Forum - View topicLupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (TV).
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Botan24
 Posts: 684 Location: Northern Michigan |
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Time to jump on the bandwagon. I'll admit, when I read about the "excess nudity" that startled me a little. I thought it would be used against the series, but was happy to see that it doesn't detract any from the story. It serves to add to it in some cases, as Fujiko is comfortable using her body to manipulate others. Women are men's downfall after all.
 However, if I'm being completely honest, I think the intro is going a little far, but whatever. I'll deal.
Anyway, I've enjoyed all three episodes thus far. The art style is fun, for lack of a better word. I'm loving the scratchy shading, but I hope that if this gets a BD release, it doesn't come off looking crappy. The music is great too, spunky, energetic, it fits just right. As much as I liked the first episode, I have a soft spot for samurai characters, so episode 3 is my favorite thus far. Goeman, is too cool, with that sword that cuts through anything. (I'm a newcomer to the Lupin world too, so this is my first time getting to know everyone's personalties). Can't wait to see more. |
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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i only watch this show for fan service. Don't like the story or the art that much.
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Animerican14
 Posts: 963 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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If it's really just boobs you want, uh... you might want to go somewhere else. That or at least skip to the spoiler[last few minutes] of episode 3, spoiler[ because that's the only time there is any in the Goemon episode outside of the OP & ED.] But man, still a nice episode. The plot's pretty simple with episode 3, but it nicely complements the comparatively sweet tone of this episode and Goemon's total awesomeness with a touch of relational awkwardness (and, surprisingly... dorkiness?). It's been some years since I saw several of the Lupin films... has he most-always been this way? |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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So far- awesome story about awesome characters. Before I had known Lupin III only by name, but it seems that it wasn't the problem.
Characters so awesome that it seems to be the cruse can be a cruse to the show, but here it seems that hyped characteristics fit the tone of overall silliness mixed with film noir convention. I wonder if this series will raise the popularity of Lupin III in West at all. When people get in touch witch franchise at the point when creators try to shift the style there's usually a problem with accepting previous parts. Waiting for nest episode I checked both older series and surprisingly in spite of all the changes I found the overall tone untouched under the layers of outdated animation. |
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
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I've enjoyed what I've seen so far (first two episodes). #1 was just ok to me but #2 was pretty great.
Things I like... I love how it actually looks like a manga. The characters are interesting and the writing is good. It's entertaining. Things I dislike... the manga shadow lines. I think they make for awesome screengrabs but don't look that great in motion. Speaking of motion, the animation is pretty terrible on a regular basis. The guy who did Redline mad this so I was really surprised at how poor it is. It's somewhere above a motion comic and below the worst episodes of Naruto and One Piece (and early One Piece is some of the worst animation I've ever seen). It's unfortunate that everything looks so cool and stylish, then things start to move and it all falls apart. The music is decent enough, but I don't like it as much as the score from the old series and even when not judged against that, it's only ok. |
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dirkusbirkus
 Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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I'm the same, I've been impressed with this series so I went looking for the older stuff, and I also worried that I might be turned off by it due to it being different stylistically, or that the dated animation would detract from it somehow. And, like yourself, I'm also discovering that whilst yes, the animation is more reflective of the era is was produced (the soundtrack also being a period piece, haha) the overall 'feel' of the show remains largely the same. One thing that pleased me was seeing Fujiko in her earlier incarnations, still being sexy as hell. Sure, there's less nudity but it's not completely non-existent. I've seen people call her the 'original' anime sex symbol and I can see where that originated. Watching the older stuff also helps put this season in a little bit of context since the characters Fujiko is meeting are established franchise players. I knew that much from this thread, but it's nice to see them further down the line (chronologically speaking). If this series turns more people onto the franchise as a whole, I think they'll be pleasantly surprised by what they find. I can picture all the existing Lupin fans sagely nodding their heads at this point, haha 
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I like this series a lot. I enjoyed what Adult Swim got to show of the second Lupin III television series and I thought that The Castle of Cagliostro was really excellent. This is different from those, but just because it finds it own awesome way.
