Lupin III (Cagliostro/ Albatross/ Farewell)

Q: What is Lupin III?

"Lupin III" is a very popular animation series in Japan, based on the manga by Monkey Punch. It has three TV series, five movies, and numerous TV movies. Miyazaki co-directed the first Lupin TV series with Takahata in 1971 (from episode #7 to #23). In 1979, Miyazaki wrote and directed the second Lupin movie, "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro". In 1980, under the pen name of "Telecom" (Telecom is the company which Miyazaki worked for then), he wrote and directed two episodes of the second Lupin TV series: #145, "Albatross - Wings of Death" and #155 (the last episode of the series), "Farewell Beloved Lupin".

Lupin III is the grandson of the famous French Gentleman Thief, Arsene Lupin, created by Maurice LeBlanc. He and his friends, the master gunman Jigen and the master swordsman Goemon, go through many adventures to get treasures around the world. The beautiful and mysterious Fujiko could be either an ally or an enemy to Lupin. And Inspector Zenigata is always in hot pursuit of Lupin. Due to a copyright dispute, the name "Lupin" cannot be used in the US. Streamline renamed him "Wolf". Nippon TV renamed him "Cliff Hanger". To learn more about Lupin III, visit Lupin III FAQ by Luis A. Cruz.

Q: What is "Castle of Cagliostro"?

"Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro (Castle of Cagliostro)" is considered by many as the best Lupin movie, and it is a masterpiece. A rumor (unconfirmed) has it that Steven Spielberg was completely blown away by this film. It's a classic adventure story with great action scenes, a princess in a tower (who is a lot tougher than your ordinary princess, though), a really evil villain, a castle with trap doors, dungeon, maze, and many secrets. It's a fun, yet touching film.

"Cagliostro" had been voted as "the best anime in history" by the readers of "Animage" for a long time, until "Nausicaa" came out. The heroine, Clarisse, had also been "the favorite heroine", before she relinquished that title to Nausicaa.

The English dub of "Cagliostro" is available from Streamline Pictures. Unfortunately, the dialogue was considerably dumbed down. If you want to know the brilliant dialogue in the original, you can get a script in English. Since Streamline has exited from the anime business, "Cagliostro" was picked up by Manga Entertainment. They say they are going to release a sub (and a dub) of "Cagliostro" sometime in 1997.

Q: I heard that there was a real Count Cagliostro. Is it true?

Yes, there was a real Cagliostro. He was a scoundrel in the 18th century, who called himself a Count, and counterfeited money. There is a book in the Lupin (the first, not the third) series by Maurice LeBlanc, called "Countess Cagliostro" (published in 1924). In this story a mysterious woman, who turns out to be the granddaughter of this Cagliostro appears. The heroine of this book is Clarisse (!) and she marries Lupin (!!). There is also a sequel, "The Revenge of Cagliostro".

The idea of a "treasure under water" in Castle of Cagliostro was also taken from one of LeBlanc's Lupin novels, "The Green-eyed Lady".

Q: Wasn't there an arcade game based on "Cagliostro"?

Yes. There was a laserdisc-based arcade game called "Cliffhanger" back in the early 80s. It used footage from "Cagliostro" and another Lupin movie, "Mystery of Mamo".

Also, a Playstation game of "Cagliostro" was released in Jan., 1997. See Freddy's Anime PSX page for more information about this game.

Q: What is "Albatross"?

"Shi no Tsubasa Albatross (Albatross, the Wing of Death)" is an episode in the second Lupin TV series. Miyazaki wrote and directed it in 1980. Albatross looks like Giganto in "Future Boy Conan", and the air battle scenes are very similar to the one between Giganto and Falco in "Conan". This motif was later developed in battle scenes in "Nausicaa" and "Porco Rosso".

"Albatross" shows Miyazaki's love for aviation well. Albatross is a giant plane modeled after the Dornier Do. X. Seaplane and the Spruce Goose. It was housed in an airplane museum, and we can see many old planes there (some of them are from the Italian Air Force). It also contains a somewhat heavy theme: antinuclear. Albatross is a flying plant for ultra-small nuclear bombs.

Q: What is "Farewell Beloved Lupin"?

"Saraba Itoshiki Lupin yo (Farewell, Beloved Lupin)" is the last episode of the second Lupin TV series, aired in 1980. Miyazaki wrote and directed it, and since this was the last Lupin he was involved with, this was also Miyazaki's farewell to Lupin. And what a farewell Lupin (and we) got! "Farewell" is sort of another "Cagliostro". The heroine, Maki, is a dead-ringer of Clarisse (and played by the same voice actor, SHIMAMOTO Sumi). The last scene was exactly like "Cagliostro", only this one takes place in Japan. However, the theme of this episode is a bit more serious than "Cagliostro". Lupin helps Maki to outsmart a greedy owner of a defense contractor who tries to sell deadly robots as weapons. There are scenes in which Tokyo becomes a war zone under martial law (a motif Miyazaki once depicted in "Flying Ghost Ship"), and we can see Miyazaki's feeling towards the military-industrial complex in this episode.

We can also see which anime have influenced Miyazaki in this episode. The beginning of the episode is Miyazaki's homage to the Fleischer brothers' "The Mechanical Monster" (1941), the second episode of "Superman", which features a robot that looks like the one in "Farewell". Actually, Zenigata says, "It's just like Superman!" in this episode. ^_^

Both "Albatross" and "Farewell" (For some weird reason, Streamline named this episode as "Aloha Lupin" in their dubbed version) are available from Streamline Pictures as "Lupin's Greatest Capers". However, since Streamline has exited from the anime business, we don't know how long they are going to distribute them, or who would pick them up (hopefully, Manga Entertainment will).

• English Scripts for "Albatross" and "Farewell".