This film is such a strange Lupin film to discuss. When this one was legally on YouTube on TMS' YouTube channel, it had an older dub. One that is very historical in nature before the name Lupin could not be said out loud. Instead, lupin was switched with the literal translation "Wolf". It's not a bad Lupin dub, but it's not the well established and amazing dub from Pioneer that had Toni Oliver as Lupin and Richard Epcar as Jigen. So, already starting with something interesting about this late 80's lupin film before talking about it properly. Also, Happy Independence day even if that was yesterday. We are celebrating by having a Lady Liberty heist.
But this film is so interesting in the beginning because of how it starts in small parts that eventually connect together for its main plot. This all takes place in New York and throughout the US. The very opening is Lupin stealing computer information about himself from a police facility and escaping Zenigata. We later learn that he did that so he can live a normal life with a woman he's crazy about, Jigen tries to get Lupin on one final heist, Goemon goes on a journey of self discovery and meets an attractive woman named Isabel he wants to protect, and Fujiko is conning a rich man. Seemingly normal things.
Here is where the craziness behind this film starts. Lupin's current woman goes after a diamond salesman instead so Lupin takes on Jigen 's heist which ends up when the two steal the entire statue of Liberty from New York and a young boy named Micheal is with them and he's a computer genius. They find a huge diamond in the state. Fujiko conning of one of the richest people in the world and ends up hypnotized by a cult that needs the diamond to take over the world. Also, Jigen and Lupin meet Isabel and Goemon and Isabel wants to purchase the diamond. I bet you can figure out how Micheal and Isabel are related.
As the movie goes on, the stakes only get higher and higher as you would expect. Considering that the entire statue of Liberty was stolen into the sky, maybe the scale of this was just huge in the first place, but it still gets bigger then that though. The characterization of the cast was so strange though. Just mainly with Lupin because he wants to stop being a thief and at the end, returns to that mindset after pulling off a crazy heist. Jigen is still Jigen, Goemon feels honor bound to Isabel, Fujiko is the hot fem fatale who wants to be rich and that's if. It's just that the clunkiness of the film makes it so strange.
I kept thinking about what this film was trying to say and it feels like a lesser Mystery of Mamo. That film, Mystery of Mamo, confronts the ideas of legacy considering how Mamo is an immortal that wants to surround himself with people of acclaim throughout history. This one's ideas are a lot simpler and closer to the chest. Just the relationships between people to examine what family actually is. Isabel and Micheal were separated through the majority of the film and there is no connection between them besides inherited abilities, but he found a family alongside the Lupin gang which is its own family at odds and ends. The cult is full of people who don't have connections beyond the thinnest threads.
As a whole, Bye Bye Liberty is a good film. I wouldn't call it amazing. Visually, it's rather stunning with a lot of great pieces of animation and unique characteristics outside of the usual lupin materials. As a whole, it's a very disjointed film until the little side stories merge together in ways you would never expect them to. It's a lot of fun and does pull off some of the craziest things you didn't expect it to do. Also, it's just nice to see the Lupin gang doing their usual things too. It's a good time.
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