is the Miyazaki Lupin film, and its one of my all time favorite movies period, not just Lupin, not just animated, but favorite movies. Maybe even my number 1. Everyone should see it.
That said, it is not really standard Lupin fare and may not be the best first exposure to him.
The red jacket tv series is really the best place to start, the movie quality varies wildly from very good to watchable romp to very bad.
A long time ago I wrote up a looong entry on the Lupin movies for my own future use, and… its pretty long. Beware, mild spoilers in some of them, but not really.
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I haven't seen everything, there's just sooo much of it, a new movie in Japan every year, and thats been the case for like 25 years, plus 20 years of random stuff before it and 4 television series. Just, impossible to see it all, especially stateside where a lot of it just isnt licensed.
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 really lousy ones.
To Hell with Nostradamus- Skyscraper jewel heist. A decent one. Not bad, but not great.
Dead or Alive- It has some Monkey Punch involvement in the opening sequence, and its the only movie to have a wallscroll of it, the imagrey 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 foreshjadowed at all. Meh.
So… of the 5 theatrical fliks, Castle of Cagliostro is the big winner there.
OVA 3 of them, which I've seen 2 of…
Fuma Conspiracy- This one was direct to video, and then went to theaters. Kooky. Its Goemon centirc, but it hastraps of death, plot twists abound, and THE GREATEST CAR CHASE EVER. Such an awesoem 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 manga, and in the second or third episode of the original 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, I have NOT seen this one yet, though its apparently Lupin versus every incarnation he's ever had, which could be kooky.
Fuuma is one of my fave lupin outings, Pycal wasn't bad, and I havne't seen the most recent one, but… good track record for the OVAs!
TV specials. One a year since 1989. I have NOT seen all of them, and may get them confused due to name changes, but…
Bye-Bye Liberty Crisis-Judging from the decription, I think I have NOT seen this earliest one
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. I no longer remember anything about it.
Steal Napoleon's Dictionary- A car chase movie, that has NO villain, and dependant almost entirely on Zenigata as the foil. A lot of fun because it gives great insight on both Lupin and Pop's interpretations of the other. Not released stateside I don't think.
From Russia With Love- The premise was 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, and that I disliked it, 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. There's some plot twists that make this one 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 crossdresser named "Maphrodite" (sic). Add the nazi title "Herr" in front of it, and you get "Herr Maphrodite". It basically 90 minutes built around 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, really dark in fact, 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. A good one.
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 (of course) 8 minutes in and there is still most of the movie to go.
Alcatraz Connection- Another sunken ship one? The wikipedia description isn't ringing any bells, I dunno if I've seen this one or not. I'll assume I haven't.
Episode 0- A retelling of the original meeting of the crew, with reat music and animation. What Lupin is all about.
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 to make it one of the greats, but a solid outing.
Many of the most ecent ones, from 2004-2008, I have not seen. Stolen Lupin, And Angel's Tactics, Seven Days Rhapsody, Elusivness of the Fog, and Magic Lamp's Nightmare. I'll have to do something about that….
Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan- Decent outing. More of a Lupin move than a Conan movie, pretty fun, but mostly the payoff is in the final 5 minutes when the characters really start interacting.
Lupin III : the Last Job- Zenigata gets killed, and Lupin takes up revenge. Pretty decent, but
! 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, rather than 20 minutes in again. Has ninjas.
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This is of course made trickier by the fact that the dub changed the titles on a lot of them, I haven't seen some of them in 10 or 13 years, and so I'm not sure where some of them correspond.
My GOOD list, in short…
Castle of Cagliostro (Miyazaki and Lupin at the top of their games. Fantastic movie, but he's not really Lupin here)
Fuma Conspiracy (great Goemon movie, best car chase EVER)
Episode 0 (new take on the origin story, great introduction, great animation)
Napoleon's Dictionary (Fun romp, not released stateside)
Walther p-38/Island of Assassins (very stylish and cool adventure)
with honorable mentions to Voyage to Danger, Tokyo Crisis, Return the Treasures and Mystery of the Hemmingway Papers as good outings
The REALLY BAD list
Gold of Babylon (bad throguhout, with an incredibly bad ending)
Burn, Zantetsuken! / Dragon of Doom (The villain's entire plan hinges on an uncuttable airplane that then gets cut)
The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (nazi transvestite as the main villain... Herr Maphrodite)
From Russia with Love (Rasputin? I think he killed people with his toungue or something)
@Buuhan1:
Wonder if they'll also dub it? Gotta say the English dub cast is what I know above the Japanese. However has that vocal cast been retained? I forgot who dubbed the Lupin anime, but I know it wasn't FUNimation who merely dubbed the movies.
They'll probably dub it for the sake of selling to casual market, but… its never going to appear on american tv, so... maybe not? Between all the movies and tv shows, Lupin has been licensed out to and dubbed by everybody. There's at least three modern distinct dub casts.
This is a brand new japanese cast, replacing the old group thats retiring after X number of years, but they sound pretty close.
@Dumhuvud:
^ Fun that you should ask, someone on /a/ posted a list of worthwile Lupin films earlier today. I copypasted it for future reference.
Yeah, thats a pretty good list, it pretty much matches mine.