Greenberg, Raz. "Our Man, Lupin." Hayao Miyazaki: Exploring the Early Work of Japan’S Greatest Animator
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Greenberg, Raz. "Our Man, Lupin." Hayao Miyazaki: Exploring the Early Work of Japan’s Greatest Animator. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 51–76. Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 1 Oct. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501335976.ch-003>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 1 October 2021, 04:40 UTC. Copyright © Raz Greenberg 2018. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. C h a p t e r 3 O UR M AN , L UPIN While Miyazaki was making his fi rst steps in the anime industry in the mid-1960s, just as this industry was beginning to grow and fi nd a larger audience in Japan and abroad, the manga industry was already booming and fi nding its way to new readers. A generation of post- war children who grew up reading comics was now starting its academic studies and entering the job market, and this generation expected comics to grow up as well—which they certainly did. Unlike the self- censorship that the American comics industry accepted upon itself in the 1950s through the Comics Code Authority in response to criticism of its content, Japanese publishers faced few restrictions.1 While children’s manga continued to thrive, adult readers soon found more than enough sophisticated stories of crime, sex, and politics on the shelves. One such adult title was Lupin III , drawn and written by artist Kazuhiko Kat ō who published his work under the pen- name Monkey Punch. Th e series followed the exploits of Arsene Lupin the Th ird, a daring thief and the leader of a criminal gang consisting of gunslinger Daisuke Jigen, swordsman Goemon Ishikawa, and femme fatale Fujiko Mine. Th e series follows Lupin as he gets mixed up in hair- raising adventures both on solo eff orts and with his gang, oft en outsmarting Inspector Zenigata, a police detective obsessed with his capture. Kat ō drew inspiration from a wide variety of sources while drawing the series, mostly American: it had the narrative of Hollywood thrillers, the violent slapstick humor of American cartoons and character designs featuring exaggerated, twisted body proportions and facial expressions reminiscent of the satirical publication Mad magazine. 2 Th e main inspiration for the series, however, came from a foreign classic work of modern crime fi ction. Lupin III , the series’ protagonist, is the grandson of Arsene Lupin, the hero of a series of novels written by French novelist Maurice Leblanc 51 52 Hayao Miyazaki (1864–1941), published throughout the fi rst four decades of the twentieth century. Leblanc’s Lupin was a master thief who always managed to outsmart the law and escape with the loot, but also a gentleman who oft en fought for just causes on the wrong side of the law. Th e “Gentleman Th ief” archetype of contemporary crime fi ction, alongside the caper plots of the same genre that follow the perfect crime from planning to execution, owe much of their early development to Leblanc’s novels. 3 At the height of his popularity, Leblanc’s Lupin was the greatest literary rival of the famous English detective Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Leblanc himself made this rivalry a personal one when he confronted Lupin with Holmes in one of Lupin’s early stories; threats of legal action by Doyle made Leblanc change the name to “Herlock Sholmes” in subsequent editions and future novels.4 While Kat ō ’s Lupin inherited his literary grandfather’s talent, he had none of his gentlemanly manner. In fact, in Kat ō ’s stories, Lupin III appears to lack any kind of moral sense whatsoever. He would oft en backstab his own gang members to increase his share of the profi t (his gang members would do exactly the same, given the opportunity), violently abuse people for his sadistic amusement, and though the romantic attitude of Leblanc’s Lupin will probably seem chauvinistic by today’s standards, he would have undoubtedly rolled in his grave if he had witnessed his grandson’s behavior toward women—always rude, oft en crossing the line to pure sexual harassment 5 —and even the comedic nature of series, aimed at satirizing rather than promoting the anti- social behavior portrayed in them couldn’t mask the bad taste that they oft en displayed. But it was the anti- social attitude that gave Kat ō ’s series much of its early appeal, as Miyazaki himself explains in an article he wrote about the character. 