#top episodes lupin iii

[landofartandcraft]

Today i made a piece for my third favorite episode "the target is 555 meter away"

I just love everything on this episode, i think it's the perfect heist episode (and for once lupin ditch fujiko for his friends, she had it coming!)

[alexis-royce]

Hi! I loved your piece in the Ladies of Lupin the IIrd zine! The composition is so so cool and the feather-like details on Fujiko's dress and the owl centered in the background between Aisha and her mom is just mwah! perfect! It's some of the most amazing fanart for The Woman Called Fujiko Mine that I've ever seen!

Thank you so much! The bird themes in TWCFM are so strong and excellent; the danger and vanity of Fujiko's machinations as represented by the peacock, and the full on Owls-Not-Being-What-They-Seem with Count Luis Almeida and the rest. Had to give both a nod. And I really love Aisha and her mom as villains. The cruelty we enact on each other often comes in the form of watching and doing nothing, and both of them are so monstrously guilty of it. The layers of disempowerment and the indictment of choosing to succumb to it are so strong in that show.

I really wanted my piece to be an expression of love for Fujiko's line, "I wasn't living your hypothetical life. Shameless thievery and casual sex were my scene long before I even met you."

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

Hey if you were to rec Three and only three Lupin episodes, what would they be? I may be in the market for a new distraction

Oh MAN this is hard because there are so many flavors of Lupin!! I would love to rec specific movies or a selection of eps from various series, but if it's Three And Only Three, I think I have to give you only episodes from Part 2 because it's the best way to showcase the whole gang.

So without further ado, my Lupin III Part 2 sampler platter:

“Vault Assault” (“Lupin Laughs at the Alarm Bell”) - A top-tier episode where they do an actual normal heist for once! I like this one because everyone gets to do their part. This episode also contains my favorite dub line: “Grooving down the road, top down, cranking the good stuff: This is the reason God invented America!”

“Buns, Guns, and Fun in the Sun” (“Wads of Bills Bloom in the Rio Sunset”) - Deeply silly early ep that begins normally but gets more bonkers as it goes on. Highly recommend the English dub for this one as well.

“Albatross: Wings of Death” - This absolute banger was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and as such includes Airplanes and Funny Running and Good Food and Women Kicking Ass. I recommend the sub for this one but the older English dub is fine too.

If you like any of these, rest assured I have many more Lupin recommendations, including more serious or character-focused installments (or on the flipside, completely batshit insane ones). Part 1 has some real bangers too, and the animation is way better, but that's a rec post for another time.

[ausantana]

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- name: Au | 17 yrs old! (08/02/2008) | zodiac sign: aquarius | mbti: Infp | she/her | hogwarts house: ravenclaw

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Top 3 favs 🪩

- movies: La La Land, Episode III Star Wars: Revenge of the sith, The Virgin Suicides

- series: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Twin Peaks (honorable mention to: sex and the city)

- movie sagas: Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Hunger Games (honorable mention to: Xmen)

- movie directors: Sofia Coppola, David Lynch & Pedro Almodóvar (honorable mention to: Quentin Tarantino & Tim Burton)

Fav singers & bands 💋

Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Queen, The Cure, Katy Perry, ABBA, Depeche Mode, Gracie Abrams, Lana del Rey, Lady Gaga, Jeff Buckley, The Cranberries, & more!

Fav song atm! 🎧

Me coded Charcters! ☕️

Meg March, Charlotte York, Padme Amidala, Sansa Stark, Lorelai Gilmore, Aimee Gibbs, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Monica Geller, Effie Trinket, Luna Lovegood, Mia Dolan, Pam beesly, Bridget Jones, Daphne Bridgerton, Jane Bennet, Holly Golightly, Bianca Stratford, Laura Palmer & Lisa Frankenstein

Tyy for reading! 🫶🏻

xoxo, Au.

[fast-moon]

My Top 10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes

So, since I marathoned the entire series and now have nothing better to do than to reminisce, I figured I'd go back and revisit some of my favorite episodes and give a bit more thoughts on them beyond the one-line snark I did when I was liveblogging the whole series during my first-time watch.

These are just the top 10 episodes that personally stuck with me for one reason or another, whether it be the topic they explored, the way it was executed, or basically just stuff that left me thinking, "Huh, that gave me something to think about."

10. 2x14 Whispers So we're still back in the era where the "Let's torture O'Brien" episodes weren't quite as grim as some of the later ones, and also before O'Brien's started getting redpilled. Early-season O'Brien episodes tended to be more enjoyable because the tone was more "Oh my god, they killed O'Brien!" (which an incarnation of him does die in this episode), before they took an uncomfortably dark turn starting with "Tribunal" and "Hard Time".

This episode is mostly notable due to its kind of brilliant twist ending, where it's revealed that we've been following an imposter O'Brien the entire episode and the real one had been kidnapped and held prisoner the whole time. Something similar ends up happening a few seasons later with a Changeling version of Bashir.

But early seasons really did love their crazypox episodes, so on an initial watch, it was easy to come to the same conclusion O'Brien did that there was some kind of conspiracy going on or everyone had been affected by something while he was away, similar to that TNG episode where Picard comes back to the ship and everyone's returned to monke.

There isn't much else to say about the rest of the episode, though, but the clever reveal at the end that re-contextualized the entire rest of the episode stuck with me through the whole series, which is why this one can earn the #10 spot on the list, at least.

9. 3x07 Civil Defense Attention Bajoran workers: The failure to rank this episode in the top 5 will cause the remainder of this list to self-destruct in 10 minutes.

This time instead of just torturing O'Brien, O'Brien decides to take everyone down with him by accidentally tripping an old Cardassian security protocol meant to suppress rioting prisoners. The crew then have to figure out how to disable it before the protocol escalates its countermeasures to total station annihilation.

