LUPIN the Third ～峰不二子という女～
LUPIN the Third – MINE Fujiko to Iu Onna Episode 07
Lupin III: A Woman Called MINE Fujiko – 07

Fujiko is held captive and being whipped by Carib (Cuba) troops as a spy when she’s rescued by Bloodstained Vow communist revolutionary leader, Fiadel Kestro, who addresses her as “princesa.” In her cover as a journalist, she travels with Kestro as he proceeds to take over the nation of Carib. However, she’s recruited to assassinate Kestro, and is joined by Goemon, who’s also recruited. Thus when Kestro travels to the U.N. summit as Carib’s official leader, she joins him.  However, counter-revolutionaries hijack the plane, forcing the U.S. to refuel it.

Although now escorted by two F-4’s, the Soviets send a MiG-17 to shoot the Carib plane down. The U.S. President doesn’t want to start World War III, so does not have his fighters engage the enemy.  However, the Soviet leader decides to make a move and has the MIG fire, but Goemon destroys the missiles and saves Kestro and Fujiko. After Kestro makes his U.N. speech, Goemon confronts Fujiko, who’d only been after the hidden oil reserve locations of Carib. Although Goemon isn’t happy with her not carrying out her assigned task, he does respect her for carrying out an act of justice.

I’m not sure why the production team decided to rename everything from the Soviet Union to the United States to Cuba.  This is a work of fiction set on Earth, so just use the real nation names and treat it as some alternate universe thing rather than some bizarro land. Oh wait, they DID use the name “Japan” (“Nihon”) to refer to themselves, which makes their decision to rename all the other countries even more bizarre. O.o

I really disliked the disjointed storytelling method of this episode as it jumped all over the place in time.  However, like many aspects of the series, it is an attempt by the production company to be stylish as the cost of substance. Frankly, I just got bored with it all.

Goemon’s return served little purpose but to have him back, and for Fujiko to call him “Boyfriend-san,” using the actual English word and Japanese honorific. I did find it interesting that Fujiko referred to Goemon as her “boyfriend” to Kestro when he showed up and rescued them, though she doesn’t see him as such and is merely using him.  The look on Goemon’s face says that he won’t be a pawn of hers much longer.

While it is clear that “Kestro” is a combination of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, it was sickening to me on how romanticized he was made to be. Well, I suppose communist butchers are mostly given a pass in today’s world since they supposedly cared about the little people.  What a crock since they were no different or worse than the corrupt bastards they replaced.  But I digress…

I wonder how many of you in your 20’s even know about the Doomsday Clock?  I recall in 1980 that when Reagan ran for president, we’d immediately be thrown into World War III because he couldn’t wait to get into the Oval Office and push the button.  I seem to recall the Doomsday Clock people moving it closer to midnight because of Reagan, but then the Soviet Union collapsed and the Doomsday Clock was sort of swept under the rug (I think people still maintain it, but it just doesn’t get mentioned any more).

On a translation note, I can’t help but note how Spanish terms were OK to leave untranslated, but naturally, nothing remotely Japanese could be left in.  Don’t get me wrong, the Spanish terms that were left in the subtitles should have been there IMO, but I find the double standard to be…annoying.

Other than establish that this new Lupin series is set roughly about 1959-1960, I didn’t find much to really enjoy about this episode, right down to Fujiko’s, “Hey everyone! I’ve got BIG TITS to bare for you to look at” scene.