Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the second part of my Lupin review special where today we’re taking a look Lupin the Third Part V. Part IV was a big hit both in and out of Japan. The anime revitalized fan interest in Lupin and bought in new fans who up until this point didn’t know who Lupin was (get woke you uncultured swine). Because of Part IV’s success work on Part V was quickly underway with many of the people working on Part IV coming back to work on Part V. The anime was once again produced by Telecom Animation Film a division in TMS. They did Part IV and also did the Tower of God so the anime was in good hands. So was Part V better, worse, or equal to Part IV? Let’s find out. This Lupin the Third Part V.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is the classic Lupin theme appropriately named “Lupin Trios 2018”. The song is good and adds in a French arrangement that fits with the season. While the song is good I do feel like this is the weakest Lupin theme I’ve heard. No offence, it’s just not very memorable to me.
The ending is “Seine no Kaze ni… (Adieu)” by Miyuki Sawashiro. I have to admit when I first listen to it I wasn’t a big fan of it, but listening to it again it’s actually not a bad song. Miyuki sings the song beautifully and there are some heartwarming scenes like Lupin and the gang chilling at a bar and having drinks with Zenigata while Fujiko serves them and it explores a possible relationship between Lupin and Fujiko.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts with Lupin and Jigen somewhere in France where they receive a package filled with drugs that are legit (drugs delivered to my doorstep. This is unfortunately becoming a thing in reality). Lupin says the drugs came from a drug website called Marco Polo where thanks to their fast and secured network, they’ve become the site for getting anything illegal (it’s like an evil version of Amazon. Okay, eviler). Lupin and Jigen are going to steal all their money and the way they plan to do it is by attacking the Twin Towers (not the ones you’re thinking of) a massive server bank in France that was put together by defense contractors. One tower is above ground while the other is 128 meters in the ocean which is the manager’s (aka hacker’s) residential block and the person they’re after (we get the hacker, we get the money then we get the bitches). They manage to sneak down into the hacker’s block where we see that the hacker is a young lady named Ami (let’s give a rousing applause for this season’s new character) voiced by Inori Minase (Rem from Re:Zero). Lupin pretends to be her dad, but she sees through the lie and tries to shoot him only to miss all her shots and get her last bullet stolen by Lupin. She alerts security (you would think they be a lot closer to the person who runs the place. That, and give her a better room. What is she, a ninja turtle?) who get taken out by Goemon disguised as one of them. Lupin approaches Ami again where they strike a deal with each other. Ami will give Lupin all of Marco Polo’s money and in return he will get her out of there (alright, we get the money and the hacker. This is gonna make future robberies all the easier). So Lupin gets her out of there and in keeping with her promise, Ami hacks into Marco Polo’s accounts and transfers their money into Lupin’s account (Marco? Marco? Oh come on money you have to say Polo, that’s the rule). The members of Marco Polo are rightfully mad and after Lupin and the others manage to escape Zenigata’s grasp, they take matters into their own hands and create the Lupin Game (better not cost me money). The rules are quite simple, find Lupin, alert the cops, and get points (definitely a free to play game. Although I bet they charge you money for items). The game works as someone spots Lupin on the road and alerts the cops where we get a decent car chase and at the airport where everyone has their eyes on Lupin (for the first time ever the world has their eyes on Lupin. It’s about damn time).
