The Woman Called Fujiko Mine celebrates ten year anniversary!
Sayo Yamamoto’s 2012 spin-off series The Woman Called Fujiko Mine is celebrating its tenth anniversary this week!
While I personally was a little taken aback by our favourite thief’s return to television screens when it first aired, over the duration of its run, I began to appreciate the fresh new take on the franchise.
The darker, more detailed characters felt like interesting counterparts to their usual selves, and the striking visual style, with superb designs by Takeshi Koike, quickly won me over. Even big-name internet celebrities, such as Hideo Kojima (creator of such works as Metal Gear, Zone of the Enders, Death Stranding) stayed up late to catch the first episode—and proceeded to tweet about it the following day! It certainly caught people’s attention with its “hard and dangerous” promotional campaign.
Soon, after that, I decided to open up a Lupin Central account over on Tumblr to help celebrate the show and its community—along with the previous forty years of anime / manga that came before it.
Now, ten years later, I look back on the show fondly, and would rank it highly amongst my favourite media in the franchise. It remains a strong, exciting watch, and easily stands out amongst the rest. It is also crazy to think how much larger, and stronger, the community around Lupin has become during those ten years.
To celebrate its tenth year, pop culture website Polygon has published an in-depth write-up on the show, and the legacy that followed. The article dives into how the anime handled sensitive subjects such as child abuse and trauma, what it meant for the characters of Lupin III, and so much more. I would recommend giving it a read, as the author, Christopher Inoa, has done a wonderful job of exploring the show. Check it out here.
If you are yet to see the show, or fancy a re-watch to celebrate, you can check out both the Japanese and English language versions over on streaming website HIDIVE (in selected territories).
If you are a dedicated fan of physical editions, Discotek Media, All the Anime, Anime Factory, and more have their versions of the series on sale in their respected territories.
