Red Jacket, season 3
Talk about your long haul! I've spent over six months getting through a measly fifty-one episodes! There were some major clunkers along the way, but also a few genuine pleasant surprises. And crack, queerness and GAYHOS.
Ooh a lot of sprawling episodes this time around, so let's first take a look at what's new this season:
- Well the budget's gone down, in some episodes more noticeable than others. Red Jacket's never been at the forefront of art and animation, but the other day I saw clips from a first-season episode and I really felt nostalgic. There are episodes that are just barely pulled off through a strong idea and the indomitable voice cast alone.
- Most joltingly I think, is Zenigata doing something he's never done before: Being soft on Lupin. It's not something I appreciate in a Lupin story - in fact I think of it as damn lazy writing. You mean to tell me Zenigata, who's dedicated his career and possibly lost his marriage to capturing Lupin, upon cornering him with no chance to foul it up, suddenly tells him "Aw what the heck, it's Christmas!" and LET'S HIM GO? That seems like in character to you?
Granted it only happens a few times but it annoys me on every instance. Zenigata's often the first character to suffer if the writing's bad, but this is completely new ground.
I'm not saying I don't enjoy Zenigata being shown to harbouring some deeprooted secret respect for Lupin, but a police officer's still a police officer.
- I mentioned in my last season summary that Jigen had quickly become the series Scotty, or Worf, getting beaten up and kidnapped and blown up every week to show that this new villain was scary. That trend seems to have largely disappeared in Season 3.
So we give the Ditzy Damsel award on to Goemon.
Though to be fair, it's not so much that Goemon gets kidnapped and wounded like Jigen did, but there are times when we get what I've dubbed GAYHOS moments, abbreviated from all the times I've shouted "GOEMON ARE YOU HIGH OR SOMETHING" at the television screen. GAYHOS moments occur when the world's greatest samurai with the world's best reflexes, carrying the world's sharpest sword, shows some... less than stellar... reaction times.
[There was another instance, where a bird escaped out of a cage and flew directly towards Goemon, who just stared at it as it slowly passed him, waited a moment and theeeeen he eventually gave chase. I wanted to GIF it but Goemon's reaction was SO SLOW THE FILE GOT TOO HUGE.]
Aww but it's okay, Goemon. You've still got the prettiest hair.
- ROCKING THAT FOURTH WALL LIKE A CHAMP, OH YEAH.
Sure Lupin used to speak directly to the audience back in the earliest days, but it's not something you'll see all that often in Red Jacket outside of the "Next time" previews. With the hundredth episode anniversary we even got an extended scene, in which Lupin told Zenigata that for once it wasn't he, Lupin, who'd devised the clever heist, but a fan. And then Lupin blew kisses to the camera, and had a conversation with Zenigata about whether that was appropriate considering the clever fan who'd suggested the plot might be a man.
It's charmingly reminiscent of the original manga, where Lupin would in turn thank or yell at the creator Monkey Punch for putting him in all those weird and kinky situations (only not half as creepy!).
Okay, so that's all new, what's the same old way it should be, then?
- Well you've got Lupin stealin', Fujiko seducin', Jigen shootin' -
(and consequently giving me cause for squealin' - though it's a pity the animation budget went down, drastically cutting our gun porn; In earlier season's we would have seen that barrel rotate.)
Zenigata chasin' -
and Goemon cuttin'.
(Oh okay then, Goemon, you've still got it.)
And while doing these things they all smoke like chimneys, the way it's supposed to be. You know, I've been watching Lupin cartoons since September and I still haven't felt any urges to start puffing on beat-up Pall Malls, so that's the "popculture is a bad influence" thing debunked. Neither have I taken to shooting guns or catburgling either, so I'm a bit disappointed.
Where was I? Smoking, yes. In Lupin smoking is a pivotal part of any episode, whether it's in celebration -
or defeat.
- We get the occasional, but surprising, dark moments. Not as often as we used to, but they do appear now and then.
In fact Lupin seemingly murders Fujiko twice this season, and one of those is even a murder-suicide.
- WE GOT THE MOTHERFUCKING GENUINE LUPINBEARD. ALL HAIL THE LUPINBEARD.
It's just not a proper season without Lupin letting his hair and beard grow. Even a well-educated half-French half-Japanese gentleman thief feels that need to rough it every once in a while.
