Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05
Lupin III Part 5 05
ルパン三世 PART5

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Lupin apparently assassinated, Zenigata is forced to leave the scene with Ami. He is transferred to the narcotics division and takes Ami to live with him. Ami uses her hacking skills to unmask the three members of Marco Polo and have their names posted on the Death Day site. After Ami gets a visit from Goemon, she arranges a face-to-face meeting with Chuck Glay from Marco Polo. He leads her into a water trap, demanding to know what she has on Lupin. However, Ami merely discusses how Lupin made her life exciting.

Marco Polo member Kunal Robinson finds himself visited by Jigen and removed from the picture. Chuck sees Ami apparently drown, but then sees that she’s alive and communicating with him underwater. He goes to investigate, only to discover Lupin waiting for him. Lupin explains how he faked his own death and his people were in charge of the drone that rules the Lupin Game website. He challenges Chuck to use his gun or shut up.

Zenigata arrives to warn Lupin against committing a murder. Chuck, having been intimidated by Lupin, gives himself over to Zenigata, agreeing to testify to everything. Lupin escapes with Ami while Goemon deals with Sonia Boutella, the last of Marco Polo. Lupin gives Fujiko a call, thinking her for her part in this latest adventure. He then sends Ami to a boarding school and reports this to Jigen and Goemon. Then Lupin produces a map to plan out their next adventure.

Thoughts/Review:

There were many elements in Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05 that I predicted, but there were a few I didn’t, chiefly, Ami’s apparent departure from the series.

The Predicted Deception

In the last episode, I had begun to think that Fujiko’s appearance on the scene was a way of staging Lupin’s death. It made sense to me that Fujiko could get a massive payment score in “killing” Lupin, while staging his death. And since Lupin had done this to her before, it made sense for Fujiko to return the favor.

That turned out to be correct. And Zenigata forcing them to go to Plan B was also correct. Fujiko then bailing out so quickly was something I didn’t expect, though it is keeping with the theme of Lupin and Fujiko’s relationship being somewhat distant. More on that in a bit.

The Surprising Things

The first thing that surprised me in Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05 is that we had an end of what turned out to be a story arc. I had figured that we’d see Lupin stage his death so that he’d be free to operate and ultimately take down Marco Polo. Technically, he did do this, but things were all neatly wrapped up by the end of the episode.

The next thing that kinda surprised me was how Zenigata handled Lupin toward the end of the episode. It reminded me of how things happened in Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, only with a more serious note to it. Had Lupin killed Chuck from Marco Polo, Zenigata would have been forced to treat Lupin differently, thus Zenigata gave him the warning about not pulling the trigger. I liked this moment a lot as it shows how Zenigata considers Lupin a frenemy, and a person whom he respects.

The last surprise to me is the apparent departure of Ami from the series. I know in the previous series, Rebecca came and went. However, I don’t recall ever seeing things done in such a way as to suggest that we wouldn’t see Rebecca again. Yet in Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05, Lupin dropping Ami off at a boarding school strongly suggested she won’t be around, other than maybe a cameo or something. I hope that’s not the case ’cause like Rebecca, Ami helps make the Lupin III franchise feel fresh.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

OK, got to wrap this review of Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05 up before I lose Internet access again.

• I was not happy that the official subtitles decided to change Jigen’s use of the English word “boy” and change it to “kid” when he dealt with Kunal. I get the feeling the change was done for politically correct reasons as there was no other reason to change it.
• It probably won’t happen, but I’ll again say that I hope we see Rebecca show up again. But not just a cameo, but a meaningful way. It could work since Lupin and Fujiko have grown distant, thus would play into that story thread.
• I’m so glad they don’t remove Jigen or Lupin smoking from the series.
• Man, the preview for the next episode…whoa! Not sure what to think about that, but I’ll wait to watch it before commenting further.

In the end, Lupin the Third Part 5 – 05 neatly wraps up what became “Episode 1” story arc. With the next episode being apparently disconnected from the current series (in terms of style, art, and animation), I’m really hoping Lupin the Third Part 5 doesn’t end up being a series of disconnected mini-series episodes.