Rupan Sansei: Otakara Henkyaku Dai-sakusen!!

Title:Rupan Sansei: Otakara Henkyaku Dai-sakusen!!
Lupin III: Operation 'Return the Treasure'
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: INOUE Makio
KOBAYASHI Kiyoshi
KURITA Kanichi
MASUYAMA Eiko
NAYA Goro
Original Concept - Monkey Punch
R1 License - Discotek
R1 License - Subtitled Only
YAMADERA Kouichi
Lupin and Jigen perform another heist, this time from a Russian casino owned by the mob. Grabbing a bunch of cash, the duo head for the next job only to be captured by Zenigata. Fujiko comes to the rescue with information on what Lupin seeks -- the "Trick Diamond", which is believed to have come from a meteor that crashed to Earth nearly a century ago. However, there's a trick. The old thief who stole the diamond years ago has died, but knowing Lupin wants it, he has Fujiko give Lupin a list of six treasures to return to their original places within seven days. If this does not happen, Lupin will never get the diamond. Can Lupin pull off such an amazing task, even with Goemon and Jigen's help? What secrets does the "Trick Diamond" hold?
[1 TV Special, 1 hour 31 minutes.]
[edit] The ↗Lupin III franchise:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 7 8 6 7 Ggultra2764 [series:622#1552]
This Lupin III TV special offers an interesting spin on the typical heists that our titular thief has to perform in that he must return stolen items committed by another thief in order to learn of the location of a valuable diamond. While doing this, Lupin has to outwit Zenigata and a crime syndicate also in pursuit of the diamond's whereabouts. All notable Lupin III characters get something to do in this film, including a few humorous interactions between Lupin and Zenigata as the former outwits the detective when apprehended several times throughout the film. But as AstroNerdBoy notes, the second half of the film does drag a bit as some moments of exposition in it tended to drag a bit and the Lupin "gal of the film" in the form of an aspiring artist gets little to contribute to the film beyond existing to shift the plot to its next point. Overall, an okay entry in the long-running Lupin III franchise.

Last updated Sunday, January 08 2017. Created Sunday, January 08 2017.
Rent 10 9 9 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:622#436]

The first part of this TV Special rocks. Everything is pure, fun Lupin, something we fans like to see. The interesting take here is on Lupin having to return stolen items from years ago and do it within 7 days. Not only that, but he has to prove it via a special digital camera. All of the major players have good roles with plenty to do. Further, there is some predictable, yet still humorous, events with Lupin escaping from Zenigata. I loved the running gag with the cute animals that corespond with these escapes.

Unfortunately, after Lupin returns the final item, the story almost comes to a complete halt. We are re-introduced to a female character who has a tie to the Trick Diamond, but she has very little to do. We are bored to death with some exposition on art, which comes into play later. Exposition is needed, but the writers don't pull it off well. In fact, I got the feeling that they didn't have enough story to fill the complete hour and a half, so they had to fill the time with something. Sadly, what they filled it with didn't do the trick.

There were a couple of interesting surprises, which I won't give a way, which made for a nice change. Unfortunately, some plot threads that were started from this were then dropped. Then to add insult to injury, something comes up which in effect reveals that everything Lupin did was really pointless. I'm not sure what happened to the writing in the 2nd half of the episode, but it sure lacked the fire and fun of of the first half. Then the final payoff ending up being ho-hum to me.

I would like to remark on the excellent art/animation of this TV Special. The quallity was up there with good OAVs or movies, which was very impressive to me. Good job to the artist and animators.

Bottom line: Great start followed by a sub-part 2nd-half makes for a special that just isn't worth a buy unless you have to have all things Lupin. Otherwise, it is worth a rent.

Last updated Monday, November 14 2005. Created Monday, July 28 2003.


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Lupin III Encyclopedia http://www.lupinencyclopedia.com

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