LUPIN THE 3RD: PART 6

The story is pretty good, although a bit dark compare to the series 4 and 5. Still in line with the Lupin series.

Been a Lupin the 3rd fan since his appearance on ADULT SWIM back in 2003 (middle school years).Seen quite a bit after that and have never been dissatisfied with any series or movies. I always expect a great time with Lupin.5 stars

Lupin The Third Part Six is now available to physically put in your collection and while this part is objectively inferior to previous parts, if you’re like me and love this franchise it’s still something you like to have on your shelf even if you know it’s not up there with the home release standards of the franchise and even if you’re more casually getting into it, it’s Lupin and even a more tired Lupin show like this one will still make you smile every now and then, it’s still Lupin after all and even a mediocre series of episodes is still fun enough in it’s own way. Would I recommend this to someone getting into the franchise? In all honesty, no. I’d say that parts 1, 2, and 4 are better entry points, but it’s interesting to get into why.History and Context:3 years following the masterpiece that was Lupin part 5, a part which I genuinely consider to be right up there with the best of the best of what Lupin has to offer, we all heard the news that part 6 would be made to honor the 50th anniversary of part 1 way back in 1971, and as an added tribute Lupin himself would return in a similar green jacket in a very near replica of his first televised appearance. If you’re wondering how Lupin only had 6 shows in the last 50 years you’d probably be surprised by the gap in which each mainline part was made, we had part 1 in 1971, part 2 in 1977, part 3 in 1985, part 4 in 2015, part 5 in 2018, and now part 6 in 2021, with a spin off series made in 2012, and a part 0 prequel that just finished and only started airing in December of 2022. That might not seem like a lot for 50 years and there was a noticeable 30 year gap between main parts, but there’s been dozens of both animated and live action films, ova’s, and tv specials all throughout so you can rest assured Lupin is still burning strong 50 years onwards. Nevertheless it was quite a surprise for everyone when part 4 was announced and while it was a success, when part 5 came around it was a surprise. There had been a tv special every single year from 1989 to 2013 so having a constant stream of Lupin was nothing new, but it was the first time a mainline part had been released so soon after it’s predecessor, given that part 4 was quite a success and helped to truly revive the notion of televised Lupin in it’s more traditional format after 30 years was quite a feat, but there were fears that a part 5 being released so soon was going to capitalize on part 4’s success by giving a more by the numbers experience and without vision. Instead the opposite happened. Lupin The Third Part 5 is quite possibly the best part in the franchise, only really rivaled by the Miyazaki helmed brilliance of most of part 1 and the most fun and emotional episodes of part 2, but most surprising of all is how part 5 quality was bolstered more than anything by one’s familiarity with the franchise. I don’t know if you know this, I perhaps should have led with this, but Lupin the third is an episodic experience and almost always has been. There is no clear plot, there is no definite backstory, there is nothing that can’t be done and nothing to hold it back from being the best it can be with it’s simple yet incredibly charming and wide ranging premise. The only constants are the cast, their characters, the music of Yuji Ohno, and up until part six, the vocal talents of the late, great, Kiyoshi Kobayashi as the Japanese voice of Jigen. Starting with part 4 the series had a new format of containing a mix of episodic episodes that served only for entertainment and story based episodes scattered throughout that would ultimately lead into the conclusion. Part 5 however chose to have several story arcs bookended with a regular Lupin adventure set in the past and replicating the previous parts color schemes and story structures while also telling a subtle story that would help to provide additional context between character relationships that help to put the characters genuine bonds on center stage whenever the story arcs truly call for them leading to the final and greatest story arc that elevates things beyond the some of their parts. This was done in such a way where you would be entertained with the story you were witnessing while also signaling that your familiarity and understanding of these stories and characters would lead the an experience that would be pushed and rewarded as you saw not only previous entries of the series but also part 5 in it’s entirety, truly making it a treasure and the crown jewel of appreciation for well versed Lupin fans the world over; and again, if you didn’t know that much about the franchise, well, don’t worry, it’s still a really fun time, but as it transforms completely to those who’ve been around the block, it’s not something that I would personally recommend starting with, no, part 5 is for those who think they’ve seen everything these stories and these characters have to give, and rewards them and thanks them for sticking through 50 years onwards, and it really was 50 years later as while Lupin part 1 was released in 1971, the manga that started this all and continually was referenced in all these parts started all the way back in 1967. Having given part 5 so much praise then and having myself been one of those who had doubts over it’s airing only 3 years after part 4, you can imagine how cautiously optimistic I was over part 6 when that was about to come out back in 2021.Lupin The Third Part 6:Lupin The Third Part 6 is