~STORY~
The story of Jigen Daisuke's Tombstone is definitely weaker than its original counterpart, even compared to individual episodes - which is certainly a shame. Rather than a focus on Lupin III, as you may have guessed the story is focused more on his hat-tilting, gun-toting friend Jigen. Or does it? Jigen is indeed the one in the title, but he seems less interesting than other iterations of himself, and commands less focus (More about that in Characters). Rather the plot revolves around an assassination, the assassin involved and why it happened. But is that even the point?
If you couldn't tell, the story, while easy to understand, lacks focus. It sets up a story of politics and assassinations, changes to one of 'who is of greater skill', gets sidetracked by something almost completely unrelated (Pretty much an excuse to get Mine Fujiko naked again - which isn't a spoiler), then wraps it all up with brief mention to previous points. While it does hit the regular Lupin III plot point of Lupin being the smartest guy in a room, I can't help but feel as if it's setting up for sequels by intentionally leaving things unexplained. I guess I just expected more.
~CHARACTERS~
The regular Lupin III cast returns... except my two favourite characters are missing! But oh well, the detective and samurai can be put on hold I suppose. As for the cast that does show up, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. While indeed Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen are all more or less themselves, I can't help but think that Fujiko and Jigen are less capable than they were in the original 'Mine Fujiko' series. To say more is spoilers, but I can't help but think that their skill is arbitrarily reduced to generate conflict. Despite this, there's nothing particularly wrong with any of the main characters personalities - if you liked them before, you'll like them now. The 'villain' however is not too exciting, the writers thinking eccentricity is a replacement for actual character. But if you're into calculated killer type of villain, then I'm sure you'll enjoy him just fine.
~ART~
While the art and the character designs is still very nice to look at (almost identical to the 'Mine Fujiko' series), I have to say that it looks much cleaner than its original counterpart, lacking the same style. Depending on your personal opinion that's either better or worse, but personally I missed the thick chalky shadows of the original. Certainly anything but bad, but it doesn't look quite as impressive as the original.
~SOUND~
Pretty standard for a modern Lupin creation - which means it's quite good. It lacks the breadth of the original 'Mine Fujiko' series, but then again 57 minutes compared to a 13 episode series means you can't have as diverse a soundtrack. Also a little less jazzy, which I missed, but that's just my personal tastes.
~ENJOYMENT~
As I said in the opening, while lacking the same quality as the original, Lupin IIIrd: Jigen Daisuke's Tombstone is still entertaining, as pretty much all Lupin is. It's a short watch, and worth it just to have a bit more quality Lupin.
Overall, if this is the first spinoff of many, this first one certainly hasn't reduced my opinion of those to come. I'm excited to see where this is heading, but I hope the story improves.
Toodles~
