Rupan Sansei: Kutabare! Nosutoradamusu

Lupin titles are usually hit or miss as to their quality. Some are really good (Castle of Cagliostro) or really bad (Legend of the Gold of Babylon). This one straddles the fence.

The story is simple, but the plot is rather weak. As such things just happen with little to no explaination. The Nostrodamus cult is laughable as a villian. Their whole purpose is never clear until much later and even then, it seems odd, or rather made the organization odd. Goemon and Jigen are on an investigation at one point, but there's not much to explain how they got on the case or why they got to where they got. In fact, they are mainly wasted as characters. Fujiko has a better role (her chest has expanded) but even she seems weak.

The good was Julia. As a precocious young girl, her first scenes coming down the first class stairwell on a 747 started it and it was cemented with her first encounter with Lupin. A quick inspection of him holding a doll (with a hidden diamond worth $1.5 million) convinced her that he is a lolicon, then proceeds to take the doll from him. I have to say that I loved her as a character. I think they actually used a child seiyuu for the voice. Regardless, it worked. She stole the scene whenever she appeared.

Also, there were some funny Lupin moments, expecially in the ostentatious Douglas building early on. The art/animation are very good as one might expect from an anime movie.

Bottom line: the plot is weak, the animation/art rock, and Julia is great. As such, it is worth a rent for Lupin fans, but not much beyond that.

Last updated Wednesday, August 24 2005. Created Wednesday, August 24 2005.