Lupin III: L'unione fa la forza

The funniest of all the Lupin III movies I have seen. Endless visual and spoken jokes. And also one of the cheeriest of the movies. Zenigata finally gets to have some sort of warm human relationship outside of his pursuit of Lupin. Plus, Toyko Crisis is well-scored. Thanks to Yuji Ohno again. (I believe that is a cameo of Yuji Ohno playing the piano in the G.H. Nine Jazz Pub) The variety of relationship changes is refreshing and adds to the story. Goeman and Fujiko are teamed up, Zenigata has an attachment, and Fujiko is the apparent leader instead of Lupin. Also, Jigen and Goeman are at their weakest. Jigen has to face his biggest fear, the dentist, and Goeman has been separated from the love of his life, Zantetsuken. The whole franchise benefits and grows from these further explorations of pre-established facets of their personalities, and it's great for laughs in this movie.

I think that in some way, a lot of this movie is about the similarities between Zenigata and Lupin. Like Lupin, there is more to Zenigata than the front most people see. He is not incompetent, he is very astute, as Maria finds out while she tries to keep Zenigata from getting sick on sake. He may be drunk and despondent, but his mind is working and he has noticed the connection between Michael Suzuki and the drivers who caused so much trouble on the highway—a connection a lesser cop might have missed.

I like Maria quite a bit because she's not a worthless dip like some one-movie characters. She's a developed character with motivations or her own, and she stands up for herself and what she wants.

Lupin Tradition: Lupin's underwear during the opening escape sequence, striped boxers.