Lupin III: The First (2020)

Lupin III: The First (2020)

6/10

Starring the voice of

Kanichi Kurita

Kiyoshi Kobayashi

Daisuke Namikawa

Miyuki Sawashiro

Kōichi Yamadera

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki

The plot of this Lupin III: The First is not one of the best I have seen to introduce many to a character. But it does its best to fill in the holes for any who have never seen or read anything about Lupin III and his two cohorts. As an intro to someone like me who have never gotten onboard the Lupin train since its inception in 1967, I will say the plot tries. At least I did not fall asleep while watching and Lupin did some weird theft I never saw coming a mile away. It will not be win many awards for its story, but the animation is some fine 3D CGI rendition.

I have known of the existence of Lupin III for a while, although I have never read the manga or seen any of his anime’s as my friends helped to fill in the gap over the years.

The characters created by Monkey Punch in this series since 1967 has been led by one Lupin III, who is a master thief. His persona is a merger of all the Ocean Eleven characters, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. His grandfather Lupin I was one of the greatest thief that there was and Lupin III is working in the same shoes.

The plot centers around a book called Bresson Diary, which is believe has in it the directions to locating an enormous fortune.

The animation’s story starts with an old man giving his son a book and his grandchild a round object. They live and are being chased by a group which, led to a tragedy. In the present to which the story is set, we see the book on display and the men in-charge of securing the book got a letter warning that Lupin was coming to steal the book.

Well, things took a turn when another lady stole the book and then it took another turn when Lupin stole the book from that lady only to be stolen from him by Fujiko Mine. Fujiko is a lady thief which we know as another great who always seems to be lurking in Lupin’s shadow.

Soon we find the book in the arms of some men who are trying to bring back the Nazi power, believing that Hitler is still alive old in Brazil, the animation is set in the 1960s. There is a girl among them, someone whose place has nothing to do with these men, but seems to be a victim of circumstance. Lupin was not ready to give up and he went after the book, all the time being chased by Inspector Zenigata.

The animation is fun to watch, but not a classic or a masterpiece just something to see to fill in the gap awaiting great stuff to come in 2021.