The Lupin Game continues in episode 2 (Lupin-mania is running wild and I couldn’t be happier) as the group has to escape the airport and Zenigata. The whole place quickly gets surrounded and with everyone helping the cops, escape almost seems impossible (at first, things always seem impossible, but we always find a way). They try to steal a plane, but the runway is crawling with cops (damn, the airport ain’t safe today) so they switch to plan B, stealing a car. They steal an electric car (go green or go walking) and drive it into a hangar where they use that car to power up an AW609 plane and fly away (the game continues yet another day). Once Lupin and the others escape, they decide to head to Bwanda and Lupin decides to take to Twitter and post more stuff on it than Trump (except Lupin’s stuff is actually worth checking out). Zenigata’s new partner Yata a young officer sees the posting and says they should go after him but Zenigata says no because Lupin’s in Bwanda which is outside ICPO’s jurisdiction meaning they can’t arrest Lupin (despite knowing where he is and everything the law is powerless to do anything to him. Ain’t that a fitting metaphor?). Lupin’s plan to ride out the game’s hype seems to be working as he kind of defeats the purpose of the game. The whole point of the game is to find Lupin and when the guy is posting his location and everything on social media (#Lupinrules) it kind of defeats the purpose of the game thus people will get bored and look for something else (and that my friends is how you manipulate the masses). As the episode goes on and people begin to lose interest in the game, we see Ami try to leave quietly because there’s a tracking device embedded in her meaning there’s a good chance someone is coming after her. Not wanting to drag Lupin into her problems, she decides to leave where she gets surrounded by 3 guys hoping to rape her only to get saved by Lupin. Our thief and hacker then go to sit by the beach where Ami asks Lupin why he came after her (you’re a skilled hacker, why wouldn’t he want you on his team?) to which he says he just wants to protect her until things with Marco Polo settle down. It’s a nice moment as we get a clear idea that Ami doesn’t understand the thought patterns of other people and isn’t that well-versed in the outside world as she relies on the internet for everything (today’s youth in a nutshell). As they talk, they get attacked by bounty hunters and assassins all who have come to kill Lupin as part of the death bet. Marco Polo used a site called Happy Death Day (that’s a pleasing site name) where everyone places bets on when they think a certain person will die and since it’s legal to take matters into your own hands and hire an assassin to kill a person on the day you bet on, Marco Polo has promised a huge reward for the death of Lupin on the day they specified.
Episode 3 is a pretty fun and badass episode. Lupin and Ami manage to escape the bounty hunters and make their way to a car factory (most likely a BMW factory seeing as how its owned by Germany). Ami hacks into the factory’s computer system and uses it to assist Lupin in beating up the bounty hunters who followed them into the building (wunderbare arbeit, kleine dame). They escape in an almost completed car (still has that new car smell) where Ami gets shot (don’t get blood stains in the car) and Lupin treats her wound along with the others. While treating her, she talks about how at the age of 6 she was abducted and used in child pornography (oh dear God). Her only saving grace was her computer skills (she created a game at the age of 6. The girl is a prodigy) which her kidnappers exploited until she finally escaped at the age of 14 and sought shelter in the Twin Towers which wasn’t much better (it was a step up from doing porn and getting beatings). They let Ami rest while Lupin comes up with a plan to take out the bounty hunters. The next day he and the gang go out into the dessert and invite the bounty hunters to try and reach him (it’s the Lupin game special event). Now you might think this is strange, but this works to Lupin’s advantage. Lupin figured out that there are two types of players in this hunt. Those that are trying to kill him and those that are trying to catch him so they can kill him on the day they placed their bet so they could win their bet (in other words, the bounty hunters aren’t fighting Lupin, they’re fighting each other). Ami hacks into the Happy Death Day site to see who placed their bets on Lupin dying today and Lupin does a live feed alerting everyone so the bounty hunters begin fighting each other and taking themselves out. Jigen and Goemon also take out some bounty hunters but in a poor decision they skip over their fights (aww, I really wanted to see their mad skills). As the fighting is going on, Ami asks Lupin why he continues to do the things he does when it would be more logical to just use a disguise and live the quiet life to solve this problem (because that would be boring and men are illogical beings). Lupin explains that he loves the challenge as it gives him a fulfilling life that he can enjoy and have fun with. At the end of the day one bounty hunter manages to reach Lupin and they have a gunfight where Lupin beats him using a shoe gun (now that’s what I call a thief). At the end of the episode Fujiko arrives (where in this version it seems like whatever feelings Lupin had for Fujiko have sailed away. Good man) and it seems like she wants to take out Lupin.
So in episode 4 Fujiko has come to kill Lupin as apparently there’s nothing between them anymore, they just see each other as rivals and nothing else (good for you Lupin, that woman is poison. Good poison but poison nonetheless). Before Fujiko can shoot him, Zenigata comes in to save him and Ami and they drive off where Zenigata’s plan is to drive Lupin across the border and make a proper arrest (that’s actually not a bad idea and something I could see Zenigata doing). The plan doesn’t unfold the way Zenigata intended as the Bwanda government (which is run by mobsters. This explains why ICPO is kept out) is after Lupin as well and have sent a helicopter after them. The car gets damaged and they have to go by foot where Ami can’t figure out Zenigata’s actions and even makes the assumption that Zenigata might be in love with Lupin (maybe not romantically but platonically, yes). They soon enter the dessert where Ami screams how much she hates it and even passes out from the heat (we should have walked at night). She wakes back up and finds a windmill along with a water tank which surprisingly isn’t a mirage (I was totally expecting it). The next day they’re only a short distance away from the border and the Bwanda government have sent a helicopter after them again only this time it’s packing missiles. Lupin and Zenigata get surrounded and the pilots try to kill Ami who uses the windmill to fling a net which lands on the chopper, stops the rotor, and causes the helicopter to crash (killing the pilots in a fiery death). They finally reach the border where Yata is waiting for them but before crossing over, a sniper manages to take out Lupin with a headshot thus winning the pot and everything.
