Lupin III: A Woman Called Mine Fujiko – 10-11

I see nothing wrong with this kind of parenting style

I was planning on putting this arc into one post, because episode 10 left me rather speechless. I wanted to wait until the whole mystery was solved before I said my part, but that would mean putting together 3 or even 4 episodes in one post. I don’t want to do that. I was hoping things would become more clear in episode 11, but things sort of took a left turn as the story focused on Oscar. After two weeks, I’m still finding trouble gathering my thoughts on all this chaos, but I’ll try.

Episode 10 Reaction

That sure was…a thing…It’s not that I don’t know what to say about the episode, it’s that I really had no emotion reaction to it. It felt confusing just for the sake of being confusing, full of illusions not to enhance the story but to make us rub our tummies, turn in a circle three times and moo like a cow before actually getting to the point. Do we really need to be put through this performance just to get to the truth? It all feels a bit contrived, which makes me care even LESS about Fujiko. At one point I forget this was even about Fujiko, and I was more concerned about how the hell Lupin was going to escape this fine mess. If you’re trying to tell me someone’s backstory, it’s probably not a good thing for the viewer to forget the person you’re dedicating this huge story arc to. :/

Hopefully once the issue with the illusion-causing drugs and this society is cleared up, we’ll learn more about Fujiko and get this over with. I’ll be optimistic and say it might get better as things progress, and we can look at these owlish figures in retrospect and say “oh yeah, that totally makes sense now.” We’ll see. This is the most intricate set-up yet, since it will be spanning several episodes. It’s impressive, I’ll say that much. Will it all make sense at the end? Who knows.

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 Episode 11 Reaction

I liked this episode more because it was less weird. A lot of the imagery was more cheesy (flying through the sky in drag is not something I’m quick to accept with a solemn nod) and the plot was incredibly melodramatic, but at least it made sense and actually answered some questions about the characters. Pretty much everyone had their own little moment, but it was used to the fullest. We got to find out how Oscar met the Inspector, and how he came to love him. It’s a real shame he had to die though. I don’t see why he couldn’t have just thrown the bomb into the water without jumping in after it. I guess common sense is just slightly out of reach when you’re that grief-stricken and unstable. The saddest part is that he doesn’t even seem to get his one desire in death. He’s interrupted by a vicious owl before he can embrace his one true love. A true tragedy.

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The Knight Protects The Damsel in Distress

Goemon happens upon a very shaken Fujiko, and he feels it is his duty to protect her. Sadly, this knight doesn’t have a castle, so he sticks her in a tiny shack. A round of applause for Goemon, please, because he is a true gentleman. Not only does he protect Fujiko, but he doesn’t take advantage of her when she’s vulnerable. He also takes up the initiative to clear up her name when he hears about her committing crimes on the radio. She has been under his watch all this time, and is no state to sneak out and steal things, so he knows it can’t be her doing. He’s going rather far for someone he just met haphazardly during a mission. I think he partly protects her out of an old-fashioned sense of duty (the men must protect the woman). However, I also think he’s just curious about her, much like Lupin. She’s a tramp who doesn’t inspire men to protect her as much as a pure maiden would, but she does have a weak spot. No one person can harden their heart entirely, and Goemon is the only one who sees that spark of purity underneath. If he hadn’t met her when she was playing that nanny, he may not have come to the same conclusion, but he nonetheless thinks a bit more highly of her as a human being than most people.

Lupin is not quite so concerned about her well-being. He wants Fujiko to be his woman, but whether or not she crashes and burns along the way doesn’t mean too much to him. If she died, I imagine he’d mope for a good 10 minutes before regaining his senses and finding something better to do.

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Oscarella

Poor, poor Oscar. Everything he does is so transparent to everyone else. Both Lupin and the Inspector realize that he’s faking these crimes for attention. However, Zenigata does nothing in response. He lets Oscar do what he wants. I think Zenigata might have some idea of Oscar’s feelings for him, and he really just doesn’t want to deal with that. He respects Oscar and appreciates his presence, but he will never feel the same way for him. Crushing his hopes like that is too cruel, so he deals with Oscar in a very around-the-bout fashion. Zenigata lets Oscar have his tantrum, and only stops to lecture him towards the very end of the episode. He knows this will provoke a strong reaction, and doesn’t so much as flinch when Oscars runs off wailing.

The stuffed owl with the recording pegs Oscar perfectly. He wishes he could be a woman so that Zenigata would at least glance his way. That’s why he dresses up as women half of the time to get what he wants. If your beautiful, dying vision is yourself in a dress then that says a lot about what your ideal self is.

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.