I love the aesthetics of this series. The characters have great, distinctive looks and the background art is really detailed and interesting. The heavy, stylized shading rewards the adjustment that it requires. I hope that this somehow manages to warrant an English dub, because I would like to be able to gaze over the artwork without needing to dart my eyes down to some text every few seconds. The storytelling is really well done. It reminds me of some of the best of Cowboy Bebop and even The Big O, although obviously without the spaceships and giant robots. I like the kind of intimate, noir stories with fairly restricted casts and settings all playing out under a stylish black veneer that it's told so far. Each episode has been very entertaining and cool. I presume that next week we will see Fujiko's path intersect with Inspector Zenigata directly, thus completing the quintet. I have no idea what might come after that. I think something might come of the fact that Fujiko has thus far been portrayed as the most ruthlessly amoral, at least outwardly, of the important characters. I haven't really noticed the abundant nudity. I'm certainly aware of it, only an illiterate blind, deaf idiot wouldn't be, but it never really seems in the way. The only thing that I mind about it is that it slightly limits the series' prospects in the west. I think that's all that needs to be said. It's Lupin III ~The Woman Called Fujiko Mine~ after all, not Lupin III ~The Boobs On Fujiko Mine~, so that's how I'd prefer to talk about henceforth.
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter
I've always preferred Jigen, but that's probably because Richard Epcar played him so well in the Geneon English dub of the second television series. Also because he has a fedora and a beard. I was surprised how sweet Goemon was. He was more of a stoic samurai with a fixation on honor in what I've seen before; that was certainly here, but he almost seemed like an insecure adolescent underneath. Trying so hard to be serious and cool, but still wanting to impress the younger kids and going all buttery when a pretty girl is nice to him. I was a little skeeved out when he started stripping... errr... swording Fujiko naked at the end, but that was mitigated when I considered that he obvious had some other than prurient reasons to do so and Fujiko was typically unfazed. Maybe that's why the nudity doesn't really arouse (oy, such word choice) my ire; the show doesn't make a big deal about it Fujiko clearly doesn't care, so I shouldn't be either. Besides, it was probably a relatively gentle way for one's clothes to be involuntarily removed. More serious ideological or philosophical objections might be valid, but those are above my intellectual pay grade. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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So episode 4 had Zenigata being more of a dirty old man than his usual incorruptable self. I mean, having sex with Fujiko? Shooting to kill? This incarnation of Zenigata is a little off-putting (though it is very amusing).
And Lupin used a bee weapon. Bees. My god. |
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Botan24
Posts: 684 Location: Northern Michigan |
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Anybody see the slight nod to Phantom of the Opera in episode four? There's the "opera ghost" the scarred and masked character, and being together for love. No love triangle though, pity.
Very different take on a sex scene during the first few minutes. Almost comical, no, scratch that - very comical. I'm becoming fond of Oscar. His calling Fujiko "pig" and "spittoon" and her reactions to those titles was hysterical. Also, I loved his response to the spoiler[inspector's (fake) blood covered form, "The blood-soaked Inspector -- ah, what decadent beauty!"] Oh, and spoiler[Lupin dressed as a horse, who "captures" Fujiko and pins her down.]
The VA's are obviously all enjoying themselves immensely. They're hamming it up, and just plain having some fun. I'm especially fond of Fujiko's voice actress, and Oscar's. Although, whoever is playing Lupin is probably the most talented. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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This episode was pretty weak in comparison to the other 3. If there's a highlight it's how the assistant detective acted around Fujiko, particularly when she was banging his boss.
Which also reminds me of the poor samurai from the last episode. Really went for the wrong lady. |
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Surrender Artist
Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I had been afraid that this thread would go moribund, have nice that it has not. I almost posted on Friday night, but then I'd've been replying to myself and that's just too gauche for me.
