tilly_stratford (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tilly_stratford) wrote2012-05-03 08:15 pm
tilly_stratford) wrote2012-05-03 08:15 pm
The One With The Pyramid
A.K.A THE ONE WHERE LUPIN AND JIGEN FINALLY MEET. WOOOO.
Let's first make it clear that this is a Jigen episode, so I'm CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED to love it. That's just how it works. Furthermore it features ancient traps and Jigen having to dodge and run and roll everywhere, so that makes it even better. SO ALL IN ALL I thought the episode was pretty enjoyable.
But now I'm allowed to bitch.
My main beef with this episode is that the opening scenes makes SO SAD. SOOOO SAD. I mean -- the ONE THING I expected this series to be about, the one thing that has had me excited all along, was that they'd be free to play with the character dynamics. I thought that was the whole point of making another origin story! Particularly when it comes to Fujiko, you know, freeing her up to be something besides the shrew who tells Lupin "if you steal this for me I'll sleep with you" and then betrays him at the end.
And then they make an episode where Fujiko tells Lupin "if you steal this for me I'll sleep with you" and then she betrays him at the end.
I. DON'T. GET. IT.
There was this BEAUTIFUL SETUP at the end of the first episode, this lovely hint of competetiveness and dawning mutual attraction but most of all two brilliant thieves FASCINATED by each other, and I really couldn't wait to see how that was going to develop. I was prepared to sit through so much iffy sexuality for just another glimpse of that. And then a couple of episodes later, Lupin has exchanged another few words with Fujiko and suddenly he's making impassioned speeches about how Fujiko is the greatest treasure ever and nothing means more to him, but there haven't been any pitstops between "vague interest" and "massive obsession". Well, he likes to touch her boobs I guess.
BUT OKAY THAT'S OUT OF MY SYSTEM NOW.
LET'S TALK ABOUT JIGEN.
It's almost infuriating how much I LOVED what they did with Jigen in this episode! I mean, sure, it might be me just filling in the blanks with my own headcanon, but with Jigen I feel like I'm starting to see something of what I hoped this series was going to offer. In this case, an insight into what this particular character is like when he's not yet part of the group dynamic.
I just love how this episode hints at how utterly aimless Jigen is when he's on his own. Having left the mafia he starts to drift, just him and his revolver and gladstone bag. You get that sense of Jigen desperately needing some exterior force to prod him in a particular direction, and that's why you know in your heart of hearts that his partnership with Lupin is simply meant to be. That's what so beautiful about it!
Not to mention the delicious little glimpses of Jigen's insecurities, the things he hides even from himself, like his guilt and self-doubt. He presents himself as the most cynical man on earth, and yet he still tries out weighing his sins in that marketplace. And when he encounters the scales in the pyramid, he can't bring himself to admit it, but he's nervous - and of course I choose to regard those scenes as Mystery of Mamo references (Jigen being secretly more scared of potentially supernatural phenomena than Lupin is).
OH WAIT. AHA.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT JIGEN'S CHARACTERIZATION IN THIS EPISODE: IT MIRRORS THE ONE IN MYSTERY OF MAMO.
MYSTERY SOLVED.
Still though, that ending was kinda disappointing. Not just the "oh ho Fujiko betrayed them" thing, but the Mexican standoff interrupted by a peacock, and then "Welp, see you later dude". I don't even know what note Lupin and Jigen's relationship is on at this point. Are they enemies? Are they pals? Again, I want the series to experiment, they're free to do so, but that ending wasn't intriguing, it was just anticlimatic.
Okay that's the *FEELS* out of the way. What's left?
I loved the ancient traps and riddles!
I loved the soundtrack!
I loved Jigen having to dodge and run and react to a billion different dangers inside that pyramid!
I loved Lupin and Jigen stealing stuff from each other as they were fighting!
I ABSOLUTELY HATED some of the art and animation this time around! I think a lot of this episode must have been made by some sort of B team, someone clearly couldn't figure out how to correctly draw Lupin or Fujiko's heads at basic angles (and you can't tell me it's the style, because the character sheets show how it's supposed to look), or how perspective works.
No no no no.
AND THAT SAND TRAP. The animators couldn't keep it consistent at all, and what were the guys even standing on? Jeez.
BUT ANYWAY, PRETTY ENJOYABLE EPISODE.
