In my family of many brothers, the "Lupin III" animated TV series was the only program we could agree to watch. Once the electric guitar riffs of the Yuji Ohno-penned theme song began, a blissful peace descended on our living room. The fighting stopped and all eyes were glued to the family's beat-up Toshiba TV screen as we watched Arsene Lupin III and his pal Daisuke Jigen blow up safes and steal helicopters. And I can remember the collective sigh that came rippling forth from my brothers as Fujiko Mine would make her appearance, usually sporting the kind of cleavage they'd only have glimpsed on the cover of an American Playboy.

Meisa Kuroki, herself no stranger to the collective sighs of young boys across the country, plays Fujiko in the latest live-action film version of "Lupin III." Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and staring Shun Oguri in the title role, the story sees Lupin's uncle killed in a heist involving the Crimson Ruby of Cleopatra — and Fujiko wants to get her hands on that ruby.

Kuroki, like many Japanese girls, has been a fan of the Fujiko character since childhood.