LUPIN the Third ～峰不二子という女～
LUPIN the Third – MINE Fujiko to Iu Onna Episode 13
Lupin III: A Woman Called MINE Fujiko – 13

Fujiko is freaking out over Count Luis Yu Almeida’s words in his throne room when Lupin, in the control room, speaks to her, helping her regain her control. Shooting the owl mask off of the Count, Fujiko discovers a corpse is there as the Count is dead. The Fräulein Eule drug is pumped into the control room, and while Lupin manages to get clear, Jigen breathes it in, causing him to see Lupin as an owl, whereupon he starts shooting at Lupin.  Lupin escapes as Fujiko encounters Goemon, still dressed as Fujiko, who says he is her boyfriend and covers her escape. More Fräulein Eule waffs as does Jigen.  Jigen and Goemon then engage in a fight as they see each other as owl-men.

Elsewhere, Zenigata attempts to help the insane Oscar while Fujiko comes into a massive room with hiragna, katakana, and more lettering, which light up and cause giant block beams to emerge when activated. Lupin joins her and as the letters and electronic voice give warning, the two run up the beams to a room where a bedridden, withered lady lays, lasers detecting her eye movements which then activate a massive voice synthesizer for her to speak. The woman, whom Lupin calls “Aisha-chan,” is the daughter of Dr. Kaiser, and the one Count Almeida had his eye on during the Fräulein Eule human experiments in mind control on young girls.

The owl-man who initially hired Lupin arrives, explaining a few more things and tells Aisha that Almeida has died. Aisha wants the experiments in memory alterations to continue. Fujiko now remembers how she arrived at this place, and that she had Aisha’s memories implanted in her so that Aisha could live vicariously through Fujiko, indulging in sex and theft, even though these were things Fujiko already did. Lupin takes the protesting Aisha out of her contraption and reveals that the owl-man is really Aisha’s elderly mother. Using Lupin’s car, Fujiko and Lupin take Aisha to the coast, where she can experience a taste of life before she dies. Fujiko leaves Lupin with the task of still stealing her, revealing she’d sabotaged his car. Jigen and Goemon end their fight with Goemon catching a ride on a fishing trawler. Jigen picks up the stranded Lupin, and Lupin is back on Fujiko’s trail.

*sigh* At the reveal of this episode, the only thing my stunned mind could come up with to say is, “Really?”

This episode pretty much reveals what the entire series was — a lie.  This series wasn’t about Fujiko.  It was about some poor, abused girl named Aisha whom as a result of human experimentation, rape, and whatever else became unable to function, kept alive via machinery and money, who implanted her memories onto some tramp thief named Fujiko in order to live vicariously through Fujiko.  Whatever.

The stuff with Oscar ended up being utter crap as well.  Why in the world was an insane, gay man suddenly made to be Fujiko?  And what happened with him at the end?  Ooops.  Like everything else, he’s just there for style points, offering nothing of substance.

I’ll save the rest of my ranting for my final thoughts posting, and so I’ll switch to something I liked about the episode — the aftermath.  It was neat seeing Fujiko on her bike and Lupin in his classic, yellow car (harkening back to the first TV series), going down the road, and chatting.  Fujiko leaving Lupin to pursue her again reminded me of the end of Castle of Cagliostro, where Fujiko does something similar (sans the sabotage of his car).

I liked Jigen’s and Goeomon’s fight, though I was highly disappointed that Goemon and Lupin never met.  I’d have preferred a series be done where that happens, and a reason for Goemon helping Lupin is revealed.

Jigen picking up the stranded Lupin was a nice touch, showing that they are partners now, come thick or thin (even if Lupin left Jigen to go off with Fujiko).

In the end, this episode was a big steaming pile of dung, which while it resolves everything, does so in a matter that tries to say, “this dung cart isn’t really a dung cart, but actually a buffet of the most awesome food you’ve ever tasted.”