History YMMV / TheCastleOfCagliostro

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/LupinIII As per usual for this franchise,]] this music has an iconic soundtrack. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dzhgOxlr-U Fire Treasure,]] which memorably plays in the film's opening as Lupin and Jigen make their way through Cagliostro's countryside and has multiple variations, is a standout piece.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: Count Cagliostro's death. Once he places the two rings at their respective slots on the clocktower's face, the clock hands start moving toward the middle with the Count between them, trying desperately to stop their progress. The camera zooms out and we see the hands stutter briefly before they meet at the middle with an audible pop.]]

* FridgeLogic: Lupin has his Walther P-38 pistol melted into slag by lasers in one sequence. One can only wonder how the heat didn't cook off the ammunition in the magazine or fuse the metal into his hand. Then again, this is the same movie where a car is able to drive up a cliff, so clearly, realism is a thing that only happen to ''other'' people.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The movie was a failure on its initial release in Japan for being too cartoony and not having Lupin's adult humor. By contrast, Americans loved it and it's more well-known and sold far better than [[Anime/LupinIIIPartII "Red Jacket"]] or ''[[Anime/TheMysteryOfMamo Mamo]]''. Two things can explain why. First, very little ''Lupin'' had made it to the States by then, so ''Cagliostro'' was the largest release at the time – many American anime fans were introduced to ''Lupin'' with this film. American fans in the early 80s managed to get their fansub of it in front of a bunch of Cal Arts animaton students, which cemented its reputation among early anime fans. The other reason is that Streamline and Manga marketed it as a Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film, so viewers go in expecting something Miyazaki-like (which they will get).

* ContestedSequel: Though not being much of a sequel (since ''Franchise/LupinIII'' runs on zero continuity), Miyazaki explicitly sets this film toward the end of Lupin's career, meaning it takes place after ''Mamo''. Even fans who like both movies prefer not to think about them at the same time.

* MisaimedFandom: Princess Clarisse was not intended to be the TropeCodifier for moë. Miyazaki despises that trope. As a self-avowed feminist, he thinks the concept of moë is a terrible fetish that devalues girls.
* {{Moe}}: Princess Clarisse is popular among fans, was featured in early fanworks and doujinshi, and sometimes even said to be the first "moë" character. However, see above…

** For anyone afraid of corpses, it's a bad movie. The protagonists end up in a dungeon filled with centuries worth of unwanted guests and they even take a nap there. Bonus points for later featuring a scene in which some characters swim through the canal inside the dungeon. Obviously, the floor of the canal is also made out of dead people.

** Moreover, Discotek's release of the film features an updated translation that fixes a pervasive error throughout previous releases; the counterfeits at the core of the plot, given in Japanese as "gohto-satsu", are now translated as "Gothic bills", with the Count and Clarisse now being referred to as descendants of the Goths (a real people) and the language written on the rings being the Gothic language (a real, extinct language). The Streamline dub previously attributed "Gohto" to be the name of the originator of the bills, and the Manga UK dub translated "gohto" phonetically as "goat", referring to the bills as "goat bills", the language written on the rings as "Capran" (a fake language taken from "capra", the genus of the mammals we commonly refer to as goats; in other words, ''goat language''), and the Count proclaims to Clarisse that they share "the blood of the ram". Combined with the abundantly dark and, aptly, Gothic imagery of the famous wedding scene, it's pretty clear that Discotek's translation is likely the most accurate of the three.

** Moreover, Discotek's release of the film features an updated translation that fixes a pervasive error throughout previous releases; the counterfeits at the core of the plot, given in Japanese as "gohto-satsu", are now translated as "Gothic bills", with the Count and Clarisse now being referred to as descendants of the Goths (a real people) and the language written on the rings being the Gothic language (a real, extinct language). The Streamline dub previously attributed "Gohto" to be the name of the originator of the bills, and the Manga UK dub translated "gohto" phonetically as "goat", referring to the bills as "goat bills", the language written on the rings as "Capran" (a fake language taken from "capra", the genus of the mammals we commonly refer to as goats; in other words, 'goat language'), and the Count proclaims to Clarisse that they share "the blood of the ram". Combined with the abundantly dark and, aptly, Gothic imagery of the famous wedding scene, it's pretty clear that Discotek's translation is likely the most accurate of the three.

