The Lupin Reviews Table of Contents
Dec 29, 2015 18:50:00 GMT -5
Douay-Rheims-Challoner, repulsionist, and 2 more like this
Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Dec 29, 2015 18:50:00 GMT -5
Jean-Luc Lemur’s Lupin Reviews: A Guide
A note on names: I’m doing last-name-first for almost everyone because I watch these with subtitles, so that’s how I hear the character names.
The Lupin Evolution Project
Or, Project (Mostly) Green Jacket
The first Lupin series offers a fairly nice, straight line of evolution under the eye of a handful of auteurs (used in Truffaut’s original sense—someone trying to put their own distinctive stamp on a studio project), most prominently Ōsumi Masaaki, Ōtsuka Yasuo, and Miyazaki Hayao. There’s a relatively straight line of evolution from the violent (think of Bond’s “You’ve had your six” in Dr. No) and roué character in the original pilot and original (“Green Jacket”) run of episodes and the noble thief of Cagliostro, and this series of reviews tracks that evolution. This run essentially defined Lupin as we know him today, but it also has a groundedness (realism would be the wrong word, but there’s always an attempt to make Lupin’s world seem “real”) that some of the later incarnations lack.
This also covers The Woman Named Fujiko Mine, inspired by the early Green Jacket series, in one review, The Mystery of Mamo, which has a very different character than the original series but was nonetheless an outgrowth of it (and attached to it a review of Ohno Yuji’s music for the series), two episodes of the second, “Red Jacket” series that served as Miyazaki’s goodbye to Lupin, and Voyage to Danger, Osumi Masaaki’s final work with the character, done over twenty years after he was fired from the original series.
Lupin III: An Introduction
The Early Period: directed by Ōsumi Masaaki, these episodes are more violent, adult-oriented, and somewhat more serious-minded than almost any Lupin media
Is Lupin Burning?!—Recommended (for “joyful malevolence”)
An excellent introduction to Lupin as a whole
The Man They Call Magician—Recommended
Farewell My Beloved Witch—Recommended for being the most sixties of televised Lupin, though it’s not exactly good per se
One Chance for a Prison Break—Highly Recommended
Perhaps the best of Ōsumi’s run
Introducing Goemon XIII—Recommended
Danger of a Rainy Afternoon—Recommended
The Transitional Period: Rating troubles mean that Ōsumi’s on his way out and the team of Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao (who’d eventually found Studio Ghibli) are in, but there’s overlap from both directors both in episodes and mood here.
A Wolf is a Wolf—Recommended
Miyazaki and Takahata’s first episode, though it doesn’t feel it
Lupin III Pilot Film—Inessential
Mainly recommended if you’re interested in the genesis of animated Lupin (and Fujiko dancing in front of an animated collage, which is admittedly quite cool)
Everyone Meets Again: The Trump Plan—Recommended
The first of Lupin’s light-hearted heists
An Assassin Sings the Blues—Highly Recommended
The final episode directed by Ōsumi Masaaki
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine—Highly Recommended
The 2012 series, which was something of a prequel to the original series; excellently thought-out and stylishly told, though not without its missteps (I also wrote a second follow-up to this review here).
Target the Counterfeit Money Maker—Recommended
The most archetypically “transitional” of all the episodes, featuring many proto-Miyazaki-isms while mostly keeping in character with Ōsumi’s run (it was written by Tōru Sawaki, who also penned “One Chance for a Prison Break” and “An Assassin Sings the Blues”).
When the Seventh Bridge Falls—Highly Recommended
Who’s the Last One to Laugh—Not Recommended
Beware the Time Machine!—Not Recommended
There seems to be a fair amount of nostalgia for this one out there, but since I didn’t first view it at the age of six it doesn’t reach me at all.
Now we’re fully in the Miyazaki-Takahata era of the series, featuring uniformly well-made and well-constructed episodes, though that consistency is achieved partly by making the show more formulaic. We lose some character and edge, but also get some of the best episodes.
