2026 Part 1 Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[Seroster]

Lalalala... trying not to read your posts before I watch the episodes myself. I guess I'll watch both

 

[Seroster]

Episode 12 Who Had The Last Laugh

Fujiko should pack snow pants. Do you suppose we chould get more solo action with her? I wonder if the fanbase would view her more positively if she was shown doing more capable thievery on her own.

And when did we last see Fujiko holding a gun on Lupin?

Or Lupin tying up Fujiko? (Down, boy!) Not to mention the slapping her rear.

Aside from Jigen's expression with the grenade, having him provide commentary was good. It's not exactly breaking the fourth wall but it's kind of a different approach.

Overall, I guess an average kind of episode but it stands out in having a plot with a lot of good twists - I actually lost count. And the other thing I got from it is how much rougher things are between Lupin and Fujiko, and on the other hand again Lupin & Jigen resort to a mortar and land mines to counter a bigger group of enemies. Victory through high explosives??? Not what I normally think of Lupin.

 

[Seroster]

Episode 13, Beware the Time Machine.

Ok, I didn't expect this from my memory of the episode. This time around, I liked it a lot.

If you're going to have fantasy or science fictional stuff in Lupin then maybe I lean more towards the science fiction. TIme machine, check. The fact that Mamoh is a science fiction author who won the Hugo Award is hilarious, by the way. Stuff disappearing by altering the past - well I'm not going to critique this on the science fiction aspect or anything.

It's maybe best for the influence Mamoh's threat has on Lupin, from laughing it off to becoming depressed. I did not remember that he offered to marry Fujiko, or that she was so warm in this episode and ready to go ahead with marriage! That feels like an important note to include in any overall narrative of their relationship, and entirely in keeping with Fujiko in recent TV parts, it seems to me.

Without saying anything this episode looks to be set in Japan - driving on the right and I can't think what other elements made me think that.

It's a little silly to think that Mamoh would be taken in by the standup buildings BUT this is also a world in which perfect disguises exist and work. Like Jigen as the maid.

There's a lot of good expressions for the characters in this; I liked Zenigata's appearance. And of course this has the three friends laughing bit.

 

[Seroster]

And yeah @Detectivemelon2514 I noticed Jigen's coat too - but trenchcoats exist so if Jigen wants to wear one once in a while that's ok with me.

 

[Tsushi]

One of my favorite aspects of the Time Machine episode was how good I think it is at showing how Lupin avoids expressing himself. I think the show really does shine most when they can do that more adult and subtle emotional expression. I love that Jigen and Goemon can tell he's struggling and upset, all while he denies it, or lashes out with anger to avoid talking about it. I feel like that's how he confronts all the near-death events in his life, he tries to deny his fear of the existential threat. It's a characterization I really love for Lupin personally.

 

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IT'S TIME! Episode 14: The Emerald's Secret

A treasure hunt for an emerald on a big yacht, with an owner who is more knowing than your average rich person.

Depending on your point of view this might be "stereotyped" but I think it's kind of a classic. Despite the lack of Goemon and Jigen, this has a lot of typical elements of a Lupin heist - some plot twists, opposition from Zenigata, etc - which would actually make it a good intro for a new viewer.

It's also fun to have the jewel's owner be voiced by Eiko Masuyama and she has a pretty big role, so it's the two Fujiko voice actors acting with each other.

Lupin's initial plan to get the gem was classically goofy too.

It's fun how Zenigata gets when he's embarrassed or is allowed to have his emotions drawn out, the big softy. But on the other hand, once again Fujiko can magically appear in front of him and even dance with him and he won't recognize her.

Yeah, I do like this one.

PS the one thing that I don't think stands up and I will nitpick is

Spoiler

That in real life you would be able to see the cat's eye was weird IMMEDIATELY because of the lack of pupil.

 

[Seroster]

Ps per the fandom site, is Fujiko supposed to be wearing a disguise?

 

[Detectivemelon2514]

