PinkuBentoBox

In the entirety of the Japanese anime and manga industries, one would be hard-pressed to find many titles that genuinely have the same overall standing as Lupin III. A true classic, the franchise has been going strong since the 1970s, and remains as thoroughly entertaining today as it ever has. To date, the exploits of Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, & Inspector Zenigata now span a total of four manga series, three TV series (228 episodes total), six movies (one being live-action), three OVAs, and a new feature-length TV special released every year without exception since 1989. I recently managed to acquire one of these TV specials by way of Froth-Bite’s fansub of last year’s edition, Stolen Lupin. Having not seen anything of the Lupin franchise beyond its late-1970s offerings, I was quite interested in seeing how well it had aged since the days of Cagliostro and the height of the second TV series’ run. Bluntly put, I was pleased with what I saw; Stolen Lupin manages to provide more of the same great comedic action that we’ve come to expect from the Gentleman Thief over the years, and it still remains as fresh as ever.

To quickly summarise, the movie opens with Lupin & Co. butting in on a heist perpetrated by an unknown female thief, only for Lupin to find himself abducted in the process by a man named Malchovich, who uses Fujiko as a hostage to convince him to break into the maximum security museum Grand Bateau in order to steal a cursed jewel known as the Bull’s Eye. Lupin is successful with help from Jigen & Goemon, but soon finds his victory spoiled by the unknown female thief from earlier, a teenaged girl by the name of Becky. Raised by Lupin’s equipment supplier, Lumberjack, and the daughter of one of Lupin’s former (and now deceased) partners, Becky seeks the Bull’s Eye in order to avenge her mother, who was pursuing it when she was killed. As Lupin tries to dissuade Becky because of the sheer danger surrounding the Bull’s Eye, he finds himself increasingly pursued by Malchovich and his partner, Fujiko, who was only pretending to be his hostage. Come to find out, the theft of the Bull’s Eye was all a ruse, as the jewel contains a homing device that Malchovich & Fujiko believe will lead them to the vault containing all of Lupin’s stolen treasures. Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata is finding his efforts to track down Lupin (and now Becky, as well) hampered by a fellow inspector within Interpol by the name of Brian Murphy, who himself is a pretty shady character.

Eventually, Lupin wises up to Malchovich’s plan and destroys the Bull’s Eye. But thanks to his weakness for Fujiko, he still manages to devulge the location of his supposed “vault” to her, and it’s not long before both sides are racing to seek it out. However, unexpectedly, the so-called “vault” is actually an entire town in the French countryside, wherein Lupin has geniously hidden all of his stolen artifacts as minor trinkets in people’s houses—million-dollar vases sitting on dusty fireplace mantles, priceless original paintings posing as replications on tavern walls, etc. And it’s in that town where Lupin & Fujiko (who was simply using Malchovich for her own goals), with aid from Jigen, Goemon, Lumberjack, & Becky, confront Malchovich and his lackeys. Before long, Malchovich is defeated at the cost of the entire town, and it’s revealed that the real mastermind behind the whole affair was Interpol’s own Brian Murphy, who is then arrested by Zenigata before his pursuit of Lupin continues again.

All in all, the special follows the typical Lupin formula of “a heist is planned, something goes awry, the real bad guy appears, Lupin uses various means of trickery to overcome said bad guy, and all the while Zenigata finds some way to interfere.” But that same surprisingly flexible formula has thus far worked for over thirty years, and continues to do so now. Stolen Lupin isn’t the most original piece of writing in the world, especially compared to the rest of the Lupin mythos, but it’s still a very solid piece that will still keep fans and Lupin newcomers alike hooked regardless. The comedy remains fresh, the action remains fresh, and the overall package shows no signs of going stale.

Of course, even though the overall take on Stolen Lupin could be considered “more of the same,” it still manages one nice little surprise in the character of Becky. She isn’t the most captivating character in terms of any above-average writing or unique development (and especially not design), but she does wield more than a few surprises that make her worthy of mention. Throughout the special, she is compared to Lupin in his early days, making her an interesting one to watch while wondering if the rookie Lupin made the same over-ambitious mistakes she does in his youth. Also through her, we see more of Lupin’s past and overall background. We get hints as to the type of partners he teamed up with before establishing his current comaraderie with Jigen, Goemon, and occasionally Fujiko, and we also meet the man Lupin goes to whenever he needs a certain vehicle or gadget for his heists…his ‘Q’ type character, if you will. Not sure exactly how canon the character of Lumberjack is—if indeed the Lupin III anime even has any real “canon” to speak of—but hell, I’ll go for it; he’s a fun character that works with the franchise’s generally over-exaggerated cast. Of course, the biggest and most open-ended surprise Becky wields lies with her unknown father…or at least with the speculation as to who he might be. She acts like Lupin, is the daughter of a thief with whom Lupin shared an ambiguous relationship, and according to Lupin’s current partners, they look alike. Perhaps Jigen’s speculations near the end of the movie aren’t far off?

Aesthetically, it was nice to see Lupin III set to modern methods of animation, as opposed to the dirtier, choppier look of the 70s TV series that I’m more accustomed to. Pretty much OVA quality, the animation is quite nice, and it was a welcome change of pace to see things moving fluidly in something other than Castle of Cagliostro (which probably helped Goemon out the most in letting the audience see a much more impressive demonstration of his Zantetsu-Ken). The richer, more vibrant colour palette was also something of a welcome sight after seeing nothing but washed out tones that had faded with time in previous installments. The character designs for our five key players remain consistent to prior incarnations, with Fujiko thankfully being depicted as a brunette this time as opposed to going blonde or redhead (two hairstyles I’ve never really liked her look in), and most of the supporting players are similarly designed to stay in tune with the older, cartoonier style of the leads. The only real complaint here would be Becky, whose “generic animu girl” look clashes with the rest of the overall appearance of the special, and makes her seem…more artificial than the others. “Misplaced” is probably a better word, and it makes her harder to get into and take seriously as a character (ironic that the least “cartoony” character is also the hardest to take seriously, isn’t it?).

Sound-wise, Stolen Lupin is once again “more of the same.” The jazzy, retro soundtrack is back for another go, as are the usual cast of voice actors. Kanichi Kurita in particular impresses me with his Lupin, having only seen 1970s Lupin up to this point, and thus having only heard the late Yasuo Yamada’s rendition of the character until just now. Kurita’s version sounds a lot like Yamada’s, and keeps very consistent the amorous thief’s overall “sleazy with a heart of gold” personality. Similarly, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, Eiko Masuyama, and Goro Naya manage another round at Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, & Zenigata respectively, performing as admirably as ever in portraying their characters. Unfortuately, aside from those five, there isn’t much in the way of voice talent that stands out, as the rest of the cast is mostly made up of virtual unknowns. The only real standout would be Yuu Asakawa of Azumanga Daioh (Sakaki ^_^) and Boogiepop Phantom (Nagi ^____^) fame, who performs well as the voice of the much more lively character of Becky.

As stated, Stolen Lupin is really nothing more than yet another Lupin adventure following the same old formula as the others. But really, when the “same old formula” employs solid writing with five timeless and wholly enjoyable characters at its core, what’s so wrong with that? After 30+ years, Lupin has yet to get boring, and he probably never will. The episodic adventures keep finding ways of staying entertaining without having to be too inventive in their general execution, and continue to serve as an ideal foil to all the excess angst and needless faux-philosophising that runs a little too rampant in anime these days. Really, Lupin III is just great fun to watch—arguably the best of the best that anime has to offer in doing that, too—and Stolen Lupin certainly does not disappoint.