Lupin III vs. Detective Conan

I just watched the "Lupin III vs Detective Conan" special and it was a lot of fun. The writers pulled off the story much better than I expected and all the characters were thoroughly integrated while the various scenes and actions all captured the respective spirits of the two franchises. Even the differences in character designs were well integrated yet all of the characters retained their traditional appearances. To be fair, the story was much more a Conan mystery than a Lupin adventure, but considering that "Meitantei Conan" is the series that is still on the air regularly and maintains high ratings, that shouldn't be too surprising.

The overall story was quite convoluted with what appeared at first to be divergent plot lines, but everything came together well thanks to some nicely developed surprises. There was lots of humor in the story, particularly from the Lupin gang, but the Conan gang had some of their usual high jinks too. Since this was a later broadcast than the usual Conan timeslot there was a bit more fan service and more mature remarks, including a reference to Ran's youthful but never-the-less quite ample "proportions". But as expected, Fujiko got to show her "charms" quite extensively, and as usual Lupin got to drool but not touch.

One of the things that I really liked about the special was that Kogoro got to show some competence. I always feel that it is unfortunate that Kogoro's character is depicted as being so incompetent in the TV series when the overall story line indicates that he isn't an idiot, but only acts like one because of circumstance.

Fans of Lupin III will no doubt enjoy hearing all of the old gang of voice actors at it again, however, everyone's age is coming through pretty strongly in their voices. But Conan fans shouldn't feel too smug, because the voice actors in that series are getting along in years too.

All that aside, the point of a collaboration like this is to let the fans of both series have fun and enjoy a smart, fast paced and intelligently done piece of entertainment. And this special did all of that well. My only regret is that we didn't get to see Fujiko turn her charm on for Detective Takagi - I really wanted to see Takagi explain that to Satou!

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Lupin III vs Detective Conan is a very cool TV special.

This crossover between the two long running series is done quite well. There's a story involving a princess in danger, who looks just like Ran. Conan is on the case, and meanwhile Lupin wants to take a crown, which he attempted to steal long ago. This involves a nice flashback to Lupin wearing his classic green jacket, so we get both red and green action in this.

The plot is a Detective Conan style murder mystery, and the Lupin gang is added to the mix, bringing their brand of fun. It's a fairly complex plot, but it's goes down smooth.

Fujiko kicks ass in this one, she's on the run with the princess, showing her how to have a good time and protecting her. Very cool, fun stuff.

Jigen is enlisted as a bodyguard and ends up working with Conan, and there are some very hilarious scenes with these two. Lots of snappy dialogue.

Lupin and Conan, they're both doing their thing, they have some action scenes, some fun dialogue moments, and are in fine form here. They have some memorable interactions, very fun stuff.

The other regulars like Goemon, Zenigata, and Kogoro all have some fun moments too, mostly just a good gag here and there. The two casts gelled very well together.

The animation is smooth, and it's pretty interesting how we have two very different kinds of character designs used for Conan and Lupin characters. It could blend together better, but it's still fun to see. The soundtrack is also done by Lupin's usual Yuji Ohno and also the Conan guy, and it's a fun mix of energetic tunes and smooth jazz.

All in all, if you're a fan of Lupin or Conan I'd say you'll enjoy this. It's a fun, very good anime adventure. Check it out.

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