I usually start all of my posts with some sort of meta before digging into the actual material. This one is another case of doing that for important reasons. TMS released The Last Job for a few days to celebrate the life of Eiko Masuyama who played Fujiko Mine for a number of years and recently passed away. RIP. This was her last time playing Fujiko in a Lupin special. At the same time, it was also the last time Makio Inoue played Goemon in a special, along with the last time Goro Naya played Zenigata before he passed away. So in a lot of ways, the title of The Last Job worked in a lot of ways. The one that doesn't work is for the title of the special itself.
This special's plot was full of unique things that I haven't seen from Lupin. I haven't watched every single Lupin thing, but I have consumed quite a bit of it at this point. It does start with the usual Lupin thing of a heist in Germany. This time, there is a Buddha statue that was a gift to hitler, even though it is much older, that Lupin was hired to capture. So it was a pretty great heist with the buddha held by the police in a very heavy amount of security and Lupin snatches with so many bits of smoke and mirrors as well as help with his friends Jigen and Goemon.
What a great heist it was. Also included a lot of moments that reminded me of Imaishi as cars were scattered all over the place and the bridge was destroyed. The main interesting thing was the heist turned into Lupn being directly chased by Zenigata with a reporter woman and her crew following very closely behind. The reporter is the first twist, but the second one is the appearance of the mysterious Morgana from a helicopter who quickly takes the Buddha, seemingly kills Zenigata, and then runs away with it in hand. So clearly, the plot is stopping Moragana from taking over the world by combining the Buddha statue and other treasures.
I love how this film just casually puts in some really interesting things with barely any explanation. For instance, the italian mafia just getting into ninja stuff is the reason why they are more ninja like then mafia. Also, so has interpol with recruiting the ninja agent from the Fuma clan of ninjas, Asuka who also hired Lupin to get the statue in the first place. There is also the historical connection of Ancient Rome and Ancient Japan to get all the Fuma clan, and Rome's treasures to work together somehow. Also, Morgana is something of a vampire by taking Asuka's Sister's Maya's blood to keep himself going. None of these are complaints, all of them are really cool and welcome.
I love the chemistry everyone has in this group. For instance, the relationship between Asuka and Lupin isn't a romantic one, but one of rivals as they always end up in the same place doing the same schemes until they help each other. Also, Asuka and her dog are amazing together. Goemon formed a crush with Maya after they fought against each other and that is his story. Jigen and the mysterious Andre know each other and that's about it. Morgana is a classic vampire bad guy who wants to create a new order again. The best part is Interpol with and without the crazy Zenigata leading the way and Fujiko who is doing her own thing just to steal Morgana's gold while he has his attention on Lupin and everyone else. Just queen stuff.
Visually, the film does look good but it's kind of sloppy. For instance from what I can tell all the cars are visually distinct and hand drawn. But, they aren't that well detailed outside of their general designs. Even cars that are cut in half don't show that much. Also, it's pretty blocky because the cars moved in rectangles on the bridge when they were flying around. Same with the bridges when it fell apart. So there were a lot of easy, geometric shapes. But the animation around Lupin and his gang going against a large amount of goons and doing their usual cartoony thing was great. Same with so many details around the cities with so many civilians all over the place in different scenarios. Also, the design of each setting is just great.
As a film, this film is pretty good. Full of lots of intricate things and details as well as a pretty good look at the standard James Bond plot with the usual Lupin flare. It has a lot of simple details and things it puts into the movie to make it feel more lived in and the general story is insane, but a lot of fun. I do think it took a bit of a bang out of its buck from the start of desensitizing Lupin for a more modern kid audience because he isn't as grime-filled and there isn't any blood or gore from shots or Goemon cutting anyone. Pretty kid friendly stuff, but it still feels a lot like Lupin and that's just what it needs to be. I wish I looked more Fuma clan stuff before watching it, but I got enough of a gist for everything to work out. It's a good way to send off a lot of the voice actors as they decided to retire.
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