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 Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro Cover Art |
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is not your average anime title. There are no scantily clad young girls to be found, no lollipop sucking teenagers wielding meat cleavers hiding in corners or effeminate men running around saving damsels in distress inside giant robots. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is quite possibly one of the better titles to be released by Manga Video this year even though it was originally released in 1979 under the original Japanese title of Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro which translates to Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro in English.
The fact that Hayao Miyazaki, the director of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle also directed this little gem should be enough to sell it to the world. We believe romantic adventure thrives in animation today, and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro definitely proves that point to perfection.
The main character of this animated movie is Arsene Lupin the III who just happens to be a master thief, of all things. Lupin is a character with a lot of history. There are around 228 odd episodes of anime released in Japan as well as 13 movies made for television all featuring our hero, Lupin the III. It has been 30 years since the character of Lupin first aired in Japan. That’s a pretty hefty reputation for a thief! Hayao Miyazaki has taken Lupin the III to new heights by giving him the profile of a romantic thief with a heart of gold in this re-released and digitally remastered title Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.
The characters in Castle of Cagliostro are all extremely well developed and in particular, Lupin and his sidekick, the shady yet entertaining Jigen Daisuke who feature throughout the anime as the ‘bad’ guys who are really just good guys with bad reputations. The character keeping our hero Lupin on his toes is the hard-nosed police Inspector Zenigata who seems to know deep down that although Lupin is a thief, he really is a good guy underneath. Of course, every good story always has a bad element and in Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, that bad element comes in the shape of Count Cagliostro, and what a nasty piece of work he is! Although Arsene is a master thief, it appears that in this movie, he is the one who ends up getting something stolen. As it turns out, Lupin the III doesn’t count on having his heart stolen by a young lady named Clarisse, who unfortunately, finds herself being held against her will by the Count.
As far as storylines go, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is entertaining and witty, humorous and touching where it needs to be. The action is great and the story works incredibly well with the strong characters that are portrayed. You can definitely see Hayao Miyazaki’s magic touch coming through in this movie, even though it was originally written in 1979! It just goes to show that no matter how old a movie is, the magic of story telling never wears off, especially for someone as talented as Hayao Miyazaki.
The animation is outstanding for its time. If you're a true fan of animation, you should be able to spot the subtle differences between the more rounded and flowing animation of Disney in comparison to the harder and edgier animation of the Japanese artists. The frame rate used for most Japanese animation is also created using 12 frames per second as opposed to 24 used by Disney animators. Nonetheless, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a wonderful story and the animation and detail that has gone into it is really superb.
The special features on the DVD include widescreen presentation, English, Spanish and French subtitles, complete animatic storyboards with feature soundtrack, an interview with Animation Director Yasuo Ohtsuka, Photo Gallery, Japanese Trailers and Motion Menus. Overall, this movie is a must see for any and all animation fans. The story has a little bit of everything; action, humour, romance and plenty of entertaining moments. With an animated legend such as Arsene Lupin the III, it’s little wonder the Japanese have been watching him on their screens for the last 30 years. Now, we all get the opportunity to understand why Lupin the III is such an interesting and entertaining character. With the talented creativity of Hayao Miyazaki behind the scenes, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a must see!
Animation: 8/10
Story: 9/10
DVD Extras: 8/10
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