And oh oh random joy: Fujiko explains how Lupin is going to die a horrible death, and we get a glimpse of it -
THAT'S SUCH A GREEN JACKET THING AWWW.
Let's first make it clear that this is a Jigen episode, so I'm CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED to love it. That's just how it works. Furthermore it features ancient traps and Jigen having to dodge and run and roll everywhere, so that makes it even better. SO ALL IN ALL I thought the episode was pretty enjoyable.
But now I'm allowed to bitch.
My main beef with this episode is that the opening scenes makes SO SAD. SOOOO SAD. I mean -- the ONE THING I expected this series to be about, the one thing that has had me excited all along, was that they'd be free to play with the character dynamics. I thought that was the whole point of making another origin story! Particularly when it comes to Fujiko, you know, freeing her up to be something besides the shrew who tells Lupin "if you steal this for me I'll sleep with you" and then betrays him at the end.
And then they make an episode where Fujiko tells Lupin "if you steal this for me I'll sleep with you" and then she betrays him at the end.
I. DON'T. GET. IT.
There was this BEAUTIFUL SETUP at the end of the first episode, this lovely hint of competetiveness and dawning mutual attraction but most of all two brilliant thieves FASCINATED by each other, and I really couldn't wait to see how that was going to develop. I was prepared to sit through so much iffy sexuality for just another glimpse of that. And then a couple of episodes later, Lupin has exchanged another few words with Fujiko and suddenly he's making impassioned speeches about how Fujiko is the greatest treasure ever and nothing means more to him, but there haven't been any pitstops between "vague interest" and "massive obsession". Well, he likes to touch her boobs I guess.
BUT OKAY THAT'S OUT OF MY SYSTEM NOW.
LET'S TALK ABOUT JIGEN.
It's almost infuriating how much I LOVED what they did with Jigen in this episode! I mean, sure, it might be me just filling in the blanks with my own headcanon, but with Jigen I feel like I'm starting to see something of what I hoped this series was going to offer. In this case, an insight into what this particular character is like when he's not yet part of the group dynamic.
I just love how this episode hints at how utterly aimless Jigen is when he's on his own. Having left the mafia he starts to drift, just him and his revolver and gladstone bag. You get that sense of Jigen desperately needing some exterior force to prod him in a particular direction, and that's why you know in your heart of hearts that his partnership with Lupin is simply meant to be. That's what so beautiful about it!
Not to mention the delicious little glimpses of Jigen's insecurities, the things he hides even from himself, like his guilt and self-doubt. He presents himself as the most cynical man on earth, and yet he still tries out weighing his sins in that marketplace. And when he encounters the scales in the pyramid, he can't bring himself to admit it, but he's nervous - and of course I choose to regard those scenes as Mystery of Mamo references (Jigen being secretly more scared of potentially supernatural phenomena than Lupin is).
OH WAIT. AHA.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT JIGEN'S CHARACTERIZATION IN THIS EPISODE: IT MIRRORS THE ONE IN MYSTERY OF MAMO.
MYSTERY SOLVED.
Still though, that ending was kinda disappointing. Not just the "oh ho Fujiko betrayed them" thing, but the Mexican standoff interrupted by a peacock, and then "Welp, see you later dude". I don't even know what note Lupin and Jigen's relationship is on at this point. Are they enemies? Are they pals? Again, I want the series to experiment, they're free to do so, but that ending wasn't intriguing, it was just anticlimatic.
Okay that's the *FEELS* out of the way. What's left?
I loved the ancient traps and riddles!
I loved the soundtrack!
I loved Jigen having to dodge and run and react to a billion different dangers inside that pyramid!
I loved Lupin and Jigen stealing stuff from each other as they were fighting!
I ABSOLUTELY HATED some of the art and animation this time around! I think a lot of this episode must have been made by some sort of B team, someone clearly couldn't figure out how to correctly draw Lupin or Fujiko's heads at basic angles (and you can't tell me it's the style, because the character sheets show how it's supposed to look), or how perspective works.
No no no no.
AND THAT SAND TRAP. The animators couldn't keep it consistent at all, and what were the guys even standing on? Jeez.
BUT ANYWAY, PRETTY ENJOYABLE EPISODE.
And oh oh random joy: Fujiko explains how Lupin is going to die a horrible death, and we get a glimpse of it -
THAT'S SUCH A GREEN JACKET THING AWWW.