Lupin III The Woman Called Fujiko Mine – 3 [The Lady and the Samurai]

Welcome to episode 3 of The Woman Called Fujiko Mine! Apologies for the wait on this one. This is the only series I dont have a schedule for so I want to wait to write until I know what to write, if that makes sense. This week, just as I predicted this week we meet Ishikawa Goemon, get a fun train heist and just a liiiiitle bit of romance. Just a tad, I promise. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Starting off, lets talk Goemon, because this man is a complete and total Chuunibyou. The way he acts and over-dramatizes everything, taking it far stricter than the situation calls for, is fun. The way he cuts into the mountain, or does a dramatic flourish as he cuts a hole in the top of the train. He just amps everything up to 11, almost as if just to look cool. But what makes it work is that Goemon himself seems unaware of this. He takes it all incredibly seriously with a great degree of sincerity. And the best part is that unlike a vast majority of the Chuuni archetype, he actually has the skills to back it up. One could argue this disqualifies him from being a Chuuni at all, but for the sake of quick descriptions I think it still fits. Overall, he’s a fun character in this wacky series.

Sadly the plot of the episode itself was not as good. Yes, it built up Goemon as a character and gave him a few scenes to shine, but it was a lot more gag focused. Playing up things like the rabbit, Goemon being flustered by Fujiko or his overly serious nature. Goemon is a silly character, or at least comes off as one so far, so it makes sense. The tone of the whole episode was consistent. But compared to the more dramatic and intriguing murder-mystery of Jigen’s episode, I just didn’t find it as engaging. No doubt this comes down to subjective taste in media, I prefer darker more serious stories. Most comedies, at least animated ones, come off as forced or constructed to me. Of course they are, they were animated, but they often lack the spontaneity I desire from comedy.

Meanwhile Fujiko herself also took a backseat this week, as the plot mostly happened around her. This happened in Jigen’s episode as well, but there she was an active player. She was involved in the plot, working to pull Jigen in and playing off of him. Here she seems more to bounce around, running into Goemon rather than engaging him directly. In general the whole episode feels like it is more focused on the world/side characters than our leads. With even Goemon generally just having things happen around him and then he responds. Its only by the end that he starts to take a proactive approach to the episodes plot. Cutting the train from the engine, dropping the money and incriminating his previous employer, etc. It makes for a nice finale but until then I was left wondering what, if anything, he was going to do.

All that said, all that criticism of how the plot “wasn’t as good as last weeks”… I had fun. Goemon was an entertaining character and the action was nice. His eccentricities make for some very expressive animation and his swordplay in particular was fun to watch. The “Assassin with a heart of gold” shtick is very similar to Jigen’s. However Goemon’s works in a very different way. Where Jigen is without a doubt of questionable moral character, killing people regularly, we have yet to see Goemon hurt… anyone. He plays with children, cracks jokes and doesn’t needlessly kill people. Jigen seems like a bad guy with a good heart while Goemon seems like a good guy doing bad things. It should make for an interesting relationship with Jigen and Lupin once the 3 meet up, considering the other 2 are without a doubt crooks.

All in all, while I don’t think it was as strong as the last episode, Fujiko Mine did well. Goemon was fun, Fujiko was cute and behind all the jokes there was a serious question there: Where do they belong? None of our leads have really set down any roots, really have anywhere to call home. Lupin and Fujiko travel the world stealing, Jigen gave up his entire career and Goemon no longer feels Samurai have a place in his home country. All of them are looking for a place to belong, and I expect they will find it with each other. The classic tale of a band of misfits finding companionship in each other. A bit cliche, but if Fujiko Mine can pull it off with the style it has had so far, I don’t see why it can’t succeed.