April 30th, 2012 
AstroNerdBoy LUPIN the Third ～峰不二子という女～
LUPIN the Third – MINE Fujiko to Iu Onna Episode 04
Lupin III: A Woman Called MINE Fujiko – 04
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Fujiko has sex with Zenigata to get released from custody, but he has one more task for her to perform – to keep Lupin from stealing the jeweled mask of the opera singer Ayan. Zenigata’s assistant, Oscar, is not sure this is a good idea, but Zenigata plans to take two birds with one stone. Fujiko is taken to the Gerenia Palace and shown around, where she learns of the ghost of the place. During that night’s performance, where Fujiko plays a part, Lupin, disguised as a horse, grabs Fujiko and heads offstage, where he reveals himself to her. A stage light comes crashing down, causing Zenigata and his men to think it it Lupin, but it is some other masked, caped person. Ayan and her male lead improvise from there, but when the curtain falls, she passes out.
Fujiko takes Ayan’s place, where the plan is for her to be switched at a certain time via a floor elevator. However, Fujiko is taken down soon after she starts, and the elevator cage doesn’t open for her. The “real” Ayan appears, as Fujiko finds a note and realizes that Ayan had participate in the staged event of the stage light’s fall. Meanwhile, Lupin makes his move on the mask by releasing the bees on the roof of the palace, who are attracted to Ayan’s headpiece, thanks to a device he planted there. Her headpiece and mask come off, revealing a former stage hand named Nora, who’s apparently been masquerading as Ayan. The “Phantom of the Opera” enters to thwart Lupin from taking the mask.
Zenigata goes after Lupin while Oscar chases the “Phantom,” running into Fujiko along the way. He instructs the “Pig Woman” to follow him. She gets separated from Oscar in the maze under the palace, and comes to the aquifer, where she has an hallucination and caught by the “Phantom,” who turns out to be the superstitious stage hand, Darenzo. Another “Phantom” appears, who turns out to be the real Ayan. They take Fujiko to a crypt, that they’ve set up as a home so that Ayan and Darenzo can be together while Nora gets to live out her dream. While this goes on, Lupin manages to elude Zenigata and enters this domicile. Ayan shows how little she cares for the mask by throwing it into the fire, and invites them to have dinner.
Thoughts/Review:
So, Fujiko banged Zenigata as part of a deal to get out of jail? Man, that just seems so wrong and then some. *_*
Still, Zenigata is a much darker character here than I’ve ever seen him be. His obsession with Lupin isn’t cartoonish, nor buffoonish. Instead, Zenigata has a mission — kill Lupin, period. To that end, he bangs a prisoner and he even tries to shoot Lupin, though Lupin holds no malice to Zenigata, as displayed when he pumps fake blood on the cop. Zenigata become a MUCH more interesting character as a result.
Since Lupin remains in character throughout, I’ll go to Fujiko now. I see her as a woman with no self respect, who’s willing to do anything to make a financial score, even have sex with someone she probably would never touch in ordinary circumstances. I think the character of Oscar, who strikes me as gay, represents a portion of the audience when he calls Fujiko the “Pig Woman” and basically refers to her as a…well, I’ll use the term “lust dump,” but replace the word “lust” with a 3-letter word that starts with the letter “c.” I suppose that makes her a tragic character of sorts.
As to the story, it rather seemed like a reverse Phantom of the Opera of sorts, as the female opera singer is the one with the jacked up face, and a stage hand is her lover. Despite my non-interest in opera, I found the story surprisingly interesting, so much so that when the episode ended with a “to be continued,” I thought, “it is already over?” Things are laid out well from a writing perspective, which helped a lot. The changes in Zenigata, Lupin being there, and the interesting, if reeking of crazy, plot twists kept me glued to my screen.
Also, while the theft of the jeweled mask is the target of Lupin’s thievery, it is only a vehicle as the story is not about how Lupin is going to steal it, nor how Fujiko might try to steal it.
Putting the whole sex thing aside, the one piece that was distracting was Fujiko’s hallucination. I’ve no idea what the production team is thinking with that scene. It may become clear next episode and possibly reveal more about Fujiko’s possibly tragic past.
I’m not sure, but I think episode 4 may be the best yet, or at least, a close tie with the first episode. I’m rather looking forward to seeing how part two of this story plays out. I have a feeling that the results will have Fujiko semi-teamed up with Lupin.
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I looked into your previous comments and views on this show after reading this one, and I honestly don’t get why you still continue to watch. You don’t like the art style and character designs (which is absolutely flawless and more faithful to Monkey Punch’s original,) you don’t like the way Fujiko gets naked every episode (which is basically one of the main premise of this show: fanservice and targeted to the adults who will understand why it needs to be done), you don’t like the animation too (even with all the quality animation this season has presented, this show shines above all else in terms of animation style and artistry,) and most of all, you don’t like Fujiko, the main character herself, for being the person that she is, and that defeats the whole point of this show.
The audience is meant to be seduced and titillated yes, but the audience is also meant to see past that and understand that it needs to be done because that’s just the way the storytelling should go, because that’s the way the woman called Mine Fujiko is. So many bloggers in the animesphere that are reviewing this show has same views and opinions as you with regards to this show, and I’m so sorry that you just don’t get it. I suggest that you just stop watching this show if it doesn’t suit your taste, instead of harping about the things you didn’t like about it, and making it seem like there needs to some redeeming aspects to this show (because obvs Fujiko is a whore and cum-dump and immoral and has no dignity why does she get her own show goddamn) for people to enjoy it, when it is already fabulous and perfect as it is.
I love this show to bits. I would blog about it too if i wasnt in my final month of Uni. I may blog future episodes from 4 weeks time i guess.
When I start an anime, I rarely cut it short. The stories have been interesting even if the other elements I don’t like. This show, despite my complaints, has been well above most everything Lupin that has come out in a while.
@Lan — you could always blog the series after the fact. I’ve done that several times. ^_^
@Anon
ANB probably keeps blogging this show because he knows people like nudity in their anime and that means more blog visitors. But many of these people are for various stupid reasons afraid to admit they like nudity. That’s why bloviating about how nudity is bad is such a brilliant idea. These people oogle at Fujiko getting naked, get a hard-on, feel guilty about it, and then they can come here to commiserate about the evils of nudity with an apparently like-minded blogger. Episode after episode. It’s a service to fans.
>ANB probably keeps blogging this show because he knows people like nudity in their anime and that means more blog visitors
Nope. I said why I’m still watching and I have said. Were I posting nude images, you might have a point.
This episode brought in an aspect that I’d thought I’d comment on: Competent Zenigata. While I didn’t mind his occasional goofiness in stuff like Caligostro and TV Series 2 sometimes other movies and specials made his obsession with Lupin a little too much and it began to flanderize the character (much like how Oscar obsesses over Zenigata, but in this series it is within context) so I love how this episode fully establishes that this version doesn’t take crap.
Also, given what I’ve seen from the ED song and the hallucination in this episode it seems that Fujiko’s backstory will be touched upon and play an active role in her development in this series.
As far as the other comments go I respect that you have a strong opinion on what does and does not work in this series for you. I love the fanservice but I appreciate that your calling out what makes the series work on a writing level.
>I love the fanservice but I appreciate that your calling out what makes the series work on a writing level.
Well, it is the writing that does it for me. I can tolerate things I don’t care for when the writing is good.
I’m a bit puzzled by not seeing my comment here. Granted, I was sarcastic, but I don’t think I went beyond good taste in my ridicule. I actually think it was softer than the first comment by another Anonymous.
Google is the cause. We reviewed it and after consideration, decided to go ahead and let it pass.