- Pronouns
- She/her
As promised, I did a lot of catching up this month...
Part 2: Episodes 35 and 36 (English dub)
Around the beginning of the month it occurred to me I'd seen 10 TV specials, so close to half of them - I thought I might as well add four and bring that up to exactly half! There's a few specific specials I'm saving for later, either to watch with Sof or because they have a good reputation, so I picked ones that don't fit that criteria. They were...
Steal Napoleon's Dictionary (Japanese with English subtitles)
The Mystery of the Hemingway Papers (Japanese with English subtitles)
The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (Funimation English dub)
The Secret of Twilight Gemini (Funimation English dub)
On June 7th I decided to honour the birthday girl by starting a show I'd been curious about for a while...
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine episodes 1-4 (Japanese with English subtitles)
Last but not least: I made a meme a few months ago, and while looking for an image of the original poster, I happened to find this on eBay:
...and with the movie being released on Amazon Prime this past weekend, plus the ironic timing of part 2 ep 36, I figured Sunday was as a good a time as any to watch it the way God intended!
The Fuma Conspiracy (Western Connection English subtitled VHS)
I'm now at the point where a written list of Lupin movies I've seen would be too unwieldy, so I made a tierlist:
Next stop: the Koikeverse! I can't believe Zenigata and the Two Lupins is this week
To prepare, I'm planning to watch the whole Koike trilogy (soon to be quintology) with Sof over the course of the week, and to be completely honest I'm looking forward to that experience more than either new movie. Stay tuned for my thoughts on it!
Part 2: Episodes 35 and 36 (English dub)
A whole episode built around a pun on "guerilla gang", huh? That's a little thin even for my pun-loving arse, and I think the Japanese script writers realised that too, padding the episode out with a long driving sequence just like they did with episode 23. As is common with part 2, the English dub makes up for it, with Jigen lampshading it with "aren't we supposed to be chasing them?", Lupin coining the phrase "genus envy" and the continuation of dub Lupin's love of The Wizard of Oz from episode 14.
Episode 36 was much better written, with the dub putting icing on that cake. It has fun with Jigen mocking the typical part 2 "worthless treasure" formula, "I just told you, it's a sword" and "even when you kill him, the guy just won't stay down", but also respects the audience's intelligence by doing minimal explanation of the Japanese wordplay - I'd expect an anime dub of that time period (especially one that takes a more loose and comedic approach) to completely rewrite the riddle to make sense with English characters (albeit without changing the visuals at all), but instead they just said "this is how Japanese writing works, if you don't get it use this new thing called Google". Too bad the pronunciation of "Skikaygay Castle" is funny for the wrong reason... but even with that and the abrupt ending, this was still a fun battle of wits between the Lupin gang and the Fuma clan. ...hmm, something tells me it'll be worth remembering that name
Episode 36 was much better written, with the dub putting icing on that cake. It has fun with Jigen mocking the typical part 2 "worthless treasure" formula, "I just told you, it's a sword" and "even when you kill him, the guy just won't stay down", but also respects the audience's intelligence by doing minimal explanation of the Japanese wordplay - I'd expect an anime dub of that time period (especially one that takes a more loose and comedic approach) to completely rewrite the riddle to make sense with English characters (albeit without changing the visuals at all), but instead they just said "this is how Japanese writing works, if you don't get it use this new thing called Google". Too bad the pronunciation of "Skikaygay Castle" is funny for the wrong reason... but even with that and the abrupt ending, this was still a fun battle of wits between the Lupin gang and the Fuma clan. ...hmm, something tells me it'll be worth remembering that name
Around the beginning of the month it occurred to me I'd seen 10 TV specials, so close to half of them - I thought I might as well add four and bring that up to exactly half! There's a few specific specials I'm saving for later, either to watch with Sof or because they have a good reputation, so I picked ones that don't fit that criteria. They were...
