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One day in December 2019 I decided to watch an episode of Lupin IIIrd, because, why not? I had heard the name and knew nothing about it, only that it was a "classic" anime and I was feeling nostalgic for the rare anime that showed up on Cartoon Network as a kid. 2 and a half years later, I've watched...well, every single piece of published Lupin IIIrd content I can find. It's been a lot of content, but I don't regret more than a few hours of it. 😁 If I'm missing something, let me know.

To help set the stage for the ratings below, I'm big on hijinks and not so hot on the violence. For the columns, I've given a ✅ if something was particularly good, ❌ if it was particularly bad, and nothing if it was neutral/uninteresting. In the "Other" column, I've added occasional additional ratings: the opening (usually what occurs before the title screen), the ending (usually the last third), fanservice (references to other Lupin movies or otherwise), and violence (generally blood or too much fighting).

The overall ratings are as below. 0.5s are mostly meant to help provide a bit more order to the ratings. In most cases, there will be something that almost made it better, but not quite. Within ratings, the individual groups are unordered, rather, they are ordered by release date – oldest first.

5 - Fantastic, recommend to everyone
4 - Very good, with some moments less than stellar
3 - Fine, would watch again with others, but would not seek out
2 - Meh, mostly mediocre, would probably not watch again
1 - Bad or uninteresting, would encourage people to not watch
0 - There is no reason to watch this and I almost regret the time spent watching it

Since they're spread out in the list below, here's my order for the animated series.

(5) Lupin III: Part 2
(5) Lupin III: Part V
(5) Lupin ZERO
(4) A Woman Called Fujiko Mine
(3.5) Lupin III: Part 3
(3.5) Lupin III: Part VI
(3) Lupin III: Part IV
(1) Lupin III: Part 1

