Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen Daisuke no Bohyô

The haunting guitar riffs opens to a shot of someone standing over a gravestone... Jigan's gravestone. Gary Stocksale's rocking tune "Revolver Fires" is the theme song, which I thought should've opened with (then finished off), as it would've come out with a bang setting up quite a high-octane and edgy Lupin the third animated outing. Not to say it loses its playfulness between the characters (as the combinations still crackle, even if a little dry), but it's mainly kept in check steering closer to something darker, considerably violent and matured based.

This 50 minute spin-off (broken up in two parts) from the animated TV series; "Lupin the Third: A Woman Called Fujiko Mine" mainly centers around Lupin and Jigen performing a heist to only come up against a mysterious, but well-dressed assassin who has marked Jigen as his next target. As the elaborate plot moves along it begins give out the details of why he's targeted, and not Lupin, while Fujiko working another job, soon enough finds her amongst the complicated web. One thing Jigen learns is that he might have found his match, someone possibly quicker than him on the draw, as this man rolls a dice to predict maximum amount of shots he has of getting his target.

While never a dull moment, the plot is knotty and scenes of cat-and-mouse between the assassin and his target/s are the best moments, as the breakneck excitement and bloody confrontations engulf the screen. At the end we get two cameo appearances; one before the credits and the other just after of familiar characters of the manga. As for the gorgeous looking animation, it's impressively slick, flashy in design with a kaleidoscope glow of color. Making it a highly entertaining, and striking addition to the Lupin the 3rd universe.