Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye ONA Movie Review
ルパン三世VSキャッツ・アイ
Lupin III vs. Cat’s Eye

A year or so ago, I did a video on my second YouTube channel talking about Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye. As a huge Lupin III fan, and as someone aware of the Cat’s Eye franchise, I was interested in seeing this latest crossover movie. Plus, this was an Amazon thing, so I was curious about it. (Watch it here.) And since some folks inquired about when I might watch and review the series, I decided to take a moment to do so.

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Lupin, disguised as the lead, criminal henchman Dennis Kirchmann, acquires a painting done by Michael Heinz. The real Dennis discovers this and pursues Lupin, sinking his boat on the river. Meanwhile, three sister thieves called Cat’s Eye steal another of Michael Heinz’s paintings, who is their missing father. This was done under the nose of police detective UTSUMI Toshio, who’s the boyfriend of the middle Cat’s Eye sister, KISUGI Hitomi.

At the Cat’s Eye cafe, an elderly art dealer named Heinrich Berger talks to the sisters about their father and the third painting in the series. Hitomi sees Toshio on camera as he enters their secret storage room. She moves to intercept, except it is Lupin, who gives the sisters a warning as he steals their painting. Elsewhere, Zenigata meets with the real Toshio about the stolen paintings. Cat’s Eye and Berger take a private plane to get to the location of the 3rd painting. Likewise, Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon head there as well. When the guys learn Fujiko is on the train they are going to heist, they leave Lupin to it.

Lupin confronts Cat’s Eye on the train. However, Dennis and his troops catch them, aided by Fujiko. Dennis turns on Fujiko and destroys the train, getting the painting. Lupin saves Ai, the youngest Cat’s Eye member. Goemon and Jigen assist the older sisters to get away. Lupin explains the secret gems in the paintings and gives Ai instructions. They are soon caught by Dennis and his troops and taken to be tortured.

Meanwhile, Zenigata and Toshio track down the art dealership running as a front for Dennis’s group. Lupin and Ai escape. At the same time, Jigen, Goemon, Rui, and Hitomi infiltrate the same building. Dennis captures two of them after Berger betrays them. Berger, the real leader of the criminal organization, starts a ceremony using the stones from the three paintings. Elsewhere in the building, Fujiko uncovers the Nazi treasures stolen.

Lupin gets shot by Berger, but escapes. All three Cat’s Eye members attack, forcing Berger to retreat with the stones. Dennis kills Berger for what the man did to Dennis’s father. He then confronts Lupin, but the two let the other live. Fujiko gets the Cat’s Eye girls to safety. The trio return to Japan, where they hang the three portraits of themselves, including an unborn Ai.

Thoughts/Review:

Now that I’ve watched Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye, I have to say I’m a bit curious about the OG anime series. Maybe I’ll add it to the watch list. That aside, it was interesting seeing the Pink Jacket Lupin do his things in an 80’s setting with the ladies of Cat’s Eye.

Merging Two Worlds

Although I’ve never watched (or read) Cat’s Eye, I felt that Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye merged the two thief worlds pretty well. I could believe that Lupin knew of Michael Heinz. The ladies of Cat’s Eye seemed to be aware of Lupin, but in a believable sense. After all, these two franchises literally have nothing to do with each other. So Lupin would never have mentioned the Cat’s Eye crew, and vice versa.

That aside, this OAN gave me just enough information to know who the Cat’s Eye girls were. However, I didn’t understand why the girls didn’t have their father’s last name. Where is their mother? Also, I didn’t understand why the sisters named their cafe “Cat’s Eye” and then call their thief group the same name. Why would you blatantly use the same name?

To that end, as a police detective, Toshio is pretty thick. He’s dating one of the Cat’s Eye sisters. Also, e’s eating in Cat’s Eye cafe. He’s supposed to capture the Cat’s Eye trio. And yet he can’t put together the bleeding obvious. 😅 I have to believe this is how the character is throughout the original manga and anime adaptation. As such, I don’t understand why he even has a job.

Still, I did like Toshio’s interactions with Zenigata. In Lupin III, Zenigata is a famous police inspector. So it made sense that Toshio would have some fanboy responses to Zenigata.

The Lupin Crew

Because of the large cast in Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye, there’s not a lot for Lupin’s gang to do. As usual, Fujiko is working for the actual enemy in an attempt to make her own score. And as usual, she ends up switching sides to aide Lupin and Cat’s Eye, again with her own score in mind. It is all rather boring to me.

Jigen and Goemon go through the motions. As usual, when they find out Lupin is acting on a tip from Fujiko, they bail on Lupin. And again as usual, they change their mind and end up helping both Lupin and Cat’s Eye. To that end, Jigen is going to shoot stuff and Goemon is going to cut stuff. That was pretty much the end of their role in the story.

As to Zenigata, I liked that he’s not just a bumbling fool. It may not be flashy, but he and the reluctant Toshio did a lot of homework to track down the organization that Lupin and Cat’s Eye were after. Even when they initially confront Dennis, Zenigata plays it cool. He even devises a means to sneak back into the building to get in on things at the end.

The Story

As to the story of Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye, it is entertaining enough, I suppose. However, a lot of people have to be stupid for things to work. I already mentioned Toshio not seeing the bleeding obvious when it comes to Cat’s Eye. However, the girls of Cat’s Eye were pretty dumb when they trusted Berger. The moment he showed up, I knew he’d be the ultimate boss. But, no one questions anything.

Further, the girls of Cat’s Eye were rather dumb about the paintings their father did of them. The moment Ai mentioned that the third painting wasn’t of her, I figured it was their mother pregnant with Ai. And that’s indeed what it turned out to be. There was a lot of stupidity in the story. That may be why I really appreciated Zenigata being smart.

Regardless, the plot comes off as very by the numbers. At the heart of things is a lot of Nazi loot. That has been something done in other Lupin III titles. The criminal organization after the paintings (and Berger trying to become its leader through some mysterious ritual) is convoluted. It may be because I only watched the ONA once, but I didn’t understand the Cat’s Eye’s father’s ultimate role in this. Why make paintings of his girls to hide “magic” gems in?

Still, despite the stupidity and convoluted mess, somehow, I still enjoyed the ONA.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I need to get this review up as I return to work tomorrow. So let me wrap up things with some final thoughts.

• Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye takes the “Lupin Physics” to new extremes. I laughed at the absurdity of Jigen driving a car on a train. And don’t get me started about how Hitomi and Rui swing a car out of danger using wires fired from their wrists. Whatever.
• Amazon Prime’s subtitles are kinda trash. Obviously, we can’t have Japanese honorifics. But for some reason, we can add German ones that weren’t in the Japanese. I really hate these know it all “localizers” who feel the need to rewrite things in an attempt to improve things.
• Some folks won’t like the CG animation. However, it didn’t bother me.
• While this ONA is set in the 80s, at times, the technology seemed too advanced for the 80s.

In the end, Lupin the Third vs. Cat’s Eye is a rather mid tale in the Lupin III franchise. I don’t know how it would rank in the Cat’s Eye franchise. However, the ONA did cause me to become interested in the Cat’s Eye anime adaption. Maybe I’ll find time to watch that someday. That said, while I was somewhat entertained by the ONA, it isn’t a title I’d ever want to watch again.