Whew, its been a long wait since my last post on Fujiko Mine, but I have an excuse, I promise. I’ll let you know what it is when I think of it. In the meantime, this episode on Fujiko Mine we see the return of Lupin and Zenigata in a story straight out off the stage! So lets dive right in.
Right off the bat, this episode was nothing like what I was expecting. I figured we would start to see some team-ups, and in a way we got that with Lupin’s return. However the primary focus seemed instead to be on Zenigata and getting him properly introduced to the plot. We met him before of course, all the way back in episode one, but this is our first proper look at him. And what a look it is. This is easily the most misogynistic episode of anime I have seen in awhile, and I can’t tell if Fujiko Mine did it on purpose. So many of Zenigata’s interactions with Fujiko were demeaning or sexual in nature, really just nailing her with sexist jokes/actions over and over. There is probably something in there about lust vs love, considering the episodes topic, but Fujiko Mine really laid it on thick here.
As far as the actual story goes, of all the things I was expecting, a Phantom of the Opera riff wasn’t one of them. It’s always nice to see some Western works/media influence anime. I always enjoy seeing another cultures take on something we have had and referenced for generations. And it’s here that Fujiko Mine really surprised me, as it completely twists the original story at the end. Where the original ended on a rather tragic or bittersweet note, Fujiko Mine plays the whole thing as a legitimate love story. The Phantom is real, but its his lover rather than him living underneath the opera house. The whole thing is setup to keep their story and mystery going, without compromising a very real relationship under it all. I don’t know yet how well it works in the overall themes of the show, but its interesting nonetheless.
Beyond the mystery we also have Lupin’s antics and the introduction of Zenigata’s core character. Lupin himself played a very minor role this time, primarily distracting Zenigata and playing off of Fujiko. A part of me wishes we had more of him of course, his play-by-play in the first episode was great. But at the same time its nice to see the titular character of the entire IP from the light of a side-character first. We can’t just look over his flaws here, he doesn’t have the privileges of being an MC, the leader of the story. So instead of a charismatic thief we get to see him more as a thrill-seeking buffoon, though a rather skilled one. I am curious how this is going to affect my watch of any future Lupin III series, but for now he is fun.
Getting back to the themes, I want to wax philosophical for a moment about this episode. Up until now Fujiko Mine has had a major focus on “the past”. Whether it be Goemon’s obsession with tradition as a Samurai, Jigen’s with his previous career or Fujiko’s mysterious one, each episode has touched on it in some way. Fujiko Mine does that again here with Zenigata, we see him obsessed with his bloodline, his “past”. This idea that he has to catch all the Lupins is controlling him, pushing him forward but also limiting him. I am looking forward to learning more about Zenigata’s history with Lupin, but on the surface this is another clear example of Fujiko Mine’s focus on the “past”. It doesn’t stop here though, oh no, because we also get our first look at Fujiko’s past as well.
In what might be one of my favorite shots of the series so far, we see what appears to be a young Fujiko, laid out on a bed/couch. There is a lot of symbolism here, whether it be the butterfly and rebirth or stuck in a cage, etc. The big takeaway, which we already knew, is that her past was clearly not a happy one. Shes been trying to run from her past since episode 1. What makes it fit into the overall episode though, along with the “love vs lust” thing, is the River Lethe. Fujiko Mine mentions it a little bit, a river that causes those who drink from it to forget, or here when crossing be absolved of their “past”. So to see her “cross” this river to wind up in a loving home, with Lupin of all people, its a cute foreshadow to their relationship.
My hope is that between all of these character introductions and this talk about absolving past we will get to see her start to interact more with the rest of the cast. Of course Fujiko Mine hasn’t slouched on that so far. We’ve gotten to see her with each of the 4 other main characters in Goemon, Lupin, Jigen and Zenigata. I just think that Fujiko Mine is at its best when as many of these characters are on screen and interacting with each other as possible. Let these wild characters have fun and bounce off of each other. With the literal decades of history behind them from all the adaptations, I imagine their interactions have plenty of content to draw from. So overall, how was this episode? I once again enjoyed it. Fujiko Mine isn’t really a show I can binge, but when I watch it, I enjoy it.
Lupin is more than just a buffoon. In other tv series and specials he is a master thief and planner. Also Zenigata is more honorable than he is in Woman called Fujiko Mine. And his did not even mention Oscar
To be clear, I don’t mean to disparage Lupin when I call him a buffoon. Its just that is all that Fujiko herself as seen of him, and since this series is from her perspective, thats all we have really gotten as well. I’m not passing any judgements yet, he is a lovable buffoon and we have 9 episodes left. Thats plenty of time for more character dynamics/growth and for him to show us more about who Lupin is.
In a way I look at it like the Batman comics. Every Author has their own version of Batman, yet all of them share the same core character. I figure thats the same here with Lupin. Maybe your favorite is the Fujiko Mine version, or Part 1 or maybe Castle of Cagliostro. I am sure if I asked a bunch of Lupin fans which Lupin was their favorite, I would get a bunch of different answers. For me, thats part of whats exciting about an IP with this much history.
As for Oscar, I didnt mention him because the show hasn’t really done anything with him either. There are hints of things, for instance he clearly has a relationship with Zenigata beyond “Superior. I just dont know what kind of relationship that is. Is it Father/Son or perhaps something romantic? I have no idea, and I am waiting on the series to fill that out before I start jumping to conclusions. I could fill out a bunch of paragraphs going over every little detail sure, but at that point it just gets to long for most people to read. I much prefer answering specific questions down here if I dont get to it up there.
So yeah, I’m not disparaging the show in any way, we have plenty of content left to go. It just feels like we have only really seen the surface of all of these characters and that Fujiko Mine is waiting to dive deeper into them. Im withholding final judgement of them until the series finishes. Thanks for readin and keepin me true though, I appreciate you checkin in.