Lupin the Third is Japan's answer to James Bond. The only thing he likes more than a big payday [...]. Whereas Bond was a charismatic secret agent, Lupin is a charismatic non-so-secret gentleman thief. He is the world's greatest thief, seemingly able to escape from any predicament. His adventures are filled with comical antics and hilarious miscues. He chases after the women as much as the treasure and the former usually leads to a lot more trouble the latter.

Accompanying Lupin on his adventures are two loyal and faithful companions and one not so loyal companion. His close, personal friends Goeman, a samurai swordsman, and Jigen, a professional gunslinger, are usually responsible for pulling Lupin's butt out the crazy predicaments he gets himself into. His not-so-loyal companion and oft rival is the beautiful and devious Fujiko. She is the main object of Lupin's lust and responsible for a good number of the predicaments he gets into. Oddly enough, no matter how much she cheats him, he seems to love her that much more.

Rounding out the cast is the intrepid Inspector Zenigata. He is always on Lupin's tail, well actually, it's more like he's always a step behind. It is Zenigata's mission to one day capture the elusive Lupin and claim the respect he so rightly deserves.

This series is great, especially if you like James Bond type stories. The wit and humor are perfect for the style of story. The art effectively portrays the action as well as the body language and moods of the characters.

Note: Readers need to keep in mind that, while not explicit, this is not for children. Monkey Punch rates it for teenagers age 16+ and carries the "Parental Advisory" label.

it was good manga. i enjoyed it but the sex scenes started to get a little tiring after a while.

Lupin the third is all about the greatest thief in all of Japan. As a master of disguise he can get away for the most troublesome positions in a matter of minutes. He is a man who staves for riches, women, and the hardest of chanllenges. Although the pictures are sometimes small and hard to read or make out, this is not a problem because it is very easy to adapt to. Note even though the rating of 16 this book is definitely not for children. This is a great book that many people will enjoy that are in age and that is mature enough to handle what is shown in the book.

My favorite aspect of these books is the style of the drawings. Unlike many comics with the same outlined character drawn over and over, it's very clear here that each cell is unique, mostly due to the scribble-like nature of the art, which impressively captures the animated expressions of the characters.

Speaking of animated, it's important to note that the manga(book) version is much more graphic than the tv show that was briefly on Cartoon Network or most of the movies. As one of the other reviewers note, the artist, Monkey Punch, is strongly influenced by Mad Magazine and James Bond. The result is finding humor in murder and rape. That may be kind of hard for some to swallow, but as for me, i fell in love with the more innocent characters of the anime and love the drawings, so I found it worthwhile to ignore my femenist urgings.

It's also neat that this has the "100% original" stamp, and is printed from right to left like the original Japanese manga. It only takes a little while to get used to turning the pages backwards and it's worth it for the authenticity.