Movie/Series	Release Year	Type	Date Watched	Rating (out of 5)	Comment	Sub/Dub	Lupin	Jigen	Goemon	Fujiko	Zenigata	Animation	Plot	NPCs	Funny	Other
Lupin III: Part 2	1977	TV Series	December 2019 to January 2021	5	Is every episode great? No, of course not. But is every episode filled with hijinks? 100%	Sub & Dub									✅
The Mystery of Mamo	1978	Film	2021-06-10	5	Same voice actors as Part 2! Really liked how weird the last part of the movie was. Esp. good Jigen and Zenigata.	Dub		✅	✅							✅ ending
Castle of Cagliostro	1979	Film	2020-12-14	5	Very cute, very Lupin, very Studio Ghibli.	Sub	✅					✅	✅
Bye Bye, Lady Liberty	1989	TV Special	2022-01-08	5	Really liked this style of animation, especially the comicbook-like static shots for action scenes. All the characters had good moments, plus some good funny bits. Plot was sufficiently wacky (even if the evil guy was creepy in that sort of Anastasia's Rasputin kind of way).	Sub	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅✅	✅
Voyage to Danger	1993	TV Special	2022-01-08	5	6/5 for Fujiko in the opening on the bike (and the rest of her scenes). Really like the art style, esp. Jigen's character design, and Karen is a great NPC. Plot and action was entertaining too – love a good Russian nuclear submarine plot. No talk Goemon was pretty bad ass, too.	Sub		✅	✅	✅			✅	✅
Tokyo Crisis	1998	TV Special	2021-07-24	5	Hilarious – great Jigen and Goemon (esp. when he karate chopped the door to get the security code).	Dub		✅	✅						✅✅
Record of Observations of the East / Another Page	2012	TV Special	2022-02-19	5	OMG this one was too good. I haven't laughed that much in a Lupin movie in awhile. Highly zany and very fun. NPCs were great, I enjoyed the plot. The animation was goofy (lots of kabuki esque crossed-eyes, liked the emotive close-ups on everyone's face). Goemon (or should I say 'Goe-Goe') had a great subplot. Zenigata also was real good this time.	Sub			✅✅		✅	✅		✅✅	✅✅
Lupin Family Lineup	2012	Episode	2022-02-10	5	A short, fun story from the manga - hard to go wrong!	Sub							✅
Lupin III: Part V	2018	TV Series	March 2021	5	Ep 11, ep 15, ep 16 (the whole Padar arc was really good), ep 18. This whole series was great, with fun cameos and funny scenes.	Sub									✅	✅ fanservice
Lupin ZERO	2023	TV Series	January 2023	5	Absolutely banger of a mini-series. The animation, the joie de vivre, the hijinks, the fanservice, the characters – all so good! Even without the other characters, it was great.	Sub	✅	✅	N/A	N/A	N/A	✅			✅	✅ fanservice
Alcatraz Connection	2001	TV Special	2021-12-26	4.5	Very fun opening sequence, wild plot, good action, -0.5 for Fujiko's JP voice actor.	Sub				❌			✅			✅ opening
Sweet Lost Night	2008	TV Special	2022-03-14	4.5	Fun opening with Zenigata – I also like the random bold outline animation style, even though the CGI is quite bad. Everyone was good in this one, with an A+ Lupin. NPCs and plot were good too - a lot of funny moments and I wanted to see where it all lead to.	Sub	✅✅				✅	❌/✅	✅	✅	✅
Is Lupin Still Burning?	2018	Episode	2021-10-17	4.5	Funny and enjoyable to go back to season 1. Not sure why they used poor looking CGI for some car chase stuff, though.	Sub						❌			✅
Pilot Film	1969	Episode	2021-04-19	4	What a weird, yet enjoyable, 12 minutes. The psychotic 70s animation style has a certain charm, too.	Sub						✅
The Hemingway Papers	1990	TV Special	2022-02-04	4	I enjoyed the animation, the plot was interesting, the pacing good, Maria was a good NPC, not a lot of hijinks, though. The gun fight at the end was cool, stylistically.	Sub						✅	✅	✅		✅ ending
Missed by a Dollar	2000	TV Special	2022-03-19	4	I liked the animation style quite a bit, even if it was a bit dark at times. The 4 of them were all positive, though the plot and Zenigata were a bit lacking. Some funny moments, too. Enjoyed the lounge music.	Sub	✅	✅	✅	✅		✅✅			✅
Operation Return the Treasure	2003	TV Special	2021-12-18	4	Good ending, quality Georgian villain, quality Fujiko outfits, quality Goemon, plus some funny bits too.	Sub			✅	✅				✅	✅	✅ ending
A Woman Called Fujiko Mine	2012	TV Series	Summer 2020	4	Great artwork and all about Fujiko, what more could you want? (A bit dark at times, though).	Dub				✅		✅
Jigen's Gravestone	2014	Film	2020-08-26	4	[Ed. note: I don't really have good notes from when I first watched these, but I can generally say that the animation is really cool and the story lines were unique, relative to most other Lupin movies.] Pt 2 esp. good.	Dub						✅				✅ ending
Goemon's Bloodspray	2017	Film	2020-08-27	4	[Ed. note: I don't really have good notes from when I first watched these, but I can generally say that the animation is really cool and the story lines were unique, relative to most other Lupin movies.] -1 Violence, +1 Fujiko's outfit in pt 1.	Dub				✅		✅				❌ violence
Fujiko's Lie	2019	Film	2020-08-29	4	[Ed. note: I don't really have good notes from when I first watched these, but I can generally say that the animation is really cool and the story lines were unique, relative to most other Lupin movies.] Good ending fight scene.	Dub						✅				✅ ending
Goodbye Partner	2019	TV Special	2022-01-02	4	Wild not-very-thievy plot, lots of good/funny moments, bonus points for dual Chopin a la Jay Chou. However, bad CGI and why oh why was there anime Hilary Clinton as president.	Sub						❌	✅	❌	✅