Episode 14 for me tends be the quirkiest of the whole series, in fact I would say that it literally breaks the boundaries of the dark tone we usually familiarize with some the early episodes before A pro came in and drastically changed the tone, now granted I know that both Miyazaki and Takahata were still on board during production while Osumi was still the director before they would actually take full charge until Ep 11 but I think this is the episode where the campy side of Lupin really starts to shine in a good way, because I quite had fun watching this episode mostly from the aspects that feels like you would just probably thanking Miyazaki for making Lupin even quirkier that we all know and love and these are some good example implemented like having the main heist be pulled of in a cruise ship during a wedding ceremony which I swore to god this is the kind of setting for a heist been repeated over a thousand in different medias (in fact I can't even name one particular example) and being a Lupin and Fujiko centric story since I guess the show wanted to take a break from having Goemon and Jigen in the mix (even though they still appear albeit short) aswell as Zenigata whom is at his silliest when already trying to capture Lupin at every last breath (I think even actor Goro Naya actually almost managing to find the right voice for him) and I do enjoy the scene where Fujiko makes Zenigata dance with her but he doesn't know how to, which BTW the whole scene itself is animated by none other than Hayao Miyazaki himself and is quite the technical standpoint that early showcases his quality of what he is capable of in his pre Ghibli career.
I do find it fascinating that Eiko Masuyama voices the bride Catherine in the episode considering she had already voiced Fujiko in the pilot film but was intended to voice Fujiko in part 1 before she was replaced by Yukiko Nikaido but would eventually voice Fujiko in part 2 and onwards in fact this is the only other time in the franchise where two VAs cross paths with each other before one takes over their role when before the other retires. (Another example being when Akio Otsuka appears alongside with Kobayashi in farewell Nostradamus) One thing I find really bizarre with the main target of the heist an Emerald known as the eye of the Nile being hidden inside the eyelid of Catherine's Siamese cat, okay first and foremost WHY!?!?! would you hide the Emerald in front of your own cat's eye wouldn't it be painful for the poor kitty, second of all it's placed directly on the right eye and it could make the cat go blind aswell seriously out of all the hiding spot you definitely choose something that both Lupin and Fujiko could easily differentiate had to be your damn pet!, that would be like if some guy is trying to hide his wife's own piece of earring without her even knowing so the only last potential place to hide it is at the roof of his own hamster's mouth, how about that as an example of sometimes cruel to your pets and i'm beginning to think that Catherine's own cat doesn't even like her anymore but whatever the episode ends with Lupin managing to get the Emerald out of the cat's eye by having Fujiko turn off the lights onboard and eventually escape by glider.

All in all like I said did have fun watching it for having convenient plot setting and at the same time being excitingly thrilled, thus it deserves it's place behind Ep 2.

 

[Seroster]

Yeah I don't actually want to think about the reality of the jewel in the cat but - presumably the cat had lost its eye already but I'm sure it would be painful or uncomfortable and bother the cat enormously. These things are just glossed over to provide a clever puzzle. :-/

 

[Detectivemelon2514]

I feel like they should make a meme out of the fujiko derpy shot. (oh wait that's right anyways LOL)

Episode 15 feels like another Zenigata centric story where this time he gets an assignment from his boss informing the inspector that he's gotta attend a conference in Europe however Zenigata becomes skeptic about it but ultimately agreeing only on the condition he is going to arrest Lupin since he has been aware that the master thief is plotting to steal the Golden mantelpiece from the kinman mansion, which is what exactly their whole scheme for the rest episode as the gang tries multiple methods to try and steal it while Zenigata is on the grasp of their tails before he can earn his one way ticket to fame and Fortune.

The whole stick with the lupin gang attempting several methods to get inside the mansion to steal something (but failing every time) is always a trope that i every time see in other media like for example in the first despicable me movie where Gru tries to retreat the shrink ray by sneaking inside the villain vector in his liar but gets outsmarted every time before settling in a final and genius solution (if ya know you know) but the differences are it's one guy who's going after the plot device while in Lupin you get multiple characters trying to sneak in through several ways at the same time and unlike in Despicable me where Gru and the two minions get trapped in the vault after the robot cookies seals the door shut while retrieving the shrink ray but they still manages to get away without Vector being alerted, but in Lupin Zenigata knows that Lupin is going to use the tunnel passage that leads into the fireplace where the mantelpiece is displayed but when trying to escape in the same passage he already gets apprehended by the inspector by using it as a trap even though lupin in his typical master thief fashion manages to get away almost by the end.

I kinda forgot that this is the last episode where we get the classic Fujiko design before she transitions to her new design from the previous episode, now I don't exactly why this decision was decided but my guess would be her other design was portrayed more like a disguise and obviously due to Miyazaki's involvement her sex appeal needs to be tuned down so they went with this design but I do think they still made a slight design altercation by having the size of her breasts to be scaled down ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) , I'll go down more about my complaints of this design chose of Fujiko for the next review cus I didn't had the time to express about it back in episode 14.

I do like how when Zenigata is on his way to travel abroad and when the plane is about to departure (while almost sitting right behind a Yasuo Otsuka cameo) and sees Lupin giving him the farewell smile and attempting to getting out of the plane but now the gang is free from Zenigata's own will so they finally can steal the mantelpiece, I guess no other Japanese law enforcement never bothers to sent out another tough inspector (not counting Brad from voyage to danger or Oscar from TWCFM or Goro from part 6 since none of these characters haven't debut yet)

None the wise it's a typical hijinks but mainly a Zenigata episode so it deserves the Midpin spot.

