(L) Lupin the Third: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna (2011)

[Kaioshin Sama]

About a month into the season this show still stands as my favorite weekly visual experience. This isn't really a show where you can simply describe or discuss it in detail, it's something that kind of just has to be watched and experienced. For all the shows that have really glitzy animation and colorful detail I'll gladly take what this show manages to accomplish with it's art-style and cinematography in the future if possible, it's just so engrossing. Probably not going to happen for any show that doesn't feature Koike though. IMO he's by far the most creative art director in the industry right now and I really hope we'll be seeing more of him.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Amazing. My taste and yours have intersected for once, Kaioshin_sama. Nice to be here. This third episode was just amazing. I do love the look and the visual rhythms, but I just adore the character of Mine Fujiko, and especially how Sawashiro Miyuki is playing her. This may be Miyukichi's best performance ever. So far, this is a rich experience every week. Who knew?

[Last Sinner]

I'm with you both. I always have fun watching this. Yamamoto really knows how to have a woman be scintillating but classy at the same time - I think she learnt some lessons from Michiko to Hatchin and polished her craft for this effort. Koike's character designs mix in old-school styles and modern looks well not so far removed from what he did in Redline. Okada's probably enjoying having a legit excuse to let loose and remaining in context. And Miyuki Sawashiro already had a good VA resume racked up, but with Fujiko and Serika from Space Bros this season, she is in red hot form atm. To be able to pull of being the playful, elusive, delicious one that is Fujiko requires skill and then some. She is just owning that role.

Last 2 mins between Fujiko and Goemon alone was worth it for Episode 3, but so much more goodness to go with it.

I don't care about some of my IRL friends who are whining about the show not being about Lupin. Fujiko Mine is one awesome woman and to hell with anyone who has a problem with it. Lupin's been the focus for 4 decades, about time Fujiko gets her chance to shine.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Amazing. My taste and yours have intersected for once, Kaioshin_sama. Nice to be here. This third episode was just amazing. I do love the look and the visual rhythms, but I just adore the character of Mine Fujiko, and especially how Sawashiro Miyuki is playing her. This may be Miyukichi's best performance ever. So far, this is a rich experience every week. Who knew?

Hey it happens every so often, just seemingly very rarely these days.

Fujiko is a pretty interesting character and actually all of them so far are, but to me the true star of the show is the cinematography. I guess it's no surprise now that I'm a big fan of this sort of thing, how shots are framed to enhance the mood and feel of a piece or to convey something about a character.

I think seeing this shot while watching Nosferatu was what really got me into the whole idea of cinematography, but watching Citizen Kane and Stalin also served to get me really interested in what simple good cinematography and artistic vision can bring to a movie or TV show. Nowadays it's something I really pay attention to and a big part of what it takes for me to elevate a piece of media from good to great in my evaluation of it.

[Sides]

Just caught up, but I really surprised, considering that the last Lupin featured animation I saw was that crossover with Case closed, this is much better than I expected.
The stylised visuals, BGM and no censoring(?) really transports you back in time. Episode 3 is currently my favourite, steam engines, the clothing and Goemon stripping people with his magic blade.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

About a month into the season this show still stands as my favorite weekly visual experience. This isn't really a show where you can simply describe or discuss it in detail, it's something that kind of just has to be watched and experienced. For all the shows that have really glitzy animation and colorful detail I'll gladly take what this show manages to accomplish with it's art-style and cinematography in the future if possible, it's just so engrossing. Probably not going to happen for any show that doesn't feature Koike though. IMO he's by far the most creative art director in the industry right now and I really hope we'll be seeing more of him.

I totally agree with this, epsc the beginning. Lots of shows this season seem to have wonderful visual experiences, Apollon being the one the jumps to mind, but something about Lupin is just hypnotic. Epi 3 is definitely may fave and considering how much I liked epi 2 this anime continues to top itself every week. Looking forward to what happens next since Fujiko has now met the entire gang. *insert fangirling over Goemon*

[D-KLAC]

ep.4 so this ep we had

fujiko "proper" meeting with Zenigata.
cause of mask that lupin want to get.
stage performance turned Phantom of the Opera story like.
oh lupin missed fujiko's "fujiko".
Zenigata going all after lupin & got pour in blood.
fujiko look at water floor see her past.
oh the stage worker & performer went behind it oh burn the mask.
here lupin to see fujiko.

ok so now wonder what next how much more fujiko's past will be revealed?

