Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Lupin the Marathon", here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering the next film in this marathon that came out in 1987. That movie is "Lupin the 3rd: The Fuma Conspiracy".
Now, unlike the previous films I've covered for this marathon, I actually do know something about this movie. And by that, I mean I really only know two things about it. The first thing I know about this movie is that this one is centered around Goemon. Which is honestly rather interesting because I do like Goemon as a character, and I really want to see more of him doing something, other than than just being a badass samurai. Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, of course, but still, I am really curious to see what they do with Goemon here.
Now the second thing I know about this movie is that it's one of the shortest films I've covered so far in this marathon. See, this film's runtime is only 73 minutes long, and I'm not sure if that's gonna help the film at all or be a detriment to it. Because, usually, the other Lupin films that I've seen usually run at about 90 minutes, sometimes a little longer than that. But with this film having a much shorter runtime than those, I'm curious to know if this film is gonna benefit from that short runtime or not.
So really, guys, I don't know what to expect from this film, beyond the little information that I know about it. I'm hoping for it to be really good, but I won't know that for sure unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Lupin the 3rd: The Fuma Conspiracy".
5 minutes later
Well, guys, I am gonna say this much. Even though the dub here is a little bit questionable so far, I am gonna say that the music is still really good. I know you guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, but this opening song here is really good. I really wish I had more to say about the story itself, but then again, we just started the movie. So, I'm hoping for the best here.
5 minutes later
OK, this is already starting to bother me a bit, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to comment on it until later, but I need to ask this. Why is Lupin's name being pronounced as "Rupin"? I'm asking this, because it seems like almost nobody in this movie can make up their minds on how Lupin's name is suppose to be pronounced. I'm hoping, maybe, that this issue will either get fixed later on, or I'm somehow gonna get use to to this very odd pronunciation of his name, but I'm not sure if either one of those things is gonna happen or not.
12 minutes later
So, let me see if I understand this. Goemon's fiance, who we all thought to be kidnapped by ninjas known as the Fuma clan, was actually kidnapped by backup from the police in order to catch Lupin. Um...I have a *lot* of questions about this. However, I feel like if I asked them now, they would hurt my head quite a bit. So instead, I'll save them for later once I eventually review this thing.
12 minutes later
You know what, guys, as much as I can complain that the story is sort of a mess and the dialogue is still rather questionable, I am gonna say that this car chase here, while chaotic, is honestly really cool to witness. So yeah, I can at least say that much so far.
18 minutes later
By the way, guys, I should've mentioned this earlier, but Goemon's name is also being mis-pronounced as "Gweimon" for some reason. Again, I'm gonna get more into this a little later, but I just wanted to let you guys know now because these pronunciations are really starting to bother me more and more as the movie progresses.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Lupin the 3rd: The Fuma Conspiracy". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Wow, um...where to even start here? Well, I suppose I can answer this question first. Does this movie benefit from having a short runtime? For the most part, I'm willing to say yes. While the film itself is certainly flawed, I can at least say that it certainly made the best out of it's situation, what with it being a 73 minute runtime and everything.
So now, let's talk about the rest of the movie. I want to start off with something that I normally would save for later, but seeing as how it's still fresh in my mind, I have to start off with the acting here. And before I delve into the performances itself, I need to talk about how character names are mis-pronounced here. And the two names that are gonna stand out the most are Lupin and Goemon, because their names suffer the most identity crisis through the entire film. And I'm not kidding about that either, because it seems like, when the actors were given their lines, the director, or writer of this dub, forgot to tell the actors on how their characters names are supposed to be pronounced, because they constantly go back and forth a lot throughout this movie. With Lupin, he has it the worst. because just about every actor almost pronounces his name as "Rupin". Almost as if the actors were speaking broken English.
And Goemon almost has the same problem, too, because, like I said, his name is being pronounced as "Gweimon" for some odd reasoning. When I hear that kind of name, I immediately think of the Digimon known as Greymon, if Greymon's name was spoken from a child who has a lisp problem. Now, this wouldn't be too much of an issue if he was *only* pronounced as "Gweimon" throughout the entire movie. However, that's is *not* the case here, because there are a few characters, namely his girlfriend and sensei, who actually do call him "Goemon" a few times in this movie. And it's just so jarring to listen to, because if you're a fan of the "Lupin the 3rd" series and you're used to hearing how these names are actually pronounced, then you're gonna have a bit of a hard time with the pronunciation of these characters names in this movie. Now surprisingly, almost every other establishing character's name is pronounced perfectly fine. But with Lupin and Goemon, it's an identity crisis with these two, and I'm mostly gonna put the blame on the direction here, rather than the acting on that one.
But that's not to say that the acting here isn't flawed. Believe me, it is *heavily* flawed. Now, as you might've surmised, I did watch the English dub, and I'm gonna tell you that the dub here isn't really that great. The acting in this dub feels very uneven for just about all of the characters. The only one who has any sort of consistency is Zenigata's voice actor, but that's only because, most of the time, he just has to yell his lines. Everyone else, though, not so much. Fujiko sounds very one note here, and doesn't have a whole lot of range in her voice. Jigen, I honestly couldn't really gauge it very well enough to form a thought about it. The worst thing I could say about it is that it just didn't feel very natural to me, but that's really about it. Lupin sounds like he has the voice of an Asian guy who doesn't know if he's suppose to be speaking either English or Japanese. And Goemon's actor is easily the weakest actor of the entire cast because his performance in this thing sounds very wooden and, at times, felt like he was directionless on how he should be delivering his lines. Now again, I am gonna blame the latter for that on the direction of this dub. But still, that doesn't excuse the rest of his acting feeling very weak here.