Steal Napoleon's Dictionary (Japanese with English subtitles)
This special's like an old car: it's ugly and slow to get started, but eventually becomes a fun and chaotic ride... only to crash and burn in a spectacular-yet-disappointing fashion. I hate to sound like some teenager who finds politics boring, and a political angle in Lupin can be great in the right hands (see Mamo, some part 3 episodes and Missed by a Dollar), but I found myself bored by just how long the G7 summit went on and how it made even the opening heist/chase feel slow... but I perked up again when I realised the main plot was about a continent-crossing race with the world's governments complicating things behind the scenes. Steel Ball Run, is that you? ...unfortunately it's not. One of SBR's many strengths is that the race itself is just as compelling and unpredictable as the underlying conspiracy by the US government, but here I would've liked to see more Wacky Races-style hjinks to contrast the politically-charged plot because what little there were, like the metro chase near the end, were a lot of fun. So was what's effectively a Lupin/Zenigata body swap - Yamada and Naya impersonating each other was an absolute hoot and it's too bad it didn't last longer! It's also too bad the animation looks like... well, that - normally I'm pretty forgiving of less-than-perfect animation, but even I have my limits. There's a difference between going off-model in a charming way (like part 3) and doing it in a distracting way (like Napoleon); in particular I was cringing throughout the Lupin and Zenigata dinner scene.
Ultimately, unlike that old car, this special's less than the sum of its parts. I thought even its good aspects were done better in earlier movies and later specials: the military interrogating Lupin and Jigen evokes Mamo (again), and Chieko questioning what it means to be "free" sounds good on paper but falls flat without a proper backstory to motivate it, like Drew from SLN had. Also, did I miss something, or did the special not really have an ending? It kind of just
Ultimately, unlike that old car, this special's less than the sum of its parts. I thought even its good aspects were done better in earlier movies and later specials: the military interrogating Lupin and Jigen evokes Mamo (again), and Chieko questioning what it means to be "free" sounds good on paper but falls flat without a proper backstory to motivate it, like Drew from SLN had. Also, did I miss something, or did the special not really have an ending? It kind of just
The Mystery of the Hemingway Papers (Japanese with English subtitles)
I deliberately watched Napoleon before Hemingway knowing the former has a worse reputation and wanting to leave a good taste in mouth - which turned out to be the right decision. Maybe Hemingway is only good in comparison to Napoleon, maybe a movie where the villains are two dictators who squabble a lot hit just right given the timing (the way I was CACKLING during Carlos and Cansano's televised debate...) - but regardless of the reason, I enjoyed this one a ton!
I quickly noticed the similarities to Dead or Alive and got optimistic because I know Lupin can tell a gritty war story (part 3 episode 6 is another example), and this special delivered with lots of strong action scenes and melancholy moments, but something that pleasantly surprised me about it was how funny it was - not because it makes light of the horrors of war, but because it's loaded with fun little gags like the gun-shaped camera and Jigen and Goemon's bitchslap fight (nice how the 90s started and ended with JiGoe). Speaking of whom: Jigen and Goemon don't get sidelined like in DoA! They each have a goal they're pursuing separately from Lupin; what a breath of fresh air!!! The tradeoff is that Corcaca isn't as developed a location as Zufu, since the only parts of it we really see are the war zones, the caves and Maria's Bar, but Maria herself is a decent girl of the week (although that'll get confusing when I get to Tokyo Crisis...). I liked her tragically realistic backstory and motivations, how she gradually warmed up to Lupin and how the ending song was worked into the narrative, making the title "He's Gone" hit harder at the end. And as timely as Carlos and Cansano feel right now, the standout villain was definitely Mash - I once saw someone describe him as "Jigen's most Lupin-like ex", and boy were they right.
