Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Aug 5, 2022 0:03:11 GMT -5
11 “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!”
or, “Who’s vroomin’ who?”
I’ve started picking back at the second, “Red Jacket” Lupin III series. Picking is the only way to go about it, as at almost 160 episodes produced over four years there’s no sense in going through one by one, especially as you can tell these were industrially churned out more often than not. It’s the most variable series in terms of quality, but it’s also the one (Part III “Pink Jacket” maybe excepted) with the greatest emphasis emphasis on humor. Part II often lands with a thud with me, which is why I’ve started going through episode descriptions to figure out what might appeal to me rather than just relying on various recommendations around the internet as I did last time around. Still, I’m not finding that much more.
One thing I am finding amusing, though, is the number of contemporary references in the show, particularly early on. It’s pretty unique for Lupin—other show and films may feel of their time, but they don’t explicitly date themselves like this series. I already touched on this with one the Christmas episodes, which concludes with Jimmy Carter making the holiday toast (I’ve heard the dub tried replacing the 70s references with 00s references, which seems futile to me). I shouldn’t have been surprised, then, to find one of the most famous couples of the 70s.
Lupin returns to open-wheel racing with “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” It’s hard not to think of the Lupin’s animated debut, “Is Lupin Burning!?” and “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” does not even hold a candle. The animation of the former miles better, and better edited and paced, despite being seven years older. More interesting might be the change in character. “Is Lupin Burning!?” shows our man in a position of strength, using his wits and a penchant for catastrophic violence to dispatch with the villain with cool panache. The Lupin in “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!?” still has his supercool aspects—he’s racing in Monaco, after all—but overall cuts a more pathetic figure. He’s over-emotional, easily duped, has poor judgement generally, and loses all his money in the casino (twice, even without the opposite party cheating). Yet he still comes from behind to steal the cash (which he doesn’t even need it in “Is Lupin Burning!?). We’ve gone from a Bond figure to a more normal guy whose more pathetic side deflates his superheroic qualities a bit
What really distinguishes “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” is the period stuff. As in “Is Lupin Burning!?” we get call-outs to real F1 drivers, but we get caricatures here and they’re “real” in the story of “Bet” as opposed to ringers in “Burning!?”. Lupin drives the unusual-but-real Tyrrell P34 six-wheeled F1 car, fitting for an outsider and underdog. The big bad, though, is none other than (the recently-deceased) Aristotle Onassis—pardon, Socrates Nexus, his criminal counterpart—who was famous for his real-life gambling on the Monaco Grand Prix. It makes for a decent hook for the stock “Lupin is compelled to…” story type. It doesn’t do much to stand out, but it’s enough to pass a half hour.
Inessential unless you get are delighted by all the old Monaco Grand Prix references (or Fujiko in a very seventies cowgirl getup)
49 “A Pretty woman has posion”
or, “Snake charmer”
We’ve had Aristotle Onassis, now it’s time for Jackie O (although the subtitles phonetically described her as “Zaclyne” come on, it’s “Jacqueline”). The hook with her is good: spoiler warning for a 45 year old cartoon, but this Jackie’s no tragic figure but a femme fatale, amassing a fortune from her husbands’ apparently calamitous ends. It’s a silly and delicious concept, exactly what you want from this show.
Also silly is Jacqueline’s bust which, in classic Monkey Punch function, rather inflated. That makes her just Lupin’s type, and we get our big introduction to her in the shower, which she emerges in the nude to face Lupin, who was casing her apartment. What comes next is a surprise—a full-on melodrama with Lupin fully in love with Jacqueline apparently fully reciprocating, a romance, complete with couples horseback riding, sunsets and the beach, and walks in the rain, only to be thwarted by Jacqueline revealing her true self.
The romance itself is a mixed bag here, given Lupin’s characterization above. Jigen can easily sustain a melodrama because his stoic aspects provide an inner tension. As noted above, there’s a tension in Lupin in this series, between his skills and foibles, but it’s not exploited here. With Jacqueline it’s a stock melodramatic romance, complete with sunset of the beach, horseback riding, and a walk in the rain. It’s not entirely convincing, though Yasuo Yamada’s earnest melancholy when Lupin understands he’s been betrayed helps sell it after the fact.
Arguably it’s Jigen’s episode, not Lupin’s. With Lupin smitten and indisposed, Jigen finds himself both planning a heist he was already skeptical of, assessing a possible threat to their job, and trying to work around his bud’s infatuation. It’s a strong episode for the Lupin gang as a unit (with Fujiko relieved of Jezebel duties this week), showing how well they can work even if (pardon the episode-themed pun) the snake’s lost its head.
It’s also unusually strong visually. This one does almost hold up to the previous series’s standards—although the boxing match at the beginning is alternatively static and at least partly rotoscoped you can see there was some extra interest and passion there. There’s a greater interest in atmosphere, such as the fact we get actual misty effects with the Jacqueline shower scenes instead of visual shorthand. The composition and use of space is the big appeal, though. The “camera” fluidly moves through space and given interesting angles on the characters and action, far from the animated comic strip of many Part II episodes
Ultimately Lupin’s romance and Jigen’s detective work intersect, revealing the truth about Jacqueline in a surprisingly effective twist-filled finale (even if you can kind of see them coming). However, while just desserts is a staple of melodrama, the romance is just convincing enough make it feel like Jacqueline’s were a bit too harsh.
or, “Who’s vroomin’ who?”
