This is my piece in the newly released @fiveofakindzine that I helped moderate!! Please check out the entire zine its so cool
Below the cut will be my extended statement on my piece, please give it a read.
From the beginning I wanted to make something rather complex. The theme of the zine bought a great breeding ground of ideas in my head... How do I see the gang?
A lot of it has to do with the ending of the manga. It drastically altered the way I saw their dynamic. It was one of those moments in the story where it practically explains everything the characters did in the past or bought a whole new meaning to.
The manga never tries to get you to believe that what the Lupgang does is good. They don't think highly of themselves either, yet they continue to pursue this life. Why? It's because of Lupin.
It's a pretty common idea that Lupin is the center of the wheel. He connects everyone together, he drives the story forward with everyone following his tracks. The difference in the manga is that Lupin is in no way a good person. It's not the wholesome polycule that people conjure up, it is someone dragging all their friends into the pits of hell.
Lupin purposely continues this path and never thinks to go back because it's too late. I believe everyone else; Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, Zenigata, share this belief some way or another. That's why they keep spinning that wheel. They know it's bad, but there's no point in stopping.
Deep down they want to keep being criminals, pursuing the forbidden path. Zenigata himself becomes corrupted and uses the likes of criminals to arrest Lupin. He despises him yet they aren't too different deep down. They both pursue what they want, no matter what means.
Lupin offers that delicious freedom that they all desire so much. In Goemon's case, Lupin literally frees him from the abuse of his master. Perhaps it is indebtedness that keeps them moving forward, the hunger for free will.
They know deep down when Lupin is gone, their life will never have that spark again. Things go back to normal, and that's what they can't stand. They'd pursue their perverted desires until it leads to their death. Hence why this drawing is rather perverted too. I feel like sex and masochism is a really apt way of showing this relationship, not just of how horny the manga gets, but for some people, they get pleasure out of getting hurt/hurting back. It's an exercise of free will!
In a non romantic content however, the gang's relationship in the manga is just textbook abusive and manipulative relationship. The victims can't help but stay in it due to the safety it offers them (mentally) or believing that it can get better.
Er, back to canonical events. All of what I said ties to the events leading to the ending, Lupin kind of... gets manic? He gets noticeably antsy and pulls very risky heists, all of which don't really jive well with Jigen and Goemon.
The lack of logic that Lupin is operating on messes with the dynamic of the gang heavily. Jigen, who normally wrangles him back to reality, gives up and just follows commands. He becomes very apathetic to everything that happens and shuts down practically.
Goemon now becomes the brain of the team. He ends up trying to reason with Lupin (failing) and pulls the team out of death. Having so much burden on him, he noticeably becomes frustrated and cold. There's also the thing about him being suicidal.. but i can't confirm it.
Fujiko and Lupin's relationship, who was mostly an equal game of cat and mouse, now becomes one sided as Lupin tugs her into any scheme he thinks of. While their relationship was rocky at the beginning, Fujiko still gets her ways sometimes, which isnt the case at the end.
Zenigata, which I've touched on a bit, becomes a corrupted cop. He despises Lupin and wants to do anything to get him not just arrested, but killed. He ignores his morals and partners up with criminals which ends up working. He finally gets to kill all of them, but at what cost?
Hopefully all of this is represented in the piece I made. I really really love the manga and the gang offers so much interesting thoughts about relationships and psychology.
Thank you Five of a Kind for the opportunity to make something like this. It's my way to give tribute to a series which changed my life. I'm not into Lupin as much I used to but it's still really important that I do this. Also thank you Kato-sensei for making the best yaoi ever
Hi I found this old post I made on *shudders* Reddit, so I decided to post it to a better place. (This post below was written 5 years ago, so I apologize if I sound cringe, I'm not editing anything about it)
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Hello! It's been a while. So some people here have seen the cover of Motto Ganbare right? I think it looks very nice, but I still prefer the old one since i like how hirose looks there better.
But we're not here to hear my preferences, I noticed that the covers describe a very interesting story through changes presented and what it might mean for future volumes of the series. So let's get started!