For me, Hemingway's only real flaw is being a jack of all trades and a master of none: it does a lot of things well but as with Napoleon, there are other movies with individual scenes that do them even better, like Liberty's excellent direction, Mamo's funny-yet-menacing villains, Elen from IoA having a similar but more developed backstory to Maria and, of course, the Goemon scenes in Dragon of Doom. (Maybe it's just that I'm starting to see the specials' true, formulaic colours...) Also, Zenigata gets sidelined harder in Hemingway than just about any pre-2000s special, but again he is my least favourite main character... nah, that sounds mean, let's call him my fifth favourite
On the whole, the Hemingway Papers were a satisfying tale and made me wish Manga got to dub more of the specials, because I would've loved to hear Garrick Hagon's take on the Goemon Noises
near the end. Maybe they even could've saved Napoleon's Dictionary - I mean, they changed the ending of Liberty slightly when it didn't NEED to be changed... but enough what-ifs. What Hemingway Papers does have is a Spanish dub; I'd love to rewatch it with that sometime!
I quickly noticed the similarities to Dead or Alive and got optimistic because I know Lupin can tell a gritty war story (part 3 episode 6 is another example), and this special delivered with lots of strong action scenes and melancholy moments, but something that pleasantly surprised me about it was how funny it was - not because it makes light of the horrors of war, but because it's loaded with fun little gags like the gun-shaped camera and Jigen and Goemon's bitchslap fight (nice how the 90s started and ended with JiGoe). Speaking of whom: Jigen and Goemon don't get sidelined like in DoA! They each have a goal they're pursuing separately from Lupin; what a breath of fresh air!!! The tradeoff is that Corcaca isn't as developed a location as Zufu, since the only parts of it we really see are the war zones, the caves and Maria's Bar, but Maria herself is a decent girl of the week (although that'll get confusing when I get to Tokyo Crisis...). I liked her tragically realistic backstory and motivations, how she gradually warmed up to Lupin and how the ending song was worked into the narrative, making the title "He's Gone" hit harder at the end. And as timely as Carlos and Cansano feel right now, the standout villain was definitely Mash - I once saw someone describe him as "Jigen's most Lupin-like ex", and boy were they right.
For me, Hemingway's only real flaw is being a jack of all trades and a master of none: it does a lot of things well but as with Napoleon, there are other movies with individual scenes that do them even better, like Liberty's excellent direction, Mamo's funny-yet-menacing villains, Elen from IoA having a similar but more developed backstory to Maria and, of course, the Goemon scenes in Dragon of Doom. (Maybe it's just that I'm starting to see the specials' true, formulaic colours...) Also, Zenigata gets sidelined harder in Hemingway than just about any pre-2000s special, but again he is my least favourite main character... nah, that sounds mean, let's call him my fifth favourite
On the whole, the Hemingway Papers were a satisfying tale and made me wish Manga got to dub more of the specials, because I would've loved to hear Garrick Hagon's take on the Goemon Noises near the end. Maybe they even could've saved Napoleon's Dictionary - I mean, they changed the ending of Liberty slightly when it didn't NEED to be changed... but enough what-ifs. What Hemingway Papers does have is a Spanish dub; I'd love to rewatch it with that sometime!The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (Funimation English dub)
While Napoleon was an up-and-down rollercoaster of quality with a disappointing finale, Harimao went on a straight downward slope as soon as... that character appeared. Admittedly I was having a good time with the first half, especially since I got to hear Funimation's own hilariously bad British accents - I was laughing the whole time the Cockney train conducter was talking to Zenigata; same with the Italian bloke who mistook him for a different famous detective every five seconds. Archer is a hilarious blatant James Bond parody, which in a way brings Lupin face to face with to his roots, and I liked how Diana had some similarities to Lara Croft (the special aired a year before Tomb Raider released so that must've been a coincidence, but a neat one), though she felt redundant next to Fujiko. A beautiful female treasure hunter who can match wits with Lupin... where have I heard that before? Still, the first act was a fun "Lupin vs. mid-90s British pop culture" romp with nice character interactions and expressive animation... which made the introduction of Hermann fucking von Diett all the more painful. I can handle Nazi villains in fiction as long as they're just that: villains who get the comuppance they deserve, and while the special rightfully demonises Nazis, there's nothing rightful about the "trans women are really evil men in disguise" trope, plus they added in a sprinkling of "...and they hate women despite dressing like them". Who wrote this? Just Kidding Rofl? They do know the Nazis killed queer people, right?! That would sting at any time, but especially now with the very real threat of transphobic fascists looming over the world. I had seen content warnings about von Diett so I wasn't totally unprepared, but Fujiko and Goemon working for them (however briefly) felt like an added slap in the face. It's pure Flanderisation of Fujiko and a mockery of Goemon's bond with Lupin; as funny as the thought of Jigen and Goemon unionising is, it undermines the idea of the trio being equal partners even if Lupin is the brains of the outfit - just like the "boss" nickname. Maybe Goemon's subplot about "being humbled before reaching enlightenment" made more sense in the sub? I'm not about to rewatch it to find out. This is one I would've avoided like the plague if I wasn't on the 100% completion route... at least I was able to warn Sof to skip it, so the experience wasn't completely in vain.
