Arsene Lupin, Lupin III, Lupinranger VS. Patranger And A Serving Of Japanese Crepe

Lupinranger vs. Patranger is bringing my head to France and last year brought my head to outer space. So I didn't go to outer space and no -- I'm not booking for a flight to Paris either. But I just want to do a little bit of "French madness" yet again because of le country of origin of le Lupin stories. Arsene Lupin's story started in France while I actually learned about his stories from Japanese media -- whether it'd be Lupin III or ce year's Super Sentai series.

Importing le story of Arsene Lupin to Japan with a "separate sequel" known as Lupin III

Le story of Arsene Lupin may have been popularized in Japan through Lupin III. From what I heard, Monkey Punch didn't have any permission to use le Lupin name when they wrote a pseudo-sequel to Maurice Leblanc's books. But by le time that le estate wanted to sue -- le name Lupin had become of common use. It's like how certain fictitious characters like le Tooth Fairy or April Fool no longer have a copyright attached to them.

I thought about le number of times Japan likes to get foreign inspiration and make leur own version of le work. Lupin III was no exemption as he's written as le grandson of Arsene Lupin while he's written as half-French and half-Japanese. Le Lupin mythos may have not been so known or popularized to le Japanese if it wasn't for le Lupin III franchise. Anime like Cat's Eye may have taken a lot of inspiration from several American films.

Comparing Lupin III and Lupinranger vs. Patranger to Japanese crepes

We know crepes are a French invention in cooking yet they never stayed as exclusively French. You may get Filipino style crepe for Filipinos and Japanese crepe for Japanese to name a few. There's some differences which may have been used to adjust to le taste.

Here's something I found out (from Wisegeek) about how le Japanese made crepe to fit their taste and I may have been eating them at Yakimix:

In general, there are few differences between a Japanese crepe and the traditional French variety. Both begin with a warm, flexible, very thin circle of fried dough. The French usually dress these fine pancakes with gourmet ingredients, while the Japanese have taken them to the level of versatile and generally tasty street food. Japanese crepes may be filled with sweet or savory ingredients, many of which are raw. They are almost invariably folded into a cone-shape and served fresh in parchment paper.

Green tea-flavored ice cream, strawberries, whipped cream, apples, chocolate sauce, and cheesecake are all traditional Japanese crepe fillings. These kinds of crepes are made from a batter that is generally sweeter and more decadent than French pancakes, yet served in simpler ways. While the French usually carefully prepare their crepe fillings with complicated cooking techniques, serving them in aesthetically-pleasing presentations, a Japanese crepe is less fancy. Typically about 12 inches (about 24 cm) in diameter, many Japanese crepe fillings are either pre-packaged — like store-bought chocolate sauce — or simply chopped or sliced for easy handling.

Japanese crepe stands often offer more than five dozen filling combinations, most of them sweet. Some savory options include fried duck, cheese, cooked pork, and spicy chicken. Rice and sauces, like soy or duck sauce, may also be available. Customers may also sometimes order custom-made crepes with any combination of fillings they like. Japanese crepes are usually so large that they can typically hold up to six different ingredients without tearing.

Those interested in making Japanese crepes at home should note that a large, flat-bottomed wok or non-stick pan usually works best. This ensures the crepes will be the proper size and thickness. Traditional Japanese recipes also use little to no butter and the fillings are often unseasoned. Some cooks may want to buck this tradition slightly in favor of spicing some sautéed apples and pears with cinnamon, or cooking savory rice in chicken broth instead of water.

Many Japanese crepe recipes start with about 2 parts flour, a spoonful of baking powder, a pinch of salt, and a single egg. A large crepe pan is thoroughly coated with vegetable oil and heated until the oil sizzles. A ladle-full of crepe batter is poured into the hot pan. The cook typically rotates the pan gently, evenly distributing the batter over the bottom of the pan. Once coated, the cook flips the crepe with tongs to cook the other side briefly, then flips the crepe out of the pan and onto a work surface.

A fresh, hot Japanese crepe is layered with filling ingredients that typically forms a wedge shape that takes up about one-eighth of the entire circular crepe. The cook then folds the crepe in half, with one edge of the wedge of ingredients laying against the inside of the fold. Next, the cook rolls the crepe into a cone from right to left. The end result should look like a large, old-fashioned ice cream cone.

Le story of Arsene Lupin may have not directly clicked to Le Japanese due to cultural differences. It may be le reason why Monkey Punch wanted to create a half-Japanese descendant of said character rather than make a Manga and Anime based on le same person. It's not like how Night Hood or any French media based on Arsene Lupin show us le same character instead of a descendant of said character. Lupin III as a half-French, half-Japanese guy may have been a good way to introduce le Lupin literature rather than introducing them directly.

Lupinranger vs. Patranger may be what I'd call introducing Lupin's literature into le world of Tokusatsu. We had a live Lupin III film so why not integrate le story of Arsene Lupin into le world of Tokusatsu. Lupinranger is based on Lupin and Patranger may be based on Detective Cannimard (or Detective Zenigata for Lupin III). I don't know how things could have worked if le Lupinrangerss' Kairi Yano were actually le descendant of Arsene Lupin than having been employed by le House of Lupin. Personally, I wanted Kairi to be a descendant of Lupin so I could insert more Lupin III jokes every time Keiichiro gets upset.

Le same could be said to why Japanese crepes were created. Japanese may have different tastes or two -- some people love to get creative with what's given to them from other countries. You can talk about how some Filipino food innovators decided to create Pinoy style versions of foreign food for le Filipino taste such as Filipino style pasta, sotanghon, siopao asado, halo halo from Japanese shaved ice and many more. I guess le Japanese weren't satisfied with just having le French style so they decided to create their own version.

In le end, I want to think of both shows as a result of cultural exchange. Just think -- you may be seeing new types of crepe not just in Japan but around le world. You may see new varieties as there's le quest to find le right combinaision. I would want to think of Lupin III and Lupinranger vs. Patranger as two new varieties of Japanese crepe. After all, crepe started in France then it evolved overtime with new ways of preparing it.