Lupin III: The Secret of Twilight Gemini

Original Title: ルパン三世 トワイライト☆ジェミニの秘密
Romanized: Rupan San-sei - Twilight Gemini no Himitsu
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Famed international thief Lupin has been unexpectedly summoned to the house of his old mafia boss, Dalune. Upon his arrival, the aging Don gives Lupin a diamond called the "Twilight", explaining to him that it is the actually the key to the lost treasure of the Geltic tribe, an old tribe of Morocco that was nearly wiped out long ago. Lupin is surprised that Dalune would simply hand over something so valuable to him, but the promise of the lost treasure is too good for him to pass up, so he immediately sets out for Morocco to begin the search.

But Lupin discovers this journey will be even more difficult then expected. Before he even arrives in the country, he finds himself being relentlessly pursued by his arch-rival Inspector Zenigata and a group of mysterious assassins. Then when he makes to Morocco, he discovers he has stepped into a war zone, full of rival factions, corrupt police officers, and secret societies fighting each other with a wide range of goals and motives. Aided by his friends Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon, Lupin sets out to brave the hazards of Morocco and solve the mystery of the ancient Geltic treasure.

Reader Review

Rating: 4.5 / 5
Reviewer: Chainclaw
Review Date: 2006-08-14

This movie is Lupin the 3rd at its best. Great animation, a brilliant story, and fast-paced action make this one of the best Lupin films ever made, rivaling even the Hayao Miyazaki film Castle of Cagliostro. For those of you who are not familiar with the Lupin franchise, Lupin the 3rd is a series of films about Lupin, a bumbling, chivalrous, good natured international thief who usually sets out to steal a valuable item at the beginning and generally ends up performing some great deed (like saving the planet or destroying a massing criminal enterprise) by the time the movie ends.

This film is different. While Lupin does end up performing some good deeds along the way, he stays focused on discovering the Geltic treasure and never deviates from this goal. Throughout the film, this remains the main focus of the story. However, there are many other factors involved in reaching this goal, including the history and motivations of the rival factions and rebel groups fighting in the streets of Morocco. The result is a brilliant and epic journey for Lupin and his companions that has plenty to interesting plot twists and investigative work, keeping the viewers well-focused on the complex story 'till the end of the film.

As usual, Lupin's womanizing and bumbling behavior are his own worst enemy throughout the show, often getting him into bad situations that could have been otherwise avoided. This could be somewhat annoying at times, as his supposed chivalry often led to actions that can be described as excessively stupid, even by his standards. For example, after failing in an attempt to save a woman sinking in quick sand, Lupin dives in with her because he "can't bear to see her die alone." Fortunately, this is not enough to ruin the entire movie, and in most cases, Lupin's behavioral traits actually contributed to the film.

Accompanying Lupin on his quest are his typical supporters, the sharpshooter Jigen, Samurai Goemon, and his sort-of-love-interest Fujiko. Unfortunately, they don't have major roles here. Their primary function is mainly showing up when Lupin is desperately in need of assistance and bailing him out of trouble. They aren't completely neglected, but it would have been nice to see them have larger roles. Fujiko really could have been better, as she seems to be here mainly to provide the fan service (i.e. pointless nudity) aspect of the movie.

As always, Lupin's arch-nemesis Inspector Zenigata is hot on Lupin's trail during his journey through Morocco. While Zenigata's role in the franchise generally is regulated to pursuing Lupin, attempting to catch him, and failing miserably, his role in the film is far greater. In addition to trying to arrest Lupin, he also finds himself caught up in the tense political situation in Morocco, fighting with local police for assistance in apprehending Lupin and suspecting that his supervisor Jean-Pierre has a lot more on his agenda then catching a single thief.

