I want you to watch Lupin the Third
If nobody’s told you today, then you need to hear something: you should be watching Lupin the Third.
One of anime’s oldest and most iconic anti-heroes, Lupin III is the star of a truly daunting number of projects, between a manga that’s been running on-and-off for half a century, seven mainline seasons of TV, somewhere between six and nine theatrical films depending on who’s counting, and countless TV specials. It can seem frighteningly inaccessible to newcomers, and I can’t count the number of people I’ve watched completely bounce off the franchise because they either couldn’t fathom jumping onboard or the place they chose to start wasn’t to their liking. In all honesty, I think most of those people would have really enjoyed Lupin the Third had they stuck with it. In fact, I think most people on Earth would enjoy Lupin the Third if they found the right place to start for their personal tastes — which is why I’d like to be your generally unqualified guide through Lupin the Third, if you’d be so kind as to join me.
Where to Start:
There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that there’s a correct place to start watching Lupin the Third. They’re all lying. There are a dozen great places to start your Lupin journey, completely dependent on personal tastes, and I’ll be glad to outline a few for you.
First is, of course, the Castle of Cagliostro. It was the first Lupin project I watched, and the first for many other fans, and with good reason. Cagliostro was the second feature film to be released in the Lupin franchise, and the first feature ever directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki’s penchant for sentimentality is on display in a major way here, along with his immaculate framing of one of the best of the series’ many, many car chases. If you’re already a fan of Miyazaki’s, this is a no-brainer, and I’d also heartily recommend it to anyone who loves the Princess Bride. Lupin isn’t entirely his usual self in this film — he’s softened a bit to present a more conventional movie hero — but all the elements of a great Lupin story are here, and it’s a great place for anyone who needs to be sold on the series as a whole. Best of all, at the time of writing, it’s streaming on Netflix.
Another one of the best places to hop on board, in my opinion, is the film Farewell to Nostradamus. Though not as critically acclaimed as Castle of Cagliostro, I find Nostradamus to be similarly charming. The film tells a much more traditional “Lupin” story, with a much more straightforward heist than the one presented in Miyazaki’s film, and the characterization of its core cast is on-point. Complete with the same big-heartedness as Cagliostro and a better overall representation of what the series at large has to offer, Farewell to Nostradamus is a great place to get onboard. This one isn’t streaming in any of the usual (legal) spots, but if you can get your hands on a DVD (or, of course, if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty on the high seas), I highly recommend it.
If you want something a bit sleeker, Lupin III: The First, the most recent theatrical release in the series, is an excellent option. The very first CG-animated entry in the franchise, the First is a pretty conventional adventure movie, but it does a great job of introducing the core cast of characters to new audiences. It’s also an absolute visual treat and one of Lupin’s most exciting outings yet. If you just want something that’s easy on the eyes and made with a ton of passion and reverence, it’s tough to go wrong with the First. If you’ve got a couple bucks to spare, it’s available to rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu, and all the other usual spots.
There’s also the long-running TV show, divided into six parts (and a spinoff, which we’ll get to later). This is where the vast majority of Lupin’s best work happens, and there’s really no wrong way to watch it. Each part stands more or less on its own, and each one has its own identity within the framework of the franchise. Part One, or the Green Jacket series, as it’s sometimes known among fans, has garnered something of an unfair reputation, in my opinion. Often considered cruel and gritty, it’s actually a pretty lighthearted affair. The characters are certainly a bit rougher around the edges and less sentimental than their more modern incarnations, but if you don’t mind some messy morality in your anti-heroes and some early 70s animation that doesn’t always stand the test of time, Green Jacket can be a lot of fun, and can be streamed on Crunchyroll or Funimation.
If Green Jacket Lupin is a bit edgy for your tastes and you prefer your rogues with a big heart of gold and a much more cartoonish sense of adventure, Part Two (or “Red Jacket”) might be for you. Far and away the most influential incarnation of the character, Red Jacket Lupin takes some cues from Castle of Cagliostro and brings the character to a more accessible, friendly starting point. Don’t be frightened by the “Two” in the title, by the way — not only is Red Jacket its own, self-contained story, but every episode is itself a short Lupin story with little-to-no narrative baggage, meaning you can jump into any of the staggering 155 episodes of this season without worrying about any confusing continuity. If you’re a dub enthusiast, I recommend checking out at least a handful of episodes of the Red Jacket English dub, as its delightful cast left such an impact on the franchise at large that they’ve continued voicing the characters intermittently for more than forty years. This one is also on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Regrettably, you probably haven’t heard much about Part Three, the Pink Jacket series. If there’s a black sheep in Lupin’s television history, it’s this one. Pink Jacket certainly isn’t bad, it’s just weird, pushing the cartoonishness of Red Jacket even further until Lupin becomes something akin to Mickey Mouse. It’s a perfectly fine place to start, and you’ll still get plenty of Lupin’s most lovable antics. In fact, if you’re in it for the inherent silliness of Lupin and his gang’s wacky plots, Pink Jacket might be the very best place for you to start getting a sense for what they’re all about. Personally, it’s not my favorite, but one of the neat things about Lupin is that everything is for somebody, and if you’re looking for a cartoon that isn’t afraid to push its zaniness to the farthest possible reaches, it’s a perfect place to start. It’s streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Following the end of the Pink Jacket run in 1985, the Lupin property entered a bizarre state. A barrage of TV specials, mostly mediocre, characterized Lupin’s lifespan from the 1990s to the end of the 2000s, at which point it made its return to television in the form of a strange, divisive spinoff (which, again, we’ll talk about later). It wasn’t until 2015, thirty years after Pink Jacket ended, that Lupin would finally return with the excellent Blue Jacket series, beginning with Part Four. The first proper over-arching plot in the main series did an admirable job of bringing Lupin into the modern day and told a compelling story with the classic ensemble cast. Part Four is an excellent place to start if your tastes are a bit more modern, as it takes a lot of its structural cues from more modern anime. It’s far more serialized than anything else I’ve mentioned so far, so if you’re interested in the 24-episode run, you’ll have to watch it from the beginning, but again, it requires no previous knowledge of Lupin, and is probably the most accessible starting point for modern anime fans. Part Four is streaming on Crunchyroll.
