Reviews

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 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 05, "Blood-Soaked Triangle"

  *****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Fujiko tells Lupin how he could obtain her: by stealing a treasure from an a new pyramid in Egypt. Also in Egypt is Jigen, who is all out of money, so he too is looking for the treasure. The two cross paths, and as they struggle as rivals against each other, they fall into traps, but end up cooperating with each other. Because of another trap, the two fall into a giant whirlpool of sand and find that Fujiko is there to reap the benefit of their work. However, they manage to escape the trap and join Fujiko, who finds the treasure. Suddenly the crypts start falling apart and the treasure needs to be sacrificed to open the way out.
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