Underrated gem among the Lupin III series. Don't pass it up. Bad stuff first: Plot-wise, this is a pretty average Lupin movie, it's got the standard cast of forgettable side-characters, a very straightforward quest for treasure, and a generic villain with generic evil motives. There's a bit of awkward pacing too, with really fun action sequences being separated by sequences of characters literally just walking around a cave. If you've seen Castle of Cagliostro, then this will come off as a weaker retelling of the same ideas. Audio here is below average, unfortunately. The soundtrack doesn't have any memorable tunes, and a lot of it feels kindof inappropriately silly, rather than cool. The typical voice cast isn't here either, but that didn't bother me, personally.
Fortunately, this movie more than makes up for what it lacks by being the best looking entry in the series. This movie is made up entirely of jaw dropping car chases, intense fight choreography, and solid character acting. There were no corners cut here, you get to see every building fall apart in full detail, and it's incredible. I especially loved the chase scene in the middle of the movie. There's a lot of really good visual gags too; for example, when Zenigata's cars are run over by a train, you see his officers all crammed into one car chasing after Lupin.
This movie's setting is also good. A lot of Lupin movies take place in "Somewhere - Europe", rather than any specific locations, but the town in this movie has a lot of memorable set-pieces, and you can things about the setting while watching (it's got a lot of trains, for example). It's not quite as distinct as Cagliostro, but it's still good. Would've been better if less of it took place in a cave though.
papaganmetaltrash
January 20, 2025
Recommended
I thought I was a committed Red Jacket kind of person, but I have an exception now for sure. Almost all the characters are great in this one, even the one-off cute girl character, Murasaki. At the start I thought she was going to be a forgettable, passive Clarisse type and I was completely surprised. She enriches the whole rest of the movie with her presence and her adorable post-rescue outfit (sweater dress and leg warmers!!) Her scenes running around with Goemon evading traps and hunting for clues felt like they were out of a wholesome kids’ adventure movie from the 80s. “I won’t wait foryou, Goemon!” was such a great note for her to finish on. You shouldn’t wait for him, Murasaki. He is definitely 100% not attracted to women.
Fujiko was great too! The outburst of girlish excitement and delight she lets out when she sees the treasure struck me as so sincere, I felt like I was seeing a bit of the real Fujiko for maybe the first time. Great moment.
I should note here that we usually watch Lupin dubbed at my place. I’m specifically most used to the 2003 Richard Epcar-directed dub, but I warmed up to this cast pretty quick. Fujiko’s voice actress Michele Seidman stood out specifically, I really liked her. Very naturalistic, it's a shame she hasn't worked more. Robin Robertson, who played Lupin, has a subtle regional accent that had him saying treasure sort of like ‘traysure.’ Turns out the actor is from North Carolina! Southern boy Lupin is funny to me the same way Dan Lorge’s strikingly Texan Zenigata is funny.
Some weird dubbed name pronunciations: Lupin is Rupan in this one, which is annoying. There also was disagreement between characters on whether Goemon is Gwye-mon or Goya-mown (these are both definitely worse than the Epcar dub’s Goyaman.)
The only major character who didn’t give me what I wanted from them was Jigen, which is too bad because he’s usually my favorite. He just had very little going on, which is okay because this was really a Goemon movie.
There were some great animation bits in this one! Most of it is animated on twos like your usual TV and direct to video anime, but there’s a fascinating little cut of Murasaki clambering down some rocks that’s on the ones. Her movements are extra fluid for just a few seconds. There’s another cut where a guy is handed a big ceramic vase and he fumbles it a bit because it’s heavier than expected. The vase’s tassels sway as it moves. These are the type of small touches that I treasure, where I can point at the screen and say “Did you see that? They didn’t have to do that! But they did!! Animation!”
The big car chase scene is wacky even by Lupin standards. Like 10 cop cars get owned by Jigen driving the yellow Fiat. Down hallways, up and down stairs, through public baths, absolute madness. There’s a sort of first-person shot from somewhere around Jigen’s elbow as he’s driving, like you’re leaning forward from the back seat watching the debris and fruit crates fly past the windscreen. It’s fantastic.
Last things:
-Zenigata is extra handsome in this one. I can’t explain it, he just is.
-The climax of the movie is like 80% straight Goemon being cool. He’s just… he’s so cool.