Fitting into that same "gotta have one episode of its kind every season" category we've also got the traditional racecar episode! I love how you start to spot little recurring ideas that betrays the interests of the people making these episodes: Somebody involved in making this really liked the 1978 Superman movie, and somebody was really fond of car racing.
- There's even those extremely half-arsed "social commentary" episodes. Only a few this time around but man, those are always... special.
Okay, okay - let's just look at the things that I always tend to sum up, real quick:
THE MOVIE PASTICHES:
Oooh, those are always fun!
We've got entire plots based on White Nights, Bonnie & Clyde (with an actual recreation of the final scene of the movie. WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT), Superman (we actually get two Superman episodes, one titled 'Lupin versus Superman'), and to my great surprise, The Ladykillers!
I'M NOT KIDDING. IT'S THE LADYKILLERS.
...Well it's the first half of The Ladykillers. It's The Ladykillers with a somewhat modified final act. We couldn't have the Lupin gang merrily bumping each other off mid-season, could we? And Lupin, God knows you're a charming bastard but you're no Professor Marcus.
Have I mentioned how I FUCKING LOVE The Ladykillers? Call me a hypocrite for disowning the Coen movie but pressing this halfarsed, vanilla pastiche to my heart.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS DESCENDANTS:
- Because it wouldn't be right for Lupin the 3rd not to go up against other characters with fictional ancestors.
Joining us from earlier seasons (see? We DO get some recurring characters in this franchise!) is Phantomas III (still the boring rubber-masked movie version, not the elegant book version. Oooh I'd pay good money to see Lupin going head to head with him!) and Sherlock Holmes III, who's grown on me in spite of everything. In addition we have what I think is the final appearance of Mister X of the Scorpion Syndicate, who's no one's descendant as far as I know but gee, for a while there the Scorpion Syndicate looked like it could be going places.
Joining the fray we've got Emmanuelle Poirot, granddaughter of That Other Poirot - which I believe is the first time we've had a girl in this descendant game! But no matter, she's turned to the wrong side of the law and has a pet cat with poisoned claws. You know what, Emmanuelle Poirot is pretty cool as villains go.
Finally we've got another first: A second-generation character! Detective Columbo's son, as a matter of fact. He's a wisecracking skateboarding kid who solves crime and the less said of that episode, the better.
THE CRACK:
Hoooo boy do we get crack this season. The script-writers were REEAAALLY starting to struggle at this point, and it shows.
There is actually some mighty fine crack this season. For instance I wholly enjoyed the episode 'The Terrifying Chameleon Man' (American title: For Larva or Money) wherein we get treated to the most INSANELY COMPLICATED attempt on Lupin's life ever conceived in forty years' worth of franchise - and that's saying something!
Bear with me here, I've been thinking about how to best describe this plan for MONTHS now. I think the best thing is a blow by blow:
PLAN FOR KILLING LUPIN ET AL:
1. Drive Lupin and the gang around in open jeeps for hours.
2. When they are sufficiently thirsty, let them off at the river to drink -
- but HAHA! In the river we've dumped a serum, which when ingested gives a person the dietary needs of a chameleon, i.e. insects and grubs.
3. Spray the jungle we're in with pesticides, thus killing all insects and grubs.
4. Abandon Lupin et al and drive off, secure in the knowledge that in time they will starve to death.
5. SUCCESS. NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG WITH THIS PLAN.
Somebody got PAID to write this, bless them!
And that's when the scriptwriters were TRYING. How about this:
FOR. AN. ENTIRE. EPISODE. And why? Because Lupin decided he wanted to win the Nobel Prize (of... penguin shifting?).
But it's all par for the course, Lupin wouldn't be Lupin if he didn't get stuck in some damn weird situations at times.
"Stretches", eh? That's what the cool kids are calling it these days?
NO NO NO I CAN'T LEAVE IT AT THAT. Not when only moments earlier Lupin and Jigen were up against a suicidal purple elephant in nothing but their underthings (...how the elephant got into their underthings yaddah yaddah yaddah.)
Jigen sporting, as you might have noticed, an uncommonly metrosexual pair of undies there.
But not all crack is good crack, obviously. How about a magic gun that makes Lupin think he's an ancient Chinese philosopher? Or when we learn that yam potatoes is the one thing Zantetsuken, the iron-cutting sword, can't cut through? Or when the cast for no reason at all decides to recreate Journey Into the West (Lupin's the Monkey King, obviously) and they meet giants and get trapped in a magic gourd?