I'm looking forward to The Stream now; I'm interested to find out what Bamboo Dong thinks of this series and where it'll place. Of possible interest is this glowing article by Daryl Surat about the series from Otaku USA. Something about the story of the fourth episode didn't seem right to me; the logic of the story seemed off. I understood the idea of the plot, but I wasn't convinced. Just what Aiyan's plan was and how it all worked out didn't make great sense to me. I still enjoyed watching it all the same. I had expected this to be the episode that property introduced Inspector Zenigata to us. I had also expected, especially because of his character design, the Inspector to be rather different from what I'm used to, but not this different. It took me a few minutes to come to terms with what happened in the first scene. The *achem* 'symbolic' approach to indicating sexual intercourse was an distinctive and somewhat jarring device. It's a shocking change, but I think I like this lecherous, angry Inspector Zenigata who spoiler[straight-up tried to murder Lupin during the chase in the catacombs], which the Inspector Zenigata that I'm familiar with would never have tried to do. He's very much a film noir character. Lieutenant Oscar is an interesting character. I'm intrigued by his curiously moralistic misogyny and obvious infatuation with Inspector Zenigata. I do hope that this is going somewhere. The part that was most interesting to me were the flashbacks to Fujiko's past. When they first happened I remember briefly thinking I was waching Puella Magi Madoka Magika because of the slightly surreal storybook artwork. Between that and the ending, I'm inclined to suspect that this series wants to explore Fujiko's past and character more, which I'm all for. I hadn't even noticed the ending until this episode. I'd assumed that the credits over a single nude drawing of Fujiko were permanent and just stopped the stream as soon as they began, but evidently the production has, as some comments to this AniPages entry on the third episode indicate, been troubled and that first ending was just an incomplete temporary one. |
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DerekTheRed
 Posts: 3544 Location: ::Points to hand:: |
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One thing about the entries in the Lupin franchise is that they tend to take place roughly when they were made. So in the newer specials, things like cell phones exist, and you see the occasional contemporary political or entertainment figure (I think Bill Clinton shows up in one special, and Henry Kissinger in another, Mamo perhaps). Even Episode 0, which was another of the possible origin stories so it should take place in the past, felt pretty contemporary. But this one seems firmly set in the 60s or 70s, which is totally groovy. I have yet to see a cell phone or computer, and the train in episode 3 didn't exactly scream modern. The newest things I've seen are the helicopters (which looked like hueys, so circa Korean War). The royal guards used Thompson submachine guns, which popped up like 3 decades earlier...
And you can't use Lupin's gizmos to date anything, because work on magic
As for the show, I'm really diggin' it. I like the new origin story, and I like the gritty feel of the show. But I don't like Oscar because he's new. GTFO my Lupin, new guy 
And did anybody else think Fujiko's outfit at the beginning of episode 4, when she was sitting on Zenigata's desk was supposed to resemble her camo outfit in Cagliostro? With the blonde hair especially, I got that vibe. |
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dirkusbirkus
Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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Man, I'm definitely going to have to rewatch this series after becoming more well-versed in the Lupin universe if the show is as self-referential as you guys are saying.
Who am I kidding, I'll rewatch it anyway, since it's completely awesome. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15292 |
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BTW, if you're newbs to Lupin, check out this fan site run by the people working on the upcoming early 70s DVD set from Discotek.
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jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
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The great thing about this series is that there's just small hints here and there of Lupin references but nothing that adds or takes away from the stories in any way. All it does is add more enjoyment to the show. Just Like Cagliostro(it's streaming on Netlix and I highly recommend it) You really do not need to see any other series or movies to enjoy it, unlike many other long running shows that are always changing, like Gundam. Also if your going to watch any Lupin check out the Green Jacket TV series eventually. It's a bit slow in the beginning but it the most accurate to the manga. The Red Jacket TV series is super hard to find and only so much was released. (Though if DiscoTek does well with its Lupin release we may see it all) So with movies and specials I recommend staying away from most of the newer Lupin specials as they are not all that great. As well as stay away from The Secret of Mamo. This movie as I find it a interesting piece it is god awful. Unless you find a interest in how not to make an animated movie and enjoy how bad they butcher Lupin then you may want to check it out, but only after you know enough about the characters as it will just be a shitty movie. I can easily make a short story on this movie alone but I'll let you judge. I really have no idea what you would enjoy as there is so much out there. I'm just trying to keep you away from a bad first impression of Lupin. Good luck. |
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