So, yeah… pretty awesome. I’d let Pirate Asuka handle my Jolly Roger, if you know what I mean. (I MEANT MY PENIS.) (Wait, she’s how old again?) (So yeah, definitely would let her.)
Why was this not here earlier? I have to return and do this? For shame, other ORers. Forcing me to actually do something.
(My top 10 favorite Bond movies list is in the works.)
As expected, I had an enormously interesting time at Otakon over the weekend. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the merchandise I spent a fortune on, these were things I will forever hold dear in the treasure chest that is my beating heart, along with the memory of all the people I shared it with. It is a place full of wonderous, hopeful joy and unbridled passion for Japanese animation, video games, and other things tangently related at best that people thought would fit in. In my dreams I still see that citidel of merriment, the Baltimore Convention Center, whose halls and doors filled with the best and brightest of anime fandom, and were sheparded by the utmost professional staffers to panels of most magnificent bounty. Few days have passed, but I already long for next year’s congress. Oh, Otakon, how I will miss thee.
Today is famous aviator and feminist icon Amelia Earhart’s 115th birthday. She was pretty awesome.
In case you’re wondering what to get her for her birthday, I’m afraid I have no idea. You see, even though she disappeared quite some time ago, in 1937, at the age of 39, and we’re not sure exactly where she ended up, I can say that, in all confidence, that she’s dead.
Well, maybe I’m just making an assumption here, but most people do not live to the age of 115. And yet, the news seems to report that she has turned 115 years old today. Funny, that.
Episode 11, "The Feast of Fools"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Oscar remembers when he was young and Zenigata saved him from drowning. In the present, Zenigata discusses with Oscar a rash of new thefts pulled off by Fujiko, and says he won’t be allowed to pursue Lupin until he arrests her. Fujiko, meanwhile, is in the care of Goemon. When Goemon hears about the thefts from the radio, he decides to investigate. Zenigata sets up a trap at the Musee de Marsene to get Fujiko, but a valuable tiara is stolen, regardless. Both Zenigata and Lupin come to the conclusion that Fujiko isn’t the one stealing the artifacts, that it’s the work of a dirty cop. Zenigata leaves catching Fujiko to Oscar, who it turns out has been framing Fujiko. Exasperated that the inspector refuses to show interest in Fujiko’s crimes, Oscar decides to frame her for an officer’s murder. The owl group approach him and tell him he has their support. Oscar sends another fake warning from Fujiko, saying that she will steal the jeweled wedding dress of the "bride of the year" at the Fete Nationale. Meanwhile, Count Almeida continues observation of Fujiko. A bomb threat is called into the police. Zenigata appears and tells Oscar he doubts Fujiko is behind it. Oscar is angered by this and is then approached again by the owl group. They plan a bomb explosion as a distraction so that Oscar can take the dress. At the parade, Oscar waits for the plan to go into action. Goemon blocks the path of the parade with his sword. Lupin finds the bomb under the bridge and decides to disable it. The owl men surround Goemon. After hearing from Zenigata about protecting one’s pride, Oscar runs off. Under the bridge, Lupin tries to disconnect the bomb, but Oscar interrupts and grabs it, jumping into the water below. The bomb explodes underwater. Comments: Now, I have to admit, I haven’t commented on the character of Oscar all that much (save for a bit in the last review), because I’m not that interested in him. I can understand where they were trying to go with this character, showing how obsessing over somebody could twist you and make you act irrational. But he seemed kind of annoying most of the time and I wondered where they were going with him, if anywhere. Until now, Oscar has been an unstable, but fairly innocent, if not overzealous. But in this episode, he’s gone as far as murder and theft to satisfy his desire to see Fujiko brought to justice and therefore Inspector Zenigata pleased. He has gone completely overboard and has even conspired with the Glaucus owl people. It may even have been that the owls weren’t planning on blowing up the bridge until there were people on it (a possibility I can’t ignore given the nature of Almeida). I mean, framing Fujiko for thefts is one thing, stupid, but not nearly as bad as killing a fellow police officer to frame Fujiko. Clearly his hatred for Fujiko and desire for Zenigata pushed him over the edge. It