Lupin the IIIrd: Zenigata to Futari no Lupin & Fujimi no Ketsuzoku – Some Quick Thoughts to Bid Farewell to The Lupin Koike-Verse
Despite how stupid its title looks in writing to a native English speaker, I love the Lupin the IIIrd series by Koike Takeshi. I love the retro aesthetic, the hard edge, and the overall reverence for Lupin as a representation of 1970s nihilism. Since the release of Jigen Daisuke no Bohyō (Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone) back in 2014, I’ve been keen to keep up with each subsequent installment of the series as they trickled out over the years.
While this series seemingly had no hard release schedule, for a while we managed to get a new one every two or three years. However, after the release of Mine Fujiko no Uso (Fujiko Mine’s Lie) in 2019, it seemed as if the series had come to a stop. Sure–given there was a catastrophic pandemic that hit the following year, I can understand why. Given all the chaos going on in the real world at the time, I was worried if this thing would even finish up. Luckily for me, the final parts of this series dropped this June[1]A great birthday present!, with one part available for streaming, and the final part out in theaters as a film.
Rather than do an extensive review extolling the merits of Koike’s Lupin the IIIrd–you can basically get that in my review of the first installment linked above–I’d just like to drop some quick thoughts about these final two parts of the series. Since this thing took over a decade to fully drop, I want to give it some love. I may well do a full review of the whole series, but that’s for another time.
The streaming installment, Zenigata to Futari no Lupin (Zenigata at the Two Lupins), continues in the same vein as the previous entries, pitting the gang up against some crazy assassin with a gimmick. This time it’s a guy who looks just like Lupin, just with a sleazier sounding voice. This episode takes us to the Russian-inspired “Roviet Union,” defined by a nice and dreary gray atmosphere, where it’s constantly snowing, and you can see everyone’s breath in the cold air. In homage to Lupin’s history as a globetrotting franchise, each installment of this “Koike-verse” is defined by its rich and lived-in world, and the Roviet Union in Futari no Lupin is no exception.
This being Zenigata’s story, he gets some great moments to shine, especially in a quite brutal fist fight against Lupin early on. While he ultimately gets his ass handed to him, I do enjoy how the franchise has moved towards portraying Zenigata as competent and steadfast in recent years, as opposed to simply being just a persistent and bumbling cop. That said, I feel he doesn’t get as much of a satisfying treatment as the rest of the gang did in their parts–perhaps because he’s Zenigata–but he does manage to kindle a connection with a badass lady cop captain in the Roviet Union, which is a nice way to close off his story.
Meanwhile, the film takes the crew to a hidden island in the Bermuda triangle, where they meet the freakish superbeing Muomu. Turns out this superbeing lured the gang to his island to kill them, as part of some grand plan to cleanse the Earth… or something–like every entry in the Koike-verse, the story isn’t really that important.
While it’s always fun to see Lupin in the theater, this one didn’t really feel like a film. While all the other Lupin films up until this point were standalone, Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: Fujimi no Ketsuzoku (Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: The Immortal Bloodline) requires the viewer to be up to date with the story of the Lupin the IIIrd OVAs. Which is fine if you’ve seen those–as the series’ final chapter, Fujimi no Ketsuzoku is a roaring good time with lots of crazy action, truly freaky characters, and a palpable feeling of high stakes. I mean, we know the Lupin gang will make it out alive, but they do get banged up pretty bad in this one.
However, I do think Fujimi no Ketsuzoku could have worked just fine in the same format as the previous installments. I understand that they wanted to go out with a bang by making a film after a long delay–but given we’re basically stuck on this island for 90 minutes, and the plot is mostly just one long action scene, it all feels somewhat gratuitous. I have a feeling it may hit better with all the previous parts fresher in your mind, which is an issue they do try to tackle with a 10-minute or so digest covering the previous parts placed at the start of the feature, but that only goes so far. And yes, I’m keenly aware that many a Lupin work like to confine the gang to remote islands–but those are self-contained and have more going on story-wise, which is not what I can say for Fujimi no Ketsuzoku.
If I was to level one more criticism against this one, it would be about the way in which it ties back to the first Lupin film, Mystery of Mamo. To be honest, until I skimmed back through the older Lupin the IIIrd parts, I forgot that they dropped the Mamo stinger at the end of the very first episode. So, I shoulda seen that coming. And I don’t mind the film tying back to Mamo either–hell, I love that Mamo gets love in a world where more than half of all the new Lupin things coming out all try to copy Cagliostro. However, it almost makes the same mistake as that old OVA with Pycal–the magician from the first series–by suggesting that Mamo is actually some kind of immortal and mystical being. After watching Mystery of Mamo multiple times, you begin to pick up on hints that Mamo just may be a super-rich conman, and the film never makes it clear if what he’s saying is true or not. Fujimi no Ketsuzoku leans a bit more into the possibility of Mamo actually being an immortal being, especially with regards to his connection to Muomu. However, it doesn’t dwell on that for longer than it needs to.
Ultimately, these are minor quibbles. As mentioned at the top, I’ve always loved this take on Lupin for how hard it leans into the franchise’s early Shōwa roots, and this one continues on in that vein. I mean, who makes a film about the Bermuda Triangle anymore? That’s such a pulpy and retro setup for a story, and fits right in with the classic approach to Lupin. It goes without saying that all the tech and weapons are also appropriately old-fashioned and rendered in loving detail–all the while, the rogues gallery of weird half-robot and mutant freaks that attack the crew are all sporting sleazy 70s fashion, to just let us soak deeper in the hot Shōwa soup. The music even gets into it, with James Simoji dropping in some spooky pulp sci-fi theremin when we find ourselves in Muomu’s lair.
And that Muomu–damn, what a weirdo. While not a super interesting villain, in line with this series’ obsession in portraying brutal violence, Muomu comes off as a seriously destructive threat, with gigantic monkey hands, anatomy-defying movements, and simply possessing an imposing silhouette.
Much like the previous Lupin the IIIrd outings, Lupin the IIIrd the Movie: Fujimi no Ketsuzoku is simply a huge tribute to the franchise, and specifically the facets of the franchise Koike loves[2]And in turn, I love.. It’s another big fanservice piece like GQuuuuuuX, but thankfully this one has more room to breathe. Sure, the story ain’t much, but if you enjoy the older and more harder edge of Lupin, this film caps off Koike’s Lupin the IIIrd series nicely enough.
…and now, I look forward to eventually watching the whole thing in one go without having to wait multiple years! Hopefully I’ll get back to y’all when that happens.