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Lupin The Third: Where To Start and What's Worth Watching


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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
Posts: 952
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:39 am Reply with quote
I had only seen Miyazaki's "Castle of Cagliostro" and a couple random older episodes up until recently, after hearing all the praise on ANNCast about the new 2015 series. I gave it a chance, and yeah its pretty awesome. The overall production is beautiful. I might follow this article and cherry pick some more of the older episodes on Crunchyroll. Thanks for writing!
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amagee



Joined: 08 Nov 2010
Posts: 333
Location: Orlando, FL
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:43 am Reply with quote
This editorial is extremely appreciated. I've seen a bunch of random episodes of different Lupin series here and there and I'm looking forward to tackling some of the new ones recommended here.

Keep being awesome, ANN!
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5406
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:57 am Reply with quote
I am a big fan of Castle of Cagliostro, have watched 2012 Fujiko Mine, and I am currently watching Part IV. But I have never been able to get into the older series because Lupin is too episodic and redundant.

A guide like this one is welcome, but it is somewhat disheartening that from the 200+ episodes made Reed is recommending just a handful of episodes. Is the Lupin III anime franchise that underwhelming?
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:59 am Reply with quote
This is where to start and a guide to the strongest episodes, not a guide to the only good episodes of Lupin.
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:00 pm Reply with quote
For the TV series, I've seen most of Part 1 (I need to buy the Discotek release), the Hayao Miyazaki episodes from Part 2 on Hulu, most of A Woman Named Fujiko Mine, and I'm currently watching the 2015 version on Cruncyroll. I tried watching the fansubs but, I forgot the schedule so I'm glad that CR has it now.

I prefer green jacket Lupin mostly but, I need to watch more red jacket Lupin before I can be certain. Blame it on Castle of Cagliostro as my introduction but, I like Lupin as a gentleman thief.

That said, A Woman Fujiko Mine was a dynamic change of pace artistically, but there were some episodes that made me put the series on hold. Still, I want to see more of Sayo Yamamoto since Michiko e Hatchin was a great road trip, action series with women of color as the main lead.

Jigen is my favorite character mostly for his laid back attitude and gunslinger characters are fun to watch.

Also seen the Detective Conan vs Lupin the Third films but, I felt that the duo never spent that much time together in the first one while in the second I enjoyed spoiler[their temporary teamwork to safely land the plane] near the end.

Looking forward to the OVA and films because I have heard mixed stuff on which were classics (such as Mystery of Mamo) and which were duds (Green vs. Red).
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bobob101



Joined: 28 Jun 2013
Posts: 201
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:00 pm Reply with quote
The best Lupin show I have ever seen was without a doubt Fujiko Mine. But That is in large parts because I love the Gekiga stylings of that show, as well as its artistic merits. The currently airing Lupin part IV is WONDERFUL week to week. I'll admit that I watched the first couple episodes with the Italian dub (which is pretty good) but the classic Lupin voices are still great. I've been working my way through Crunchyroll's offerings on Lupin Part II, and maybe after that I'll look at the original show. I'll save my thoughts on movies and specials for the next article.
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Black Thunder 6



Joined: 08 Sep 2015
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:04 pm Reply with quote
Finally! Somebody on this site who doesn't fellate Women Called Fujiko, the plot was an absolute mess and had the worst interpretation of Zenigata in the franchise, you know you did something wrong when the best episodes of your show has nothing to do with the title lead heroine or the plot. If Fujiko did anything right it gave us the vastly superior Jigen's Gravestone which is one of the best installments in the franchise and reason why it was so good is mainly because Koike was behind it so Okada's and Yamamoto's influence were nowhere to be found. Anyways definitely one of the best editorials thus far.
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 863
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:06 pm Reply with quote
Very helpful guide! I recently started watching the Green Jacket series,which is pretty entaintaining,despite that first half having some terrible direction and the scripts coming off as first drafts(episode 3 in particular is a hilarious mess).
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Lupin the Third



Joined: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 88
Location: Idaho
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:17 pm Reply with quote
angelmcazares wrote:

A guide like this one is welcome, but it is somewhat disheartening that from the 200+ episodes made Reed is recommending just a handful of episodes. Is the Lupin III anime franchise that underwhelming?


To be honest, it's been a long time since I've seen a lot of the Part II episodes, so a lot of these were ones I held near and dear to my heart and could almost list them off the top of my head with minimal refreshers. Part II and Part III make up the bulk of the episodes and I still need to finish watching both myself (I watched a LOT of Part II years ago but a lot of that memory is long gone).

