Maybe people just expect the art to be too clean, which was never intended. I really like the animation in this episode—
Ben looked up the director/animator/storyboarder, Shin Itagaki, and it turns out he was a little Yasuo Otsuka in many ways—and I don't see the problem with witnessing one of Jigen's first big adventures, particularly one where he's unaccompanied, trying to distance himself from being a bodyguard and to have a break searching for treasure in Egypt. If anything, the humorous incidents going on within the pyramid are reflective of this new period of his life, whereas Lupin is both accustomed to the adventure lifestyle
and at the top of the ladder. Even if the expressions are rougher overall, as is the animation, the way Jigen's journey is portrayed feels mature and controlled, while Fujiko is blissfully-unaware of what she's doing, and Lupin is just screwing about.
I haven't watched this subbed yet, though, so I wouldn't know all of the specifics. What I do know is that the storyboard compositions felt fluid and intimate despite the scale of the episode; the excellent use of gun-point stand-offs and figurative characterization throughout keeps the early-Green Jacket complexity while injecting animated humor and Red Jacket-style antics into the plot; hell, this is some of the best voice work I've ever heard in a modern Lupin production, with Kurita playing his restrained Lupin brilliantly and Kobayashi still doing a great classic Jigen (and Fujiko's seiyuu isn't bad at all). This week's contribution just felt balanced and well put-together overall.
ep5:
Jigen and Lupin are both more interesting than Fujiko and their presence along with the more interesting setting helped a lot. Some bad scenes, though, and when the shadow filter completely coats the screen it's just hideous and ruins everything. Thought the episode took a total dive once Fujiko showed up at the sand whirlpool. The whole thing just feels rather sluggish. When the episode ended it was more of a relief it did, and that doesn't bode well for a twenty-minute or so piece of animation.
Fujiko was an inherently-bad choice for series protagonist and viewpoint frame, and she's not going to really develop until later—now, of course, the series is moving on to establishing classic relationships and double-acts, anyway. The shadows were fine for the most part, but the constant contrast between those fine-line shadow shots and the scratch-texture ones is upsetting to me. And the episode was great all-around, mainly because Fujiko got Jigen and Lupin at the best time possible—she's competent enough to know when they're distracted, at least. The last thing this episode feels like is sluggish, especially after the prodding pace of the previous episode.
I don't know how polarized Anime-GAF normally is towards non-RomCom/moe shows, but this show seems to have brought out a whole bunch of conflicting opinions. One more reason for me to stay.
