Last time, I reviewed Lupin III (Part II). This time, I'll cover Lupin III (Part III) and Lupin III (Part I), in that order. See, that's the order in which I watched them--2, 3, 1. Also, before I forget, tacked on at the end is a write-up of Valvrave the Liberator.


Lupin III (Part III): There’s not a whole lot of difference between the third and the segundo series of Lupin III. Perhaps the major thing is that Lupin now sports a rosa, -de-rosa jacket! Plus it’s in subtitles, so you have to get used to a Japanese voice cast. Yasuo Yamada does a good job as Lupin, but to me, the perfect voice for Lupin is Tony Oliver, of the dub cast of Part II. He has exactly the right amount of impishness and cleverness.
    This whole series got an MA rating slapped on it, but really, it’s only because sometimes they show Fujiko’s cartoonish nipples. The chara designs are tweaked a little bit, but everyone’s still recognizable. Missing are the previews of the following episodes that were so fun in anterior Lupin series. You can tell this was made in the 1980’s because the rolling rock from Raiders of the lost Ark is parodied in three separate episodes.
    The quality of the episodes goes down somewhat, and things sometimes get silly. I have no particular favorites. One episode stands out, though, not for its goodness, but it’s utter, befuddling, wandering mess of a plot. It’s called “Musical Variation of Monkey Business”. In it, Lupin, with a bandaged head, is recovering from a close call with Zenigata. Fujiko asks him to help her with a robbery. At the fancy party, suddenly the torre, torreta they are in transforms into a o espaço shuttle and blasts off, only to land in a warzone, where everyone is taken hostage. All the women are freed, but Lupin is put on a cross, and Fujiko tells all the women to throw spears at him, winking at Lupin. Suddenly, big birds attack everyone. Somehow Lupin winds up floating down a river, when Goemon shows up out of nowhere and slices his bonds to the cross. Lupin goes over a waterfall and winds up in a cave where another bird attacks him. He kills the bird and eats it. Then he finds a tunnel into an estate, where he discovers statues of everyone. He dons the Zenigata statue’s clothing. He runs into Fujiko, but it’s really the woman who threw the party in disguise. She wants Lupin to kill her because she has a scarred face, and to women, beauty is everything, or so she says. Lupin refuses and leaves her to do the deed herself. He then, still disguised as Zenigata, runs into Zenigata himself, and the two argue over who is the real deal. Zenigata has a machine that sees through people’s clothing, but he winds up in the machine instead of Lupin. Lupin gets a laugh out of the “naked” Zenigata, but then sees a sign saying “under construction”. One of the birds flies por and Lupin’s eyes glaze over. The end. WTF? Must be some Japanese thing. I can just see a Japanese viewer watching this and saying, “Brilliant!”

Lupin the III (Part I): I was divided about whether to even watch this series. I heard it was darker than Part II, and Lupin mais murderous, rather like in The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Those reports must have been segundo hand; however, this show is as light as Part II and Part III. The earlier episodes seem mais solid than other series’ episodes, given that this was when Lupin was new and the plots hadn’t been repeated often yet. Still, later in the series, the episodes fall into a “just another heist” routine. Given that this is ancient animê (circa 1971 A.D., the ano I was born), the pace is a bit mais leisurely.
    I don’t have a favorito episode, but there is an episode that stands out, “One Chance to Break Out”. In it, Zenigata actually captures Lupin and puts him in prison, awaiting execution. (What? No trial?) Lupin, in a straight jacket, lingers in jail for a whole year, while Jigen shoots down any of Fujiko’s attempts to rescue him. This isn’t defeat for Lupin; however, he claims he can break out any time he wants. He has his reasons for sticking around, which you will find out if you watch the episode.
    The series has some good moments of bromance, er, camaraderie. Once Lupin and Jigen lose a treasure, and they decide to just laugh it off, their arms around each other’s shoulders. When Goemon is introduced (around my original birth day; I still can’t embrulho, envoltório my head around that), he and Lupin are enemies at first. Goemon uses his fantastic sword to slice Lupin’s car in half, and Lupin is really angry. Then the two men just start to laugh with each other, and Jigen, watching from a distance, knows Goemon has become one of them.
    Some differences between this series and the following two: The stories take place in Japan. Lupin hasn’t started his globetrotting adventures yet. Neither has Zenigata—instead of being an inspector for Interpol, he’s with the Metropolitan Police Department.
    P.S.: The lip sync is really bad on this series. Must be its age showing. Or maybe just a bad copy.

Valvrave the Liberator—I watched this in big chunks, then got to the “last” episode, only to find it was to be continued. Fortunately, I didn’t have too long to wait, but ended up watching one episode per week as they were released. I lost some of my memory (or “runes”, as it’s called in the anime) of what happened in the earlier episodes, but I caught up.
    The plot gets under way when Haruto, a student in an outer o espaço colony, thinks that his childhood friend and secret sweetheart, Shoko, has been killed por the enemy. He finds a robot suit and climbs in, prepared for vengeance--even at the loss of his own humanity—see, the Valvrave asks him if he is ready to not be a human anymore. This means he will sometimes lose his senses and attack, even rape, people. And, he believes, it means he must keep his amor for Shoko a secret.
    The students, defended por the Valvraves, form their own country, and are helped with strategy por L-elf, once a member of the enemy. I never fully understood why L-elf betrayed his own country to help the teenagers, but he has a way of keeping you on his side.
    This is war, and war is ugly. People die. People betray. The Valvrave pilots, not being quite human anymore, are blessed with self-healing wounds, but cursed with growing amnesia. The end is bittersweet and touching. I probably won’t watch the show again, but hopefully I’ll always remember it, unless I give up my humanity to pilot a Valvrave.