That was certainly… an ending. I’ll give a lot of credit to TMS for the work they did on this updating of the Lupin III franchise. The soundtrack (produced by Watanabe Shinichiro) was superb, and the visuals were quite unlike anything I’ve seen in the last couple of years. But […] Read more
It’s been a mighty impressive week for action scenes in anime. Kingdom – 03 Kingdom continues to benefit from a very good storyline, and the animation is slowly improving as the over-reliance on CGI eases off (or else I’m just getting used to it. First, a few notes – apparently […] Read more
These two shows appear to be headed in opposite directions… Lupin III: Mine Fujiko to Iu Onna – 11 Regrettably, Lupin III wasn’t at its best this week, which leads me to wonder if we’re going to be finishing on a disappointing note. It’s not really a surprise that the […] Read more
I enjoyed watching it, but please don’t ask me to explain it. I don’t think I can really do justice to the weirdness of this episode by trying too hard to write a blog post – so I won’t try too hard. It seems we’ve entered the final phase, and […] Read more
Even for a series as dark as this one, Lupin went to some pretty dark places this week. Yes it was an Okada script this week, and certainly a provocative and interesting one – a massive improvement over the last episode she wrote personally. I must say, though, that the […] Read more
Sometimes the term “femme fatale” can be taken quite literally. Just a brief check-in with Lupin III this week I’m afraid, as I’m trying to front-load the schedule as much as possible in preparation for Fanime this weekend. I was very interested to see Okada Mari’s old pal Nishimura Junji […] Read more
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Let’s put last week’s unfortunate trainwreck behind us and move on, because Lupin III was pretty much back in its usual groove this week. Which is to say, it was sexy, stylish and funny while spinning an utterly preposterous story – this time […] Read more
OK – who the heck thought that was a good idea? I’m going to say my piece and get out of the way pretty quickly here, because nothing good can come of analyzing this ep too deeply. I suspect this is the ep that’s going to divide those who’ve drunk the Okada […] Read more
When will guys like Jigen Daisuke ever learn? Dames are nothing but trouble… The adventures of anime’s signature femme fatale of the season mostly center around two of her partners in crime this week. There’s been a lot of grumbling in the fan community about the firm of Okada, Sakamoto […] Read more
The return of the man himself arrives at last, and it doesn’t disappoint. There aren’t too many characters like Mine Fujiko in mainstream anime – a woman who will unabashedly sell her body to get what she wants. That’s why viewers calling what this series does “fanservice” are really missing the point […] Read more