was interesting then to see where they actually went with this, and I think it paid off, when Zenigata gives a speech about how saving Oscar when he was young taught him to always protect the "one thing", your personal pride. We not only get to see some of Zenigata’s ideals, closely guarded in this show where he seems dogged, but distant, but Oscar realizes the horror of what he’d been doing, and makes the decision to stop the scheme with the owl men his way. He realizes that even if he’s too corrupt, he has to protect Zenigata’s honor. Another noteworthy aspect of the episode is Goemon’s treatment of Fujiko. Goemon knows that Fujiko is not the innocent soul he thought she was when he first met her. She has a difficult personality, and is not as pure as he would like her to be. However, we see him taking care of her in her time of need, when she is at her lowest. We always knew Goemon was a noble, but I really admire him for helping her. And hey, Goemon almost met Lupin in this episode! Pity they missed each other, since they were both working towards the same goal. Lupin himself seemed pretty dedicated in trying to clear Fujiko’s name, too, but it was more like a hobby to him than anything else. Anyway, a good episode. Not great, but good. I found myself feeling sorry for a character I didn’t care that much for previously, so that says something about it. Overall Score:4 out of 5
Episode 10, "Ghost Town"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Lupin awakes from a dream only to see an owl-headed man in his room, telling him to "steal" Fujiko Mine. Zenigata and Oscar arrive by plane to meet with Count Almeida of Glaucus Pharmaceuticals. Months earlier, the owl headed men hired Lupin to go to where the Frauline Eule cult is and "steal" Fujiko. In the present, Lupin sneaks around Almeida’s house as Zenigata and Oscar arrive, demanding to see Almeida about Lupin. Zenigata reveals that he knows that the drug cult was a cover for Almeida’s drug company, which was performing human experimentation. Lupin later confronts Almeida, but is knocked out with a drug. When he awakens, he finds himself in the old Glaucus Pharmaceuticals facility the company of Dr. Fritz Kaiser, who explains that Frauline Eule drug has euphoria as it’s short-term effect, but longtime use produces bodies that look like owls. Thirteen years earlier, Dr. Kaiser was working at the lab when there was a chemical spill. In present day, he shows a picture of his daughter to Lupin. The girl in the picture is a young Fujiko. When Lupin looks up, Kaiser has disappeared. Lupin encounters Zenigata, who thinks Lupin wants Fujiko as evidence of the company’s wrongdoing. The two are ambushed by gun-wielding lab technicians and split up. Lupin encounters several bizarre visions, revealing that Fujiko was part of the company’s experiments. At the end, Lupin isn’t sure whether he experienced what he experienced, or it was a dream. Comments: Wow. This was one bizarre episode. Sort of straddling the line between "artsy representations" and "weirdness for weirdness sake". But while it wasn’t one of the best episodes of the show, it was pretty enlightening. The pieces are finally beginning to fit together here. The first meeting between Lupin and Fujiko was actually arranged by Count Luis Yu Almeida, making the revelation of the fake prophet from episode 8 not a surprise at all to Lupin, who already knew. The whole first episode of the show, then, was Lupin scoping out Fujiko more than attempting to steal the drug statue (though he probably intended to do that as well). He already knew who Fujiko was and expected her to show up to steal it, too. It may even be that Fujiko showed up in that case because she knew of the connection between the drug cult and Glaucus Pharmaceuticals, who had experimented on her. It appears now that Fujiko is the daughter of Dr. Fritz Kaiser, though whether it’s biological or he was simply put in charge of her by Glaucus, is still up in the air. Apparently he was working with the Frauline Eule drug, which causes euphoria, but can also cause aggression and body changes that make people look like owls. How, exactly, does that work? I guess it’s just a funny coincidence that the company links itself with the Owl of Minerva (Glaucus), the goddess of medicine. Or perhaps we’re not meant to take the owl transformations as literal events but figurative ones. It’s hard to when the guy says outright that the drug causes people to start looking like owls. Nobody seems to treat the owl-men that work for LYA as being something that abnormal. Perhaps, though, people just assume those are costumes. Zenigata actually gets off his ass and does something in this