 

[Seroster]

Episode 15

Ok, this was definitely fun. A mixture of serious and silly - I liked for instance when the gang splits up and is each doing a thing when they try the heist. Zenigata comes across as a serious opponent up to a point, and also a goofball, like when he sticks his pipe in his pocket after being told not to smoke.

The setup of tension for Zenigata between staying to stop Lupin and going overseas was neat.

I'll have to think about Fujiko's design in the next episode.

Shoutout to Jigen for his role as truck driver, that was pretty fun, and Fujiko came up with the idea of letting Lupin get caught. Poor Goemon didn't get much to do at all, really.

 

[Seroster]

Episode 16!

Pretty fun... Average episode? Idk.

Fujiko plays on Lupin's vanity to steal a bunch of jewels and then SURPRISE betrays him, but getting away will be complicated for all of them as it becomes a 3 or 4 way competition to get the jewels, between L and F, the gangster/jewelry magnate Beaver, and Zenigata.

If I'm not mistaken this episode sported yet another intro that was new in this episode which I think I like less.

Nice use of vacuums in this one. Was it the first use? I'd have to look back.

Highlights for me were Fujiko stealing Lupin's car and ironically, also, insisting on not being left behind and ruining his getaway later.

Overall a lot of fun, to me.

There is a great moment where Lupin reaaaaaally looks more like a Monkey and I'll try to add a screenshot later.

 

[Detectivemelon2514]

Yeah I do agree that this feels like typical lupin caper episode but I have little things to say about it.

like first of all the new intro for episode 16 feels pretty bouncy and catchy, after all this fits for the different tone in the second half of the series.

however the only annoying find about this is zenigata quickly recapping everything about the show that we already know at this point and still very distracting (I guess that's what the editors also felt the same way about the version of the intro and later removed the zenigata narration until the very next episode)

Now the whole thing with Lupin stealing a bunch of diamonds from a jewelry store on the behest of Fujiko's own will seems to be something new that the plot is going with, since at this time point we already had Lupin going up stealing big expensive treasures from wealth corrupt villains or getting in conflict with other mafioso/gangster groups (which is still the latter with this episode) but here the heist is more of a typical robbery job.

Also the only positive thing I have to say is when we get to see Lupin actually sitting behind the steering wheel of the Fiat 500 which is pretty cool and while we already saw the Fiat 500 appear early in the show (if I remember correctly it was in episode 11 where Jigen is only the driver) but it is still more or less a standout for the character of what Miyazaki would later highly attribute in Cagliostro also speaking of which, in the scene where Lupin and Jigen are driving in the highway they pass by a car that coincidentally looks like a Citroen 2CV which is the car that Clarisse drives in Cagliostro which at the time was also the car that Miyazaki drove in IRL and what I find particularly funny about the same scene is when good ol Fujiko double crosses Lupin and literally steals the car that holds all the diamonds but now speaking of Fujiko and I'm just gonna say it upfront that I don't like this alternative design of her like I get that her sex appeal needs to be tuned down when A pro took over the majority show but the design itself makes her less like a cat thief and more of a Mary sue archetype (I feel like that should be my prefer nickname for this version of Fujiko)by wearing less provocative outfits albeit she wears a dress for most of the time and even she behaves kinda like a teenager whenever she fucks up her job but nonetheless I'm still glad we don't ever get see this kind of Fujiko design ever again.

Anyhow like always Zenigata manages to track down the gang and ambush by a hill after they took the diamonds away from Mary sue Fujiko (Okay I'll stop) also why bother climbing back up the hill when they could just IDK jump on the water and escape by boat whatever they go inside an empty hur and use it as a gondola but zenigata and his army of lawman shoots down the exterior walls which makes fujiko accidentally drop all the diamonds without securing shut the briefcase like the dumb bitch she is right now and I guess the whole heist was a total failure but even after when crossing the Zenigata bridge Lol they eventually escape by paraglider while being half naked.

Like i reiterated a pretty standard lupin heist episode but the climax feels very dumb and fujiko also being dumb, this episode solely ends up at the very bottom of tier Midpin, boy I can't wait for if the rest of the show be treated any worse that.

 

[Seroster]

I would say that Fujiko was handled the "idiot ball" a couple of times in this episode, for sure.

 

[Tsushi]

Episode 16 is one of those episodes that just so cute and fun. I love the back and forth between Lupin and Fujiko, I really wish they would make a few modern episodes like this, where they have a bit of tug of war and trick each other back and forth.