Lupin Has Three Jackets

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

This episode was funny as usual, and you're right about one thing, Lupin does have a very smart fanbase.

Anyway, I can't wait for the next one!!

9:52 PM

Anonymous said...

Hi, Sad Cactus from the Lupinthe3rd.net forums:

I really enjoyed your podcast. It was hilarious! ^^ Especially near the end when you joke that no one's listening anymore except for Aunt Jemima. ^^ And the joke about how the portrayal of Lupin in Cagliostro would make a younger viewer want to be “just like Lupin”—and be able to “jump out of my clothes effortlessly.” XD You both have a great sense of humor and it was a pleasure to listen to the whole thing! ^^

I wanted to offer my thoughts on some topics in the podcast –normally I wouldn’t, but these are things I’ve been thinking about for awhile and I've frequently spouted my opinions on the board concerning the topics you discussed in the podcast, which I’ve reiterated a million times in a million different threads but have never tried to put them down in a systematic way—so, here goes. ^^;

Social commentary: I liked how you discussed the JFK assassination, the Nostradamus cult--^^ I learned something! –and especially the presence, lack of, or nuances of morality concerning the characters’ attitudes to killing in the manga and the anime. But I don’t think you have to go too far to find social commentary in Lupin.

You also have greedy politicians that are willing to trample a subject population (“Dark Charade”)—the racial issue is also brought up. You have psychological experiments—not to make slaves to take over the world or something like that, but to create productive workers (“Church of the Poison Mind”.

You have basic differences in wealth—there are powerful crime lords, sometimes nearly immune from or able to make deals with the police. (“Fry Me to the Moon”), (Tokyo Crisis, Alcatraz Connection, Island of Assassins, Voyage to Danger, and others.) They also usually wear a respectable façade.

The small fries are the ones that are caught: petty thieves, and thieves in general: Lupin will almost always be caught temporarily before the real bad guy, sometimes unwillingly.

The ones who are on the bottom will get hit first. I remember you saying that you didn’t like Farewell to Nostradamus at all—oO not my favorite, either—but Sergio (boat kid) said his village was destroyed, right? You can ‘t do that to those with power, legit or not. Even Zenigata, though he is “the law” as you said, he himself becomes victimized by it when he offends his superiors (First Contact) B) unable to prove his identity (Pursuit of Harimao’s Treasure) C) does something illegal (Missed By A Dollar, Tokyo Crisis) and gets jailed like anyone else—at that point he’s not usually flying high, but drunk, or half-drowned, etc.

Zenigata: That brings me to my next point, which I brought up on the boards. For a cop, Zenigata steals a lot and does other illegal things. It’s not all the time, or else more people would notice that about him. I’m not thinking of the manga so much—I think that you touched on his amorality in the manga, that included illegal things. Concerning the anime, after seeing him take fruit without paying (“Sheik-Down”), hijack four cars (“Auntie Ballistic”), open a hotel room door with a lockpick (“Gold Smuggling 101”), look the other way while Lupin and co. steal a submarine (Voyage to Danger), break out of jail (Tokyo Crisis, Elusiveness of the Fog, First Contact, Hemingway Papers) , take food out of someone’s refrigerator (Hemingway Papers) steal a coin from someone’s private collection (“Alter-Ego Maniac”), and break Fujiko out of jail and assault the government official (“Quick Shot, This Is Fujiko”), I have a hard time of thinking of Zenigata as strictly “the law”—and more of he’s the law at his own convenience. I’d like to ask, have you noticed these incidents, and how do you think they affect the characterization of Zengiata, if at all?

Once again, I loved the podcast! ^__^ I’m sorry about the state of some of the DBZ fanbase, since you’re a fan. : ( On the other hand it’s flattering that you noticed that the Lupin fans are intelligent. : ) Thanks for taking the time and effort to make this podcast, and looking forward to listening to the next episode. ^^

~ Sad Cactus

7:44 PM

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