Lupin III: La tomba di Jigen Daisuke

The TV series A Woman Called Fujiko Mine was a darker, sexier take on Lupin III. It was also a work of art that kept viewers off balance and built something extraordinary.

This hour-long video was billed as a continuation of this incarnation of the Lupin III franchise. It's entertaining nonsense about Lupin and Jigen facing an impossibly skilled assassin, but it's also somewhat of a betrayal of the Fujiko series, in that the strong, smart, capable woman has now been reduced to a naked damsel in distress. (Not only that, the rape-ish scene that is her main appearance makes absolutely no sense in the wider context of the video.)

Fujiko's role here seems like a slap in the face of the series, as though the men who took over from the woman-created Fujiko series wanted to slap Fujiko back into her role as sexy-generic-woman.

They did better in the next entry and better still in the third, which put the focus back on Fujiko, but this one, while entertaining and with some good sequences, is about as much a sequel to A Woman Called Fujiko Mine as if you made a sequel to Citizen Kane that was characters in the film doing a "weekend at Bernie's" with Charles Foster Kane's corpse.

The haunting guitar riffs opens to a shot of someone standing over a gravestone... Jigan's gravestone. Gary Stocksale's rocking tune "Revolver Fires" is the theme song, which I thought should've opened with (then finished off), as it would've come out with a bang setting up quite a high-octane and edgy Lupin the third animated outing. Not to say it loses its playfulness between the characters (as the combinations still crackle, even if a little dry), but it's mainly kept in check steering closer to something darker, considerably violent and matured based.

This 50 minute spin-off (broken up in two parts) from the animated TV series; "Lupin the Third: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine" mainly centers around Lupin and Jigen performing a heist to only come up against a mysterious, but well-dressed assassin who has marked Jigen as his next target. As the elaborate plot moves along it begins give out the details of why he's targeted, and not Lupin, while Fujiko working another job, soon enough finds her amongst the complicated web. One thing Jigen learns is that he might have found his match, someone possibly quicker than him on the draw, as this man rolls a dice to predict maximum amount of shots he has of getting his target.

While never a dull moment, the plot is knotty and scenes of cat-and-mouse between the assassin and his target/s are the best moments, as the breakneck excitement and bloody confrontations engulf the screen. At the end we get two cameo appearances; one before the credits and the other just after of familiar characters of the manga. As for the gorgeous looking animation, it's impressively slick, flashy in design with a kaleidoscope glow of color. Making it a highly entertaining, and striking addition to the Lupin the 3rd universe.

"Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen Daisuke no Bohyo" is the next installment in the Lupin III franchise, based on the manga by Monkey Punch, which was first published in 1967. This film is the continuation of the 2012 "Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine" television anime series. The plot, like most Lupin III stories, seems simple. Lupin and Jigen plan to steal a diamond from the country of East Doroa, which has a conflict with the neighbouring country of West Doroa. However, what seemed like an easy job for the duo got complicated when they discovered they were the targets of a famous assassin. Directed by Takeshi Koike, the film has a beautiful animation style and fast pacing. It is aimed at a more mature audience and is quite entertaining. A definitive must-see for the fans of Lupin III.

Looking at the fan reaction, I realize I am in the minority when it comes to my opinion of this incarnation of the famous thief. But I call it the way I see it.

I don't like the animation, but on a technical aspect, I acknowledge it is smooth movement. But the character designs are unappealing.

I don't like the voices they have for the characters. The voice actors are doing well, they are just miscast for the voices they are doing.

And, to have a complete Lupin adventure, you got to have the full cast. That includes Goemon and Zenigata, who are notably absent for this entry.

Part of the charm of this series is the chemistry and likability of the main cast. But when you take out all the humor, a lot of that charm is lacking. My suspension of disbelief is lessened when the story is taking itself so seriously. The way the movie plays its titular "gravestone" feels very contrived.

The villains are the main highlights of these Lupin specials. They do feel like legitimate threats to our heroes.

Clearly other people are enjoying these films, but I am the one Lupin the nerd who feels this movie does not hit its target.