Alright folks, it’s time at last to return to The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The show’s first two episodes were each highly entertaining in their own ways, though I still find myself a little emotionally removed from its proceedings. Everything feels very ornate and beautiful and stylish, but it also strikes me as a little impersonal; the second episode’s narrative in particular, while theoretically centering on an intimate lovers’ betrayal, proceeded with all the majesty and emotional distance of a melodramatic stage production. It was an effective and very pretty story, but not an intimate one, and it’s not easy for me to immediately assign that to either Sayo Yamamoto’s general style, Fujiko Mine’s storybook affectation more specifically, or that episode’s even more specific tributes to Cowboy Bebop’s Ballad of Fallen Angels.
Of course, while Fujiko Mine might not yet be a star in an emotional sense, it’s still succeeding brilliantly as a series of ultra-stylish heist capers. The show’s visual direction is superb, its layouts are consistently brilliant, and Fujiko herself embodies the lusty, desperate tone of the entire production. Fujiko Mine possesses an instantly iconic and utterly story-appropriate style that feels like little else in anime, and since we’re still in episodic vignettes, the lack of an emotional punch isn’t really all that damaging. Let’s see what adventures await our master thief!