Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

An Anime Review - Bonus Content

Studio: TMS Entertainment | Released: 1979 | Duration: 1h 40min

Hey Everyone!

Some of you may remember hearing us mention Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro in our previous Cowboy Bebop and 2020 Top Ten videos, but we thought it was so good it deserved a video of its own. Not to mention it is Hayao Miyazaki’s directorial film debut.

We’d recommend checking out our anime review video below on the film first to find out more about the story, the creative process, and even why more and more anime seems to be inspired by Europe. If you’ve already watched it then as always feel free to continue reading on as we’ll be covering some bonus content here that we weren’t able to fit in our video.

Darn Those '70s Kids

Something that was interesting to find out about the film, was that Miyazaki was mainly targeting it towards all the kids that came of age during the 70s in Japan. Why them specifically you ask? Well during the American Occupation, which lasted from 1945 to 1952, there was a large effort to deradicalize the Japanese population and demobilize their military. To do this General Douglas MacArthur of the U.S. Army, passed two reforms. The first was that farmers would now be able to own land, and the second was that workers could start unions. This essentially dismantled the Zaibatsu, which were large multi-industry companies that had so much wealth that they controlled significant parts of the Japanese economy. This new shift in power allowed for a democracy to be established in 1947.

Then by 1955 the economy and country were back in full swing, and the country was jumping into its rapid modernization phase in order to catch up to Europe and America. By the ’60s Japan’s economy was ranked 3rd in the world and they were enjoying a thriving middle-class society. This rise in the economy meant more people could afford to go to school; which led to universities becoming overcrowded. Students weren’t getting the quality of education they had been promised, which bred resentment amongst the youth. This amongst many other things ultimately led to the student protests which occurred from 1966 to 1968, in which students who had nothing to their names banded together to say they existed and they would be heard. Hayao Miyazaki was one of these youth. He fought for what he believed in, and like many others wanted to be one of the good guys and create change. When the ’70s came around he started to see that the youths were changing their attitude. They were no longer fighting for a better future but instead were more interested in embracing the free love movement. This passive attitude frustrated Miyazaki; who was used to seeing youths with a fiery passion to better the world. He saw this new generation as selfish, apathetic, and unwilling to fight for change. This inspired him to have protagonists who are willing to put their own self-interests aside and fight for something greater than themselves, possibly even more for the benefit of others. Something we see constantly throughout Miyazaki’s work. Of course, not all of the characters start out this way at the beginning of the films, but by the end, most if not all reach this point, usually signifying growth and maturity in the character. Being selfless and standing up for something bigger than oneself, is Miyazaki’s equivalent to “Growing Up”.

The Car Chase that inspired Disney

We briefly talked about the iconic car chase scene in Cagliostro over in the Anime Review video, and how it was possibly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s film To Catch a Thief featuring Grace Kelly, but did you also know that this scene then went on to influence Disney’s animators as well? In 1988, Hayao Miyazaki and Yasuo Otsuka (the head animator on Cagliostro) were invited to visit Disney Studios, and as a gift, they brought along with them a clip of the Car Chase scene from the Castle of Cagliostro. John Lasseter, (scandals aside) who has been a big force behind the reason we’ve had such easy access to Ghibli films here in North America, was working at Disney at the time of their visit and remembers being “blown away by the kinetic energy of the scene”. According to Otsuka, the animators at Disney continued to look over every aspect of the Cagliostro clip, saying that it became an “object of study”. This “object of study” would later go on to inspire the animators of the Disney films “The Great Mouse Detective” and “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”, which both feature a scene that pays homage to The Castle of Cagliostro.

Aged Like a Fine Wine

How has it held up over time? Well, we’d say that despite the film Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro coming out nearly four decades ago, it is still just as great today as it was when it first came out. I mean when we compare it to some of Miyazaki’s more recent films, of course, you can clearly see that there’s been an evolution in quality over time, but the “Kinetic Energy” of the movements within Cagliostro’s animation has remained the same and is still above-par. Lupin running across the rooftops is a great example of what we’re talking about.

The animation quality alone isn’t what gave it its Anime Classic status though. The other and in our opinion more important reason as to why we feel like Cagliostro has aged well is because Miyazaki likes to create innocent and pure characters full of heart. This is probably why he tends to choose female protagonists above male ones in his work, but even when we look at characters like Asitaka (Princess Mononoke) or Marco (Porco Rosso), they still have something honorable or gentlemanly about their personas. Something that Miyazaki also did for Lupin in The Castle of Cagliostro, and as a result, we were able to watch Cagliostro without finding any major problems that would by today’s standards offend our sensibilities. We can’t exactly say the same for some of the source material used as inspiration in the creation of the Castle of Cagliostro film; those, unfortunately, have aged like sour milk and can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Both the original Lupin from the manga and the tv series can come across as sexist and all-around cringeworthy, especially now during the #MeToo era. Just looking at Kazuhiko Kato’s comment about how he would have approached Lupin’s character differently in the film was especially disconcerting and a reminder that times have changed.

Even looking at Cary Grant’s performance in To Catch A Thief, which we believe was one of The Castle of Cagliostro’s influences, can be a little uncomfortable to sit through at times, and would probably have received some backlash on social media had it come out now.

Luckily for us, Miyazaki is a feminist and has stated “Many of my movies have strong female leads- brave, self-sufficient girls that don't think twice about fighting for what they believe in with all their heart. They'll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.”
(Thank you, Hayao Miyazaki ~)

And even though we see Lupin and his gang attempt to save Clarisse from the Count’s clutches throughout most of the movie, there are multiple times when she’s saved them right back. Proving she’s not just a damsel in distress needing to be saved from her tower but is instead a strong heroine who is willing to stand up for herself and those she cares for. This kind of character is much more appealing to audiences as Miyazaki has continued to prove over and over again throughout his work, and a far cry from the female characters found in Kazuhiko Kato’s original Lupin III creation. Knowing this it’s no surprise that Miyazaki felt he needed to make some big changes in regards to Lupin and the rest of the cast of characters when compared to their personas from the manga.

Miyazaki’s characters and stories are more innocent in nature since they are meant to appeal predominantly to children. We believe it’s due to this that his films are not only a hit with a larger audience but also that it’s the main reason they’ll continue to be timeless.

So that’s all we have for you guys now. If you have any other theories or points you want to discuss, feel free to leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Now, as always, stay safe out there, and

~ Stay Obsessed

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