Strong and Moving!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

'Farewell to Nostradamus' is the fifth Lupin film and to me it's one of the best. My second favourite in fact behind 'The Castle of Cagliostro' (a personal favourite animated film of mine, as a fan of animation and anime). Also the boldest Lupin film since his first film 'The Secret of Mamo' with its surprising sexual content and the most entertaining since 'The Castle of Cagliostro'.There is very little to complain about with 'Farewell to Nostradamus'. Occasionally it's a little rushed, the slightly too short length plays a part in this somewhat, and the character designs occasionally lack finesse (though nowhere near as underwhelming as those in 'Gold of Babylon', the weakest of the Lupin films). Otherwise, 'Farewell to Nostradamus' is great and a must watch for fans of Lupin.Visually, along with the previous film 'The Fuma Conspiracy', 'Farewell to Nostradamus' is one of the better looking and more polished Lupin films. It's great here, with the attention to detail in the chase sequences and backgrounds being particularly impressive. The action is truly exciting with a healthy dose of both suspense and humour.Its tense climax is one of the better ones of the films, closer to the great ones of 'The Fuma Conspiracy' and 'The Castle of Cagliostro' than the weird, underwhelming ones of 'The Secret of Mamo' and especially 'Gold of Babylon'. The music is an improvement here, being more dynamic and fitting, not discordant.Writing is humorous (the humour is especially good, a lot of it being hilarious), thought-provoking and taut (every bit as successful with the suspense), with a little pathos in the mix. The story is gripping and a lot happens that ensures that the film is never dull and the tension and fun never slipping, not feeling over-stuffed either despite the large amount going on, or overly convoluted despite it being suitably complicated at times.Characterisation-wise, 'Farewell to Nostradamus' is one of the better Lupin films. Lupin is a fun, charismatic lead, while the villains are suitably sinister and the supporting characters are more than up to his level particularly Zenigata and Fujiko. The voice acting is quite good, the dub being much better than in the previous film.All in all, terrific. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox

Only recently have I stumbled across the Lupin III series, and they have found a way to tag along at the end of my daily routines. Distinct characters, interesting plots, and an unusual sense of anxiety on what could happen next. The first few I had seen were intriguing none the less, but it wasn't until I had seen Farewell to Nostradamus that I had truly been engulfed by this world that Monkey Punch had created.These movies are usually very fast paced and chaotic. Farewell to Nostradamus handles this well and succeeds where a lot of the Lupin III spawns blunder, at creating a smooth and climactic story line. There is never a point where the viewer is overloaded with plot material, all while building up to a tense and very satisfying ending.Quick synopsis: Lupin III is a sly, suave, and slick international thief. He is accompanied by; Jigens (a nicotine addicted gun slinger), Goemon (a patient samurai), and Fujiko (a heart and neck breaker).After a successful diamond theft, the team quickly turns their attention towards a high paying job. To find the lost pages of prophet, Nostradamus. Soon they are stuck in the middle of a presidential election, a kidnapping, and the eerily accurate predictions of a modern day doomsday cult. All while being chased by INTERPOL's leading investigator, Zenigata.

Lupin III: Die Nostradamus is a great film. The animation is crisp, humor at its best and action non-stop. This one is even more risqué compared to other Lupin films, containing nudity and a high body-count.The premise of the story is rather straight-forward. Douglas, the heir to a wealthy Georgian-based clan, is planning to run for the American presidency. Douglas' daughter Julia is kidnapped by a cult associating themselves with the famous predictor Nostradamus. They seek Douglas to call off his presidency aspirations and give them his ancient book of Nostradamus' predictions. Meanwhile Lupin and his gang are looking to save Julia and claim a $50 million prize for the book of Nostradamus also. This Lupin has a lot going on in it. With various action in Brazil, including the Amazon jungle, Morocco, Atlanta, Grenada and Executioner's island. Many different action sequences and small but effective jokes put this over-the-top as on of Lupin's best yet.If you're big on Lupin, anime or even film in general I'd recommend this. Kick back, relax and enjoy the ride!

Easily one of the best of over a dozen feature-length Lupin III animated features and TV specials made between 1979 and 2000, DIE, NOSTRADAMUS! is a 1995 film (98 min.) that showcases all of the Lupin series' regular characters to great effect, but also unleashes a formidable stable of new villains and some interesting supporting characters, including Julia, the fearless, precocious child who's heir to one of the world's largest fortunes, and Douglas, her blindly ambitious father whose U.S. presidential campaign is derailed by her kidnapping. For those new to the Japanese animated Lupin III phenomenon (introduced on TV in Japan in 1971), the regular characters are as follows: Lupin the 3rd, famous jewel thief and grandson of famous French literary character Arsene Lupin; Fujiko, Lupin's gorgeous, buxom and duplicitous sometime partner; Jigen, Lupin's fedora-wearing, gun-toting sidekick; sword master Goemon; and the gang's ever-persistent nemesis, Inspector Zenigata.The action in the film is fast and furious and moves from Brazil to an unnamed city in the U.S. (the site of Douglas's 200-story skyscraper HQ, the tallest building in the world) to a Devil's Island-type penal colony to the interior of the Amazon jungle and back to the U.S. Several different parties are all after an original, complete copy of Nostradamus' predictions that Douglas keeps in a vault in his skyscraper. One of these parties is the cult leader of the Church of Nostradamus who needs the book to bolster his own power. The Brazilian soccer team gets involved at one or more points in the story.The big action climax occurs in the giant Douglas skyscraper as all parties converge in a race against time to get the book before the bombs planted by one of the competing factions go off. There's quite a lot of genuine suspense and destructive spectacle in this section of the film, which will no doubt please fans of the series but may help to explain why, at least in the last three years, this film has not been picked up for distribution in the U.S. Some of the action here simply hits a little too close to home after 9/11.While Lupin and Fujiko maintain their sense of humor throughout the film and even get romantic during one unusual interlude (with the appropriate-and expected--clothes-shedding), the overall tone is more serious and straightforward than most Lupin features. Things don't get too ridiculous or outlandish as they do in, say, LEGEND OF THE GOLD OF BABYLON (1985) and PURSUIT OF HARIMAO'S TREASURE (1995) to name two Lupin features that are available in the U.S. I would rank NOSTRADAMUS with Hayao Miyazaki's CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (1979) as the two best Lupin animated features. Others I would recommend include THE FUMA CONSPIRACY (1987) which, like CAGLIOSTRO, is available in the U.S., BURNING ZANTETSUKEN (1994), DEAD OR ALIVE (1996), and WALTHER P38 (1997, also reviewed on this site).