Lupin is one of the oldest if not the oldest franchise that has been active since the 60's and continues to have ovas and installments to this day. So, naturally, there are going to be tons and tons of interpretations of the adventures of Lupin, Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko with Zenigata going after them. Some of them are copies of each other without anything special while others actively tried to do something different while exploring the themes of the franchise from a serious direction brought by works that happened around the same time. I say this because, this ova of Lupin III with Green vs Red feels like something that was inspired by Death Note.
Green vs Red is an ova that has one of the most simple concepts, but wants to make it seem more mysterious or complex then it actually is. One day, a person dressed up as Lupin III got arrested for shoplifting in Tokyo. So that immediately gets reported on the news throughout the world and causes an entire mob of people dressed up as Lupin the third appearing in Tokyo that eventually gets arrested. So of course there is the special person, named Yasuo, who lives a crappy life working at a restaurant who moonlights as Lupin during the night time in a green jacket. Of course, there is the actual Lupin who is interested in Yasuo and wants to test him.
That isn't the only part of the plot because there is obviously the heist both Yasuo and Lupin are going after with Zenigata chasing after them. There is the secret corporation plot regarding a plot that can rule over the world with the mystical item called "Ice Cube" that is what the two are facing off over. Also, members of the Lupin part can't choose between either the actual lupin or Yasuo because of how similar in spirit and thought they seem. So Fujiko, Jigen, and Goemon are in the film though they are mere cameos and other things in it too and Zenigata being confused between Red coat and Green coat lupin. The ova tries to make so many twists and turns to make it more complex than it is with attempted Death Note sorts of direction that doesn't work that well.
So obviously, this ova is about analyzing the freedom that being Lupin III brings, right? That is why Lupin would have so many copy cats. They obviously wanted the freedom that Lupin represents to them because all of them can do whatever they want. The same was true with Yasuo who escaped from his boring life by being free and robbing things like it was nothing. That is kind of why Zenigata couldn't tell the difference between the two because he would be the one who could tell who is a fake lupin or not. That is also why the cour crew dealt with the same things too. The entire story was Yasuo gaining and claiming his freedom by defeating that supposed real Lupin who tested if he was worthy. I wish Green vs Red didn't have to pretend to be more pretentious than it is.
I say this because Lupin III: Green vs Red looks astonishingly good. Like it really does because the direction of the shots looks cool and the character animation was great for it too. But I can't say that I would recommend this Death Note style of animation for it. The animation is absolutely amazing too. But clearly the writers either didn't have enough time to tell a complete story due to production issues or the writers didn't have enough material to get more layers out of it. So I can't say that I recommend watching this because it's just ok. Pretty forgettable despite it trying to be something different.
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