It is as always a confusing mix of magic and pseudo-science and ancient conspiracies, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Enough with these fictional descendants and purple elephants and yam potatoes," you say. "Are there actually any noteworthy episodes this time around? Is there good stuff in there?"
Why of course, you silly goose. I need something to get me through all this low-budget animation and nonsensical plot twists.
Let's see, nice episodes from season 3:
We've got one of those rare birds, the two-parter: 'Falling Cherry Blossoms - The Mysterious Gang of Five' (American title Kooky kabuki) wherein our heroes cross paths with a rival thieving gang who are also kabuki performers. A lot of things happens in this story, but an interesting sideplot concerns Goemon falling in love and eloping with one of the Five.
This is an interesting development partly because it turns out the girl is in fact a guy - and it's not played camp, it's not played as comedy, Goemon isn't even disgusted by the revelation (which is all quite surprisingly progressive for a late eighties mainstream anime), though he decides he has to return to his old comrades.
And, Goemon being Goemon, he insists that the only way to pay for his sin (which is explicitly stated as betraying Lupin, not being romantically involved with another man) is by seppuku. That's just how Goemon rolls.
(Notice how they're doing the proper ritual - Goemon's got a tantō knife wrapped in cloth, Lupin's standing by as Goemon's second. It's the little things.)
The Five are eventually defeated by the power of kabuki theatre, and no that doesn't make a lick of sense but it means we've get Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, Goemon and Zenigata in kimonos and makeup reciting character-appropriate verses (Jigen of course namedropping Dirty Harry in his), so it's all good.
While we're on this theme, Lupin is also deceived by a person in drag, in the fan-written episode 'Versailles Burned With Love' but this time it's the other way around. It's such a terribly cliched kind of plot, but I must admit I was extremely pleased to see it in this show: Lupin meets an attractive French aristocrat named Oscar and then spends the remainder of the episode feeling Strange Unfamiliar Feelings He Is Not Entirely Comfortable With and has many a soul-searching moment.
Of course to us, the audience, it's painfully obvious that Oscar is in fact a very feminine girl from the first scene onward, but apparently the cast of characters don't have the same observational skills.
It's a bit of fun fluff. And considering how the episode that came before, also written by a fan, had a lascivious sheik trying to seduce Zenigata, I think I dub season 3 the queer season (and also prove that Lupin fans have always been all about the gay).
Speaking of barely repressed homosexual urges, we get several good Jigen episodes this season (ohhh that was a horrible segue but IN MY MIND, okay, that's how it is). Remember how I mentioned we had a White Nights reference? That's the episode 'The Border Is the Face of Farewell' (American title... ugh. Gettin' Jigen With It) wherein Jigen, dramatically separated from Lupin, decides to help a Russian ballet dancer out of the Soviet Union.
Okay so it's White Nights if you imagine Baryshnikov waking up Gregory Hines with kisses in the morning. Yeah, good luck with that mental image. Also it has 100 % less Lionel Richie.
Actually the music is an interesting part of the episode, as they decided to replace the usual swingin' Yuji Ohno soundtrack with Tschaikovsky. It helps give the story the epic, emotional feel it has. Effectively this episode proves that a character like Jigen, macho man of few words as he might be, has the ability to carry an entire episode alone. And the ability to spend weeks with an extremely bendy girl and still come across as queer as a three dollar bill at the end of it.
For the more traditional Jigen fan you've got 'The Combat Magnum Scattered in the Wasteland' which not only features composer Yuji Ohno's love letter to Morricone, 'Tornado', twice - but also a very fine gun duel with a twist. Unbeknown to Jigen, Lupin stole his trusty Model 19 Smith& Wesson before the grand duel, took it apart and scattered it in the area where the duel was about to take place. Jigen works so hard getting the pieces and putting it together you can't help but cheer for him.
Watching Jigen dodge and roll and sprint is an essential part of any Lupin gunfight.
Zenigata, good God, gets several fair outings this season.
(This one loops, I'm quite pleased with that.)
For the romantically inclined you get 'The Woman the Old Man Fell in Love With' (American title Zenigata Getcha Into My Life) though obviously you can't expect a happy ending, this is the Inspector we're talking about. In ICPO Secret Directive it is for once Zenigata who dons the disguise and tricks Lupin, and we get a lovely showcase of voice actor Naya Gorō's acting chops.
And finally, if you're interested in seeing one of the best showcases of Inspector Zenigata both badass and adorable, look no further than the first half of 'Find the Treasure of Lupin I'. If only he could always be written so well.