Caption: I do admit i like the colors on the second one more
The very first thing I noticed is actually not Nakamura's change of pose, but Hirose's new expressions on the cover of Motto Ganbare! This time, he's showing a lot more emotions and not just smiling and being pretty. Some of it is even highlighting his negative features, such as him yawning and him being nervous, possibly highlighting his clumsy and not-so-elegant mannerisms. The top right one is him pointing and making a pouty face, signifying his more assertive and aggressive personality.
This not only signifies the developing friendship between him and Nakamura but also Nakamura's view of him. Hirose is able to express how he is to Nakamura, and Nakamura (and us readers too!) learn to see Hirose as not some perfect soft pretty boy with a happy personality, but as a normal teenager with real positive and negative traits. Clearly from Nakamura's expression, he still loves Hiro for who he is, and as readers, we probably do too.
Now for Nakamura's pose, it might not strike you at first, but doesn't Nakamura look less huddled up and closed off? As the story continues, Nakamura makes a steady journey to try and be more social, he also integrates himself more into his school and the people around him, making more friends (and some undesirable people) and being slightly less of a loner than he was in Volume 1. His change in pose expresses that and he bares himself more to people instead of hiding. He doesn't fully bare himself though, the arm where he carries his bag is still covering a part of him, showing that Nakamura still has some way to go. Not everyone changes overnight, and we are still rooting for him, hence the title "Motto Ganbare," partly meaning Keep Going For It!
The second cover also bears more of a pink tone. I might be reaching onto straws here, but I believe this represents how there are more signs that Nakamura's search for love might be closer. Hirose is showing signs that he could be attracted to boys (WE DON'T TALK ABOUT OTOGIRI.) and he's even attempting to hang out with Nakamura more, meaning that their relationship is possibly, slowly turning more of a romantic one, if just by a little. So keep going for it Nakamura, we believe in you!
So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree or have something to add! I would love to hear some feedback and talk about the covers. Byebye now!
I made some designs of the lupgang if they were in the world of kirby, and attempted to draw them in the style of the KSSU's key artwork!
More tidbits about their story and design will be revealed after I show the art
beware it is very long
LUPIN DEE THIRD
Lupin, or Lupin Dee Third as I call this character, is a Key Dee, a class of Waddle Dees you commonly see in KRTDL carrying a key as part of a puzzle. The reason I chose this guy over the typical Waddle Dee is because he has the monki-est design out of all dees, and I find that the fact it holds a key for any gate is pretty fitting for Lupin since he can surpass any challenges, no matter how impossible it seems.
His jacket color can be any of the ones in canon, but I chose green to be the main color he sports since it's a good reflection of the Kirby series. A lot of the locations are taken from nature and the peaceful and joyful themes lends the green jacket fitting very nicely. Red is too much of an aggressive color, while pink and blue don't seem as fitting either. Also, I wanted the jacket to share the same color as the money in the illustration, it's much less work if there's less color...!
Lupin Dee Third is a famous thief that travels across different planets to steal whatever he pleases. Often it is extremely valuable objects belonging to very pretigious or powerful people, which makes him become one of the most wanted criminals in Gamble Galaxy. He stores all of the things he's stolen in a secret place where nobody has found yet.
His combat capabilities is not much to be desired, so he relies heavily on the other members of his team to fight for him. However, he has the special ability to take an ability from another person and use it himself. It is not to the extent of Kirby's ability where he can use it as long as he likes and has full mastery over it, but it comes in the form of short bursts such as pouring a stream of water using the Water ability, or propelling himself into the air for a short moment with the Jet ability. He has an arsenal of these abilities kept in his backpockets at all times, so whenever you think you've cornered him, he always has a last minute surprise for you.
MR. DOOMENSION
Jigen, or Mr. Doomension, is a Waddle Doo with a goofy beard. There wasn't much thought behind my decision to make him a Doo iirc, I saw that it would fit to have him be a species that is a counterpart of Lupin's, since in canon they have pretty similar designs. The one eye makes him more menacing and mysterious anyway so it kinda just works lol
Since I wanted his body to be black, his clothes had to be a different color to appear striking. Thus, I've chosen blue, since its a rightfully common color to use for Jigen, and the accent as orange, the complimentary color for blue. Lastly, the shoes being black and shiny makes him appear much more professional and cool than Lupin, which he totally is.
