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Anime Relations: Lupin III: Babylon no Ougon Densetsu

This is certainly an interesting one. For one thing, the dub sound quality is way better, not just in mic quality but also in music and sound effects. Since I watched the dub first, I'll talk about it first.

The dub was really great. First of all, the voice acting was solid, even for the smaller roles. Definitely a step up from the Genon days. I learned that Part 1 Lupin was recorded during COVID-19, so that explains a lot; I no longer wanna harbor any negative feelings for it just because of the uphill battle that had to be worked on. Anyway, now that I see what they can do outside of the Genon early 2000s bubble, it's great work. It sticks a lot closer to the script while still throwing in the occasional new lines. Certainly, Tony Oliver's Lupin is still very distinct from Yasuo Yamada's. I think Tony was one of the strongest voice actors in the movie. Although my one complaint is, as I believe I've said before, he can't really do serious situations all too well. His voice is too silly for serious situations to have some weight. This is only really relevant to the scene where Lupin first sees Rosetta as a young woman.

Honestly, Doug Erholtz really won me over here. My only previous exposure to him was Part 1, and I already said what I thought of it. He does a great job and is clearly passionate. That's what I've heard from both fans and his coworkers, and now that I have a first-hand account, I totally see what they meant. He almost has this kind of New Yorker accent, weirdly enough. He might be Japanese-born and raised, but for an English adaptation, sure, this works. I had no problem with it.

A lot of the side characters were good. I think Marciano's voice suits the character well. Rosetta's voice actor is really charming; I enjoyed her a lot. As useless as Chin and Willy were, I got really excited to hear Chin voiced by Todd Haberkorn, one of my favorite childhood voice actors. However, the ICPO girls have much to be desired. They're really rough. Three of them are voiced by the same woman, one even voiced by Michelle Ruff, and the other plays young Rosetta. And I get they were probably working with a shoestring budget; I'm theorizing this was made specifically with the Bluray release of this movie, so this is probably all Discotek money. I can't imagine they have a ton of extra money, and they can just fling around. I know they try to get things dubbed as much as they can, but yeah, that's a lot of work. The issue I have with the limited voice actors, though, is that it's just white women putting on accents. And it's rough. Especially Saranda since she's supposed to be from Kenya, and yet they make her sound African American, and it's a white woman playing the role. Wow, yikes, no, that's not good. I want to give them all the benefit of the doubt and say this was mainly a financial issue versus laziness to actually hire a black voice actor. Not that any of them are too great; the accents are all really bad and about as stereotypical as they get. They're definitely rough to watch, but luckily, the girls are pretty minor characters, so it's not the worst thing.

Oddly enough, they remove one of the gayest lines in the movie, which is really weird considering this cast since they tend to write dialogue to be 10x gayer. But they removed the lines "It makes me want to give you a kiss" and "Then kiss me!" from Lupin to Zenigata. Crazy stuff. But they just turn Zenigata's line into "Monkey see, monkey do." What a shame.

Despite what I enjoy, I'd still rather watch the sub; I could easily see myself switching off, though. Again, the characters are just way better suited to the multi-talented Japanese actors. The ICPO girls aren't great here either honestly. There are a couple of rough lines, like when Saranda is introduced and, as she dances, she just chants "Kenya." You guys really couldn't be bothered to figure out how to say "hi" in Kenyan? It's really frustrating, but at the very least, they don't put on accents, which makes it worlds easier to watch. Rosetta's voice actor I preferred a lot more. When she sings, it reminds me of how my grandma sang to me as a kid, and it makes me nostalgic.


An old lady wanders into a bar where Lupin just happens to be. He's given a delivery, Zenigata, and a massive motorcycle chase ensues. Once Lupin can cool down, he's visited by the old woman, an acquaintance, Rosetta. She tells Lupin about the gold of Babylon, immediately appealing to his interest. Meanwhile, Zenigata's been taken off the Lupin case for failing to capture him again. He's put in charge of an ICPO beauty contest. Afterward, he's given his position back but has to work alongside all the pageant participants.
Meanwhile, Fujiko is with her new boyfriend and former gang boss, Marciano. Fujiko says she'll only plan on marrying him if he's able to acquire the gold of Babylon. He decides to show her his father's collection. While destroying an old building, his father discovered some old cuneiform tablets from ancient Babylon. She is able to see them firsthand and is amazed. However, Marciano notices Fujiko taking pictures with her necklace, and she reveals herself to be Lupin in disguise. Scanning the tablets, he's able to translate what they say about a god and all the city's gold being used to make a grand treasure. Lupin's up for the task, but he's alone in this. After they leave, Rosetta revisits him. She takes the candelabra from Lupin, and he asks what its significance is. She explains that the Babylonians believed God rode on a comit to reach them every 76 years. She also offhandily mentions her loving relationship with Napoleon before leaving. Lupin doesn't understand how she could be alive for 2,500 years. The new gang boss is busy trying to take out Jigen, but Lupin rallies them together to head to Babylon. The gang goonies attack them on the train, but they make it to Babylon intact. They make it to the excavation site, where they already see Marciano getting started. Lupin launches himself into one of the ruins, full of booby traps. In one of these, he's a beautiful woman who calls herself Rosetta. She tells Lupin that God had her descend onto Earth many, many years ago, and she is reborn every 76 years, stuck in an endless loop. Lupin tries to wake himself from the illusion and finds himself in the center of a big room. He pulls a candle holder down, and it reveals a pure gold griffin statue. This also triggers the collapse of the entire ruins, so he makes a mad dash out. He exits right in front of Marciano's dig site but is luckily lifted up by helicopter before they can take the statue. The rope he clings to is cut down by a boomerang, a ploy by Fujiko to get the statue all to herself.
Meanwhile, the guys are out driving in the desert but certainly aren't alone. The ICPO girls managed to acquire some foreign nation's tanks and chase after the gang. They might be close, but their Jeep is aquatic. Fujiko appears on a speedboat in front of them with the statue, but Kowalski, the gang boss, quickly swipes it. Lupin's not too bothered because he's realized where the really big stash is, New York. They notify Marciano that they're there and get to digging. Lupin and Jigen uncover the giant gold stash. Lupin figured it was buried under Madison Garden Square because the recovered Babylonian tablets were found in a roughly circular pattern. This is the other Tower of Babylon, and as Rosetta described, the comet will pass over it in 76 years. Halley's Comet just so happens to be passing in 25 hours from now. They go back to the bar from the beginning but are targeted again. Lupin runs into Rosetta again, and he tells her where the new Tower of Babel is. She tells him that Fujiko has been captured by the gang, so Lupin rushes over. Threatening Fujiko's life, Lupin throws away his weapons and box of cigars before being tied up with Fujiko and sent down the river. As they are washed away, Fujiko asks him what's going on. He explains that God made the Tower of Babel in Babylon, but as he went to grab it, he dropped it, and it landed in New York, and this is why Halley's Comet travels there now. As Rosetta' stands about it, it sends off a UFO after her, and the entire tower flies into the sky. The gang just manages to scramble on before it's too far. Rosetta reverts back to her original self, and she's finally able to return home. After she ascends, Lupin destroys the candelabra to destroy the entire tower and gold for them all.

