Clarisse de Cagliostro is a character from the movie The Castle of Cagliostro. Despite her young age, she is the princess and current ruler of the European "Grand Duchy of Cagliostro". Through her adventures she became a friend of Lupin III.
Clarisse is a very beautiful young woman with short auburn hair, blue eyes and fair skin. She is kind, gentle and sweet, and while naive to the ways of the world, shows surprising strength of character and courage in the defense of all she holds dear.
Since the death of her parents in a fire that also destroyed her home, Clarisse had virtually no one to trust, especially when Count Lazare assumed guardianship over her and made preparations to marry her in order to get his hands on the Duchy's secret treasure. When Lupin III selflessly saved her life, she fell deeply in love with him, and is one of the few women after Fujiko who would truly move his heart.
Biography[]
Clarisse and Lupin's first encounter
Clarisse is the only child of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Cagliostro, the tiny country's ruling family. When Clarisse was still little, she encountered Lupin III, who had just started his thieving career at that time, after he had unsuccessfully attempted to find the source of the legendary Gothic Bills (or Goat Money depending on translation) in the royal castle. Wounded by a flight of arrows, Lupin came to rest in the nearby Grand Duchal palace gardens, where he was found by Clarisse and her pet dog Karl the following morning. Instead of alerting anyone to his presence, she returned to him with a glass of water, which helped him recuperate. He left at an unspecified time later, and in the ten years that followed, he had nearly forgotten all about Clarisse as he set his mind on other treasures all around the world.
Three years after her encounter with Lupin, Clarisse lost both her parents in a fire which destroyed the Grand Duchal palace. She was sent to a convent for her upbringing, and returned when she was of age. The country's regent and her distant relation, Count Lazare de Cagliostro, immediately prepared for her wedding to him, but she was repulsed by his cruel and greedy personality and fled his presence during the try-on of her bridal gown. During the wild car chase that ensued, Clarisse ran into Lupin and his companion Jigen, who had just arrived in Cagliostro to find the source of the Gothic Bills once again. Lupin and Jigen saved Clarisse from a fatal crash, but she was recaptured shortly after, leaving her signet ring with Lupin.
Lupin saying his chaste farewell to Clarisse
As it turned out, the signet ring was - along with the Count's own ring - the key to the legendary lost treasure of Cagliostro, after which the Count was lusting and which was the only reason for which he wanted to take Clarisse as his wife. Upon beholding the ring and its characteristic crest, Lupin remembered his common past with Clarisse, and while he did his best to uncover the secret of the Goat bills and expose the Count's evil plans, he primarily acted to save Clarisse from Lazare's clutches. Asissted by Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko (who was also searching for the counterfeit source for her own gain) and a (for once) fully cooperative Zenigata, Lupin and Clarisse thwarted the Count, repeatedly saving each other's lives in the process. After the lost treasure was found and the Count's counterfeit operation revealed to the world, Clarisse asked Lupin to let her remain with him, even declaring that she was willing to become a thief like him. Though having grown quite fond of her, Lupin gently rejected her offer, unwilling to drag her into his chaotic shadow world. However, before he parted from her, he promised her his help, should she ever need it again.
Eventually, she ended up helping him again, when he hid from PeopleLog in Cagliostro's catacombs.
In other media[]
Clarisse expressing her gladness at seeing Lupin again (Legacy of Pandora)
Clarisse returns in the NES action video game Pandora's Legacy. She has apparently been kidnapped once more, and Lupin and his gang race to the rescue from Cagliostro down to Egypt, where they encounter both Clarisse and Fujiko. It turns out that Fujiko was using Lupin to get her hands on yet another fabulous treasure, while Clarisse had fully cooperated with her for the chance to meet Lupin once again.
Clarisse is the subject of one chapter on the 1992 soundtrack/audio talk CD Lupin III Talks Lupin III. In that chapter, titled "Reunion with Clarisse", Yasuo Yamada (Lupin's original voice actor) talks about Lupin encountering Clarisse once again.
Clarisse is also featured in the 1997 interactive movie game Lupin III The Castle of Cagliostro : Reunion for the Playstation platform.
Clarisse makes a cameo appearance (with her face obscured) in the Part 5 Episode 1, in a video clip featuring her rescue from her involuntary wedding in Castle of Cagliostro. She was also driving in a Citroen 2CV in the same episode, also obscured. Offscreen, she allowed Lupin to take refuge in the castle's catacombs.
Following the movie's release and subsequent rise to fame, Clarisse was voted the most popular anime heroine until she was surpassed by Nausicaä from the Hayao Miyazaki film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Fan magazines were produced such as Clarisse Magazine[3] and Clarisse Symphony for Comiket[4]. This also caused characters that were inspired by Clarisse in terms of her character design such as Moko-chan, a mascot for Tamiya model kits and the girl from Daicon III, the animators from Daicon III later went to form GAINAX. Nanako from the Nanako SOS manga was also inspired by her however she got a redesign in the anime to no longer resemble Clarisse.[5]
She is named after Clarisse d'Etigues in the Arsène Lupin story The Countess of Cagliostro. She was Arsène's wife who died in 1899 after giving birth to their son, Jean.
Gallery[]
Clarisse on the cover of Animage on June 6th, 1985
Clean cover
Clarisse inside the Vol.86 of Animage on June 6th, 1985
