Secret of the Twilight Gemini, minus naked parts. XD
After giving this special a second look I noticed a few things. Lupin seems a lot younger than he is in other specials--he's rounder, no hardness in his features at all--I mean it might just be the design, but then Dolune keeps calling him "Baby". That was an "awww" moment, because Lupin at first resents the nickname but eventually tells Dolune to call him "Baby". It was also interesting that Jigen isn't the only one to have long-standing connections in the underworld, and Dolune seems like a patron to Lupin, or maybe a former patron. In any case, Lupin seems to respect Dolune as a crime lord, the likes of which he usually screws over.
Chris Sabat's Jigen was a lot smoother and euphonous, compared with Crisis in Tokyo where he's very gruff, to the point of being nearly incomprehensible. He looked a little younger too, or at least less wrinkly. Goemon's nose was very defined and noble-looking in this one. And Fujiiko was pissed off for the whole time, clothes and no clothes.
I found it interesting that Lupin was very, very nervous when he broke into the police station, another indication that Lupin might be younger here.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Zenigata make a transition from green to red jacket characterization. He's all serious and self-righteous but irritatingly condescending without his extra zany edge to balance his reserved, dignified characterization in the first part of the special. I do like his brilliant trap during the scene on the train. Lupin calls it a "sneak attack" and "cowardly" of him, and it's interesting that Lupin generally expects Zenigata to fight honorably, but Zenigata could care less.
But once he's pushing the truck out of the sand, he's all wild-eyed and sweaty, exerting that monumental physical effort that he shows mostly in red jacket. He loses his composure, joins the end fight against the commissioner's thugs, and then hangs out with the group up until they find the diamonds.
What's funny, in the epilogue, Kari (the old man) asks what Zenigata's doing, and he says he'll arrest Lupin at the plane---but he had every opportunity to arrest him when they were going through the underground passageway--he was like two feet away from Lupin! XD
Goemon was a beast in this one, and it's nice to see him hell-bent on vengeance against Sadachiyo.
Funimation censored this one heavily for language, and from this TV Special it seems that Lupin is more homophobic than Jigen is in "Crusiin' in Drag", because Lupin calls Sadachiyo "gay bastard" and other denigrating terms. Not that I like Sadachiyo --he's a pig, but Lupin has never drawn attention to a man's sexuality in another special.