Honestly, I'm surprised I ended up enjoying this as much as I did. I never liked this movie since I first watched it, and honestly, outside of a few scenes, I didn't remember this movie well. It's been a year and a half since I first saw it. Unlike even some 24-minute episodes of Lupin, it was able to retain my attention a lot better than those. I never felt the need to go do something else while this was in the background. While not always particularly engaging all the time, I never felt bored. The locations are kept fresh, and there's a lot of really fun action. The plot is a bit... weird, to say the least. But honestly, I followed it pretty closely. Knowing about the production, it makes a lot of sense that there were clearly a lot of writers and propositions for this movie, and they got it to work while still making sense. I feel like it just flows well. I think it helps once they relate a lot of the more magical stuff back to Babylonian mythology. It seems a lot more believable. Call this Ancient Aliens, y'know. The action I found to be really fun. Arguably, the first one with Lupin and Zenigata is the most pointless, but there's just so much energy bursting into the whole time I can't complain. Lupin's had stronger plots, for sure. I only changed my rating of this from a 6 to a 7 out of 10, but I can thoroughly say I enjoyed it. This is a nice change because before, I had basically decided I'd never watch this movie again.


This is a fairly safe plot for Lupin, but there's not a ton I can say for our main guys. They do cool stuff, and I love them just as always.

While small, I want to talk about the weird mini-relationship they tried to force with Chinjao and Goemon. I just think it's pointless. She's good at martial arts and he's good with the blade, and then it's love at first sight, it's just a weird premise. They never even share a sentence with each other after their initial meeting. And yet the second Goemon exists in the scene, Chinjao is calling for him. If you're going to do that, commit or just not at all. Which I would prefer, they had no chemistry.

Speaking of the ICPO girls, I had the most issues with them for fairly obvious reasons. As I already stated, they are just really stereotypical caricatures of different cultures. Wearing stereotypical clothes and all. It made me cringe that the ones meant to seduce Lupin were the two white blonds, and the server is Saranda, in a freaking maid outfit on top of that. It's really bad. This could have served as a fun opportunity for Zenigata to be a bigger force and not just with nameless officers but a real fun cast he could work off of. But no, while they do some honestly important things, they're usually just there and often as comedic relief.

Outside of that, the new characters for this movie are honestly pretty fun and well-written.


I decided not to just throw in every time there was a sakuga moment because duh, it's a movie they'll have the higher budget to do it more consistently, and I don't feel like recording a ton of clips and converting them into gifs. This movie has a lot of great sequences though, like driving into the ear, the gold crumbling, or the ruin being destroyed.

I liked that this movie was a compromise of the new and old Lupin styles. Combining Part 3 with a bit of the past. The pink on grey-blue, on light-blue really works for me, I think it looks great. The other guys are colored more traditionally, but I found it interesting that Jigen seems to constantly change art styles, sometimes looking like Mamo or Caglisotro. However, you'll notice the movie has fairly inconsistent designs. This movie was the reason they decided to get looser with the art style of Part 3, so it makes a lot of sense. I really like the designs here. They really polished the latter half of part 3 designs, so they're way nicer looking. It's honestly not that hard to tell all the individual art styles at play here.

That being said, the amount of black face and just racial incentive depictions of black people are so bad and a major reason why i dislike this movie as much as I do. It's really hard to justify when they race on a giant racist depiction of a black man for the first 10 minutes. I don't know why they decided to do this, but Christ, I'm glad we've all grown out of this and Japan, even if they are unfortunately way later to that realization.




Gay little guys sleeping together



The number of direct monkey connections to Lupin in this movie is beautiful.



Oh, nah, I'm not vibing with this hair at all. Please just give me a slick back, not these poofy bangs. Bro looking like a Beetles member rn 😭




Love these scenes, they remind of something you'd seen from Ghibli. Unrelated, but that water is also colored really pretty.




