Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan: A Crime Against Classic Anime
Not to date myself, but I grew up watching Lupin III episodes on VHS from Japan — my all time favorite episodes of the show were the ones directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki as we all known known is an animation genius, but when you put that together with Lupin there was a real sort of magic. Lupin III started life as a manga and the first episodes date back to the 60s, but when Miyazaki got his hands on the show it went from being a manga adaption to a place in television history.
So I sort of winced when I read that they were going to do a special kitbashing Lupin the 3rd with Detective Conan. Detective Conan is a classic anime series as well but to be honest it’s coming from a different place than Lupin which to my mind had a much more adult sense of humor. Granted that Miyazaki softened that humor a bit, but it was always underneath the show as a premise. As where Conan always struck me as something aimed at kids, so the idea of putting them together just didn’t jibe for me.
And sadly looking at this special it seems that I was correct. Firstly Lupin without Miyazaki is something sad, but given that if you take away that edge without the warmth it becomes a very hollow experience. And then you add Conan into the mix which even has a very different visual feeling and you get a big mess. So I have to say as an old time Lupin III fanboy I’m a bit let down. But judge for yourself, here’s it is:
See what I’m talking about: Why not just throw Professor Layton and Golgo 13 as sidekicks to make it even worse? It would be one thing if they did the entire show in a superdeformed chan style, but I’m feeling let down right now…