The Castle of Cagliostro / Secret of Mamo
(out NOW on Manga Video)

At last, Manga cartoons that not only make sense in English, but are actually amusing rather than incomprehensible! These two cartoons are obviously heavily influenced by Hérge.

Imagine if you will a Tintin gone bad as the world's greatest thief (Wolf, alias Lupin III), accompanied by a Blues Brotherish sidekick called Jigen and a deadly not very talkative samuri (Goemon). The world is a strangely ill-defined Tintin-like 1960's Europe, complete with Mini Coopers, Citroen CVs... but mixed in with 90s weapons like Barret sniper rifles and Uzis.

The Castle of Cagliostro is set in a postage stamp-sized Monaco-like kingdom ruled by a mad Count of the same name. Said nutter has imprisoned the rightful heir to the kingdom and is planning economic world-domination by flooding the planet with forged currency so good it can't be told from the real thing.

Unfortunately for the Count, cheeky chappy Wolf and his friends want to steal the plates to set up their own mint, and they might just rescue the princess in the bargain.

This is a high-speed comedy adventure, filled with interpol agents, ninja bodyguards, hidden passages, car chases, '60s automobiles, humour and a whole host of James-Bondish high jinks.

In terms of its graphic style it is Tintin meets Appleseed! Likewise the second video featuring Wolf, The Secret of Mamo.

Here, Wolf and his friends have a falling out over his nipple-tweaking relationship with female adventuress Fujiko. She's involved with another criminal mastermind bent on world domination (one who looks a lot like those little blue super mutants out of Aikira), and the boys feel our hero's being taken for a ride.

The secret of Mamo involves an immortality stone McGuffin, and takes the planet's hottest thieves from Egypt to Paris and Transylvannia while being hunted down like dogs by the CIA, Interpol and perhaps most dangerous of all, the chief villain Mamo and his crime organisation. Can they stop the blue-skinned devil's monstrous plans for a nuclear holocaust? I think they stand a good chance.

Equal fun, but The Castle of Cagliostro just about has the edge if you can only afford to buy one of these two videos. Highly recommended, and if you like Manga, 100% essential!


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