Lupin III: Part 6

Lupin III Part VI is a step back in modern Lupin.
After the brilliance of Part V I had high hopes for this season, sadly it didn't quite reach them.

In Part VI we get two main stories, Sherlock Holmes and Lupin's Origins, with a mixture of episodes from well known creators in between, sadly the series doesn't have solid arcs like Part V.

London and Sherlock Holmes was an interesting arc spread throughout the first cour, Sherlock was portrayed well and the mystery was interesting, sadly the arc was split with odd episodes wedged inbetween its beginning and end, making it a bit jumbled.

Lupin's Origin which is ... spread through the second half of the series, again with odd episodes breaking up it up once again. This arc is weaker, with less interesting characters and a so-so ending.

The singular episodes between were of varied quality, though many were quite creative, personally my favourite was Episode Four: The Killers in the Diner.

As for characters, they're as good as always, but sadly the series has none of the exploration of their relationships that Part V had.

Side Note: Jigen's voice actor has changed for the first time ever, his new VA does a great job.

Overall it's Lupin III which other than Part III automatically makes it a good series, but it doesn't reach great.

This latest installment of the Lupin III franchise appears to go back into the "green jacket" roots with its major characters. Mixing ongoing and episodic story developments, Lupin III: Part 6 dabbles into two ongoing story arcs with the first exploring Lupin and his gang crossing paths with the modern incarnation of Sherlock Holmes connecting him with the murder of his former assistant, Watson, and the second half featuring Lupin trying to gain possession of a diamond stolen from his family years earlier while crossing paths with a group of women thieves going after the same valuable item. Whether episodic or ongoing, all the episodes ... go back to the roots of the "green jacket" style of Lupin III as the characters are more serious and Lupin's gang aren't afraid to take lives if things get serious.

As far as the storytelling goes, the ongoing story arcs have a good deal of plot development and foreshadowing that elude to elements of their situations as things build up. The Holmes arc has its fair share of layers to its plot with Watson's murder seemingly connected to a larger conspiracy that is unraveled as episodes progress and having some element of drama as his murder affected Watson's daughter, Lily, who has repressed memories of the incident. The Witch and Gentlemen arc attempts to add some fleshing out of Lupin's past as the group of women thieves are apparently connected to an old teacher Lupin had in his childhood named Tomoe, though this plot gets a bit convoluted to follow in later episodes as more about these connections get revealed.

The episodic plots in the series either attempt to get experimental exploring different heists or characters within Lupin's gang or providing humor to attempt balancing out the more serious direction of the ongoing story arcs. These stories are a bit hit and miss with their quality, as I tended to lean more favorably for the more comedic episodic plots for the series that include Lupin and his gang attempting a heist against an elaborate security system that longtime Lupin fans may be familiar with from past parts of the series and a young woman misunderstanding the interactions between Lupin and his gang as some sort of complicated romantic developments involving Fujiko.

In short, Lupin III: Part 6 largely offers more of the same in its storytelling structure offered from recent TV installments of the franchise mixing ongoing story arcs with episodic plots, but following more in the tone of "green jacket" installments of it. The quality of the story arcs and episodic plots have their fair share of highs and lows for me personally, making the quality of it overall be down a nudge compared to Part 4 and Part 5. But if you are a longtime Lupin III fan craving more of the "green jacket" tone, Part 6 may be worth a look.

The first half was pretty boring (The Imperial City two-parter was unbearable), except for a few stand out episodes. Sherlock was an interesting character but they didn't do enough with him. Almost as soon as the second half started, the quality was leagues better. I enjoyed most of the episodes and the over arcing plot was interesting. The final three episodes were great, with the penultimate one getting me decently emotional. Only thing I didn't like was the inclusion of the Part 1 house, because they made it the Lupin family mansion and that just needlessly complicates things, if it is infact the same house ... from part 1. This is by far the worst mainline Lupin show, but it ended a lot better than it began and i enjoyed it a decent bit.

Unrelated, why were Fujiko's bappos so much in this part, like wow.