Lupin The 3rd: The Pursuit Of Harimao

Written by Tom Clare in Film Reviews, Thursday 30 March, 2006

International Man Of Mishap

It just goes to show, you can never keep a good thief down. So Lupin III (master-thief and star of numerous animated escapades) may have seemed a little subdued by his standards in The Secret Of Twilight Gemini, but it seems the incentive of another treasure heist has helped the lovable rogue return to his brilliant best. Harimao's introduction alone depicts Lupin's successful robbery of a priceless statue, the bamboozling of an entire police force that are on his tail and even a pleasingly accurate Curly-from-The-Three Stooges-laugh - and from this point on its fun all the way.

An anime first released in Japan back in 1995, The Pursuit Of Harimao's Treasure (TPOHT) was granted a UK DVD release in 2004, following the success of the rather ancient (though also rather great) 1979 hit The Castle Of Cagliostro. As it's something of a low-key Region 2 release, the disc is somewhat bereft of extras, though the £7.99 asking price on play.com is, all things considered, a perfectly acceptable admission fee for what is a cracking film.

So Lupin III once again dons his red jacket, blue shirt and gold tie (it looks better than it sounds, trust me) and once again sets out on the trail of a treasure hunt - this time it's a particularly well-hidden stash known as Harimao's Treasure, thought to have been buried since the Second World War and rumoured to be worth in excess of $8 billion. Lupin needs three statues (comprising of a bear, a monkey and an eagle) to reveal this fortune, and having nabbed the first of these in the opening minute of the film, sets off to find the other keys to the mystery. Joining him as ever is his trusty sidekick Jigen, once again exuding cool in his dark mafia attire; he as always chooses to speak only sparingly and lets his buddy (whom he nicknames 'Boss') do the goofing around, as he hides his features away behind his trademark hat and crooked cigarette. Also making appearances are samurai-supremo Goemon, who decides to reunite with the gang on a part-time basis in his search for a pay-rise and salary to match his considerable abilities (not content with 'nine-eighty an hour'), and Interpol's Inspector Zenigata, the grumpy (though lovable) officer who never has any luck in catching Lupin, always finding himself a step-behind him despite his tireless work - though in this film he seems to have developed a curious fetish for noodles!

Meanwhile, Lupin's old flame Fujiko is up to her old tricks, this time posing as a secretary to retired British Secret Agent Sir Archer, who as luck would have it, is also after Harimao's treasure following the sabotage and destruction of his train tunnel connecting Paris to London, leaving him with some rather hefty bills to pay. His stubborn-but-resourceful granddaughter Diana finds herself in the token blonde-bombshell role and therefore it isn't long before she becomes the target of Lupin's affections, remarking when he first sees her: "She's cute! Now that girl's exactly my type", to which Jigen returns "I thought every girl was 'exactly your type'".

Under these unusual circumstances, the master-thief and the Secret Agent find themselves having to work together when a sinister threat emerges. Somehow, it wouldn't quite be Lupin The 3rd if there wasn't a cross-dressing Nazi filling the 'villain' slot - in this case it's the fabulously-named Herr Mafrodite and his/her towering henchmen Goering who will stop at nothing to get their mitts on the treasure. The dirty swine's!

…And so what you have in essence is one and a half hours worth of light-hearted lunacy - and it's absolutely superb. The storyline is pleasingly well-developed in comparison to the slightly uninspiring Secret Of Twilight Gemini, though it's also quite simple to follow (not always the case in anime). Despite it being a Japanese-to-English translation, the humour sees significantly more hits than misses, both in terms of dialogue and slap-stick, and the volume of one-liners and in-jokes is also highly commendable. And its not just the humour that's quick-fire, the action moves at a respectable rate of knots too, ensuring that, one way or another, there is rarely a dull moment. If Lupin is not fighting Nazi's he's tackling lethal traps in hidden passageways, or darting across train-tops. The high-point from an action point-of-view however is a very Bond-esque boat chase through the canals of Amsterdam, with the thief beginning the scene Para-gliding towards the water-way and ending it being dumped out of a Nazi helicopter by a villain three times his breadth. The scene epitomises what is so great about the series as a whole - the pursuit is alive with activity; the music finds its voice and notches up the tempo a fair whack; Lupin's famously-inventive gadgets are given a good workout and there's still time to throw in some comical animations and dialogue, plus the skill with which the scene is designed and shot also deserves a mention.