[totoum]

Spoiler for ep4:

Episode 4 had some hilarious moments but my two favorites were lupin in the horse and Oscar knocking down Zenigata and following it up by being turned on at the sight of him being covered in blood.
That was one trippy flashback sequence as well.
However even if I found the episode enjoyable as always it did leave me scratching my head.
Was Fujiko really caught by Zenigata?
How will lupin III veterans react to her and Zenigata hooking up?
If the mask lupin tried to steal was real then the one fujiko was wearing is fake?

[fertygo]

Originally Posted by totoum

Spoiler for ep4:

Episode 4 had some hilarious moments but my two favorites were lupin in the horse and Oscar knocking down Zenigata and following it up by being turned on at the sight of him being covered in blood.
That was one trippy flashback sequence as well.
However even if I found the episode enjoyable as always it did leave me scratching my head.
Was Fujiko really caught by Zenigata?
How will lupin III veterans react to her and Zenigata hooking up?
If the mask lupin tried to steal was real then the one fujiko was wearing is fake?

Spoiler for answer:

1. Fujiko always have some moment plotting with Zenigata in older series for freedom purpose, you can see the example in the very first episode of the oldest lupin series.
2. Damn you Zenigaaaaaataaaaaaaaa!!!!!! errrr.. I must said that addition a bit controversial even considering the kind of relation that they have and with Fujiko trait that willing to sell her body for whatever that fujiko want.
3. You need to give attention while watching not just rewinding "that" scene
Zenigata saying that fujiko can replacing Ayan with wearing the fake mask.

[ars89]

That must have been an interesting dinner if Lupin sticked around for it.

[Kizoku Keenan]

Another great episode. Great seeing zenigata chasing after Lupin again it will never get old. Lupin in the horse was hilarious. Favourite thing about this series so far is just the how different and great the animation styling is.

[bumbayker]

Awesome episode though a bit of a cliffhanger. I was starting to miss Lupin and his crazy antics. But damn that lucky bastard Zenigata. He managed to score with Fujiko before Lupin (even though it was just part of a trade for her release). It's good to see though that Zenigata's obsession to apprehend (or kill?) his nemesis hasn't faltered. Not to mention Lupin can be such a troll at times most especially to Zenigata whom he taunts to no end. As for Oscar, he's obviously gay for Zenigata. Funny though since his VA is the same as that pervert Issei in Highschool DxD.

[Ermes Marana]

Damn, ep 4 was like fanfiction. Except written by an author who actually doesn't like the characters.

Zenigata does a complete 180 from a super honorable man of justice to a sleazy murderer. He would never shoot Lupin like that, quite the opposite. Plus isn't it against the law for a police officer to have sex with a prisoner in their custody?

Fujiko, well, you could see this coming with all the emphasis on how empty she is. But in the previous episodes she didn't seem lifeless like this. It rings false because a character that lifeless and boring would not be able to come up with creative schemes, nor make tremendous efforts to follow them through. There has to be some kind of joy or at least excitement with stealing, tricking people, competing and winning, etc, for her character to make sense.

Lupin was just, uh... felt like he wandered into the wrong show.

Since it was to be continued, some of these problems could be fake-outs. But boring is boring, and this was to me.

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by Ermes Marana

Damn, ep 4 was like fanfiction. Except written by an author who actually doesn't like the characters.

Zenigata does a complete 180 from a super honorable man of justice to a sleazy murderer. He would never shoot Lupin like that, quite the opposite. Plus isn't it against the law for a police officer to have sex with a prisoner in their custody?

Honorable? Zenigata always had it out for Lupin. If he didn't have some history with Lupin, why keep Zenigata around wherever Lupin goes? A normal law enforcer wouldn't follow a single criminal to the ends of the earth.

[Arabesque]

Originally Posted by Ermes Marana

Damn, ep 4 was like fanfiction. Except written by an author who actually doesn't like the characters.

Zenigata does a complete 180 from a super honorable man of justice to a sleazy murderer. He would never shoot Lupin like that, quite the opposite. Plus isn't it against the law for a police officer to have sex with a prisoner in their custody?

I'm not so sure about the honorable part. IMO, Zenigata was simply ultra rigorous and dedicated in his endless quest to capture, and part of the reason why he did so was do to his simple mindedness (which translated into his near-black & white sense of morality) ...

That said, yes, it's pretty clear with 4 episodes in that this show is simply not of the same material as the Lupin of old. Oh, they use the same cast and things are certainly the same in a lot of cases (no matter the interpretation, these are still horriable people at the end of the day) but it's clear that the Director/Writer are trying to distance themselves from the more zany, lighthearted Lupin where being fun was the priority, for a more dark, sexier and adult Lupin where coming across as being mature comes first. So it should come as no surprise they don't want to use that Zenigata, since apparently having a lovable oaf in a show this dark and sexy is simply going to cause it ''issues'', so we get a more vengeful, corrupt, will-kill-on-sight Zenigata ...