The Secret of Twilight Gemini (Funimation English dub)
Well, that's a fitting title: it's the perfect movie to watch at twilight, because it'll send you to sleep until the moon is in Gemini! ...seriously though, after Harimao I was relieved that this one was less "offensive bad" and more "boring bad" (though the handling of Sadachiyo was still kinda sus - at least in this case some of the blame rests with the dub). It felt a like a low-budget version of Dead or Alive - in fact it kind of is, since it aired the same year and had the same composer! While that movie was "gritty, serious Lupin", this is "dry, joyless Lupin"; in DoA, IoA and Bloodspray I felt Lupin's zest for life and monkey-ish charm despite the overall tone being darker than the average special (as if not even the medium he's in can keep him down), but in Twilight that was replaced by - for lack of a better word - stupidity (at least relative to his usual portrayal). You're telling me the guy whose whole thing is thinking one step ahead at all times got catfished by Interpol and almost died in quicksand that easily? Lara didn't help things much, being a character who should've been interesting (a resistance fighter and heir of a near-exinct tribe) made bland as can be; rather than "tough girl with a kind side" like Ole from DoA or "kind girl with a tough side" like Ran from Detective Conan, her personality is "girl who is both kind and tough", with neither side of her getting a proper chance to shine. And good god, the pacing just plods along - did Aya Hisakawa have "I need to sing a pointless song during a travelling montage where there could be jokes or action" written into her contract in the mid-90s?! The first half in particular was very exposition-heavy and loaded with telling-not-showing, though at least the flashback with silent movie dialogue cards was nice. The art direction in general is quite nice, with the golds and turquioses of Morocco making the backgrounds easy on the eyes, but with writing this clunky I expect something more than just "nice" to make up for it. Again, DoA had such a distinct visual language and style - meanwhile, what does Twilight have? Oversized Lupin pupils. Animation-wise, this special feels like the Disney direct-to-video version of Miyazaki's Lupin (way more so than a certain movie that description fits better, production-wise).
Any other positives? I guess the final battle was a fun free-for-all brawl (it had BETTER be to make up for the incredibly slow first half), the ending song was kinda catchy and I'll happily take the crumbs of Fujigoe. Also, I'd rather rewatch it than Harimao or Napoleon, especially to see if the sub feels less stilted and awkward (apparently it was Funimation's first Lupin dub and BOY does it show). That's at least something... but I'd still prefer Columbus - "funny bad" easily beats "boring bad". Also, like Mamo, Twilight gives me a chance to make a Futurama reference
Any other positives? I guess the final battle was a fun free-for-all brawl (it had BETTER be to make up for the incredibly slow first half), the ending song was kinda catchy and I'll happily take the crumbs of Fujigoe. Also, I'd rather rewatch it than Harimao or Napoleon, especially to see if the sub feels less stilted and awkward (apparently it was Funimation's first Lupin dub and BOY does it show). That's at least something... but I'd still prefer Columbus - "funny bad" easily beats "boring bad". Also, like Mamo, Twilight gives me a chance to make a Futurama reference
On June 7th I decided to honour the birthday girl by starting a show I'd been curious about for a while...