** Moreover, Discotek's release of the film features an updated translation that fixes a pervasive error throughout previous releases; the counterfeits at the core of the plot, given in Japanese as "gohto-satsu", are now translated as "Gothic bills", with the Count and Clarisse now being referred to as descendants of the Goths (a real people) and the language written on the rings being the Gothic language (a real, extinct language). The Streamline dub previously attributed "Gohto" to be the name of the originator of the bills, and the Manga UK dub translated "gohto" phonetically as "goat", referring to the bills as "goat bills", the language written on the rings as "Capran" (a fake language taken from "capra", the genus of the mammals we commonly refer to as goats; in other words, *goat language*), and the Count proclaims to Clarisse that they share "the blood of the ram". Combined with the abundantly dark and, aptly, Gothic imagery of the famous wedding scene, it's pretty clear that Discotek's translation is likely the most accurate of the three.

* VindicatedByHistory: When Miyazaki made this movie, he put his own spin on the Lupin character, toning him down from the raunchier, more manic version depicted in the manga and animated series (apart from the second half of "Green Jacket", which Miyazaki and Takahata directed). As a result, it flopped in Japan when it was first released – the people who liked Lupin for what it was were turned off, and the people who ''didn't'' like Lupin didn't have any reason to watch the movie since no one in 1979 had heard of Hayao Miyazaki. It was only years later, when Miyazaki gained recognition for his original works with Creator/StudioGhibli, and more people watched the movie without any prior ''Lupin'' experience, that it belatedly gained a reputation as a classic. Other animators in both Japan and America liked it and would ShoutOut to it, which drew people in to discover what was being (often subtly) referenced. It's often cited as the Japanese equivalent of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The movie was a failure on its initial release in Japan for being too cartoony and not having Lupin's adult humor. By contrast, Americans loved it and it's more well-known and sold far better than [[Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket "Red Jacket"]] or ''[[Anime/TheMysteryOfMamo Mamo]]''. Two things can explain why. First, very little ''Lupin'' had made it to the States by then, so ''Cagliostro'' was the largest release at the time – many American anime fans were introduced to ''Lupin'' with this film. American fans in the early 80s managed to get their fansub of it in front of a bunch of Cal Arts animaton students, which cemented its reputation among early anime fans. The other reason is that Streamline and Manga marketed it as a Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film, so viewers go in expecting something Miyazaki-like (which they will get).

** Special mention goes out to the villain's death. The guy gets crushed between clock hands with a sickening snap kind of sound.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler: Count Cagliostro's death, when he gets squashed by the clock tower's hands.]]

* MagnificentBastard: Lupin, even when made more heroic, is still a devious plotter, manipulating people by reason and emotion.

Special mention goes out to the villain's death. The guy gets crushed between clock hands with a sickening snap kind of sound.

* SignatureScene: There are two contenders: the mountainside chase and the clock tower showdown. While the car chase is immense fun with great action, the clocktower escape was so outstanding that virtually any fight in a clocktower will pay homage to this film.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The movie was a failure on its initial release in Japan for being too cartoony and not having Lupin's adult humor. By contrast, Americans loved it and it's more well-known and sold far better than [[Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket "Red Jacket"]] or ''[[Anime/TheMysteryOfMamo Mamo]]''. Two things can explain why. First, very little ''Lupin'' had made it to the States by then, so ''Cagliostro'' was the largest release at the time – many American anime fans were introduced to ''Lupin'' with this film. American fans in the early 80s managed to get their fansub of it in front of a bunch of Cal Arts animaton students, which cemented its reputation amound early anime fans. The other reason is that Streamline and Manga marketed it as a Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film, so viewers go in expecting something Miyazaki-like (which they will get).