I liked this episode because it ended up being a whole-ensemble episode without the focus on any one character. Except for locking Odo in his office with Quark, rendering him mostly useless the whole episode. Well, useless to the rescue mission. His role was to supply us with ample Odo/Quark banter, which he did very well with.

I did really end up liking the Odo/Quark frenemy relationship. They've got this sort of Lupin III/Zenigata thing going on with the inspector and the thief, constantly trying to outwit each other but also silently respecting each other. Just that "Zenigata" tends to win most of the time. And they do still have each other's backs if one of them gets in trouble (that they didn't cause). Sort of an "I'm the only one who gets to defeat you" kind of thing.

But this episode gets the honor of being the first one to make me laugh out loud, when Dukat tries to transport away after smugly gloating at everyone's predicament for 5 minutes, only to discover his codes had been overwritten and all he could do was stand there awkwardly twiddling his thumbs. It was also at that moment that I stopped being able to take him seriously as a villain, even when the series repeatedly tried to re-villainize him later. It just never worked. He will always be the guy who got caught in his own trap, and then later got stabbed in the ass with a cactus.

Just the way I'm sure Garak wants him remembered.

8. 3x17 Visionary They managed to kill O'Brien three times in this episode, so that's a new high score. And on a re-watch, I realized this episode was also the introduction of the dart board that then carried through the rest of the series.

The B-plot also involved some great scenes with Odo, with his memorable "I always investigate Quark" quip, to his "I just needed to remind you how good I am". And it's also three episodes out from "Heart of Stone", so Odo's crush on Kira is getting pushed hard, too. Kira's reaction to the Romulans' accusation that Odo had feelings for her felt more like she was being protective of him rather than embarrassment. That she had the understanding that he was aro-ace, completely respected that, and would get angrily defensive at anyone who tried to insinuate otherwise, since he has a hard time advocating for himself. As someone who's aro-ace myself, I very much recognize that frustration at people going to great lengths to "prove" that you do secretly want to date or fuck someone and simply don't want to admit it.

But what I like about O'Brien's side of this episode is how he just begrudgingly rolls with it like, "I guess this is my life now". And that everyone is basically immediately on-board with it like, "Oh, so O'Brien's tripping through time now. Hey, can you check tomorrow's lottery numbers?" instead of wasting half the episode not believing him.

And also in true Star Trek fashion, they figure out all the components necessary for his time-travel, from the radiation to the temporal frequencies coming off the anomaly, to the point where they can control the timing and execute it at will. And then proceed to never put this knowledge to use again. TNG was notoriously bad about this, as they regularly used the transporter to cure diseases, reverse aging, or straight-up bring people back to life, and then completely forget they can do that by the next time a similar problem arises. But think of how many problems they could have averted if they simply bothered to peek 5 hours into the future on the regular.

The ending of the episode also poses an interesting philosophical question, where the "Prime" timeline O'Brien dies, and instead sends back his incarnation from three hours in the future to live out the rest of his life. So is this still the "real" O'Brien? If instead the framing of the episode was that O'Brien went back in time and re-lived the last 3 hours of his life, then continued as normal, would it be interpreted the same? Because with all of Prime O'Brien's time-skips, the future incarnations of himself, including the two dead ones, ceased to exist, anyway, due to him changing the future with his foreknowledge.

Next time Keiko comes back, she'll give him the side-eye and be like, "I can tell..."

7. 2x08 Necessary Evil A film noir-style origin story for Odo, chronicling how he became chief of security on the station while it was under Cardassian rule, and how he first met Kira and Quark.

What stood out to me about this episode was how we'd had an entire season telling us about how things were under Cardassian occupation, but this was the first episode to actually show it. Plus Odo had a cooler outfit back when he was working for the bad guys, because bad guys always have cooler outfits. The Bajoran onesies are certainly one of the more questionable design choices for this series. I do miss Kira's shoulder pads from the early seasons, though.

So, the wife of a murdered Bajoran collaborator hires Quark to find his list of other collaborators so she can blackmail them for money, and hires a hitman to take out Quark. This causes Odo to reopen the investigation into her husband's death, which I guess he never actually solved originally, given that he didn't figure out Kira was the killer until the present day end of the episode.

But I like how this episode has a bit where Odo insists that he "doesn't take sides" and is only interested in impartial justice, but still ends up protecting Kira from Dukat after she confesses to a different crime than the one he's been charged with investigating. That "not choosing sides" isn't necessarily "justice" if the status quo itself is unjust.

This was also the episode where Rom seemed to start making the turn from the scheming sidekick who wanted Quark dead to beginning to have some actual personal skills and motives, such as being able to tamper with locks. He's not as stupid as he looks ("Yes I am!").

Also, Kira and Odo respect the shit out of each other even when there's friction between them, and I am all for that, every time.

6. 6x19 In the Pale Moonlight Hey, everybody, who wants some war crimes?!

There's a saying along the lines of, "The people who insist you use the proper channels are the ones who control those channels and know they won't work." And that, if there is an injustice that needs to be righted, and all legal means of righting it have been exhausted, does it justify extra-legal means?

In this episode, Sisko is desperate to turn the tide of the war so enlists the help of Garak to try to trick the Romulans into joining the war against the Dominion with a forged recording. The Romulan senator discovers it's a faaaake, but Garak has his ship blown up on the way home in such a way that the Dominion is implicated, anyway.

