Lupin III

[timepiececlock]

I just finished the Lupin III episode "Now Museum, Now You Don't", and later tonight I plan to watch "Zenigatacon". Adult Swim is getting into the episodes now that I haven't seen, which is nice, since I'd only seen the first 10ish on DVD.

I just love, love, LOVE this show. I can go ages without watching it, then pick up on an episode and it's still freakin' charming. It's totally TOTALLY not PC, its animation is completely out of date, it's sometimes predictable, but it's always, without fail, charming. Do I think the lead guy is charming? No. I wouldn't touch Lupin with a ten foot boatpole. But I love watching the antics of him and his crew and especially Fujiko, who double-crosses so much that in a circular way she's practically legit by now.

I've also begun to subscribe to that viewing philosophy someone on LJ suggested to me once: assume every woman on screen is Fujiko in disguise until proven otherwise. So far, this philosophy has proven more true than not.

Some other things I love about this show:

-Zenigata's voice actor
-Jigen's voice actor
-the dub script-- especially the use of swearing, jokes, sexual innuendo, and cultural references
-the many settings and locales
-the absurd way Lupin gets away with totally crazy stuff that would never work, but is fun to watch
-the way Zenigata's known Lupin's crew for years but still can't recognize Lupin or Fujiko in nothing but a bad wig and contact lenses


Side thought: I can see Jin of Samurai Champloo growing up to be Geomon. Lugging his katana around everywhere, rarely speaking unless necessary, nitpicky about some things and totally blase' about others. All he'd have to do is lose his sense of honor as far as the rule "stealing is bad" is concerned, and he'd totally grow up to be Geomon.

OH, IDEA! IDEA!

Jin is secretly a pre-Immortal a la Highlander (the series), and he dies from one of the various injuries he receives in the course of SC, and he lives 150 or 200 years till the 1970s when he becomes a thief and hangs around Lupin III.

There! One more fandom randomly crossed through time and space to meet another fandom. Oh Highlander, thou art the enabler of crossovers and universe fusions everywhere!

Comments

[pepperlandgirl4.livejournal.com]

I never get a chance to catch it on [adult swim], but CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO is one of my all my time favorite movies.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

It's positively awesome. I loved that. Though I was reflecting on it tonight from memory, and I'm wondering if the dub voice actors were same for that movie as for the tv show.

[duelingrose.livejournal.com]

Saddly, they were not (having the movie and TV DVD). Lupin had this DEEP voice and was always called "Wolf". >_O

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Jin is secretly a pre-Immortal a la Highlander (the series), and he dies from one of the various injuries he receives in the course of SC, and he lives 150 or 200 years till the 1970s when he becomes a thief and hangs around Lupin III.

All I can say to that is this:
"You found me beautiful once."
"Baby, you got real ugly."

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Wel,, if you're saying what I think you're saying (I don't recognize the quote), then yes, I agree-- Geomon is not as pretty as Jin by far. But fanfic has fixed worse contradictions!

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

The quote is from Army of Darkness.

Someday I'll actually even see that movie.

[d-irge.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Lupin III's still around? I used to watch that when I was in high school. My fave movie out of the series was The Golden Legend of Babylon - like an acid trip, whereas Cagliostro bored the hell out of me.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I adore Cagliostro. I haven't seen the other movies, but I want to at some point.

The old tv series is being played on Adult Swim at like 4am. I record it and watch it later. Several DVDs are also out. I don't think the whole show is dubbed yet, though. Is it? How did you watch it? When were you in high school?

[d-irge.livejournal.com]

Ah. Cool. I keep forgetting I now have cable television.

I believe it was the 3rd series of Lupin that was on the air sometime in the late 80's. It's been a while, but I think that's also when the last bits of Urusei Yatsura was wrapping up, Dark Horse was translating the Crying Freeman manga, City Hunter was big in Japan, and folks were ooh-ing and aah-ing over whatever Yasuhiko Yoshikazu happened to be churning out.

