Who Would Like this Anime?
It’s Lupin. If you like dem oldschool thief stuff with a funky, cool crew, then get ready for a bunch of witty remarks here.
Translation Where?
I watched the HorribleSubs/CR release on this since I couldn’t find a BD release. The subs were fine. Curiously, I can’t find the release anymore, so no link.
Premise
Lupin’s going out of his way to marry the daugther of a huge media mogul, Rebecca, just to get his hands on a certain treasure. But Rebecca is quite crafty herself and sees through Lupin’s plot. Instead of busting him, however, she realizes that she’s found her long yearned for thrilling life as a thief and steals the treasure herself. From there on, she bumps into Lupin and his crew from time to time and all of them stumble into quite the weird conspiracy.
Visuals
It’s basically the same style as in A Woman Named Mine Fujiko but not as heavy. To be honest, I liked A Woman Named Mine Fujiko‘s style better, in Part IV the characters look really flat and even childish. The backgrounds are very agreeable and good in their own regard – although they appear pretty blurry at times. Part IV also has a bunch of modern effects it tries to get to work (see screenshot above), they don’t feel off, so whatever floats their boat. All in all it’s kiiind of unique and good, but it just doesn’t tickle my Lupin nerve as much as A Woman Named Mine Fujiko did.
Conclusion
After getting my first fix of Lupin in a looong time with A Woman Named Mine Fujiko, I was aching for more. Lucky for me, there was another set of modern Lupin episodes from 2015 waiting for me called Lupin III – Part IV.
I don’t really know what to say about the characters since it’s the usual five (counting in the inspector) and you wouldn’t watch Lupin if you didn’t like those guys. Depending on how much Lupin you watched so far, they’re pretty developed already, but you’ll find them kind of flat if you don’t know anything about Lupin, since Part IV doesn’t go out of its way to retell their past. Anyway, there are one or two new characters worth mentioning: Rebecca and that MI6 agent whose name I’ve forgotten (just a reminder: I’m really bad with names).
At first, I didn’t like Rebecca for two reasons: One, it’s always a bad sign when a series introduces a new character, to me it shows that they couldn’t come up with anything good with the old ones. Two, she looked like the clichéd dumb, rich girl who’s just looking for a thrill. However, the writers here did a miracle and really wrote her into a character that I’d like to see reappear in future episodes. While she does act clumsy among the masterthieves, she’s got something really warm about her that I grew to like having around in the Lupin universe. She’s more emotional than the other four. It’s also nice the see a girl who’s actually kinda into Lupin instead of him getting the cold shoulder from Fujiko all day long. Oh, and her butler’s pretty badass.
Anyway, she does get a lot of depth throughout the season, so I wonder whether she’s being established as main cast or not. The MI6 agent (Lynx?), however, does not seem like he’ll reappear in a big fashion. He’s just too overpowered with his superhuman abilities and although he’s getting his fair share of depth too, he’d only be good a renegade agent in my opinion; the MI6 just turned on him too hard.
The story revolves around Rebecca as a character and how she and the whole Lupin gang get caught up in an MI6 scandal. As in A Woman Named Mine Fujiko they slowly pick up hints of the big plot among all the smaller thefts. The big plot around Da Vinci was reaaally far-fetched and like something from an Indiana Jones movie or The Da Vinci Code, but it wasn’t as dumb as the last Indiana Jones movie and made sense in its own way. As long as it’s entertaining and interesting, I’m fine with it – and that’s exactly what it was.
The only thing I didn’t like about Part IV‘s story was that Lupin got caught as often as a freaking Pokemon. He really didn’t seem as elusive as you’d expect. Of course he escapes all the time but goddamn, don’t get caught so easily, please! You’re Lupin! Oh, and Fujiko seemed to be a real bitch to him, she brushed Lupin off charmingly in A Woman Named Mine Fujiko, but for some reason she just acted like a high-nosed bitch here; I liked the former Fujiko better.
All in all, it’s a good Lupin season. In my opinion not as “iconic” as A Woman Named Mine Fujiko (getting real tired of spelling this in full), but far from bad. The plot’s very interesting and fun to watch and although Fujiko is a bit moody this time around and Lupin too quick to get caught, I love the studio for introducing a character that actually enriches the Lupin universe. Childish character art aside, the visuals are pleasant to watch and as far as I know 2018 will bring another Lupin season and I can’t wait. It’s not quite up there with A Woman Named Mine Fujiko, but a great watch nonetheless, even if you don’t know anything about this series.
Lupin’s still got it.
Rating 8/10