Prison of the Past	2019	TV Special	2022-03-11	4	The animation really left something to be desired (stylistically fine, but a lot of static shots, which really muted the dynamism of it all). Opening was entertaining, though. All the characterizations were good – I liked Goemon and the sandwich subplot :) NPCs were good too.	Sub			✅			❌		✅		✅ opening
Lupin III: Part 3	1984	TV Series	September 2021 - December 2021	3.5	Not super memorable, though many of the last 10 or some had chuckle-worthy moments. Character art was kinda weird sometimes, but I liked it.	Sub						✅			✅
Farewell to Nostradamus	1995	Film	2021-04-25	3.5	Very 90s anime. High quality Lupin and Fujiko, with some good scenes, could have used more Jigen and definitely more Goemon. The scenes Goemon were in were good, but very very short. Zenigata had a pretty bad voice actor.	Dub	✅			✅	❌	✅
Return of Pycal	2002	OVA	2022-02-12	3.5	Half the length of a movie, so lost a bit on the plot – kinda trippy, would have liked to see it fleshed out more. Had some nice music, some fanservice (liked the flashback with the manga pages), but the CGI was SO BAD.	Sub						❌				✅ music ✅ fanservice
An Angel's Tactics	2005	TV Special	2022-02-11	3.5	Cool opening scene, like 99% anime fanservicey anime bosoms, but otherwise, kinda violent and lacking a certain something. Goemon had a stylish subplot.	Sub			✅							✅ fanservice ❌ violence
Blood Seal of the Eternal Mermaid	2011	TV Special	2022-02-18	3.5	The plot was pretty interesting, even a bit serious – minimal frivolity this time around. The art style was originally kind of bland, but it started to grow on me, esp. on the island at the end (flat characters on top of painted backgrounds). Antagonists were pretty evil. Wasn't a big fan of the blood, and the NPCs were more annoying than endearing. Always good to see Fujiko in a motorcycle outfit, lol. As you can see, not totally sure how to weigh this one.	Sub				✅		✅	✅	❌		❌ violence
Lupin III: Part VI	2021	TV Series	2022-04-15 to 2022-04-17	3.5	This one is a bit tricky – there were lots of parts I liked, but a number that I didn't. The animation style for characters was cool, with bold outlines on watercolor backgrounds, but the series was very static and the CGI was tragic. Plot wise, there was a lot of exposition, which was disappointing for such a normally high-octane series. The 2nd part was more interesting than the 1st, for what it's worth. Sadly, not a lot of Goemon or Zenigata. Binge watched while I was stuck inside with COVID. Good eps: 0, 3, 9, 10, 16.	Sub	✅	✅		✅		✅/❌	❌
The Fuma Conspiracy	1987	Film	2021-04-10	3	Great Zenigata, very good animation (especially the chase scenes), but voice acting and Murasaki were flat.	Dub					✅	✅		❌
Burn, Zantetsuken! (Dragon of Doom)	1994	TV Special	2022-03-13	3	My favorite movie about the Titantic, for sure. Enjoyable NPCs, good Goemon parts of the story, cheeky Lupin. The dub, as well as Fujiko's characterization, were lackluster.	Dub	✅		✅	❌				✅
The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure	1995	TV Special	2022-03-26	3	A fan of Zenigata's ramen noodle subplot and Goemon's part time work subplot. Didn't really need neo-Nazis to make it interesting, in fact, I feel like it detracted from. Definitely some funny moments though. Unfortunately, the static drawn shots weren't that high quality.	Sub			✅		✅	❌		❌	✅
Elusiveness of the Fog	2007	TV Special	2021-12-20	3	Fun plot, good subplot with Goemon and the Queen, cute Pokemon-esque animation, but Pops fucking annoyed me.	Sub			✅		❌	✅	✅
Green vs. Red	2008	OVA	2022-03-26	3	This one was a bit confusing (with its sort of non-linear storytelling) and definitely strange. A bit philosophical? A good last film to watch. The manga-like animation in the ending fight scene was really cool.	Sub							✅			✅ ending
Lupin III vs. Detective Conan	2009	TV Special	2022-03-09	3	High quality Fujiko (esp. biker Fujiko) and Jigen. Zenigata, Lupin, and Goemon were all good, for how little they were actually in it. The Detective Conan ppl annoyed me still, esp. the child voices, but not as much as the other Conan film. The last 1/3rd, during the reveal, was really entertaining.	Sub		✅		✅				❌		✅ ending
Lupin III: Part IV	2015	TV Series	Spring 2020	3	Entertaining, though nothing particularly memorable – except the one episode where they steal the car. That one legitimately had me crying. 6/5 for that episode.	Dub
Lupin III: The First	2019	Film	2021-02-06	3	Not a huge fan of the 3D animation, though there were some funny scenes.	Dub						❌
Lupin III vs. Cat's Eye	2023	OVA	2023-02-17	3	The 3D animation was definitely worse than Lupin III: The First. Very dead eyes and stiff movement. That said, I'm a fan of Cat's Eye, and Zenigata + Toshio was fun. Ai annoyed me to no end though. A shame there wasn't more Rui. Tony Oliver and Richard Epicar though, what more could you want? (A not fugly Goemon, that's what.)	Dub			❌	✅	❌			✅/❌	✅
Dead or Alive	1996	Film	2022-03-23	2.5	Fujiko's HAIR! OMG haha. And Drift Island (at the beginning and the end) - vaguely Akira-esque, pretty cool. I liked the character designs, and Zenigata wasn't bad, but overall, nothing to write home about.					✅						✅ opening ✅ ending