PLEASE APPRECIATE THESE BACKGROUND PLEEEEASE. DO YOU GUYS SEE HOW MUCH EFFORT HAD TO GO INTO THEM, THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL



Part 2 reference: they are so cute



This is a rather bold interpretation of God, but uh mad respect to Japan that their population of those that believe in this god is like 1% of their population., so we can get stuff like this.



IS THIS REAL CHAT?!? Please, bro, this scares me. If Lupin is actually bald, I don't know how I'll be able to go on knowing I've lived a lie.



I love this scene so much. Seeing Lupin and Fujiko just genuinely love each other is so sweet. And the way the gold leaves these strong beautiful highlights UGH, yeah, this is a good way to end their movie out.


MANHATTAN JOKE, MANHATTAN JOKE. OH YEAAAH BABY!!! One of the absolute best songs to ever come out of Lupin, I love it so much. The entire soundtrack bops. It's certainly found a nicer balance of 70s and 80s, clearly Yuji Ohno has found a bit more of that balance which is great, I very much prefer. They even managed to sneak in Zenigata March and Lupin's theme. They're both great versions, and it's nice to hear Lupin's theme in a Part 3 property. It only takes up one scene, so it's not overbearing as it can often be. The music is just all great!


So again, there are a lot of serious flaws with this movie. The racism and stereotypes are awful and make it hard to watch this movies at parts. But I did find a lot more value this time around in the movie, I genuinely had a good time and would happily rewatch it. Certainly not a movie to start off with because it'll turn most people off, but if you're checking out Lupin give this a watch, I think there's plenty left to still enjoy.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Well, we're here already! Time sure flies when the previous part was 105 episodes longer!! I'll be giving my thoughts on the series as a whole after the actual episode analysis, as per usual. I will be taking a short break from the blogs while I wait for my copy of The Legend of the Gold of Babylon to be shipped to me. So expect the blog back in roughly a week. That'll just be how it goes from here on. I'm using this blog as an opportunity to collect the entire series so please bear with me 🙏


Lupin and Jigen hijack a submarine owned by the Soviet Union. They're able to defend against them with relative ease, so all seems to be smooth sailing. Although Fujiko is followed by all the world's spy decisions and tailed by Zenigata. They are all trying to make deals with her in a sort of auction over the submarine. During the chase, the CIA comes in and takes Fujiko and Zenigata. One of the members settles for $10 million. Meanwhile, Lupin and Jigen have arrived at the bottom of the ocean to find a pirate ship they believe hides gold. While they uncover it, they're stopped short by the USSR again trying to retrieve their submarine. Fujiko has joined them and receives a call from the CIA man again, and a bidding war between the different nations ensues. To break them up, Goemon splits the submarine in half since they can't seem to decide on a victor.

Well, I'd say that was one of the most anticlimactic endings to a show, but then I learned about the production story. Again I'll be a Discotek shill and say it's thanks to them that I know this. They provide a whole backstory on the production of Part 3. So, apparently, because Part 3 was put in such a popular time slot, it often got replaced with baseball games and award shows so episodes got delayed excessively. The series was eventually cut back from airing 52 episodes to 48 because of how difficult it was to maintain the series. 2 more episodes were reissued, however, just in case there was ever a rainy day for baseball games. Episodes 49 and 50 were those two extras, so no one knew when those episodes would be airing. thus, the actual final episode of Lupin was meant to be spliced right through the middle of the series.

Now that that's out of the way, I won't be judging this episode as a finale, simply as any other episode in this series. And, well, yeah, this episode isn't really anything special in general. So much is happening in this episode that it really is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it situation. And I wasn't doing anything else while watching this, so I just glanced somewhere for a second, and I was lost. I appreciate the chaoticness but wow, maybe it's a bit too much this time. I didn't find the plot itself very interesting. I did think that every country trying to bid on it with Fujiko definitely bumbed up the episode from it being really mediocre. If this was just a bunch of countries chasing Lupin and having in-fighting along the way, it would have been really boring and extremely standard for Part 3.


There wasn't a ton of interaction, but Fujiko and Zenigata being alone together is a cool team-up. I'd appreciate seeing more. Even if Zeni and Lupin are arguably complete opposites, Lupin tries to be soft around him. Fujiko just doesn't care and she's so unapologetically her. That kind of dynamic where you have two extremely stubborn dorks makes for a cool dynamic. I would have liked to see more interaction between the two.




I love these goofy drawings so much. Look how Monkey Punch-eqsue they are. Some real rubber hose type exaggeration here. I'm having so much fun just watching them.



Jarring dawg. He's kinda slowly approaching the camera then just a single frame of this. It's really funny I almost feel like they did it on purpose. This is Lupin subliminal messaging or something.

Part 3

Part 3 stories are a serious mixed bag. This one has been by far the hardest series to rate because of the highs and lows. Arguably, episode 3 is one of the worst Lupin episodes, period, for what they did to Flora. And then there are some absolute bangers like episodes 2, 11, 18, 21, 24, or 30, etc, etc. It's hard to be truly critical of the series, however, because of the extremely messy production that haunted most of the series. Having to also squeeze out The Legend of the Gold of Babylon in 5 months while the series was still being worked on. Many plots fall flat admittedly, and there's a lot of rinse and repeat in many of the more boring episodes. At the very least, the way the episodes are spread out if you run into a few clunkers, a fire episode is bound to show up. I do appreciate the direction to keep the chaoticness of the manga here. If there was an anime adaptation most faithful to the manga's tone this is certainly it. I like that they combined the ideas of both Part 1 and 2; it clearly shows. I think it was good to have a more grounded version of Lupin again, away from the sometimes even childish themes of Part 2, but not the slow-paced episodes that seem to drag Part 1. It's a good combination. Do I still like Part 1 and Part 2 more than Part 3? Yeah, but I certainly appreciate Part 3's existence within the franchise and what it tried to achieve, especially understanding the mess behind the scenes.


