Lupin III: Seven Days Rhapsody

This is the story of what happens during one week while Lupin and Jigen are planning a heist. Whereas other Lupin specials have made an effort to stay up to date on technology and failed embarrassingly (I'm looking at you, Green vs. Red), this one has a very tongue in cheek approach to Lupin's old school skills and techniques. In fact, a character of the week uses them to identify him, which I thought was clever. For some reason, at the time this anime special was out, it was a thing to put weird, CG puppets into anime (such as Level E). I don't get it,but the puppet scene in this special was funny. Everything they do in Lupin is so specialized, so characterized, that it doesn't matter if it's cliche. It still manages to work. I realize that this was also a throw back to one of the Red Jacket series openings, but still... Another interesting thing about this special is that they make people actually look like they countries they're from. Americans? Not over the top, but a variety of blonde, brunette, with light eyes. Thailand? Dark skin and dark hair. Tourists? Not all in Hawaiian print. That's not really something you see in anime. Characters are usually pretty homogenous. And, wow!, there's only ONE cowboy out of all the Americans in the movie! (I'm not even rolling my eyes here) There's always, always something in the specials/movies that really just makes them great for me. For this one, for me, it was this little bit where Goemon isn't happy with the job he has and really wants to use his sword. And when he does get the chance he complains that he cut something worthless again, but is cut off, and is giddy anyway that he got to do his normal thing. It seriously made me laugh out loud. There's a pun in the movie as well that's easy for English speakers to understand. Lupin is talking over and over about how he's picky about his ice, likes only certain brands of ice, etc. I can only assume that this is a pun and he's talking not only about frozen water, but his diamond preferences (This is later confirmed during the end credits). I mean, after all, the movie is about quite a bit of diamonds. I found it clever. THE CONS: My only issue with this special? It's ridiculously similar to Stolen Lupin in some aspects. The "female of the week" (you know, the new female that suddenly has business with Lupin) is almost a replication of the one in Stolen Lupin. And the same exact weapon is used (an enormous exploding diamond on a black choker). Overall? Great animation, great voice work as usual, clever character development (even with the female of the week who is more than a damsel in distress), and good music. Definitely a to watch show!

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