Man, another year, another Independence Day weekend with no Twilight Zone marathon. What the heck does cable expect us to do with ourselves?
My determination to avoid the sweet, sultry, Southern summer outside led me to binge on Lupin III this year and I’m passing on the blessings to you.
You remember Lupin III, don’t you? One of the cornerstones of anime and manga. The archetypal lovable rogue thief except when he’s going all Golgo 13 on us. Great-grandson of a famous fictional thief, Japanese James Bond by way of French literature and every American heist movie? Please, settle in while I explain this more than worthy substitute for your time:
Lupin the Third began life as a 1967 manga series drawn & illustrated by the late, great Monkey Punch. Monkey Punch’s flashy yet cynical and darkly hilarious spy aesthetic resonated with audiences and the manga received its first anime adaptation in 1971. If your introduction to the series was through Castle of Cagliostro or Part II, then this series is probably incredibly alien because of it’s much darker tone. And that’s with director Masaaki Osumi toning down the worst aspects of the manga to create something a little more appealing. Unfortunately, executive meddling behind the scenes doomed this series to inconsistency with flashes of brilliance. Still, at 13 episode series it’s worth a view to see Lupin shift from cynical antihero to wheelin’ and dealin’, stylin and profilin’.
As it turned out, Part I gained a bit of a cult following which led to the new Lupin the Third Part II in 1977. At 155 episodes it is to date the longest running Lupin television series and likely the one most familiar to English speaking audiences thanks to its abbreviated Adult Swim run (one o’clock sharp). It’s an all day affair on its own, but there’s plenty in the middle to skip. Part II goes full comedy caper and we’re all the better for it. The series helped cement the more popular aspects of the franchise including Zenigata and Lupin’s increasingly absurd rivalry, Goemon’s misplaced loyalty, and Jigen’s entire existence. But by far the best aspect of this series is watching the merry band of thieves act as a tightly knit unit. Competent individually, the Lupin III gang as a spy unit is pure Ocean’s 11 perfection. Their interactions are hilarious and drive even the worst episodes. Not everything is a winner but enough are that you won’t care.
Lupin the Third has never been obscure, but like any franchise it has had its ups and downs. And that first slump was the infamous Part III.
Say, if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re wondering why our hero Lupin III keeps swapping jacket colors. Is it to be snazzy? Yes. But amongst fans of the show, Lupin’s jacket colors tend to signal what type of show or move we’re about to get. Green jacket is overall synonymous with the grimdark atmosphere of the manga and the first series (never mind that he was wearing a red jacket in the manga, but…). Red jacket typically signifies a more comedic bent. Pink jacket attempts to marry the grim, gritty Part I with the cartoony, comedic Part II and ending up with an out of state divorce. Part III is just weird and not in a good way. Worst, the treasured connections between the main cast are threadbare if nonexistent here. Worth checking out for completionists with the time to shift through all 50 episodes But there’s a reason the Miami Vice pink jacket has yet to get an encore.
You know what did get an encore? Green jacket! The next series in the franchise comes in 2013 after a long, long lull. And fortunately, it was the very, very, and I stress very good The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. As you might guess, this 13 episode series focuses on the mysterious origins of Lupin III’s on/off love interest. Closer in tone to Part I with a lot of sex, violence and supernatural happenings with a pinch of gallow’s humor. Everyone reverts back to their manga personalities which means lovable Lupin III is an occasional murderer, Jigen is an assassin for hire, Zenigata is sleazy, and Goemon is a loser. But this show succeeds where Part III failed in pairing off the darkness with touches of light in a way that feels organic and allowing characters to be themselves without creating a show that is overly cynical or overly goofy. The twist ending is proof of that. Short, sweet, to the point, and if you watch it over the course of a day like I did you will be afraid of owls by the end.
Last but not least we have the one-two punch of Parts IV and V. Blue Jacket Lupin had me shook for days but with change brings more of the same – Part IV combines many aspects of the franchise history while giving Lupin his newest and my favorite foil in the form of Rebecca Rossellini. Lupin has yet to have two women in his life (that we know of) and watching Rebecca get the jump on him constantly has been one of the few joys I’ve had in life for at least two years. At 24 episodes, Part IV is cool, breezy fun while its immediate follow up Part V is slightly more serious again. Lupin finally enters the digital age and I didn’t realize how long I’ve been waiting for cyber crime to catch up to the gang. Lupin and Jigen on the dark web? Yes, please.
Friends, we’re being forced to take this unpredictable summer into our own hands. Since your local science-fiction channel expects us to go without re-runs of only the second best Rod Serling series, what better time than to slide into the cool wild, dangerous, sexy world of Lupin the Third?