The five ever-present characters from the series are once again on top-form, and it's difficult to emphasise how good a bunch they are - perhaps because each complements the next in a funny kind of way. Lupin himself is the main focus of attention as ever with action never seeming too far away, and his light-hearted, wacky nature means laughs are always just around the corner too; his efforts to gain the affections of the posh Diana prove problematical as she seems permanently on a short-fuse, not helped by the thief's unflattering description of her being "feisty and a bit on the hairy side" - to which he is greeted to the first of many slaps. It appears that all of Lupin's cohorts have been given meatier roles in TPOHT, and this undoubtedly works to the films advantage. Inspector Zenigata, the red-faced Interpol officer is perhaps the standout character among a first-class bunch, finding his best opportunity of capturing Lupin foiled as he himself is being handcuffed by British police. Still, its not all doom and gloom for the hard-working fellow - he finds solace in his continued purchase of noodles, though he struggles to find an appropriate time and place to eat them - culminating in a fantastically funny section where he walks into a fancy restaurant and simply orders boiling water.

The addition of the Sir Archer character is something of masterstroke, as there is no doubt that he is intended as an aging version of James Bond, with the Monty Norman-inspired music further emphasising this - but for the odd-key change here and there, 007's lawyers may have considered a law-suit. Archer's spy museum consists of some blatantly symbolic items such as a Walther PPK and a certain Aston Martin, to which Fujiko makes reference to his 'first gold-smuggling case' - you can work the rest out for yourselves! The chance to see the minds of the master-thief and secret-agent pitted against one another early on is fantastic, and it seems no place is big enough to hold both of their egos.

Visually, the animation is none to shabby for its age. The locations are imaginative and vibrant; London is a particularly impressive point of focus thanks to the evening setting, with the Thames river glowing orange under the setting sun, and the animators even decided to slip in some fancy lens-flair effects for good measure. It's easy to forget at times that it is an anime, given the wealth of camera-angles and the scale of some of the locations, and though it looks a little dated next to the likes of Finding Nemo and Spirited Away, the hand-drawn and crafted look to TPOHT are, in a way, just as endearing. Not for the first time in a Lupin The 3rd DVD, the picture quality is rather less impressive than it could have been, and it's a shame that given its age it couldn't have been remastered by FUNimation, just so it didn't look like you were watching it on a VCR.

As with the aforementioned Secret Of Twilight Gemini DVD, TPOHT only has the English-dubbed edition available to view - whether the Japanese version with subtitles would have been any better is therefore something I can only really speculate at, though given the sheer volume of action and general on-screen antics contained within the film, it may have been a struggle to read and watch simultaneously, though the option would have been nice. Anyway, the overall result is some surprisingly-well voiced main characters and some distinctly dodgy English and German accents - though it wouldn't be the same if Lupin III started taking itself too seriously… A nice mini-collection of character biographies is all there is in terms of extras; good for what they are though hardly substantial.

Fujiko keeps her boobs to herself this time around though Lupin The 3rd: The Pursuit Of Harimao's Treasure still earned itself a 15 certificate, which is perhaps a tad harsh. There is a bit of violence and a decent smattering of Nazi's but it's tongue-in-cheek for the most part, though some of the adult humour may be considered a little much for younger ears. This instalment is my personal favourite of the series thus far, though youngsters would probably do better to start with The Castle Of Cagliostro, which has the same kind of charm and wit though is aimed at a slightly more rounded audience.

Overall then? I love it - more gadgets, guns 'n' girls than your average Bond film and more knowing spoofs and jokes than an episode of Dead Ringers, plus a roster of superb characters, each charming and funny in their own way. The Internet has made anime more readily available at decent prices, and for £7.99, this is one reason not to ignore the genre while it's still at least partially on the radar over here. Heartily recommended.

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