We're treated to a genuine mystery story this time around in 'The Sound of the Devil's Bells Calls Lupin' (American title Church of the Poison Mind') that even has the audacity to start right in the middle of the mystery (and is so much better for it). Lupin is surprised to find Jigen and Goemon living together in a peaceful village, practicing such docile hobbies as flower arranging and going to bed early (you may now commence with the gay jokes). The episode is part The Stepford Wives, part Village of the Damned, and part Really Heavyhanded Satire About Religion.
All around a fun and charmingly creepy offering.
Finally there's the ultimate fan favourite 'Diamonds Gleam in a Robot's Eye' (American title Ice, Robot). You know I've not always seen eye-to-eye to what Lupin fandom deems good or not, and while this episode wasn't the gag fest I was promised, it was very enjoyable in a variety of ways, and in some ways very different from all the other episodes.
I'm not sure if it was actually based on an original Monkey Punch manga story, but if not it certainly borrowed a lot from them; The characters, particularly the villains, look quite angular and long-limbed and in a word Monkey Punch-y, there are actual recurring gags (something you usually never see in TV Lupin) and bit characters more in keeping with manga Lupin, like the eccentric inventor Lupin buys his gadgets from.
It's got some new things going for it, like excising Yuji Ohno's soundtrack once again, this time replacing it with cheerful ragtime music, and also the villains are given much more screentime than we've come to expect: The gangster Gavotte, his girlfriend Baby and third wheel One-Eared Joe even get scenes that are not crucial to the plot or to establish how evil they are - they're just a part of the show! I've never seen that done before in one of these episodes.
It's a fun but somewhat overly madcap episode, and the strange thing is, it's enjoyable even if you aren't aware that it's a parody! Yeees it is, some American TV show called The FBI - I haven't even heard of it but it would explain the unfamiliar opening.
Which does, by the way, go on to be possibly funniest opening of a Lupin episode ever (and I'm not just saying that because of Jigen's delightful nightcap).
Ooooh am I glad to be finished with S3, it's got what must be the most lackluster, horribly animated opening sequence in the entire franchise. The only way I've been able to cope with it was by once in a while checking out the live-action fan recreation (it might be low-budget but the fact that someone managed to recreate Fujiko's scary dancing is mindboggling).
Ooh a lot of sprawling episodes this time around, so let's first take a look at what's new this season:
- Well the budget's gone down, in some episodes more noticeable than others. Red Jacket's never been at the forefront of art and animation, but the other day I saw clips from a first-season episode and I really felt nostalgic. There are episodes that are just barely pulled off through a strong idea and the indomitable voice cast alone.
- Most joltingly I think, is Zenigata doing something he's never done before: Being soft on Lupin. It's not something I appreciate in a Lupin story - in fact I think of it as damn lazy writing. You mean to tell me Zenigata, who's dedicated his career and possibly lost his marriage to capturing Lupin, upon cornering him with no chance to foul it up, suddenly tells him "Aw what the heck, it's Christmas!" and LET'S HIM GO? That seems like in character to you?
Granted it only happens a few times but it annoys me on every instance. Zenigata's often the first character to suffer if the writing's bad, but this is completely new ground.
I'm not saying I don't enjoy Zenigata being shown to harbouring some deeprooted secret respect for Lupin, but a police officer's still a police officer.
- I mentioned in my last season summary that Jigen had quickly become the series Scotty, or Worf, getting beaten up and kidnapped and blown up every week to show that this new villain was scary. That trend seems to have largely disappeared in Season 3.
So we give the Ditzy Damsel award on to Goemon.
Though to be fair, it's not so much that Goemon gets kidnapped and wounded like Jigen did, but there are times when we get what I've dubbed GAYHOS moments, abbreviated from all the times I've shouted "GOEMON ARE YOU HIGH OR SOMETHING" at the television screen. GAYHOS moments occur when the world's greatest samurai with the world's best reflexes, carrying the world's sharpest sword, shows some... less than stellar... reaction times.
[There was another instance, where a bird escaped out of a cage and flew directly towards Goemon, who just stared at it as it slowly passed him, waited a moment and theeeeen he eventually gave chase. I wanted to GIF it but Goemon's reaction was SO SLOW THE FILE GOT TOO HUGE.]
Aww but it's okay, Goemon. You've still got the prettiest hair.
