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Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Review

“Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine” is an overdone bore.

Based on the manga series of the same name, the 13 episode anime series “Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine” revolves around the globe trotting adventures of the manipulative and seductive thief (Fujiko Mine) and the wacky and infamous criminal mastermind (Arsene Lupin III). We learn how the two competing thieves meet and we see the two constantly bump into one another on various missions. Throughout the course of the series, viewers can expect to see stories about a Cult leader, a fortune teller, an opera singer, owl people (yes, you read that right), drugs, a samurai, Inspector Zenigata, Fujiko’s past, law officials (namely Lt. Oscar), Lupin’s partner of sorts (Jigen), the villainous Count Luis Yu Almedia, and missions involving a gun, treasure, a mask, a tattooed woman, and a jewel peacock.

If you’re a Lupin fan that is expecting another playful adventure along the lines of“The Castle of Cagliostro,” you might be disappointed (or perhaps overjoyed) to learn that ‘Fujiko Mine’ is a much more adult series. In addition to being more violent, this series is much more sexually explicit as the character of Fujiko Mine uses her femine wiles in order to accomplish her goals and missions. Now, with all of that said, Lupin fans should be assured that the series still has a comedic element to it as there is plenty of playful banter (and sexual tension) between the two lead characters.

While all this talk of action, violence, sex, and adventures may sound exciting on paper, I personally found the show to be surprisingly dull. It often feels like the creative team tried too hard to make this a fast-paced show and, in turn, wound up exhausting the viewers to the point of boredom. Naturally, I don’t speak for everyone, but I can say that I was much more drawn to Lupin’s own adventures instead of this retro “To Catch A Thief” esque series that we got here.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: Widescreen 1080p. How dies it look? The stickly character models are a bit peculiar, but the show’s impressively unique color scheme and hand drawn style more than make up for any shortcomings. However one may feel about the animation, there’s simply no denying that this Blu-ray transfer is both colorful and beautiful.

Audio Tracks: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. How does it sound? The English dub tries way too hard here so I’d suggest opting for the original language Japanese track.

Extras:
* Trailers for “Eden of the East,” “Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail,” “Eureka Seven AO,” “Guilty Crown,” “Appleseed XIII,” “Trigun,” “El Cazador De La Bruja,” “Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt,” “Remnant Knights Game” and Funimation.com.
* Commentary on episode 6 by Brina Palencia and Josh Grelle. A solid commentary in which the two talk about characters, the various “Lupin The Third” series, and more. These two have great commentary chemistry together.
* Textless opening and closing songs.
* A U.S. trailer for “Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.”
* “Fujiko Mine At Okratron 5000”- A featurette about the audio production company and their work on the show.
* Commentary on episode 9 by Sonny Strait and Christopher Sabat.

Overall Thoughts: Fans of the Lupin character may want to check out ‘Fujiko Mine,’ but I can’t recommend this to anyone outside of that fanbase.

October 11, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Funimation, Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine Blu-ray Review, Lupin The Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Review