Lupin III: OVAs

Publisher
Various
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
Various
Year
0000

Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
7th Apr 05

Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy (or also known as “Plot of the Fuma Clan”) was released in Japan in 1987 as an OVA.

Warning possible spoiler! In next paragraph: identified by * at start and finish.

Fuma Conspiracy starts out with Lupin, Jigen and Fujiko attending Goemon’s wedding. During the service a group of masked men try to steal a valuable urn, a family treasure of Goemon’s bride to be, which is needed to marry the two. They are thwarted by Lupin, Goemon and the others, unfortunately the men then kidnap Goemon’s bride instead demanding the urn as ransom for her return. A mysterious man approaches Inspector Zenigata *who believing Lupin to have died (a flash back is shown, this may of happened in another OVA or anime episode)* sets out in search of Lupin. Lupin and Goemon are told of the importance of the urn, how it leads to the path of an ancient treasure by the bride’s father. Who refuses to exchange the vase even for his own daughter’s safety, also telling them that the people who kidnapped her were the Fuma clan there clan’s oldest enemies. Lupin steals the urn, as he and Goemon go search for the missing bride. Then the whole thing turns into a race for the lost treasure, with Zenigata bringing up the rear after Lupin.

While this review is not of a DVD version of the Fuma Conspiracy, but rather a subtitled video version, a DVD version is able to be bought on region one DVD. This DVD version is mistranslated “Rupan III” (apparently on purpose as to avoid copyright laws as another company has the Lupin III license).

The quality of the artwork is extremely good when comparing to other Lupin III anime as is the animation; a couple of sequences where characters begin to hallucinate are carried off extremely successfully. Although the picture quality is a bit lacking (but this is a review of a VHS version). The sound quality is poor (again possibly due to the video), nothing seems to stand out much other than the Lupin theme.

While this seems to follow a set formula along with many of the other Lupin III OVAs/Movies/TV specials, this stands out quite a bit, due to the main love interest being Goemon’s rather than Lupin’s. Also Zenigata’s character has a fair bit of development occurring from the possible spoiler mentioned above. Also the OVA moves along at a cracking pace and very rarely slows down and the hour and ten minutes that the film lasts will fly past in a whirl.

Lupin III: The Fuma Conspiracy should be a welcome addition to any Lupin III fan’s collection and will also sit very nicely in any anime or action collection.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 7th Apr 05