The Emerald’s Secret—Highly Recommended
Perhaps the best comedic entry in the series
Let’s Catch Lupin & Go to Europe!—Recommended
Operation Jewel Snatch—Inessential
Lupin Caught in a Trap—Inessential
Keep An Eye on the Beauty Contest—Recommended
Which of the Third Generation Will Win—Inessential
Catch the Phony Lupin!—Inessential
Rescue the Tomboy!—Highly Recommended
First Move Wins the Computer Operation—Recommended
Because it deals with how people respond to computer recommendations rather than the computation itself, this episode actually feels surprisingly current
The Great Gold Battle—Recommended
The first two Lupin films are both offshoots of the original series—The Mystery of Mamo representing what the animation team wished they could achieve without the content and budget restraints of network television, while The Castle of Cagliostro is an attempt to both advance Lupin as he evolved in the series and to further develop certain themes and situations from the show—you see Cagliostro foreshadowed in “Target the Counterfeit Money Maker,” “When the Seventh Bridge Falls,” and “Rescue the Tomboy!”
The Mystery of Mamo—Highly Recommended
Features a supplementary essay on the music of Ohno Yuji.
The Castle of Cagliostro—Highly Recommended
Not the final Lupin installment, but certainly the final word on Lupin
Epilogue
Both Miyazaki and Ōsumi got to say goodbye to Lupin in their own ways—Miyazaki via two episodes of the second series, Ōsumi via a TV movie aired in 1993.
Wings of Death: Albatross—Highly Recommended
Probably Lupin III’s greatest half-hour
Farewell My Beloved Lupin—Highly Recommended
Voyage to Danger—Recommended
Masaaki Ōsumi’s encore turn as director and curtain call, over twenty years after he was fired from the original series.
The Elusiveness of Fog—Inessential
The final Lupin project made with the direct involvement of Yasuo Ōtsuka, who was involved in first animating the characters from the original pilot and had a long involvement with the series after that. Apart from a couple of nice touches and an unusual premise, though, it’s something of a disappointment.
A note on names: I’m doing last-name-first for almost everyone because I watch these with subtitles, so that’s how I hear the character names.
The Lupin Evolution Project
Or, Project (Mostly) Green Jacket
The first Lupin series offers a fairly nice, straight line of evolution under the eye of a handful of auteurs (used in Truffaut’s original sense—someone trying to put their own distinctive stamp on a studio project), most prominently Ōsumi Masaaki, Ōtsuka Yasuo, and Miyazaki Hayao. There’s a relatively straight line of evolution from the violent (think of Bond’s “You’ve had your six” in Dr. No) and roué character in the original pilot and original (“Green Jacket”) run of episodes and the noble thief of Cagliostro, and this series of reviews tracks that evolution. This run essentially defined Lupin as we know him today, but it also has a groundedness (realism would be the wrong word, but there’s always an attempt to make Lupin’s world seem “real”) that some of the later incarnations lack.
This also covers The Woman Named Fujiko Mine, inspired by the early Green Jacket series, in one review, The Mystery of Mamo, which has a very different character than the original series but was nonetheless an outgrowth of it (and attached to it a review of Ohno Yuji’s music for the series), two episodes of the second, “Red Jacket” series that served as Miyazaki’s goodbye to Lupin, and Voyage to Danger, Osumi Masaaki’s final work with the character, done over twenty years after he was fired from the original series.
Lupin III: An Introduction
The Early Period: directed by Ōsumi Masaaki, these episodes are more violent, adult-oriented, and somewhat more serious-minded than almost any Lupin media
Is Lupin Burning?!—Recommended (for “joyful malevolence”)
An excellent introduction to Lupin as a whole
The Man They Call Magician—Recommended
Farewell My Beloved Witch—Recommended for being the most sixties of televised Lupin, though it’s not exactly good per se
One Chance for a Prison Break—Highly Recommended
Perhaps the best of Ōsumi’s run
Introducing Goemon XIII—Recommended
Danger of a Rainy Afternoon—Recommended
The Transitional Period: Rating troubles mean that Ōsumi’s on his way out and the team of Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao (who’d eventually found Studio Ghibli) are in, but there’s overlap from both directors both in episodes and mood here.
