Lupin the third

S

sanji no 1

Vampire Ninja
I've heard so much about this dude. Apparently he's very popular. I've never seen any of his movies and I would like to see what the hype is. SO which movie of Lupin should i watch first?
 
Don't watch secret of mamo first! but maybe Castle of Cagliostro would be a good start. i'm not a huge fan but i've enjoyed what i've seen so that would be my place to start.
 
Episode 0: First Contact is the perfect starting place. It's a retelling of how Lupin and his gang first met, plus it's a cracking action movie in its own right.

Castle of Cagliostro is my favourite movie ever, so I'd recommend watching that after First Contact. Fuma Conspiracy is another good one. There's three for you.
 
Came here to post Cagliostro; was quite soundly beaten to it...

The thing to know about Lupin is that the different parts of the franchise can vary significantly in terms of style, tone and content. Some are strongly influenced (and occasionally directed) by Miyazaki, others are more anarchic with smutty humour.

I heartly endorse everything that's been suggested thus far, but they're all more towards the Miyazaki end of things. As Daichi said, it's not one to start with, but if you want to sample something from the other camp, Mamo is probably a good bet.
 
Well, others have said Castle of Cagliostro and I really can't object to that.

Also, Discotek are rereleasing the first anime series in America in June/July (I forget which one it is). That's also a good start - I remember enjoying that a lot.
 
mangaman74 said:
animefreak17 said:
mangaman74 said:
animefreak17 said:
Castle of Cagliostro
iv got 4 movies of lupin

there
episode 00
Castle of Cagliostro
secret of memo
secret of the fuma
Click to expand...

Must make a note of that one......
Click to expand...

if you ask me the movies would release better then the series
Click to expand...

:roll: It was a joke. Memo, note.....
Click to expand...

no i was making conversation i think if they cant get the series i think the movies would be a good too.

memo .... note lol yeah i got it lo very good
 
Joshawott said:
Also, Discotek are rereleasing the first anime series in America in June/July (I forget which one it is). That's also a good start - I remember enjoying that a lot.
Click to expand...

This would be my choice too.
Even if OP asked only for movies, it's much much better starting with the green jacket series.
About movies, Castle of Cagliostro is by far the best one in my opinion. Haven't seen Episode 00 and another couple, but all the other movies I watched I found to be average or less.



Teo
 
teonzo said:
Even if OP asked only for movies, it's much much better starting with the green jacket series.
Click to expand...

I would respectfully disagree, but I think it depends a lot on what you want out of the franchise.

As much as I enjoyed the green jacket season, it's a bigger commitment than one of the films and I know a lot of people don't care much for the self-contained half-hour format these days.

Personally, I also felt that they struggled to nail the tone of the show in the first half of the series. It may have been closer to the manga, but I didn't think it really hit its stride until Miyazaki and Takahashi came on board.
 
Professor Irony said:
I would respectfully disagree, but I think it depends a lot on what you want out of the franchise.

As much as I enjoyed the green jacket season, it's a bigger commitment than one of the films and I know a lot of people don't care much for the self-contained half-hour format these days.

Personally, I also felt that they struggled to nail the tone of the show in the first half of the series. It may have been closer to the manga, but I didn't think it really hit its stride until Miyazaki and Takahashi came on board.
Click to expand...

I agree on the principles, I don't agree on the tastes.
I have to say I haven't watched any Lupin in the last 10 years, so I can't comment any movie or special released recently, but I think I watched all the movies (on VHS or on TV) up to 2000. "The Secret of Mamo" is a good movie, but it's quite far from the "Lupin style". "Castle of Cagliostro" is a great movie (in my top3 anime movies), but it's more Miyazaki than Lupin (if this makes sense), this is not a defect, simply I don't think it's the best first exposure to the Lupin universe (it's unique and far from the rest). All the other movies/special/OVAs I watched left me "meh" at best. So, for someone wanting to watch a Lupin movie, then I would say that Cagliostro is no doubt the best choice. For someone wanting to approach the Lupin universe, I think that starting with a movie is not the best choice.
In my opinion the best way to approach the Lupin universe is the green jacket series, because of what you wrote in your last paragraph: you start similar with the manga, then the style diverges (as did all the other series and movies). But I disagree about tastes here: my favourite episodes are the first ones, especially "One Chance to Breakout" which is my favourite anime episode ever, so I'm pretty biased about this matter.



Teo
 
That's fair enough, I do understand where you're coming from.

In a way, we might have a skewed expectation of Lupin in the UK. Cagliostro was literally the first to get a release over here, and it's remained the most readily available ever since, so I think many people (myself included) see it and expect the rest of the franchise to be on that level. When I went straight from that into Secret of Mamo, I was completely thrown by the sudden change in the characters' behaviour and I didn't know how to take it at all.

