Rupan sansei: Fûma ichizoku no inbô

This movie is so much fun. There is never a dull moment, the movie either has an action sequence or funny character moment to throw out there. The movie has terrific momentum, and it all leads it to an excellent finale. Approaching the third act, there are all these different characters converging to the main treasure. In that group there are 6 different motives leading them there. To add to these conflicting forces, it is all taking place inside an ancient booby-trapped ninja cave. It is a very creative and visually interesting setting. To add yet another complication, any second the whole cave might explode trapping them all inside.

On the negative side, this is a rough English dub. It isn't Sonny Strait, nor is it the original Lupin, it is Robin Robertson. He does fine, as does all the English cast, but they refer to "Lupin" as "Rupan", it gets a little distracting. Murasaki also isn't that interesting of a character. I didn't buy Goemon and Murasaki as a couple and her inclusion felt very tacked on. And the villain isn't all that memorable. It plays a lot off of the ninja/ samurai rivalry for Goemon, but outside that there isn't much to them.

Outside of those small points, I really enjoyed this movie. It is one of Lupin's finest adventures. It is the type of movie that I would have loved as a child and watching it as an adult, brought out my inner child.

Some good action chase sequences in this one yet there is not enough Lupin "style" in it. The action centers mostly around Goemon who is a likeable character but a bit too stoic to carry the audience's interest. Lupin himself is sort of a side character in this film and it suffers because of it. His smart alec attitude is half the fun of watching a Lupin film!

First note that Rupan III and Lupin the 3rd are the same character and this is the same movie series. There was some legal trouble back in the 90s over the use of the 'Lupin' name, then still copyrighted in France, and so a couple of the movies were translated as 'Rupan'. So there.

Anyway, this time around the Lupin gang are in rural Japan because Goemon is getting married! But the bride's family are caught up in a feud with the mysterious and deadly Fuman clan, who are searching for a vast treasure in gold. Lupin promises to get to the gold and steal it first, but discovers that it is hidden in a tricky labyrinth - obviously inspired by the Indiana Jones movies, which came out just a few years earlier. The traps and dangers are very cool and imaginative, as is a breakneck car chase scene through a hotel that occurs near the beginning of the picture. I saw this movie in 1992 as a fansub version and it immediately became one of my favorite anime features. The action animation, comedy timing, and suspense are top notch and even though the run time seems a bit short at 73 minutes, that is simply due to the breakneck pacing of the thing and not a scarcity of plot. A lot happens and the whole thing hangs together better and entertains a heck of a lot more than Indy IV did.

Lupin iii film 5

The drawing style is very different from the usual but it's not bad. Music is good as always and the story is ok. This time Goemon is the one with most screen time. Honestly there's nothing special about this film but it's an alright adventure, Zenigata and Fujiko are on the good side and both are cool. The ending tho, it's pretty sad, from the fact that a wedding was supposed to happen. The drawing style is very different from the usual but it's not bad. Music is good as always and the story is ok. This time Goemon is the one with most screen time. Honestly there's nothing special about this film but it's an alright adventure, Zenigata and Fujiko are on the good side and both are cool. The ending tho, it's pretty sad, from the fact that a wedding was supposed to happen.

The fourth Lupin film, 'The Yuma Conspiracy' (or 'The Plot of the Yuma Clan') is most notable for being the first original voice animation based on the manga, also for the original Japanese voice actor for Lupin being replaced and having a different composer.

While no 'The Castle of Cagliostro', my first Lupin film and my personal favourite (also a favourite animated film of mine), and lacking the impressive boldness of 'The Secret of Mamo' (aka 'The Mystery of Mamo'),'The Yuma Conspiracy' is vastly improved over the watchable but disappointing 'Gold of Babylon'. It isn't brilliant, with it suffering from the changes made behind the scenes, but it is good fun with the production values being some of the best of any Lupin film.

It's a little too short, which makes some of the pacing a little too rushed. The music score is neither sumptuous, atmospheric or fitting, lacking the high quality of the rest of the production values and at odds with the action. Yugi Ohno is missed here.

Sadly, the voice acting also disappoints. The changes to Lupin and Jigen's voice actors in the Japanese version were serviceable enough but inferior, but here the English dub is poor with some sounding like they were voicing different characters entirely, they just didn't gel. Jigen in particular is poorly voiced and like the voice actors was not interested.

On the other hand, 'The Yuma Conspiracy' has the best and most polished animation of all the Lupin films. It's great here, with the attention to detail in the chase sequences and backgrounds being particularly impressive. The action is truly exciting with a healthy dose of both suspense and humour. The climax is one of the better ones in a Lupin film (it's actually tense and doesn't descend into weirdness like the ones in 'The Secret of Mamo' and 'Gold of Babylon') and the car chase is terrific.

Writing is humorous, thought-provoking and taut, with a little pathos in the mix. The story has pacing issues every now and again but is very gripping, with the tone always focused and the humour and tension rarely slipping.

Characterisation-wise, 'The Yuma Conspiracy' is largely successful. Would have liked to have seen more of Lupin but he's still fun and it was wonderful to see more development to Goemen. His bride-to-me is more than a damsel-in-distress figure, the villains are a genuine threat and while underused Zenigata hasn't lost his mojo.

All in all, entertaining and well done if lacking in a few areas. 7/10 Bethany Cox