Lupin III: Green vs. Red

Yasuo works at a ramen restaurant and is dating the pretty news reporter Yukiko. However, things aren't going well for him financially and after a customer leaves a green jacket behind, Yasuo starts adding to his income by walking the crowded streets of the Tokyo metroplex and stealing people's wallets. With this, he's able to buy his girlfriend a nice ring even though she says he didn't need to buy this for her.
Over time, Yasuo becomes obsessed with becoming Lupin to the point that he reads and watches everything regarding him, he even works with Jigen for a time.

However, when Yasuo learns of the Ice Cube diamond, he knows that if he can steal this, he will be the real Lupin.

(Source: Lupin Wiki, edited)

Lupin III Main

Kurita, Kanichi Japanese

Jigen, Daisuke Main

Kobayashi, Kiyoshi Japanese

Mine, Fujiko Main

Masuyama, Eiko Japanese

Ishikawa XIII, Goemon Main

Inoue, Makio Japanese

Yukiko Main

Hirano, Aya Japanese

Zenigata, Kouichi Supporting

Naya, Gorou Japanese

Yasuo Supporting

Katagiri, Jin Japanese

Ueno, Hiroyuki Producer

Miya, Shigeyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Okawa, Toshimichi Script

Monkey Punch Original Creator

Reviews

Oct 7, 2009

Psycho_Sanji

Recommended

Green vs. Red is an interesting anime.

This OVA celebrates the 40th anniversary of Lupin, and it includes a bunch of nods to previous Lupin anime. Pretty much every criminal on the planet has taken to disguising themselves as Lupin, and we end up seeing pretty much every Lupin character design used, even the pink jacket.

A new main character for this is a guy named Yasuo, named after Lupin's original voice actor, who looks just like Lupin and wears a green jacket.

Meanwhile, the real Lupin in the red jacket and his partner Jigen are doing their thing as always. They're on the run, all sorts ... of random wackiness happens to them, and there's a constant mob of fake Lupins causing them trouble.

Pretty much, a lot of this is somewhat somber slice-of-life stuff focusing on the Yasuo guy. This is decent stuff, though of course it's kind of odd for a Lupin story.

As for the story, well, its pretty much just Yasuo competing with Lupin to try and become the "real" Lupin.

Fujiko is only in this briefly, although there are some interesting scenes where Yasuo sees her and it's animated like a psychedelic trip. Goemon pretty much has a cameo role, and Zenigata is great as always.

This is a pastiche, sort of an abstract, arty anime that pays some tribute to that laid back Lupin feel of old. The actual story however is pretty esoteric, and not entirely satisfying.

All in all, this is an interesting anime that is somewhat thought provoking and beautifully animated. While it's not a proper entry in the Lupin series, it's still well put together and worth a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 12, 2016

garyborken

Mixed Feelings

The story is all over the place. After the second watch I kind of get the narrative and it's not linear at all, it really hurts my brain... My best attempt of telling what time did a certain scene happen is by checking whether Green's girlfriend (or maybe ex) has the ring he gave her.

And some of the side-story really has noting to do with the plot,for example: the entirety of Logan's plot line can be cut out easily.

In the end I kind of get what the director/writers wanted to do with this film. And I don't really like what they wanted to say. ... Yea, the idea is interesting: there's never a real Lupin, all of them are just copies without an original, and the greatest of them all get to be recognized as the "real" one.

Which could explain the difference of all the Lupin from different series/films having various personality and appearance.

However this made a light-hearted franchise unnecessarily heavy, especially for a anniversary special. Also, the narrative is too complicated for it's own good.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 29, 2008

Redward

Not Recommended

Awful! Man, these new ones are really getting on my last nerve. This one especially reached new heights in lame. Its like someone thought up half of a decent story, added the name "Lupin" to it, took out the decent parts of the story, and added some insipid social commentary. Listen, If you're a Lupin fan at all, just stay away. Aside from Return of Pycal and the Bimbos on Parade OVA from a couple years back, there has never been a Lupin flick quite this terrible.

Plot. Like I mentioned before, it seemed like someone had a good idea for Lupin, but the execution was ... pathetic. The story told to the viewer was, at best, half a story and relied on the viewer assuming many important elements and key twists. To simplify, its as though the director was challenging everyone to guess what was going on by showing us scenes A and F without showing us scenes B,C,D, and/or E. The end result mucks into a conglomerate of second rate action and 3rd rate Lupin. Oh yeah, and they threw in a giant mech, just for the hell of it. Real great creative crutch guys.

The ending and events leading up were confusing, misleading, and simply put, stupid. I believe we have a new Lupin, but it was never really fleshed out, nor explained.

Characters. As usual, Zenigata for the mere reason that hes Zenigata. Gone are the days that he actually has an impact on the story. Fujiko is tossed in, almost as if they forgot her to begin with, and is as quickly disposed of and forgotten. Goemon is portrayed as a total scrub thats easily tricked and captured. As for the newer characters, well, I have no idea because they were barely introduced. They just kinda appeared and said "Hey! We're sorta important."

The worse of them all had to have been the clones in the beginning. Where did they come from? Who were they really? Did they really think they were Lupin? What was their significance anyways? The guy at the end had nothing to do with those clones in the first place, at least I don't think.

This is what happens, again, when the director relies on the viewer far too much. From what I gathered, I believe the clones were hired men from some private citizen military. I could be totally wrong though. Who the hell knows?

What more can I say? The art was Lupin-ish, the soundtrack was far superior to anything else to be found in this dreck, and the impact this will have on the Lupin legacy will be that it was absolutely, entirely, and without a single doubt one of the worst Lupin films ever produced.

Am I being too hard on it? I'm hard pressed to find a single moment that I actually enjoyed. I spent the majority of my time scratching my head, attempting to comprehend the runaway train wreck they called a plot, so maybe I did miss something good. If you feel like you need a chance to decide for yourself, go for it. Just know that you have been warned.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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