Mr. Doomension primarily fights with his gun instead of using his eyes to fire his beams. He's always had an affinity to them when he was young, as he claims it allows him to focus and fire more accurate and powerful shots. Though he does load bullets in them, he is able to channel his beams through these guns as well. I'd like to believe that Waddle Doos can channel their beams through other body parts or objects (like Kirby) but choose to use their eyes since it's the biggest part of their body, thus more convenient. Mr. Doomension is built different however.
Much like in canon, he first met Lupin during an attempt to assassinate him for money. In Lupin fashion he ends up befriending the person that tried to kill him and they became close partners in crime, with Jigen always backing him up even in the toughest situations.
COMET RONIN / GOEMON
Goemon Ishikawa's kirby design has multiple names. He is commonly referred to as the Comet Ronin, since a famous story told of him cutting a giant comet into pieces to save a town. His real name is Goemon, but few know this name- or anything about him for that matter. He travels alone from town to town, fully cloaked so no one can see his face, requests food and shelter for the night, and disappears the next day. It was like that for years, until Lupin stole something that caught his eye.
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ayeee its goemon time. He has two versions of his design because he is that cool.
When first thinking of concepts, I knew I wanted to design him in a way where he is able to resemble one of Kirby's multiple knight characters, but also still be able to look like his friendly and cute manga design. I decided to lean much more into his ninja-ronin-like inspirations, since the kirby series very often likes to be straightforward with their designs. I gave him the straw hat that he wore in Fuma Conspiracy to cover his head, and made his hakama into a cape that he can use to cover the bottom half of his body. The rest are typical japanese stuff. The artwork I drew for his cloaked form tries make him look as imposing and mysterious as possible. You know nothing about him, you have no idea what he is capable of.
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Lupin recently stole another priced object: The Ryusei, a sword forged by meteorites, an heirloom from a family long forgotten from history. It seems like an ordinary sword at first sight, but if a member from the family wield it, they would unlock the power to cut anything. It ended up being sealed away due to the fear of that power being end up in the wrong hands. Goemon's life mission was to reclaim that sword for his family for the greater good, and now that blasted thief has gotten it!!! From then on Lupin and Doomension were always being chased by the Comet Ronin for reasons completely unknown for them, and eventually the ronin succeeds in taking back that sword, along with taking out the thieves for good... or did he?
The two thieves thankfully survived, but their car did not!! It was sliced in half by the ronin, and now they will be the one coming to him with vengeance. Taking the opportunity to take back the sword while Goemon's guard is down, the two get to see his real face and both sides fight it out, unbridled with anger. Thankfully after pummeling each other with their little nubs, they talk it out and come to an understanding. Goemon gets his sword back and the gang gets some money to repair their car, and they become friends yayyyyy
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So for Goemon's real form, I decided to have his body purple to match the color of Ninja Kirby from KSSU. His hair is a little nod to Discarded Character-kun (the hairball MP draws), and the eyes are much different than the usual type you see from puffball characters. I wanted him to still appear youthful and cute but have a determined look in his eyes, so I used the eyes that Bronto Burt and Burnin Leo has to better show that.
Also, he is supposed to have white wings with black tipped feather, but I sorta forgot to draw that so I might upload future sketches that go further into little details about their designs, where I'll draw his wings then.
If you read the entire thing- that's fucking wild dude this is so long, but thank you!!! and I hope you enjoyed it!! byebye
I found this post a long time ago and I got the drive to talk a bit about it because it covers two topics I both like, the Lupin manga, and comics!!
I strongly urge you to take a look at it because it's just a drawing and it only really takes a couple seconds to look at. I thought about reblogging it and adding my two cents right under it but honestly that feels rather mean-spirited.
Please do not attack or start an argument with the OP because of this post, that's stupid.
In this redraw, I notice OP gave a couple of comments about the original manga page that they drew, saying that the original felt very disorganized, hard to read, and there was a lack of space, implying that it was bad to the overall reading experience.
i read that and thought "Huh, never thought about it that way." so i wanted to talk about it.
Perhaps it's just the fact that I've read the manga dozens of times that I've gotten so used to this style of paneling. Another option is that Monkey Punch's style of paneling appeals to certain audiences more than others and the confusion only comes to a matter of taste. Regardless of the reason, this is a great excuse for me to discuss the art of making comics!!
Firstly, to defend OP points, giving it a closer look you can see there's a lot of things that can give people questions. The first panel (or lack thereof) is perfectly fine, no comments for me, but the second panel is where we start having some issues.
