The Punisher meets four very cunning thieves.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

This is from the graphic novel "The Punisher - Assassin's Guild", written by Jo Duffy, pencilled by Jorge Zaffino, colored by Julie Michel. This was first published in 1988.

And in case you still don't get it...



What, no Zenigata?

This was years, hell, probably at least TEN years before Anime became pretty much mainstream in the US of A - and Jo Duffy wrote a reference very few people would get back in those days. I remembered I posted this ages ago after watching a couple of Lupin III movies on VHS I bought the other day (The Fuma Conspiracy and Legend of Babylon).

(This post was originally published at Scans Daily 1.0 on December 19, 2005. This entry has been crossposted to my Dreamwidth account.)

Comments

[darkblade.insanejournal.com]

The Punisher killed obvious stand-ins for the Lupin III cast? Awesome or Very Awesome?

[cricharddavies.insanejournal.com]

This is nothing. She had Lando Calrissian dressed up as Captain Harlock years before this.

[shanejayell.insanejournal.com]

LOL

Pic, please! ^__^

[shanejayell.insanejournal.com]

I'm kinda torn.

On one hand, "Yay, anime reference!" on the other, Lupan is a gentleman thief. He and his crew don't kill, as I recall, and I doubt they'd be a Punisher target.

[aaron_bourque.insanejournal.com]

This isn't Lupine. This is Jourdan.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Well, they do kill. I'm pretty sure Jigen and Goemon have killed people before. That said, I've heard that the manga version is a bit more of a bastard than the more popular anime version...

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

They don't kill recklessly, no. Lupin tends to favor schemes that involve disguises or fast-talking over outright violence, but one of the TV movies does involve him straight-up shooting dudes in the face.

Jigen and Goemon, on the other hand, both have pretty extravagant body counts. Neither of them go in for killing security guards that I can recall.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

Lupin and his crew do kill. Just not (clean) cops, or innocent people in general. They only kill bad guys.

In fact, they are so against killing innocent guys, that IIRC one episode (sorry, can't remember which one) has Fujiko get so incredibly pissed at Lupin for killing Zenigata* that she refused the money he had stolen. Considering that Fujiko is defined by her insane greed and she never hesitates to backstab her boyfriend for money, that alone shows just how much of a "DO NOT CROSS" line unprejudiced killing is.


*Obviously Lupin had been framed, but Fujiko didn't know that. And Zenigata got better anyway.

[ulf_boehnke.insanejournal.com]

I was under the impression they didn't care and the show simply didn't show the victims.

The first episode (or series) of him that I've seen showed him followed by a couple of dozen police cars on a frozen lake. They escaped by climbing on a helicopter and destroying the ice, leaving the policemen to swim out of the ice cold water. The problem is that one has only got a short time to escape from such a scenario and I thought that stunt should've cost a dozen lives at least in the real world.

On the other hand in the Lupin-verse the laws of nature seem to be optional.

[menagerie.insanejournal.com]

Marvelverse Lupin would probably kill. I'm kind of with you, leaning more toward dislike myself though I do think the reference is damn cool.

[neuhallidae.insanejournal.com]

Boo.

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

:(

[blake_reitz.insanejournal.com]

Frank Castle: Does not care for your animes.

[shanejayell.insanejournal.com]

LOL

Frabk Castle meets Pokemon: Gotta Kill 'em all.

[strannik01.insanejournal.com]

In fairness, back then, manga was a fairly obscure medium in United States. The homage would have gone over most readers' heads.

[sandoz_iscariot.insanejournal.com]

Old school anime references are fun. Back in the 70s Iceman used to have a Space Cruiser Yamato poster on his wall.

[petalsinthewind.insanejournal.com]

Why does the guy in white keep going for his sword against someone with a gun?

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

The character he's based on (Goemon Ishikawa XIII) is a master swordsman who can deflect bullets using his sword. Said sword can cut through -anything-. He uses it as a defense mechanism, once the enemy's out of bullets, then bam, he goes and attacks.

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faGjUY8Jo7M


In particular, check 1:40 and 2:03.

All of the characters in Lupin III are ludicrously over the top (it's part of the charm of the series), but Goemon is by far the most extreme example :P

[janegray.insanejournal.com]

Btw, if you have never watched Lupin, I recommend the 14th TV Special "Episode 0: First Contact." It's an excellent introduction to the series :)

[kagome654.insanejournal.com]

'But no one's been able to touch them. Until now. I don't know why no one ever thought of just standing there and shooting them before. Seems kind of simple to me.'

Lame. I would have preferred if they had made a total monkey out of Frank.

[nezchan.insanejournal.com]

I suppose the same thing could be said about Frank, enemies who know how dangerous this guy is end up imprisoning him, or tying him to a chair or something, on a regular basis. You'd think one of them would just go shoot him in the head or something at some point.

[grazzt.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not feeling this. Sorry, but the Punisher has to work extra hard to make the people he goes up against unsympathetic. Copy-pasting criminal protagonists from a different series is not the way to go about it. Particularly since it calls to attention some of the problems with the Punisher series itself.

[lieut_kettch.insanejournal.com]

Did Not!Fujiko just kill a security guard in cold blood?

[foxhack.insanejournal.com]

Yes.

This is why I'm okay with these guys getting gunned down. They're not even close to the Lupin characters that so many of us love.