Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game Review
ルパン三世 イタリアン・ゲーム
Lupin the Third Part 4: Italian Game

Blog reader The French Lupin III Fan requested that I review Lupin III: Italian Game. Naturally, I agreed. Shockingly, I discovered this TV special featured the return of Rebecca from the Lupin the Third Part 4 series. Unfortunately, I also discovered something else.

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Spoiler Summary/Synopsis:

Fujiko joins masked man as he plays holographic chess with a nerd. His goal is to find the lost Cagliostro treasure. Meanwhile, Jigen calls Lupin to let him know that his target, the young actress, singer, and socialite Rebecca Rossellini, has been taken hostage on a train. Lupin goes to rescue her, only to be snagged by Zenigata. However, when Zenigata understands the seriousness of the situation, he agrees to help Lupin.

After misadventures getting there, the two save Rebecca from her obsessed, otaku fan. Later, a man named Balsamo, a descendant of Cagliostro, denies sending a challenge to Lupin. However, he does want to prove Cagliostro’s innocence. Lupin meets and later marries Rebecca, despite Zenigata crashing the wedding. However, the newlyweds are forbidden to consummate the marriage until they’ve performed a special ritual.

Meanwhile, Fujiko sends a card in Lupin’s name to steal a crown. Jigen, Goemon, Zenigata, and Lupin thwart her theft. However, an enthusiastic guard forces Lupin to give up the crown in exchange for Fujiko. The guard takes the crown, but it is Rebecca in disguise. After a chase, she eludes him, but considers it a loss since he found her out.

Meanwhile, Lupin plays along with Fujiko’s huff to gain an audience with the Masked Count. British royalty get interested in some found Marie Antoinette necklace fragments, so MI6 nab Jigen to get to Lupin. As such, Lupin is forced to rescue Jigen and uses Rebecca to secure that. Rebecca buys the castle where the Cagliostro treasure is supposed to be, leading to a race to find the treasure and unmask the mysterious Masked Count.

Thoughts/Review:

The moment I saw Lupin in the sushi restaurant, I thought, “Wait. This seems familiar.” As the scenes progressed, I became sure I’d watched Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game. Yet I had not. That’s because I was in fact watching the second OVA episode from Lupin the Third Part 4. While that episode served as a comedic prelude to that series, this TV special repurposes the animation used in that episode. Then it adds some original stuff here and there to try to connect it to the plot of that TV series.

This isn’t a new gimmick for Japan. Often, in order to milk the cow, Japanese studios will produce specials that are in fact no more than clip shows. Here, I can say that the stuff used from the TV series are done in a way to try to tell a “more complete” story. But the problem is, none of this is needed. It doesn’t enhance the original TV series story in the slightest.

To be honest, this special bored me as I’d already watched the superior Lupin the Third Part 4. Dropping the name “Cagliostro” is just a member berry. Even though Count Cagliostro in this story isn’t the one from Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, Rebecca does drop a reference to that movie. Regardless, inserting this whole treasure hunt was not needed.

Speaking of Rebecca, it was nice seeing her again. I wish modern Lupin III titles would bring her back from time to time.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Lupin The 3rd: Italian Game is a money grab for TMS and NTN. It recycles three episodes from Lupin the Third Part 4, then couches them with some new, boring, treasure hunt element. So while I liked seeing Rebecca again, I’d rather just rewatch the TV series this special repurposes.