The framing around Lupin is good because he is the one talking, and it is important to set the context to who is delivering the dialogue. But who is he talking to?
At first glimpses, I feel like anyone can just skip the fact that Zenigata is at the bottom looking at us with a pout on his face... That is because there is so much detail in the background that while it does lead us to Zenigata, it has so much darkness and detail to it that it can push our eyes Away from Zenigata and to the background itself!
It doesn't help the fact that Zenigata is positioned nowhere in the panel that catches our attention. If we apply the Rule of Thirds (which is a compositional principle where anything that touches the intersections gives it more attention in a picture) in this panel, Zenigata almost barely touches any lines as opposed to Lupin!
If you just bring Zeni forward a lil bit so that he does touch the intersection on the grid, it's a huge improvement to the overall drawing.
In addition, OP is right in that the space in here doesn't make too much sense. Usually Monkey Punch takes a more two-dimensional approach when putting his characters in space, but sometimes it may look off when it's applied in a 3d space. The widening of the bridge makes it clear that Zenigata should be bigger to match the perspective, but when our eyes don't see that happen, of course that is going to break immersion.
When readers feel their immersion breaking, they're not gonna like it, and as an artist you have to still incorporate some sense of reality in your comics even if your style bends that a bit. Not that this comment is directed towards MP, I'm saying this just for anyone that is learning.
But in defense of MP... I don't think anything else in this page is really throwing me off as much as that little Zenigata mishap. The next three panels is what you would usually expect in any comic, not just Japanese comics. They're drawn so close together to give the last panel that Oomph!! if you know what I mean.
The last panel is given so much space in the page because it is the climax of their interaction. Just as loud as Lupin is screaming in his panel, the volume of his voice also has to be communicated through the sizing of panel as well, and that's why it occupies an entire row.
In addition, Monkey Punch generally uses very abstract backgrounds just to communicate that these characters are, in fact, in some kind of space, but the lack of detail in certain areas show that he prioritizes the characters more and leaves the other details to your imagination.
Why would Lupin be so big here? That is, much like the previous panel I critiqued, to highlight the fact that Lupin is the speaker, so he has to be the front and center. The angled perspective gives a sense of movement and energy rather than have any practical meaning. One person I talked to said it feels a lot like abstract art where it prioritizes emotion rather than making sense which I totally agree.
I think that's really what Monkey Punch likes to do when drawing more than anything. When you have only a couple hours to finish a page, what matters it that you make something that is easily digestible. Characters will look 2d because that's the fastest to draw and the easiest to understand (take a look at Peanuts for example) and backgrounds are just there to set the tone and help him deliver the mood.
While that would set off a lot of manga readers nowadays that are more used to polished artworks, I personally kind of admire this level of sloppiness. It has problems, but it still works!
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This part will be me giving my comments on OP artwork as a compare and contrast. I'll try to be light on my critiques since this stranger didn't ask for any, but if I want to be thorough with my commentary and also provide some helpful tips along the way. (I'm not gonna provide the picture, so just look at their work on another tab and follow along!)
Firstly, I think the change to the first panel diminishes the impact that the original had. The removal of exclamation mark, using round dialogue boxes instead of the spiky ones, and Lupin's hand not pointing at us makes the statement feels more neutral that it was meant to be.
The second panel improves the perspective and sense of space much more, I can tell that this artist really values making the background make sense, I wonder if they're a background artist? The space Zenigata occupies in this panel, while visually enticing, doesn't seem to contribute to the story. Lupin, despite being the speaker, is so far away that readers may mistake Zenigata as the one speaking instead.
And because we can feel the fact that Zenigata is super far away from Lupin in the space that OP has set up, it is very jarring to suddenly see him so close to Zeni in the third panel. This, at least to a reader like me, can throw off my immersion, because I'm suddenly thrown off by the sudden shift in position that is left unaddressed.
Skipping over to the last row of OP's redrawn page, I understand why they had to shift the "LET ME DUMP YOU IN THE SLAMMER!" panel to the bottom, but it really lessens the impact of both panels. The text box in the first panel should've been spiky to show loudness in the voice, and the text "TAKE HIM ALIVE" should've kept the exclamation mark for the same reasons I stated when talking about the first-most panel of this page. Sharing the same row for these two panels fails to deliver the same impact as the original to me.
The handwritten text is really great though, as someone that loves to do the same thing it really adds a lot to the dialogue.
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Putting all of this together, how would I draw this panel? If i can't also practice what I preach, then this is all for naught... (is that how you spell it?)
It's just a layout because this is just a nightly writing project and my stomach hurts while writing this but here's how I would redraw it I guess!
I tried fixing the perspective issue on MP's drawing and also incorporated some parts of OP's composition in the last panel since i thought that was a bit cooler. You can also see some of my drawing bias coming in too. I emphasize my character acting front and foremost but I don't really take the time to flesh out where my dialogue box would come in. I exaggerated everyone's poses (especially lupin) since i thought there could be a funny contrast play with the second last to last panel. Zenigata getting giant, then Lupin getting even bigger to fight back.
There's always a good thing about each and everyone's art style, and OP's comment about MP's style sort of rubbed me the wrong way considering that they are taking his own artwork to use as inspiration. I'd rather be respectful when commenting about someone's art because there are qualities that are great about it too that I may not recognize. Though I dogged on OP's version quite a bit, the decision to alter the panelling drastically and still finding a way for others to read it better is a pretty admirable task, and I like their dynamic lineart. That should be the same way other people should treat anyone's works. Instead of dismissing it because it doesn't work your way, try to find what it does right because that can also enhance your own way of creating art as well.
Ultimately though i really enjoyed writing something analytical again so I appreciate having this post as an excuse to ramble about something I really care about. I hope this post can help some people! Byebyee
I just realized that lupin fans love to hate things, not because we don't know how to enjoy something good but because most lupin medias just suck generally. There's only a few Lupin things I consider to be good (the manga, sps, mamo, cagliostro, dead or alive, part 1, nostradamus, part 3, wcfm) but the rest to me are either mid-tier or garbage.
It leads to a lot more of discussing things that we don't like because there's just so much to complain about. Looking back, that's probably the reason why my server became so mean-spirited because most discussions just became what we don't like about this lupin media and nobody bothers to talk about what they like because not a lot of people are on the same page about the manga. What I also find strange is that not a lot of people that read the manga actually bothers to write or reflect what they enjoyed about it too. It's always been a nitpick of mine that people glaze the art mp makes rather than his writing skills even though there is so much to extract from it (and I encourage more people to do it)
It's the behavior that most people attribute to big fandoms with a lot of content that people are mixed about like sonic and pokemon. Looking back now it's rather shameful that I fell into that cycle of hate that many people love to do rather than break the mold and encourage more positive discussions. Hopefully I have the time to write about more good things that I enjoy about the manga to encourage people to interact with it on a deeper level, we honestly need more people like that in the manga community. Because if we keep getting stuck on the cycle of hate, it discourages complicated thinking and being able to understand what we see and hear and do, and that's really the thing that ruins a community and society in general.
anyways i gotta get back to my work, just wanted to ramble on about something I realized recently.
but i think the whole taboo scary energy the manga has, the feeling that the manga basically gatekeeps itself due to the content it depicts is a huge part of why the series now feels queercoded
im thinking about like, the comments people make online about why lupin iii has so many queer fans, i think the basis of why that is is because the manga sets this story where the characters are free to express their sexuality in however ways they want without much shame behind it
i also talked to danny (@/goemonbooty) about twcfm a couple weeks ago and what he pointed out about the commonality shared between that series and the manga is that sex is just treated so normally
they do it in slightly different ways but i feel like the message behind it is all the same, its that sex is part of human nature and should be normalized, and thats also how queer spaces kinda behave too (or at least should be)
in the og manga, the scene where monkey punch basically fucks lupin, its treated sooo like "yeah this just happened" and the chapter just fucking ends with zero elaboration, that shit is amazing to me
when they inevitably have to change that when it got adapted on tv, they stripped away most of the "bad" sexual content so it could be family friendly.... hmmmmm.. noooticing
but just wanted to make something clear. obviously sex isnt the only thing that defines queer experience. lupin iii is still a pretty gay ass series even in its modern interation. but i find it incredibly fascinating that it also reflects how queer spaces starts to shame the sexual part of itself once it opened itself to a wider collection of people, just like how lupin had to move away from being so sex-positive to accomodate for a wider audience
lgbt spaces are constantly in a civil war nowadays, its so fucking stupid but theres this one specific thing i noticed where some queer kid gets grossed out by the presence of kinks and horny shit in gay parades, like completely not knowing that it was once a really important part of queer history. yknow what else in lupin history gets hated on by lupin fans due to its sexual content?
im making you think. hhrrrng
edit: sorry i cant forget about this thing i wrote sorry it kinda gagged
I was responsible for creating the table of contents double spread in the Popstar's Super Ultra Scrapbook Zine!! You guys should totally check it out... look how many stuff is already shown in here...
I based it off of the corkboard shown in both games, which is the menu where you select which game to play. I saw this as the most fitting choice for the table of contents in this zine for obvious reasons.
To coincide with the scrapbook theme, the background of the corkboard resembles a landscape of green greens using paper (the grass patch at the bottom with kirby's iggy, the ripped pic of the sky on the opposite side, as well as space on the title!). The yellow wings on both sides of the text is meant to resemble the logo.
In addition, this piece wasn't just made fully digitally! The pictures in the polaroid, the pictures to represent each games, and other bits and pieces were drawn traditionally and scanned using a printer.
It was not easy making this. The hardest part was funnily enough, the sketch.
During the time making this sketch, we hadn't decided on whether to exclude Section 5 or not, so I had to hold back from rendering the piece before it could be decided. As someone who likes doing things fast, this was very troublesome!!!
The other organizer also asked me to create other versions of the TOB to see which was best. Originally I was only supposed to draw one page, but we decided that a double spread looked better.
Despite the hurdles, I think I did pretty well in the end! Here's one last bit of behind the scenes. (Yeah, I killed Sailor Dee.)
hiii gamers I'm back to spout some more rambles, this time i will talk woke shit
I've had this headcanon for a while, not only does it I feel makes sense to his character and his whole shapeshifter kind of deal but I have uhh "evidence"- aka. moments in the manga that hints to him not giving af about his gender
(P.S. i wanna first say that I'm not genderfluid myself nor have any friends that are, so sorry if what i say about genderfluidity is incorrect, please correct me if there's anything i say here that is wrong.)
I'll first start on why it makes sense without the evidence. Lupin countless times, manga and anime, disguises as either man or woman, showing that he is comfortable serving the role of any gender. Perhaps he even disguises as a woman at times to reflect his shift in gender identity.
While you may argue that disguises doesn't necessarily mean anything trans-related, Jigen also uses disguises but I don't think there's been any time in the manga where he disguised as a woman, Zenigata once disguised as a woman but purely out of necessity to catch Lupin, and Goemon actually had dressed as a woman and seemed to enjoy it, but I think my friend already made a post about how she thinks he's a closeted trans-woman already so I'm not gonna touch on that.
Lupin is the only character that consistently disguises as a woman and acts very natural about it, implying he does feel comfortable as a woman, though I think he leans more towards identifying as a man most of the time (or secretly neither).
(This is when I add my evidence)
There was also this passage in New Adventures that Zeni questions whether Lupin behind the mask is a man or a woman, perhaps neither. He is a complete mystery on the inside, and that includes his true gender.
(adjusted translation)
The fact that he feels threatened could imply that he's uncomfortable about his gender, but then again I think it's mostly him messing with Zenigata considering it was a fakeout. He doesn't strike me as the insecure type about that sort of thing.
Regardless, MP wrote this here for a purpose so I like to interpret it as Lupin being gender ambiguous.
Lastly, the dual chapter story, Ch. 80 - Brain Swap and Ch. 81 - Body Work, has Lupin forcefully get his brain swapped with this old man that wants to live forever. To get him out of the old man's body, Lupin tricks the scientist to swap his brain with Fujiko, thinking that he is the old man in Lupin's body. BUT ANYWAY
HE IS WAY TOO COMFORTABLE IN FUJIKO'S BODY.
WHAT CIS MAN JUST CASUALLY WALKS AROUND IN A WOMAN'S BODY LIKE THAT? that's right he is not cis he is Genderfluid that is my very extremely convincing and conclusive evidence on why Lupin drank the gender fluid.
He even called it a remarkable experience, I think he was a bit happy about being in a woman's body for the first time