episode, though to what degree is questionable if you take it that Lupin dreamed all of this, or at least some of it. Zenigata made the connection between the drug cult, Glaucus, and Almeida, which even surprises Oscar, who gets shamed by him later on when he’s told to keep quiet. I said it’s about time that Zenigata take some action. I think it’s even possible he had his eye out for this well before he teamed up with Fujiko in episode 4. I hope we get to see him in action some more before the show ends. I want to point out that the town Glaucus’ old laboratory was in was called "Eulenspiegel". A trickster figure called "Till Eluenspigel" comes from German folklore. In English he’s come to be known as "Owlglass". In the tales told of him he plays practical jokes that expose the vices of his contemperories, such as greed and hypocrisy. Now who, in this story, sounds a bit like that, huh? A pretty clever show. Overall Score:4 out of 5
Episode 09, "Love Wreathed in Steam"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Lupin and Jigen attend an auction that was disguised as a carnival sideshow. The item for bid is a painted woman, used as a canvas for the famous artist, Natar Aiden. It’s interrupted by a mysterious person in a black cloak, who turns out to be Fujiko. Lupin and Jigen take custody of the painted woman, but are attacked by Fujiko. They make an escape, but Fujiko persues them relentlessly and ruthlessly. The police take the painted woman in custody, but Fujiko attacks. At the last moment, Jigen saves her. Lupin runs off with her with Fujiko again in pursuit. Confronting her, Lupin surmises that Fujiko is trying to kill the woman because like her, she had a life controlled by other people. Exasperated by this, Fujiko tries to kill herself with Lupin’s gun, but it turns out to just be a water pistol. Fujiko leaves, now confused over what to do. She encounters Goemon. Comments: Like the last episode, this episode has this sense of charming cruelty, where the characters just sort of do what they feel they have to, without letting up much or apologizing for it. It’s like the first Lupin III TV series in that way. Sort of darkly amusing, containing equal parts levity and harshness. The characters don’t hold back, but at the same time, still come off being very amiable in their own right. For one thing, Fujiko seems to have snapped a bit. Having seen the woman with the tattoos be offered up as a prize, she goes into a state of calm fury, attempting to kill her at all costs. What we’re seeing in this episode is a breakdown for the character. Instead of taking things lightly and letting things that bother her in stride, Fujiko is geniunely disturbed to the point of trying to kill an innocent woman simply because, as Lupin put it, she wants to kill herself. Those owl guys seem to have really fucked her up as a child. There’s no sign of the coy and sultry con woman here, just a broken and shaken woman driven to attempted suicide. At the end of the episode she’s lost, not knowing where to turn to. This is probably the most sympathetic she’s come across yet. I actually feel really bad for her. It looks like Lupin and Jigen are officially a team now. We get more great interaction between them in this episode, as well as cooperation. They seem to be working seemlessly in concert, trying to protect the painted lady. I love their chat during the carnival game and after they rescue the woman for the first time when Lupin warns Jigen not to get too attached to the merchandise (the woman). They worked together pretty well in the gondola scene, too. Now they need to bring Goemon on board, and although neither of them has met him, I have a feeling that they’re about to. One of the noteworthy bits was when Jigen shot down the gondola Fujiko was on and they wondered whether she survived or not. Lupin says, "If she didn’t, I guess she wasn’t the woman I thought she was." He has high expectations of her. Another rock solid episode. Overall Score:4.5 out of 5
