Introduction

I’m going to be reviewing an anime called Mankatsu.  It actually has a longer name, but no one cares about that name and just calls it Mankatsu.  It’s made up of stories other than Lupin that Monkey Punch has done.  I’ll explain how all the episodes are divided up and then we’ll get into episode one.

The hour-long episodes always start out with part one of a gag starring Lupin and Co.  These are never voiced and are generally about the gang running from Zenigata and how they get away in one fashion or another.  At the very end of the episode, they appear again.  They bookend the show.

There are also very short cartoons interspersed throughout the show, some of them starring monkeys who do odd things and interact with the Lupin gang (in ways that have nothing to do with the gag from the beginning) and the monkeys can only say the word “Mankatsu”.  It’s weird.

There are also shorts about a travelling samurai; a man traveling/living in a hot air balloon; people who die stupidly; a cartoon about double entendres, and one about misunderstanding words so they end up being dirty.

The longer sections of the show are divided into the “Mini Stage” and the “Grand Stage”.  The Mini Stage features a story about 15 minutes long and usually tell a complete story over a three episodes, or at least they use the same characters.  The Grand Stage stories are 30 minutes and are stand-alone.

So, to sum it all up:

Opening theme song>>Lupin and Co. gag>>stuff about monkeys and other shorts>>Mini Stage>>more shorts>>Grand Stage>>Lupin and Co. Gag>>ending theme.

Also, some of the descriptions will be vague since the only subs available are French ones and I understand even less French than I do Japanese.

Let’s do this.