The Last Job	2010	TV Special	2021-12-30	2.5	The dog is so dumb, however - quality anime busts lol. Plus that yo-yo assassin and the crazy ninja fight scenes were good. The CGI was also particularly bad. Plot was OK up until the end where it was... solidly meh.	Sub						❌		❌		✅ fanservice
Lupin III: Part 1	1971	TV Series	February 2021 - April 2021	2	Some episodes are good (mostly in the 2nd half). I understand the appeal of the first half (definitely 'darker'), but it's not really hijink-y.	Sub
Lupin VIII	1982	Episode	2022-03-16	2	I liked where a space plot could go, but not this episode in particular. Did like the exploding giant robot shark though (and astronaut-hat Jigen). The Lupin design was interesting, not a fan of Fujiko's. Samurai Goemon was unexpected.	Sub	✅			❌			✅
The Secret of Twilight Gemini	1996	TV Special	2021-09-21	2	Lupin was pretty annoying and even though blonde Fujiko was OK, Goemon and Jigen made almost no appearance. Overall, it was pretty meh. Some gratuitous fanservice, shrug.	Dub	❌									❌ fanservice
Episode 0: First Contact	2001	TV Special	2022-01-16	2	Sexy Fujiko, a fun intro to Goemon (reminiscent of season 1), but otherwise uninspired.	Sub			✅	✅
Stolen Lupin: The Copy Cat is a Midsummer's Butterfly	2004	TV Special	2022-03-22	2	Is it better to be bad or uninteresting? This one was certainly uninteresting. Solidly neutral everything.	Sub
Seven Days Rhapsody	2006	TV Special	2022-03-24	2	The opening was a hijinks-y heist, but sadly the rest of it was a rather drab use-weapon-to-take-over-world plot - and not even a well executed one at that. Rarely a fan of a child NPC and this time was no different. There were some funny moments, though.	Sub							❌	❌	✅	✅ opening
Lupin the 3rd 3DCG	2012	Episode	2022-12-06	2	Interesting to see the original 3D pilot (preempting the full length movie), but outside of that, nothing of note.	Sub
Italian Game	2016	TV Special	2022-02-15	2	A REALLY cool opening credits and I'm a fan of the character design/style, but lordy Rebecca annoys me and man was it a slog to watch the episodes from the season itself smushed together like this.	Sub								❌❌		✅✅ opening
Princess of the Breeze	2013	TV Special	2022-03-20	1.5	This one is a tough one to pin down since I feel like it really had potential. However, the 3D animation was laughably awful and the baby was both horrifying to look at and was generally bad (Goemon's bit not withstanding). The bad dudes were cool (amber is the color of my karma ;P), the plot was interesting, and you can never go wrong with some quality fanservice (secretary Fujiko, anyone?), but they could not overcome the bad parts.	Sub						❌❌	✅	❌❌/✅		✅ fanservice
The Legend of the Gold of Babylon	1985	Film	2021-06-12	1	Could have been an interesting plot, but was executed poorly. Gags were immature and characterization was solidly mediocre. A strange, unnecessary set of fanservice too? But like in a weird, inneffectual way. Best part was that it was the Part 2 voice cast.	Dub							❌			❌ fanservice
Napoleon's Dictionary	1991	TV Special	2022-01-15	1	Was there even a plot? None of the characterizations were interesting, except for Goemon, sort of, but he just repeated lines from a samurai movie.	Sub							❌
From Siberia With Love	1992	TV Special	2022-02-10	1	Rasputin really made this cringe - too many sticking of fingers in mouths? Like wtf? There really wasn't anything compelling about the NPC, art, or characterizations that made up for it and as the movie went on, kept getting worse. Plus, the subtitles called zantetsuken 'steel cleaver'? or something like that. Goemon basically didn't show up, so it was a moot point. Some funny, bawdy jokes, at least?	Sub						❌	❌	❌❌
Island of Assassins	1997	TV Special	2021-05-16	1	Very dark colored art, so little detail could be seen. Uninteresting plot (took 3 different sessions to get through all of it) and uninteresting versions of all the main characters. Zenigata was the best, but was literally laid up for most of it.	Dub	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌
The Columbus Files / Fujiko's Unlucky Day	1999	TV Special	2022-02-11	0	Wow, this was awful. I wanted to turn it off like 1/3rd of the way through. Goemon's voice actor was awful (as was his characterization), plot was both dumb and weird?, NPC was solidly meh, unnecessary subplot about Jigen being a homophone?, antagonist unbearable. Literally the only redeeming part was Zenigata, but he was in it for maybe 3 minutes total.	Dub			❌❌				❌❌	❌
Vs. Detective Conan: The Movie	2013	Film	2022-03-05	0	A fun opening, reminiscent of Part 1 (plus some other cameos, like Goemon's original teacher as the owner of the sapphire), good Zenigata and Jigen, too. The Conan characters annoy me a lot. Took a ton of tries to finish and was quite confusing – maybe the OVA was supposed to be watched first? Either way, not really coherent. Also, the version I watched had some sub issues sometimes, which didn't help.	Sub		✅			✅		❌	❌		✅ opening
Lupin Shanshei (Lupin the Thiiiirrrd)	2012	OVA	2022-03-16	?	Hard to give this a rating because the Chinese subtitled version didn't really work that well? Or it did, and I just ... didn't get what it was trying to do? What I did understand wasn't funny. And it's just a flash animation from 2012, so... not really a high quality endeavor.	Sub						❌			❌

Last Updated: 2023-02-23 18:38:10