And Sisko insists that if he'd do it all again if he had to, since it got him what he needed and potentially saved the Alpha Quadrant. And as I get older, I'm more inclined to agree with him. I see so many problems continuing to persist because people would rather do nothing and keep their hands clean, than take action that might dirty their conscience. "This policy will fix a problem for 90% of the people who have it, but if we support it, it will look like we are actively shunning those 10% of people who won't be helped, so it's morally better to not help anyone so everyone continues to suffer equally."

Then there's also the issue where, if your enemy is breaking a rule with no consequence, why should you be obligated to follow it yourself? If you snitch on a resistance group trying to take down the evil empire, no one is going to be commending your dedication to truth and justice.

So in Sisko's case, I can't really fault his methodology, only marvel at the fact that it spiraled so far out of his control and yet he still managed to pick up a win at the end due to Garak being even more conniving than he was and having a backup plan that included murder. But if that one murder ended up saving millions of lives due to prompting a change in policy, does it become justified?

Asking for a guy who shot a health insurance CEO.

5. 2x22 The Wire It's only appropriate that the day I re-watch this episode to figure out where to rank it on the list is the day after Lower Decks drops an episode establishing Garak and Bashir having a romantic relationship in a parallel universe (with their actors reprising their roles, no less).

I'm not really a "shipper", though, as I find that there are scant few relationships in media that I feel would be improved if the relationship was turned romantic. That doesn't mean that a relationship turning romantic necessarily makes it worse, just that it's, at best, a lateral move, where the relationship remains exactly as it was before, just with the understanding that they're now "in love". But a lot of times media injects petty drama and bickering into a relationship once it turns romantic, which ends up destroying the chemistry that made the relationship compelling in the first place when it was platonic. So generally I'd rather just have good chemistry and leave it at that.

So here's an episode with two characters with good chemistry, interacting. Sold.

But we find that Garak's chipper personality until now seems to mostly have been drug-induced, as he's been riding a perpetual high the entire time he's been on the station to cope with being exiled. Now he's starting to suffer from severe side-effects of this dependency, and Bashir has to wean him off of it and help him through withdrawal.

This episode is noteworthy in that it's the episode that redeemed Bashir for me, first and foremost. In season 1, Bashir almost single-handedly ruined the series for me with how insufferable and womanizing he was. He very much did not come across as someone I could trust with my health and safety. But this episode is where he finally took the turn to actually acting like a doctor, Jim, not a narcissist.

Especially with all the skirt-chasing he was doing, he didn't seem to even particularly like any of the women he was chasing, or who were awkwardly written into romances with him with zero build-up, like Leeta or Ezri. Bashir must have a love interest, and it must not be any of the people he actually has rapport with.

We also finally get some Garak backstory, too. ... Or do we? His whole routine has been basically making it up as he goes along, but now that I have the blessing of foresight from having seen the rest of the series, he's actually not too terribly out of line here. He was indeed Obsidian Order, he was indeed "son of Tain". But even with the foresight, it's still unclear what story of his banishment is true. Or we can just take his word for it that they're all true. Even the lies.

Especially the lies.

4. 7x14 Chimera A recurring theme in my episode-by-episode reactions during my initial watch-through was #JusticeForOdo, due to how poorly he was accommodated by the station and crew. That it was just "easier" for everyone else if he contort himself into unnatural shapes every day in order to simply exist among them and perform his duties. And how this imbalance was never really addressed.

Well, it took 7 seasons, but it finally fucking was.

One thing that sci-fi is great for is allegory for social and political topics. People get so inundated with real-world examples of "racism bad", "sexism bad", "homophobia bad" that they tend to become numb to it. Show someone something they've seen a hundred times, and they're likely not going to feel any differently about it than they did before. So you have to make it novel to them to get them to reconsider it. Ask "why can't this man wear a dress in public when it's not hurting anyone", and they'll already have a canned answer ready without even having to think about it. Ask "why can't this man turn into fog in public when it's not hurting anyone", and now they have to think about it, because a canned answer for that isn't available.

On the other side, the episode also doesn't try to paint the station crew as unnecessarily xenophobic or Laas as an innocent victim. They are currently at war with the other Changelings, and so far, Odo is the only one they've ever met who's been "one of the good ones". So their suspicion is, unfortunately, justified. The problem is then compounded by them even being willing to give Laas a chance initially and reach out to him, and Laas being openly xenophobic right back at them, due to his own prior encounters with Solids. It's riding a thin line between having the right to express yourself and going out of your way to offend people and then crying victim when they get upset.

And by the end, all of this starts leading to the uncomfortable conclusion that sometimes two people are too radically different to comfortably co-exist. Laas only seems more reasonable than the Founders because he thinks oppression of other races is excessive, but segregating them is fine. That meeting the needs of one would require too many concessions from the other, and vice-versa. Laas repeatedly presses Odo about how "accepted" he truly is when he has to go out of his way to hide his true nature in public to maintain everyone else's relative comfort. Which is a very valid point.

So one thing I think this episode missed out on, was at least addressing that point for Odo. That things are only uncomfortable when they're novel, but over time as people get used to them and recognize that they're not a threat, they become accepted. Even in media, we've gone from only white men being represented, to Black men, to women, to interracial relationships, to same-sex relationships, all within only, like, 50 years. Similarly with Odo, I feel like there should have been a scene where Sisko states that Odo has always been free to shapeshift in public, and if anyone has a problem with it, they'd have to go through him.

Instead, that permission is limited to Kira. Which, great, and I continue to love how much of an ally and an advocate she is for him. And also her feeling of inadequacy due to there being a level of intimacy that she is physically incapable of giving him, and being okay with him leaving her for someone who can if that's what would make him happiest. So my aro-ace self is still absolutely enamored with the ending where Odo declines to go along with the guy who can give him the most mind-blowing sex in favor of staying with the person who makes him feel emotionally fulfilled.