- ROCKING THAT FOURTH WALL LIKE A CHAMP, OH YEAH.
Sure Lupin used to speak directly to the audience back in the earliest days, but it's not something you'll see all that often in Red Jacket outside of the "Next time" previews. With the hundredth episode anniversary we even got an extended scene, in which Lupin told Zenigata that for once it wasn't he, Lupin, who'd devised the clever heist, but a fan. And then Lupin blew kisses to the camera, and had a conversation with Zenigata about whether that was appropriate considering the clever fan who'd suggested the plot might be a man.
It's charmingly reminiscent of the original manga, where Lupin would in turn thank or yell at the creator Monkey Punch for putting him in all those weird and kinky situations (only not half as creepy!).
Okay, so that's all new, what's the same old way it should be, then?
- Well you've got Lupin stealin', Fujiko seducin', Jigen shootin' -
(and consequently giving me cause for squealin' - though it's a pity the animation budget went down, drastically cutting our gun porn; In earlier season's we would have seen that barrel rotate.)
Zenigata chasin' -
and Goemon cuttin'.
(Oh okay then, Goemon, you've still got it.)
And while doing these things they all smoke like chimneys, the way it's supposed to be. You know, I've been watching Lupin cartoons since September and I still haven't felt any urges to start puffing on beat-up Pall Malls, so that's the "popculture is a bad influence" thing debunked. Neither have I taken to shooting guns or catburgling either, so I'm a bit disappointed.
Where was I? Smoking, yes. In Lupin smoking is a pivotal part of any episode, whether it's in celebration -
or defeat.
- We get the occasional, but surprising, dark moments. Not as often as we used to, but they do appear now and then.
In fact Lupin seemingly murders Fujiko twice this season, and one of those is even a murder-suicide.
- WE GOT THE MOTHERFUCKING GENUINE LUPINBEARD. ALL HAIL THE LUPINBEARD.
It's just not a proper season without Lupin letting his hair and beard grow. Even a well-educated half-French half-Japanese gentleman thief feels that need to rough it every once in a while.
Fitting into that same "gotta have one episode of its kind every season" category we've also got the traditional racecar episode! I love how you start to spot little recurring ideas that betrays the interests of the people making these episodes: Somebody involved in making this really liked the 1978 Superman movie, and somebody was really fond of car racing.
- There's even those extremely half-arsed "social commentary" episodes. Only a few this time around but man, those are always... special.
Okay, okay - let's just look at the things that I always tend to sum up, real quick:
THE MOVIE PASTICHES:
Oooh, those are always fun!
We've got entire plots based on White Nights, Bonnie & Clyde (with an actual recreation of the final scene of the movie. WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT), Superman (we actually get two Superman episodes, one titled 'Lupin versus Superman'), and to my great surprise, The Ladykillers!
I'M NOT KIDDING. IT'S THE LADYKILLERS.
...Well it's the first half of The Ladykillers. It's The Ladykillers with a somewhat modified final act. We couldn't have the Lupin gang merrily bumping each other off mid-season, could we? And Lupin, God knows you're a charming bastard but you're no Professor Marcus.
Have I mentioned how I FUCKING LOVE The Ladykillers? Call me a hypocrite for disowning the Coen movie but pressing this halfarsed, vanilla pastiche to my heart.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS DESCENDANTS:
- Because it wouldn't be right for Lupin the 3rd not to go up against other characters with fictional ancestors.
Joining us from earlier seasons (see? We DO get some recurring characters in this franchise!) is Phantomas III (still the boring rubber-masked movie version, not the elegant book version. Oooh I'd pay good money to see Lupin going head to head with him!) and Sherlock Holmes III, who's grown on me in spite of everything. In addition we have what I think is the final appearance of Mister X of the Scorpion Syndicate, who's no one's descendant as far as I know but gee, for a while there the Scorpion Syndicate looked like it could be going places.
Joining the fray we've got Emmanuelle Poirot, granddaughter of That Other Poirot - which I believe is the first time we've had a girl in this descendant game! But no matter, she's turned to the wrong side of the law and has a pet cat with poisoned claws. You know what, Emmanuelle Poirot is pretty cool as villains go.
Finally we've got another first: A second-generation character! Detective Columbo's son, as a matter of fact. He's a wisecracking skateboarding kid who solves crime and the less said of that episode, the better.
THE CRACK:
Hoooo boy do we get crack this season. The script-writers were REEAAALLY starting to struggle at this point, and it shows.
