Post by King Charles’s Butterfly on May 22, 2016 16:56:06 GMT -5
19 Can You Open the 10 Year Vault?
or, 18 A Safe Bet
I don't like anything with moving parts that are not my own.
Here we have a rarity—usually when we have a return to Japan in post-1972 Lupin III it’s to some kind of traditional setting: a castle, a village, a bathhouse. Visits to purely modern Japan are rarer: this series’s finale is a good and very unusual example, relishing the small-scale details and everyday infrastructure of the city (thanks, Miyazaki).
The first of these few journeys back to modern Tokyo, though, is “Can You Open the 10 Year Vault.” There isn’t a lot of the usual tourism, though we do get a short ride on the Tokyo-Haneda Monorail. There’s also a hint that safe (as in vault) designers in Japan are treated a bit like living national treasures—the safe builder Marukin wears Japanese attire and his son is portrayed as learning his father’s craft, even if the son’s safe is of a modern, electronic design.
Despite this slight oddity, the focus on the safe designer is the very rare case where on of Lupin’s thefts has an actual consequence. Usually Lupin’s stealing from people or organizations more who are really morally bankrupt, or who have enough so as not to really miss what Lupin’s taken. The latter’s the case with the actual theft, but it has a consequence for Marukin—his reputation in ruins (further ruins after a second theft), Lupin manages to rob a man of his livelihood. It’s an interesting direction to take.
Marukin’s son, himself an apprentice safe designer, thus challenges Lupin to crack an electronic, password-protected safe. In frustration, Lupin is able to guess the password—it’s not “password” per se, but “Open Sesame” is about as close as you can expect from 1978. Somewhat presciently, Lupin finds that a sophisticated security system can be undermined by the obliviousness—or overconfidence—of the user.
Recommended?
Despite toying with some interesting things—and undermining second series clichés—the episode’s just okay and less than the sum of its parts.
Stray Observation
• Another way this episode strays from formula is in giving Lupin a sexual conquest in the wife of the man he first robs, making Fujiko jealous for once. It’s striking given how often Lupin’s depicted as somewhat emasculated, especially since we see the wife still moaning in ecstasy after Lupin’s left. It’s also outright said to be a seduction—thank goodness this isn’t the comic.
42 Lupin Becomes a Bride
Or, Cruisin’ in Drag
Don’t wait for the translation!
Lupin III Part II abounds with film references, sometimes expanding across an entire plot. “Lupin Becomes a Bride” might be the best of these—as the unfortunate telephone of English-Japanese-English translation of Osgood Fielding III’s famous final line implies, here we have an adaptation of Some Like it Hot. It seems like a recipe for disaster—although Lupin briefly pose as women at times (in “Can You Open the Ten Year Vault” he begins the first robbery—and seduction—as a woman, and he briefly imitates Fujiko in “The Woman Pops Fell in Love With”), he never attempts this thorough a masquerade. It sounds like an episode for disaster, but surprisingly it is not.
For one thing Lupin’s true gender is revealed pretty quickly. Both Lupin and Fujiko are after womanizing mobster-turned-art collector Onabess, but Fujiko—disguised as a nurse—spots (and decides to toy with) Lupin immediately. He’s poorly disguised—there’s not much in the way of mincing, caricatured femininity from “Mary.” The above scene actually doesn’t take place at the end of the episode—even knowing Lupin’s (biologically, at least) man Onabes is remarkably unfazed, actually wedding Lupin and intending to consummate the marriage. Love—or at least infatuation—transcends customary boundaries.
These are astute choices. In addition to future-proofing the episode a bit—it’s more than a mere drag act—it allows the episode to get most of its humor from the rivalry between Fujiko and Lupin for Onabess’s treasure, with Onabess and Zenigata as added variables. And although her characterization in this series is a bit uneven, here we do get Fujiko in full strategist mode, with Lupin struggling to catch up (and giving the actual woman the upper hand also obviates any potential sexism). The high-concept premise is as about as lowbrow as this series gets, but the story’s tight, the twists clever, and humor mostly lands where it should.
Recommended?
Surprisingly yes—we get a true rivalry between equals in the contest between Lupin and Fujiko. It’s not quite Lupin’s Some Like it Hot but everyone has their shortcomings.
Stray Observations?
• Fujiko’s specifically after a van Gogh, and her pronunciation of the name is near-native Dutch speaker good.
• We get a nice view of Lupin’s (hairy) buttocks this episode. He’s actually looking pretty fit in the pre-drag opening too—you can see why he awakened something in Onabess.
• One thing that did bother me was that this episode was animated…well, like a Russ Meyer film. The script even specifically refers to “Mary” as flat-chested but Lupin’s disguise is anything but, and even the extras at the wedding reception are distractingly busty. Also, “Mary’s” hair is terrible—a permed late-seventies blonde updo that looks like a curly mullet when undone.
• Jigen does get a little moment where he’s shocked Lupin has married Onabess. “Is that the way you’re aligned‽” he exclaims over the phone, apparently disappointed his partner was gay, or at least hiding his sexuality from him, for so long. Jigen follows this up, though, with “No excuses! We’re through!” which, well…another point on your Kinsey score, Jigen.
• Musically this one’s a bit interesting—there’s some stuff that anticipates the Mamo soundtrack and we get a bit of Beethoven’s Ninth; Lupin walks down the aisle to Bach’s Air on the G-String.
Next week we make a couple of jaunts to China—first we go to Hong Kong in 43 “Where are the Peking Man’s Bones” (or, “Jumpin’ the Bones”) and then Beijing in 93 “Operation INVADER at the Great Wall of China.”
or, 18 A Safe Bet
I don't like anything with moving parts that are not my own.
