I am bringing this thread back from the depths of hell to rant about
KYOSUKE. FREAKIN'. MAMO.
Colossal Nerd/Crazy-ass Villain
Who is Kyosuke Mamo? Only a badass freakin' villain who had the 40th anniversary Lupin special dedicated to him.
Fun Facts:
*Kyosuke Mamo first appeared in episode 14 of the first season of Lupin III anime, "Watch Out For a Time Machine!"
*Mamo's appearance has been drastically altered for this appearance, most notably his hair and the shape of his face.
*The above picture is not his normal attire. He's normally seen wearing a large black cape.
*Mamo is the second recurring original villain to appear in a special. The first was Pycal.
*Pycal was the primary villain of the 30th anniversary special; Mamo is the primary villain of the 40th.
*The two villains have something else in common other than hair flopping over one of their eyes almost-constantly: they both had unusual powers.
*Mamo has the power of time travel. Originally this was presented in a way that it could be thought of as an elaborate illusion. Pycal could control fire and float. Again, in the original series this was shown as a more simple illusion.
*In Mamo's reappearance, his time machine was undoubtedly a time machine. In Pycal's reappearance, his control of fire and ability to float was unexplained other than by calling it "magic."
About the 2007 Special
The title of the special is roughly translated to "Elusiveness of the Fog." This refers to a fog that rolls in whenever Kyosuke Mamo appears with his time machine.
The story, in short, is this: Kyosuke Mamo, a man who was born in the year 2854 (whether this number has any significance is unknown to me) is pissed off at one of Lupin's descendants, Lupin the Thirty-third, for stealing the one thing that is most precious to him. He seemingly randomly selects his ancestor Lupin the Third to kill in order to make the future Lupin vanish from existence. He also has a plan to, if he isn't killed in the past quickly, utilize Lupin's thieving skills in order to obtain a legendary stone that is said to give its owner the ability to travel through time, as he wishes to be the only human in existence to have that ability. He sends Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, and (accidentally) Zenigata 500 years into their past and drops them in the middle of a war between two paranoid factions so that he can either watch in amusement as the kingdoms' soldiers kill Lupin and his friends, and/or force Lupin to steal the time traveling artifact for him. PROS:
*Kyosuke Mamo is awesome.
*Kyosuke Mamo screwing with the past using his time egg is even more awesome.
*Teaches a valuable lesson: Kids, stay away from time paradoxes.
*Presence and usage of time paradoxes
*Brought back an old villain.
*Fairly interesting opening sequence; hardly screws with backstory before throwing us into action.
*Teaches another valuable lesson: Kids, don't try to avenge your dead father.
*Ofumi was a nice way to work in a slightly different "Lupin Girl."
*Delightfully consistent.
*The ending was fairly amusing.
*Lupin works very creatively with time paradoxes.
*The scene after the credits was brief but very amusing.
*Did I mention that Mamo was awesome in this?
CONS:
*Zenigata doesn't kick ass until an hour and eleven minutes into the thing.
*Goemon doesn't kick ass until an hour and fifteen minutes into the thing.
*Said asskickings were hardly adequate.
*The only things the time travel plot device were really used for were to mess with Mamo's head, threaten people, and give Mamo an excuse to screw with other peoples' heads. Which was kind of badass, but still overall not very exciting or different from the regular Lupin villains who just develop special tools/illusions/weapons.
*Obligatory small child with dead parent(s).
*Mamo's dialog is kind of redundant in the beginning.
*Zenigata is actually kind of annoying in this.
*When Roz thinks that Zenigata is annoying, there is something very wrong.
*Goemon is some bitch's bitch the whole time and hardly does anything.
*Long stretches of time when absolutely nothing exciting or interesting is going on.
*Doesn't seem to really be linked with "Watch Out For a Time Machine!" or the original Kyosuke Mamo appearance. See the picture posted above for physical appearance comparison.