There is actually some mighty fine crack this season. For instance I wholly enjoyed the episode 'The Terrifying Chameleon Man' (American title: For Larva or Money) wherein we get treated to the most INSANELY COMPLICATED attempt on Lupin's life ever conceived in forty years' worth of franchise - and that's saying something!
Bear with me here, I've been thinking about how to best describe this plan for MONTHS now. I think the best thing is a blow by blow:
PLAN FOR KILLING LUPIN ET AL:
1. Drive Lupin and the gang around in open jeeps for hours.
2. When they are sufficiently thirsty, let them off at the river to drink -
- but HAHA! In the river we've dumped a serum, which when ingested gives a person the dietary needs of a chameleon, i.e. insects and grubs.
3. Spray the jungle we're in with pesticides, thus killing all insects and grubs.
4. Abandon Lupin et al and drive off, secure in the knowledge that in time they will starve to death.
5. SUCCESS. NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG WITH THIS PLAN.
Somebody got PAID to write this, bless them!
And that's when the scriptwriters were TRYING. How about this:
FOR. AN. ENTIRE. EPISODE. And why? Because Lupin decided he wanted to win the Nobel Prize (of... penguin shifting?).
But it's all par for the course, Lupin wouldn't be Lupin if he didn't get stuck in some damn weird situations at times.
"Stretches", eh? That's what the cool kids are calling it these days?
NO NO NO I CAN'T LEAVE IT AT THAT. Not when only moments earlier Lupin and Jigen were up against a suicidal purple elephant in nothing but their underthings (...how the elephant got into their underthings yaddah yaddah yaddah.)
Jigen sporting, as you might have noticed, an uncommonly metrosexual pair of undies there.
But not all crack is good crack, obviously. How about a magic gun that makes Lupin think he's an ancient Chinese philosopher? Or when we learn that yam potatoes is the one thing Zantetsuken, the iron-cutting sword, can't cut through? Or when the cast for no reason at all decides to recreate Journey Into the West (Lupin's the Monkey King, obviously) and they meet giants and get trapped in a magic gourd?
It is as always a confusing mix of magic and pseudo-science and ancient conspiracies, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Enough with these fictional descendants and purple elephants and yam potatoes," you say. "Are there actually any noteworthy episodes this time around? Is there good stuff in there?"
Why of course, you silly goose. I need something to get me through all this low-budget animation and nonsensical plot twists.
Let's see, nice episodes from season 3:
We've got one of those rare birds, the two-parter: 'Falling Cherry Blossoms - The Mysterious Gang of Five' (American title Kooky kabuki) wherein our heroes cross paths with a rival thieving gang who are also kabuki performers. A lot of things happens in this story, but an interesting sideplot concerns Goemon falling in love and eloping with one of the Five.
This is an interesting development partly because it turns out the girl is in fact a guy - and it's not played camp, it's not played as comedy, Goemon isn't even disgusted by the revelation (which is all quite surprisingly progressive for a late eighties mainstream anime), though he decides he has to return to his old comrades.
And, Goemon being Goemon, he insists that the only way to pay for his sin (which is explicitly stated as betraying Lupin, not being romantically involved with another man) is by seppuku. That's just how Goemon rolls.
(Notice how they're doing the proper ritual - Goemon's got a tantō knife wrapped in cloth, Lupin's standing by as Goemon's second. It's the little things.)
The Five are eventually defeated by the power of kabuki theatre, and no that doesn't make a lick of sense but it means we've get Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, Goemon and Zenigata in kimonos and makeup reciting character-appropriate verses (Jigen of course namedropping Dirty Harry in his), so it's all good.
While we're on this theme, Lupin is also deceived by a person in drag, in the fan-written episode 'Versailles Burned With Love' but this time it's the other way around. It's such a terribly cliched kind of plot, but I must admit I was extremely pleased to see it in this show: Lupin meets an attractive French aristocrat named Oscar and then spends the remainder of the episode feeling Strange Unfamiliar Feelings He Is Not Entirely Comfortable With and has many a soul-searching moment.
Of course to us, the audience, it's painfully obvious that Oscar is in fact a very feminine girl from the first scene onward, but apparently the cast of characters don't have the same observational skills.
It's a bit of fun fluff. And considering how the episode that came before, also written by a fan, had a lascivious sheik trying to seduce Zenigata, I think I dub season 3 the queer season (and also prove that Lupin fans have always been all about the gay).