While I've not seen that many of the other feature length outings, I do think there are a few gems among them though. Fabric mentioned the Fuma Conspiracy; I would stand by that as being an entertaining little film with some great action scenes and a nice bit of characterisation for Goemon. I also got a lot of enjoyment out of Dead or Alive. It rehashes quite a bit from Cagliostro, but it's a very pretty film and, again, the action was well handled.

I remember the prison-break episode of the green-jacket series as well; I think that was definitely one of the strongest ones. I'd probably need to go back and watch it again to pin down again exactly what bothered me about those episodes, although I think it was partly the way they handled Fujiko. She seemed to go straight from being a damsel in distress to be a full-on psychopath and then back again. That scene in the island episode (sorry, the name escapes me) where she grabs Lupin's gun and shoots randomly at the other boat passing them by sticks in my mind particularly.

Edit: this is probably a good time to repost the review I did of S1 about a year ago.
 
Professor Irony said:
In a way, we might have a skewed expectation of Lupin in the UK. Cagliostro was literally the first to get a release over here, and it's remained the most readily available ever since, so I think many people (myself included) see it and expect the rest of the franchise to be on that level. When I went straight from that into Secret of Mamo, I was completely thrown by the sudden change in the characters' behaviour and I didn't know how to take it at all.
Click to expand...

Ok, now I understand, since as usual it depends a lot on which order people watch things.
Here in Italy the first series was broadcasted in 1979 or 1980, it was one of the biggest successes (millions of watchers, literally) and was re-aired about every year. Mamo and Cagliostro arrived after the second season for sure, if I'm right even after the third season (I watched them after the third series, but don't know exactly when they were imported). Once you have watched all the 3 series then all the movies/specials/OVAs seem like a rehash of episodes from the second or third series. Except Mamo and Cagliostro, which stand on their own.
So I suppose our difference in tastes derive from the order of view. In my case I have to say that Lupin III has a strong affective value, it was one of the first series I watched as a child and the first I loved (with Future Boy Conan), so maybe I give to the first series more value than what it deserves, just for affective reasons.
Cagliostro blew us (my friends and me) for various reasons. We got bored by the second and especially the third series, so getting a new great Lupin story was a huge surprise. Plus it was the first anime movie with Akira to arrive here, so we were blown away by the visuals and the production, none of us could think such anime movies could exist, like a dream coming true.



Professor Irony said:
While I've not seen that many of the other feature length outings, I do think there are a few gems among them though. Fabric mentioned the Fuma Conspiracy; I would stand by that as being an entertaining little film with some great action scenes and a nice bit of characterisation for Goemon. I also got a lot of enjoyment out of Dead or Alive. It rehashes quite a bit from Cagliostro, but it's a very pretty film and, again, the action was well handled.
Click to expand...

I should have to buy the DVDs and rewatch them. As I wrote above, the problem is that once you saw the 3 series, it's pretty hard to find something entertaining or new in those movies, unfortunately.



Professor Irony said:
I remember the prison-break episode of the green-jacket series as well; I think that was definitely one of the strongest ones. I'd probably need to go back and watch it again to pin down again exactly what bothered me about those episodes, although I think it was partly the way they handled Fujiko. She seemed to go straight from being a damsel in distress to be a full-on psychopath and then back again. That scene in the island episode (sorry, the name escapes me) where she grabs Lupin's gun and shoots randomly at the other boat passing them by sticks in my mind particularly.
Click to expand...

I haven't read a Lupin manga from ages, and I only read a handful, but from what I recall Fujiko was quite lunatic, in the sense that her behaviour changed quite a bit from episode to episode. Her only costant behaviour was teasing Lupin. But these are just faded memories.



Professor Irony said:
Edit: this is probably a good time to repost the review I did of S1 about a year ago.
Click to expand...

I'll give a listen later, thanks.



Teo
 
teonzo said:
As I wrote above, the problem is that once you saw the 3 series, it's pretty hard to find something entertaining or new in those movies, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Again, that's a fair point. That's exactly the problem I had with the most recent special; it wasn't bad in its own right, it just felt like it had all been done before.

Lupus said:
I was considering making a thread about this a few weeks ago on where to start, so castle of cagliostro then what next?
Click to expand...

If you're particularly after a film, I'd go for either the Fuma Conspiracy or possibly Episode 0. Otherwise, it could well be worth giving the first series a shot.
 
Watched Castle of Cagliostro yesterday and liked it a lot, watched a Bluray rip with the Japanese cast. Downloaded Fuma Conspiracy but it doesn't have the original VAs, considering watching Mystery of Mamo, afterward also is Episode 0 an OVA or what?
 
Back
Top