Lupin III with some rad as hell Takeshi Koike topcoat. I obviously signed up.
General Information
Title: Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen Daisuke no Bohyou (lit. Lupin IIIrd: Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone) (Movie)
Animation Company: TMS Entertainment
Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Seinen
Aired: Summer 2014, home release in December 2014
Related works: Lupin the IIIrd: Fujiko Mine to Iu Onna (prequel), though frankly it works totally fine as a standalone entry in the franchise
Note: This movie contains nudity, and some pretty graphic violence at certain scenes.
Summary: Lupin and Jigen try to steal a gem called Little Comet in an area possibly about to go to war. They do it anyway, and end up having to struggle against a sniper known as Jael Okuzaki that has Jigen on his hitlist.
Sidekick’s Review
I’m not the most devout fan of the Lupin franchise, in fact I’m not really even a fan. I’ve watched some of the more popular entries of the series – Castle of Cagliostro, the recent Fujiko Mine series (which was great btw) and the Red Jacket series. I was not planning to check this film out, till I saw the promotion image and the staff for it. Holy cow, Takeshi Koike in the director’s seat? Takeshi fucking Koike? Yeah, I kind of like the dude’s work. Have you seen Redline? You should see Redline. Redline is good.
On to the positives of the film, if there’s one thing it’s got going for it it is that Takeshi Koike is involved and it is bound to at least look stylish as hell, even if it isn’t well /animated/. And yeah, it isn’t that well animated for a theatrical release, sadly, but it definitely makes up for it with its bright and bold visuals. Koike’s films have this aesthetic to them that just makes the characters leap out of every frame, and if you’re a fan of American comics in particular his style is basically heavily inspired by those aesthetics. Many bold lines, heavy shadows, bright beautiful colours that match the atmosphere and tone of every scene…it felt like I was watching a non-black and white version of Frank Miller’s Sin City. This film did noticeably have Koike tone down on his even more bombastic usual style though, I think, but it’s justifiable from a creative standpoint to have a blander look characterize the literally less colorful moments of the film, like when boring old politicians are hatching stupid evil schemes anyone with a brain can see through.
I absolutely love the new character designs that really updated this old franchise and made it look so sleek and modern. The rounder, less exaggerated designs gave way for Fujiko, Jigen and Lupin’s new look which was a real breath of fresh air – its heavy stylistic features still retained a 70s tone the original had, while also sprucing it up with a more comic book noir feel.
The cinematography itself also really elevated the source material – there were many dynamic camera shots even the less commonly seen ones like the canted angle shots and extreme low angles and closeups that were used at the perfect times. There were a few chase scenes in the film that were quite reminiscent of Redline as well. I’m sorry, I know I just can’t shut up about Redline.
I’m going to be brutally honest though – there isn’t much else to the film, unfortunately. Based on my experience with the Lupin series this film is kind of just like an unimportant extended episode in the entire franchise. It’s a very standard Lupin story, except this time some main characters of the usual cast are excluded – Zenigata and Goemon. Also, the source material really shows its age with its treatment of women – in this film Fujiko is basically rapebait and the film makes no attempt at hiding this. The nudity in the film isn’t unjustified for the circumstance, but it still feels uncomfortable and I think it could have been presented much more tastefully.
Also, this isn’t a fucking Daisuke Jigen movie. What the hell, so much for truth in advertising. Lupin still remains the star of this film, which is a damn shame because I still prefer Fujiko and Jigen over Lupin himself as characters; they’re just more interesting to watch. There is a plot twist that happens sometime around the halfway point of the film, but the resolution of the film totally cheapened the experience for me at the end, especially when Lupin started info dumping, as if he was trying to justify for the film’s lame resolution. It just felt like what transpired during the first half of the film didn’t matter at all.
More effort could’ve also been put in to further develop one of the other more important characters in the film – Queen Marta, Jigen’s client. The film seemed like it should have cut the amount of time spent with Fujiko and spent more time exploring the relationship between Jigen and Queen Marta’s relationship which could have given the film much more weight, since the narrative has her heavily involved but she barely even has enough screentime to begin with.
Lastly, (sadly) unlike Redline this film does not have a kick-ass soundtrack. It serves its purpose, but rarely does much to truly elevate the material. Frankly, Koike’s beautiful visual style needed a better audio component. The voice-acting (Japanese audio) is also only serviceable, but never goes beyond that to deliver something more memorable.
tl;dr: This film frankly doesn’t have going for it beyond it looking ridiculously stylish. Watch it if you’re a huge fan of Koike’s style (IF YOU’RE NOT A FAN PLEASE WATCH REDLINE IT IS SUCH A GOOD MOVIE) or if you need your Lupin fix. Otherwise, I’d recommend giving this a pass because it just isn’t very good.
Alternate Recommendations
Redline – Takeshi Koike’s directorial debut. A fantastically animated film by MADHOUSE that is just ridiculously fun and exhilarating.
Lupin The IIIrd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – Another entry in the Lupin franchise that is heavily soaked in style. This one is directed by Sayo Yamamoto, who is also just as awesome as Takeshi Koike and is totally worth checking out.