3. 6x25 The Sound of Her Voice So, my absolute favorite dynamic is "The person you can comfortably vent your ails to." So many annoying conflicts happen in media simply because characters fail to communicate with each other. Or characters are too traumatized to talk about a problem until it becomes everyone else's problem. When so much can be solved by just having someone to talk to.

And that's what this episode is about. The crew intercepts a distress call from a marooned captain who is a 6-day journey away. She's running out of oxygen, so to help keep her conscious, they spend the entire journey keeping her talking over communications and taking turns having conversations with her.

And by doing so, basically the entire crew gets therapy without even realizing it. They're all mentally exhausted from the war and have been starting to become distant from each other. And it's a reality that if you have a problem, and everyone around you is associated with that problem (even if they're not the cause), then it's hard to talk to them about it. Because it means all your frustrated energy is simply recirculating into the same circle. It needs to be vented to the outside, to a third party.

I also love the B-plot of this episode utterly lampshading Odo's tsundere personality, and also a heartwarming take on Odo and Quark's relationship. Quark's got a scheme and needs Odo distracted, so tries to get Odo set up on a date with Kira. Odo ends up rescheduling his date last-minute, which puts Quark in a panic that he'll be found out. Except Odo has already found out, and decides to schedule his date back to when it's most convenient for Quark in order to let him have this one, in order to silently thank him for his efforts in helping him with his relationship with Kira.

The A-plot with the marooned captain then ends with a twist that the transmission they'd been interacting with the entire time had been time-shifted, and the captain had already died of hypoxia three years prior, so they never would have reached her in time. But the crew still decide to recover her body and hold a funeral for her in thanks for her help in getting them to open up about their problems and talk through them.

... Though, it's a good thing the time-shifted transmission still ended before they reached the planet. Otherwise they might have found her body while she was still talking to them, and that would have made for an awkward conversation.

2. 5x06 Trials and Tribble-ations So, I had actually seen this episode a couple times before back in the 90's because one of my friends had taped it and insisted I watch it, because it was kinda infamous at the time. And because I saw it as a teenager with no context for the rest of DS9 (I had at least already seen the original TOS episode), watching it now 30 years later as an adult was kind of weird because it was like... I remembered the scenes and dialogue, but I didn't know who the DS9 characters (aside from Worf) were at the time. I didn't know Kira was pregnant or Odo was stuck in human form at this point in the continuity. I didn't know why Sisko kept calling Dax "Old Man". All I knew was that they had been Forrest Gumped into a TOS episode for the lulz.

And you know what? Lulz are important. A lot of other episodes on this list are ones that have some kind of socio-political or psychological thematic discussion, but this one is just "Woo, self-insert fanfic time!"

I do love that it pokes fun at its own history, like the OG Klingons not having forehead prosthetics and simply having goatees instead, or how laughably bulky all of the handheld equipment was. Granted, they were poking fun at the 60's view of futuristic tech being so analog, and now we poke fun at the 90's view of futuristic tech still being so tied to physical media (like needing a different pad for each document). I'm sure 30 years from now, they'll be laughing at how quaint our view of future tech looked.

The editing in this episode is certainly still impressive for being done on a 90's TV budget, though there are still some areas were it was obvious characters were pasted into the background. The shadows on O'Brien and Bashir when Kirk paces in front of them during the line-up are quite clearly edited in. But the best part is Dax and Sisko being in the storage bin tossing tribbles onto Kirk's head.

It's also hilarious that time-travel happens so often in the Star Trek universe that they have specific training and departments dedicated to handling it. Although, it's also amusing that time travel only seems to happen to the main characters. What happens if they're all sitting around minding their own business, and some other Starfleet crew went back in time and mucked up the timeline and suddenly everything's different? The investigators said that Kirk alone had 17 temporal violations, and the DS9 crew time-travels at least once a season. Hell, Quark time-traveled by accident just by carrying a shipment of magic rocks. If it's that common for them, it must be that common for everyone else.

This episode didn't have any kind of mind-blowing message, but it was silly, it was memorable, and it was innovative enough to get me to watch it back when I wasn't even interested in this series, so that earns it it's spot on this list. 1. 1x19 Duet It was a tough call whether to place this episode or the Tribble one first because they're absolutely impossible to compare. But this episode caught me off guard by literally making me cry at the end, even on a re-watch when I already knew what the reveal was.

Plus it deals with a topic that I spend a lot of time contemplating myself: how much the rank and file of a corrupt regime should realistically be expected to be able to do anything about it. Generally the lower your standing, the more extreme measures you'd need to take in order to have any chance at affecting anything, so at what point can you judge someone for not taking an extremely personally risky action to save others?

So in this episode we have Marritza, a low-level Cardassian file clerk who was stationed at a brutal Bajoran concentration camp. He ends up haunted by his time there and wracked with guilt that there was nothing he could do to stop it, so assumes the identity of the camp's leader, Gul Darheel, and gets himself captured. His intent is to take all the Bajorans' anger at the occupation onto himself and give themselves a target of vengeance, and have himself stand trial to force the Cardassians to acknowledge what they did.

But over the course of the episode, Kira figures out his ploy and becomes sympathetic to him. As much as she hates Cardassians for what they did, she can't bring herself to use an innocent one as a scapegoat to take out her anger on, even if he's gift-wrapped himself for her for that purpose.

This also ended up being the episode that really enamored me to Kira. She had already been a decent character, but up until now I had worried that she would just be the 90's archetype of a "strong female character" who's simply an impulsive hot-head who gets offended at everything. And while she started out with an irrational vengeful streak in this episode, she also proved that she could accept new evidence and view an emotionally-charged situation objectively. Which is super hot.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: April 2024

Ooooooooh it's getting warmer and sunnier and the days are getting longer! Yet I still stay inside to read and watch tv and stuff.

