u/Ancient-Tutor3597

Our Neurodivergent king🔥😤😂this is literally the perfect animated example of Neurotypical thinking versus neurodivergent thinking LMAO

There is a GOAT lurking somewhere in this subreddit (u/Great-Obligation-599 wya👀) who’s been uploading the character design sheet of Part 4 and Part 5 for Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon. They all have their similarities to each other, but the differences are there, and it really made me think…

“Damn, I LOVE Part 4!”😅 This essay is the result of that😭

Part 4 came out in 2015 and was the revival of the episodic version of the anime that broke the 30 year long spell of no main series and mostly TV special/movie cycle that Lupin was in. We did have TWCFM, but that was mainly to gauge interest and to bring a new flavor to the franchise.

Part 4 was the real deal, and there are very real reasons why Part 4 honestly is my favorite Anime part.

1. Characters
The gang is back and up to their usual hijinks, but now it’s in a modern setting so you can start to really feel just how capable our gang really is. Lupin is a great thief, but it feels a bit grounded/realistic (do NOT stretch my use of realistic to its logical conclusion😭) because he’s interacting with things closer to what we know. The rest of the gang isn’t changed in their dynamics and I think the series works that way because it allows them to naturally stand out rather than focusing on it. When Rebecca is glazing talking to Lupin about himself and the qualities she likes about him, you actually see it because the show makes it a point to show that. That way, you get to naturally see the character, strong points because the show is making narrative beats that will showcase them naturally.

The characters themselves don’t get too complicated. The thief, gunman, swordsman, femme fatale, cop archetypes that they’ve built for themselves remain largely unchallenged, so it’s easy enough to grasp their characters and what they’re thinking without having to say it. Instead, the archetypes and the plot allow the modern times to set the stakes AND give us new characters. Rebecca is a baddie fine ass independent queen~~~~😍😍 headstrong, intelligent, and very capable rival to both Lupin AND Fujiko, Nyx is an amazing character with his own goals and capabilities that press Lupin in unique ways, and while I don’t know where tf the Da Vinci idea came from in the pitching process, it’s very Lupin and very unique.

2. Narrative Structure and Tone

I found this really cool quote in the 50 Years of Lupin data book:

“(Part 4) was green-lit in an attempt to unify the various flavors and styles from the past 40 years of wildly unique
interpretations: the danger of the manga, the zany slapstick comedy of the pink jacket PART3, the heart of gold from The Castle of Cagliostro,
and the Avant Garde stylishness of Jigen’s Gravestone.”

They really thought about this product from a design perspective and it really shows, and this is why seeing those posts on Reddit inspired me to make this essay. You can really tell that Part 4 looks a lot more gritty and in your face at an art level. Lupin looks like a grown man with his hand hair😅, Fujiko’s beauty is more stylized and deliberately yet meticulously animated, and there is, again, a mature grit to the vibe of the show just because of the art direction.

Mixing the humor of Part 3, the manga danger, the style of the Koike movies, and the heart of Cagliostro means that you have to synthesize a lot of seemingly contradictory elements of the franchise. When you get it right (like I believe this series did), you get a Lupin who is very clearly a thief and a selfish dangerous person, but who isn’t hard boiled enough to not feel for other people and things around him. That applies to everyone too; there’s this stylish, “in your face” edge to a lot of the characters in their appearances, and the plots like to explore them from all angles for the purposes of showing them all instead of critiquing them (Part 5 handles that task expertly).

I like the way the plot is handled too. It’s a bunch of seemingly unconnected episodes that slowly reveals an underlying plot in the background. It’s cool because that’s how the classic episodes were back in the 70s and 80s, and that’s even how the original Arsene Lupin book was written. That’s also how my ADHD brain loves to digest content😭

3. Culture

This series was not playing around when it said it takes place in Italy, and I LOVE THAT. The Food, the art, the landmarks, the music, everything is so carefully and deliberately Italian, that is almost unnecessary😂. I love it though, because it adds a character to everything that’s going on. It’s not just a useless set piece that doesn’t really have any effect on the plot. Everything that would normally be a regular item or place in an anime is made into something Italian here, and it works phenomenally as a set piece. Part 5 focuses a lot on dissecting our main cast, so the focus is largely on that instead of the country, but there is a lot of nationalism there too. Part 6 is a bit different; you don’t really get a lot of of that after the first couple of episodes, but I think that the culture of Britain is expressed more in the way that the plot unfolds there.