I found the character writing to be pretty solid especially for the main gang. They had more moments to hang out, make quippy comments, and just have fun. Of course I always enjoy a good team up, but I think Part 3 allowed the individual cogs in the heist machine to shine.

I really enjoyed Jigen's character in Part 3 especially. I love how passive he is honestly. Aside from the episodes centered around him, he just kinda goes with the flow. Making a running gag out of saying "I'm never working with you again." And a whole lot of sitting back and laughing as the world crumbles around him. That certainly is the Part 1 in him. I love this chill bro so much.

Goemon wasn't as relevant here as he was in Part 2, but his appearances seemed to have more meaning, however. Goemon seems to be a lot more expressive, especially in the sillier episode of Part 3. Letting him actually be an active part of scenes helps add to his character so much and actually makes him seem more a part of the episode and gang. How many episodes of Lupin, in general, did Goemon just show up to cut something and leave?

The fact that Part 3 decided not to have every character show up in every episode is the strongest writing element they employed. I think everyone at some point has complained about that. It's simply just too hard to shoehorn in 5 characters into every plot you conceive, and trying to do so will only dampen the plot down. I never once missed them either. I usually realize by the end of the episode if any of them are missing. Clearly, they wouldn't have made an impact so don't write them in.

Unfortunately, Zenigata only had a few stand-out episodes. The 2nd episode is the best Zenigata fanfare since Part 1, in my opinion. Somehow he's still forced into so many plots despite them cutting back on the characters more in Part 3. He's just as irrelevant in a lot of plots as Part 2 had him in. But again, in the episodes where the rest of the cast gets cut, he makes so much more sense. Even episode 49 let him shine a lot more. While not a "Zenigata" episode, just cutting Goemon and Fujiko out of the equation entirely lets Zengiata have more screen time and lets him be a formidable appointment to Lupin. Something I did appreciate is despite him still being the butt of the joke a lot of the time. Still, he's given a bit more dignity than in Part 2. When Zenigata is intended to be the main antagonist for Lupin in an episode, he is a challenge. I'm glad that Zenigata is shown to be way stronger and a formidable enemy.


I think it's super cool the animation team was super flexible. Each animator got to draw the characters with few boundaries. Looking at all the production notes is really cool. You can tell each of them has their own art style and unique interpretation of the characters. Lupin was never meant to be cookie-cutter or rigid whatsoever. Following that ideology lends itself well. You can clearly tell the animators had fun with their drawings.
Again, after reading the behind-the-scenes, the sudden art style changes make a lot more sense. The series "director" and character designer, Yuzo Aoki, had a much greater grasp over the series at its start, so it was followed more closely. However, once the latter half came around and the movie production started, animators got looser and had more implied drawings of the characters to make the production streamline a bit faster.
So, while I really love Aoki's designs and still prefer the first half's style, I can still appreciate the latter half. I did enjoy Part 3 capture the series and silly that is Lupin and it does it well. There's a lot of very commendable things I can say about that.

The color palettes really grew on me over the years of being into Lupin. Even Jigen's, who I used to find downright ugly. While the shade of green in his tie still throws me off a bit, I think the characters all look nice. The screaming 80s pastel colors are such a vibe, honestly. Maybe I'm biased; I just got a jacket that looks like I just pulled it out of a time machine to the 80s, lol. Lupin's color palette, especially, is great. Pink and blue always look good together and combine that with the bright orange tie against that blue, mwuah a lovely design, truly.

Zenigata's design is also something I really liked. The rich pink, greyish blue, and mint green are cool together. Nothing I'd ever think to combine, but they just mesh somehow. Whenever I draw Lupin characters, whenever I decide to go with the Part 3 palettes, admittedly I have the most fun; they're just so vibrant!


Aha, different TV stations, thus they did not have the rights to the same music. Now I see. Not that it really matters, because Part 3's soundtrack still slaps since it's still got Yuji Ohno at the helm. Very, very 80s and a clear contrast to the very, very 70s sound of Part 2's soundtrack, but I still love it nonetheless. There's some really nice chill stuff that still carries some of the vibe of the 70s. The action music is really fun as well. Just a perfect soundtrack again. Of course, Sexy Adventure and Fairy Night are some top bops, they rock so hard. Every night as I've written these blogs I'm singing along to the OP and ED, they're impossible not to; great earworms.


Well, that's all for the TV for now, folks. We seriously won't be getting anything until The Woman Called Fujiko Mine! Again, Part 3 isn't anything amazing but it shouldn't be overlooked. I think it still provides plenty of fun. And compared to 155, 50 episodes is nothing. This feels like a freaking 12-episode show, honestly. I hoped I would enjoy it more since many manga fans find Part 3 to be their favorite part, but alas, I am not one of them. As of now, Part 1 is still my favorite. My rating is unchanged, still a 6/10. The amount of mediocre episodes + episode 3 just weighs too much. This is really unfortunate because when Part 3 peaks, it really does.

See you next time for one last Part 3 rodeo, The Legend of the Gold of Babylon!