The Blue Jacket series continued with Part Five, making it the first of the “Jackets” to carry over between parts. Part Five is similar to Part Four, in that it tells a serialized story over the course of 24 episodes with modern sensibilities. Part Five’s representation of its characters is most in-line with the Red Jacket version, portraying the gang as a crew of screwball rogues with hearts of gold. Part Five contains a couple of offhanded references that suggest that it takes place in the same continuity as Part Four, but certainly nothing vital to the plot, and if you want to start with Part Five, there’s no reason to wait — in fact, Part Five comes highly recommended from yours truly as one of the best seasons of Lupin ever to make it to air. It’s streaming on Crunchyroll, Hidive, and Funimation.
So, What Next?
Above, I’ve laid out eight perfectly good places to start watching Lupin the Third. They aren’t the only eight options (you could certainly pick up one of the TV specials, for example), but I consider them to be some of the best and most accessible. But just as common as the incorrect assertion that there’s a “right” place to start Lupin the Third is the incorrect assertion that you can start anywhere. There are bad places to start with the series, projects that are some of the best the franchise has to offer, but that you can only totally appreciate once you have a base understanding of who Lupin is. So, in addition to a handful of awesome starting points, I’d like to offer you a few things to bookmark for your later enjoyment.
Topping the list at the moment is Part Six, the currently-airing season which marks the 50th anniversary of Lupin’s history on television. I want to be clear about something: you totally can watch Part Six first, if you’re desperate to be a part of the conversation. You’ll probably enjoy it. You just might not enjoy it as much as you would if you had a bit of context going in. Part Six pays homage to tons of elements of Lupin’s past (he dons his trademark green jacket from Part One for much of the series, for example), but of particular narrative import are Yata and Albert, two cast members introduced in Part Five. The two each play small parts in the overarching plot of Part Six, not so large that you’ll be totally lost if you’re not already familiar with them, but certainly large enough that I recommend starting this one after you’ve watched Part Five. It’s currently simulcasting every Saturday on Hidive.
One of the best Lupin TV specials, Episode 0: First Contact, also requires a basic understanding of who the characters are and what makes their relationships with one another so special. First Contact sets out to tell the story of how Lupin met the members of his ragtag gang, which might make it sound like a great place for newcomers to start. In reality, First Contact assumes a certain level of familiarity with the characters for most of its major emotional and narrative beats to hit. Watching it without any prior understanding of Lupin and his crew might leave you scratching your head a bit at moments that are truly some of the special’s highlights for long-time fans. There’s currently no legal way to watch First Contact in English, so, if you’re a regular old rule-follower, you’ve got lots of time to catch up on the rest of the series while you wait for a proper release.
As for that spinoff I keep talking about, you might be surprised to hear it’s actually the best season of Lupin. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, the first full season of TV to air after Lupin’s lengthy hiatus through the 90s and 00s, reimagines and subverts the iconography of Lupin’s long history in a variety of deeply interesting and exciting ways, and is absolutely worth a watch, but, in my opinion, if you want to truly appreciate what director Sayao Yamamoto and writer Mari Okada accomplished in this grittier, more mature take on the iconic series, you need to understand what they were building off of first. The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, like First Contact, is an origin story for the Lupin gang, and one that deserves to be viewed in the context of the series it’s deconstructing. It’s streaming on Funimation.
I recognize that my expansive guide to what to watch now, what to save for later, and what to Google for yourself may still seem daunting to newcomers to the franchise. What I hope I’ve been able to accomplish, though, is at the very least a framework that you can use to decide where to start with Lupin the Third. And, listen, if you don’t take anything else away from this article, you should at least hear this: you should be watching Lupin the Third. Some of the best stories in all of television are hidden in this bizarre, half-century old property, and you owe it to yourself to at least try to watch some of it. Pick one movie, or, if that’s too much for you, just one episode. You deserve it.