If you're curious, here's a list of Japanese fan-voted favorite Part II episodes in order from most popular to least:

155
112
148
99
145
137
58
26
129
152

It actually surprised me to learn that #145 was down to the #5 slot on that list, because I think #145 is easily the best episode in the series.
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Saffire



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1255
Location: Iowa, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:29 pm Reply with quote
So far I've seen what aired on Adult Swim (I think the first chunk of Part II?), Cagliostro, Fujiko Mine and currently Part IV. I love pretty much everything I've seen so I keep telling myself that someday I'll go deep and watch everything else but it is a LOT of ground to cover so I keep putting it off. Someday.
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Thatguy3331



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 1790
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:37 pm Reply with quote
I've seen the first episode of the very first lupin series, the Miyazaki movie, A woman named Fujiko Mine, Jigens Tombstone and am watching through part 4 (I'm behind a few episodes though and am just now getting to the end of the "first cour" if it turns out the show runs that way.

Lupin's a pretty interesting series in seeing how many people give their takes on the character and it's the most fun thing about the franchise. Which isn't to say I don't like individual works or episodes all on their own, the the main weakness of any episodic show is how interesting you find each self contained story in their own right. Part 4 (from my view anyway) seems to do a thing where we take a pretty well worn episodic plot that sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry, makes it tolerable thanks to the personality of the cast only to go and star doing it's own thing either a bit a quarter or half way through the episode. The Ghost hotel episode is a lot like that with me, as well as episode 2 to an extent. While not the best lupin I've seen, I'm enjoying it as a TV series.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1067
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 12:40 pm Reply with quote
These seem like good choices to me. I do remember the majority of these picked episodes pretty fondly. I will say that Part III needs a little more love, but I'm just glad it's not skipped entirely here.

It's hard for me to remember every single episode I enjoyed though. So far I've seen everything related to Lupin III, literally everything (I just need to catch up with Part IV is all).

I hope more TV specials will become available in some sort of legal manner, some of the specials that were never licensed are really great. Operation Return the Treasure and Sweet Lost Night are among the best things to come out of the franchise if you ask me.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Cagliostro will both hook and spoil future Lupin fans if seen first:
It's the best Miyazaki-animated, and the most "quintessential" Lupin, but it's also the most G-rated (a trusting big-brother Lupin who helps girls instead of leaping on them? A friendly, helpful secret-agent Fujiko?), and the rest of the series doesn't really look THAT good.
Back in the Streamline days, before any TV episodes could be tracked down in English, the "transitional" Lupin was Miyazaki's two Pt. II episodes released on VHS, the "Albatross" #145 and the "Farewell Lupin" #155--The Albatross episode particularly seemed to come out of Cagliostro canon, with Fujiko still cute and spunky and acting like the Ghibli version of Marvel's Black Widow.
Those two episodes (back when Carl Macek was trying to stretch out his Cagliostro money) could wean new Cagliostro fans onto the episodic half-hour TV format, without the shock of the usual Monkey Punch-style TV animation and libidinousness.

It's easy to see why Part II was more popular than Part I:
The II series had found its 60's Ocean's 11 groove, the calypso Pt. I theme had now become Lupin's jazzy theme we know today, and there's just not enough Connery-007-goes-anime fantasy to Pt. I before Goemon joins the series. (Although I would have also picked the Miyazaki-directed Episode 1.18, where an international beauty contest is used as a front for an art-smuggling ring.)
As for the Fujiko Mine series...that's like AfterMASH or The Lone Gunmen. Never trust a series that's made as an excuse to stretch out another series that already wrapped up its finale.
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Wingbeats



Joined: 23 Feb 2015
Posts: 272
Location: Boise, Idaho
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:32 pm Reply with quote
Thanks for this editorial! This is great.

I never had any interest in Lupin because I thought the character designs were too silly. I'd only seen a couple episodes that my Japanese cousins had on VHS, and teenage me wasn't impressed.

However, seeing all the squee about Fujiko Mine and the new 2015 series has made me curious about it now. Good to know I don't necessarily need to watch the old series to check out the new Smile
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:51 pm Reply with quote
Count me in for another vote of appreciation for this summary. Picking up a long-running series like this can make you feel like an outsider and this goes a long way to helping that.

I am pretty impressed with IV -- Lupin seems to belong in Italy somehow. The sense of art style is impressive.
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