Lupin III's Greatest Capers contains double-crosses, elaborate disguises, intricate plots, amazing electronic gizmos, tongue-in-cheek-humor, clever cat burglars, intrepid inspectors, eastern European villainy, and eccentric sidekicks. In short, it contains all the elements that made Mission:Impossible,The Man From UNCLE, and The Avengers so much fun. This alone should be enough recommendation for you to seek out the videotape at once.
Furthermore, the two episodes linked together on this tape were directed by Miyazaki. Yes, *that* Miyazaki. While Miyazaki takes more pride in his theatrical releases than his TV work, Lupin III contains some stylish directorial flourishes and is a good example of the slapstick Miyazaki abandoned when he started creating his epic work. This is your chance to experience the earlier work of the same man who directed My Neighbor Totoro and Mononoke Hime.His well-crafted slapstick style immediately suggests the work of Blake Edwards.
The genealogy of the Lupin III character is a rather tricky and confusing one, and Lupin III's reputation has been tarnished by a seemingly endless series of inferior adventures. And no, the Roman Numeral after Lupin's name doesn't mean you've missed Lupin I and Lupin II - this is a confusing copyright infringement issue that we won't get into here. Lupin III is also not to be confused with the Lupin in the animated series currently broadcast in Canada. Nevertheless, this videotape contains two highly amusing (if implausiable) escapades from the files of Lupin III, a goofy cat burglar with a heart of gold.
Detailing the plots (if they can be called that) would spoil the viewers' fun. What sets these episodes apart from other pseudo-spy flicks is the depth of the characterization. Lupin and the inspector who dogs his every move share a mutual respect that, at times, seems to suggest a father-son bond. The other members of Lupin's gang (which include a Chicago-style gangster and a samurai warrior) are sketched as unique individuals, as are the villains. No, this isn't Shakespeare but the appealing characters and their inter-relationships are better than you'd expect on your average live-action TV show.
However, before you leap from your computer station to dash to the local video store, be warned - this is not one of Streamline Pictures' better dubbing efforts. (Is that an oxymoron?) The voice acting is incredibly flat, robbing some lines of their humor and giving an unearned Inspector Gadget flavor to the proceedings. Granted, there are those who think that *every* dub job from Streamline is a hackjob. I'm not one of them; I liked the voice acting of the leads in the Dirty Pair films and think that Streamline did a decent job at translating the Japanese scripts (before the company went bellyup). But the voice acting in Lupin III is extremely unconvincing, the sort of stuff that gives dubbing a bad name and makes anime seem campy to nonfans.
Other than that flaw (which will annoy some of you more than others), I thoroughly enjoyed Lupin III. With any luck, the rights to Lupin III will be snatched up by another anime distributor, released in both a subtitled and competently dubbed version, and be available soon.
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