English Dub Review: Lupin III Part VI “Welcome to the Island of Bubbles”

Overview

During an escapade in a seaside town, an imaginative local by the name of Muru takes a vested interest in Lupin and company. If only she could be a part of their world…

Our Take

This time around a previous guest writer, Tomoko Shinozuka makes her return after she recently did a Goemon-focused episode. But here it’s mostly told from the perspective of a wildly imaginative girl named Muru who watches from a distance as Lupin’s crew (Including Fujiko) are consequently trapped on her home island of “Mitten” due to a bridge failure, and they have an unexpected holiday of sorts.

At the very least, It was funny to see outsiders take on the relationship between Fujiko and the rest of the gang, and it would have been even funnier if Zenigata was there, but alas there didn’t seem to have any extra runtime to consider adding him to the plot. Again though, this was another episode where the main characters weren’t the main leads of their show, but it wasn’t as noticeable and as much of a detriment as the last time.

Overall, this episode was rather amusing and it was fun seeing the girl interpret Fujiko’s relationship with Lupin, Goemon, and Jiegen. And the proceedings were very laid back with zero stakes at all, which is quite rare for a Lupin storyline. As someone who dislikes fanfictions and especially shipping this is exactly the type of episode that would irritate me. I understand you’re supposed to view this from the eyes of a naive young girl and I’m also certain that many fans will enjoy this episode but, but I’d much rather see the “Tomoe” storyline continue out of closure.