The Woman Called Fujiko Mine episodes 1-4 (Japanese with English subtitles)
This one makes a hell of a first impression! Fittingly for a series which opens with a monologue about the pleasures of theft, it feels like it's taking something from every Lupin series that came before it: part 1's ennui tone, part 2's emphasis on character interactions and part 3's experimental art direction, with spectacular results. The decadant aesthetics and the way it frames Fujiko as this ultra-mysterious, ultra-powerful figure remind me of the visual novel Umineko with its own poster girl, Beatrice, and the scripts themselves treat her with just as much respect (even if the characters don't always): so far it feels like a somewhat meta character study of this woman whom some accuse of being a slutty one-trick pony, but who's really a skilled thief in her own right; she just happens to use the assets she knows she has (that shot in ep 2 of her with gambling chips close to her chest, equating her physical attributes with "currency", was some 
storyboarding). I love how it touches on what draws each member of the gang to Fujiko: Lupin sees her as both a love interest and a worthy rival, Jigen doesn't see eye to eye with her as a person but respects her as a symbol of the freedom he longs for, and Goemon recognises her as both a kindred wandering spirit and a potential danger - but he lives for danger. I watched episode 3 with Sof and lemme tell ya, a whole episode dedicated to a FujiGoe meet-cute felt like an early birthday and Christmas present rolled into one! These two cold-blooded thieves and killers meeting when one of them was doing a Sound of Music cosplay and the other had ice cream on his nose felt bizarrely fitting for them; I love that even the more "grown-up" version of Lupin lets the cast be dorky and silly in their own ways.
If I haven't gone into quite as much as much detail as I have for the "mainline" parts, it's because I'm not that far into in the series: I've seen the content warnings and I know it's gonna get a lot darker from here (hell, things ramped up just going from episode 3 to 4). Something tells me this series is best appreciated as a complete work, but I do like that at least the first four episodes make self-contained stories: a heist show with a smart, competent femme fatale main character and a unique art style is a fun time in itself. I can tell it's a contemporary of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood; as fun as all the Jojokes are it's easy to forget that series is genuinely visually striking and would've been even more so at the time, and the same goes for TWCFM. ...on that topic: I wonder if ending anime episodes with "To Be Continued" in English was a trend in 2012, or was it a subtle reference to the JJBA manga?
Whether it's a trendsetter or a trend follower with good taste, I'm enjoying TWCFM a lot so far and I plan to really take my time and savour it, like part 3.
storyboarding). I love how it touches on what draws each member of the gang to Fujiko: Lupin sees her as both a love interest and a worthy rival, Jigen doesn't see eye to eye with her as a person but respects her as a symbol of the freedom he longs for, and Goemon recognises her as both a kindred wandering spirit and a potential danger - but he lives for danger. I watched episode 3 with Sof and lemme tell ya, a whole episode dedicated to a FujiGoe meet-cute felt like an early birthday and Christmas present rolled into one! These two cold-blooded thieves and killers meeting when one of them was doing a Sound of Music cosplay and the other had ice cream on his nose felt bizarrely fitting for them; I love that even the more "grown-up" version of Lupin lets the cast be dorky and silly in their own ways.If I haven't gone into quite as much as much detail as I have for the "mainline" parts, it's because I'm not that far into in the series: I've seen the content warnings and I know it's gonna get a lot darker from here (hell, things ramped up just going from episode 3 to 4). Something tells me this series is best appreciated as a complete work, but I do like that at least the first four episodes make self-contained stories: a heist show with a smart, competent femme fatale main character and a unique art style is a fun time in itself. I can tell it's a contemporary of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood; as fun as all the Jojokes are it's easy to forget that series is genuinely visually striking and would've been even more so at the time, and the same goes for TWCFM. ...on that topic: I wonder if ending anime episodes with "To Be Continued" in English was a trend in 2012, or was it a subtle reference to the JJBA manga?
