Lupin III - The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure (Uncut Edited)

Rating:
Summary: One of the few great Lupin features
Review: After watching Secret of Twilight Gemini, I thought that this was a trend Lupin TV specials would be following. Boy, was I wrong. Harimao's Treasure is one of the funnest Lupin features I've seen since Castle of Cagliostro.

The story has Lupin and the gang off on a treasure hunt for the hidden treasure of Harimao, a renegade of World War 2. Lupin, Jigen and Goemon go searching for the three statues to open it while Fujiko gets some info on the treasure from the owner of the British spy mueseum, accompanied by his grandaughter. These two groups eventually cooperate to find the treasure. Add in some Neo Nazis and you've got one heck of an adventure.

The film, in my opinion, was pretty good. It's directed by Osamu Dezaki (Black Jack) and it really shows if you're familiar with his other work. Unlike some of the other features, Lupin's love-interest in this film is one that doesn't quite like him, which makes for some fun antics. One of the funniest gags in this film is that poor Zenigata never actually gets a chance to eat his ramen. That really helps the story.

The music reminded me a lot of the original series. Most of the music in the film is dead on in comparison to original series making it all the more appealing to older fans. Goemon doesn't get as much screen time, but he does manage to impress Lupin a couple of times throughout the feature. Fujiko isn't quite as kick-butt in this feature, but that doesn't mean she isn't willing to take some matters into her own hands. Animation-wise, the film is above average when compared to Gemini, so fans should be happy with that.

The extras aren't really anything special. Just bios on the characters and English voice actors. The menus work perfectly, but the text is so tiny and blurry, you might not even know what your selecting. The packaging is pretty cool and also includes in insert.

Overall, Harimao is a great film I would recommend to World War 2 fans, Bond fans, Dezaki fans and Lupin fans in general. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Average movie overall.
Review: This is the second Lupin movie released by Funimation. Since the movie was made around the year 2000, all of the character designs look very modern.

This movie reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Fujiko is working for the man who inspired the character James Bond. That man is president of an insurance company. Once the Euro tunnel collapses, that man has to come up with the cash to pay for repairs and reconstruction. So, he and his grand daughter with the Lupin gang, go off to Southeast asia to look for some buried treasure. Treasure hunting is a concept that I believe is being overused in the Lupin movies. The entire gang is being followed and chased by a large number of Nazis who are also after the treasure of Harimao... This is a movie that is following the same formula for the same Lupins movies of the past. I would only suggest this movie if you are a die hard Lupin fan.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Lupin Movie
Review: This movie was done a year before that hideous "Twilight Gemini" and this one is pretty good. Our boys start out with Lupin stealing some monkey statue. It turns out that it along with two other statues are the keys to the Harimao's Treasure.

I won't go into the story except to say that it flows fairly nicely. My girl Fujiko is the smart, sexy, and not to be trusted girl from the original TV series and "Castle of Cagliostro". Excellent! She's not the ignorant slut of "Gemini". The only character who suffers is Goemon. For some reason, he needs a job and the money and so he's been hired to help Lupin and company. Why? He was always part of the gang before. I haven't watched the Japanese version yet, so I don't know what liberties have been taken. However, as I looked this episode up on the net, it seems that Goemon is on the road to enlightenment and needs cash! OK, I'll bite.

About 1/3 of the way through the film, Goemon disappears and suddenly you think, "Where's Goemon?!" He's gone so suddenly and with no explaination that when you notice it, you wonder if you missed something! But never fear, he'll return, this time hired by Fujiko.

Jigen's character is done OK. Nothing great, but his skills are used and he's where he should be -- watching Lupin's back!

As for inspector Zenigata, he's mostly a waste here except to pass a nearly endless supply of Japanese ramen noodle (bowls included) jokes. But then getting him into every episode has to be pretty hard since he is never the bad guy.

Speaking of jokes, there are some good laughs here. I won't give them away, but I will say to be on the lookout for Lupin's unique parachute storage area! *lol* Classic.

As to the DVD itself, we have the English dub which is pretty good. As of this writing, I haven't compared it to the original Japanese so I don't know how many liberties they took with the translations. However, FUNimation will soften some jokes and statements in the name of political correctness. In addition to the English dub, there is the original Japanese version with or without subtitles. Otherwise, that's about it for extras.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this movie a lot. There is some brief animated nudity when Lupin gives away some Japanese porn, but that was the end of it. The humor is good, the story is pretty good, and the characters are treated well. Lupin fans: GET THIS DVD! Anime fans: I think you will enjoy this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Lupin Movie
Review: This movie was done a year before that hideous "Twilight Gemini" and this one is pretty good. Our boys start out with Lupin stealing some monkey statue. It turns out that it along with two other statues are the keys to the Harimao's Treasure.

I won't go into the story except to say that it flows fairly nicely. My girl Fujiko is the smart, sexy, and not to be trusted girl from the original TV series and "Castle of Cagliostro". Excellent! She's not the ignorant slut of "Gemini". The only character who suffers is Goemon. For some reason, he needs a job and the money and so he's been hired to help Lupin and company. Why? He was always part of the gang before. I haven't watched the Japanese version yet, so I don't know what liberties have been taken. However, as I looked this episode up on the net, it seems that Goemon is on the road to enlightenment and needs cash! OK, I'll bite.

About 1/3 of the way through the film, Goemon disappears and suddenly you think, "Where's Goemon?!" He's gone so suddenly and with no explaination that when you notice it, you wonder if you missed something! But never fear, he'll return, this time hired by Fujiko.

Jigen's character is done OK. Nothing great, but his skills are used and he's where he should be -- watching Lupin's back!

As for inspector Zenigata, he's mostly a waste here except to pass a nearly endless supply of Japanese ramen noodle (bowls included) jokes. But then getting him into every episode has to be pretty hard since he is never the bad guy.

Speaking of jokes, there are some good laughs here. I won't give them away, but I will say to be on the lookout for Lupin's unique parachute storage area! *lol* Classic.

As to the DVD itself, we have the English dub which is pretty good. As of this writing, I haven't compared it to the original Japanese so I don't know how many liberties they took with the translations. However, FUNimation will soften some jokes and statements in the name of political correctness. In addition to the English dub, there is the original Japanese version with or without subtitles. Otherwise, that's about it for extras.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this movie a lot. There is some brief animated nudity when Lupin gives away some Japanese porn, but that was the end of it. The humor is good, the story is pretty good, and the characters are treated well. Lupin fans: GET THIS DVD! Anime fans: I think you will enjoy this movie.