05-23-2021, 09:20 PM
I'm tasked by Den to do a piece on Lupin and thought I'd give this old anime a peep even though my piece will be focused on live-action because anime has already been covered. Lupin III is a major manga and anime Japanese franchise that follows the grandson of Arsene Lupin. This was the 2nd anime, and I was surprised to learn that it was the 1st feature length film by the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki.
It's rough - lots of anime physics, especially when it comes to falling from high places. Lupin is young and cheeky, and his capers are totally absurd. He's assisted by a chain-smoking sharpshooter Jigen (a lot of smoking in this ), a ronin swordsman Goemon, and a blonde hawt thief in a camo jumpsuit, Fujiko, who reminded me a lot of TMNT's April. There's a princess in peril, an evil counterfeiter with a mob of ninjas that wear claw gauntlets that fire sharp fingernails and have switchblade forearms, and Inspector Zenigata, hot on Lupin's trail.
This is considered an anime classic for many reasons, highly influential on Disney and Pixar, and allegedly the strongest installment. It didn't quite hold together for me. It felt very dated although I could imagine how much impact it had in the day. Some even consider this as the underpinning of Indiana Jones. I'm not sure how many movies were made because there was also a TV series and they get intertwined.
Sword fights! I mentioned the ronin and ninjas. There's a finale fight between the saber-wielding counterfeiter and a monkey-wrench wielding Lupin inside a giant clockwork of moving gears and levers for the clock tower. This was allegedly the inspiration for The Great Mouse Detective finale fight, which is ironic given that was a Sherlock derivative and Lupin and Sherlock were rivals.
Not DOOM recommended except for deep anime fans, and I'm somewhat alone here.
Watched on Hoopla
It's rough - lots of anime physics, especially when it comes to falling from high places. Lupin is young and cheeky, and his capers are totally absurd. He's assisted by a chain-smoking sharpshooter Jigen (a lot of smoking in this ), a ronin swordsman Goemon, and a blonde hawt thief in a camo jumpsuit, Fujiko, who reminded me a lot of TMNT's April. There's a princess in peril, an evil counterfeiter with a mob of ninjas that wear claw gauntlets that fire sharp fingernails and have switchblade forearms, and Inspector Zenigata, hot on Lupin's trail.
This is considered an anime classic for many reasons, highly influential on Disney and Pixar, and allegedly the strongest installment. It didn't quite hold together for me. It felt very dated although I could imagine how much impact it had in the day. Some even consider this as the underpinning of Indiana Jones. I'm not sure how many movies were made because there was also a TV series and they get intertwined.
Sword fights! I mentioned the ronin and ninjas. There's a finale fight between the saber-wielding counterfeiter and a monkey-wrench wielding Lupin inside a giant clockwork of moving gears and levers for the clock tower. This was allegedly the inspiration for The Great Mouse Detective finale fight, which is ironic given that was a Sherlock derivative and Lupin and Sherlock were rivals.
Not DOOM recommended except for deep anime fans, and I'm somewhat alone here.
Watched on Hoopla
Shadow boxing the apocalypse