There's a slew of Lupin material out there to review, more than enough to fill out a month of reviews. That's right, for 4 weeks I'll be reviewing various Lupin the Third stories, starting with the very first volume of the manga.
Lupin the Third Vol. 1
Created by Monkey Punch
Brief summary from the back of the book: "In this thrilling volume, the master thief extraordinaire pilfers top-secret microfilm, escapes a high security prison, rescues a captured spy, challenges the underworld, is trapped on a desert island, and beds a bevy of beautiful dames while doing it all."
Try as I might, this was not my first exposure to Lupin the Third, and some of these chapters have been adapted into anime, so I will make a few comparisons between the manga and the anime adaptations. I will try my best to review this as its own entity.
The first thing that pops out the reader is the artstyle. It's extremely bizarre and cartoony, and not always consistent. In the first chapter, it's not uncommon for the characters' heads to be almost the size of their torsos. There are also some cases of characters looking the same, such as some background characters looking exactly like Lupin, and even Inspector Zenigata, the cop who's constantly hunting Lupin, has this problem early on. This isn't always the case in each chapter. The artstyle is certainly unique, I'll give it that, but it feels unrefined in this first volume. I wouldn't call it good, but an acquired taste.
As for the story, well, in true Lupin the Third fashion, this isn't one story, but rather a collection of chapter-long adventures. Lupin, being the master thief he is, is often just trying to steal something, or he gets caught up in a conspiracy or needs to make a jailbreak. Lupin's a character full of tricks: he's a master of disguise, has various gadgets at his disposal, and is extremely crafty, all skills needed to be a master thief. However, comedy and sex are equally as important as the adventure. As odd as the artstyle is, Monkey Punch is really good at drawing some of the funniest facial expressions ever, which saves it from being bad. This is an adult manga, willingly showing death, naked woman and to a smaller extent some sex, but it's not shy about having some Looney Tunes zaniness into the mix. Despite the number of deaths in this manga, and there are quite a few, there are just as many times where a character suffers a grievous injury of some sort and comes out with smoky face, again like a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Lupin himself is well-represented here: he's got his usual tricks and his penchant for adventure and women, but what about the other big characters for the franchise? Jigen, Lupin's most trusted assistant, appears in one chapter, the chapter featuring an invincible magician going after Lupin. However, it's Jigen in appearance only, as the character is never named and never once alludes to being a skilled gunman, one of Jigen's defining traits. This chapter in particular was adapted into the first anime series, and Jigen was not only named in that, he actually did something besides being another character for Lupin to talk to. Zenigata makes a few appearances as well, and he's pretty consistent with his later depictions. He's a competent cop with an obsession with Lupin, but he's always one step behind him.
Fujiko, Lupin's famous on-and-off girlfriend who's equally good at fooling him and his enemies alike, is actually multiple characters in this. Lupin runs into several women throughout the manga, all of them attractive and willing to have sex even if they protest at first. A few of the women are named Fujiko, but none of them really resemble the Fujiko that Lupin fans know today. Monkey Punch just really liked the idea of naming most of his women Fujiko. Lastly, Goemon, the famous swordsman who can cut through anything, is nowhere to be found here, but there is a character who resembles him, though that character uses a gun instead of a sword.
Let's get down to the meat of this review: is this worth reading for people new to Lupin? Eh, I wouldn't say it's a must-buy. It's certainly different from many manga being made nowadays, but some of the stories are hit-and-miss, and the objectification of women might not gel well with a modern audience. There are some genuinely funny moments here and there, and the story of how Lupin escaped a high-security prison is really good, being both hilarious and thrilling. The artstyle is definitely going to alienate some people, which is why I recommend renting this from a library if you can.
For fans of the Lupin anime or manga history buffs, I'd say this is worth owning if you can find it. Not all of these stories were adapted to the anime to my knowledge, so if you need more Lupin in your life, this isn't a bad choice. I will warn you: it's far raunchier than most of the anime adaptations. Jokes about masturbating with toes aren't uncommon.
RENT IT (if you're new to Lupin the Third)
BUY IT (if you love Lupin the Third and need to collect more of it)
Now here comes the bad news. The Lupin the Third manga was licensed by Toykopop, and they went out-of-business not too long ago, which means the manga is now out-of-print. You'll have to do some hunting to find this one, but if you're lucky, you might be able to find some copies at a local used bookstore like I did, and I got my copy for a cheap 5 bucks.
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