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 brings an end to the first arc. Zenigata is forced to retreat with Ami where he gets moved to narcotics as punishment for assisting Lupin. Some time passes and the Lupin game’s 5 minutes of fame is over but Zenigata still believes Lupin is alive (you can’t kill something that’s timeless) and is taking care of Ami. We see Marco Polo has started back up again with their 3 leaders (one of them being a crossdressing rocker. I might have an idea who they’re referencing) slowly regaining their losses. Ami manages to contact them saying she wants to meet them face to face and work with them. One of the leaders invites her to his hideout where he tricks her into a room, straps her to a chair, and begins to flood the room with water (wow, you are a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Seriously, I want to grab a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch while listening to this guy talk about his over the top plan to take over the world). He wants to know about Lupin and where the money he stole is but Ami just talks about her experience in the outside world and how she felt alive as the room becomes completely flooded. It gets revealed that they’re all on the Happy Death Day website with their real names and pictures for everyone to see meaning everyone is going to be going after them (time to start the Marco Polo game. A sequel to the Lupin game). Ami says she can get them off of there, so the Marco Polo leader hurries to free her only to find out she’s not there and waiting for him is none other than Lupin (like I said, can’t kill timeless). It turns out that Lupin wasn’t dead at all. The sniper was Jigen in disguise and he missed Lupin entirely. The drone who was recording everything was actually their drone and Ami used VR to make it look like Lupin got shot and died to bring the game to a close and get the bounty hunters off his back (predictable, but still enjoyable). The original plan was to have Fujiko shoot Lupin but then Zenigata showed up, so the plan had to be altered. Speaking of Zenigata, he shows up as well thanks to Ami’s note and is ready to arrest Lupin but Marco Polo’s leader begs Zenigata to take him to jail revealing all of his crimes and everything in order to escape Lupin who gave him the scare of his life. Since Zenigata is in narcotics he makes the arrest and the other two leaders of Marco Polo get captured by Jigen and Goemon. Lupin and Ami escape from Zenigata and Lupin sends her to boarding school (aww, I wanted her to stick around). We end the arc by finding out that it was Fujiko who won on Lupin’s death day and Lupin showing Jigen and Goemon an old and interesting map.
Episode 6 is a strange and silly episode (to emphasize just how silly this episode is, Lupin is wearing his pink jacket, hands down the worst jacket of the bunch. This Lupin is silly, goofy, and all about comedy). In the episode, two brothers have created a safe lock where the only way to open it is to have an IQ of 0 (basically brain dead). Since Lupin is so smart with an IQ of 300, they challenge him to break the lock. He accepts their challenge and comes close to having an IQ of 0 but stops at 35 as it’s just impossible to have an IQ of 0 without killing him. Lupin escapes and Jigen and Fujiko (oh now they’re on talking terms?) work to make Lupin dumber with Fujiko almost going as far as trying to lobotomize him (scene here: https://youtu.be/uSLXKbMF988). Lupin tries once again and stops at 1 this time before returning to 300 and showing them how a thief breaks the lock (yes please do). He eats brain food which manages to increase his IQ by one point and this causes the lock to self-destruct because the lock was only designed to handle people with an IQ of 300. So Lupin wins and the brothers get famous (can we go back to the serious stuff now please?).
