Lupin III: The First

I can't believe how cool this looks. After waiting for some while I finally got to watch this but since it was fansubbed there were many hilarious mistranslations here and there. Gotta give the studio props since this cg looks fantastic. It is like the level of Pixar or Dreamworks. It is smooth and looks and feels quite nice. Of course I thing Lupins artstyle works well as CG anime. It isn't overly anime looking so it works, it is like some cartoon artstyle. Story: So Nazis are trying to get their hands on this one dudes journal but it goes missing. Later it was foundand thrown in to a museum in France. Of course Lupin wants said thing so he goes to get it. Well the journal gets taken by a girl named Letizia and Lupin follows. Well shit happens and Luping gets caught. Then comes another rescue operation. The journal contains information and the whereabouts of an ancient weapon of mass destruction. This one man wants to get that weapons and deliver it to Hitler. We then follows the adventures of Lupin III, Letizia, Mine Fujiko, Jigen Daisuke, Ishikawa Goemon and Zenigata. Who gets the weapon first will be the winner. Characters: They are the same as before. Letizia is a girl who wants to go to the Boston University to study archaeology. His so called "dad" will send her to the university if she brings the journal to him. Later on she joins Lupins gang to find the weapon. Lupin is still the quirky, comedic and sometimes badass thief. Jigen is still the master marksman he has always been. But in this it feels like he is a bit closer to Lupin than in the previous shows. Goemon still does cool samurai stuff and gets awkward around women. Also he really doesn't want to lose his sword. Mine Fujiko is back with in my opinion the best character model she has ever had. It looks so good. She still uses her charm to get out of tough situations. The theme is the Ol' Reliable. So it is the same as Part 4 and 5 and etc. If you like Lupin, then watch this. If you haven't seen Lupin then this is a very good show to start with.

Unless you have a hate boner for any kind of CGI, Lupin III: The First is a treat for all Lupin fans and a nice movie even if you aren't interested in Lupin that much. Apart from short Lupin III 3DCG special, this is the first time Lupin has been animated in full 3D and boy I'm really pleased with the result. The animation is fluid and detailed, and it really makes the action scenes shine. The character design was translated into 3D perfectly and respectful to the original (though not without any change. I'm especially a fan of the movie look of Jigen, albeit I'ma bit saddened that Jigen and Goemon didn't get more spotlight. Laetitia, the newest addition to collection of Lupin ladies is also seriously cute. I also really liked the animation of facial expression of the characters. Yes, the style of animation looks quite like a western-made movie, to an extent that it at first felt almost unnatural that the dubbing was Japanese and not English, but I don't see a problem with that, if anything it keeps things fresh, something that a franchise with so many specials and movies certainly needs. The plot isn't ground-breaking, but I don't think anyone expected a revolutionary script for a non-reboot Lupin Movie, go watch The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and its related movies for that. Regular Lupin movies (and specials) are foremost meant to be fun and this one passes with flying colors. If you've seen some amount of Lupin anime you probably already know what to expect plot-wise, so there is no need to go into greater detail here. I'll just note that this one feels a bit Indiana Jones-ish, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Overall, I certainly recommend it to Lupin fans, but it works as a family movie too, even if not every member of said family is a Lupin fan.

I've watched all of Lupin III's seasons and a lot of the movies, OVAs, specials and so on. 50 years old and Lupin and his gang still get a lot of love and attention. I love it! Animation: 1) the style reminds me of Shrek so it took me a bit to get used to how the characters look, particularly Zenigata, Lupin and Jigen. One thing that helped me like the style for Lupin and Jigen is understand that in the Lupin III's timeline this had to be one of the first adventures because SPOILER: age-wise, Hitler could still be alive. So, Lupin and Jigenlooking younger makes sense but Zenigata's face looks wrong to me for some reason that I cannot quite pinpoint. 2) the animation becomes a little bit inconsistent and sloppy one hour into the movie 3) overall the animation is very fluid and once you get used to it, you realize it's really well-done Sound: 1) the soundtrack is faithful to Lupin III's iconic themes 2) voice acting was flawless This movie is a lot of fun to watch for those that like comedy but also action. It has awesome action sequences and the story is interesting as well. My only complain about the story is SPOILER: the "grandfather" should've remained a bad guy until his death. All things considered, this movie gets a 9/10 from me.

In short - it's an ok movie dragged down by the same story we've seen hundred times already. Let's start with the strong points of the movie: 3D animation looks outstanding, at points you can forget you're watching an animated movie, the backgrounds, vehicles, and objects in general looks amazing, the music is great, the characters just work while feeling unique and actors behind them are selling them really, really well, the jokes are landing and the movie will get a chuckle or two out of everyone and overall when the movie is focused on these elements it's fun and it would be a great filmif it would stick just to doing this. But there's also the ugly side of the movie, it simply cannot sell the "heavier" part of the story, the more serious scenes feels like don't belonging anywhere but had to be added to somehow close out the movie by simply checking the most cliche elements on the list and just be done with it which makes the last 1/3 of the movie a slog, you were breezing through the first hour just to be hit with the final act that's absolutely out of the place, lost all the pace and have issues with making any kind of sense of itself; the facial animation doesn't work at times and it pains me to say that since animators did a great job everywhere else but any kind of expression beyond the resting face doesn't look good, to say the least. The story overall leaves you with a great feeling of "meh", there's nothing to it, nothing to chew on, no reason to get back to the movie, no afterthought, you went through and emerged victorious, the movie is over, you've already forgot it. Would I recommend this movie? To fans of Lupin - probably, the common elements are there and are the strongest part of the movie, it feels like a Lupin story and you may find what you are looking for in here. To people who simply are looking for a good movie? Nah, you should be able to find a better way to spend 90 minutes.