Lupin III: Chi no Kokuin - Eien no Mermaid

[THIS WAS WRITTEN RIGHT AFTER WATCHING IT AND ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACC. KEEPING THIS HERE FOR AN ARCHIVE]
Watched blood seal of the eternal mermaid and it was so good. It had the usual lupin movie plot rehashes but there were so many good moments and ghe animation was mind blowing at times so I quickly ignored the samey structure. I noticed really quick they used a super heavily inspired ghibli/Miyazaki style Maybe in reference to cagliostro which I thought was nice. Lupin himself had a lot of really fun moments too. The token superpowered movie exclusive girl was fairly interesting and the little girl ... maki made a very good sidekick to lupin
Overall I had a fun time :) 8.5/10
I’d give a 9 but the plot sometimes felt a bit TOO been there done that. Other than that it was a really great lupin movie

So, I'm not sure if this is correct, I might be wrong and this is just speculation. But I think this is the thing that inspired Lupin III The First, not The Castle of Cagliostro, as the director had said.

And I feel Eternal Mermaid is way more consistent, plotwise, in comparison. Both movies are great, don't get me wrong, and I love them both.

It has some interesting internal mythos that manages to suspend your belief (unfortunately some Lupin stuff can't pull this off, it's rare but it happens), the characters are at their best here, specially Fujiko. It touches on Lupin's relation to his ... grandfather, a theme I really enjoy when it shows up. Sympathetic "episode" related characters who are very cute and bounce off well with Lupin.

It gives Goemon a rival. There are some nice moments with Jigen (I do think the duo was a biiit underused, but with a cast this big, it's not rare for this to happen and I kinda already expect it from these 1h30 specials.

I think the only major criticism I have for this special is it's portrayal of Zenigata, I know each character changes a bit from iteration to iteration, but even if I, for example, didn't enjoy too much Full Hard Boiled And Harasser Zenigata from The Woman Called Mine Fujiko, I will say that he at least was very competent. Zenigata in Eternal Mermaid just kinda stumbles along the plot, being there because He Has To. I didn't hate him in it, I'm always endeared by how much he believes in Lupin's integrity, but I felt he deserved more credit.

I guess that's all, overall a very good watch, I recommend it to anyone who likes Lupin III.

This is a more thriller type of Lupin. It starts off heist but the heist theme cuts off early into sci-fi/ thriller/ mystery. The character development women in this one not only get a lot of play, but are a crucial part of the plot! They make thought out, not rushed development. Fujiko is there, but unimportant.

The art and sound quality are better than what would expect from when it was made. I would recommend this for people new to Lupin and new anime, because it does a lot of showing the character's personalities with Fujiko being as useful as she usual is, and it's ... good from people into creepy thriller stuff.