6 Kat ō ’s Lupin was both a daring hero who fought the corrupt economic system, but also enjoyed the many benefi ts that this system brought with it: gourmet food, fashionable clothing, and fast cars. Th ese confl icting sentiments found great appeal among the rebellious Japanese youth of the 1960s, whose country was still celebrating its amazing post- war recovery. Th e popularity of Lupin III drew the attention of a group of talented animators, among them Yasuo Ō tsuka, Miyazaki’s mentor in T ō ei. In 1969 the group produced a 13-minute pilot, in an attempt to convince Tokyo Movie (the studio that would later produce the Panda! Go Panda! fi lms) to greenlight an animated series. Th e pilot alternates between short narrated sequences that introduce the diff erent characters and a loose plot in which Lupin and his gang attempt to escape from a house Our Man, Lupin 53 surrounded by police units commanded by Zenigata. All the hallmarks of the manga series were present: hyper- violence, wild slapstick humor, an eager Lupin who tries to make a move on a naked Fujiko (and is painfully punished), carefully drawn vehicles ( Ō tsuka’s specialty) alongside widely caricaturized and even somewhat sketchy character designs, and a grandiose conclusion that makes Zenigata realize too late that he has been fooled by Lupin. Th e psychedelic color- display that accompanied the introduction of Fujiko, alongside the mix of several musical styles in the soundtrack throughout the pilot—jazz, soft rock, and elevator music—gave it an attractive 1960s vibe. While by no means a great example of storytelling, the pilot was a fi ne demonstration of kinetic, atmospheric action just waiting for someone to realize its potential. Unfortunately, nobody did. While the manga industry was well- oriented toward adult readers at the time the pilot was made, animated content was still viewed as aimed primarily at children. 7 Despite the popularity of the original source material, no broadcaster was willing to take the chance of producing anything along the violent and risqu é lines of the pilot. Th e people who produced it went their separate ways, and it remained on the shelf of Tokyo Movie, waiting for more tolerant times. To Catch a Th ief Lupin fi nally got his chance to star in an animated series aired between 1971 and 1972, when Yomiuri Television decided to take a chance and air it. It was one of the fi rst anime shows aimed at an adult audience, initially modeling much of its narrative aft er the original manga—the loose plots focused on Lupin’s schemes and his dysfunctional relationship with the rest of his gang (who, much as in the manga, would backstab each other for profi t or fun). Ō tsuka was commissioned to work on the show, again bringing his talent for detailed design of vehicles, weapons, and all things mechanical 8 alongside the twisted caricaturized character designs familiar from the pilot (and Kat ō ’s original manga). It was in many ways an extension of what made the pilot appealing, but it soon turned out that the Japanese networks were right in their fears that this appeal wasn’t wide enough, as ratings just failed to impress. Aft er nine episodes, it was decided that creative changes were needed, and Miyazaki and Takahata were brought to helm the remaining fourteen episodes, sharing the directorial duties on each episode. 54 Hayao Miyazaki As Miyazaki’s fi rst directing job (a year before the Yuki’s Sun pilot discussed in the previous chapter), these episodes are something of a disappointment when viewed today in comparison with his later works. Th ey are also signifi cantly inferior to Takahata’s work in the same decade on the Panda! Go Panda! fi lms and the Calpis/World Masterpiece Th eatre shows.9 Th ough plots became tighter, they oft en also felt rushed, and while the dysfunctional group dynamic between Lupin and his gang was gradually abandoned, it appears that the new creative staff did not really know what to replace it with, and other than Lupin himself the show’s other protagonists became rather bland and uninteresting characters. However, each of the episodes co- directed by Miyazaki and Takahata is also a very entertaining aff air, and the new direction that the show took under their creative control oft en hints of elements that would become familiar in Miyazaki’s later career. Th e fi rst episode directed by the duo, “One Wolf Calls Another,”10 centers around a struggle between Lupin and Goemon over the possession of ancient scrolls that were once the property of Lupin’s father. Th e episode largely portrays its characters in the same way the show did under its previous creative team: Lupin and Goemon clash with each other, violently (though they become best friends by the end of the episode) and Fujiko is an over- sexualized femme fatale who tries to beat both at their own game.