Visually, Secret of the Twilight Gemini is above average. This certainly is not the best animation I've ever seen, but it's pretty good and in a way, benefits from having a classic "old school" feel to it (although the movie was released in 1996). The film also uses some distinctive styles to explain the story. One of my favorite ways is history explained by the use of flashbacks, which are depicted in the style of a 1920s silent movie (a reason for this could be because the events told in the flashbacks take place around that time frame), complete with breaks between the characters talking and words appearing on the screen. This was a very unique style, and greatly contributed to the atmosphere of the film.

The music of the movie is one of its greatest strong points. The ending theme is outstanding, and the music played during the film itself is far better then one might expect. One scene that really stands out is a when Lupin and a female companion embark on a long camel ride through the desert. It's certainly not the most original idea, but it's brilliantly performed, with superb music and scenery to make it stand out as excellent.

But above all else, the story is really what makes this movie great. It has everything needed for a great adventure film: lost treasure, ancient civilizations, rival factions, brilliant character driven sub-plots, and political intrigue. Combined with interesting characters, great music, and good animation, this movie is truly one of the best Lupin films ever made. It is superb by any standard, and a good pick for newcomers interested in checking out the Lupin franchise.

US DVD Review

Funimation's DVD is a solid production. It includes all the basics: Decent if unimpressive video, Japanese and English audio tracks, and subtitle tracks that cover both a transcript of the dub and an actual subtitle track (the dialogue is quite a bit different, so this is nice). On the "nice touch" department, if you play the feature in Japanese, you get the credits and title screen as they were originally--in Japanese; if you're playing it in English, you get an alternate video track with an English title screen and credits. Nice. Extras consist of brief character bios and quick bios for the English dub cast. In a final nice touch, the disc is region 1, 2, and 4 (the Americas and Europe/Japan). Why, I'm not sure, but it's nice to see a less restrictive release whatever the reason.

Note that there's also an edited version available on DVD, but I haven't seen it to compare what's different.

Content Guide

Funimation calls the uncut version 15+. This film doesn't contain any foul language or gory violence, but there is a moderate amount of death and pointless nudity

Violence: 2 - A few deaths in the film, but nothing very explicit.

Nudity: 3 - Some bits of pointless nudity are scattered throughout the film.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Some hanky panky.

Language: 0 - Nothing objectionable here.

Notes and Trivia

The eighth in an ongoing series of TV specials, Twilight Gemini is a made for TV movie. This is the fourth appearance (relatively early; preceded by two OAVs and the previous TV movie) of Kanichi Kurita as Lupin's voice.

Yasuo Yamada, the actor who had given Lupin his distinctive voice since the beginning (24 years in total), died suddenly of a brain aneurism in early 1995 at the age of 62, just before starting the voicing on the "Die! Nostradamus" OAV. Fortunately for Lupin fans, Kanichi Kurita had made a career as a skilled impersonator, and one of his best impressions was of Lupin. As such, he was the perfect choice for the role when Yamada died, and immediately took over, at first as an emergency stand-in, but he has voiced Lupin in all subsequent performances.

In a bit of trivia, this film is one of the few in which Lupin appears in a white coat in addition to his trademark red jacket.

For those unfamiliar with Lupin's backstory, the character is based loosely on Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief who appears in a series of French novels by Maurice Leblanc. Published between 1907 and 1939, these novels were tremendously popular (and remain so), producing many spin-offs, film adaptations, and parodies. Among these is Lupin III, ostensibly "the third" because he is the grandson of the original. Copyright issues over the name with the Leblanc estate are among the reasons Lupin III was slow to make it to the US, and (apparently) why in the original Streamline release of Castle of Cagliostro he was renamed "Wolf," and was referred to as "Rupan" in the two films translated by AnimEigo.

The character of Lupin III was originated in a serialized comic series in 1967 by Kazuhiko Katou (better known by his pen name "Monkey Punch"). It was wildly popular and quickly spiraled into a massive franchise that continues today.

Availability

Available in the US from Funimation on bilingual DVD in both edited and uncut form. Was previously also available on dubbed VHS, also in "clean" and uncut versions.

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