Welcome to my review of The Castle of Cagliostro, AKA Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro. It’s the first in my series on the works of Hayao Miyazaki. You can expect new pieces each Monday.

Note: For options when watching this film, there’s a subbed version and two different dubbed versions. I recommend the Manga Entertainment dub, available on the US blu-ray release. I personally think it’s the better experience. However, the Streamline dub is available on Netflix, and it’s still a passable watch if you don’t want to pay extra.

Also, as a general rule going forward, I’ll take a good dub over subs any day of the week, simply because I prefer to watch the movie and not the subtitles. I will, however, watch a subbed version if the dubbed version is bad. But honestly, I don’t see that coming up all that often, because there are lots of good dubs these days.

Story of The Castle of Cagliostro

The Castle of Cagliostro starts with a heist that succeeds and fails at the same time. Our protagonist, Lupin, alongside his partner Jigen, robs a government-backed casino. The actual crime goes off without a hitch, but when examining the spoils, Lupin discovers the haul is all counterfeit. And not only counterfeit, but such excellent counterfeits that they made their way into a government-run business. Lupin’s determination to get to the bottom of things takes the pair to Cagliostro, a tiny UN member state. It’s there that real story begins.

Lupin and Jigen encounter a young woman in a wedding dress (Clarisse) who is fleeing from armed men. They choose to help her, and in so doing get caught up in a much bigger tale, involving an international counterfeiting scheme, an illicit arranged marriage, and a search for an unknown treasure.

Introducing Lupin III

Arsène Lupin III has a long history in manga and anime, but he’s actually based on an even older character. The original Arsène Lupin was a creation of French writer Maurice Leblanc. The Lupin of the film is supposedly the grandson of the original in-universe. The original character has a storied history and a broad cultural footprint across film, television, comics, and even video games (see: Arsène in Persona 5).

But we aren’t here to talk about Maurice Leblanc’s creation. We’re here to discuss Arsène Lupin III, created by mangaka Monkey Punch for his work Lupin III. This Lupin, though not as old as the original, is a venerable pop culture fixture in his own right. While not super well known in the US, Lupin III is a multimedia empire in Japan, with multiple manga, anime, film, and video game adaptations.

The Castle of Cagliostro is interesting because it marks a sea change for the character. This version of Lupin is more overtly noble and heroic than previous depictions, playing up the gentleman aspect of gentleman thief. That’s not to say Lupin doesn’t have any of his less savory tendencies, but he’s definitely more of a scoundrel with a heart of gold. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that Lupin is still a hyper-competent master thief. A huge chunk of the fun in the film is watching our “hero” work his magic.

The Gang in The Castle of Cagliostro

Of course, no Lupin story would be complete without the classic supporting cast.

Daisuke Jigen appears as Lupin’s ever-stalwart partner in crime. He isn’t a particularly active force in the narrative, mostly serving to support Lupin and invite exposition. He’s still a fun character, and his sharpshooting skills make for some exciting fights.

Ishikawa Goemon XIII also appears, although I have to admit that it feels like more of a matter of obligation than because he fits naturally within the plot. Of course, the story goes that this is the reasoning behind Goemon’s existence. Monkey Punch wanted a more traditionally Japanese character in the series, so he created a descendant of outlaw hero Ishikawa Goemon as a counterpart to Lupin. And given that motivation, Goemon does his job. At the very least, he punches up some of the action sequences.

Fujiko Mine appears as well. Like Lupin, she received a bit of an overhaul for the film. Her prior depictions generally painted her as a sexualized femme fatale archetype that had an on-again, off-again thing with Lupin. In The Castle of Cagliostro, Fujiko is a practical(!!!) master criminal on par with Lupin. Her depiction plays up her competency over her looks, and the film is better for it.

Inspector Zenigata’s depiction in this film perfectly captures the common dynamic between him and Lupin. They’re enemies, but it doesn’t take too much prodding for the two to team up in the face of a greater foe. After all, they’ve been adversaries for so long that they understand each other deeply. But as soon as the threat has passed, its back to business as usual.

New Characters

Clarisse represents a classic damsel in distress archetype, but she’s given more development and agency than most characters that fall under that designation. She’s a decent, honest person victimized by circumstance.

Count Cagliostro is the best kind of sleazy, amoral aristocrat. You get a great sense for his character in his very first scene, as he makes a servant remove his flight suit while walking and delivering a report. He’s little more than a common criminal, but elevated into an evil mastermind by the circumstances of his birth. It’s an interesting commentary on the politics of power.

Production Quality of The Castle of Cagliostro

The Castle of Cagliostro looks and sounds absolutely incredible. The art direction and music are on point, creating an aesthetic delight that holds up even now, 40 years later.

A big part of the appeal of Miyazaki’s work is just how excellent the animation gets. While this is his earliest major work, the standout sequences are incredible by any metric. In particular, the car chase scene towards the beginning of the film looks spectacular even by today’s standards. Fluid, dynamic animation is supplemented by the jazzy strains of the classic Lupin III theme. I strongly encourage you to find a way to watch the sequence if you haven’t seen it before. It’s breathtaking.

I also cannot get over how gorgeous the hand-painted backgrounds are. I’m serious. Pause any given scene in the film and just look at the backgrounds. They’re absolutely beautiful.

The Weight of Age

Everything I’ve said thus far is true. The Castle of Cagliostro is a beautiful film. However, I’d be remiss to not mention that it does show its age in some parts, much more than many of Miyazaki’s later works. Now, part of that is because The Castle of Cagliostro is older than all the others. This film came out in 1979. You can tell that the age, and probably budget, meant that not every sequence got to be up to the utmost level of quality.

You can generally see it based on how smooth the animation looks. Some scenes lack adequate inbetween frames, making the animation look jagged and uneven. There are also some scenes where the characters look a bit off-model. It’s not enough to ruin the experience, however. And as I’ve noted before, when The Castle of Cagliostro is on, it’s on. And it’s on where it counts.

Conclusion

Despite its advanced age, The Castle of Cagliostro is still really, really good. It’s often slept on as one of Hayao Miyazaki’s works because it’s a licensed work and it predates Studio Ghibli completely.

I can’t meaningfully rank The Castle of Cagliostro against the works of Hayao Miyazaki because it’s the first Miyazaki film I’ve covered. So say hello to the inaugural #1 on my Miyazaki Film Rankings! Don’t worry, more films will be joining it soon.

PS- If you read this review and you liked what you saw, consider donating to my Patreon! Donations from readers like you make this site possible. And if you’re new to the site check out what else I’ve been up to!

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