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Zenigata visits Madam Tequila since he knows Lupin'll be after her diamond, the "Black Pig of Mexico." She reluctantly allows him to guard her mansion after calling her a hick. Although, she wanted Lupin to steal the diamond so she could make a fortune on the insurance. Attempt after attempt, Lupin just can't break in. Lupin and Jigen ram their way in, and during the confusion, they break in. Dressed as Zenigata, Lupin convinces Madam Tequila to hand the diamond off to him to keep it safe. The real Zenigata busts in, knocking Lupin over, and the diamond lands in Tequila's mouth, and she chokes. During their kerfuffle, Zenigata hits Tequila, knocking it out of her mouth, but Lupin escapes with it again. Despite Zenigata's chase, Lupin is picked up by Jigen and escapes.
Zenigata apologizes to Madam Tequila for letting it get away. Still, she dismisses it and says she finds his dedication so admirable she wants him to be the heir to her fortune. Despite all the fame and fortune he'd receive, all he wants to do is catch Lupin, so he declines. She won't let him get away that easily. Lupin tells Jigen they stole a fake, but that's the one with the $10 billion insurance on it. They'll sneak back in that night to pick up the insurance money and the real deal. Zenigata is tied up and showered with the $10 billon to convince him to be adopted by Tequila. Lupin and Jigen jump in to vacuum up all the cash. In Tequila's craze, she throws bombs left and right. They manage to escape, but the money is destroyed, and even the diamond has been turned into coal.

I didn't really know what to expect from this episode, but it ended up being a pretty fun time. Not my favorite episode but it was decently enjoyable. I think everything blends pretty well. Even scenes like Pops and Lupin's chase scene, while not vitally important, are still fun to watch. I like that Lupin struggles to break in and again while ultimately serving as filler, it feels appropriate and is fun to watch anyway. The story of Zenigata being adopted is certainly an interesting one, something I didn't quite expect. But that concept lends itself to the characters certainly being put in a unique situation. I was really curious about this episode. I couldn't remember what this episode was about at all, but I would always see that one video, "I know what you did in Mexico 1985," and then it's just the title card "Pops Gets Adopted." It's funny out of context. So I really had no idea what to expect.


There only being 3 of the main characters but this episode at a serious advantage honestly. Not having a single mention of Goemon and Fujiko let's Zenigata take the much deserved limelight. He hasn't served a whole lot of purpose in the episodes in a long time. Even if he is more present there's barely been any episodes of Part 3 dedicated to him. Lupin and Jigen honestly aren't in this episode as compared to Zenigata. I really appreciate that. And here's way more fuel for the LuZeni fans out there. He's dreaming about Lupin even when he's handed $10 billion, and then the chase scene I see get screenshotted a lot. I've really steered away from the LuZeni train, so it's not for me, but y'all go crazy. Imma stick to my JigLup like I've always been a die hard fan of.

Madam Tequila is certainly interesting. I'm glad they weren't extremely fatphobic about her. Based off the preview from last episode I was worried we'd see a lot of that. And while she wolfs down her food and has a generally abrasive attitude, which is often associated with "unattractive" women characters in media, but it's not extremely direct (?). At the same time she's the head of an empire she built by herself so yes ✨girlboss✨. I can appreciate that at least and it's also cool she just straight up has like psychic powers. That came so out of left field her eyes just start glowing like 3/4 of the way through the episode. A interesting twist, that is for sure.




The sakuga in this episode went crazy. The episode seemed to get a massive jump in budget. My assumption is since this was the second to last episode they probably had a good enough budget left to splurge, fingers crossed that crosses over into the next episode.




AAH yes... These are some of the most iconic images of LuZeni out there. I finally know which exact episode they're from.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Lupin and Jigen steal Hades' Tear but are immediately targeted. While Lupin hides in some bushes, a woman finds him and takes him in. But she's working for that same group. They explain that the tear is fake, not a diamond at all. They want Lupin to take the diamond across the boarder of Kingsland for a high reward. Lupin agrees, but he and Maria are quickly captured by a gang that wants Hades' Tear, not realizing it's fake. Once they realize that Lupin and Maria don't have any information, they leave to seek revenge on the leader, Gordon. Left alone, Maria reveals she's actually a spy to uncover what they're really transferring. They want to transport the whole statue, so there must be something to it. Lupin realizes they must be transporting plutonium since Hades is also known as Pluto. Once they escape, they meet up at the port where Gordon plans to ship it out and intervene. In the middle of that, however, the gang shows up to take the statue. Gordon takes out the men, and Lupin takes out Gordon. He wanted to ship it over to be turned into nukes. Now that the case has been solved, Maria can go to France and be with her fiance.

