CLXVIII: "Lupin the 3rd"

An oldie, but a memorable title somewhat. Lupin the 3rd followed the exploits of a famous thief and womanizer, accompanied by a beautiful femme fatale, a sharpshooter that smokes, and a lethal swordsman, and sought after by a famous, yet clumsy Interpol inspector. Spanning movies, anime, manga, and even a crossover or two, who knew that Monkey Punch's well dressed expert thief would come so far? On a related note, Maurice Leblanc created a novel series dealing with the gentleman thief Arsene Lupin, and, hence the title, this particular anime deals with his grandson.

The anime, as I said follows the exploits of a band of thieves, and they're pretty damn good too. The leader of this outfit is Arsene Lupin III, who is the most wanted thief. However, he's not your common brand thief: when stealing, he makes it announced that he'll do so to whoever's owning or guarding them, and he's generally successful in that aspect. At times, however, he may foil the plans of more serious crimes, showing that he has some honor as a thief to uphold. He's never alone in his works, and he is assisted by his closest ally: a skilled marksman and chain smoker named Daiskue Jigen. Occasionally helping him, but much less often, is Goemon Ishikawa XIII, whose blade is said to cut just about anything. With him being the 13th generation of the renegade samurai, his skills as a swordsman isn't for show, and he is flashy, yet efficient, in whatever he cuts down. Even with him being loyal to Lupin, the master thief still annoys him with his antics from time to time. The last member to appear is Fujiko Mine, Lupin's love interest. While his infatuation with women is seen as Lupin's weakness, this is especially true whenever she's around. She is perhaps the only one to rival Lupin in her skills in thievery and disguise. For her own interest, she can be seen working for, or against him given the situation. She is usually forgiven for double crossing him, but she is the one making off with most, or ALL of the loot when the job is done. Even so, she does care for him in some way.

However, there are people after them as well during their exploits, and one of them will always be Inspector Koichi Zenigata, and he has a bit of a history in chasing around Lupin (though he is never truly successful in capturing him.) He is usually the one seen getting hurt a lot for comedic reasons, but despite their initial meeting, he does hold some form of respect for him, which is why he never go as far as to kill the mastermind. Even with his bitterness, they are shown at times to be on much friendlier terms, though on his part, he is rather reluctant to exhibit this, unlike Lupin. If he and the police aren't after him, other thieves are, and usually with the intent to do away with him. Lupin has his hands full, and hopefully with his crew and even Zenigata helping him at times, he might just survive!

The anime is indeed a lengthy series, broken up into 3 parts. Lupin III Part I had 23 episodes made. This is the shortest of the trio. The longest one happens to be Lupin III Part II, which had 155 episodes made. Concluding this is Lupin III Part III, which had only 50 episodes, which is 1/3 of its previous series. All made in the TMS studio, the only one licensed was Lupin III Part II, and this was done by Geneon Entertainment. This one featured him in his signature red jacket. Also, contrary to most media, it has all the key players assembled in the initial episode, in which they know each other personally. Aside from this, there were films made, one of which is more like a predecessor to Part I, rightfully addressed as the Pilot Film, but due to budget issues, this film was never released in theaters, and was later packaged as part of Lupin III's Secret Files. In addition there were two versions of this, but this, too, is most likely not licensed. There was another title that spoke of the origins of how they met, titled Lupin III Episode 0, which was a TV special. Again, not licensed under US, this wasn't dubbed either, but it was told through Jigen's perspective on how they first came together. Fujiko and Lupin are after an artifact for their own reasons, while Jigen, part of the Mafia then, guarding it. Goemon is after ancestral treasure, and Zenigata is pursuing after Fujiko, as a Japanese police officer back then. This special shows how they first met, and what became the trigger to Zenigata starting his relentless pursuit against Lupin.

There were plenty of theatrical films made as well, as well as a TV specials. One of those I've mentioned before is Lupin III vs. Detective Conan, a movie where Lupin and co. cross paths with the young, but tenacious Conan Edogawa of the Detective Conan/Case Closed series. Adding to his fame are, of course, manga, OVAs and video games, the last title seeing US soil thus far being Lupin the 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King, which faced mixed reviews overall. While licensed in US, this series was dubbed by various companies, three of which being Streamline Pictures, Funimation Entertainment and Pioneer Entertainment. The titular thief is voiced by:

• Under Streamline Pictures: Bob Bergen
• Under Funimation Entertainment: Sonny Strait (voice of One Piece's Usopp and Dragon Ball Z's Krillin)
• Under Pioneer Entertainment: Tony Oliver (voice of Vandread's Hibiki Tokai and Tenchi Muyo GXP's Seina Yamada)

Lupin the 3rd is long, but that's just scratching the surface of the length of the franchise in general. Great as it is, I call it an 8 of 10, maybe 9, in general. It may be old, but it qualifies as a classic, for sure.