Here we have a rarity—usually when we have a return to Japan in post-1972 Lupin III it’s to some kind of traditional setting: a castle, a village, a bathhouse. Visits to purely modern Japan are rarer: this series’s finale is a good and very unusual example, relishing the small-scale details and everyday infrastructure of the city (thanks, Miyazaki).
The first of these few journeys back to modern Tokyo, though, is “Can You Open the 10 Year Vault.” There isn’t a lot of the usual tourism, though we do get a short ride on the Tokyo-Haneda Monorail. There’s also a hint that safe (as in vault) designers in Japan are treated a bit like living national treasures—the safe builder Marukin wears Japanese attire and his son is portrayed as learning his father’s craft, even if the son’s safe is of a modern, electronic design.
Despite this slight oddity, the focus on the safe designer is the very rare case where on of Lupin’s thefts has an actual consequence. Usually Lupin’s stealing from people or organizations more who are really morally bankrupt, or who have enough so as not to really miss what Lupin’s taken. The latter’s the case with the actual theft, but it has a consequence for Marukin—his reputation in ruins (further ruins after a second theft), Lupin manages to rob a man of his livelihood. It’s an interesting direction to take.
Marukin’s son, himself an apprentice safe designer, thus challenges Lupin to crack an electronic, password-protected safe. In frustration, Lupin is able to guess the password—it’s not “password” per se, but “Open Sesame” is about as close as you can expect from 1978. Somewhat presciently, Lupin finds that a sophisticated security system can be undermined by the obliviousness—or overconfidence—of the user.
Recommended?
Despite toying with some interesting things—and undermining second series clichés—the episode’s just okay and less than the sum of its parts.
Stray Observation
• Another way this episode strays from formula is in giving Lupin a sexual conquest in the wife of the man he first robs, making Fujiko jealous for once. It’s striking given how often Lupin’s depicted as somewhat emasculated, especially since we see the wife still moaning in ecstasy after Lupin’s left. It’s also outright said to be a seduction—thank goodness this isn’t the comic.
42 Lupin Becomes a Bride
Or, Cruisin’ in Drag
Don’t wait for the translation!
Lupin III Part II abounds with film references, sometimes expanding across an entire plot. “Lupin Becomes a Bride” might be the best of these—as the unfortunate telephone of English-Japanese-English translation of Osgood Fielding III’s famous final line implies, here we have an adaptation of Some Like it Hot. It seems like a recipe for disaster—although Lupin briefly pose as women at times (in “Can You Open the Ten Year Vault” he begins the first robbery—and seduction—as a woman, and he briefly imitates Fujiko in “The Woman Pops Fell in Love With”), he never attempts this thorough a masquerade. It sounds like an episode for disaster, but surprisingly it is not.
For one thing Lupin’s true gender is revealed pretty quickly. Both Lupin and Fujiko are after womanizing mobster-turned-art collector Onabess, but Fujiko—disguised as a nurse—spots (and decides to toy with) Lupin immediately. He’s poorly disguised—there’s not much in the way of mincing, caricatured femininity from “Mary.” The above scene actually doesn’t take place at the end of the episode—even knowing Lupin’s (biologically, at least) man Onabes is remarkably unfazed, actually wedding Lupin and intending to consummate the marriage. Love—or at least infatuation—transcends customary boundaries.
These are astute choices. In addition to future-proofing the episode a bit—it’s more than a mere drag act—it allows the episode to get most of its humor from the rivalry between Fujiko and Lupin for Onabess’s treasure, with Onabess and Zenigata as added variables. And although her characterization in this series is a bit uneven, here we do get Fujiko in full strategist mode, with Lupin struggling to catch up (and giving the actual woman the upper hand also obviates any potential sexism). The high-concept premise is as about as lowbrow as this series gets, but the story’s tight, the twists clever, and humor mostly lands where it should.
Recommended?
Surprisingly yes—we get a true rivalry between equals in the contest between Lupin and Fujiko. It’s not quite Lupin’s Some Like it Hot but everyone has their shortcomings.
Stray Observations?
• Fujiko’s specifically after a van Gogh, and her pronunciation of the name is near-native Dutch speaker good.
• We get a nice view of Lupin’s (hairy) buttocks this episode. He’s actually looking pretty fit in the pre-drag opening too—you can see why he awakened something in Onabess.
• One thing that did bother me was that this episode was animated…well, like a Russ Meyer film. The script even specifically refers to “Mary” as flat-chested but Lupin’s disguise is anything but, and even the extras at the wedding reception are distractingly busty. Also, “Mary’s” hair is terrible—a permed late-seventies blonde updo that looks like a curly mullet when undone.
• Jigen does get a little moment where he’s shocked Lupin has married Onabess. “Is that the way you’re aligned‽” he exclaims over the phone, apparently disappointed his partner was gay, or at least hiding his sexuality from him, for so long. Jigen follows this up, though, with “No excuses! We’re through!” which, well…another point on your Kinsey score, Jigen.
• Musically this one’s a bit interesting—there’s some stuff that anticipates the Mamo soundtrack and we get a bit of Beethoven’s Ninth; Lupin walks down the aisle to Bach’s Air on the G-String.
Next week we make a couple of jaunts to China—first we go to Hong Kong in 43 “Where are the Peking Man’s Bones” (or, “Jumpin’ the Bones”) and then Beijing in 93 “Operation INVADER at the Great Wall of China.”