And you know what, thats fine, really. The franchise doesn't really have a set, single take on the characters, there is room for different ideas. I don't have to like these ideas, but I can appreciate that they are going for something different here.

In any case, the show continues to be visually incredibly stylish and dare I say it, artistic in some cases. The limited usage of animation is becoming noticeable, but it's nothing really that causes harm (as of yet). I'll echo the recent sentiment by Kaoru and Sinner about Miyuki Sawashiro as Fujiko, probably the one change in the cast that I have grown to love more than the original casting (and probably one of the very few areas that I have no issue with Fujiko as a character) and say that I thought that the rest of the cast had done a competent job thus far as well, though not many opportunities had been presented for them to really shine so far (unlike with Sawashiro-san, who had been showing up every episode thus far).

The show is also good at not being too tacky or shameless about it's sexual aspect, though I do think it can accused of being soulless about it, but maybe that's the point if we go by the ''hints'' about Fujiko's past ... in any case, I thought that it's habdled the way Fujiko sells her body in a far better manner than I had seen from what I had seen in any sort of media, so thats a plus.

I just which the show would lighten up a little ...

[Guardian Enzo]

If they were looking for a traditionalist's take, they hired the wrong director and writer, that's for damn sure. The producers got what they wanted, and we're getting about what we should have expected, for better or worse (and for me, it's mostly better so far).

[Arabesque]

Hmm, I'd be laying if I said I didn't enjoy the show or the take they are going with (tonally I mean, I don't really have a problem with this being a dark & edgy Lupin so much that some of the takes on the cast just rub on me the wrong way) but at the same time, my problem is that I fell like the show is trying a tad too hard at being a sexy adult ride rather than a fun ride in general.

Maybe I'm being incredibly silly about this and I am making mountains out of molehills, but I feel like I'm not getting into the show as much as I should be.

In any case, this is a good show, though I just which it channeled some more of that light hearted nature of the past shows.

[NoemiChan]

Goemon-dono, you never failed to amuse us. Naizu jobo!!!

[ZODDGUTS]

Fujiko just doesn't make a good lead, she's better suited as a secondary character. Her past doesn't interest me like at all. Wish Lupin was the main character. While the series ain't bad, it feels like it's missing something that keeps it from being really good.

Another poster (Duckroll) in Neogaf said it best about the show:

Episode 4 made me realize that there's a fundamental problem with the series which prevents me from enjoying it as much as I could, and generally lowers my opinion of each episode, even if something somewhat interesting happens. It is not just an issue of the material being dry, or the fact that it is "darker" or more "serious" than what Lupin generally is. Those things can be good, and making a different sort of Lupin series is a bold direction. But for me, the main problem here is that Fujiko is a bad lead.

Not Fujiko the character, but rather, the Fujiko that Sayo Yamamoto has created for herself in this series. She is a poor lead and creates a shadow over the scenario which makes it very hard for me to care much for the story or the events each week. The Fujiko as depicted in this series is a woman who has very little drive. She does not really seem to love anything, and she has no attachments or strong emotions for any particular task, hobby, or outlook. Yet somehow, the audience is expected to buy into the idea that she comes up with elaborate disguises and plans to go after certain things out of her own desire. There is a disconnect because that desire isn't really there.

Without the rationale and drive, her character comes off as a sock puppet whose only role is to be at certain places at certain times so the plot as scripted can be carried out. Some of this actually seems deliberate, in the sense that many of the other characters are developed with specific personal tastes, goals, and generally show more passion than Fujiko in their roles. But this just makes me wonder why the show is made this way. The lack of direct interest or passion of the main character makes the narrative a huge drag to watch at times, and the way each episode conclusions leaves more of a "meh" feeling than any sense of actual accomplishment.

Is Sayo Yamamoto such a boring and cynical person that she actually deliberately directs works which makes the audience feel that the world and the lead character are boring and uninteresting things not worthy of attention or praise?

[fertygo]

Originally Posted by ZODDGUTS

Fujiko just doesn't make a good lead, she's better suited as a secondary character. Her past doesn't interest me like at all. Wish Lupin was the main character. While the series ain't bad, it feels like it's missing something that keeps it from being really good.

They should make series with Jigen as lead instead

Having said that though, seriously I don't think Fujiko is bad lead at all so far... n its still to early to say with the series still focusing to re-introduce the cast, I will save my judgement until the more fujiko oriented episode.