Conclusion

I know that Part V might be seen as the best product in terms of Lupin main anime series because of the plot themes, but to me Part 4 is where it’s at. These days, it’s not just plot that I look forward to when I watch a show. It’s the characters, the vibe, and how everything comes together to create a product. I don’t think that Part 4 really does anything new or novel, it just is so deliberate with everything that it does that it works in a way that resonates deeply with me.

What do you guys think about Part 4? Did you like how the main cast was? What about the new characters? What sticks out in your mind about this anime part?

If you know you know, but I hope someone here knows what’s going on in New York because this meme is so funny if you do😭😭

I’ve watched through the series a bit again, and for it’s just as funny and just as entertaining as I remember. Obviously Sailor Moon is a good show, but watching the series again made me realize something…

…see, famous singer and performer Beyoncé Knowles once penned this amazing line of wisdom:

“A diva is a female version of a hustler”

Well, armed with this knowledge I have been finally able to rightfully give Ami the crown as the Queen Gangster Diva she is💅🔥let me break it down:

1. The Fashion:

You don’t have to lie. I KNOW you see these first 5 pictures, and I know you see her fits always looking on point. She stays Instagram ready🥶💯and what makes it work is that she keeps it classy. See how she always has something that says “It’s cute but it’s something slight😌*”? Very demure, very cutesy, very mi*ndful~ (Channeling my gf I can’t let my boys see this😂)

2. The Demeanor

Speaking of demure, this girls composure is like pimp grade material. Again, don’t lie. I KNOW you see these pictures. It’s the emotion under control. It’s the crash out with composure✨when the DD girl trapped her and was like “Hurry up and roast pig!” while burning her, Ami was like “That’s so rude 😒” BRO SHE IS LITERALLY ICONIC💯🔥💅😤

3. The Blue + Water Combo 🌊🔵

It’s giving finesse. It’s giving calm. It’s giving controlled. It’s giving elegance. It’s giving grace. It’s giving demure. It’s giving class. It’s giving side eye. It’s giving “let me keep my pimp hand in check but you’re REALLY bugging right now😒”. It’s giving “I’ll spend $500 on a purse and not mention it💅”.

Haters won’t get it.

4. The Intelligence

We’re not like she wasn’t carrying the gang when they first went to challenge the Queen directly with those glasses talking to Luna. We stay educated over here 📚. How can you outsmart someone who knows the word smart in like 5 different languages? How can you play someone who knows when the game was invented? Please? Explain it. You can’t.

In conclusion, I don’t know what Beyoncé would say is the female version of a gangster queen icon is but my feeble male mind probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend it anyway. I just know Ami deserved this recognition 💅💯✨🌊

Don’t know why she was in a bear suit in the last pic but she’s more dangerous in that suit than I am at any given moment so I’m chillin😅

Seriously though; I’m receiving what a lot of people are complaining about when it comes to Perplexity (Credits, subpar ai models, those weird ass logic loops, etc.) and I’m like “holy shit, this is a problem”…

…but when I use it, everything is fine? For context, I use AI like Google. I search something I want to know facts on, and I always fact check the sources it gives me. Except for a few misquotes, which is A LOT LESS than what ChatGPT gave me personally, it works fine. I get my facts, I grab my sources, and the extent of any project I use with it is “A report that synthesizes a lot of data.”😂

How are people using Perplexity to get these issues, because I sure as shit don’t wanna see them😂is there a better ai for fact gathering? Am I just delusional and anxious?😅

From Princess of the Breeze.

I just love how happy, whimsical, fun, and how Lupin it is. The music is incredible, it represents Lupin as a franchise well, and it shows how people see Lupin: as a hero even though Zenigata (N actual law enforcer) knows the more nuanced side. It’s a beautiful scene, and it makes me feel good for some reason, although to be fair when I’m on my ADHD meds it makes everything feel good so idk😂

Also I love the Zenigata “What is WRONG with these people?!”😂😂😂

Mars won’t tell me why she aggressively aura farmed this one random but I don’t question the queen 👑I’m guessing it was necessary 💯💅😤

Apparently it was a Press Photo-call on the roof of London’s Dorchester Building instead of a Press Conference and no transcripts or video footage has been released if it. I

If you were alive during that point, what was it like hearing this announcement? Was it on TV? Was it just in the newspaper? How did you feel about it? Especially if you were a fan of Connery, how did it feel to see Roger Moore, taking it over, after his long running success in The Saint and The Persuaders?

