The crux of the Fujiko Mine TV series from several years ago is all about how Fujiko is not the sum of some broken past. Her deceitful, seductive, almost Luciferian attitudes aren’t a specific reaction to a world or individuals who have attempted the same against her. Those talents are just as much an essential part HER as Goemon’s sword, Jigen’s gun, or Lupin’s disguises (that last one especially so after the BIG reveal at the end of Part 5) are essential parts of THEM.
While we may judge these characters to some degree for their general lack of morals (more so in these Koike OVAs than, say, the Miyazaki-helmed Cagliostro and Parts 1 and 2 episodes), we shouldn’t judge Fujiko for using sex and lies to get what she wants if we don’t judge her cohorts for using THEIR skills, and neither should we pity her for using her femininity in such an aggressive way. That’s simply who she is, and y’all just gotta deal with it.
Fujiko’s Lie might not overtly harken back to all of that, but those undercurrents are totally here for those who care. This is all about how Fujiko has to use her powers of deceit on EVERYONE, even those she genuinely cares about, to get the ending she wants. She’s protecting the son of a man who embezzled $500 million bucks from the Wrong People, and she’s more than willing to make herself appear to be the heartless villain if it means making sure that kid pulls through. She’ll tell the kid his dad’s dead. She’ll make him think she’s willing to sell him out. She’ll treat him like crap AND falsely cheer him on if it means she’ll get the reaction out of him she wants. Everything that she’d do to someone AGAINST her is on the table when dealing with someone she’s trying to HELP. Short of impaling the kid through the heart, but even Fujiko has her limits I guess. The kid DOES have some heart problems as it is, so that’d only add to the situation.
And in the end, the OVA doesn’t JUDGE her for this. She’s totally a lowlife scumbag, but no more so than anyone else we root for. She’s the master of the anything-goes school of Gives No Fucks What You Think And Will Do It Again Just To Spite You.
The villain in this one isn’t QUITE as cool as Hawk from Goemon’s Bloodspray, but he’s still pretty awesome in his own right. He has this Aeon Flux vibe to him, with his more-wiry-than-usual design, totally elongated fingers with claw-like nails, and Mummy’s Curse-like “powers” that let him create mini-sandstorms that can take over people’s minds. And the way his naive, brainwashed nature is juxtaposed with that of the kid Fujiko is protecting is some good character dynamics stuff, and goes an extra step to show that she effectively treats the two characters the same, save for the way she resolves things. Like I said, you can’t stab EVERYONE in the heart, but you can do it to SOME people.
And the reveal that all of these OVAs are linked through whoever is organizing these villains makes it all the better.
SHIN MECHA GUIGNOL 