Episode 08, "Dying Day"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Shitoto, a fortune teller who can predict you’re dying day is the common link between several victims of Lupin’s theivery. Jigen is hired to destroy the man’s beloved lithograph, while Zenigata and Oscar seek him as well. However, Jigen discovers that the lithograph has already been destroyed. Jigen is then arrested by the police, but is rescued by Lupin, and the two team up. Lupin confronts Shitoto with the theory that he probably had his clients killed to be accurate. Shitoto wants to buy a copy of the lithograph from Fujiko, who had made a copy and destroyed the original. When they meet, Fujiko has Shitoto pegged as Lupin in disguise, while the real one is in the trunk of the car. The real Shitoto claims that he really could read the future at one time, but the power gradually faded until he couldn’t read the lithograph anymore. He reveals that he was hired to do one last death reading: Fujiko’s. The police appear and a shootout commences, but Jigen assists Lupin. Shitoto is about to reveal Fujiko’s dying day until she shoots a downed power line which electrocutes him. Comments: This is probably my favorite episode thus far. Interesting set up, great character interaction, some insight into Fujiko’s past, and some fun scenes (Monkey Delivery Service, anyone?). We finally learn the identity of the mysterious "LYA", a man named Count Luis Yu Almeida, who seems to have designs on Fujiko’s life. He’s connected to the owl men in Fujiko’s flashbacks, likely the leader who gave Shitoto his abilities (if he really has any). He also seems to have an interest in Lupin, with Shitoto telling him that he was told to test him. The mere mention of his name to Fujiko sends her into brutal mode. I hope we’ll be seeing him sometime soon. I loved the interaction between Lupin and Jigen. Jigen complaining about the Gitanes cigarettes (a real French brands), Lupin cooking Jigen dinner, Jigen complaining about the wine, and just the casual attitude they have towards each other. The last time they met, they were determined to kill each other, but I suppose finding themself in a new sitaution changes things. These scenes help to establish the bond between these two that will last for many years. I’m reminded of some of the scenes in Episode 0: First Contact. The interaction between Lupin and Fujiko is interesting, too. She sees through his disguise immediately, subverting the usual trope where Lupin fools nearly anyone. I love the sound of frustration he makes when he starts turning pink over it. I liked the bit where Lupin says, "Don’t die. I haven’t slept with you yet." and she answers, "If I die, you’ll have to settle for a description from Zenigata.". Poor guy. The question is, did Shitoto ever have real powers? He insists he once did. But why does he need a lithograph to tell him the future? It seems less like a lithograph and more like a giant construct of crystal, without any writing on it. How is that a lithograph, which is usually stone? Did he really predict people’s deaths or was it, like Lupin said, all set up? It was pretty clever to target Lupin’s victims, because it would obviously draw his attention. But the poor bastard made a mistake mentioning LYA to Fujiko, because she killed him for it, in a vicious fashion. That look on her face as she watches him burn to death is cold. The episode seems a lot like an episode of the original series in the setup and the atmosphere. There’s sort of a charming cruelty to it. Overall Score:4.5 out of 5
Episode 07, "Music and Revolution"
Synopsis: Fujiko finds herself in the Central American country of Carib, where she poses as a reporter during a period of upheavel. Goemon is hired by the same people who Fujiko is working for. Philadel is taken hostage aboard his plane by supporters of the old regime, who want the coordinates of a secret oil field. The situation escalates when missiles are fired at the plane, but Goemon appears and slices them. Goemon assists on Fujiko and Philadel’s escape from the plane. Philadel goes onto appear in front of the UN. Comments: This episode wasn’t anything amazing, though there were some interesting Fujiko characterization in it, and I liked the history parallel. Speaking of history, in what decade does this program take place in? The whole situation with "Carib", "Yamurica", and "Runnia-nia" is obviously an expy of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. There’s an expy for JFK and Philadel seems like a mix between Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. There’s a Doomsday Clock ticking throughout the episode to. Lots of times episodes of previous Lupin programs have had historical parallels, but they came off as modern reincarations of previous things (like the Hitler-like dictator in "Hell Toupee"), and not as the events themselves. Here it is so thinly disguised, they might as well just refer to it as what it really is. It’s no wonder that we don’t see too much modern technology in this series. Fujiko’s interaction with Philadel is interesting. She’s posing as a reporter, so it’s in her interest to be inquisitive, but she seems to come to admire him. After all, they’re similar in philosophies (he says, "I want to dance to my own beat", mirroring Fujiko’s own style). It’s likely that Fujiko decides to save him simply to get the coordinates of the secret oil