12.09
I’ve always been a big fan of Lupin III. It’s not high art by any means, but the fun characters, cool artwork, great music, and thrilling (if often predictable) capers are simply too alluring for me to resist. It’s a nice mega-franchise, and with so many episodes and films to choose from, one that usually offers just what I need when I want to turn my brain off and enjoy some decidedly old school animation. Much like the five other Lupin III fans who actually enjoyed The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (hell, it was my favorite anime of 2012), I’ve been impatiently anticipating the upcoming blue jacket(!) series since its announcement in October. Thankfully, the animation gods have seen fit to bless us with a sampler of next year’s misadventures in professional thievery via Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone, a theatrical sequel to the aforementioned Fujiko Mine anime.
Of course, by “theatrical,” I mean “it had a week’s worth of screenings in a single theater.” It’s also not really a movie, but two 26 minute episodes, complete with OP, ED, and recap segment. And the full title, which begins with Lupin The IIIrd, proves that whoever named this thing has absolutely no idea how roman numerals work. But who cares!? Lupin is back, baby! Not that it ever left, what with all those boring yearly TV specials no one seems to like. But who cares!? Lupin with genuine effort put into it is back, baby!
This kind-of-theatrical non-film is, for better or worse, not nearly as focused on Jigen as the title might lead you to believe. He does play a fairly prominent role in the story, but unlike how the Fujiko Mine series featured her as the lead character, the main focal point of this special is unfortunately not Jigen. That’s fine, and Lupin’s as likable as ever here, but it’s a little disappointing, as I’ve always loved the stylish gunslinger and was hoping he’d get one last chance to truly shine before his long-time voice actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi is inevitably forced to retire the role. The plot itself is fairly typical, revolving around an assassin trying to take out Jigen, but the villain – Jael Okuzaki – is pretty cool and has some neat quirks that make him a formidable opponent for the protagonists to overcome. Of course, this being a prequel, there isn’t much tension when Jael “kills” Jigen – but I don’t think anyone actually expected him to die, anyway. Just being along for the ride is fun enough, and it’s always been hard to tire of the Lupin gang outsmarting bad guys.
That said, just because the story isn’t particularly original doesn’t mean the writing is bad. The script is filled with great character moments, and the dynamic between Lupin and Jigen is in top form. Zenigata and Goemon are sorely missed, and Fujiko isn’t given much to do, but by choosing to mostly focus on these two characters, Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone manages to deliver some of the best moments between the duo in a very long time. A lot of it is somewhat subtle, with visual cues and sight gags telling much of the story, but it all goes a long way toward making it seem like this was the moment the two really became friends. It’s rare to see legitimate character development in Lupin anything, and I hope it becomes a more common aspect of future iterations. Every scene featuring Lupin and Jigen together is simply a joy to watch, really hammering home why this prequel/reboot was a good idea in the first place.
As mentioned above, Fujiko is featured in the movie, but she doesn’t really do much. However, many of the scenes involving her are kind of gross and, frankly, unnecessary. At one point, she gets captured by some evil organization/freaky sex cult (as she is wont to do), and what follows is… bizarre. I can’t say what happens without spoiling the story, but it feels completely out of place in the context of the special, and is unnervingly rape-y to boot. These moments were incredibly disheartening to me after the more mature sexuality of her titular 2012 series, hearkening back to the bad old days of the manga and earliest green jacket episodes where she was literally used as rape bait for the bad guys. (Not that there’s any actual rape here – as far as I can tell – but, well… you’ll see.) I really hope this doesn’t become a trend in the blue jacket series.
With that in mind, now is probably a good time to mention that Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone is perhaps even closer to Monkey Punch Lupin than the previous TV show was – and not just in terms of decidedly unsexy sexiness. Lupin himself is more serious than usual; he still makes goofy facial expressions and sometimes bounces around like an idiot, but he’s much colder and more calculating than many are probably accustomed to. Gravestone is also quite violent for a Lupin feature, even sporting some fairly nasty gore near the end. I can accept Lupin shooting people and a little blood here and there, but that particular aspect does feel rather out of character for the franchise, even in the darker version presented by this film and preceding TV series. It doesn’t bother me that much, but I do hope the upcoming TV anime tones down the edginess just a tad, as I can see this kind of stuff making the weekly capers less fun and potentially unnerving.
As expected from Takeshi Koike, the director of Redline (which is objectively the greatest movie ever made, ever), the character designs and animation in this special are fantastic on nearly every possible level. The unique look of the Fujiko Mine series has been refined to perfection and is more impressive than ever. The character movements are, more often than not, incredibly fluid – exaggerated to just the right degree to hit that pleasure spot in the brain which makes you happy merely to know cartoons are a thing. I’m not kidding when I say that this piece sports some of the most expressive facial expressions and body language I’ve ever seen in animation. Not to mention how the attention to detail at times can be breathtaking, as well; for instance, when Jael sets up and loads his guns, you can practically see the animators’ effort and production values oozing off the screen.
Sadly, Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone is also the latest victim in a series of beautifully animated works that have fallen prey to planting completely jarring, terribly rendered CG people into the backgrounds of scenes to fill space. They only appear a few times throughout the work as a whole, but they’re annoying and obvious enough to warrant mention. Personally, I would vastly prefer it if anime studios went back to the old method of painting still figures into the backdrop; while that was neither ideal nor realistic, it never took me out of the experience like when I see PS1-era video game models moving around a hand-drawn environment.
Special mention must be given to the amazing soundtrack by previous Koike collaborator James Shimoji. While none of the songs will likely be remembered as fondly as Yuji Ohno’s iconic classic Lupin themes, Shimoji brings an excellent low key, chilled out funk sound to the table. I found myself consistently bobbing my head along to the music throughout, repeatedly noting to myself that “I need this OST.” (Which comes out tomorrow, by the way. (You should buy it! (This isn’t a paid sponsor advertisement, what are you talking about?)))
The film ends on a pleasant note with nice character moments for Lupin/Jigen and Fujiko, and there’s a post-credits scene which heavily implies that this special was intended as a prequel to next year’s blue jacket series. However, sandwiched between these two bits, there’s a short but exciting scene that made me jump out of my chair in surprise and joy. All I’ll say is that it contains the reveal of a certain antagonist only seasoned Lupin fans are likely to know. This may very well have been the highlight of the movie for me!
Overall, this is standard Lupin III fare done perfectly, with lavish production values and a closer adherence to the original source material’s tone. It isn’t going to win any awards and might not appeal to the uninitiated, but those of us who’ve already fallen in love with the characters and universe are bound to have an absolute blast with Daisuke Jigen’s Gravestone. It succeeds where so many of the previous films and specials have failed by having a clear focus and not shoehorning in other characters, be they recurring or exclusive to that particular feature. While it would be a lie to say that I didn’t have some issues with the content and presentation at times, this was an excellent two-part pilot for the soon-to-be-released blue jacket series, and I can hardly wait to see more. As far as I’m concerned, April can’t come soon enough.