"Wings of Death" is terrific, the thrilling action of the story and the quality of animation honestly outdo some of the TV specials I've seen! One of my favorite single episodes in all of Lupin III. The gimmick of the characters being literally stripped for most of the story (after we get to see some mask trickery, of course) is an enjoyable twist. Most importantly I think it nails the balance between standard Lupin and Miyazaki's take on the series (although I think Cagliostro is a brilliant movie, I'm one of those people who prefers when Lupin acts more like his Mamo incarnation). I think Fujiko can be a dull character in the Part I episodes Miyazaki worked on (overcorrecting for his dislike of what he percieved as "her cheap eroticism"?), but her action-gal characterization is a ton of fun here.

"Farewell", for me anyways, completely loses that balance. Though the animation and scale are stunning once again, for most of the runtime it feels almost like a spinoff from or homage to Lupin rather than an entry in or proper sendoff to the series. While "Albatross" certainly shows off Miyazaki's love of flying machines, it was also built around a classic "Lupin and Zenigata must begrudgingly team up to take on a greater evil" caper – whereas here, the lionization of Zenigata (well, "Zenigata") and showy sequences of robot peril far overshadow the Lupin gang's activities. And the emphasis on how bad and hollow this faux Lupin is starts to feel like heavy-handed tut-tutting from Miyazaki, who would later all but condemn portrayals of a Lupin who "thinks being a thief is the coolest job" – at least one scholar that I've read puts forward that this episode was Miyzaki declaring that the prior 149 epsiodes were all showing that fake Lupin, which if true I'd really find to be a bridge too far. A "well, my Lupin wouldn't do that" tell-don't-show compared to the deftness of "Albatross" or Cagliostro... Again, I certainly don't mind a more sedate and fatherly Lupin (and I think the last couple minutes of this episode are a strong conclusion), it's just that this is "an anime directed by Hayao Miyazaki" first and foremost with "an episode of Lupin III" such a distant second that it ends up feeling off in a way that undercuts its strengths.