……….FILM……….

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985) Loved it. A comedy that is so generous with the types of humour (sight gags, absurdist stuff, one-lines). Watching it I was thinking "oh this reminds me of watching Elvira" and then Cassandra Peterson shows up in the biker gang! Loved the whole thing.

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) I've been meaning to watch this ever since Sam Bosma shared the incredible poster he did. If I didn't know Hayao Miyazaki directed this then I would've spent the entire runtime thinking "whoa real Hayao Miyazaki vibes here." Great standalone film if you know nothing about Lupin III.

……….TELEVISION……….

Fallout (Episode 1.01 to 1.08) Having never played the games, I was really interested if this series would work for someone like me. It took a bit to connect and it mostly landed. Not bad at all but it hasn't really left a lasting impression.

Succession (3.05 to 4.02) Can't believe it's almost over. What I appreciate about this series is that it knows the show is at its best when the core trio are together and does everything it can to highlight this. But never forget that they are all awful people. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Delicious in Dungeon (Episode 1.14 to 1.17) This adaptation of the comic continues to be excellent. I hope folks dig the show so much that they decide to read the series as it offers a few more character details that are fun to discover.

X-Men '97 (Episode 1.01 to 1.07) Wasn't a big fan of X-men (comic or the show) as a kid but heard enough good things that I figured I'd check it out. While I'm not immune to the nostalgia of the intro, I really do think the show is fantastic. The story feels dramatic and just mature enough to allow for great character moments and the animation is top-notch. Really glad I gave this a shot.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Why I (Used to) Hate Video Essays by Extranet Shaquille and Yellow Paint by Caleb Gamman Just a coincidence but these two unrelated videos both veer away from their main topics to become a study in...media consumption/attention culture/the struggles of existing in our current times. (Video Essays) VIDEO (Yellow Paint) VIDEO

……….READING……….

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie (Complete) This feels more like the first Christie book I read (There is a Tide, still my favourite) in that there are twists and turns around engaging characters. Plus the victim was such an engaging villain. Based on the handful I've read so far, I think this would be a good entry point into Christie's works.

A Spectre Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto by China Miéville (Complete) After hearing a number of interviews with Mieville I was really excited for this but found the whole thing...frustrating. Maybe I'm not smart enough or maybe I'm not the target audience, but I don't really know who this book was written for. My gut tells me the writing is practically impenetrable unless you have a masters in English and that doesn't feel like the right fit for the subject matter. If brevity is the soul of wit then I'll leave it there and just say that the last couple pages, written clearly and with conviction, did more for me than the previous 150+ pages.

Delicious in Dungeon Volume 13 (and also Volume 6) by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Rereading and also catching up on the latest volume! It's nearly over! Volume 13 is the penultimate chapter and I'm still impressed by how consistent the characters, humour, and dedication to theme this series remains. Really really incredible.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Tuesday crew is picking off the invading Elves fairly effectively but at what cost? And what are the repercussions of an act like this? Only time will tell. Also you can read all about their adventures here!

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 crew continues to dig into the mysteries of the mud banks but might get sidetracked by the fame and fortune of wrestling.

And that's it. See you in May!

[sideburns-and-cigarettes]

NEW EPISODE: Part 1, Ep. 16 - "Operation: Jewelry Snatch"

In this episode Drew, Emma, Chris, and Natalie discuss The Great Hoover Heist of 1972 in Part 1, Episode 16, "Operation Jewelry Snatch."

Poor Lupin can't catch a break. Gaslit by Fujiko to perform a brazen heist at an upscale jewelry store only for her to double-cross him. Beaver, the store's less-than-upstanding owner, intends get even with both of them. To make matters even worse, Zenigata is out to nab every party involved. Is there any way for Lupin to come out on top?

Hope you enjoy it!

[peaterookie]

i was sad i couldnt find something like this anywhere so i made one!!!

This is gonna be fun to see people's response :) Here's the plaintext version:

Where did you first learn about Lupin III?

What is your favorite character?

Following up on that question, what’s the best thing about them?

What's a Lupin character you relate to the most?

What’s your favorite Lupin Anime series?

What's your top 3 favorite episodes from it?

What's your favorite Lupin manga series?

What's your top 3 favorite chapters from it?

What's your favorite movie? And why?

What was the first movie you watched?

What's your favorite Lupin design?

What's your favorite Jigen design?

What's your favorite Goemon design?

What's your favorite Fujiko design?

What's your favorite Zenigata design?

What's your favorite thing about the franchise?

What's your least favorite thing about the franchise?

What's your least favorite character? And why?

What's your favorite Lupin III music track?

Do you have any Lupin III merch? If so, what's your favorite out of the collection?

If you could contribute/change the franchise in any way, what would you do?

What’s something about Lupin III that you wished people knew more about?

A moment in the Lupin franchise you'll always remember?

What’s your favorite Lupin III quote?

Give one Lupin headcanon that you have!

What's the most random fact about Lupin III that you know?

Any hot takes?

Do you create things in the fandom? What’s by far the thing you made that you’re most proud of?

If you could be in the Lupin III universe for one day, what would you do?

What’s something you hope TMS would do in the future for the Lupin III franchise?

[landofartandcraft]

Still on my "i'm gonna make art for each of my favorite episode" challenge because i'm insane (and i have free Time)

I adored lupin zero because it was a banger in every way (also because i'm a part 1 fan) and my fave episode is the silly whiskey pipe one because it really is a perfect silly lupin episode while developping the relationship between lupin and Jigen in the most endearing way...