A few days ago, I made a post where Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon were flexing their rizz on a mermaid orchestrated by a little girl who unironically had way too much free time😂and I had an interesting exchange with u/Old/Establishment688. They were giving their opinion on the rizziest member of the main cast, but their response with Lupin got me thinking.

Without spoiling their ranking, they said that Lupin hasn’t had best history with women, and often his kindness comes after running a gag on them (that’s how I shall describe it).

In the past back when I was FlatBag just wanted to remind everyone I’m FlatBag I lost my old account and got locked out😂~~ ~~I wrote a little survey about Lupin’s history with woman, and I concluded that it’s only really around 2015 where Lupin consistently had what we nowadays would call a healthy behavior pattern with Lupin, with a few exceptions, so let’s compile them!

Now, I’m not here saying that my knowledge about how Lupin used to act ruins the enjoyment for me(though it can sometimes)…

In what specials/movies/parts would you say that Lupin had actual rizz, charm, aura, etc?

Whole gang has rizz💯🌺🔥

That girl asked them to rizz up a mermaid, and that’s what they did😅now pretend YOURE the mermaid…who are you choosing?👀👀

I’m not into men unfortunately lol but I’d go with Lupin because I want his wardrobe😅

Who are you going with???

Back on my essay shit😂 because there’s always something interesting to talk about when it comes to Lupin.

And today, that interesting thing is Part 3 Lupin.

The 80’s were an interesting time for the Lupin franchise. It was trying a lot of different things that didn’t quite stick long term like Part II did for some reason or another. Let it be known, Part 3 was not cancelled because of bad ratings. It had a bad time slot, so it is not a “bad” product.

What interests me is the unique perspectives on Lupin from director Yuzo Aoki, and how he represented these perspectives on the paper.

Everyone knows about the interviews that he made, so what I’m going to do is list some things about this Lupin that I think are interesting observations, and how they may align or diverge from the “average” Lupin (whatever that means😂).

1. Lupin in Part 3 was written as a young man

“I did not want to turn Lupin into an “old man”. My image of him while drawing was one of a young man.” -Yuzo Aoki, February, 1984.

So here’s our first detail. Lupin is a young man here. (I’m interpreting young as probably somewhere in his mid 20’s, given that Aoki was 34 around the time of this interview when calling him a young man). This is a bachelor Lupin, enjoying life without the same kind of world weary experience he has in Parts 1, 5, and 6 (Part 2 Lupin jumped around in characterization, and I’ve heard that Part 4 was supposed to be a younger Lupin but I don’t have a quote for it so I won’t stand behind that assertion). As Aoki elaborates:

“I let some over-optimism in his design. Some of it comes from his young age, allowing him to act like a playboy.”

2. Lupin was interpreted by Aoki as “not a stereotypical hero” (shocker😂)

Imma let the king speak for himself:

“I find Lupin more likable than other protagonists. He’s not an obstructing kind of hero. What we call heroes tend to brag about their actions, even robots often make spectacular appearances, but it’s rarely the case for Lupin. It’s more like he’s just casually there and others treat him like a hero. Lupin just lives a hazy life of his own, doing as he wants. He’s completely fictional, yet he pushes his existence on others. But Lupin is a human being of blood and flesh, and acts like there is a way to deal with the situation. That’s why in that sense, he’s a hero who doesn’t feel pushy. I think that kind of hero exists, and it’s quite adapted to contemporary trends from that viewpoint, at least from the second series. The idea wasn’t mature enough in the first one. The hero was still too heroic, like in Ashita no Joe. I think it’s from the second series on that the character matched the trend, the image of a hero children expected.” Yuzo Aoki, February 1984

Lupin is treated like a larger figure than he is from others around him, but from Lupin’s prospective, he’s living his life and doing what he wants, and his wants consistently put him in places where he does the right/caring thing. He calls his life hazy, which I assume to mean unclear in the sense of lack of consistent direction.

Another thing here is that Lupin doesn’t brag about his actions. He doesn’t do a lot of the pontificating that modern parts have him do (Not saying he’s necessarily bragging there, but he’s more chill and laid back here).

