C&C - Lupin the Third - "The Girl in the Twin Towers" [6/15] (SEASON PREMIERE)

[veemonjosh]

"I'm a Part 5, but probably not the one you were expecting." - Paul McGann

Lupin returns as the gang make their way to France, turning their attention toward a cyber heist like they've never done before!

Episode 1: "The Girl in the Twin Towers"
Lupin abducts a girl who is a cyberspace genius to perform an online theft.

 

[Nobodyman]

Previously on Lupin III: Lupin dates a movie star and Da Vinci comes to back life and tries to enslave everyone. So yeah, this is a weird show.

Oh hey, Lupin's got his own Wiki page.

Stylized Flash opening!

Hmm, unfortunate title for the first episode, though I suppose it has been 18 years.

 

[animePWNS]

The Part 2 theme returns. And so does the title typewriter.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

I dedicate this thread to Lupin III creator Monkey Punch. R.I.P.

Hey, they brought back the original theme! ...or a French variation thereof.

And the typewriter titles!

How do they get San Jose Earthquakes games in France?

I'm a poor old man, my bones are numb, my legs are old and bent...

 

[Nobodyman]

Seems digital is the name of the game this time around.

And callbacks to part 2.

 

[animePWNS]

Jigen kinda sounds like Joseph Joestar there.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

They're reminding me of the three old guys from Cowboy Bebop.

Twin Towers? I hope that's not a reference.

Is Goemon going to be a part-timer like last season?

 

[animePWNS]

Keep Lupin away from New Super Mario Bros. U (both versions).

 

[Kitschensyngk]

They're being attack by John Woo films!

When you spend enough time living four hundred feet underwater, you get pretty pissy too.

 

[Nobodyman]

Lupin really pulls of the British professor look.

And there's Lupin's new main squeeze for this season, but he can't be tied down to just Fujiko.

Gratuitous panty shot, because of course.

Ah, there's Goemon. As always, bringing a sword to a gunfight.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Seems they sent the Hellsing Organization army against them.

Yeah, he's a gentlemen thief, but he's prone to that from time to time.

Gee, I wonder who that guy--oh hai Goemon.

Oh no! Where has his mo neeeeey gone?

Yeah, polar ice caps melting, storms, floods, hurricanes, but you just keep being manly.

 

[Nobodyman]

And there's ol' Zenigata. You'd think eventually he'd be taken off the case.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

How will she make it on her own? This world is awfully big, but girl, this time, you're not alone.

Oh hai Zenigata.

"I doubt they find Japanese people strange."
Not even Popuko and Pipimi?

Aww, his souvenir form the Italian season.

 

[Nobodyman]

Well Lupin, you know what Fiat stands for...

Lupin's trending. Which for him is not necessarily a good thing.

Sweet James Bond-style ending.

 

[animePWNS]

So they made a game out of stalking Lupin?

How James Bond-esque.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

Someone's going all Pink Panther Strikes Again on Lupin.

I was wondering where Fujiko was.

Oh, she was busy filming the end credits sequence. That's why we didn't see her until the end.

Ian Fleming's From Lupin With Love.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Will this be a problem for the rest of the season, or did it just end that way?

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this episode was pretty good. I liked the animation style for the opening and the song worked with the France setting. Plus, I liked the more cartoonish vibe from the opening since I'm hoping that the season will be more consistent with that than Part Four was. I was not expecting a focus on digital crimes, but it does give a different kind of crime for Lupin to pull off.

I could have done without the shot of Ami's underwear when she pulled out her gun, but at least they didn't linger on it for too long or have Lupin try to touch her when he was taking out her bullet. Granted, it might have helped that she looks and sounds like a young teenage girl, but that hasn't stopped other anime series from doing more tasteless fanservice before. I am a bit interested in Ami's backstory though. She's so robotic and needs to be reminded to eat, so I wonder just how long she was treated as just a hacker and why she was helping them in the first place. Since she's much younger than Lupin and his friends, she might provide a different dynamic for the group as well.

It was pretty fun to see Lupin, Jigen and Goemon work together to escape with Ami, as well as the chase scene the following day. It still had a fun cartoonish vibe to it that worked pretty well. The setup of everyone hunting for Lupin after he stole all of that digital money from Marco Polo was certainly a different conflict than I was expecting. Some people would only see it as a game, while others would use it as revenge for what he did to their site. I don't know if that will be the main conflict for the season or just for the first few episodes, but it could make trying to escape more challenging if everyone is looking for Lupin. Overall, it was a pretty good episode and a nice promising start to the new season.