Well i'm not sure it's the best i could do but it's my fave scene of the episode so enjoy

[goemon-fan]

same anon here. I feel like a lot of people don't talk about the problems with the show/you don't see people talking about it being racist because

a. a lot of the fandom is young and not really. media literate.

b. a lot of the fandom is white and is either racist, or just doesn't care because it doesn't bother them (obviously people who can't stand seeing racist shit over and over and over again are not going to like or watch lupin III ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯)

c. when people do talk about it they get ignored. I've seen people discuss this at length on other platforms and get dismissed repeatedly. idk about Tumblr but I've seen it elsewhere

idk. this isn't a you problem or anything, I just kind of wanted to explain my last ask a little bit more in detail. in my experience I've been alienated from the fandom repeatedly for talking about racism both in the show and in the fandom itself.

I understand, it's a bit weird to see people say "avoid the manga entirely because of the sexual assault elements" (even though it stops a bit later in the manga excluding maybe one chapter) yet enthusiastically recommend Part 2 despite the incredibly racist "jokes" throughout. It was honestly disgusting to watch the episode centered in Saudi Arabia as well as the other episode in an Arabic country which was centered around bombs and terrorism, and I can see why the racism throughout the series would drive someone away. Maybe our current fandom consists of a survivor bias where many POC who watched the show ultimately got driven away because of the racism, so the people who don't see too much of a problem with it or even agree with it fill fandom spaces (not saying that this has happened, but I've definitely dropped pieces of media for overt racism and the like).

I also see a similar fandom bias with the misogyny throughout and how it would mean that their favorite characters aren't always exactly well-written (the transphobia sometimes gets called out within fandom spaces, though not all the time). I get that Jigen is everyone's favorite and that Lupin's just a silly womanizer to the fandom but the misogyny, sexual assault, and just general "the villain of the week is a manipulative woman yet again" is in no way okay despite how much we all want to love the series. It's not funny to see Lupin flirt with underaged girls or unconsentually rip girls' tops off or Jigen hate all women as a collective whole or to see Fujiko demonized for actually being a cool character, and while the fandom has addressed some of these issues, I see a lot of "isn't it so funny that Jigen's a misogynist!" and "Part 2 is perfect!" despite the writers' treatment of female characters.

I second your point of "a lot of the fandom is young and not media literate," and I do wonder about this fandom's demographics from time to time. I think this does tie in with the blatant ignorance or sometimes even support towards Lupin III's problems, and it is upsetting to browse this fandom's spaces on the internet sometimes. I totally get why the racism would turn you away and I don't see a problem with not liking the show because of it, and I do think people need to be more respectful towards your views and towards other, similar criticisms of the show.

[sweetchcolate]

Hi~ if you're interested, here's a scenario for you:

While talking with an acquaintance, the conversation drifts into the topic of anime since they learn you've watched quite a few shows already. They ask you for recommendations and, when pressed for specifics, they say something along the lines of "I don't really have a specific preference." (This is, of course, untrue—everyone has their yays and nays, and maybe this person just doesn't know theirs. Since they're just an acquaintance, you probably wouldn't know either.)

So as you look into their gleaming curious eyes:

What will you consider before giving a recommendation(s)?

What show(s) would you recommend?

(Note: this is entirely for funsies so please feel free to opt out or to take your time! ☺)

Damn this is like my worst nightmare come true 😂 It's so hard to give recommandation because it depends on one's personal taste, but also a person's state of mind (if you don't want to watch a drama because you're not in the mood for it, you won't want to watch a show even if it's the greatest drama ever produced), openess to new experiences, and tolerance to bullshit such as 2nd hand embarrassment/fanservice/anime grunts/etc.

I'm basing this a lot on the weeb/ass/shit scale, which grades anime by the amount of anime/japanese culture knowledge needed to enjoy it, the amount of fanservice, and its overall quality. But within each tier, you could probably create subtiers (genre subtier, trope subtier, music subtier, etc,).

To note: a lot of the recs are series I watched recently or remember at the top of my mind, so there's this bias to consider.

Depending on how well I know my acquaintance and their tastes, I would go like this:

entry level. something which is easily accessed and understood by most people with minimal (to none) anime/Japan culture knowledge: most if not all Studio Ghibli movies, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, maybe Inuyasha (because of like cultural osmosis and its impact on the early 2000s anime scene), Raven of the Inner Palace, Akagami no Shirayukihime, slice of life or introspective shows (such as Sousou no Frieren's first cour, Spy x Family)

slightly above entry level. something which needs a bit of trope/cultural knowledge (like the importance of high school student councils or usual HS/romance/love triangle tropes), but could be appreciated even without because of solid writing/animation and minimal (to none) fanservice/2nd hand embarrassment: Mob Psycho 100, Akatsuki no Yona, Noragami, Skip to Loafer, Kimi ni Todoke, Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion to an extent (with warning about the way the plot goes wild and the fanservice and innuendo between teens and adults), Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, Detective Conan

something which requires a good grasp/recognition of tropes as well as willing to engage and think because of the way the anime is tackling and deconstructing tropes: Princess Tutu, RGU (with a lot of content warnings)

classic shonen vibes (aka fanservice galore, tournament arc/powering up tropes, etc): Kimetsu no Yaiba, early Naruto or Bleach

mindfuck but good: Mononoke, NGE (to an extent)

good/entertaining but the fanservice is going to be a MAJOR turn off: Soul Eater, Ranma 1/2, Lupin III movies/OVAs

You might have noticed but most of the series I've listed are relatively short, about 12-24 episodes (except for Inuyasha, SM, FMA, DetCo, and Ranma which are >100 episodes), since I think recommending a long-running series might scare some people away. That (and/or the pretty important amount of fanservice), is also why I didn't include big 'staples' like Naruto, Bleach, YYH, HXH, etc. regardless of my personal enjoyment or taste.

