Ghibli-a-thon 1: Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

To prepare for my upcoming trip to Japan (and visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum), I've decided to undertake a marathon of Ghibli/Miyazaki films. While I've seen a lot of them, there are many that I just never got around to viewing. So, I'll be taking a look at what's readily available and I'll try to do it in chronological order. First up, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

The Castle of Cagliostro was released in 1979. While not a Studio Ghibli film, it was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and I wanted to take a look at some of his earlier works.

Lupin III is an iconic anime character who got his start in a manga by Monkey Punch. He is a gentleman thief and the subject of several TV series and movies. Please note that I am not familiar with Lupin and so can only enjoy it as it is, out of context from other Lupin works. The film is currently available at Hulu

Our film begins at the end of a heist. (In)famous thief, Lupin III and his cohort Diasuke Jigen are running out of a casino in Monte Carlo, their bags bursting with bills and the police in hot pursuit. Almost immediately, Lupin realizes that the bills are forgeries. So, they decide to head to Cagliostro to investigate the origins of the counterfeited money. While there, they find a princess in dire need of rescue from the evil Count of Cagliostro (who is behind the counterfeiting).

All in all, I consider the Castle of Cagliostro to be a fun caper. Lupin is a fun character to helm the adventure with some help from his friends and his frenemy, Inspector Koichi Zunigata. Oh, and the completely awesome Fujiko Mine. The extra characters, mainly the count and the princess, are not entirely original and I'd say the weakest point in the movie for me is the princess.

First of all, her name is Clarisse. The first thing I think of when I hear that name is Silence of the Lambs.

"Hello Clarice"

Clarisse is the Fanny Price to Fujiko's Elizabeth Bennett (preferably the version from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Where Clarisse uses a chair to try to break a window, Fujiko opts for a grenade. So Clarisse = boring in my opinion. While her would-be suitor is cartoonishly bad.

The film escalates to a rousing climax, complete with a battle in a clock tower that puts me in the mood for The Great Mouse Detective, a cringe-worthy end to the villain and an interesting twist in the finale.

The animation shows its age, but isn't overly unpleasant and the dub was decent. I found the actual storyline to be well constructed and tightly edited. Up next: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.