Episode 7 returns us back to the original serious story. It starts off at a funeral (too serious. Too serious) and then cuts to Lupin meeting with an old associate of his named Gaston who wants Lupin to steal a painting from a man named Mr. B. Lupin accepts and disguises himself as Fujiko (we might need to change Mr.B’s name to Mr. D here soon) to get Mr. B’s fingerprints and retina scans and leaves him hanging (well I know what the B in Mr. B stands for now. Blue-balled). Lupin and Jigen sneak into Mr. B’s mansion and past his security to reach his art vault where we see he’s a hoarder of fine arts. He just buys up famous pieces of work to say he has them but grows bored with them quickly, puts them in the vault, and they never see the light of day again (sort of like Disney with their products). Lupin finds what they’re looking for, an art piece drawn by Picasso that never got put on display only it isn’t drawn by Picasso but instead by Gaston’s grandkid (kid’s got skills. Either that or the writers are saying Picasso draws like a child). As a joke, Gaston forged Picasso’s name on the painting and everyone believed it was a legit Picasso painting fooling experts and everything. They take the painting, but Lupin is suspicious about it and takes it to Aghion a seller of illegal artwork. He admits that he was the one who sold the painting to Mr. B at the request of Gaston but he doesn’t know why Gaston wanted to hide the painting or why he wants it back now (maybe he just likes the painting and missed it). Lupin and Jigen take their leave where they get chased by members of the DGSE (the France equivalent of the CIA and MI6) and take them out. They arrange a trade with DGSE to get information, only to get double-crossed (who knew the French could be sneaky?) but manage to get the painting where they discover the secret behind it, a book, and not just any book, but a book that contains every misdeed, crime, and cover-up committed by French’s top brass (damn, no wonder the French want that book. That’s like the Holy Grail for internal affairs. Anybody who has that book can destroy or bring France to their knees. Also, that book should be bigger). Lupin and Jigen go to take the book to Gaston where they find out from some bar patrons that he’s been dead for over a month which means the Gaston that Lupin met was a fake. Lupin manages to figure out that the fake Gaston was actually a guy named Albert the director of the DGSE and an old acquittance of Lupin.
At the start of episode 8, Lupin shares a drink with Gaston’s drinking buddy Camille a former agent of the DGSE with a perfect photographic memory. He’s quite famous among criminals the world over for his ability to memorize anything at a glance. We find out later that he and Gaston were the ones who created that book after the original was destroyed (for reasons that should be obvious). Camille’s dream was to one day make the contents of the notebook public for everyone to see (and watch France destroy itself from within). They get a call from Albert who wants the book and then get attacked by assassins sent by the DGSE. They manage to escape the bar but get cornered by one assassin on the road where Camille takes him out but also gets shot in his vitals and dies (scene here: https://youtu.be/gMCKxg-ZT9c, and give this guy credit. He lasted until nighttime before dying). Lupin decides to go and face Albert where even Jigen can tell Lupin isn’t thinking straight and is worried about him (you know Lupin is in deep shit when even Jigen is worried about him). Lupin tries to get the jump on Albert by disguising himself as his boyfriend (that’s right, he’s gay), replacing his gun with fake bullets and even rigging his car with an explosive. When Lupin finally faces him, Albert completely turns the tables on Lupin. He shoots Lupin in the chest, takes the book, and even throws the explosive into the ocean (I have never seen someone completely own Lupin like this).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 Lupin gets saved by Jigen and Goemon while Albert loses the book to the assassins from last episode (you outsmart Lupin but you can’t beat a bunch of assassins? You fail at life). We then get a flashback which shows us that in the past Lupin and Albert were both thieves competing for the title of Lupin the Third. Both were talented but it seemed like Albert was the smarter of the two while Lupin was the more confident of the two (they were each strong in the areas the other one fell short in). Lupin eventually inherited the title only because Albert dropped out deciding he was going to make France his (well that explains why he wanted the book). The assassins decide to go into business for themselves and team up with a politician named Calvess running for office. They bring in a terrorist group to conduct crimes while the politician uses these attacks to increase his public approval and the DGSE is too afraid to do anything because they’ve got the notebook (first you get the book, then you get the power, then you France, then you get the bitches. That’s the French dream). Lupin and the others also get attacked by the terrorists because they know too much and must be eliminated (thou knoweth too much. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/AGSVcMN_TXk and https://youtu.be/Ayu-VYngnrE). Albert decides that if the DGSE is too afraid to make a move then he will. He goes to the director’s house to interrogate him where Lupin is already there to interrogate the director. Rather than fight each other, they decide to team up realizing they’re both after the same thing.