Finally, Lupin acts like there’s a way to deal with the situation. This sense of calm composure stacks with his self satisfied life and chill demeanor creates a very competent appearing person.

3. Lupin is a balance between Osumi and Miyazaki Lupin.

Here’s the quote:

**“**I’m aiming for the middle between (Masaaki) Osumi and (Isao) Takahata, (Hayao) Miyazaki who all were episode directors on the first Lupin series. As I needed to represent both styles, I’m trying to create characters according to those different patterns. In the end, I just decided to create 3 types of characters: a hard Lupin, a soft Lupin and a comical Lupin. After that I let animators use these styles according to the script, the context and voice actors. It’s like having 3 different personalities, so I’m thinking that I’ll have to do handle animation director work schizophrenically.” Yuzo Aoki, February 1984

This is more from the director perspective that from the character, but it’s interesting when we talk about blending them. Depending on the script, he had either a hard, soft, or comical design with the same base for consistency and let the animators apply it based on the script.

Now, while you can’t really use the methodology that I’m about to use because an indepth Lupin was not their goal in the 80’s, when I take the fact that Osumi’s Lupin was basically living a hedonistic lifestyle with no inner direction, and Miyazaki was a caring person in his core who manifested it willingly the majority of the time, you get a character that is a caring and empathetic person fundamentally who is addicted to treasure, thrills, money, and women😅 (Also fun fact, Part 3 shows Lupin successfully pulling the most women out of all the parts and in all installments of the franchise EXCEPT Lupin with 8 women in Goodbye Partner).

When I put all of this together, the vision of Lupin I personally see is a Lupin in his mid 20’s who lives his life primarily by simply enjoying his vices (like Osumi Lupin), but has a genuine caring and empathetic heart that always shows up when it comes down to other people.

Now, this is very similar to the other Lupins, but the differences are interesting. He differs from Osumi because he actually has a heart, he differs from Miyazaki Lupin because he has his addictions and vices, and he differs from Modern Lupin because Lupin is written as an iconic figure within the verse.

Now, as Aoki says later in the year, his designs got more loose because he wanted the animators to express themselves fully, and budget cuts for making the movie at the same time, demanded them to produce episodes faster. This is why I personally prefer the first half of Part 3. The plots are all over the place and a lot of things happen, but the consistency of the the character design and the overall philosophy of the character from the director allowed for a character that can just as convincingly fit in a dark story than a light one. Part 2 had that as well, but Lupin had a very inconsistent kind of characterization at times there, where as here it seems like the same kind of characterization.

I don’t know, hopefully you guys find this interesting. Let me know if I’m reaching of if there is some gold here!

I hope you guys don’t think this is petty, and I normally don’t draw too much attention to what’s going on behind the scenes because it’s not Lupin related…

Long story, short, I am FlatBag2312😂 hi, nice to meet you lmao. I was at work on my overnight shift last night, and the Reddit app logged me out randomly. It’s not their fault, it’s my fault because I didn’t update my email to my new one, so I can’t exactly log into that account anymore😢😢

The only reason I’m making a post about this is because I do try to take my Lupin discussion seriously because it’s something I care about and I feel like the community needs and deserves to have in-depth conversations about the franchise. I like pulling up interviews and talking about things in the community most people don’t, and I feel like a lot of people here like talking about it as well.

Hopefully this didn’t take up too much of your time. You’ll notice that u/Flat-Bag2312 is it going to suspiciously remain silent from here on now LMAO alas but here we are and we move on…

If you’re somebody who doesn’t really have any interest in what I just talked about, then definitely peep the Lupin dancing because dear God, my bro has some moves, and Part 6 Lupin is probably the most physically capable Lupin out of all of the more “grounded versions” up there with Island of Assassins. Same vibe too.

My personal favorite is the outfit she showed up in TWCFM episode 1 maaaaannnn I wasn’t even attracted to Fujiko like that until Koike decided to draw her like that👀👀👀ngl if I was Lupin, I would’ve folded😂 She would’ve had my bank account lol

What’s your favorite outfit that she’s worn?

Also, ***THIS IS FLATBAG FOR ANYONE WHO’S WONDERING/***cares😂at like 3:30 Reddit logged me out, and I didn’t update my old email so I think that account is lost forever. LMAO it’s all good though I’m still here and I’ve got a lot more Lupin stimming to do😂🔥