I’ve started picking back at the second, “Red Jacket” Lupin III series. Picking is the only way to go about it, as at almost 160 episodes produced over four years there’s no sense in going through one by one, especially as you can tell these were industrially churned out more often than not. It’s the most variable series in terms of quality, but it’s also the one (Part III “Pink Jacket” maybe excepted) with the greatest emphasis emphasis on humor. Part II often lands with a thud with me, which is why I’ve started going through episode descriptions to figure out what might appeal to me rather than just relying on various recommendations around the internet as I did last time around. Still, I’m not finding that much more.
One thing I am finding amusing, though, is the number of contemporary references in the show, particularly early on. It’s pretty unique for Lupin—other show and films may feel of their time, but they don’t explicitly date themselves like this series. I already touched on this with one the Christmas episodes, which concludes with Jimmy Carter making the holiday toast (I’ve heard the dub tried replacing the 70s references with 00s references, which seems futile to me). I shouldn’t have been surprised, then, to find one of the most famous couples of the 70s.
Lupin returns to open-wheel racing with “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” It’s hard not to think of the Lupin’s animated debut, “Is Lupin Burning!?” and “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” does not even hold a candle. The animation of the former miles better, and better edited and paced, despite being seven years older. More interesting might be the change in character. “Is Lupin Burning!?” shows our man in a position of strength, using his wits and a penchant for catastrophic violence to dispatch with the villain with cool panache. The Lupin in “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!?” still has his supercool aspects—he’s racing in Monaco, after all—but overall cuts a more pathetic figure. He’s over-emotional, easily duped, has poor judgement generally, and loses all his money in the casino (twice, even without the opposite party cheating). Yet he still comes from behind to steal the cash (which he doesn’t even need it in “Is Lupin Burning!?). We’ve gone from a Bond figure to a more normal guy whose more pathetic side deflates his superheroic qualities a bit
What really distinguishes “Bet on the Monaco Grand Prix!” is the period stuff. As in “Is Lupin Burning!?” we get call-outs to real F1 drivers, but we get caricatures here and they’re “real” in the story of “Bet” as opposed to ringers in “Burning!?”. Lupin drives the unusual-but-real Tyrrell P34 six-wheeled F1 car, fitting for an outsider and underdog. The big bad, though, is none other than (the recently-deceased) Aristotle Onassis—pardon, Socrates Nexus, his criminal counterpart—who was famous for his real-life gambling on the Monaco Grand Prix. It makes for a decent hook for the stock “Lupin is compelled to…” story type. It doesn’t do much to stand out, but it’s enough to pass a half hour.
Inessential unless you get are delighted by all the old Monaco Grand Prix references (or Fujiko in a very seventies cowgirl getup)
49 “A Pretty woman has posion”
or, “Snake charmer”
We’ve had Aristotle Onassis, now it’s time for Jackie O (although the subtitles phonetically described her as “Zaclyne” come on, it’s “Jacqueline”). The hook with her is good: spoiler warning for a 45 year old cartoon, but this Jackie’s no tragic figure but a femme fatale, amassing a fortune from her husbands’ apparently calamitous ends. It’s a silly and delicious concept, exactly what you want from this show.
Also silly is Jacqueline’s bust which, in classic Monkey Punch function, rather inflated. That makes her just Lupin’s type, and we get our big introduction to her in the shower, which she emerges in the nude to face Lupin, who was casing her apartment. What comes next is a surprise—a full-on melodrama with Lupin fully in love with Jacqueline apparently fully reciprocating, a romance, complete with couples horseback riding, sunsets and the beach, and walks in the rain, only to be thwarted by Jacqueline revealing her true self.
The romance itself is a mixed bag here, given Lupin’s characterization above. Jigen can easily sustain a melodrama because his stoic aspects provide an inner tension. As noted above, there’s a tension in Lupin in this series, between his skills and foibles, but it’s not exploited here. With Jacqueline it’s a stock melodramatic romance, complete with sunset of the beach, horseback riding, and a walk in the rain. It’s not entirely convincing, though Yasuo Yamada’s earnest melancholy when Lupin understands he’s been betrayed helps sell it after the fact.
Arguably it’s Jigen’s episode, not Lupin’s. With Lupin smitten and indisposed, Jigen finds himself both planning a heist he was already skeptical of, assessing a possible threat to their job, and trying to work around his bud’s infatuation. It’s a strong episode for the Lupin gang as a unit (with Fujiko relieved of Jezebel duties this week), showing how well they can work even if (pardon the episode-themed pun) the snake’s lost its head.
It’s also unusually strong visually. This one does almost hold up to the previous series’s standards—although the boxing match at the beginning is alternatively static and at least partly rotoscoped you can see there was some extra interest and passion there. There’s a greater interest in atmosphere, such as the fact we get actual misty effects with the Jacqueline shower scenes instead of visual shorthand. The composition and use of space is the big appeal, though. The “camera” fluidly moves through space and given interesting angles on the characters and action, far from the animated comic strip of many Part II episodes
Ultimately Lupin’s romance and Jigen’s detective work intersect, revealing the truth about Jacqueline in a surprisingly effective twist-filled finale (even if you can kind of see them coming). However, while just desserts is a staple of melodrama, the romance is just convincing enough make it feel like Jacqueline’s were a bit too harsh.
Highly Recommended, surprisingly. It’s well produced, cleverly plotted, and “Lupin sleeps with a femme fatale Jackie O” is just too good of a premise to pass up.
Next week we’ll look at a couple more episodes I’ve stumbled on, these showcasing the series’s bawdy side, which has been semi-buried in (Anglophone) fandom’s memory.