English Dub Review: Lupin the Third Part IV “The Dream of Italy Part 2”

In order to have the theory of relativity, you must have someone to relate to.

Overview (spoilers below):

The last episode, we saw how crazy Agent Nix can be when he goes fully off the hinges. We also witnessed the lengths that Mi6 is willing to go through in order to keep the mysterious “Dream of Italy” under wraps, going so far as to kidnap and torture Rebecca to extract information from her. BUT WE STILL DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THE DREAM OF ITALY WAS! We left Lupin trying to decipher notes left behind by Rebecca’s past love, Wataru, who is now deceased. This episode starts off with a trip as Lupin is trapped in a dream world, nearly reminiscent of an M.C. Escher painting, which looked pretty fascinating. It only gets weirder from there as we find that the Dream of Italy is actually the world where someone can temporarily transplant Wataru’s mind directly into the subconscious and communicate with him. Mi6 wants this technology because by learning how to use it, it’s possible to manipulate peoples mind, implant memories, or destroy memories. For them, it would be a form of mind control. It doesn’t take much of an imagination of what such technology could be used for, especially in the hands of the wrong people. Upon awakening the dream, Lupin decides to take Rebecca to San Marino in order to fulfill Wataru’s final request. The action picks up there in a series of fast-paced events that end in a rather interesting fashion.

I really thought that this episode was very intriguing and deep. Learning how to implant a person’s personality into the mind of another through equations and riddles is no small feat, especially using the method that Wataru implemented. Wataru obviously was a genius and this episode just goes to show how much of a genius Lupin is himself. The riddle was originally left behind for Rebecca to solve, but Lupin is the only person who was able to actually crack the mysterious code. I won’t give away the entire episode but I will say that what happens after Lupin takes Rebecca to San Marino is very powerful. You absolutely HAVE to watch the second half of the episode because so many important events happen in such a very short time that it’s a little overwhelming. Accompany that with a visit from our favorite Secret Agent Nyx, and the ending of the episode, and you’ve got the makings of a great episode. I will say that this episode was great, however, I was disappointed by the length of the episode. It seemed like it could have been much longer, or perhaps even the plot of a movie. There was a good amount of mystery and mysticism here, as well as action and drama. On the flip side, I was a little disappointed, let down even, once it was revealed what the Dream of Italy actually was. I was thinking that it was some sort of super-awesome, majestic type of thing that you had to see to believe, not a psychological manipulation technique. I really don’t know what exactly expected it to be, but I was not expecting it to be what it was. Also, as a final note regarding the episode, it was very interesting to see a younger version of Rebecca through Wataru’s memories and learn more about what drive’s Rebecca’s motivations.

Our Take

While this episode was very entertaining and interesting to watch, it was a bit of a let-down. The Dream of Italy had been alluded to since early on in the series, and it seemed to be something that would make you gasp when it was revealed. Instead, I was left scratching my head thinking “That’s it?”. All of the suspense and waiting did not seem quite to pay off in my opinion. Even though this episode ended with quite the interesting situation for our hero Lupin, I feel that the second half of the episode seemed rushed. I think the two-part Dream of Italy saga would have been better as a three-part episode. However, the episode was still action packed and fun to watch. Even though I was personally disappointed in the turnout of this series of events, I strongly suggest watching this episode for the closure that it brings. There are some pretty important things that happen that I didn’t mention because you need to see them for yourselves.