Exposition, oh lord, the exposition. The first line in this episode is exposition about the diamond, the next scene is exposition about why they want to transport the Hades statue, the next scene is Lupin explaining that plan to Jigen and Goemon, and when Lupin and Maria escape, they just explain. This episode is really boring. It's mainly just talking about conflict in countries we never see. There are supposedly two warring countries, but we never see that, so the mystery of the plutonium being used as weaponry serves literally no point or has a proper build-up. I know this isn't necessarily a mystery to be solved, but the mysteries only ever feel satisfying if you could have reasonably concluded that. I was going to say it was hard for this episode to keep my attention, but that's not even it; I paid good attention to this episode; I just literally didn't know what they were talking about. There's so much "this is happening somewhere else, so do this" kind of dialogue, so when a lot of names and terms are being thrown around without context, it left me so confused. This episode is just a lot of nothing to me.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Goemon is training a young boy, Ken, who falls ill. A doctor diagnoses him with Jinrozen, an incurable ailment that attacks multiple organs at once. Ken asks Goemon to help him. The mafia boss, Keppochi, killed his father for his fortune, although he couldn't actually locate where the money was hidden. He stole what he could, including a painting his father made, The Tree Which Bares Bells which hides a map within it. Goemon vows he'll help Ken seek his revenge and enlists the help of Lupin and Jigen as well. They're persuaded by Fujiko to join them since she used Keppochi's computer to locate the map on the painting. It's revealed when put up against a light. But once they realize that Keppochi can't figure out where the map is, he throws it out, so he'll definitely go after Ken for the inheritance. When Goemon reaches him, the cabin is burned, and Ken has already been kidnapped, so he goes ahead with the rest of the gang. Arriving at Ken's father's mansion, Goemon is stopped right away and forced to drop Zantetsuken; otherwise, Ken will be killed. Meanwhile, the gang sneaks into the mansion. They run into a room full of junk and find the painting. Goemon is tortured in order to get answers out of Ken. Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko hide out underground to figure out how to reveal the map, but suddenly, a window above them shines moonlight on it, revealing the map. They leave but are sent a random message that they have Goemon and Ken, and they'll exchange them for the map. They meet up and see Goemon disheveled and run to see if he's okay. But they fall into Keppochi's trap. They trap them in a cage and send them down underground tunnels in the mansion. Fujiko tells Keppochi how to find the map, and they run off, leaving the mansion to explode. Luckily, they managed to escape through the waterway in time. The guys all start to follow the map to the fortune, but Fujiko appears. Lupin runs over to her, clearly battered and bruised, she says that they shined the painting on the sun, revealing a fake map that took them through trechourous mountains so she was the only one to survive.

I thought this episode was pretty sweet. While it wasn't really a Goemon episode, it put more emphasis on him than usual. I feel like there was a proper, honest setup for why everything happened. They weren't tricked into it, this kid Goemon was training just wanted one last wish, and that's what leads the plot. It makes you want to root for the guys far more than if it was just Fujiko asking Lupin for something again. So, like a few episodes ago, this is definitely a revenge plot I support.


I think it's weird Goemon is raising this kid first of all. Nothing wrong with it, but I'm just a bit curious as to the circumstances of how they got here.

Fujiko was really evil. I honestly thought she had good intentions but then she actually tries to find the treasure with the mafia. That's so awful to do to a kid I presume she knows and is dying. When she came back from the mountains completely wrecked, I can't say I felt to bad for her, she did something really evil here.






The character designs in this episode were really weird. As I mentioned in the last episode, there was a noticeable change. They look a lot more reminiscent of the solid manga designs, like what you would see on the covers. While this is just weird. I didn't get Lupin pictured here because he was the least different. But Jigen has hair under his hat now, Goemon and Fujko's hair have no fluff to them and droop down like it's wet, and oddly, Zengiata seems more sturdy, more akin to Otsuka's design of him. Very bizarre design choices for whatever reason. I actually liked the characters new to this episode. They seem like characters you could easily believe seeing in the manga. Especially the doctor, who has an elongated body yet short legs.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Fujiko wants Lupin to steal a Hina doll set being transferred from Japan to the US as a form of an economic treaty. They hijack the plane and head for Dump Island, where they will meet with Goemon. Fujiko relays the info to someone unknown. They take the Hina dolls and parachute down to the island. A submarine comes to pick up Fujiko and all the dolls, leaving the guys stranded. Fujiko celebrates the heist with Mr. Barracuda, revealing why he wanted the dolls so badly. Instead, the head of the emperor doll's head is a receipt for some kickback from the Japanese VP for promoting the US ABC Company's new military weapon. With this receipt, Barracuda can blackmail both countries. He wants to control both of them.
Meanwhile, Lupin convinces the guys to build a makeshift plane to escape. They cut logs, gather leaves, and barrow parts from old crashed planes. Fujiko and Barracuda share drinks to celebrate their newfound wealth. Barracuda wants Fujiko to be his 47th wife. Fujiko refuses, but his other wives force her to prepare for a wedding. Lupin's little plan has a few hiccups, but they manage to get it working and try to track down Fujiko. While they were following a chip in her necklace, one of the wives shot it as a threat, losing the signal. Luckily, they notice a tanker ship in the ocean, reserved for fishing boats only; it must be where Barracuda is. Lupin breaks in while Jigen and Goemon fight from the air. The plane crashes into the ship, letting Lupin make his escape with Fujiko. And now, Lupin can finally get his hands on the receipt.

This episode was so much, I loved this. I remember having fun with this episode the first time around. I, for some reason, thought this was a part 2 episode until I recalled that the guys were about to build the plane. I loved that part of the episode; luckily, that's where most of the time is spent, so you can just enjoy the boys goofy off making a plane. I've talked a lot recently about my dislike for politics and economy talk, but it's kept really brief. It's there long enough to give the characters a proper explanation as to why they do what they do. Again it's just a motive to keep the plot moving while the fun stuff is left to the guys. This is how you make a proper fun episode that has those more serious themes mixed in. There's a different vibe from this episode than the rest, there's a cook here unseen before. I slightly felt it with the art style, too; the designs are more grounded than they had been.


Oh man, what don't I want to talk about? The guys' chemistry was the best it's been in arguably all of Part 3. I love watching them all work together to build the plane, Jigen and Lupin pleading to use Zantetsuken for the plane's propeller, and the zero confidence Jigen and Goemon have in Lupin actually getting that thing off the ground. I just love every interaction. When the plane falls back, Goemon is praying to Buddha while Jigen just says, "I'm gonna die." I LOVE THEM 😭😭. Something I appreciate more is that later, Lupin parts gave time to isolate the characters and let them play off each other. The chemistry is so there, clearly, and finally, it's being utilized.