Speaking of barely repressed homosexual urges, we get several good Jigen episodes this season (ohhh that was a horrible segue but IN MY MIND, okay, that's how it is). Remember how I mentioned we had a White Nights reference? That's the episode 'The Border Is the Face of Farewell' (American title... ugh. Gettin' Jigen With It) wherein Jigen, dramatically separated from Lupin, decides to help a Russian ballet dancer out of the Soviet Union.
Okay so it's White Nights if you imagine Baryshnikov waking up Gregory Hines with kisses in the morning. Yeah, good luck with that mental image. Also it has 100 % less Lionel Richie.
Actually the music is an interesting part of the episode, as they decided to replace the usual swingin' Yuji Ohno soundtrack with Tschaikovsky. It helps give the story the epic, emotional feel it has. Effectively this episode proves that a character like Jigen, macho man of few words as he might be, has the ability to carry an entire episode alone. And the ability to spend weeks with an extremely bendy girl and still come across as queer as a three dollar bill at the end of it.
For the more traditional Jigen fan you've got 'The Combat Magnum Scattered in the Wasteland' which not only features composer Yuji Ohno's love letter to Morricone, 'Tornado', twice - but also a very fine gun duel with a twist. Unbeknown to Jigen, Lupin stole his trusty Model 19 Smith& Wesson before the grand duel, took it apart and scattered it in the area where the duel was about to take place. Jigen works so hard getting the pieces and putting it together you can't help but cheer for him.
Watching Jigen dodge and roll and sprint is an essential part of any Lupin gunfight.
Zenigata, good God, gets several fair outings this season.
(This one loops, I'm quite pleased with that.)
For the romantically inclined you get 'The Woman the Old Man Fell in Love With' (American title Zenigata Getcha Into My Life) though obviously you can't expect a happy ending, this is the Inspector we're talking about. In ICPO Secret Directive it is for once Zenigata who dons the disguise and tricks Lupin, and we get a lovely showcase of voice actor Naya Gorō's acting chops.
And finally, if you're interested in seeing one of the best showcases of Inspector Zenigata both badass and adorable, look no further than the first half of 'Find the Treasure of Lupin I'. If only he could always be written so well.
We're treated to a genuine mystery story this time around in 'The Sound of the Devil's Bells Calls Lupin' (American title Church of the Poison Mind') that even has the audacity to start right in the middle of the mystery (and is so much better for it). Lupin is surprised to find Jigen and Goemon living together in a peaceful village, practicing such docile hobbies as flower arranging and going to bed early (you may now commence with the gay jokes). The episode is part The Stepford Wives, part Village of the Damned, and part Really Heavyhanded Satire About Religion.
All around a fun and charmingly creepy offering.
Finally there's the ultimate fan favourite 'Diamonds Gleam in a Robot's Eye' (American title Ice, Robot). You know I've not always seen eye-to-eye to what Lupin fandom deems good or not, and while this episode wasn't the gag fest I was promised, it was very enjoyable in a variety of ways, and in some ways very different from all the other episodes.
I'm not sure if it was actually based on an original Monkey Punch manga story, but if not it certainly borrowed a lot from them; The characters, particularly the villains, look quite angular and long-limbed and in a word Monkey Punch-y, there are actual recurring gags (something you usually never see in TV Lupin) and bit characters more in keeping with manga Lupin, like the eccentric inventor Lupin buys his gadgets from.
It's got some new things going for it, like excising Yuji Ohno's soundtrack once again, this time replacing it with cheerful ragtime music, and also the villains are given much more screentime than we've come to expect: The gangster Gavotte, his girlfriend Baby and third wheel One-Eared Joe even get scenes that are not crucial to the plot or to establish how evil they are - they're just a part of the show! I've never seen that done before in one of these episodes.
It's a fun but somewhat overly madcap episode, and the strange thing is, it's enjoyable even if you aren't aware that it's a parody! Yeees it is, some American TV show called The FBI - I haven't even heard of it but it would explain the unfamiliar opening.
Which does, by the way, go on to be possibly funniest opening of a Lupin episode ever (and I'm not just saying that because of Jigen's delightful nightcap).
Ooooh am I glad to be finished with S3, it's got what must be the most lackluster, horribly animated opening sequence in the entire franchise. The only way I've been able to cope with it was by once in a while checking out the live-action fan recreation (it might be low-budget but the fact that someone managed to recreate Fujiko's scary dancing is mindboggling).