Since I've been out in California, I've been attending the Caltech Anime Society. Generally speaking, they've shown things that are pretty decent and I've continued to attend. However, during this same time period, I have been exposed to about six
Lupin III movies or TV specials. For those of you unaware, the premise of Lupin III is that the titular character is the grandson of the Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin. Lupin the younger's characterization ranges from gentlemen thief (as in Miyazaki's
Cagliostro) to...less so in other incarnations.
Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of movies, OVAs and TV specials, the Lupin III library is somewhat hit or miss. Given that the movie-length TV specials have been released at the rate of one per year for the last two decades, it isn't entirely suprising that they aren't all great. Regardless, there are at least a couple of them that I'd recommend. Firstly, if you haven't seen any of the rest of the series, I suggest starting with
Episode 0: First Contact which was the 2002 OVA. It provides a backstory for how the main cast met as well as being one of the better specials. It hasn't been licensed in the US, but is available from the
usual places. Obviously, I'd recommend Castle of Cagliostro because it is Lupin as proffered by Hayao Miyazaki (
Princess Mononoke,
Ponyo,
Spirited Away). Once someone has seen both of these, they've managed to see both Green-jacket and Red-jacket Lupin, which means that
Green Vs. Red might be viable.
Green Vs. Red is really more of a deconstruction of Lupin than anything else, but is nonetheless quite good.
All of this commentary was triggered by the Lupin special that I watched this weekend, though:
Lupin III vs. Detective Conan. Detective Conan is the titular character of the series of the same name (
Case Closed in the US). Detective Conan is another long running series, though primarily in anime form. Conan has been ongoing on Japanese television since 1996 and currently has over 560 episodes. This particular special is a relatively standard
cross over whose plot seems to have been cribbed somewhat from
Cagliostro. Nevertheless, it is a decent Lupin movie even if I didn't get all of the
Conan-specific jokes. It isn't a place to start, but at least seems to indicate that the series is still producing quality works.
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