Lupin making impressions of his friends is my lifeblood. Yeah, the Fujiko faced is the most terrifying thing I've seen in a bit but y'know it's the principle of the matter.
When I got to meet Fujiko's voice actress, Michelle Ruff, she was doing impressions of Goemon and I could have cried honestly. seeing the Lupgang just be goofy and make fun of each other is essential for my life essence.



PSEUDO CAGGY RUN ARGH



Damn 💀 The part of the first Part 3 OP finally making sense.



While I really liked the designs of the characters in this episode, Jigen's was especially cool It seemed reminscent of Monkey Punch's much later drawings into digital which obviously hasn't happened yet in the Lupin timeline but it really reminds me of this other drawing. Goemon also looks more manga-esque in this episode, so you already know I'm happy.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

Only 5 episodes left, isn't that crazy? I got way to comfortable with Part 2 so this feels like I was going at supersonic speeds.


The guys are planning to steal a safe left by a prisoner. However, the bars at the Sante Prison are lethally electrocuted. Fujiko brings in a guy named Duran to assist since he has a resistance to electricity. They decide to have him help. They find the cell of the late Pinkerton to get the key and the safe, but while they get the key, Pinkerton's brother, Carlos, has the safe. Carlos tries to gun Lupin down for the key, but he won't give in. Zenigata and the police find the commotion but are caught up in a shoot-out between Carlos's men. This gives the gang a chance to escape. They may not have the safe, but Carlos is too dumb ever to figure out how to unlock it without it. They wonder where Fujiko and Duran are just when he comes in, disheveled. They were caught by Carlos's men, and Fujiko was kidnapped. Carlos gave Duran a letter that said to meet at an old construction yard. They'll swap the key for Fujiko. Lupin shows up and confronts Carlos. He asks him where Fujiko is so they can start the deal. Carlos is confused, saying he wouldn't sink so low to kidnap someone. Likely story. Then why did he leave a note about it? But Carlos can't read or write. That's strange. Well, there's still a safe and key that needs to be fought over, so fight they do.
Lupin uses a crane to take out most of his men leaving Carlos helpless, Jigen surrounds him with a bulldozer. Just as Carlos is done for, Fujiko surrounds them in a cage with the same electric bars. Goemon breaks them out. Duran and Fujiko made off with the safe in all the commotion, but she betrays him, wanting the safe for herself. Duran preemptively took out all the bullets in her gun so she was defenseless. He takes the safe to his own hideout but, after unlocking it, gets a punch to the face. The guys come in and say that you had to turn it the other, and gold spills out for them.

I feel like this episode was short. For that full 24 minutes, it didn't seem like much happened. The climax wasn't very climatic. I felt pretty underwhelmed by this episode, unfortunately. I was about to say the only real unique thing this episode brought was the guy betraying Fujiko, but that literally just happened in the last episode. So, I don't have a whole lot to say for this one; it's a really, really standard episode. That's about it for this one. Way to start our home stretch for Part 3 lol

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

A jewelry fair for all the states' finest jewelers is set up. The guys dig out underneath the jewelry store. They leave for the night, and outside the manhole is a kid claiming to be Lupin's son. Of course, he couldn't be, right? Around the corner, a girl appears, saying Lupin is her papa too. Even in their hideout, a baby in a basket is outside with the same letter from the mother. He starts to doubt himself, and Jigen and Goemon insist he would do something like this, but he really starts to believe it. Soon enough, Jigen and Goemon are approached by kids who claim to be their dads, too. It's a full house, so Lupin asks Fujiko to care for them. Fujiko declines; she plans to steal the jewels all on her own and doesn't want anything to get in her way. So the gang just has to steal the jewelry with the kids. Since they carved out underneath the building, they drop the floor and easily swipe all the jewelry before Fujiko can get to it, but since she's the only one left hanging, she's blamed for the robbery. Fujiko pleads at the police station that she was forced to steal them because of Lupin, but they present her with the bag she stole; they're all fakes. The jewelry owner, Mackey, requests his $8 million policy since all his jewelry was stolen. Meanwhile, the gang is back at their hideout, where Zenigata has tracked them. Zenigata is stumped to see them all with kids. Lupin tells the kids to go play outside while he deals with Zenigata. But he's in no mood to arrest them, feeling bad that he doesn't have a wife and kids; meanwhile, they all have families. They escape while he has his midlife crisis, only to find no sign of the jewelry or the kids. They conclude they were set up, meant to believe the kids were theirs, while the kids returned all the jewels back. As it turns out, Mackey had them return all his jewelry to him as well as getting the $8 million. That is until he's cut off when Goemon cuts the bridge he's on so Lupin can swipe all the money right from him.

I was expecting this episode to be pretty annoying with so many kids. I couldn't remember what I originally thought of the episode, I don't think it was negative, but I know it certainly wasn't this time. This is the most fun I've had with a part 3 episode in a while. The kids don't really do much, so you mainly see the reactions the guys all have to the kids showing up. It's really nice how compliant they are so it really doesn't interfere with the plot or become annoying. Granted, that was their job, so it makes sense. Still, I think that brought on a really fun spin to what would have been a standard episode.


The reactions the guys have to kids showing up are priceless. Lupin doubted himself, and Jigen and Goemon like, "Well, we saw this coming eventually," and I think we all did, too. What's funnier is when the kids show up for Jigen and Goemon. Jigen just falls out of his chair and asks for more coffee. It's great. There's so much catty banter between them in this episode, and that's something I've been dying for for a while.
Jigen also said Goemon looks good in drag. 🧍Hell yeah...