Most of what I like are fantasy/romances (like SAFT, My Happy Marriage, KamiHaji) or niche shows like Cybersix. I wouldn't recommend these to an acquaintance because of how close these series can be to me and how I don't want to put them up for judgement. I can be a bit defensive of my taste ^^

Thank you for the ask! It wasn't an easy exercise, but one I've been unconsciously doing on my own for a while, so it's nice to finally have it in writing if the need ever occurs!

[awholelotofladybug]

Stammering Adrien AU: To Marinette, Adrien, Luka and Kagami: Would you watch Columbo and Detective Conan or Leverage and Lupin III?

"I don't think I've heard of those shows."

"Me neither."

"I've seen a few episodes of each. They're pretty good, but nothing I'd p-p-p-put in my top 10 list, personally."

"I enjoy them. Detective Stories are always fun."

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Need a late-night gap filler, forgot the ol queue ran out. So how about another currently watching? Finally got around to finishing something on my watch list for ages. Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. I loved the old Lupin episodes they’d play on Adult Swim. It was one of my first forays into vintage anime and some top episodes like Shot Through the Heart stick with me to this day. So if Nami is my favorite Straw Hat pirate...how do you think I’d feel about the bold choice to shift part 4 of this iconic series to it’s equally iconic lady thief?

I’m so sad this wasn’t like, my sixth rewatch. Why did I take so long? 2012 was not a time I was super into anime I guess but still...this was awesome. Going all artsy and for more of a Film Noir vibe, making it a prequel showing how the gang got together. I about woke the neighbors when I saw Goemon cut the plane like in the old opening! It’s also batshit insane and hornier than Lupin III typically is. Which is neato mosquito. I also love these takes on Lupin, Jigen, & Goemon but damn did Zenigata get so much mileage out of a little twink lieutenant. 

This was a cool outing, and I know I’ll end up rewatching this one time and again.

[phoenixkaptain]

Thanks for answering my ask....If you don't mind me asking (again), what are your top 10 (or top 5) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Feel free to answer whenever you want to (or not). Thank you so much....

(You asked this a little bit ago and I put it in my drafts as a “I’ll finish this later” sort of thing then forgot until this morning, sorry)

1. Hyouka. It’s a mystery anime. There’s a manga as well, but I never got very far into it. The animation is really pretty, but the main draw for me was the mc Houtarou Oreki. The way he just doesn’t want to be there and also would like nobody to talk to him. Despite this, he’s friends with the exact opposite? And good friends. What a guy. Also, the mysteries are very fun to piece together.

2. Natsume Yuujinchou. I’ve always really liked this anime, and the manga. I like Natsume Takashi, the main character, and I also really like his grandmother, Natsume Reiko, who kind of acts as a secondary main character? She caused the whole plot to happen. I like how many people and yokai mistake Natsume for his grandmother, and the running theme of Natsume finally finding friends. It was also the first manga that ever made me cry, so it holds a special place in my heart.

3. MXTX’s novels. All three of them. I love the characters and I love the romances and I love the plots. I love the side characters! I can’t think of an author who has ever made me so invested in side characters before! I read them all for different reasons, so I don’t really have a favourite among them, but if I was held at gunpoint, I’d say Scum Villain is my favourite. Because I associate it with the colour green, and I like the colour green.

4. Moomins. I just… everything is so soft. And warm. And kind. Even when the characters are beinng objectively terrible, I just want to pat their heads and sigh wistfully. It’s definitely my comfort show. I occasionally watch clips from the nineties show just to cheer myself up again. I love Snufkin because his lines are amazing and I, too, would like to wander the world as a lone vagabond. (The whole conversation of “I made those footprints.” “What? How?” “With these big ol boots I found.” “Why are you wearing them?” “To see what life is like in someone else’s shoes.” “What’s it like?” “Uncomfortable.” I love every moment, I quote “uncomfortable” all the time)

5. Detective Conan (and Magic Kaitou) I love this series. I love the comedy of the most intelligent teenager alive being shrunk into a miniature. I love the drama. I love the characters, all twelve billion of them. I love that the twists are always so weird. I absolutey, positively adore the Kaitou Kid episodes! Something about little itty bitty Conan facing an international jewel thief… I also love the movies! I haven’t seen all of them (my attention span…) but my favourites are the Lupin III crossovers! And, of course, the best movie is the Lost Ship in the Sky, because it has the funniest scenes of anything ever. When Kaitou Kid (disguised as Shinichi) and Conan just leap out of a helicopter? I love them so much…

6. Encanto. I’ve watched this movie about 3-5 times (an impressive feat for me I promise) and every time the Abuela says “the miracle is not some magic that you’ve got, the miracle is you, not some gift just you” I cry actual tears. And I get major siblings feelings from all of it. It’s so good

7. Star Wars, specifically prequel-era and Original Trilogy-era. I love Anakin Skywalker. The most dramatic man to ever. And I love Luke Skywalker. And I love Leia. And Han, and Chewie, and Lando, and Obi-Wan (Obi-Waaaaannn 🫠) and just the majority of characters. I really enjoyed reading the Thrawn Trilogy because I found Mara Jade to be the funniest comedic foil to Luke. Luke is just vibing. Mara is like “You were stabbed fifteen seconds ago, what-“ Love the chaos duo Luke and Leia, who can’t go anywhere together because they attract misfortune but also can’t go anywhere apart because they attract misfortune. I love longsuffering Han who didn’t really realize that marrying Leia meant marrying Luke too. I have never watched the sequels, and I don’t really want to. I just wanna live in my lil bubble 👍

