Aug 25

Aug 25 Breaking the Fourth Wall for Fun and Profit!

Howdy, Lupintic folks! The Amazing Chris Godbey!™ here to discuss breaking the fourth wall!

You know what the fourth wall is, of course.

Named for the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in live theatre, the fourth wall is the barrier separating the audience from the characters in a fictional work (that's for everyone else, since, as I just said, you obviously know what it is).

Breaking the fourth wall is a tradition that likely goes back as far as fiction itself does (Shakespeare enjoyed doing it, kabuki plays often begin with the cast of characters introducing themselves to the audience), and Lupin the Third isn't exempt from dabbling in it.

Source: Part II, episode 56: “*Falling Cherry Blossoms - The Mysterious Gang of Five - Part II*”

Right from the beginning, in August of 1967, from the first chapter of Monkey Punch's Lupin the Third manga, Inspector Zenigata is given the letter of Lupin's intent to rob Dr. Ouki of his recent discovery. Zenigata reads the letter and proclaims that this whole story is “simple as a comic book”, earning him a glare from Monkey Punch himself, kinda setting the tone for the whole thing.

The “Greatest Heists” volume from Seven Seas translates this as “This reads like a shounen manga”, which still works.

Things went full postmodern in chapter 16, where Lupin is being interviewed by Monkey Punch, and he gives his author a tour of his hideout. All the while, a group of assassins are trying to take Lupin out but are foiled by all the booby traps and automated defences.

The tour is interrupted by Lupin having a meeting with his disguise artists and sending out his lovely secretary to continue the tour.

At the end of the tale, Monkey Punch attempts to seduce the secretary, only for her to actually be a very amused Lupin in disguise.

I feel like the implications are less Freudian, and more self-deprecating.

Weird, but really funny stuff.

A small, but amusing example of breaking the fourth wall is in episode 14 of Part II, Big Adventure of the Caribbean Sea (or Curse of the Jumbo Juju in the dub).

As Lupin and company are getting off the plane they're on, Lupin dramatically says “Title!” before the episode's title card is typed out.

This was even more amusing when the dub was first aired on [adult swim] in the US twenty years ago, since they'd often not include the anime's OP when airing the series.

Instead, the “Lupin the Thiiird~!” fanfare would play as the series' logo appeared on-screen, followed by the episode title card.

In this case, it felt like Lupin was summoning not only the episode title, but the show's title as well.

I was surprised to find this gag was present in both the dub and the original Japanese

My favorite thing about the original 1967-1969 Lupin the Third manga is how experimental it gets. The formula (and even characterization) for this franchise hadn't been established yet, and the psychedelic, postmodern culture of the 1960s was no doubt an inspiration.

There's a chapter (part of a loose story arc) that ends with Lupin having suffered a mental breakdown and being institutionalized!

However, the most daring experiment is chapter 68. As the opening narration points out, the main character of this story isn't Lupin III, Fujiko Mine, Daisuke Jigen, or even Inspector Zenigata. It's you, the reader.

The art is done entirely in a first-person camera view, detailing your adventure as you run to the police because Lupin's on your tail.

You tell an officer that you have the information on how to defeat Lupin III that the newspaper is giving a ¥ 1,000,000 reward for. Unfortunately for you, the officer you're talking to is Lupin in disguise.

You manage to escape by nailing him in the head with a large rock,

You find a phone booth that a woman is using, and are very rude to her so you can use it to call the police.

It’s definitely you, not me. I would’ve been much more polite. (Not pictured: you yelling at her and shoving her out of the way)

She bonks you on the head with a bottle and, when you awaken, tells you that she also knows Lupin's secret...but she's not making the call to the police, and neither are you. That's when it hits you (much like the bottle) that you're in Lupin's hideout!

You learn that she's working for Lupin, and that his other men have just finished destroying the hideout you knew about, but you manage to get a message out to Zenigata before Lupin drops the bomb on you that you’ve been unconscious for three weeks, and that you've had some plastic surgery done during that time.

And the story ends with Lupin escaping, and Inspector Zenigata arresting you because you look like Lupin.

Man, what a wild ride you went on.

I’m a big fan of the early seasons of Detective Conan/Case Closed (I'm sure the later stuff is just as good, but I haven't watched it), so when I heard that they were doing a crossover with Lupin the Third in 2009, I got totally excited, which probably contributed to my disappointment when actually watching the special.

But I'm not here to review an hour and a half of boring talking heads. I'm here to discuss breaking the fourth wall.

The first instance doesn't really count, since it's Kogoro Mouri expressing surprise to Zenigata that Lupin III is a real person, since Kogoro was under the belief that Lupin was just a comic book character.

It's not an actual break of the fourth wall, but it's a cute gag and worth mentioning here.

However, shortly afterwards, as Fujiko and the princess are going to bed, Lupin gets ready to join her, turns to the camera, and thanks the 80,000,000 adult viewers for their patience, before the stale, tired boxing glove gag from the OP of Part II gets played again.

Eighty million viewers? That seems…optimistic.

It was fine when Monkey Punch drew it in the manga, and it became iconic in the Part II opening, but…this is almost as egregious as the constant references to *The Castle of Cagliostro*…sorry, sorry. I’ll stop editorializing!

And finally, my favorite example of this is in chapter 48 of the original manga.

We begin with Lupin having a very realistic-feeling dream about undressing a woman, only for her skin to come off, too.

As Lupin has dinner, the woman from his dream shows up outside. Jigen accidentally knocks Lupin into his food, face-first, and Lupin takes out his frustration by smashing his plate on Monkey Punch's head.

Lupin’s efficient. He breaks the fourth wall and his dishes at the same time!

The woman claims that she's never met Lupin before, but she knows that Jigen is about to die (causing Lupin to remark that psychic powers are a sign that MP's running out of ideas). An assassin appears, gunning for Lupin. Lupin fires back, and the assassin turns out to be Jigen.

Lupin interrogates the woman, and... pulls her skin off again, revealing this to be another dream, and Lupin stomps all over Monkey Punch.

The dream woman walks into the hideout, and Lupin starts freaking out. Jigen claims her name is “Fujiko Mine”, and Lupin's hired her to help with a job they're gonna pull.

Jigen gets annoyed with Lupin's freakout and leaves the room. Lupin decides to seduce Fujiko yet again...and once again, the skin comes off, leaving Lupin disappointed and cursing Monkey Punch.