Whether it's a trendsetter or a trend follower with good taste, I'm enjoying TWCFM a lot so far and I plan to really take my time and savour it, like part 3.Last but not least: I made a meme a few months ago, and while looking for an image of the original poster, I happened to find this on eBay:
...and with the movie being released on Amazon Prime this past weekend, plus the ironic timing of part 2 ep 36, I figured Sunday was as a good a time as any to watch it the way God intended!
The Fuma Conspiracy (Western Connection English subtitled VHS)
Damn, I can see why this is a popular one! It's fitting that it opens with a wedding, because it really feels like a marriage of wholesome Miyazaki/Takahata Lupin and chaotic Osumi/Otsuka/Yoshikawa/Aoki Lupin. It's more light-hearted and kid-friendly than the manga, early part 1 or Mamo and squeezes in a lot of cute slice-of-life interactions, but it's far from dull: something in this movie is always moving, whether it's the main characters, the background characters, the story or the cars (I had the biggest grin on my face during the car chases lemme tell ya); in other words it's an animated movie that fully embraces being animated, and I'm all about that. I felt like Ozeki and Naito really got the characters thanks to little touches like how they dress for the wedding (Lupin wears glasses as a subtle disguise, Fujiko gets dolled up in a way that fits the setting and Jigen dresses the same as every day), Fujiko casually sticking her foot out to trip up a ninja, Jigen's muscle memory with his absent gun or Lupin toying with the Fuma by tossing the urn around.
On the other hand, I can also see why Japanese audiences had a negative reaction to Fuma on release: all I could hear whenever Toshio Furukawa's Lupin talked was Ataru friggin' Moroboshi, and knowing how popular Urusei Yatsura was in Japan in the mid-to-late 80s, I can imagine that audience felt it even harder and it might very well have been a dealbreaker. Kaneto Shiozawa's Goemon sounded way younger than Inoue (maybe intentionally?) and it took me a while to get used to Banjo Ginga's Jigen because he sounded so much deeper than usual, but he grew on me once I realised he sounds more like Richard Epcar than Kiyoshi Kobayashi. In my opinion Seizo Kato as Zenigata was the only member of the new cast who could pass for his "classic" counterpart, and call me biased but I think Mami Koyama gave the overall best performance; she stayed true to Fujiko's character while also putting her own spin on her (also Koichi Yamadera being a random cop was some nice real-life foreshadowing). Kiyoshi Miyaura's score was also a mixed bag: it's as fun and kinetic as the movie's visuals (especially during the car chases) but a little too synth-y for the setting; using mostly traditional Japanese intruments would've fit better... then again, it was the 80s. While I'm nitpicking: the Fuma boss was such a boring villain he didn't even get a name (though Kazami made up for that somewhat) and I thought the movie had some pacing issues that could've been fixed if it were 80 or 90 minutes long as opposed to just 73, like throwing the viewer in at the deep end and making them stick around to find out what the characters (both old and new) are about; I find it hard to imagine Fuma being someone's introduction to Lupin, but I do prefer that approach over killing the viewer's interest with a dull opening scene (like Napoleon's Dictionary).
