Lupin III: Princess of the Breeze - Kakusareta Kuuchuu Toshi

This is a great special in general. However, the style deviates from traditional Lupin animation. If you're open to that, this is highly recommended. I think it's great for anyone new to the Lupin franchise as well, since the animation fits well with current styles.

ART: Well, the level of animation is stepped up to present day, but something about the way the main characters are drawn seems off, Lupin in particular. I don't know, the franchise has a very particular style. It almost seems like there's the main quartet (and Zenigata)...and then everyone else. Which isn't bad, mostly. I mean, it's like saying, "Hey, this ... is temporary. It's not going to stick." Occasionally they try too hard to make things fit, and that doesn't happen here (which is appreciated). Additionally, we've got the obvious CG every once in awhile, mainly with anything that flew.

STORY: This is your typical "Lupin meets a mysterious damsel in distress, usually age inappropriate, and she has a massive secret that drags the group in" story. The girl, though, is actually not completely useless, though, which makes her interesting. I ended up liking her quite a bit by the end. It seemed like it might have a Disney ending and didn't, which I respect.

Another problem in attempting to update Lupin for present day is technology and such. This was a major "ugh" factor in Green vs. Red. While Lupin certainly masters everything he comes across in order to be the best thief, it gets to be too much to swallow when he suddenly has all these devices, or a Batcave-esque hideout, or suddenly knows EVERYthing about hacking. This special/movie thankfully didn't do that, as it seemed to have learned from past mistakes, and technology isn't addressed at all. In fact, one of the major plot devices is using steampunk-age airships. I took that as a tongue in cheek message from the producers saying, "We got the hint. It won't happen again."

CHARACTERS: This special/movie features one of the ugliest babies in anime ever and a scene with the baby pooping...and then you get to look at the poop. Completely unnecessary. But the characters are wonderful, as usual. There's always at least one scene that for me makes the whole special/movie worthwhile and makes me laugh out loud. In Princess of the Breeze, it was this one:

I love all the main characters in this franchise. Goemon has his own checkered past, so he really has no complaints as to how the group conducts their business. Even when people expect him to have a stereotypical samurai reaction (this happens numerous times in series 2, like the Kooky Kabuki episodes), he still just goes with the flow and is almost always loyal to Jigen and Lupin (except if a woman is involved).

***SPOILERS BELOW...sort of***
This scene is a great example of that. Goemon walks in, all stoic like, sees Jigen and Lupin with a baby, blushes, and walks out. Jigen says, "I think Goemon has the wrong idea." But we don't see him again until later in the movie at which point he returns with a traditional Japanese toy. So during the scene when he was blushing he was actually crazy excited and was leaving to go get a toy (all the way in Japan) for the baby that his group apparently adopted (and, by the way, is the weirdest and ugliest baby in all anime). He didn't care about the circumstances, he was just going with the flow. I love it.

As for the other mains, Zenigata's presence is negligible. Jigen's chainsmoking is addressed momentarily, and Fujiko is doing her own thing, showing that she's a formidable thief as well.

A couple of things didn't make sense. What was Shion's position, exactly? If the girls' parents were royalty, why weren't they regarded as royalty? Why was the baby so important? It belonged to a royal guard, not anyone important (as the movie may make you think), but it still plays a large part in the movie. While funny, I still kept hoping that something would happen with it.

A baby that everyone loves and the boys are taking good care of.

Everyone loves the baby and has given Lupin celebrity status!

The airship technology, so they did science instead of magic in this one - which I appreciate. I also love airships!

The character development women in this one were pretty bland and stereotypical. I feel like they tried to pull off some very old tricks in a very earnest way, but that still couldn't make it good. And, there's a pointless love story that comes out at the end. For everything else that the movie was, that was a huge let down, but the baby ... kept me going. The ending has closure to it, though.

Fujiko is mostly out of the picture in this one. Zenigata gets more time than she does.

I would suggest this to Lupin fans, but not people new to anime.

The thing about this special is that the story is exceedingly too simple. From the very start to the very end, you feel as if nothing really happened, and things were the way just because. The movie is pretty and charming (which is expected), but exceedingly lacks inspiration, purpose, sophistication. It's incredibly bland, almost generic.

The basic setup of the story is the same as other Lupin specials/movies. This special doesn't do anything new.