The swashbuckling adventure is sure to please fans of Indiana Jones and James Bond, some of the clearest thematic brothers to the Lupin III universe. Nevertheless, the joy of Lupin III would be nothing in this movie without Miyazaki's astounding skill when it comes to adventure. The plot rolls along at a brisk pace, and though the movie clocks in at a slightly lengthy one hour and forty-nine minutes, there are no more than a handful of scenes that feel like they could have been cut. The master director's skill is most apparent in how he steadily adds new characters and challenges for Lupin to face as he attempts to sneak into Cagliostro's castle and steal away the princess. In fact, the movie reaches about three separate climaxes, each more exciting than the last, concluding with a thrilling battle between Lupin and the Count in the final moments of the film. (However, I personally found that the multi-climax structure can get a little tiring by the time the third one rolls around.)

Every moment of Castle of Cagliostro is simply delightful. The character's exaggerated personalities make them the central draw of the story, whether you're into Lupin's carefree silliness, Goemon's self-enforced aloof attitude, Zenigata's crusade against Lupin, or Jigen's constant squabbles with the same, there is something in here for everyone. In fact, the greatest tragedy of the film is that, as a movie based on a long-running manga and television show, it is forced to introduce a large cast of characters that are barely developed. Everyone except for Clarisse (nothing more than a gasping, despairing damsel in distress) is written in with just enough personality to whet your appetite, but the movie doesn't have time to significantly develop many characters besides Lupin and Zenigata. Heck, Jigen and Goemon appear early on and only actually do anything in the film's final act.

As expected of most Miyazaki films, Cagliostro features wonderful watercolor backgrounds and the director's trademark rounded character design style (negotiated, of course, with manga artist Monkey Punch's original aesthetic). But the most noticeable facet is the animation, which flows with a grace far beyond its contemporaries – after all, the original Mobile Suit Gundam was released in the same year! The movie is probably one of the best-looking anime of the 1970s, as the quality of both the art and animation could be mistaken for an early '90s TV series.

Castle of Cagliostro deserves to sit on the shelf of any anime fan, new-school or old-school. Miyazaki has since latched onto many of the themes and techniques that he used in this film (European setting, happy endings, high-flying adventure), but his seminal Lupin III movie bears a distinctly different feel from his Ghibli work. Now, over 40 years after its release, Cagliostro remains a verified anime classic, as beautiful, funny, and exciting as it must have been to audiences in 1979.

[Highly Recommended]

Golgo 13 is a quick-paced ride that flies Duke Togo all around the world, and the action almost never stops. In this regard, fans of the 80's era of testosterone-filled action flicks (both animated and otherwise) will find much to like here. Golgo 13 faces insurmountable odds, and like heroes such as James Bond or John McClane, he rises above them in thrilling and often extremely unique ways. The movie starts off somewhat slow, but picks up near the halfway mark, when Golgo 13 gives us it's first out of quite a few mouth-gaping "wow" moments.

Sadly, the film also follows another widely used 1980's anime stereotype: the frequent use of sex scenes. Yes, in Golgo 13, there are three, count 'em, three full sex scenes, and two rape scenes. Each of them shows as much detail as is possible while remaining with only upper-body nudity. This detail is, truthfully, not neccessary at all, as a simple suggestive version of the scene without any nudity would still illustrate the idea that Golgo 13 has sex with a lot of girls. Even worse than the frequency or detail of the scenes is that many times there are important plot details provided during them, forcing those wishing to skip past them to watch through the uncomfortable moments of what is essentially animated softcore porn. (One time, Duke is actually given mission data from another man standing in the room while he is having sex)

Being that this film was adapted from Takao Saito's original manga, it is understandable that the animation style would take much from its original. Most noticeable in this regard is the use of still shots in action scenes. Almost every time that a blow lands on someone, the camera stops moving and a highly-stylized, manga-esque still appears. These are a jarring addition, and definitely did not age well, but as an example of an older style of anime--one more firmly rooted in it's manga origins--they work great. The character designs are distinct but not particularly standout, except of course for Duke's face, which is famous for never moving, whether he is killing someone, escaping a burning car, or even having sex.

In addition, Golgo 13 is well-animated overall, and much of the joint work between director Osamu Dezaki and animation director Akio Sugino results in some very unique (for the time) uses of animation. Even so, there are a few times when the animation shows its age quite clearly. The first is during the opener, when stop-motion skeletons shoot guns at cheap CG skulls. Next is the comically bad 3-D helicopter scene thrown into the middle of the final battle. While both of these must have seemed incredible to audiences in their day, today they are nothing but humorous additions to an old film.

Streamline Pictures, an older dubbing company that is responsible for the oft-criticized dubs of such classics as Akira and Robotech, produced the incredible dub for Golgo 13. Contrary to what many would say, the Streamline dub for Golgo 13 blows away some of the better dubs of today. The lines are performed well all across the board. Additionally, it is clear that the lines were adapted for American audiences, as opposed to the modern methods of either following exactly or completely changing the original Japanese script. This is made most clear by the abundant use of curses in the dub, which was definitely not in the Japanese version, but adds considerable gravity to the words of the English voice actors. (EDIT) The work of Carl Macek, director of the English language version and founder of Streamline Pictures, is widely reviled by parts of the anime community, but as my first Streamline dub, I found Golgo 13 to be very entertaining.

Quite simply, Golgo 13 can get by on the cool-factor alone on its first viewing. While the sex scenes can get a little annoying, by the time you get to the second half or so, you will be in pure action heaven. The plot is not too complicated, so once the setup is done, Duke can get straight to some badass assassin-killing business. If you can survive the sometimes tedious first half of The Professional: Golgo 13, you will find an awesome action movie at the end. And it you don't like it... Well, Golgo 13 may have a new job on his hands.

Animation:		2.5		Average: (3.0 stars)
Plot:		2.5
Voice Acting:		4.0
Sound:		3.0
Overall:		3.0