divided into 2 sets of episodes each with it’s own central storyline, the first is Lupin the Third vs Sherlock Holmes and the second surrounds the women in the life of Lupin himself known as “Witch and Gentleman.” I will not be giving my personal opinions on each and every episode, this review is going on far longer than I thought it would already, but I will mention some general points of the series to better describe the part for those going in. While parts 1-3 were purely episodic with very few callbacks or references to previous adventures, you had part 4 had an assortment of episodic and story based episodes, and furthermore part 5 had story arcs with time capsule episodes serving as the bookend, now that we’ve reached part 6 we have two 12 episode arcs as well as an episode 0 that really serves to act as a goodbye and thank you to the original voice of Daisuke Jigen, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, who voiced the character before even the release of part 1, with his providing the voice of the character since the pilot film in 1969. This episode 0, known as “The Times” is actually made in the part 5 art style and likewise is really more of a part 5 episode at it’s core with its central theme of character exploration and the relationships between the central cast, but all the same it is considered to be a part 6 episode and I for once and very grateful for it to be included on this set for all to hear the legendary actor’s portrayal of the character for the last time before the we get to episode one and meet his new voice, that is unless you’re viewing this in English where you’ll be happy to know the pioneer cast who dubbed half of part 2 way back in the early 2000’s are still going strong, though if you weren’t aware Zenigata’s voice actor retired after part 2 and so part 4 onwards has him with a new voice, both are great, and both English and Japanese are stellar all throughout. Forgive me if that last bit seemed meandering, but it’s relevant to note as all this talk on episode 0 brings to mention the episode structure of part 6 to the forefront. Like part 4 there is a mix between episodic and story based episodes throughout both main storylines. You’d be surprised who wrote some of these episodic episodes too as part 6 is actually host to a number of celebrity guest writers including 2 episodes written by the creator of ghost in the shell and angel’s egg using ideas he actually had back in the 80’s when he was asked to make the third Lupin film which ultimately became known as the legend of the gold of Babylon for us and angel’s egg for him. Are these episodes actually that good? It’s a subjective topic for each one, but personally I for one am actually rather grateful for all of them regardless of quality, not because I believe there is any significance in the weight of celebrity guest writers, but more so for their ability to help redefine and expand the scope of what a typical Lupin story might be and how it can be structured, though objectively more episodes feel more tired and by the numbers than any previous part. There is a central stillness that borders on malaise for quite a bit of the episodes in this part, rather unusually given the nature of these characters and stories, but while it might seem disjointed from the rest of the franchise, I wouldn’t be too sure that a decade on will actually give this part some points in a later revaluation, but as it stands and as a whole, part 6 has a strange kind of lazy yet isolated and tired energy surrounding it where you don’t feel as though you’ve truly learned or explored more about these characters you love in any meaningful way, even when the show wants you to think that you did. It’s hard to say if that’s a knock, but all the same I personally feel a bit more familiar with these characters, possibly because the world feels smaller, but more plausibly because I don’t know if I’ve seen seen them as sterile or stationary, but all the same. I can’t say I truly dislike it. It’s an interesting experience and not one I feel I am able to truly put into words, you would have to see it for yourself and I genuinely implore that you do, but I do feel that, more so than with any other part, you try before you buy. Part 6 recently aired on toonami and to my knowledge is currently able to stream on hidive. Lupin is always Lupin and I will always choose to support it because I do genuinely love it, but even then as someone who’s seen practically everything there is to see and who owns every piece of Lupin home media released in the last decade, I can’t in good conscience recommend it to newcomers for it’s retail price. If you’ve seen it and are enough of a fan of it to want to support it or if you want to complete your shelf, I’m with you and I support you all the way, but if you’re brand new to this part and you think you want to get into the franchise with it, I strongly recommend you look somewhere else or at the very least, try watching a few episodes before purchasing. As this leads into the title of this entire long winded review…The worst Lupin Blu ray of the last decade:If you’re familiar with the franchise and have already seen part 6 and made your decision on purchasing it or indeed, if you’re on the bench and think that maybe a long in depth review of the thing may help you decide whether or not to order, then firstly, sorry for making you scroll down so far to get to here! In the last decade there have been four companies that have released Lupin media on Blu ray over to the west. Funimation who released their Blu ray for the woman called Fujiko mine, eastern eye who released the live action 2014 movie in Australia which I cannot personally vouch for, Sentai who has released part 6, and the reigning champion of not only Lupin media, but of an unbelievably