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Created by manga artist Monkey Punch in 1967, Lupin III is a master thief, the direct descendant of Arsène Lupin. His off-the-wall escapades spoof the adventures of James Bond and similar rakish heroes. The typically baroque plot of "Mamo" requires Lupin and his sidekicks, the super-samurai Goemon and the beatnik Jigan, to steal the ingredients needed for a compound that produces eternal youth. The mastermind behind this scheme is the mad billionaire-industrialist Hayward Lockwood, a.k.a. Mamo. Lupin's clumsy attempts to seduce Mamo's voluptuous red-haired agent, Fujiko, and his successful evasions of the obsessed Inspector Zenigata provide additional comedy. The features and TV programs in the Lupin III series are much cartoonier and slower paced than more recent anime comedy-adventures, although their influence on Ranma 1/2 and other Japanese tongue-in-cheek heroes is clear. The animation is sloppy, Lupin's features change from scene to scene, and his hands frequently look like scribbles. The Mystery of Mamo is too silly to work as an adventure, but not silly enough to work as a farce, at least in this English version. --Charles Solomon
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