At the start of episode 10 the director reveals everything and tells them that the assassins are at Chateau de Pouvier in a castle. Lupin and Albert head out there where along the way men in masks come after them (not sure if that’s a normal thing in France or not) and they get saved by Jigen and Goemon. Jigen stays behind to take care of them while Goemon joins Lupin and Albert on their journey (you have his sword). They reach the castle where they get attacked by one of the assassins named Chlo (who is working overtime with that goth look) who has nails made of a strong metal alloy (do you know someone by the name of Logan? Also goes by Wolverine). Goemon stays behind to fight her where he manages to kill her by blinding her with her own nails and then slicing her in half. Back with Lupin and Albert, they take on the remaining assassins where Lupin kills the one wearing a mask by throwing her into an iron maiden (wow, that’s the first I’ve ever seen an anime use an iron maiden). Albert takes on a young assassin (who I’m not sure is a boy or girl) who uses wire threads with pendulums to kill (Mira: Hey, that’s my fighting style). Albert injures his arm and loses his gun, but he turns the tables by throwing one of the pendulums into the eye of the assassin and then hanging them by their own wires (damn, that’s cold). Lupin makes it to Jose, the leader of the assassins first and fights him where he manages to knock Jose down but Jose shocks him with his mechanical arm that can stretch out (go go Jose, stretchy arm). Jose gains the upper hand only to get shot in the heart by Albert and then explodes trying to kill them (go go Jose, explosion). Lupin and Albert escape the blast, and Lupin gets the notebook back deciding to keep it for himself. The two thieves drive back to France where Albert takes his leave but not before snatching the notebook off of Lupin unnoticed only to discover it was a fake and decides to give Lupin this victory. After the credits we see Calvass drop out of the race (well that’s not suspicious at all) and the director gets arrested for his crimes. As for the real notebook, Lupin gave it back to its original owner, Gaston (or Camille, they kind of left it up to our imaginations here).
Episode 11 takes us on another story down memory lane (and this one is better. Plus, Lupin is wearing his red jacket, arguably the best Lupin out there). Lupin reminisces about the time he and the others went after Pablo’s Collection. Pablo was a kingpin in South America who acquired a great fortunate but one day disappeared leaving his fortunate up for grabs to whoever could find it (sounds like One Piece). Lupin and the gang go to South America (deep in the heart of Cartel territory) to find the location of where Pablo’s Collection could be but along the way they get attacked by remnants of his clan who are also after his collection. Lupin and the gang manage to find Pablo’s Collection which is all rare and expensive cars (it’s a car collectors paradise). One of the cars begins to move and tries to run them over. Jigen and Goemon try to attack it, but their attacks have no effect on it so Lupin races the car with its mysterious driver who we find out is the ghost of Pablo (yeah the red jacket Lupin had some silly and nonsensical adventures as well, but it was balanced out with good action and story as well. So, I’ll overlook this silliness). Apparently, Pablo loved to race and wanted to do one last race before going to the afterlife, so Lupin gives him his last race where Lupin manages to win. Once the race is over, the ghost vanishes, and the cars rust away and become worthless (I’m not much of a car person so here’s Brian’s reaction to when I showed him a picture of a destroyed Lamborghini. (Brian): Heart. . .in. . .so much pain. Call. . .doctor *passes out from drama*). With Pablo’s Collection being a bust and the Brazil navy attacking their location, they escape in a yellow submarine but only three can fit meaning one of them will have to stay behind and fight their way out. Lupin decides to be the bigger man and go face the navy himself but Goemon and Jigen decide to join him and the three of them have an exciting battle in the jungle (complete with a tank and a chopper shooting at them).
Episode 12 gives us a Goemon episode. It starts with Goemon going to a con at the request of Lupin to find a young woman named Chloe who received a valuable necklace from her deceased friend that’s worth a fortune. Apparently, the necklace originally belonged to the family of some Russian nobles and now they want it back and are prepared to kill Chloe for it (all this for one beautiful necklace). There’s only 3 places she could be so the group splits up with Goemon going to a town where her parents owned a small bistro shop. Goemon manages to find her and befriends a child named Jean whose family owns a hotel across the street from the bistro (what amazing coincidence). Goemon rents a room and watches over Chloe and the bistro which keeps getting attacked by other thieves trying to break in at night to steal the necklace. Before long, Goemon teams up with a guy named Bruno who works for a security company that’s in charge of the area and reveals that the woman Goemon is looking after isn’t the real Chloe. Eventually, Lupin shows up disguised as Bruno and knocks out Goemon and Chloe with drugged wine where he gets the necklace and makes an escape just as other thieves show up. Goemon and the real Bruno take down Lupin with a security missile (man, security officers and France aren’t playing around) where Lupin reveals that the necklace is a fake and he played Goemon this whole time. It turns out the girl Goemon was watching over is Ines the daughter of the real Chloe who was selling the necklace off in another town.
And that does it for the first half of the anime. How is it so far? I’ll give you my thoughts next week. Until then, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.