Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone

Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone

Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen's Gravestone anime movie cover art
Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone

Overview

Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen’s Gravestone (Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen Daisuke no Bohyou / LUPIN THE IIIRD 次元大介の墓標) is the second in a trilogy of Lupin the IIIrd movies (chronologically, that is). The first movie is Fujiko’s Lie, and the third is Goemon’s Blood Spray.

After watching The Castle of Cagliostro, Jigen was my favorite of Lupin’s group, but that could have just been because he was the most prominent in that movie. However, Jigen’s Gravestone reaffirmed that I do like Jigen more than Fujiko, who’s currently my #2.

Jigen’s just a cool guy. I don’t really see how anyone couldn’t like him.

In my review of Fujiko’s Lie I mentioned that the movie had more mature content than I expected; the same is true for Jigen’s Gravestone. This time around, I was expecting the same amount of violence, but less sexual content.

Instead, what I got was more of both.

Arsene Lupin III and Daisuke Jigen from the anime movie Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen's Gravestone
Arsene Lupin III and Daisuke Jigen

I think the more violent tone of this movie, including the multiple assassinations, fit well into Jigen’s character. He’s gritty, and the movie dedicated to him depicted that much better than I think Fujiko’s Lie depicted Fujiko’s sexuality.

But then this movie also had that whole part with a naked, lubed up Fujiko in a glass box being attacked by a sexually suggestive death machine in a gimp suit. And despite how that sounds, I think Fujiko’s nudity in this movie felt less out of place than it did in her movie.

It still didn’t do her character any favors though. It basically just reaffirmed that Fujiko is only there for fan service even though she’s actually an interesting character in her own right.

Yael Okuzaki

One of the biggest differences between Fujiko’s Lie and Jigen’s Gravestone is the antagonist. The antagonists from both movies are genetically altered assassins created by some unknown organization. However, they’re both very different, and those differences have huge effects on the movies.

Binkam had a few supernatural powers which didn’t make much sense even after they were explained. Yael Okuzaki doesn’t have any supernatural powers, although that’s not necessarily clear from the start.

Instead, he uses some sci-fi technology, but I think that’s a better choice than using the supernatural to explain things. Yael’s right eye is connected to a device which allows him to tap into all of the security cameras around the city so he can follow his prey’s every move.

Yael Okuzaki from the anime movie Lupin the IIIrd: Jigen's Gravestone
Yael Okuzaki

Yael also uses actual weapons to perform his assassinations rather than a magical power, which is good. While he typically uses a sniper rifle, he also carries a small handgun just in case.

But, that doesn’t necessarily mean he does things the normal way — there’s still some excitement and unpredictability built in. Yael is an expert in the robotic and various other engineering fields, so he has a whole host of other weapons at his disposal, including death machines and a car with a built in Gatling gun.

Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like he actually uses his robot monstrosities in his line of work — those are more of a hobby for him. But he does manufacture his other weapons, ammunition, and technology on his own.

Oh, and Yael rolls a die to determine how many bullets to use when killing his target.

Jigen’s Quickdraw

Where Fujiko had to use her sexuality, and hand to hand combat skills, to overcome the main antagonist in her respective movie, Jigen uses his gun-slinging skills.

If there was one thing that made this movie stand out compared to Fujiko’s Lie, it was the gun-slinging animation. Fujiko’s Lie also had some good animation, but it didn’t stand out nearly as much as it did in Jigen’s Gravestone. The duels between Jigen and Yael were definitely the highlights of the movie, as they should be.

Jigen’s final duel also felt like it actually had a purpose, unlike Fujiko’s final fight. Fujiko didn’t really need to kill Binkam — she had already poisoned his mind and made him question his loyalty to his employer. But for Jigen, the fight against Yael wasn’t about defeating a bad guy, it was about proving his own skills against a powerful rival.

Also, watching Jigen’s duels against Yael made me realize something about Lupin’s crew — they’re definitely the inspiration for Luffy’s crew in One Piece. Oda may have said as much in the past, but if he hasn’t, that’s definitely the case.

Lupin was created by Monkey Punch, and Luffy’s first name is Monkey. Also the two characters are fairly similar in that they just do whatever they want. Then we have Fujiko and Nami who are basically the same person even in appearance. And while Jigen wants to be the greatest gun-slinger, Zoro wants to be the greatest swordsman.

Am I going to find out in the next movie that Goemon is a chef who wants to find the All-Blue?

It’s interesting to see how the characters from this series have influenced those from more recent series over the decades.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that I liked Jigen’s Gravestone more overall than Fujiko’s Lie, I think it’s also an 8/10. The story wasn’t quite as strong, but I think basically every thing else was slightly better.

I’m interested to see what the final movie in the trilogy is like. Jigen played a pretty large role in both The Castle of Cagliostro and Fujiko’s Lie. Fujiko played a decently-sized role in Cagliostro and Jigen’s Gravestone. But what about Goemon?

He wasn’t present in either Fujiko’s Lie or Jigen’s Gravestone, and he was barely in Cagliostro at all. All I know about him is that he’s a samurai.

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