field, but it’s also just as likely that she spares him because she’s geniunely fond of him. He does have a charismatic aura. Goemon was in this episode, too, but just barely. I wish they would have given him more to do than just step in and cut some missiles. However, they almost make up for it with the final scene of the episode. Goemon seems not so pleased with Fujiko’s openness with her body. Goemon is pretty reserved, so it’s making him uncomfortable. Then Fujiko reveals that the coordinates she was given were for the beach they’re on, which is interesting because she seems to be just fine with it. Goemon remembers that she had previously told him she was looking for a place for herself. He’s trying to figure out just what sort of woman she really is. The animation was a little weird in this episode, and sometimes the art seemed awkward, too. It wasn’t the most enthralling episode, either. But it wasn’t bad by any means. Overall Score:3.5 out of 5
Episode 06, "Prison of Love"
*****SPOILERS***** Synopsis: Fujiko goes undercover at a private girl’s school to get close enough to a girl to steal her valuable pendant. However, the girl turns out to be Zenigata’s assistant, Oscar, in disguise. He’s gone undercover himself to get both Fujiko and Lupin. When Lupin arrives on campus, he seemingly falls for the trap. However, it turns out that Fujiko and Lupin have outsmarted Oscar after all. Comments: Predictability doesn’t always produce disappointment. For example, I wasn’t surprised or disappointed that an episode about Fujiko teaching in an a private girl’s school contained Fujiko kissing a girl, and liking it (the taste of her cherry chapstick). You’ve got a nod to shows like Oniisama E and Maria-sama ga Miteru that also take place in private girl’s schools and contain similar elements. It wasn’t an out-and-out lez fest, but did have some of the markers, and that’s a-okay with this typical heterosexual male. We can see that Oscar is a pretty twisted guy. He obviously has a great disdain for Fujiko, who he sees as a "spitoon" (read: cumbucket). At the end of the episode he is practically murderous in thought. However, one wonders whether or not he was acting entirely as he played the young girl. That is to say, he may find himself somewhat attracted to Fujiko, based on what he said when she was knocked out, though he loathes what she represents. He’s either superb actor or a very confused young man, or more probably, both. He obviously will do anything for his beloved Zenigata, but all his work goes to pot when he’s outsmarted by Fujiko, enraging him. But why did it bother him so? Just look at his interactions with Fujiko as he poses as the young girl. Nobody can fake blushing. But he obviously has issues with women, as he even violently stripped the girl he was posing as for her uniform. I was surprised when Lupin came onto the scene. He was obviously the person who released Fujiko from her bonds, but what was he doing there, anyway? Is he just keeping an eye out for Fujiko? He pretends to fall for Oscar’s trap but apparently escapes when Oscar is in histerics over Zenigata. My question is, what does Lupin get out of this? Is it all part of the same plan to get their hands on the papers by that physicist? Another thing I don’t quite get is, what was the deal with those schoolgirls having guns? Why were they working with Oscar? That part didn’t make a lick of sense. I did, however, appreciate the nods to Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, a classic bildungsroman novel of an ordinary man who tries to change himself by joining a group of elites. Fujiko quotes it when she says, "Women never show themselves in their natural form" and "They are not so vain as men, who conveive themselves to be always amiable enough, just as nature produced them." Fujiko herself is always wearing many covers, many disguises, so what is her "natural form"? This series is all about the formation of the Lupin crew, people who are also experiencing bildungsroman, a growth, a coming of age, so it’s appropriate. Overall, some of the weirdness of the episode is a tad off-putting, like Fujiko’s strange flashbacks and the girls with the guns, making it seem a little silly, but not in a good way. It seems like the episode is merely setting up something for later and trying to do little else but that. It was weird that Zenigata barely spoke in this episode, and showed little zeal. This series really isn’t using him much, which is a shame. However, it was a pretty entertaining and stimulating episode, even if it wasn’t as good as the last one. Fujiko better get Batman to take care of those Court of Owls folks from her past. Overall Score:4 out of 5