Zenigataaaaa my poor boy just want a family. He really was just straight up having a midlife crisis. I think I've already said this before, but I completely believe that Zenigata has the most father potential of them all. Which is weird because they even illuded to him having a wife/kid in like the 2nd episode of part 3, but we know how consistent that is. Anyway, yeah I don't have much faith at all in any of the other characters, except Zenigata. Well, as we see in Fuma Conspiracy, it's not completely unlikely.

Fujiko playing innocent certainly isn't unusual, but I feel like her whole act was a lot more played up in this episode, which made it more enjoyable to watch. She's also wearing the Cat's Eye outfit again like the last episode. I'm wondering if this is just a straight-up reference to it since Cat's Eye is another TMS property. The show was airing at the same time as Part 3, so it would definitely make a lot of sense to cross-promote. I mean, like, episode 3 of Cat's Eye had a villain named "Lupin's Bride." But this isn't the first time, anyway. Look at the crossover episode that Part 2 did with Rose of Versailles. Wouldn't it be CRAZY if Lupin and Cat's Eye ever did a crossover?!?!?!?






Their reactions are so good. The top one I love because Jigen's voice is so high pitched, I just find it very entertaining. But I love the second one for how ashamed Lupin looks LMAOO. The reactions in this episode were just amazing. And they changed the art style when that baby pulled up. They never get this dramatic, even for part 3. It seems like they had a lot of fun writing this episode.



VIVIAN IS LITERALLY DRESSED LIKE HELLO KITTY I CAN'T SHE'S SO CUTE



The unasyn waving Zenigata off as he has his midlife crisis. This scene is honestly one of my favorites for the episode.

Anime Relations: Lupin III: Part III

The Queen of Monaca, Gretchen runs off a cliff after her breaks fail. Fujiko wants to seek revenge for her friend since she knows she has to have been murdered. Lupin and Fujiko believe it had to be the king and they were right. The king had his assistant Qasim to get ahold of Gretchen's Cinderella Shoe, a shoe made out of diamonds. He wants to give it to his new love interest, Julia. While they celebrate their plans for marriage, Gretchen's ghost comes to haunt them, warning the King. Julia realizes the ghost has shoes and reveals herself to be Fujiko. They warn the king they'll be coming for that shoe. The king hires Zenigata to watch over the shoe at the show he's doing. Lupin figures out the security system pretty easily and takes the shoe, but their car is rigged to explode, and they lose the shoe. Zenigata convinces the king to set up a laser camera system instead. Lupin hijacks the phone disguised as the security company and sets things up just how he wants. The gang broke in that night and ran into more trouble than they expected. Trapped in a room, the king watches and starts to have the walls crushed in on them. Luckily, Goemon cuts a hole to escape. They drain out the king's entire fortune, leaving him with nothing. As Julia leaves him, he sees Gretchen again and tells Fujiko to stop torturing him. But it's the real Gretchen. She knew the king was planning to kill her, so she had Fujiko disguised as her because she could survive a crash like that. Gretchen leaves the king, and the two ladies take the money for themselves.

Yay, finally, a not-so-so episode. I like a revenge plot, and I think this was handled really well. The king deserved everything he had coming, and I think it was done in a fun and concise way. The story is very straightforward and gets right to the point. There aren't any filler scenes, which makes the episode's pace brisk and tight.


Fujiko was awesome here. I love that she just wanted to seek revenge for a friend. I really appreciate that. See, when Fujiko's girlfriends are involved, then she means business. Mhm. Fujiko, I know what team you play for. Don't think I don't. Seriously though, this is an almost never-explored aspect of her character, so it was really great to see the lengths she'll go to get revenge from a friend.

Also, I love Gretchen's design. She's so cute and pretty. Since she spends most of the episode presumably dead, we barely get to spend any time with her, but she seems really cool; I'd totally hang out with her. I also really appreciate that she has a heavier body type, yet they don't make any offensive jokes about her and still make her look beautiful. That's something Lupin has literally never done before, so it's really great to see some actual positive representation.

Lupin letting the girls take the money was okay with me this time. I like how sincere he is about letting Gretchen have that money. While Fujiko was definitely closer to her than Lupin, they all seemed to be chummy. I think it's nice they do this to get revenge for a friend and nothing more. See, random "Lupin girls," no, I don't believe in him doing anything for them. He's an old friend, yeah. I like that; it's nice to see a connection they share outside of their gang.

ALSO, LUPIN IS TERRIBLE AT PLAYING GAMES. LMAO. I absorbed that image of their high scores like crazy. It being ranked Goemon, Jigen, Fujiko, and then Lupin from best to worst is so right I can't even begin to explain it. I like it when Goemon isn't seen as a technological idiot because, in the earlier days, he was always seen to be great at manning the vehicles and good at games. Like, I can easily see him finding his chi or something and just mastering the game like he's in some sort of trance-like state. It sounds very Goemon-esque, does it not? Jigen I think would definitely be the second best, he would be the best if Goemon didn't have godlike abilities to master anything. I think it, of course, depends on the game, too. Give them a shooter, and I think we all know who's winning that one.




I'm loving Fujiko's very, very Cat's Eye outfit for this scene, she'd fit right in! (Foreshadowing)



This castle is super stylized. Really cool painting especially with the colors too.


The Dixieland music playing during the casino scenes was really cool. I just wanted to mention it. Dixieland is really cool