A Wolf is a Wolf—Recommended
Miyazaki and Takahata’s first episode, though it doesn’t feel it
Lupin III Pilot Film—Inessential
Mainly recommended if you’re interested in the genesis of animated Lupin (and Fujiko dancing in front of an animated collage, which is admittedly quite cool)
Everyone Meets Again: The Trump Plan—Recommended
The first of Lupin’s light-hearted heists
An Assassin Sings the Blues—Highly Recommended
The final episode directed by Ōsumi Masaaki
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine—Highly Recommended
The 2012 series, which was something of a prequel to the original series; excellently thought-out and stylishly told, though not without its missteps (I also wrote a second follow-up to this review here).
Target the Counterfeit Money Maker—Recommended
The most archetypically “transitional” of all the episodes, featuring many proto-Miyazaki-isms while mostly keeping in character with Ōsumi’s run (it was written by Tōru Sawaki, who also penned “One Chance for a Prison Break” and “An Assassin Sings the Blues”).
When the Seventh Bridge Falls—Highly Recommended
Who’s the Last One to Laugh—Not Recommended
Beware the Time Machine!—Not Recommended
There seems to be a fair amount of nostalgia for this one out there, but since I didn’t first view it at the age of six it doesn’t reach me at all.
Now we’re fully in the Miyazaki-Takahata era of the series, featuring uniformly well-made and well-constructed episodes, though that consistency is achieved partly by making the show more formulaic. We lose some character and edge, but also get some of the best episodes.
The Emerald’s Secret—Highly Recommended
Perhaps the best comedic entry in the series
Let’s Catch Lupin & Go to Europe!—Recommended
Operation Jewel Snatch—Inessential
Lupin Caught in a Trap—Inessential
Keep An Eye on the Beauty Contest—Recommended
Which of the Third Generation Will Win—Inessential
Catch the Phony Lupin!—Inessential
Rescue the Tomboy!—Highly Recommended
First Move Wins the Computer Operation—Recommended
Because it deals with how people respond to computer recommendations rather than the computation itself, this episode actually feels surprisingly current
The Great Gold Battle—Recommended
The first two Lupin films are both offshoots of the original series—The Mystery of Mamo representing what the animation team wished they could achieve without the content and budget restraints of network television, while The Castle of Cagliostro is an attempt to both advance Lupin as he evolved in the series and to further develop certain themes and situations from the show—you see Cagliostro foreshadowed in “Target the Counterfeit Money Maker,” “When the Seventh Bridge Falls,” and “Rescue the Tomboy!”
The Mystery of Mamo—Highly Recommended
Features a supplementary essay on the music of Ohno Yuji.
The Castle of Cagliostro—Highly Recommended
Not the final Lupin installment, but certainly the final word on Lupin
Epilogue
Both Miyazaki and Ōsumi got to say goodbye to Lupin in their own ways—Miyazaki via two episodes of the second series, Ōsumi via a TV movie aired in 1993.
Wings of Death: Albatross—Highly Recommended
Probably Lupin III’s greatest half-hour
Farewell My Beloved Lupin—Highly Recommended
Voyage to Danger—Recommended
Masaaki Ōsumi’s encore turn as director and curtain call, over twenty years after he was fired from the original series.
The Elusiveness of Fog—Inessential
The final Lupin project made with the direct involvement of Yasuo Ōtsuka, who was involved in first animating the characters from the original pilot and had a long involvement with the series after that. Apart from a couple of nice touches and an unusual premise, though, it’s something of a disappointment.
