Lupin III: Italian Game

Title:Lupin III: Italian Game
Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game
ルパン三世 イタリアン・ゲーム
Overall:Avoid
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Telecom Animation Film
Original Concept - Monkey Punch
Lupin investigates the kidnapping of his estranged wife, Italian millionaire and celebrity, Rebecca Rosselini, who still carries this name. But when Lupin arrives in Italy to rescue her, he finds himself drawn into a game with an unknown enemy when he is issued a challenge by the Masked Count: find the inheritance of the Count of Cagliostro. To complicate matters, Lupin's nemesis Inspector Zenigata arrives in Italy to arrest Lupin, as well as M16 Agent Nyx who is after the Masked Count as well.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


91-minute TV special that premiered on January 8, 2016.
Animated by Telecom Animation Film.
[edit] The ↗Lupin III franchise:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Avoid 8 8 8 8 2 AstroNerdBoy [series:4324#436]
One of the things I dislike out of Japan is the "mild the cow" mentality of a franchise. As such, when "Lupin the Third Part 4" came out to much success, TMS decided to milk the cow and create a Frankenstein's monster of a TV special. Basically, "Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game" takes three episodes from the "Part 4" TV series. Then, the writers invent a new villain called the Masked Count, who manipulates things.

As a result, instead of Rebecca stealing solely for the thrill of it, there's a behind the scenes manipulator. When an otaku fan of Rebecca's holds her hostage to force her to marry him, its actually Masked Count who manipulated him into doing it. This is so there can be a Cagliostro treasure to get fans excited 'cause "Cagliostro! 'Member?" Although this Cagliostro wasn't the one from the amazing "Lupin III" movie, this special does make a nod there.

Therefore, all of this added material to attempt to make the stand alone adventures part of some bigger plot fails horribly. None of it enhances what we already saw in the original "Part 4" TV series.

For me, the only positive about this TV special is that Rebecca returns. Her introduction to the mythos was a big breath of fresh air. Yet "Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game" tries to kill that by changing Lupin so that we know for sure he was always madly in love with Fujiko and never entertained ideas of Rebecca, even though he married her and wanted to consummate said marriage.

Bottom line: If you are an extreme, hardcore Lupin III fan, there's a weak chance you might be okay with this. And I suppose if you've never watched the "Lupin the Third Part 4" TV series, you might think this TV special is okay. But if you liked said TV series, this TV special will bore you and possibly irritate you.

Last updated Thursday, January 23 2025. Created Thursday, January 23 2025.
Avoid 8 7 8 7 3 Ggultra2764 [series:4324#1552]
I'd define this Lupin III TV special as being barely something unique for a title considering the majority of the film is just animated content from three episodes of the Italian Adventures TV anime reused and compiled together with new animated content to loosely try connecting the plots of those episodes with the main plot of Italian Game. But this TV special doesn't do such a good job with cohesively putting together said plot as the cobbled together episodes lead Italian Game to often lose focus with its storytelling and builds up to a rather underwhelming conclusion when it's revealed who the antagonist of Italian Game really is. Just skip this and check out the Italian Adventures TV anime if you are looking for more cohesive storytelling involving Lupin and his gang's adventures in Italy.

Last updated Wednesday, June 09 2021. Created Wednesday, June 09 2021.

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