40 Films in Robotech: Lupin III – The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

 

It's an anime staple. No wonder it found its way into Robotech.

 ROBOTECH MENTION:  

In Robotech TV Episode #24 entitled Showdown, Max and Rick go to an arcade called Close Encounters. Yeah, we know. That film is often referenced in Robotech but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. As we see various shots of patrons in the arcade, we see a pull-out shot from a video screen to an over-the-shoulder shot of a young gamer playing a driving game that looks an awful lot like Lupin III – The Castle of Cagliostro. 

Still from Robotech episode 24: Showdown.

 SYNOPSIS:  

#classicfilmreading book Cult Movies explains Castle of Cagliostro as:

Hayao Miyazaki’s too little-known gem is an animated James Bond/Raffles-style adventure in which a sympathetic thief Lupin must save beautiful Clarisse from the evil Count Cagliostro with the aid of a humorous sidekick, weapons expert Jigin. Lupin’s character was inspired by the turn-of-the-century French novel The Memoirs of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Le Blanc.

 AWARDS & KUDOS:  

Lupin III – The Castle of Cagliostro won the Ofuji Noburo Award in the 1980 Mainichi Film Concours. According to Collider.com, Steven Spielberg called it “one of the greatest adventure movies of all time.” Cult Movies’ team of reviewers designated Lupin III – The Castle of Cagliostro as a movie “you would be daft to miss.”  

 OTHER COOL FACTS:  

The reason you see Lupin III in an arcade video game in the Robotech episode Showdown is quite simple. Clips of the film were actually used as part of a real arcade video game called Cliff Hanger in the 1980s. Here is a short documentary on the inclusion of the movie in that video game…

 ROBOTECH REASON:  

The movie was an early pioneer of anime that made its way to America. The aforementioned Cliff Hanger video game was also quite popular (I loved this game!). For both reasons, if you’re going to create an arcade in anime in the 1980s - like they did in Robotech - it’s a no-brainer to include Castle/Cliff Hanger.

To read my ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(out of a possible 5 star) rating for Lupin III - The Castle of Cagliostro on Letterboxd, click here.