Also, I'll come right out and say it: I thought Kikyo from Dragon of Doom was the superior Goemon (sort of-) love interest
That's not to say I disliked Murasaki, though, far from it. The scene of her flirting with Goemon outside the cave entrace gave me the impression that the awkwardness between them was intentional, with him thinking of her as a younger sibling figure (though not literally, since he was willing to marry her to carry on her family name) while she thought of him as a romantic prospect: it's an interesting dynamic where they love each other but not in the same way as each other, and I enjoyed seeing Goemon determined to protect someone he loved platonically. Lupin casually mentioning Goemon having to retire after getting married might seem like a throwaway line, but it planted the seed for a logical conclusion to the "relationship": as much as Goemon loves his friends and family, the sword is his true passion; if he were to choose a long-term romantic partner, it would have to be someone who's equally comfortable flirting with danger and eternally running from the law (cough cough 
). While I'm all for "opposites attract" ships, Goemon and Murasaki were just too fundamentally different even without the age gap: he's a perpetual fish out of water (as he stated in TWCFM episode 3, COUGH COUGH COUGH) while she's an average "modern" girl who happened to be born into an ancient family of rural Japan. It was for the best that their romantic relationship ended before it really began, while keeping the potential for them to continue as friends once Goemon completes his training... which, of course, he never will; his quest for self-improvement is a never-ending one.
...that's all purely my interpretation, though - some might say it's a weakness that the movie doesn't explain all that much, but personally I think it being so open to interpretation is a strength. Hell, the very fact that Goemon rarely explicitly states what he's feeling makes him the perfect character for a story with that kind of ambiguity - more proof of the creative team understanding and respecting the Lupin gang! The dialogue-less flashback montage and the scene in Murasaki's room with the photo of her and Goemon were some nice bits of showing-not-telling - more proof of Fuma being an extremely visual-driven movie, which is just my kind of movie. While its short length causes minor pacing issues, it also makes it a tight, self-contained story, not to mention perfect for multiple rewatches! I can see the movie growing on me even more when I revisit it; I'd be happy to check out the English (which I hear has a so-bad-it's-good quality) and Spanish dubs. After all, "I wish there was more of it" isn't a bad problem for a movie to have.
On the other hand, I can also see why Japanese audiences had a negative reaction to Fuma on release: all I could hear whenever Toshio Furukawa's Lupin talked was Ataru friggin' Moroboshi, and knowing how popular Urusei Yatsura was in Japan in the mid-to-late 80s, I can imagine that audience felt it even harder and it might very well have been a dealbreaker. Kaneto Shiozawa's Goemon sounded way younger than Inoue (maybe intentionally?) and it took me a while to get used to Banjo Ginga's Jigen because he sounded so much deeper than usual, but he grew on me once I realised he sounds more like Richard Epcar than Kiyoshi Kobayashi. In my opinion Seizo Kato as Zenigata was the only member of the new cast who could pass for his "classic" counterpart, and call me biased but I think Mami Koyama gave the overall best performance; she stayed true to Fujiko's character while also putting her own spin on her (also Koichi Yamadera being a random cop was some nice real-life foreshadowing). Kiyoshi Miyaura's score was also a mixed bag: it's as fun and kinetic as the movie's visuals (especially during the car chases) but a little too synth-y for the setting; using mostly traditional Japanese intruments would've fit better... then again, it was the 80s. While I'm nitpicking: the Fuma boss was such a boring villain he didn't even get a name (though Kazami made up for that somewhat) and I thought the movie had some pacing issues that could've been fixed if it were 80 or 90 minutes long as opposed to just 73, like throwing the viewer in at the deep end and making them stick around to find out what the characters (both old and new) are about; I find it hard to imagine Fuma being someone's introduction to Lupin, but I do prefer that approach over killing the viewer's interest with a dull opening scene (like Napoleon's Dictionary).