So yeah, on a whole, the acting in this dub is just not really that good. It's not the worst dub I've come across, obviously, but in the case of the "Lupin the 3rd", it is probably the weakest dub of the entire series. At least, so far, anyway. But with that said, what about the actual writing itself? Well, honestly, the writing here is just OK. In terms of working in all of the tropes involving Lupin the 3rd, it does it's job well enough in working that all in with it's short runtime. As for the story itself, well, as I mentioned earlier, this one is supposed to be centered around Goemon, and I was really curious to see what they were going to do with him in this movie. Well, simply put, he was about to get married to his fiance, however, she gets kidnapped by a group of ninjas known as the Fuma clan. Well, actually, they were after a special kind of vase that Goemon's master has been holding. But since Goemon and the others were able to hold them off briefly, they ended up kidnapping his fiance instead. And so, basically, if he wants his fiance back, then he has to trade the vase for it, to which his master denies him, because according to him, it cannot be traded no matter what. Though that idea gets thrown out the window later on, when Lupin secretly unlocks the vault to the case and steals it to find out more about the vase's true nature of it's value. A slight spoiler here, the vase actually contains a map of where the real treasure is located. And as for the treasure itself is something that I won't spoil here. Not that there's much left to spoil about it, but still.
So yeah, like I said, it's pretty much a standard Lupin adventure, even though the focus is more on Goemon here rather than the titled character. However, there are certain things about the writing that just doesn't make very much sense in context. The biggest example of this is when we're first introduced to Detective Zenigata, who retired from his position as a detective to become a monk. Why is this? Well, it was told through a brief flashback where Lupin "died" after a boat exploded, leaving the detective in shock. When exactly did this kind of thing happen, I don't know. I have no idea if this happened in a previous movie or any of the older series, because this movie didn't really provide any sort of context beyond that. So to anyone who might be watching this movie for the first time, and you've not seen anything related to "Lupin the 3rd" prior to this movie, then you're just gonna be left completely in the dark as to how exactly that all happened. Now, of course, when Zenigata gets the news that Lupin is actually alive again, he goes back to his old ways and is on the hunt for Lupin again. But still, that whole scene just felt really weird and off-putting to me.
While I'm on the subject, I may as well talk about the characters here. Aside from the already established ones, the only new one I wanted to mention is Goemon's fiance, who goes by the name of Murasaki. And to be perfectly honest with you guys, she's one of the most blandest characters I've seen so far in any Lupin movie to date. Now, to be fair, Murasaki does have something resembling a backstory in how she and Goemon first met and became infatuated with each other. But in terms of her personality, it is boring as shit. She has nothing much going for her, other than being used as kidnapping foil for our plot. Granted, she's not entirely a damsel in distress type of character, but I honestly couldn't remember much of anything she did in this movie, besides helping Goemon get to where the actual treasure is at. And as for our establishing characters, barring Detective Zenigata, well, really, there's not much to say here about them that's changed, and that unfortunately includes Goemon. Which is kinda sad, considering that this movie is centered around him, and I was hoping they'd do more with his character here. But alas, that doesn't really happen.
So yeah, guys, writing in this movie is definitely one of the weaker aspects here. Mind you, now, I'm in no way saying that it's bad or anything, but I seriously can't say that it's great either. It sorta leans on being below average. Which, even then, the movie is still very watchable, despite the flaws of the writing and all. In fact, almost everything else I'm gonna mention from this point forth are nothing but positives. The animation here is great. For 1987, this animation still holds up really well. The color palettes here are great, as is the animation itself. The two biggest standouts of the entire movie are the car chase sequence, which, in my opinion, is the biggest highlight of entire film, and also during a bit where any of the characters are covered with hallucination gas, as you get to experience some really creepy, yet really creative body horror as well. It's great stuff, and it's enough for me to recommend that you check out this movie, if just for the animation alone.
Sound-mix here is also mixed very well, and the music is fantastic, too. It has more of a Japanese feeling to it, which makes sense given where this movie is taking place in. But still, the score here is great, as is the rest of the music.
So, with all that said, guys, am I able to recommend "Lupin the 3rd: The Fuma Conspiracy"? Honestly...yes. Now granted, while this film is definitely on the weaker side of the series, it's still definitely worth watching, especially if you're a fan of the series. Now whether it's just a once-over or if it's worth watch multiple times is something I can't say for everyone else. For myself, I might still give this another watch, but I might watch the Japanese version of this thing the next go around, because, like I said, the dub here is definitely not that great, plus the pronunciation of certain names is what's stopping me from immediately rewatching it. Now who knows, maybe I'll watch it again with the dub if I'm *really* bored, but it's certainly not gonna happen anytime soon. But otherwise, guys, I can still recommend it enough for any fan who hasn't seen the film yet. For myself, it's definitely the weakest of the entire series so far, but even at it's weakest, I can still say that I had some fun with it. Now...I think I'm gonna go and watch something different. Seeing as how that scene I talked about earlier involving the body horror and all, I think I'm gonna go and rewatch my copy of "Wicked City". Why not? It's been a little while since I've last seen it so I think I'm gonna go and do that next.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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