large selection of classic anime franchises, Discotek media. Of these four only two have released in the actual decade of the 2020’s, but even if we include the eastern eye and funimation Sentai comes last by quite a margin and I will be using the constant and consistent quality of the most recurring Lupin supplier, Discotek media, to demonstrate. Now, none of the following is said to in any way imply that the core aspects of this release, the audio and the visuals, have any sort of defect or that Sentai released an incomplete product, but rather this is said in praise and in respect to the companies like Discotek who have not only provided a clean and high quality product but also added all the extra features and love to make for truly stellar releases of Lupin media every single time. Starting with something you’ll notice straight out of the box the first thing you’ll notice is that the bare bones Blu ray case is all you have to greet you, there is no slip cover of any sort to provide further protection or presentation for it’s life on the shelf, now, normally you might expect something like this from a cheaper release, or rather the more standard approach is that the first release pressing of a Blu ray will contain a slip cover as an added means of protection and as something to draw the eye to the quality of release, and that after maybe a pressing or so the slip cover might be dropped so keep production costs down in line with demand. However, the few companies that truly go the extra mile to provide the best experience and presentation are always special and always deserve to have their praises sung and Discotek is clearly and truly one of the best for the entire medium. A Discotek Blu ray released a decade ago ordered today will have the slip cover in tow as if you were the first in line and that will never go unnoticed by someone who cares. Second is the price point, now, I’m not going to pretend I now the ins and out of media distribution and I was somehow who was prioritized this release in particular by preordering and thus having a bit of a discount, but it’s fascinating to me how a release of 25 modern day episodes and bare features retails for $90 while a much smaller company like Discotek was able to produce their incredible release of Lupin part 3 with twice as many episodes and a whole deal of work done to clean up every single one to make a 1985 work look not only presentable, but exemplary and comparable to the best of what’s available today at a lower price with lots of special features to boot. What they were able to do was no less than miraculous, making the best release of part 3 in the world, yes, that’s including the Japanese releases, as they then proceeded to do the same thing to an even older product with their release of Lupin part 1. Though having written for so long that I’m getting a headache, allow me to follow through on a previous point and end this essay with mention to the last things of importance, the special features. This Sentai release features clean openings and endings and trailers to other sentai releases, that’s it. Now, to most people, would anything else matter? To be honest I’d wager the answer would be no, and why shouldn’t it be? I understand, you buy a dvd or Blu ray to support the official release and to watch something when you want on a format you prefer, you buy it for the product, the only extra that matters is that it’s on your shelf and that you like that it’s there, believe me, I know, but… then you have Discotek and suddenly bonus features become just as important and intriguing as the main release. Discotek has always stood out for their incredible extra content, something that can be found even back to their first Lupin released in the late 2000’s, with every release you can expect an assortment of essays and liner notes that provide historical and cultural context of the releases in question, art galleries that let you see really detailed and intriguing works including posters and model sheets from all parts of the production in a way categorized point by point, there are credit-less openings and endings too, yes, but the trailers you can see aren’t trailers for other unrelated works, they’re the actual trailers for what your watching right now, a very cool piece to media that you don’t even think about but that we’re so lucky to have especially with the age of some of these releases. Again all of this has been said not to bash sentai or because I know anyone at Discotek, I wish I did, I’d like to shake them by the hand, but all because Discotek does the best work in the entire business and because Lupin fans like me are truly in their debt for making each and every release the best they absolutely could be. From releases of every other Lupin part under their belt and nearly every film, ova, and special, Discotek is truly the way to go and I cannot recommend their releases enough. What sentai has given us is standard fare and that’s not a bad thing, it truly could have been something much, much more. I’ll still give it four stars, but that’s neither out of critique for the part in question or for the standard of release on paper, but for how much I think a fan, even one such as myself, would appreciate this release with it’s features and it’s price point.

I love the show, but i'll probably get this when it gets a little cheaper.

As a Lupin the 3rd fan, I was excited for this series. It had a great start, full of intrigue, and as time went on, things fell into place. A couple of things can be figured out quickly, if you pay very close attention. Halfway through, things shift into am entirely different storyline, so it can be jarring.

However it didn’t make the sound from Roku Tv besides my old jvc tv

Good

リージョンフリー、ps等でしか見れません。一般の家庭用bdプレイヤーでは見れません。パート5までとは仕様が変更されてます。ご注意を。