Also, I'll come right out and say it: I thought Kikyo from Dragon of Doom was the superior Goemon (sort of-) love interest
That's not to say I disliked Murasaki, though, far from it. The scene of her flirting with Goemon outside the cave entrace gave me the impression that the awkwardness between them was intentional, with him thinking of her as a younger sibling figure (though not literally, since he was willing to marry her to carry on her family name) while she thought of him as a romantic prospect: it's an interesting dynamic where they love each other but not in the same way as each other, and I enjoyed seeing Goemon determined to protect someone he loved platonically. Lupin casually mentioning Goemon having to retire after getting married might seem like a throwaway line, but it planted the seed for a logical conclusion to the "relationship": as much as Goemon loves his friends and family, the sword is his true passion; if he were to choose a long-term romantic partner, it would have to be someone who's equally comfortable flirting with danger and eternally running from the law (cough cough ). While I'm all for "opposites attract" ships, Goemon and Murasaki were just too fundamentally different even without the age gap: he's a perpetual fish out of water (as he stated in TWCFM episode 3, COUGH COUGH COUGH) while she's an average "modern" girl who happened to be born into an ancient family of rural Japan. It was for the best that their romantic relationship ended before it really began, while keeping the potential for them to continue as friends once Goemon completes his training... which, of course, he never will; his quest for self-improvement is a never-ending one....that's all purely my interpretation, though - some might say it's a weakness that the movie doesn't explain all that much, but personally I think it being so open to interpretation is a strength. Hell, the very fact that Goemon rarely explicitly states what he's feeling makes him the perfect character for a story with that kind of ambiguity - more proof of the creative team understanding and respecting the Lupin gang! The dialogue-less flashback montage and the scene in Murasaki's room with the photo of her and Goemon were some nice bits of showing-not-telling - more proof of Fuma being an extremely visual-driven movie, which is just my kind of movie. While its short length causes minor pacing issues, it also makes it a tight, self-contained story, not to mention perfect for multiple rewatches! I can see the movie growing on me even more when I revisit it; I'd be happy to check out the English (which I hear has a so-bad-it's-good quality) and Spanish dubs. After all, "I wish there was more of it" isn't a bad problem for a movie to have.
I'm now at the point where a written list of Lupin movies I've seen would be too unwieldy, so I made a tierlist:
Next stop: the Koikeverse! I can't believe Zenigata and the Two Lupins is this week
To prepare, I'm planning to watch the whole Koike trilogy (soon to be quintology) with Sof over the course of the week, and to be completely honest I'm looking forward to that experience more than either new movie. Stay tuned for my thoughts on it!
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Are there any more particularly Fujigoe-centric episodes? I'd love to watch them with the Goemon to my Fujiko aka Sof 
There's a certain OVA that'd be perfect viewing to mark the occaision, and while it probably wasn't strictly necessary to see all the episodes that OVA references... I wanted to anyway 
Seriously though, it has a lot crammed into it, with its four extra minutes compared to Bloodspray not granting much wiggle room: I noticed several scenes awkwardly fading into the next one rather than using an establishing exterior shot, which happened a few times in the previous two, but here it's frequent enough to give the movie a rushed feel (both in terms of pacing and production).
But like Lex Lang in Bloodspray, better direction did him a lot of favours: he's still one of the younger-sounding Goemons, but he at least sounds like a young adult now. His actual acting is pretty damn good, too; I really felt Goemon's conviction to protect his clan's secrets (a nice touch in the script was him echoing the line "Lo juro/I swear" from the kabuki play). Even so, Sof and I both still prefer his Mexican voice actor, Armando Coria: Graue can do a deep, cool, voice, but Coria's voice is naturally deep and cool.
Even so, ZATTL also has a special place in my heart for being my first newly-released piece of Lupin media as a fan (along with the Dragon of Doom redub) - I'm lucky it was such a good one, and it coming out close to my "anniversary" feels so right, not to mention watching it with Sof was an absolute blast. Or should I say... boom?
Like I briefly mentioned before, the 5th of July was my "Lupanniversary", marking one year since I took Sof's recommendation and watched the first few episodes of part 1. I decided to have a little celebration by rewatching three of those episodes (1, 5 and 7) and a Lupin movie I'd bought on DVD a while ago... and in doing so, I kind of started watching Lupin faster than I could log my thoughts on it. This is the kind of franchise where once you start, you can't stop! In fact, I've watched so many movies and series that I'm going to intentionally omit some of them, both so this post falls under the character limit (in fact this was how I found out that limited existed 
But I will recycle my spoiler free mini-review from 
As for what's behind me, here's a recap in the form of my up-to-date tierlist and checklist:
