Category: 2020

I recently finished watching Lupin the Third Part II, a 155 episode series that I collected over 4 years. Having completed that show, I feel inspired to explain the history and premise of Lupin the Third and, hopefully, entice some of you to check it out.

The franchise follows the misadventures of the eponymous Lupin the 3rd, a master thief, along with his companions Daisuke Jigen, a gunslinger, Goemon Ishikawa, a samurai, and Fujiko Mine, the love interest/femme fatale They are pursued relentlessly by Inspector Zenigata, a police inspector who subsequently joins Interpol and has dedicated his life to arresting Lupin the 3rd.

It is quite likely that, even if you are unfamiliar with anime and manga, you have heard of Astro Boy. When discussing the impact and legacy of Osamu Tezuka with people, I often bring up Astro Boy as it allows them to visualize Tezuka’s art style. However, Astro Boy’s legacy goes beyond art and the stories themselves and feeds into the processes of both the modern anime and manga industry.

The story of Astro Boy (as established in the manga chapter “The Birth of Astro Boy”) starts with the death of a boy called Tobio in a car crash. Dr Tenma, head of the Ministry of Science and father to Tobio, is distraught and decides to recreate his son as a robot. After spending time with the new robot, he realizes that the robot will not grow as his son would have and becomes abusive. Dr Tenma eventually sells the robot to a circus where he is discovered by a professor named Ochanomizu. Ochanomizu takes him away from the circus, becomes a father figure to him and renames him Astro Boy. From then on, Astro Boy defends the world and helps to maintain world peace.

While I am perusing the news articles on websites such as Anime News Network and UK Anime Network, I notice a word that pops up again and again, “Isekai”. This genre has become so entrenched in modern otaku culture that it can sometimes feel inseparable.

Isekai refers to a story where a person is either transported or reincarnated into a different world (usually but not exclusively a fantasy world). While it is tempting to describe isekai as a new phenomenon, the reality is that isekai has existed in many forms for a long time. A Japanese folktale named “Urashima Tarō” is often cited as a heavy influence on isekai.