There were a couple of hole-in-wall shops that would bring in copies of shows taped in Japan and rent them out. No dubs, no subtitles. A friend occasionally provided running commentary. Kept up with a lot of anime up until '93, and then lost interest.

Gotta thank broadband internet and the Ranmascan project for actually piquing my interest again.

Since I didn't actually know what was going on in Cagliostro, all I saw was Lupin angst (boo!) and Fujiko repeatedly tearing off her shirt to reveal BDUs. I'll also admit, I may be the only person on the planet who's not a fan of Miyazaki. I guess Babylon was more visually entertaining for me.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

You should definitely check out the DVDs that are out now. The whole Lupin series is being dubbed, and several of the movies have been dubbed. I know the tv dub cast, which I've now gotten used to, is different from the Cagliostro voice cast, but I'm not sure about the other movies. Castle of Cagliostro makes a lot more sense if you can hear the dialogue. :D I actually found the dialogue to be my favorite part-- I watched it in dub and it was my first real Lupin III viewing experience. Since then I've caught some Lupin on tv and some on DVD from Netflix. I only watch it in dub, instead of both, because I actually love the way they translate the jokes in the script for the English version. Lots of good puns, lots of witty and snarky use of language.

[scathachdhu.livejournal.com]

I love Jigen. I think my favorite Jigen line is:

"Why? Cuz you're an ugly bitch. There, I said it."

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard that one. But he definitely gets the best lines. In the dub, at least, which is what I've watched.

[duelingrose.livejournal.com]

They're pretty pathetic in the sub... >_O Old Japanese humor is weird.

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

It was probably myself of jaina with the "assume every woman is Fujiko unless proven otherwise. And even then, don't lose faith." Unless I'm particularly conceited and hundreds of other people have told you that.

And I'm not really familiar with Highlander, but irenak once told me EVERYTHING can be crossed over with Highlander* and I'm starting to believe her.

*And Quantum Leap.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Highlander is the perfect, perfect, crossover-enabling fandom. EVERYTHING can be crossed with Highlander, it's true. Well, anything that's based on human characters, anyway. Or at least has the story capacity for human charactes being present. It spans time and setting, and is the only excuse you need to make your character's last gasp actually be okay after all.

For instance! In my mind, Spike of CB was a pre-immortal and he'll wake up immediately after the credits fall, confused but now permanently stuck at 27. Meanwhile, Faye was obviously given the original super-soldier/heal-anything antibodies or whatever by Vincent in the movie, so she'll never grow old either. VOILA! My pairing lives forever!

There's also the swordfighting thing, which goes nicely with most science-fiction/fantasy series anyway.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

Ack, that crossover would so totally work and is begging to be written. I still have to write the RK-Hiko is really an Immortal in disguise hence the fact that he doesn't AGE between teaching Kenshin and teaching Kenshin's son.

You know, maybe someday I'll actually even watch Highlander. *is shot*

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

You could write it for me!

You should watch Highlander; it's pretty cool. At least watch the first movie. And for the tv show, watch anything after season 3, which is when Methos is introduced. Methos is awesomeness to which little compares.

The first movie gives you a good idea of the basic immortality/Game stuff. The tv series gives you a wider range of more interesting characters, fleshes out some details of the Game and the nature of Immortality not explored by the movies, and it also gives you the Watchters, a nice plot creation that makes for a lot more interesting storylines. The Methos character is heavily tied to the Watchers storyline in some pretty cool ways.

[catystorm.livejournal.com]

I've seen the first movie, (mainly because I think I've seen everything Sean Connery has ever been in) and I've seen Endgame, but that was so far back I don't remember didly squat. My two bestest friends and huge Highlander fans, so even though I've seen a grand total of maybe one and a half episodes, I've absorbed a lot through osmosis. XD

I keep telling my friends to buy the DVD box sets so I can steal them and watch them. They haven't listened yet. :/