tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post62694631108097432..comments2024-03-29T00:31:02.713+01:00Comments on ボクの事件簿: Les Milliards d'Arsène LupinHo-Linghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-5003457609782031992016-03-29T08:15:23.522+02:002016-03-29T08:15:23.522+02:00I'll modify itI'll modify itAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-85474724488843259622016-03-28T22:27:51.669+02:002016-03-28T22:27:51.669+02:00I will stick with the fully-researched Wikipedia a...I will stick with the fully-researched Wikipedia article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-9152566368148480752016-03-28T08:58:33.642+02:002016-03-28T08:58:33.642+02:00Perhaps! I really did like it, but I'm already...Perhaps! I really did like it, but I'm already writing a review for a different publication first, and I don't want to write similar reviews twice one after another.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-9719945784892966402016-03-28T08:57:24.135+02:002016-03-28T08:57:24.135+02:00Moriarty's costume in that series is indeed wh...Moriarty's costume in that series is indeed white, and time-wise, KID's costume might indeed be inspired by Moriarty's costume (as Magic Kaito started a few years after the anime). On the other hand: Moriarty's costume was obviously based on the stereotypical Lupin costume, only white.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-4343395013799906812016-03-28T08:54:08.329+02:002016-03-28T08:54:08.329+02:00Like I mention at the end of the piece, I don'...Like I mention at the end of the piece, I don't claim this is /the/ explanation to the Lupin Conundrum: I simply wanted to point out some factors (cultural familiarity with the concept, publication history, 'offspring') that might not come in mind immediately from the POV of a Western fan.<br /><br />As to 'cultural conservative', I think this notion mostly applies in hindsight to the works that /do/ survive. Because countless of works (from popular culture) have also been lost in Japan. If not for projects like Aozora Bunko (Japanese Project Gutenberg), many pre-war writers for example would've been long forgotten because of unavailability.<br /><br />Regarding KID: he's not originally from Conan actually. He's from his own slapstick gag-manga. Nobody in the 21st century (well, he's dates the 20th century) dresses in a white top-hat, monocle and cape, but there are no killer robots running around town, no witches as classmates and no highschool detectives dressed like Sherlock Holmes with a hawk as a partner either. KID is obviously based of Lupin. And everybody knows that. But why? That puts us back to the question as why Lupin is still living in Japan. And I'd still say that having characters like Kaijin Nijuu Mensou (based on Lupin, dresses in black top hat and cape), and the Minami Youichirou Lupin stories (features many illustrations, again in the 'traditional' Lupin get-up) helps preserving the image. Especially as these are aimed at children: conciousness of the characters stays alive longer.Ho-Linghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04673330638260132388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-92169357509849657022016-03-28T08:49:27.856+02:002016-03-28T08:49:27.856+02:00Kid's costume looks exactly like Moriarty'...Kid's costume looks exactly like Moriarty's. This makes sense. Lupin's doesn't even come close. It looks nothing like Kid's costume.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-54572652407507793662016-03-27T18:01:46.842+02:002016-03-27T18:01:46.842+02:00The Wikipedia page says Lupin. This makes sense. M...The Wikipedia page says Lupin. This makes sense. Moriarty is not a phantom thief.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-60360755867596690152016-03-27T07:24:53.648+02:002016-03-27T07:24:53.648+02:00I think Kid's costume was modeled after Moriar...I think Kid's costume was modeled after Moriarty's from the meitantei Holmes animeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-346064596791823462016-03-27T07:23:43.292+02:002016-03-27T07:23:43.292+02:00Are you going to post a review of the latest lupin...Are you going to post a review of the latest lupin iii series?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-37805879663901030712016-03-26T04:28:08.190+01:002016-03-26T04:28:08.190+01:00Interestingly enough, when I looked up the charact...Interestingly enough, when I looked up the character's Wikipedia page, it stated that his costume was directly modeled after Lupin's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-34337904560419867662016-03-26T04:17:59.428+01:002016-03-26T04:17:59.428+01:00Let me put it another way. I don't at all foll...Let me put it another way. I don't at all follow Detective Conan, but I know there is a character called the Kaitou Kid who is a gentleman-thief. This is the 21st century, and no one walks around with a top hat, a cape and a monocle any more, but this is just how the Kaitou Kid is dressed. If fact he is dressed pretty much like that Japanese version of Lupin above. The only reason for him to be dressed that way is because the top hat belongs as much to Lupin as the deerstalker belongs to Sherlock Holmes. So Lupin has a cultural niche in Japan. You know a gentleman-thief because he looks like Lupin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8031063966272508587.post-46628907775824697552016-03-26T03:46:34.443+01:002016-03-26T03:46:34.443+01:00Thank you for an interesting article. However, I d...Thank you for an interesting article. However, I don't know that it really addresses the point of why Lupin is still popular in Japan, but generally available as only a specialty item in the West. <br /><br />I would note that most of Lupin's detective story contemporaries are likewise specialty items in the West: Dr. Thorndyke, the Thinking Machine, Average Jones, Craig Kennedy, Uncle Abner, Randolph Mason, Inspector Hanaud, the Old Man in the Corner, Max Carrados, etc. are all key figures in the development of the detective story, but almost all of them are specialty items both here and presumably in Japan (at least I never hear any references to any of them). So the question is why is only Lupin still popular only in Japan when the other characters are equally well-written? (The quality level of the magazine fiction at the time was really very high.) I don't know the translation status of any of these other characters; probably most of them were never translated and would never achieve popularity. But I would simply imagine that the Lupin stories were initially popular in Japan because they are often exciting and cleverly plotted. <br /><br />But that does not explain continued popularity because there are many such stories. Older stories, especially popular fiction, generally get covered up by newer models and forgotten, especially popular stories from other cultures.<br /><br />The mere presence of translations means nothing. Books do not become popular because they continue in availability; rather, they continue in availability because they are popular.<br /><br />So the question still remains, why is this old model still hanging around only in Japan more than 100 years after his first appearance? I think there are two reasons: (1) I don't think anyone does the gentleman-thief better than LeBlanc. So they remain simply on their strength as stories. (2) It appears to me that the Japanese tend to be more culturally conservative and hang onto things longer than the West. I think this is why we saw a return of the traditional mystery story to Japan long before the stirrings of it started to become evident again in the West. (It is only in the past year that the British Library Golden Age reprints started to become popular.) This is a good thing; a culture is like a ship and needs ballast as well as sail, as Lord Macaulay reminds us. We have precious little ballast here in the West and we often pay for it. In the West we still have thief characters, but it would not be politically correct to have a light-hearted gentle-man thief, who plays theft as a game. If you have a thief in the West he has to be a monster like Stark's Parker. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com