8. Resident Evil series. I’m counting the games here because I own exavctly zero consoles that run Resident Evil games and so I mostly just watch longplays, but I love the series. (One day I’ll be the Master of Unlocking… one day… when I have… more money…) I really like Ethan Winters because he reminds me of a kicked dog. I like Jill Valentine the mostest because I really like that her responses to all the weird comments Barry makes are just her laughing and agreeing. I like Chris Redfield because Wesker reveals his huge evil plan and Chris immediately starts laughing and Wesker gets actually upset that he isn’t taking him seriously. I like Ada Wong. She rocked in to Raccoon City to “find her boyfriend” (code for: do spy shit) in a dress and, like, tights? They could be leather pants, the graphics aren’t that clear, but I’m not sure? Her whole outfit in RE2 is amazing. Oh, and I like the horror elements too, the monster designs are so gross! 10/10!

9. Various DC comics. Namely, Batman, Robin, Young Justice, Swamp Thing, etc. I talk about Batman and Robin and all them a lot, but I really enjoy Swamp Thing! I never knew that it was a horror comic until I read it (I suppose it would have been logical to assume it was, but still) and I like him! He’s very cute. Squishy. I want to lay on him and tell him he’s doing a great job. I like the little mini Swamp Thing that grew after he was “killed” it’s so little!!!

10. Fire Emblem. I’m including another game series because I love Fire Emblem a lot. I have played so many hours of so many games (Tokyo Mirage Sessions crossover is underrated and everyone should play it and gush about it with me because Mamori runs a cooking show when she has no idea ow to cook!!! I love her!!!) I have wasted so much money on the mobile game (stop looking at me) I absolutely love this series! My favourites are Marth and Henry (FE:A) I love Marth, he is so… himself :) and I love Henry! He was raised by wolves! He converses with crows! He proposes with a cursed ring! He carries around monster parts just for funsies! He is the cutest little murder bean in the world! Fire Emblem Awakening got me into the series as a whole, and I have never been the same (side note: I also love Corrin, because they are a himbo whether male or female. I also love Robin, because they appear very reasonable and are tacticians and are very intelligent and they are also completely feral in weird ways and I like it a lot. I love Byleth, the best teacher who does not have a heartbeat and didn’t cry when they were born and doesn’t know how to emote)

This turned out longer than I expected, but I hope it’s what you were looking for.

[hixystix]

Fandom Meme!

Tagged very specifically by @called-kept (thank you hon)!!

Your name: On pretty much every site, I'm hixystix!

Your first fandom(s): Star Wars

Your current fandom(s): Lupin III mainly, but I never really left the SW: X-wing fandom or the Discworld fandom, even if I went dormant

How did you first get into fandom? Started writing stories with friends at school, then discovered other people did the same thing and posted it online

How long have you been engaging in fandom spaces? Since 1999, with about a six or seven year break in the middle of my 20s.

How often do you read fanfics? Not as often as I should! One day a week or so? It's a lot harder for me to be able to process and read stuff after the ECT.

Top three characters from your current fandom(s): Jigen, Lupin, Zenigata

Have you ever written fic for a fandom? Uhhhhhh. Yeah, just a few.

Have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? No! I am very much not an artist.

Share a (some) personal headcanon(s) you feel very strongly about: I don't know about "very strongly" but here's a few of the headcanons I work off of when I write:

Jigen needs hearing aids since he almost never uses - or used - hearing protection

Lupin has bipolar disorder, unmedicated, and loves his manic periods

Goemon, no matter what he says, is in love with Fujiko. Toss a coin on whether Fujiko has slept with him or not

Fujiko speaks almost as many languages as Lupin, but she knows more Asian languages than he does

Zenigata is divorced with three kids, a daughter and two sons. The middle son is the same age as Yata

You're trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. What episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? Depends on the friend, but I'd generally push one of the specials/movies on them - The First or First Contact or Cagliostro primarily.

And finally, what does fandom mean to you? It's a beautiful mess. It can be so much fun, a great support, and an even greater reason to keep going, but you have to work to keep it that way. Go lax and it'll turn into a personal hell.

And tagging... @sempaiko, @tabbiewolfreblogs, @ysalamiri-queen, @lotsobagels, @nathanielbuildsatesseract, and @generallemarc!

[pixelateddork]

How about 1, 23, 29, and 30?

Where did you first learn about Lupin III?

I first learned about it on a "Top 5 animated movies of 2020" video! Number 2 was Lupin III: The First, and the person went on about how it was such a fun movie with amazing animation and I went "...Yeah sure I'll check it out!" and the rest is history XD

23. A moment in the Lupin franchise you'll always remember?

I don't think I can pick just one moment though, sooo for me I'll have to say the scenes in PT6 episode 23 and Lupin Zero Episode 5. Won't get into specifics in case of spoilers but if you know, you know

29. If you could be in the Lupin III universe for one day, what would you do?

Probably hide because there's always a 50% chance you walk outside and nearly get hit by a stupid yellow clown car(Love you Fiat-Chan 💖) and the billions cop cars following it

Either that or get a smooch from Lupin shhhhh--

30. What’s something you hope TMS would do in the future for the Lupin III franchise?

Movie-wise, I'd LOVE to see another 3D animated movie...with the models from The First(Sorry Vs. Cats Eye...I was not the hugest fan of that animation). Whether it be a sequel or an entirely new story doesn't matter to me, I just wanna see those models again!

Series-wise...I'm honestly not sure? There's a sorta "divide" in the fandom RN talking about if a PT7 happens, should continue being story driven/having coninutity or go back to being episodic. For me personally, I don't have a huge preference either way! Just gimme more monke!